Carla came back as it was getting dark. She might have the body of a Shark/Girl, but she didn’t have the senses of a shark. She couldn’t see in the dark.

As we ate dinner, she said, “I want to change back to skin.”

“Tonight? Two changes in one day?” I queried.

“Have you got the essence for it?”

“I am not the one that has been using my essence all day.”

She grinned. “Thanks. I had fun. I will let you into something else I found out.”

She got a knife and dug under her scales to draw blood. We watched, and the bleeding stopped quite fast. Then, it seemed to close over as we watched.

“It needs more testing, but I am pretty sure I heal sixty per cent faster, and I can double that with a boost. Minor cuts should be healed totality in a couple of days. This is my whole body. I am guessing that for you and Soph it will only work on your skin.”

I grabbed the knife and sliced a shallow cut on my skin. On average, cuts would take one to two weeks to heal, say twelve days. Sixty per cent faster means just under five days. Boosting it reduces it to one to two days. Boosting for a day is pushing it even for me, but boosting it for an hour meant three hours or more of healing. I will see what it looks like in the morning.

“That is big,” I said, “and with it covering your whole body and using my Essence pool, you are going to come back from wounds very quickly.” Carla grinned. “And Soph and I can cope with light wounds, and Soph can toughen her fur… this is good.”

Carla poked me lightly, “You are the squishy one.”

“I am always hard for you.”

“Turn me back to skin, and let's do that.”

“OK, Soph, You heard the lady. It is skin she wants.”

“Perhaps outside,” Soph said, “You know, we wouldn’t want to get blood and bone everywhere.”

“Shit, that sounds bad,” Carla said.

“It is your blood and bone,” I said, and we are collecting it alongside the scales.”

It was bad, but not nearly so bad. It took around five minutes of pain. Her teeth were the worst. We made sure she was lying on her side so she didn’t choke on them. Her fins just fell off and her skin still itched as it grew under the bone scales until the scales fell off. It also only took about a third of my essence pool. That is all of hers plus a third of mine.

It still exhausted her, but it wasn’t so traumatic for Soph and, therefore, less traumatic for Carla.

Carla was back to her chocolate-coloured skin, no hair or eyebrows and smooth, callus-free skin. The wound she had made under her scales was still visible, so the change didn’t miraculously heal her. It is pretty miraculous, anyway.

Soph engulfed her in a big, soft, cuddly hug, and she fell asleep in her arms. So much for the promise of sex. Soph knew what she needed most.

I woke erect and engulfed in a warm mouth with a tongue swirling around. I looked down and saw a hairless and naked Carla grinning back at me. I also saw Soph lying awake across the room, watching us.

“Soph?” I queried. She had never been present before.

“It is OK, I don’t mind,” Soph said. “In fact, I am very interested in what you both feel during sex.”

Right. Emotions. Feelings. All that shit.

“So this is an experiment for you?” I asked as Carla kept up her work.

She giggled, “Yes, but a bit more than I would let my primary school kids do.”

“I should bloody hope so. So this is for science?” I asked.

Carla swung her body around so her rear end was directly over my face, and said, “For science,” and lowered herself down and went back to work on my member.

I am not the one to ruin an excellent scientific experiment, so I went to work.

It was only three orgasms later, two for Carla and one for me, that all our phones went off together with messages, and Carla’s started ringing.

“Carla’s phone, Soph speaking.”

“No, she can’t come to the phone right now.”

“Anawhata.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Two hours?”

“We’ll be there.” She hung up.

Shit, I could have used my hearing to listen to the whole conversation if I had thought about it. My mind is on other things.

I pushed Carla off to one side, “Shit, you are heavier.” She just grinned. We both looked at Soph.

“There is an anomaly found in Northern Australia. They want us to go with Amanda and some of the other available Enhanced. We fly out of the Whenuapai Air Force base in two hours.”

“It is going to take us an hour to get there. Shit, I hate being rushed.”

“So much for our training,” said Carla as we got up and started looking for clothes and packing.

“Shall we take both vehicles?” Soph asked.

“Probably a good idea,” I said. “How much should we tell them?” I ask.

“We should play it by ear,” Carla said, “We should decide what we don’t tell them.”

“Soph’s abilities,” I said immediately. “She is just the dog handler. They know about Buck and Rich but not Soph.”

“Agreed,” Carla said, and Soph nodded.

“What about you, Carla?” I asked.

“Let's play down the change improvement and the healing.”

I nodded, “Perhaps we should not reveal the ability to boost our mutations if we can; keep that up our sleeve. We have improved dramatically but hide the boosting.”

