Albert Ross stretched as he leaned to drop a fresh fish into his bucket, inhaling the refreshing chill scent of an autumn breeze at sunrise. He cast his line again, the tackle dropping into the water with a gentle splash before burying the rod in the rocky earth and cracking open a light beer.

Still twenty cans in the slowly emptying ice-packed cooler. Next to a bucket was steadily filling with plump lake trout and walleye. It had already been a good haul; his grandchildren would be overjoyed to see how large today’s catch was.

The smooth, pebbled stones scraped and ground against each other with every step of his boots. Across the expanse of one of the Great Lakes, he could see the multicolored canopy of leaves on the opposite shore, swaying in the wind. The bright reflection of the newly arrived sun off the surface of the lake caught him in the eye, so he put his sunglasses on. The waves lapped at the shore gently, like a lover’s caress.

Albert took a deep sip of his beer and reclined on his portable blue beach chair. Maybe he’d get a real big one this time. A fifteen pound walleye was his record, but he’d seen pictures of twenty pounders. Now that would be a good one for the photo album.

Barely had he placed his can into the holder when the bobber suddenly dipped. Albert scrambled to his feet and readied himself to reel it in.

It bobbed again… but still no tug.

Patience. Patience was everything. He hadn’t had to be patient this morning, what with his luck. But years of discipline kicked in now. He crouched at the ready, watching the tackle like a hawk waiting to strike.

His squatted legs began to tremble under the strain of his weight. His line wasn’t moving. Damn. With a groan in his old, aching bones, Albert stood up straight.

And then the bobber dipped underwater again.

Albert swallowed his voice as he crouched down again. More long, torturous minutes passed with no activity once again. He sighed and grunted as he stood back up.

Another dip.

“What the hell!” Albert yelled. His frustration was palpable. A flock of birds perching in the canopy behind him scattered and flew away.

He peered across the sun-reflected glaring surface of the lake. There was a large shadow circling beneath the surface. Too large.

What was that thing!? Lake Michigan wasn’t home to fish this big, was it? Was this some version of the Loch Ness Monster?!

And then, amazingly, about thirty feet out, a seal’s head broke through the surface of the water.

A seal!? Weren’t those usually in saltwater? And even if they could live in the fresh, how did one get this deep inland, away from the ocean? Albert fumbled with the phone in his vest pocket, trying to call his fishermen buddies.

Meanwhile, the seal was out there in the water, parading back and forth, performing tricks as if it were part of an aquatic show. It “walked” through the water, bobbing its head back and forth with its rhythmic swimming, tapping the tackle playfully to float up and down.

Was it taunting him!?

And then, it ducked under the surface and zoomed straight for the shore.

Albert yelped and stumbled backwards. He nearly slipped on the unsteady rocks in retreat. But the seal was so much faster, carving through water like a jetski.

It climbed onto shore, chest held high, flopping forward with its tail. It was clapping its fins and barking happily. Albert was completely stunned. All he could do was stare. It was almost as if the mysterious creature were trying to communicate… and play with him?

Suddenly, the seal went quiet. Albert gulped. It raised its flippers to its narrow snout, brushing its whiskers, and…

…removed its head as if it were the hood of a sweater!

The wet, gray skin slipped off easily. At what point had the flippers morphed into human arms, so long, willowy, and slender? And the human face that rested underneath that seal’s skin was an absolute marvel to behold…

The former seal now had the head of a human full of beautiful, lush, flaming red locks, lustrous and shiny. Amazingly, those silken strands were perfectly dry, wavy and flowing. Albert couldn’t see their full length yet, the rest of her body still covered by her aquatic beast outerwear, but he could easily tell that it rested well past her neck, and those auburn locks were surely just as mesmerizing all the way down.

Large, bright, deep-set blue eyes adorned her evenly tanned face. Her entrancing, dreamy irises looked so guileless and innocent, yet sparkling mischievously as she tilted her head and gave him a come-hither look. Her lashes were dark, thick, and attractively long, emphasizing the alluring luminescent glow of her hypnotic irises even further.

Light brown freckles dotted the bridge of her nose and her cheeks. Her nose was strong and cute, and her sensual mouth formed with healthy, pink, fleshy lips, all painted perfectly onto the canvas of her heart-shaped face. This creature was an absolute beauty to behold. Albert could have sat there and stared for hours, happily drowning in the magnificence of her face.

She smiled brightly at him, and his heart soared with joy. His wide grin was unabashed and dopey, and she giggled cutely at his reaction. Time moved in slow motion as she covered her mouth in playful embarrassment of the attention she was receiving and winked at him.

Then, she began to undress further.

She slipped that gray, rubbery skin down past her elegant swan-like neck. Albert blinked in disbelief as that blubbery suit revealed more divinely beautiful flesh. Continuing, she brushed that overcoat off her smooth, slim shoulders with her delicate fingers. Her skin was absolutely vibrant, glowing with health, no signs of any unevenness or damage from the harsh sun. It made sense. This mythical creature presumably spent all her time underwater, doubly protected with her seal skin.

