"The picnic part; I mean," Karyn added quickly. "I'm not sure wishing ourselves elsewhere is such a good idea. What if we can't get back?"
"I just did." I smiled. "Wishing to move from one place to another doesn't contradict another move. So we can move whenever we want."
"All right." Karyn looked back at the house. "Should we take something to eat?"
I held up the rock. "Why? We can order anything we want."
She giggled. "Then let's go."
I thought for a moment; then said "I wish we were on my boat in the Land of Things that Disappear."
I blinked; and suddenly we were standing under a star-studded sky. On one horizon the sky was just beginning to glow with the first light of dawn; and three crescent moons hung nearly overhead. I almost fell down when the deck underfoot moved.
Jon caught me and chuckled. "Boats do rock on the waves. Though the tide wasn't this high when I was here before."
"Could you ... wish up some information on the sights and such?"
He pointed to a huge book on a table. "Already tsken care of. Dig in while I raise anchor."
I opened the book and began skimming the table of contents ...
I pulled the oversized anchor up and started the boat moving towards a high peak while Karyn paged through the book. Maybe I can find a beach that will be beach at high tide, I thought.
I found a very pretty lagoon after a while. Just as I was dropping anchor Karyn touched me on the shoulder.
I jumped; almost following the anchor inro the water.
"This is a water world," Karyn said. "with only a few strings of islands."
"So?"
She grabbed the rock from me. "I wish we could be better equipped for exploring this place."
The blink and look away reaction was accompanied by a tingle inside me. And from Karyn's shiver she felt it too. "Sorry. I meant scuba gear or something..." She handed the rock back with a sheepish look. "At least it doesn't look like it did anything bad."
"I definitely felt something." I looked down into the clear water and saw a large fish swim by. Suddenly I wanted to catch that fish ... and I felt my bady starting to flow. "I wish I knew what that was," I mumbled as Karyn let out a little scream.
Suddenly a one word answer flashed in my brain. Were-otter.
I shifted back to human, then took Karyn by the shoulders. "I think that will work out very well." I smiled. "We are were-otters. Perfect for exploring land and sea; I'd say. Now let me put this rock away and we can begin."
"Shouldn't we get something to eat first?"
I shifted to my morph form. "I think us otters can catch lunch and have fun doing it."
She nodded; and I could hear her giggling while I secured the rock and its box in a locker below deck. I padded back on deck after taking off my clothes.
"Naked?" Karyn said when she saw me.
"It's a desert island." I chuckled and ran my finger claws through my fur. "Besides; who needs clothes when one has a built in fur coat."
"All right.," she said after a moment. She slowly shifted to morph form, then peeled off her clothes.
"Last one to the beach gets to swab the deck!" I yelled - and dove over the side. A second splash told me Karyn was following.
