Arron Murphy could not believe how fortunate he was to be accepted tothat university. The one that was near the beach that had the perfectlagoon for racing rowing sculls. This was the same university that wasknown for the number of buxom beauties that seemed to exist in all thesororities, and worked the shops and cafes and bars in the nearby mall.There was the smell of fall in the air, brick and granite buildings.University lawns idyllic to the inlet that lead to the lagoon Theperfect mix of a mediterranean climate and a classic ivy covered agelessinstitution. Arron was exited, Not only one he selected for the frathouse that had the most members of the racing team, He was picked to bethe next Coxswain by none other than Buck Hickam himself.Buck had attended the cross town rival preparatory school. He was a fewyears older than Arron. Arron had never won a race against him. Nowthey were to be team mates. Buck was going to take him under wing andtrain him to be his successor. There was however one catch.Buck always bet the new initiates, that they might meet a mermaid, afterthe first trials were over and the crews selected, this would also be thelocation where they would have a swim and a bit of a getting to know eachother party. To make the deal more fair that it was not a set up, thelocation was to be secret. This way no one could put on a costume andswim past the club."You mean merman?" asked Arron."Tradition has it to be a mermaid." Buck put emphasis on the word maid.Look bud, I did this myself when I became captain and Coxswain. It isall in good fun. There is a fabric store in the mall that has theperfect fabric for the tail. They pretend to not know what it is for,but they get the right stuff anyway.Now here's the trick, You get ready at the old abandoned boathouse, onthe estuary to the inlet to the lagoon. Have a waterproof case for yourmobile. I'll text you the gps coordinates where to swim too.Now Arron was an up and comer. His frat was also one of those whoproduced the leaders of tomorrow, today. People who were going to dosomething in the world. Unlike the old boy frat that sometime held weirdcostume parties with the sororities. This boarding house collective waswas into tech. In most ways it was not even a traditional frat. It wasmore of a maker/hacker communal space. None of that greek letter stuff. This was about pure science and engineering.Arron was a perfectionist. He watched a number of You-Tube vids on howto be a mermaid. Others were on how to make up to look like a doll withbig eyes, by using toriodial contacts lenses. Arron likes a challenge,and these were cheap, and came with a kit that had all the stuff neededto cosplay one's favorite anime character, a search on his mobileindicated that these would be available in the local mall, which alsoshipped mail order worldwide, Click now pick up in person.Arron saw that the name of the shop was something like Spells R Online.Arron clicked the order. There was also a listing, under the "peoplealso added to the cart header," for a water resistant mermaid wig andglue, with remover. Arron liked to keep his hair short, almost shaved.His face was a bit on the effeminate side, so he felt the skinhead looksuited him. Usually he wore a straw boater or some other classicchapeau, which helped give that preppy look. He liked polo shirts andtweed jackets. Arron clicked the add coupon code for the wig.Arron thought the mall looked a bit rundown. It had recently changedownership several times. Supposedly it was now part of a large Hong Kongreal estate conglomerate. A whole wing of the mall was being demolished.This was being replaced by a strip mall with high density housing in theupper floors. The big department store anchor had been bought by thecompetitor, then closed several years later. The new stuff looked likeit was made with a cookie cutter, Or a kid making sandcastles on thebeach.Arron searched the maze that made up the mall for the fabric store. Hethought it was in the old part that was being updated. A collection ofvertical delineators were tied together with caution tape. These are theweighted orange plastic tubes that are often seen around constructionsites; but no one knows the name of. Some of the caution tape had comeoff one of the delineators folded over onto itself. This made the tapelook like a string. Arron picked this up to attach it back to the thinwobbly orange post, with the phallic looking knob on the top. The tapewould not attach to the knob as intended. He felt compelled to follow theloose caution tape. It lead through twists and turns, where the newconstruction bordered the worn down seedy parts of the mall.The delineators ended In a part of the mall, he did not quite remember.There was a shop with the name of the place to pick up the cosplay kitand bonus wig. This part of the mall looked a bit dark. Like it was litby torches and open flame brazers out