The Big Fish

“How did the first day of classes go?” Toby asked Ari as she walked into his room. There were only a few weeks before Toby had to go off to college, and he had spent the first day at his home, figuring out what he needed to pack before he could leave.

“Wonderful. A few people discovered what they could do, and they all learned a type of meditation that they could do.”

“I should be attending those classes, too.” Toby protested.

“You need to pack. Don’t worry about it.” Ari assured him. “Plus, you’ve learned this basic stuff, and you’ve already discovered your powers. You are doing just fine as you are. The only thing you need to do right now is focus on your future. The nights are the time for you to focus on your future as the leader of Choice University. Speaking of which, what is your major?”

“Undecided.” Toby said, grinning. “I don’t know what I want to do with my life. That’s why I just chose a state university.”

“I see. Maybe you should look into a business degree. Or a religion degree. Or a science degree. Or a history degree.” Each degree that Ari spoke of was accompanied by a long, flowing silence. Toby could almost hear Ari thinking.

“So basically, you have no suggestion as to what I should study, either.” Toby retorted. He set down the notebook pad he had been brainstorming on.

“No, not really. You enjoy your college career though. You won’t ever have to worry about money.” Ari said to him. “Okay, I have to get going back there to supervise. The assistants can’t do all of the work.”

“Okay. How many didn’t show last week? You never told me.”

“Actually, only a few made no reply at all to the invitation. Maybe six, or seven. And these ones were known trouble makers, before, so we’re going to be paying them a visit, soon.”

“Is this the part where we become a policing agency?”

“Do you remember the forest fire in California last year?” Ari asked him, and Toby nodded. “That was them.”

“That killed thirty people!” Toby said in horror, and Ari nodded.

“That was their intention. They purposely began the fire around that church to trap the people inside. If they hadn’t done it using their powers, it would have been labeled as arson and they would have been in jail by now.”

“Why didn’t the gods take care of it? Don’t they count as a problem?”

“Mortals lives are not that important to the immortals. I tried to get Zeus to do something, but he looked at me and said, ‘children will be children.' That’s when we decided a mortal policing organization would be best.”

“Because my father doesn’t care enough about the race of people he rules over?” Toby asked. He was appalled, still. Accidents were one thing. Murder was another.

“Something like that.” Ari agreed. Ari’s form faded slowly from sight and Toby turned back to his list.

Toby turned to his list with disdain. He had downloaded lists of possible college supplies from every possible source on the internet. He was now cross referencing them and attempting to come up with a ‘master list’ of sorts, of stuff to take with him to college.

“Why does this have to be so hard? Why couldn’t they just give me a freakin’ list to work off of?” Toby muttered to himself. He sighed and looked at his. He supposed that he was almost done with it. He had all of his clothes, bedding, towels. Bath supplies. He needed the little stuff now. One of the lists suggested that he use a flash light, or at least bring one with him. What the hell was he going to need a flashlight for in college? The lights were going to go out? Was he scared of the dark?

Some of the stuff on the lists, he couldn’t take to college. Like a microwave. His college wouldn’t let him take a microwave, a coffee maker, or anything remotely involving heat and food in the same sentence. He could take a fridge, though. Just not a small grill, or a candle, or his gerbil – if he had one.

How was he going to be an authority figure over people that could set fire to an entire forest, anyway? He knew he had the entire immortal realm standing behind his decision, but what if they just tried to set fire to the brand new building? All he knew how to do so far was sprout some wings and fly.

Ari had said there were other, more basic skills that he could probably pick up, being three quarters god. Maybe he would go visit the school and see how things were going. Ask her about them. They weren’t going to be taught in the classes, most likely, because most of the people there were a quarter or a half. There were very, very few as potent as him. Why, then, did he only have wings? All of the others could set fire to things. Throw people through windows.

Oooh, so he could fly. And the wings were large, and ungainly, and made walking difficult. They were uncomfortable coming out, and very uncomfortable going back in. It was like part of him was missing when ever he didn’t have them extended. Like he was turning into a freakin’ bird.

Toby shut his notebook with a sigh. There was no way he could keep concentrating. Maybe if he took a break and flew for a little while, he could get his energy back. He did love soaring like a bird. He was a lot bigger than a bird, but if he flew high, he sort of looked like a large hawk. Ari had warned him against flying in the day time, but she wasn’t very serious. As long as he flew in the right spots, she explained, he wouldn’t be seen. And how was someone going to explain a winged man in the sky, anyway?

Toby could always head to the school and just soar above for a while. They had quite a large campus in terms of deserted, protected land. It would be easy, then. With no danger. Toby rose and went to look out his window. It was a beautiful, sunny, cloudless day. He was going.

