27

"I guess that makes sense," says Flynn. "You all can fight them, because you're immortal. But if Tamru or I got caught, they actually could kill us. Just wipe our minds, drag us away, never to be seen again. We wouldn't even be enough food for them for the day."

Tamru settles his hands on the side of his head. "Just what those monsters needed, right? Another layer of nightmare terror."

Flynn stands up to stretch and knock some loose sand off of his body. "You know," he says, "I was worried that maybe coming up into the air, I'd start to lose progress on adapting. But just now, I got this feeling of warmth. I just feel really alive. A total glow. That must be it, right? I've adjusted?"

Tamru sits up to offer Flynn a high five. "That's the immortality rubbing off on you," he says. "Congratulations. You'll never get any older than this."

Flynn halfheartedly completes his half of the hand-slapping gesture. "I feel just blown away. Like it's still not real." He looks over at you. "Listen, there's something I wanted to ask you about," Flynn says. "I tried asking Tephra about it yesterday, but I feel like she didn't quite understand. I feel like there's a way to…to change my physiology. I mean, more than making me immortal and more than allowing me to breathe underwater. That I could make deliberate changes. Like, change how I look or something. Is that true?"

It is possible, but you don't want to give him any false hope. The whales probably have the ability to give him whatever he wants, but they aren't very keen on humans. You certainly can't blame them.