of the corner of the eye or behindsones back. The light seemed to flicker. The door was made of wood.Like the torches he though there was some sort of diamond leaded glasswindows like would be on a fairy tail cottage. Was there was a thatchedroof? Above the roof there was a sign proclaiming:SPELLS R US.Letting go of the caution tape, Arron opened the door. A bell rang.There was a familiar cosy feel to the shop. Merchandise was arrangedhaphazardly onto plain wooden shelves. One shelf held nothing butseashells, On another were fishnets, both for catching fish and wearingon the leg as stockings, Next to this among the corks, starfish, seahorses, and dive weights were bottles that looked like they heldperfumes and other rare and costly liquids. Some looked like casebottles, and others old wine and rum bottles, all looked hand blown ormade from a cast iron mold with the seams showing.Behind the counter was an array of beach paraphernalia, umbrellas inludicrous striped patterns. Buckets and shovels that the children of E.Nesbit would use on an outing the the beach in Edwardian England.Swimsuits of dated and past vintage were on the racks. Another case heldnautical instruments, Sextons, theodolites, slide rules, and for somestrange reason, a barber chair. Arron was not quite sure how the lattereven fit into the case.Arron Murphy, One mermaid cosplay kit and bonus wig and waterproof glueand remover, said the man behind the counter. He was wearing a classic19th century diving suit with a big brass helmet. The next moment he waswearing a robe and wizards hat."How did you know, ... oh you got it from the near field RFID on mymobile.""Arron, I am a wizard." The wizard waved his hand, then mumbled,"Technology, it used to be magic."Continuing the wizard said, "Oh nice, you prepaid through your phoneaccount. I really do like spellPay, make it much easier than what isunder your hat. By the way nice hat, I'd like to get one of thosesomeday. Always had a soft spot for an art deco concourse 'd elegance."Arron's package was on the counter."There you are. All set. You may notice some discomfort when the wateractivates the gel glue for the inside the wig cap. If you rinse withincluded remover it should come off with no problems."Now is there anything else I can get you?" asked the wizard."Can you direct me to plainMOd fabrics and crafts, I need to get somefabric to make the tail," answered Arron."Oh you can get that here, even better I already have one made up. Youmay have noticed we are having a fall special on nautical themed itemsand Pirate booty. I am surprised you did not order the one on the website." The wizard mumbled something to himself, Arron though it soundedlike search profile parameters."I though it a bit too expensive for a one off gag. Under the water noone sees the tail clearly anyway, as long as it flows.""Tell you what, I'll trade you that classic hat for the tail," suggestedthe wizard.Arron though for a moment, then said, "Why not, Saves a trip to the otherstore, I never liked the political view that the owner of plainMOdcrafts tweets anyway."The wizard held up the rubber mermaid tail."This tail is made from a special merskin translucent latex. Ultralightand will hold up to the abuse of being brushed against rocks or the roughbottoms of swimming pools. It is stretchy and will conform the body toappear as half ichthyoid."The wizard added a bottle to the package already on the counter."Be sure to use this special sea rose lubricant to help pull the tail on,Failing to do so may make it difficult or impossible to get off."The wizard continued the warning,"I also advise against swimming in the tail after dark. The sea can be arather competitive place, and a lot of marine life tend to feed at duskand into the night. be sure and be out of the water, or in a protectedcave, at sundown. And while and early dawn swim can be tempting, I donot recommend it. "Arron thanked the wizard and looked once again over the items in theshop. In the window, that would be if the shop had windows, was a statueof a Minotaur, half man half bull. Arron wondered were he had seen thisbefore.Once home, Arron watched the online videos, how to put on the makeup andtoroidal contacts. Feeling satisfied, he downloaded these to the mobile.Double checking that he had the complete kit Arron went to theabandoned boathouse.He thought he had plenty of time to spare. Once in the boathouse hefound a wooden crate to sit on. Using the camera in the Mobile, this nowacted like a mirror and guided him with the makeup. There was also forsome strange reason a mirror with a crack in the lower right corner that went up at an angle about 8 inches or so.Even with these tutorials, time passed in random fashion. Arron's firstreaction was to put on the tail and try it out. Get in some practiceswims. The face in the Mobile and the mirror looked a bit cartoonish.The tricks worked, his eyes