"Keep away from me!" sobbed Lilia.
"I don't understand" said Drew. "What's happened? What's wrong?"
"Something terrible. I don't quite understand myself. But I'm...I'm not...just stay away..."
Drew ignored her protests and walked over to the corner. He sat down against the wall and tried to put his arms around her, but she flailed in protest.
"No! Get away!"
Lilia was terrified of what had happened. She wasn't human, but she wasn't a mermaid either. She'd never been in between states like this and had no idea how long it might last. Was she stuck like this? She kept her true mermaid form secret because she didn't know how Drew would react, but in her current form she was sure his reaction would be revulsion.
Drew ignored her protests and her flailing and successfully put his arms around her. She tried to hammer her fists on his chest in frustration, but he held her too close. She resorted to more sobbing. The two of them simply sat there on the floor until Lilia finally stopped crying.
"Better?" Drew finally asked.
"You're going to hate me. I'm hideous now."
"I don't know what you're talking about. You're beautiful and I love you!"
"You wont say that when you see what has happened to my legs."
Drew had no idea what she was talking about. Then his eyes started to widen. Lilia followed his gaze to the edge of the blanket where part of one foot fin was poking out far enough to see it was clearly a fin and not a foot.
Before Lilia could react, Drew pulled away the blanket to reveal her body. Her feet had flattened and broadened into something resembling flippers worn by scuba divers. Her legs remained seperate, but irregular spoltches of golden scales were scattered across both legs. Aside from the splotches, her legs looked normal.
Drew looked over her body trying to take it all in. His brain tried to process it. Lilia was turning into a frog? A fish? He wasn't really sure what, much less how.
"Does it hurt?" Drew asked.
"Only a little."
"We need to get you to the hospital."
"No! I can't go to a hospital!"
"Why not? You said you don't understand what's happening to you."
"Not completely."
"Please tell me the truth Lilia."
"I have a secret."
"Clearly."
"I'm a mermaid."
"You're turning into one?"
"I was born one. I take a serum to become human. I've been taking it for years, but I used to have time to spend as a mermaid even though I was usually human. Since I moved in here I've been taking the serum every day and haven't been a mermaid at all. I took my daily dose right before dinner, but it seems not to have worked - at least not completely."
"Then what happened?"
"That's what I don't know. Maybe my body has built up some kind of tolerance to the serum? This has never happened before."
They sat in silence for a moment.
"So if you became a mermaid completely your legs would become a tail the same color as these scaly splotches?"
"Yes."
"I'd like to see what you look like as a mermaid."
Lilia's heart soared.
"Hopefully you'll get a chance. I don't want to be stuck like this!"
"Anything you want to try that might cause the change to either reverse or finish?"