An hour or so later, Toby had finally made it to Choice Campus. It had only been a week, but already people had moved into the apartment complex that Ari had set up. He could tell because, although there were no cars ‘on campus’, there were plenty of bicycles lined up against the wall. Well, not everyone could fly.

Toby landed just outside the main building, that he and Ari had designed, gently, without falling onto his knees. It had taken him quite a while to master that particular skill. He supposed Ari was right – he didn’t need to be there all the time. He did still have friends at home. Hell, Gary had picked himself up a girlfriend and Toby had barely noticed.

Toby concentrated and pulled his wings back into his back. The downfall to having wings sprouting out of your back was that anything that you wanted to take with you – a shirt, for example – had to be carried with your hands. And as fast as you could go with immortal wings attached to your back, it was kind of difficult to hold stuff for an extended period of time at that velocity.

Toby pulled his tank top over his head and shook as if water was flying off of him, like a dog. He felt so... ready, to face the world now. It was mid afternoon. He put his hand on the door and pushed it open. The well lit reception room was empty except for Katrina, their newly elected receptionist. She was given the same capital that Toby was in order to sit at the door from open to close every day. The building opened at eight each morning and closed at six. And any time that Katrina had to take a bathroom break, the door automatically locked. This was a closed gate school. Katrina was one of the few gifted mortals they actually employed. Eventually it would all be run by half mortals like her.

“Hey Katrina. You know where Ari is?” Toby asked, smiling. Katrina was only a few years older than him. She had just lost her job, and had had no where to turn when she had gotten the invitation to Choice. When she saw that all of their employees were immortals, she offered to work at the desk, mostly to have something to do.

So Ari and Toby hooked up the internet for Katrina, and she worked seven days a week, and was having her ‘salary’ put in her bank account to collect savings. Tax free, of course.

“I believe she’s in one of the meditation rooms in back with a student, trying to help them with their power and get it under control.”

“Under control?” Toby asked her, wondering.

“He turned into a fish. We had to put him in a bowl as quick as we could. Now we can’t get him out.”

“What?” Toby burst out laughing. That poor, poor man.

“Well, actually, he didn’t turn into a fish. It was a dolphin. I didn’t see it, because I have to be here. But Ari came and told me what had happened.” Katrina said, her eyes glowing. “After you go and see it, do you think you could man the desk for a little bit? I really want to see.”

“By all means, we’ll go together.” Toby said. “Have you taken your break today?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Well, we’re in between classes right now, correct? All we have to do is lock the door and run over. You’ll only be gone ten minutes.”

“Are you sure?” Katrina asked.

“Yeah. I’m boss, so what I say, goes. Plus... ” Toby winked at her. “I might need someone to hold me up when I fall down, laughing.”

“Okay.” Katrina agreed as she stood up. She moved to lock the door in front, and Toby laughed.

“Do you even have the key?”

“Whoops.” Katrina muttered, turning around. Her face was glowing red as she searched through the desk drawer to find it. She held it up moments later triumphantly.

“Nice.” Toby commented as he watched her lock it. “So, how do you like your job?”

“Oh, it passes the time. People come through and they always have questions, or comments, or they sit here and talk to me for a while.”

“And are you attending any of our classes?” Toby asked her as he held the door to the Gods’ hallway open for her.

“Not yet. Ari is giving me the teaching materials. I just don’t attend the class because we don’t have a second secretary.”

“Sorry about that. We’re working on it.”

“I know. Like I said, I don’t have anything else to do with my life, so its fine. My dog gets walked at night. And these woods, and the apartments, everything around here is just so beautiful.”

“The rooms, too?”

“Yes. I think I would spend forever in some of the meditation rooms. Or the gods’ temples. You feel so...  so close to them, there.”

“You do know that each of the rooms has a personal line straight to the gods, right?” Toby asked her. Katrina nodded.

“I know, but they don’t always show up. People are in and out of the gods’ temples like no tomorrow. Sometimes they do. I never ask them to. I just enjoy the silence. The energy. The feelings.”

“Me too.” Toby agreed with her. They finished their walk down the hallway and took a right.

“I’m assuming its this one?” Toby asked her as he pointed to the wet carpet.

“Yeah, think so.” Katrina agreed. Toby put his hand on the door, and decided at the last second not to open it. It could be dangerous. Toby instead decided to knock.

“Ari? Are you in there?” Toby yelled through the closed door.

“Give me a minute. Under no circumstances, open the door!” Ari yelled back through the door. It sounded like she was laughing inside. Moments later the door opened and Toby’s eyes held a fantastic sight.

“Shit.” He said in awe. It was complete and total chaos in the room. Several glowing figures – Ari, Poseidon, Hermes, Zeus, all standing or floating in the room, surrounding a large tank of water. Inside, a beautiful dolphin with barely enough room to move.

“So... what’s his name?” Toby asked, poking Ari playfully. She glared at him.