did look bigger and were a completelydifferent color.. Under his clothing he and managed to put on the swimbikini. patterned with fish scales and the shell pattered bikini top.Surprisingly these had actually fit.The tail seemed to be made out of some sort of high quality rubber. Itwas really stretchy. The outside was patterned with fine fish scales.This was colored in a somewhat natural color that seemed to catch thelight and refract it into a color, that while not grey was a bit of gold,blue and green.Having heard stories, Arron carefully followed the instructions. He usedthe special lubricant, which made the tail easy to slide on. This wasgong to be his first practice swim. For this swim, he did not put on thewig. Nothing really happened, He slipped into the water and sort ofsplashed around getting the feel of the rubber tail. How his legs wereheld together by the fabric. Feeling that he had practiced enough, Arronreturned to the jetty and hoisted himself onto the dock. He found theseam at the waist and the tail slipped off.Next was to try the wig. There were instructions to lather the gel glueinto the hair. Arron did not have much hair, so he rubbed int onto hisscalp. Checking the time on his mobile, he saw that the time was runninglate. As he had already put the lubricant on when he tried out the tail,He did not bother to apply more. It looked like the bottle was empty.He threw both bottles in the bag into the abandoned shed. His mobile heplaced next to the plank on the jetty.This time the tail did not seem to slip on so easy. He managed to gethis feet into the pockets of the monofin. Then with effort, slide thetail over his legs. As his fingers pulled at the fish scales, it almostfelt like the scales were alive and attaching themselves to his skin.Time was running short. With a strong grunt, Arron pulled the last partof the tail over the bikini swim bottom.Arron felt a slight tingle in his groin. This tingle went down to thetips of his ankles, like an electric shock. He was well aware thatmermaids do not have Vaginas. That part of the anatomy being fish.Having heard that the weird store in the mall had a reputation forturning college students and professors into buxom bimbos. Arron feltthat at least he would not have to worry about having female vagina whenhe transformed back.Slowly the shifting started. Instead of inflating his hips shrunk downSmaller than the thickness of a child's wrist. Watching it was likeseeing a balloon deflate. Most unexpected. His now erect memberpulsating protruding bulge under the fish scale patterns of the bikinibottom His waist now no bigger than al child's wrist. The pulsingmember made a strange bulge, then began to shrink into itself. Thescrotum pulled tight underneath. He was going to be a realistic lookingmermaid with the sex organs of a female fish.Somehow he had always imagined mermaids had the hips of a woman with theleg bones fused together or extended into vertebrae. Instead the wholelower half of his body below the now tiny hips shrunk down and flowedinto the large fluke, the muscles, and tendons knitting together into theribs of the powerful tail tip. The fluke was completely prehensile inways Arron had not guessed at.Above the diminutive fish bones that had once been his hips, legs andfeet, new fish vertebrae and hundreds of tiny fish ribs wrapped about hisliver kidneys and intestines. These elongated under a network ofichthyoidian muscle that extended into the parts of the tail where onewould have expected thighs of a more mammalian creature. Only hisstomach remained above the transition between human and fish. A neworgan formed from what had been the appendix. Arron felt and woulddiscover that this was a swim bladder. That would be used to maintain aneutral buoyancy.Then a burning sensation happened in his throat. Something felt wrong,his nose was still connected to his lungs. What was happening to hismouth and esophagus. New muscles, tendons and connections formed aroundhis vocal coords, that would allow him to still talk, and make soundsunderwater. Each breath through the nose he took, seemed shallower likehis lungs were contracting and merging together shrinking into halftheir space.Something in his flat chest began to build up. Under the seashell printof the bikini swim top, The areola of his nipples swelled to the size oflarge coins and pressed through the flimsy fabric.. Then a hardcalcified pattern matching the top merged into his skin. As thetransmutation progressed, this developed growth lines like a scallopedsea shell. Arron had not realized that mermaids could not remove theirbra tops, That this was an exoskeleton covering the intakes for thegills he was now growing. Grow this did, The new structure must be atleast a D cup, with deep cleavage hiding the flesh colored scales thatwere the intake to his new fish gills,. A fine moss like growth belowthe shells that were