New Scales and Tails

A Cruddy Morning

Avery walked down the stairs in the morning, feeling tired and confused, which is not a good way to start off a morning.

She was greeted by her mother, who was holding a cup of coffee and seemed to be heading to her office. "Morning, pumpkin!" She smiled. She was obviously in a better mood than yesterday. Perhaps she was most hopeful. "Anything happen?"

Avery didn't know what to do. She wanted to tell her mother her mermaid powers, but something was telling her to keep it a secret. Maybe it was her common senses. After all, her mother was a scientist. She could experiment on her! Avery didn't think her mother would do such a thing, but she didn't know. She didn't know anything.

"Nope!" Avery lied quickly, sounding too cheerful.

Her mother nodded, looking disappointed. "Okay. Well...I suppose I'll leave you here in case something happens at school."

A free day off?

"Okay! Thanks, Mom!" Avery smiled sweetly. She was excited.

Her mother nodded, seeming distracted by something in her office. She walked away.

Avery walked to the kitchen, where Sammy was eating her waffles. "Did your skin turn blue yet?" Sammy teased.

Avery glared at her sister as she sat down in her chair. "No."

Sammy laughed at her little joke.

Avery rolled her eyes, and noticed her hand. She finally knew what happened when smoke filled her room...she had magical powers of boiling things. She practiced late last night when she was thirsty, and did not turn into a mermaid again.

Avery smiled, and closed her hand into a fist, focusing on Sammy's waffle. Her fingers tingled and twitched with power.

"Why are you staring at my waffle? There's some in the fridge you can stare at." Sammy smirked.

Avery ignored her.

Suddenly, the waffle was burned, showing all black. Sammy noticed it straight away. "How-how did you do that?" Sammy sputtered.

Their mother walked into the kitchen. "Avery, did you-" She noticed the waffle too. "Avery, are you putting things on FIRE?"

Avery's plan had backfired, and she knew she should've thought this through. Her plan was to shut Sammy up by distracting her, but all it did was put all eyes on Avery.

"Mom! I didn't do this!" Avery lied again for the second time that day within 5 minutes.

"Well, the chemicals did." Her mother said matter-of-factly. She picked up the waffle and looked at it closely. "Have a dip in the pool. Maybe it'll cool you off."

"Yeah. Later." Avery agreed.

Her mother walked away again with Sammy's waffle in her hand.

"Why later?" Sammy asked, nosy as always. "You've gone swimming in front of the family before."

"Don't turn this into something it's not." Avery warned, pointing her finger at Sammy angrily.

"What's so different?" Sammy asked, continuing to taunt.

Avery smirked, playing along to Sammy's silly game. "The chemicals."

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Avery heard the front door close from the top of the stairs, where she was hiding with her bathing suit on. Her mother and Sammy had just left.

Avery grinned. Mermaid time.