Floating Alone Read Online Free PDF

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    Marina drew closer to the mother and calf but stayed at a respectful distance. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to. The camera was catching the shadows and emergence of the two animals as she slowly moved through the water after her two guests.
    They were in a No Wake area. Marina smiled as she followed the happy newborn exploring the world for the first time while her mother guided her slowly through the water.
    It was a moment of firsts, and Marina teared up like she always did. She didn’t sniffle; there wasn’t a sound, but the lapping of the water and the soft plop of her paddle.
    When the water increased in its beat against her hull, she scowled. The area was surrounded; there wasn’t supposed to be any kind of wake that wasn’t caused by the animals.
    The further toward the ocean they went, the more dramatic the waves.
    The hum of motors got Marina’s blood up, and she paddled with purpose until she could see the two speedboats cutting up the water. That wouldn’t do.
    She tipped out of the kayak and swam toward the boats. She felt her tail taking shape, but her fingers remained, the webbing made increasing her directional control easier. The grey skin that covered her body was familiar, but she knew that she wasn’t a manatee. She had become something else.
    She came out of the water in a jump, verified the wake signs, and when she was sure they were still posted, she took action.
    Marina didn’t know what possessed her to put herself in the path of the red speedboat, but extending her webbed hands and clawing open the hull was very satisfying.
    The other boat halted in its game of tag.
    She swam up to the sinking vessel and lifted herself out of the water. She spoke clearly. “It is a no-wake zone.”
    The young man couldn’t have been more than twenty-two. He stared at her with horror, as did his companions.
    “What are you?”
    “The guardian of these waters. Have your friends tow you in and know that the next time I see a wake in these waters, I will do more than gut the fibreglass.”
    Her tail was moving in the water but magic was suspending her torso up at a height of close to ten feet. Whatever she was now, she was big.
    Irdan came toward her in his alligator form, and she looked to him. “I am handling it.”
    The alligator swam around the sinking vessel, and the screams of the occupants rang across the water.
    “Stuff it. Now, get on the other boat and leave this area at a sedate and calm pace and the other boat will be able to leave in one piece.”
    The driver of the pale boat came close and looked at her in surprise. The driver of the red boat explained what she had said as he helped the ladies on his boat out of the vehicle.
    She heard the phrase that explained it all.
    “Dude, you said this place was great because there wasn’t anyone here.”
    Marina propelled herself toward the other boat pilot and raised her brows. “He said what?”
    “That we could drink and race, and there was no one here.”
    She smiled tightly. “He didn’t mention that this is a manatee habitat? The no-wake signs all indicate as much.”
    The heat crept up in the cheeks of the other pilot. “He said it wasn’t a big deal.”
    “It is a very big deal. I am telling you now; it is a very big deal. I am guarding these waters, and I will defend them.”
    She smiled and was sure that her teeth weren’t their normal straight whiteness. There seemed to be a sharpness to them that would be fascinating to examine.
    When the passengers were transferred, she watched as they left, lowering herself into the water to chest height.
    Irdan swam up next to her, and she leaned on his wide head. “That was definitely different.”
    He snapped his jaws at them as they followed her directions and left the cove.
    She stroked his dark-emerald scales. “So, I am guessing that I am no longer just a manatee shifter. I don’t recall having talons on my hands that can rip open a hull.”
    She flexed her fingers