now firmly part of his body protecting the outtakeof the gills.In horror, that he was becoming a fish, he realized that he was going toneed to get wet, soon, the new gill tissue was reacting to the rarefiedoxygen in the air. The scales on the tail were fully connected to thenerves on the fish part of his flesh With great effort, Arron managed topull himself to the end of the jetty, then flip into the water. Notquite as planned.Now he knew that the tail was the real deal, that he was in fact halffish. Why had this not done it before? As he reached out to pushagainst the planks of the dock, the slenderness of his arms took amoment to comprehend. There was also some slight, almost invisiblewebbing at the base of his now decidedly female fingers. The arms stillhad power to lift, but they were delicate in shape and form.On hitting the water, there was a fierce burning in his scalp, like thewig was melting into his head. Some toupee glue. The wizard had warnedhim that the super gel was water activated.Many times Arron had entered the water, or fallen off the shell skull.As much as he liked water and being around it, the shock of the wateralways bothered him. Gulping like the fish he now was he felt the waterrush into and fill the gill tissue. The new muscles in the back of histhroat reflexively closed. Then the water disappeared, he felt dry.Like he was floating in free fall.His vision blurred for a moment, then the world came clear. Had he beenable to see his face, His eyes were much bigger, That the Anime contactshad become real and the makeup used to make his eyes look larger mergedinto the actual tissues and structures of his face. What had once beenhuman skin had changed to some sort of fibrous material. It stillreflected light as skin does, but it was more open and less hydroscopic. Would not puff and wrinkle as one does too long in the water.No transformation is ever really complete, as long as we live, andcontinue to age. This one had reached a plateau. Arron was a mermaid.As true a mermaid as ever existed.Flexing the new mussels in his tail, and instinctively adjusting hisbuoyancy, he, or to quote Orlando, she pushed towards the ceiling thatwas the sky. Breaking free of the tension at the surface, It felt likeshe had stuck her hand into the nozzle of a large vacuum cleaner. Hergills now full of water, the nasal passages opened and she could breathonce again. It was an entirely new sensation. Powerful. The new fishgenitals tingled at the base of her fluke as she pushed back to thejetty. Hiking herself up onto the edge of the dock, tail still in thewater she was able to recover her mobile.So much for additional time to experiment and practice, this time she wasrunning late. Had the outfit been simply a costume, it would have beenimpossibly exhausting. Now phone in hand, in it's water proof case, sheentered the GPS coordinates and swam to the rendezvous point where Bucknew crew would be waiting for the initiation ritual. Holding the phonein one hand, she guided herself through the inlet of the estuary into thelagoon.Everything went according to plan. She swam up to the bottom of theshell and gave it a few taps with her tail. It was still strange not tofeel the density and pressure of the water. More akin to a soft breezeand stiff wind. The party was in full swing. She flipped over on herback and lazily swam past buck and the other crew member on the shell.Buck was in stitches laughing. "Well I'll be boys, we have a mermaid offthe port bow," he called out to the crew. "Pay up, and Greet our newfound friend. Arron, you outdid yourself, most initiates just put on amono-fin and a cloth tail. You certainly take the cake. Guess you willmake coxswain after all.""Come on in the water is fine." Was that really her voice? With onlyhalf a lung and that primarily to work the human vocal tract, she wastaken aback at how high and girlish it seemed to be. Almost a musical,yet abrasive quality to it.If Buck noticed the falsetto he did not act on it, instead the wholeshell tipped over at his command with a bit of help from the mermaid thatwas formerly Arron. The splashed around and played water games. It wasa great party. Arron was the hit of the event, No one could reallybelieve it was actually Arron in the mermaid costume. She was able toprove herself by knowing all the details of who was whom and how theyreacted to each other. When anyone asked why she was continuing to speakfalsetto, she would reply technology. After all it was sort of awearable tech that she had on, even if it was magic.The students lost track of time. The sun grew low in the sky. With someeffort The former Arron remembered the wizards warning not to swim aftersunset. Gotta go, she said. Buck offered to swim back with her. "Thattail costume, must weigh a ton," he remarked."No, I will be fine," her new melodic voice warned him."Nonsense, I need the workout. Brian, you are