I was honestly getting somewhat bored, so I thought of a way to make her see the castle as grand - by changing her into a crab's size.
''I wish for Ava to turn into a crab,'' I said out loud. I had accidentally spoken the wish instead of thinking it.
Ava gave me a curious look. ''What was that just now?''
''Oh, nothing,'' I answered.
We continued working on the sand castle for a short while, not saying a word. Suddenly, Ava inspected her legs.
''Does this look like a sunburn to you? My skin's getting sorta red,'' she said.
I told her that it was fine, but I could tell she wasn't so sure. She tried to touch the ground, but Ava had no more feeling in her hands.
''Can we please go to the change room or something?'' she asked. ''I think I have a cramp, or something.''
And so we headed for the girl's change room. I watched her walking become somewhat wobbly. It was empty, so Ava allowed me to go in with her. She gave a small yelp as, on the mirror, Ava saw that her whole body was coated in red. I told her it was fine.
Normally I'd feel terrible about lying to Ava like that. But last year, she had dropped a number of live crabs in my swim suit. The result was not pretty.
Suddenly her fingers morphed together and took the form of giant pincers. Ava screamed. Crab legs started to form from her back, with three coming from each side. Ava's skin was now bright red. Her hips began to widen and her bikini bottom snapped off, leaving her bare.
(What happens next?)