Jenny gasped, swallowing a mouthful of water...and realized she wasn't drowning. After that initial shock, she struggled to get her bearings and finally realized which way the surface was.
On the surface, she tried to take stock of the situation. The sun had gone down, but the moon was low in the sky and lit up the water around her. She examined herself as best she could in the limited light as she remembered what had happened earlier. Webbed hands, long hair, bigger boobs, and a fishtail from the waist down. Classic mermaid. Her hair and tail her pink, not that she could really see the color very well. She had also somehow gotten a pair of seashell pasties, which seemed pointless. She gently pulled off the shells and tossed them away.
Jenny experimented with her new tail, getting a feel for what had previously been her legs. Realizing she was not far from shore, Jenny swam back to the beach and rode the surf in. She dragged herself onto the sand and considered her options. She could stay here or maybe find an island offshore. She wasn't sure how well she could manuever in the dark water and she started to become worried a shark might eat her.
As the minutes passed, she hoped maybe she'd dry off and her legs would return, like in the movies. Her tail started to feel dry, but it wasn't changing at all. Her tail started to ache from drying out and breathing was becoming more difficult. Jenny remembered part of Kyle's words: "You will be forced to stay in the water until sunrise." Now she understood why.
She had no choice: back into the ocean until sunrise...