Seasons

Chapter 9 - Changes

"Woah so wait," Rikki said, bringing her hands up to her head and closing her eyes, trying to make sense of it all, "what happened again?"

I sighed and looked up at them both. They stood by the bathroom door, peering in with weird expressions on their faces; half fear, half amazement.

"All I was doing was checking my phone and warming up the shower. I stuck my hand in the test the temperature and then ba bam, I have this thing." I gestured down to my legs.

Emily was the first to move as she tiptoed into the bathroom, crouching down on the floor beside me and setting down her camera. Rikki remained by the door, mouth open in shock as she stared.

"We came as fast as we could," said Emily quietly, biting her lip, "you parents must have already left for work as their cars are gone."

"And we're late for school," piped up Rikki, "not that I care." She laughed to herself, obviously pleased she could avoid Mr Taunton and his math class.

"I don't think we'll be going anyway at this rate," I said, looking from my friend back down to my tail.

Besides that fact that it was super creepy, it was undeniably cool. It was long and elegant, stretching across the floor and ending with a huge fin, but was evidently strong and muscular. The scales were shiny and silver but flashed purple as I shifted on the tiles, my elbows hurting from propping myself up. I flicked the end experimentally, watching it wave in astonishment. All my clothes we gone and I had scales over my top half, almost like a silvery bikini top.

Emily placed a hand lightly on it and I could feel her soft fingers tracing the shimmering scales. "Do you think it was the coral from yesterday?" She breathed.

"Yes..." I said uncertainly, "things have been weird since then. Didn't you say that they have been for you too?"

"Yeah," she replied, nodding, attention still fixed on my lower half, "I have plants in my room, but they all grew like crazy in the space of a few minutes."

I must have looked at her weirdly as she hurried on to explain. "I went upstairs to dump my bag then realised I had left my camera charger downstairs. When I got back to my room, I could barely get to my bed because of the leaves and creepers everywhere."

"That's insane," said Rikki, "I'm pretty sure the coral made us trip or something."

"No no no," I said, shaking my head, "I was burned yesterday by the rain like it was acid, but the wounds healed instantly as I watched them, almost like our cuts yesterday."

We sat in silence for a moment and digested this, thinking it all through. There was no explanation other than the coral injecting something into our system when it spiked us, because the weird things had only been going on since then.

"Do you think it happens to us all?" I asked them both, "I mean the tail."

"I honestly don't know," said Emily as Rikki stepped into the bathroom, shutting the door quietly behind her.

"Well," said Rikki as she pulled her backpack off her shoulders, "there's only one way to find out."

She marched over to the shower and turned it on, sticking her arm under the water.

"Oh my god!" Yelped Emily, "Rikki you're crazy! We don't even know if it's reversible, we can't be stuck like this forever."

"Better here than in the pool this evening," she said with a shrug. "How long long did it take Alex?"

"I don't know," I said, looking at her with a worried expression, "maybe like te-"

"Crap!" She cried out as she went crashing to the floor, barely missing my tail as I pulled it out the way quickly.

She lay next to me, an apologetic look on her face. "Guess that settles it."

"You two are idiots," said Emily hysterically, "now you're both stuck here as, I don't know, mermaids!" She stood up and stormed over to the shower, shutting off the water, careful to not get any on herself.

Rikki giggled and rolled over to inspect herself in wonder. Her tail was similar to mine in length colour, but had tints of green instead of purple. The back of the tail had a row of tiny frilled fins that were translucent and spiked at the ends. The crazy part though was how our skin stopped just below our belly buttons and blended into the silver tail. I didn't feel like my legs were trapped inside, but it felt more liked they had just morphed into one big leg that just happened to be a tail. I thumped it onto the tiles, swishing the end back and forth.

"Well," I said with a laugh, "this is has been fun but we are seriously late for school."

"I really don't think you two will be going to school like that," said Emily sternly, quickly picking up her camera before Rikki smashed into it as she waved her tail around with a huge smile on her face. She was obviously enjoying this.

"But, if it was the water that turned you," mumbled Emily, getting to her feet slowly, "I bet it is what turns you back..."

"What?" Said Rikki at her feet, holding her tail still as she looked at her expectantly, "no Em I want to see if this happens to you to-"

"Shh," she hushed, holding a finger out and looking around the bathroom, "I just need..."

She walked over to my sink, pulling open a cupboard and pulling things out, rummaging around and muttering to herself. I look at Rikki expectantly but she just furrowed her brows and shrugged.

"Got it!" Cried Emily, holding a hair drier up triumphantly.

"Seriously? You're going to blow dry us?" Said Rikki looking very unimpressed.

"As a matter of fact yes," she said, striding back over to us, pulling a few towels off the rack and plugging in the drier before settling down between us.

She switched it on, blowing it against her thigh experimentally. She chucked a towel at me with the other hand and ordered me to start drying myself. I quickly obeyed and ran it over my tail, mopping up the moisture and splashes from the shower when Rikki turned. Emily turned the hot air towards me, fanning it over my scales and rubbing a white towel over them at the same time.

After about five minutes of drying, my tail began to tingle. I grabbed Emily's wrist as I felt pins and needles skitter across it. We all watched in silent wonder as it melted back into legs, the silver literally running off my skin in beads and sizzling as they hit the tiles.

When the steam had cleared, I was left with two long legs and my pyjamas still intact, thank god. I wiggled my toes cautiously, "Hey it worked!"

"Thought it would," said Emily smugly, "Rikki?" She asked, switching the hairdryer onto full power and attacking Rikki who yelped in protest at how it was too hot.

I stood up, my legs shaking nervously. That was so weird. I picked up the wet towel off the floor between my fingertips at the corner, hanging it up and quickly drying my hand on my bathrobe hanging next to it. I waited a few tense seconds, looking down at my legs to see if I would change. But they didn't. Wiping off the water within ten seconds must stop the transformation.

I heard a sizzling behind me and turned to see normal Rikki sitting in the middle of the bathroom with a disappointed look on her face. Emily wrapped the cord around my hairdryer and put it back before hanging up all the towels.

"I think this calls for a day off school," she said as she brushed herself off.

"Never ever did I think I'd hear Emily Stone say she'd bunk off school," chuckled Rikki, shaking her head and laughing.

"Oh shut up," she replied, pretending to be angry but cracking a smile.

"Anyway," I said as I opened the door, "breakfast?"