Albert gasped at the sight of her collarbones. She was so close to that part of the female anatomy… he wondered if her chest was as beautiful as the rest of her. And she was already so captivating, perfect in her beauty. And if her beauty was perfect so far, then what would the world’s most perfect pair of breasts look like? He gulped in anticipation.

As she continued to lower her skin, her beautifully tanned cleavage came into view. That alluring canyon in between her soft, full swells caused the old man to long for his youth once again.

The proud slopes of those perky breasts and sleek lines of delectable skin caused Albert’s heart to race. Modestly large and perfectly shaped, they rested so high on her torso, far apart enough to give her enthralling gap a wide berth that ensnared any lucky enough to see it. Her brown, speckled nipples adorned each orb perfectly, resting on the perfect peak of each tantalizing swell. Albert licked his lips, panting in admiration at those luscious peaks. He wanted to feel her sensual skin, knead those plump mounds, and pinch those protruding tips—not out of any sexual desire which had long since burnt out, but just out of curiosity how it would feel to admire the most divine beauty he’d ever laid eyes on.

She continued to disrobe down past those ample swells. It didn’t seem possible to surpass the perfect curvature of her chest, but the arcing lines of the rest of her torso were as matchless as the rest of her. Her tummy was perfectly flat, her waist pinched inward.

Her hips flared outward just a little, never overly exaggerated, just elegantly feminine. In line with her smooth shoulders, the beauty exemplified the image of a seductive hourglass shape.

Albert gasped as she continued to strip off her animal skin. A hint of her fiery red pubic hair peeked out as she went ever lower. The girl wiggled her generous hips, sliding the gray outer clothing down, revealing the long, silky hairs that partially covered her womanhood. Fine, red hairs adorned her legs, barely visible in the morning sun.

She now held her gliding fingers in place, stroking her supple thighs. Her seal skin needed no more assistance as it slipped off her lower body, revealing the lengthy glory of her legs to him. She raised her arms over her head, her breasts lifting with them. She giggled as she stretched, enjoying the chilly breeze and the full force of the sun on her naked, human skin.

She couldn’t have been much older than twenty, her body so pert and nubile, fresh faced and innocent, ready to explore the world.

The flaming beauty flicked her true skin, her most treasured possession, with her toes right into her outstretched palms. Clutching it tight, she began to approach Albert.

His breath came out in a halting hiss when he realized he’d been holding it the whole time. The woman had a peculiar gait. Her hips swayed seductively with every step, but there was a regular irregularity to the rhythm of her strut, favoring one leg over the other. Still, he barely remembered to suck in a deep breath into his ragged lungs as she approached.

“Breakfast?” she asked in a foreign-sounding accent that he couldn’t quite place. She pointed at his open, half-empty beer can.

“Um… yes… breakfast,” he stammered.

“Breakfast.”

She circled, never taking her eye off him as she made her way to his bucket of catches. Grabbing the largest trout, she breathed its scent in deeply and licked her salivating lips.

“Um, hey! That’s… that’s for my family!” he protested weakly.

“Breakfast. Thank you!” she replied.

To Albert’s surprise, she carried the raw fish in her mouth and ran back toward the lake, arms akimbo. As soon as she slipped on her skin, she surfed out of view as a seal once again.

Albert stood, flabbergasted by what he had just witnessed. And then his fishing pole began to twitch for real.

It was a big one!

Iveen giggled as she walked to her forest cabin in her human shape, skin wrapped around her waist. What a successful interaction she’d had that morning! She’d goaded a nice, plump salmon into taking the bait as payment for the trout she’d snatched. It was her favorite meal, after all.

Her belly now pleasantly full of raw fish, she stepped into the abandoned cabin she’d found, this deep in the woods. It served as her makeshift home and study.

The deteriorating habitat was not quite sturdy enough to protect humans from the elements, but Iveen was far more resilient than any human. And the bones of the shelter were still sturdy enough to keep it standing. That was all Iveen needed—some place she could call her own, just like the humans did. There was no such concept of private space, down there in the depth of the waters.

A few small metal trinkets were placed neatly in one of the corners of the spartan room. She’d found them deep at the bottom of the lake, probably long lost baubles from other human campers. Some bright and shiny, others rusty and dull.

But the real treasures were the books that she’d found, especially the ones from the human campers with the really young ones.

Placing her skin on the floor like a rug, she lay prone on it, bending her knees and kicking her legs idly behind her as she began to leaf through the pages. Inhaling the musty scent of old paper, she took her time deciding which one to read. Opening a dilapidated cover, she saw one featuring mermaids and mermen. Oh, it was so funny what these humans taught their young! No merfolk she knew carried tridents like that!

Or maybe, just maybe… the humans knew something she didn’t? It was fun to dream about!

But no, she settled on the one that she’d worn down the most, tenderly leafing through the fading images of her absolute favorite book. After viewing it cover to cover, Iveen got down to brass tacks, trying to sound out the words on the page.

“Saaa, lee… Saaallee, the seal…” she giggled as she saw the cartoonish depiction that she so_ _identified with, “lickee… like! Like to eat… fish!”

She turned the page, eager to give voice to more glyphs written on paper.