Vivi Faye felt herself being shaken awake. She opened her bleary eyes and waited for the world to come into focus. Not even magic could ease the frustration of being suddenly roused from your sleep in the middle of the night. Once Vivi could see straight, she saw Pearl Silverscales kneeling over her, grinning excitedly.
"Hi, Vivi!" Pearl chirped happily.
"Wha...what is it?" Vivi choked out, straining to stay awake.
"I was thinking," the humanized mermaid grinned, "I'll be living in this town for a while. Think you could show me all the coolest places here?"
"It's the middle of the night, and Mom and I stay up late!" Vivi groaned. "Couldn't you just go to sleep like we're trying to do?"
"But I'm just so excited!" said Pearl.
"You were singing a pretty different tune last night," said Vivi. "I thought you were panicking about being trapped on the land. You didn't sound like you LIKED it."
"I don't like the thought of being stuck here FOREVER," Pearl explained. "Now that Morgana's found a way to help me, it's more like I'm on a thrilling adventure!"
Vivi sighed. Mermaids were notoriously perky and playful. Humans describe them as half human and half fish, but it was probably more accurate to say they were half human and half faerie. They were equally close relatives of both. As such, it was hard to keep a mermaid glum (or sitting still) for long.
"So?" Pearl said after a pause. "Can we go?"
"Mom wouldn't like us going out alone at night," said Vivi. "Especially not when I should be resting up for the gate-summoning ritual tomorrow."
Pearl pouted. Tears began to well up in her eyes.
Vivi winced. As hard as it was to upset one for long, mermaids were very easy to devastate in short bursts... and nobody could cry like one. "Okay, fine! I'll take you on a little tour of Stokerville. Just a little one, though! Then I really do need some freaking sleep."
Pearl perked up instantly. Mermaids really were as changeable as the tides. She threw her arms around a very startled Vivi. "Super! You're the best witch ever! What'll we see first?"
"Probably Inferno," said Vivi. "It's the coolest club in town, and it should be pretty simple to enchant the bouncers into thinking we're old enough to go in!"
Pearl clapped her hands together. "Storming!"
"Uh, what?" asked Vivi.
"Oh, mermaid slang," said Pearl. "It means 'cool'."
"Gotcha," Vivi nodded. "We'll hit the town as soon as we've changed out of our pajamas."