“Lyra, time for dinner!” I hear my dad beckoning from downstairs. 

“Just a second, I’m almost done!” I reply, rapidly finishing my French homework. “Almost...got it...finally! Finished!” I put my pencil down and run down the stairs, where my dad is waiting. I take a seat and begin to eat silently. I must be making a face, because my dad is noticeably worried. 

“What's wrong, my little seal pup?” He asks. I scoff. 

“Could you stop calling me that? I’m not six anymore, Dad.” He sighs. 

“You seem to be pondering something. What's wrong?” I groan. “You haven’t called me once all day.” 

“So?” 

“So?! For the past month you’ve had me on a tight leash despite the fact that I’m always where I say I am and obey every order you give, and now you don’t obsessively call me? Do you want to control me or not?” 

“Control you? No! It just wasn’t the right time.” 

“The right time? Stop being so cryptic!” 

I take my plate and go to my room. I can hear my dad calling after me, but I ignore him. I slam my bedroom door, locking it.

I open my gift from Abby. It’s a box and inside it is the most beautiful queen conch shell I’ve ever seen. There’s a note from Abby saying that she found it on the beach. I unwrap David’s gift. It’s a maroon velvet jewelry gift box. I open it. Inside is a platinum ring with a larimar jewel. I put it on my right ring finger. It fits perfectly. Man, I shouldn’t have been so mean to my dad, but it’s too late, I can’t apologize now. I sit on my bed and use my phone to pass the time.

I look outside, checking the time. It’s almost midnight. I get out of bed to put on my jewelry and brush my hair. I have the strange urge to not wear a swimsuit. I don’t know why, but instead, I open the box full of silk dresses. I find a beautiful jet black dress unlike the other ones. This one has a different design. Unlike the rest of the dresses, it’s backless and strapless, as well as being the only black one. I feel oddly drawn to it, and I put it on. Carefully and quietly, I open my bedroom door, silently walking down the hall until I reach my dad’s room. I jiggle the doorknob to see whether or not I need to pick the lock. Instead of the doorknob jiggling, the door opens. Strange, he always locks the door. Oh well, maybe he forgot. I tiptoe inside. He’s snoring softly. I carefully open the drawer on his nightstand and pick up the key to the front door. Dad turns over in his sleep, facing me. I freeze. Great, now I’m caught. But he just keeps snoring. I sigh quietly, relieved, and then I walk out of the room as fast as I can, closing the door behind me.

I run down the stairs, past the living room until I reach the front door. I quickly unlock it and step outside. I close the door as quietly as I can,  locking it, and then I start running to Abigail’s house.

I throw a stone. She doesn’t answer. I throw another one, and she opens the window. “Shh! My parents and sister are home and they’re all asleep! I’m coming right down.” Abby harshly whispers, jumping down from her second story bedroom window without any warning. 

“I’m guessing you’ve done this before.” I notice. 

“Yeah, well, I crash Nathan’s parties all the time, don’t I? Don’t worry. My parents keep a spare house key under the welcome rug.” 

We begin walking. 

“Look down at your feet, okay?” I remind her. Abby nods.

We finally reach the lagoon, and Abby enthusiastically takes off her cover up, revealing a swimsuit underneath. She runs into the water, splashing around in it. “Wow, the water’s really warm! You’ve got to try this!” She beckons. I walk into the water slowly. “Aren’t you going to take off the dress? It’s really pretty, it would be a shame if you ruined it.” I shake my head. 

“I don’t know why, but I felt like wearing it.” Abby shrugs and turns around. “Wait, don’t!” I shout, but it’s too late. 

Abby’s body tenses and she walks deeper into the water. I run after her, trying to physically stop her, even getting in front of her to push her to shore. I look into her eyes and gasp. Her amber eyes are dull. She keeps on walking. I get behind her and tug on her arm, but she’s too strong. She gets in the water completely. I have no choice. I dive in after her. The moon spell seems to have worn off now that she’s no longer in the shallows. She’s flailing around, screaming. My legs become numb. I can’t feel them anymore, but I don’t care. I grab her and swim to the shore, where I gently push her onto the sand. I perform CPR and she coughs up water, taking desperate breaths. After a final gasp of air, she turns toward me. 

“You...you saved me.” She gasps. 

“Of course I did. You’re my best friend. Try looking at the moon, see if it still affects you.” She looks behind me at the moon. 

“I’m fine. I think we’ve had enough fun for one night, right Ly?” She asks.

“Yeah, let’s go home.” I reply.

I try bending my right knee to crawl onto the sand, but nothing happens. I try the other leg, but I can’t move it either. 

“Uh, Abby, can you give me a hand? I can’t move my legs.” 

Abby takes both of my hands and slowly drags me onto the sand. She looks at me and immediately drops me, screaming. 

“Ow! What did you do that for?!” 

I complain. I look up at my friend and she’s covering her mouth, her eyes filled with terror. She’s looking at me, no, rather, she’s looking at something right behind me.

“What’s going on?” I grumpily ask. 

“Hey, uh, Lyra?” Abby says, slowly taking her hands off her mouth. 

“Yeah?” 

“Can you flip over onto your back? And please, promise not to scream.”

“What are you talking about? Just help me out!” 

“Just do what I say!” Abby insists. 

“Okay, fine, if you say so.” I flip over onto my back. “Okay, so there’s the moon. It’s pretty, I get it, why are you acting like that?” I ask, annoyed now. 

“Look at your legs, Lyra, your legs.” I hear Abby reply. 

I look down at my legs and gasp. My legs aren’t there anymore. Instead from the waist down, there’s a fish tail that’s white, with the iridescence of mother of pearl.

I’m a mermaid.