“OK, sounds like a plan,” Carla said.

“How long can you boost for on your Essence Pool?” I asked Carla.

“About an hour using it constantly. Short bursts are better.”

“I am more likely to boost in short bursts, using a particular sense at a time so that doesn’t use much Essence and it is replenished fast. If you had a constant draw, say six hours plus replenished, it would maybe keep you going for nine hours straight. Let's try not to test that, though.”

“I think my body would give up well before that,” Carla said.

I packed spears, spear guns, knives, and machetes into a bag with some clothes and general stuff. I wore a knife, and so did the others. The Air Force will not be worried about knives on a plane. The dogs were excited even though they didn’t know why.

Carla and Buck came with me, and Rich went with Soph in the SUV. We left with ten minutes to spare.

The Air Force base was busy. Their Boeing 757 was on the runway being loaded up. Lieutenant Lewis was there, and he called us over.

“I have taken the liberty of issuing you each a standard combat kit. I suggest you get changed once we are airborne.” He noticed Carla, “No scales? Fascinating. That will have to wait. I will be holding a briefing once we are in the air. We are heading straight to Darwin from here. You best get aboard. Will the dogs be Okay? I have got two cages on board if we need them.”

“The dogs should be fine,” Soph replied, “They can use the cages like a kennel, and it should be sufficient.”

We were ushered aboard and shown seats and the kits. Soph set the cages, and the dogs went in, but she didn't close the doors to them.

I looked around to see who I recognised. Ata wasn’t there, unfortunately. The Army were-dog guy was there, and a Navy guy with rat fur. Ensign Jeong was there, and Commander Lewis was the only other Enhance participant. Four military personel and the three of us. There were other normal army aboard.

“That’s a Special Forces Squad,” Carla said.

“I guess you don’t mean ‘special,’ as in retarded. They look too competent for that.”

“You are right,” Soph said, “They don’t look anything like the special kids I had in my classroom.”

Amanda and two other medical people were rushed aboard, and the door was closed. We were taxiing for the runway straight away.

Once we were in the air and levelled out, the speakers came on, “Good morning, everyone. I am Commander Lewis of the Royal New Zealand Navy. I am currently the overall commander of New Zealand’s joint Anomaly Response Unit. This means I am in command here regardless of whether you are in the Navy, Army, Air Force, or a Civilian. There are four civilians aboard. Dr Amanda Mohan is our leading medical researcher in Enhancements and Essence. Mr Wilkinson, Ms Hardcastle, and Ms Vaa’i are Enhanced, and we have two enhanced dogs aboard bonded to Ms Hardcastle.”

“This is roughly a ten-hour flight. I will hold a briefing in an hour so everyone can get settled first. For now, relax, get yourself sorted, and introduce yourself to others.”

The general noise and chatter rose as Lewis stepped away from the mic. People got up and sorted their gear. I figured I had better see what was included in this Combat kit. Basically, it was fatigues, boots, and a belt with pouches. There was a backpack with more pouches. There were hats and gloves. There were no guns or knives, but there was a basic first aid kit.

Carla left to get changed.

“Hello, I am Corporal Gibson.” It was the were-dog. “I just wanted to apologise for the barge again. I thought I was helping, but I'm sorry I stuffed up your plans.” He was primarily talking to Soph. “It seems to have worked out in the end.”

“Thank you for your apology. I was quite upset,” Soph replied.

“When we get somewhere civilised, let me buy you a drink. Since you are engaged to Ms Vaa’i, I will buy you both a drink.”

“Thank you, Corporal, that is appreciated,” Soph said.

The corporal went to walk away, and I heard a stranger say, “You dogs trying to get it on together?”

Gibson said, “Don’t make me deck you before we even land, Jenkins. She voluntarily went where you refused.”

Then a voice in the isle behind Jenkins said, “You won’t have to deck him if he doesn’t show respect to my Fiance.”

Jenkins spun around and towered over Carla, “And who are you, little girl? Bloody civilians shouldn’t be here, you won’t … Fuuuck!”

Carla had grabbed him by the balls. She manoeuvred him into an empty seat row and gave him a shove.

“I am the Bitch,” she introduced herself, “with a capital B.”

Jenkins was looking around for support.

“Don’t look at me,” I said. “I am the Bastard with a capital B.”

Soph stepped into the aisle next to Carla and smiled sweetly. “We may not be military, but we are a team. If you have trouble with one of us, you will have trouble with all of us. We are Enhanced. I am known as The Witch.”

She then grabbed her fatigues and headed down the aisle with Rich and Buck following.

I guess that was the introductions done.