It was about time I joined her. Amanda was graceful and quick in the water. She was having a fantastic time swimming in the pool. I made a quick wish and disappeared from the room. After feeling the sudden rush the ring gave me, I found myself standing on the 10 foot platform that ringed the pool. Amanda was doing a breast stroke. When she reached the end of the lane, she looked up to see me.
"Well, I was wondering when you'd get down here. This is a fantastic pool, Joe. It is a bit deep, though, for competition," she told me.
"I like to scuba dive, and it's probably about 30 feet, perfect for a few shallow dives. If you want, I could replace the pool with a paint pan, that way you have a shallow end."
"This is just fine," she said, lifting herself out of the water. Water drained down from her suit and wetted the platform. She grabbed a towel and wrapped her young body in it.
"Scuba diving, huh. Is that what you want to do?"
"Thinking about it. Been awhile since I've been diving. You know how?" I asked her.
"Never have. Been curious to know, but I never have. Perhaps someday," she said with a shiver. She was shaking, curled in the towel.
"Cold?" I asked.
"Yeah, being in the water helps keep you warm," she replied.
"I wish you were dry," I commanded. Instantly Amanda's suit and skin was dry.
"Oh, that feels better. We'll have to get a light and make this a tropical paradise," she teased.
"Perhaps," I said with a smile. "Ready to grow up?" I asked her.
She pouted. "Not really. There's no need to be 25 until tomorrow morning," she concluded.
"Well, the reason I ask is a curiosity about mermaids."
She giggled at that. "What, turn me into a siren of the seas?" she teased.
"Perhaps. If you wanted to, of course," I offered.
"Do I get to kiss you and turn you into a merman?" she flirted.
"Maybe. I'd like to enchant that bathing suit, so if you wanted to be 16, all you have to do is put it on. I'd like to learn if I can do that," I explained my intentions.
"Oh, that sounds cool. But how does being a mermaid fit into this?" she questioned.
"I was thinking of enchanting another bathing suit that makes you a mermaid. Simply put it on and you'd have the body of a mermaid," I explained.
"So, take off the bathing suit and put on another one, right here, in front of you," she charged.
I blushed, realizing what she was thinking. "Amanda, no. I don't think that would be right. I hardly know you. No, here..." I said, turning and wishing a changing room to appear, complete with a shower, toilet and plenty of towels inside. "You can use that. I don't want to see you nude," I asserted.
"Good. I'm not ready for that. I loved the movie Little Mermaid," she added.
"I didn't think transforming you with a one-piece would work all that well. You have a bikini you like?" I asked.
"I do, but I don't wear it often. Call me modest," she said with a hint of red on her face.
"Amanda, that's a very admirable quality. Want to go get it?"
"Sure!" she headed for the railing. I laughed. "Oh, I need to..." she disappeared suddenly.
Amanda found herself standing over the coffee table, "be norm... Oh." She looked down to see the 1" tall form of Joe waving at her. She waved back and admired the little pool they had. She turned to her task and went into her bedroom. After digging in her drawers, she pulled out the blue bikini. She rarely wore it. It generated a lot of attention when she wore it. Since working out at the YWCA, she hasn't worn it much. She took it and went back to her living room.
Joe saw her standing over him, holding a bundle of blue cloth in her hand. A quick wish brought her down to size. Amanda gasped. "Wow, I didn't realize how small you had made us. Talk about teeny-tiny. I brought my bikini," she said, holding the two articles in her hands.
"Good. Let's give this a try. I wish the bikini in Amanda's hands turn those who wear it into a mermaid only while it is worn." Amanda and I watched, but nothing visibly happened to the suit. Amanda didn't feel anything either.
"That kinda is expected. I think we only notice when we are changed, not something else," I concluded. "Now, about your bathing suit."
Amanda just looked at me. "This could be weird," she commented.
"Hopefully it won't. But you may feel something. Ready?" I asked. She nodded. "I wish Amanda's bathing suit would make its wearer 16 years old and its effects would end when it's taken off." I watched both the suit and Amanda glow for a few seconds. Amanda closed her eyes and softly gasped. "You okay?" I asked.
"Oh," she said asasperated, "I'm quite fine. I'm still 16," she said, after looking herself over.
"You're still wearing it," I noted. "Go try it out."
"Okay," Amanda agreed and turned around. She disappeared into the changing room. I wished up scuba gear and a shortie wetsuit. A cry of amazement came from the changing room.
"All okay in there?" I shouted.
"Yes," a frantic reply came. "It worked, I'm older again!"
"Good. I hope all else if fine?"
"Well, I'm due in two weeks," she laughed.
"What?" I replied.
"My checkout date. I'm due in two weeks," she said louder.
I laughed. "Oh, that's right! Not sure if I'll return you. May have to renew you," I teased back.
A few minutes later, "It works," came a slightly higher voice.
Later on, "I don't see how this bikini turned me into a mermaid," Amanda shouted from the room.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because," she said, stepping out of the room, "I'm still the same." My jaw dropped. She was beautiful in the shiny blue suit. My heart skipped a second. She gave me a shy pose and walked up to me.
"I didn't feel any different after I put it on," she explained. "I can tell by your reaction that you like this?"
I was quiet for a moment, then said, "well, you look incredible." I blushed. "What prompted you to buy that?"
"A Spring Break trip in college. I wore it only once and have kept it hidden since," she confessed. "My girl friend at the time thought it was perfect. However, when I wore it, it brought back memories of high school. So, it's been stuffed in a drawer for a couple of years."
"Amanda, I hope you don't mind the request to wear it," I asked.
"No, it's okay. If I can't wear this in front of the person who turned me into a book, who else would I trust in the world to see me in it? It's fine. But why am I not a mermaid?"
"You're not wet!" With that, I picked her up in my arms and carried her to the pool's edge. I dropped her in.
She hit the water and splashed me. She sunk under the water and her metamorphesis took place quickly. Her bikini bottoms turned into iridescent blue skin that covered both legs. Both legs quickly merged together into one, making a single long extremity. Her feet bent and turned into fin. Her upper torso remained as it was.