A Tail Fully Exposed

The Deep Blue Sea

              "I feel funny." Liv says, turning over in the sand and puking out some of the alcohol.

     "How long till these things go away?" Crystal moans, soaking in the sun.  I shrug my shoulders and lay back.

     SPLASH!

     A dolphin slams into the water, soaking us. No chance of drying off now.

     "Really! You little-" I cover Crystals mouth and pin her in the sand as she tries to flop after it.

     "Maybe we should just swim." Liv says, wiping her mouth. Crystal shakes her head.  I glance out at the open ocean. Waves crash onto the beach and the pod of dolphins play in the sun. I've always wanted to swim with dolphins, today I could do that in a whole new way.

     "I'm gonna go have some fun." I say, dragging myself into the water. Once I get into the deeper water I give some hard flaps and reach the stunned dolphins. A baby stares me down, swimming toward me cautiously, its mother watching my every move.

     She stops only inches from me, looking at the tail attached to  my body. Knowing I look like a human, but also a fish.

    "Hi," I say, surprisingly clear through the water. The baby seems shocked by my voice.

     "You speak dolphin? How?" She ask me. I understand every word as if I'd studied this language for years.

     "I didn't know I could."  I says amusingly.

     "You look like a person, but you swim and talk like us. Why?" She asks.

     "I don't know, this happened to me not too long ago. Id love to know the answer to the question as well."

    "Why?" Lots of questions from such a young creature. The mother suddenly swims up making an interesting dolphin laugh noise.

    "That's her favorite question, and you're the first mermaid I've seen in a while. First for Sea." She says, nodding towards her curious daughter.

     "You mean, me and my friends aren't the only ones?" I ask, suddenly swimming up and jumping high for the sky as happiness surges through me. Water splashes everywhere, including crystal and Liv as I land back in the water.  They look at me like i'm a psycho.

     "You think this is some kind of game?" Crystal asks, giving me an angry look.

     "No, but the dolphins say they have seen mermaids before. Maybe they can help us."

     "I'm sorry, what? We are not mermaids. No such thing." Crystal says., trying to drag herself to a dry part of the sand. A dolphin lets out a watery chuckle.

     "Then explain, what's this?" I say, flapping my tail out of the water and smashing it down, making a loud clapping noise that soaks the sand she just moved to.

     "A tail." She sighs, rolling her eyes.

     "And what's this?" I point to my upper half. I hear a chuckle, but coming from Liv this time.

     "Whatever," She starts to make her way to the waters edge and drags herself in. "Dolphin that Kate can suddenly understand, how did this happen to us?"

     "Well," the Mother starts off. Crystal swims backwards a little bit, eyes wide. Liv soon  joins us in the water, struggling to get the hang of her new tail.

     "I can't say from certain the exact details, but I know everything is tied to that island. Somehow the crystal inside comes to life when three girls that it has chosen enter the pool. It's magic gave you those."