Mary blinked her eyes and suddenly found herself in an entirely different place. As fast as her eyelids had moved, the setting around her changed from a dreary bathroom to a sunny cove. She was in the exact same position as she had been lying in the tub, however now her body was resting in a shallow pool formed by a group of rocks. She was on a rocky part of a long shoreline, with a sandy beach not far away. Blue ocean spread into the horizon in front of her. She could hear seagulls calling and waves gently rolling onto the shore.
"How did I get here?" she asked, bewildered. She sat in the cool water for some time, simply enjoying the breeze and the warm sunlight on her remaining human skin.
When she was a girl, she had read stories about mermaids with magical powers. Perhaps she had willed herself to come here? Could she do other magic? She concentrated and tried to do things like levitate and part the ocean, but nothing seemed to work. Then she thought of her bathroom and felt the water turn mildly hot. She opened her eyes and saw the tiled walls of her shower. Mary had returned to her warm bathwater. She looked around, trying to figure out if she had only hallucinated her ocean visit. But she knew there was only one way to find out...try to go back.
She thought about the beach once more, and instantly transported again to the rocky shore. Excitement welled inside of her as she wondered what she should do next.