Tails of A Half Blood: Birthmark

Getting Accustomed

I woke up that morning, feeling weird. A couple of days have passed since I first popped a tail. The first thing that came to mind was... a bath.  It was weird, having a constant craving for the water. Ever since I became a "fully-fledged mermaid" the water seems to be more of my home. Having a tail in the water, it felt perfectly natural. Having a tail on land? It just felt weird and stuck. I walked up to my bathroom, and turned on the bath. I even added some bubble spray in for some extra sparkle. After the bath is full, I pondered for a second. What if I got a tail and lost my legs forever? Calm down Blair. My conscience spoke to me. You've had changes all your life. Having a tail is nothing. I unchanged and got in the water. For the first 25 seconds I feel fine, before the strong tingling came back and I could swear for a second, I was made of water. A golden tail and my bikini appeared. Just to check that I wasn't dreaming, I gave my tail a flick and it responded. It felt a little strange, having your legs fused together and then growing into a giant fin. I stayed there for about 20 minutes thinking about this change, and what I could do. If dolphins could swim for miles, so could I. I could swim all the way to Hawaii. Can I really do  that? I mused in deep thought.

But suddenly, I heard knocking on the door. "Blair?" It was Teresa's voice. Oh man. If she sees me like this, I'm dunzo. I panicked in thought. Thinking quickly, I telekinetically locked the door and turned on the shower. By the way, I forgot to mention. I have super powers. I can control water, heat water and freeze water. I also can control the weather, turn invisible, superspeed swimming, I can talk to fish, , telekinesis, night vision, and manipulate the volume of objects. I also have something I like to call The Voice. If you've read mermaid myths, you might have read how mermaids or sirens used to use their voices to lure sailors to their deaths. I don't use The Voice to do that. If I use just amount of power, I can make other's do what I say. Literally!

"Yeah?" I reply meekly. "Your friends are here." Oh darn. I had forgotten that my besties were coming to hang out. "I'll be out in a minute, once I'm done with my shower!" I shouted.

Score! She bought it. At least I hope she did. I then heated my bath, so the water and my tail would dry up and I turned off the shower. Within seconds, once the steam cleared up, I had legs once again. I got out of the bathroom, got changed in clothes, and rushed down stairs.

"So whatcha wanna do?" asked Helen once we all were settled in.

"I say watch a movie!" proclaimed Yukimi.

"Hey Blair." said Rosalina.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"Did you use moisturizer? Your skin looks amazing!"

"No I didn't." I say.

"Then how come you look like you're 16?" Yukimi asked.

"First, I think it's cause I'm hydrated. Second, I can't use moisturizer, 'cause it's mainly water."

"So?" asked Helen.

"My skin will be dry and wrinkly! I'll be a geriatric by the time I'm 21!" I complained.

"It's not like you ever had a skin problem!" Helen remarked in her British sassy tone.

"Remember my scales on my legs?" I asked. 

"I meant acne!" She snapped

"See?" Rosalina asks. "See how bad this is? We have to tell someone! Our parents ,a doctor, the police."

"And then have I end up labeled as a what, not a who?" I ask. "No way, José."

"Blair's right Rose." Yukimi says. "We can't tell anyone."

"Not even Zac?" Rosie asked.

"No, not him." Helen snapped.

"But I'm sure he'll understand. He's a nice guy." Rosie tried to reason.

I wish I had told him, but back then I was completely unaware of the fact that my brother was a merman and he didn't know his little sister was a mermaid.

"No Rosie." I add on. "It's just too dangerous, people won't understand. I could be locked up."

"Why would you be locked up?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Because I'm different. Because I can do things other girls can't do. Because they may be scared of me. Think of the pod I saw the other night. How do you picture them on the run from human scientists who want to capture them or dissect them?"

"Ok." Rose says. "I won't say a word."

We then in the kitchen and no one is in the house. My brother Zac was on lifeguard duty with Cam. And my parents just left for grocery shopping.

"I just have one question. Why me? I didn't ask for any of this to happen." I say as I levitate a large drop of water and I catch it with my mouth.

"Well say goodbye for it to go all away 'cause you're a mer-freak now. No offense." Helen says.

"None taken." I muttered.

"You're just unbelievable. I mean look at yourself!" Yukimi exclaimed. "You're drinking water from mid-air! Anyone else would love to be able to do that! You've got these amazing gifts and all you do is whine, whine, and whine! I don't even have a tail!"

"The point?" I ask. "The point is Blair Blakely, is that you are a living dream come true of what most 6 year old girls dream of being: A mermaid!"

"I know how she feels, I don't want to hang around with me sometimes." Helen says.

"You wanna go swimming?" Rosalina says. "Sure!" Everyone but me says.

"Blair aren't you coming?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to make you all jealous when I swim with my tail."

"Blair, we've known since forever, we've seen your changes, and we're still not freaking out." Rosalina points out.

"What she means to say is, is that no matter what you are, we're your friends, and will never abandon you." Helen says.

I ponder for a minute. Was it really worth it? Swimming with humans? Regular humans who've never swam with flippers for feet? They are my friends but, I needed to be careful of witnesses.

"Sure, I'll go."

It had been 20 minutes of swimming and we're done. We're in my room. We've watched a movie, pigged out on ice cream. And we've had a laughs.

I am glad my friends are still here for me. But I still worry. How long can I keep my secret hidden, even with my BFF's to back me up? How long will it be before I make a wrong move and then everyone knows? When that happens, how long will it be before they come for that pod I met. I couldn't help but there was something about that red-haired mermaid, that seemed familiar, that went for the pod as well. Only in the future would the first part of my bunch of questions be answered.