“This is Jonathon. Why are you here?”

“I got bored at home. And a little frustrated. So I decided to take a fly and ended up here. You know how it goes.”

“Can you help? Jonathon is obviously Poseidon’s son, but he’s not sure how to help his own son.” Ari said. The gods looked up at the mention of Poseidon’s name.

“Well, can he understand us?” Toby asked, and Ari nodded. “Why doesn’t he just imagine the changes that happened to him going in reverse? Give him a platform on his container, and tell him that he needs to leap up, and imagine himself crawling out and growing back into a human. That’s usually how it works for me. I fold my wings back, like a bird, and imagine them melding back into me. And after the process has started, it just completes itself.”

“Did you hear that, Jon?” Ari asked and the dolphin chirped at her. Ari looked at Katrina and Toby and motioned for them to move back into the doorway. Seconds later, a small platform appeared at the edge of the pool.

“Go for it!” Ari called to the dolphin and it leapt into the air once, then took a smaller leap onto the platform.

The dolphin turned paler and paler, and slowly elongated. Katrina grabbed Toby’s arm excitedly, and Toby felt the smallest twinge of desire rush through him. He hoped it wasn’t showing.

He had never ever gone for an older woman in his life, and she probably wasn’t interested. He watched in wonder as the dolphin’s end tail morphed into feet, and its side fins elongated and took the shape of human fingers. The torso began to change, and Toby realized that the man soon to be laying before them would be naked.

“Katrina, let’s give Jonathon some privacy.” Toby cleared his throat and pulled Katrina out of the room, shutting the door behind them.

“Why?” Katrina asked, and Toby looked at her.

“Well, just like when I sprout my wings, my clothes don’t magically meld into my wings, I’m guessing that he had clothes on when he changed. But he doesn’t, now.”

“Oh.” Katrina’s face began to glow red again. “Well, what’s so bad about a naked man?”

“That could be a song. Anyway, I’m guessing he’s going to want some clothes before he sees you, considering you see and speak to him on a daily basis.”

“Oh. Okay.” Katrina said. “I’ve never seen your wings come out at close distance. Could you?”

“I don’t know if there’s enough room here, in this hall way for me.” Toby admitted. “And they’re not that amazing, trust me.”

“They looked pretty awesome from a distance that first night. And I know you flew here earlier.” Katrina protested.

“Before I leave, I will let you look and touch. I swear.” Toby promised her. He knocked on the door in front of him. “Is he decent?” Toby called through it, and a resounding, “Yes.” answered him. “Okay, I’m coming in.”

Toby opened the door and they both walked through it. Ari and Poseidon were the only gods that remained, and Toby smiled in greeting to the three that were standing in there. Ari and Poseidon were debating whether or not to place a salt water and a fresh water pond somewhere in the school.

“I’m Toby. Welcome to Choice.” He grinned at the man who had just slid off of the platform. The water tank and platform promptly disappeared.

“I’m Jon. That was one hell of a day.” He said, shaking his head. “Its so wild, being in the water like that. I just wanted Ari to drop me in the ocean and leave me there. I would have been happy. I felt so...  so free. I can see why the dolphins gave up their legs and arms to live in the ocean.”

Toby extended his hand to Jon, who took it and shook it, hard. His wet hair was the only sign that he had been submerged in water for a while, in the shape of a dolphin. Toby pulled Katrina forward.

“This is Katrina. I’m sure you know that, she’s our secretary.”

“I bring her coffee every morning.” Jon smiled at her, and shifted his weight. “It feels so weird to have feet again.”

“Did you know you were related to Poseidon before today? Or was that just a wild guess on our part?” Toby asked him.

“I had no clue. I was just meditating, and bam, I changed forms and was dying for air. I was lucky that Ari was in the room. I might have died.”

“You were lucky. Ari?” Toby asked to see if he could grab Ari’s attention. She and Poseidon stopped arguing. “Is Jon his son?”

“Yes.” Poseidon answered before Ari could. “I get bored sometimes. I think his mom was a sailor.”

“Is. A sailor.” Jon corrected Poseidon.

“Good, she’s still alive.” Poseidon reached out to give his normal colored, normal shaped, son a big hug. “Nice to meet you. I’ve had some other children manifest into sea animals, but not dolphins. You were very nicely formed, if I do say so myself.”

“Thank you. Ari... ” Jon trailed off. “Is this going to happen every time I slip into meditation?”

“We just finished discussing that. Tomorrow there will be a building behind this one. It will have three pools – a chlorinated, a salt water, and a fresh water pool. That way you, and any other of Poseidon’s children that we have brought in, can have a place to practice without fear of death by suffocation. You know?”

“Good idea.” Toby asserted. Jon nodded his head vehemently. What a day.

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