now acting cox." Helooked at the mermaid. I can not really call you Arron, How about Icall you Ariadne as you lead he way back." It was not a question."I said, I was fine, You go back with the crew," said the newlychristened Ariadne. "I have a powerful tail, that can propel me as fastif not faster than the shell.""Sorry, As your cox and captan, I can not let you swim alone, you havebeen in that getup all day. You must be exhausted."Ariadne looked down at the water surface. "If you insist." She dovedown and revered her mobile from under the rock ledge, where she stashedit. "But you have to carry my phone back, as this outfit has nopockets."She really did not know what would happen when she attempted to take offthe tail. The changes were much more than she had expected. It hadtaken quite a bit of time for the fish parts to grow out of the humanparts. The reversal time must be accounted for. The orb of the sun wasjust starting to touch the horizon. She could wait no longer. Buck wasa strong swimmer, he would slow her down. It would be necessary to swimat his pace as she could not abandon him, now that the crew had followedorders and was halfway to the opposite side of the lagoon.The slow swim would help her get more aquatinted with the new fish partsof her body. She was also more aware of the life under the sea. Thelagoon was coming alive. In the swim over, she had noticed a few fishhere and there, now she was aware of the bottom dwellers. The murkyparts of the water looked more like clouds and mist. She was also awareof sounds and vibrations that went well beyond hearing. With each flipof her new fish body it felt more like flying than swimming.While playing with the crew, she had allowed a few of the members tobrush up against her tail. It was a different sensation. Thrilling.Especially when Buck accidentally brushed his hand against the sensitivepart at the impossibly small base of her fluke where the fishy sexorgans were. Now what had once been her legs shrunk down into tiny fishbones and her feet and extended toes almost 1/5 of her full body length.Her mind could ripple through these in the most fantastical of ways.Two thirds of the way to the abandoned boat house, Buck began to tire.The sun had set, there was still a fair amount of twilight. Ariadneslowed down and broke the surface. They had been swimming close to theshore. It was shallow enough for Buck to stand up. His feet sank intothe soft muddy bottom oozing up between his toes. The bank was heavilyvegetated and over hung the inlet. Everything had orange and purpletinges to them. The sky was still an intense blue. White wispy cloudswere in the distance."You really seem to be able to hold your breath. I had always taken youfor a bit of a wimp, when we competed against each other. Now that weare on the same team, I can not believe you lost so many races."Something slithered past Bucks leg. "Did you feel that? Oh I forgot youare wearing a rubber tail. There is something swimming down there.Let's get moving."Back in the channel, the currents seemed to increase. It was morecomfortable for Ariadne to swim under the surface. She still wanted tokeep the illusion that she needed to breath. The current in her mermaidstate, felt like a genteel breeze as it swept across her body. thebreeze became a wind that began to pick up into the force of an evenstronger wind. The inlet to the estuary was tidal, and they wereswimming against the tide.When her head dipped below the surface, she was aware of shadows andshapes. Large ones things in the sea that hunt at night. It was nownight. Buck was not doing too well. The shore at the point wasovergrown and too hard to reach. They were being swept by the tide intothe deeper part of the estuary. Buck's energy was failing. His oncepowerful strokes were dwindling into a survival treading of the water. Adog paddle. His legs were not moving.Ariadne knew the symptoms of drowning. She told herself not to panic.To her the tide was gusty like a gale force wind. Her powerful tailcould hold her against it. Buck was starting to slip below the surface. His reflex caused him to black out. His arms drifted out into the classicdrowned man pose."I am a mermaid," thought Ariadne, "I can do this." She grabbed Buck byhis waist and swam with all her might. They could not make the inlet,there was a secluded beach that they could reach. Her prehensile tailpushed against the wind that was the current of the tide. Sheerdetermination pressed her to ignore the black shadows that seemed to beseeking out a simple snack or two.The shallows made it hard for her to pull him, so she pushed Buck up ontothe beach. Herself she lay beside him. Exhausted. She pushed him asfar onto the sand as she could. It was the first time since she was outof the water since she became a mermaid. Buck was beside her breathingwhat water he had swallowed he had coughed out. The sky was ablaze withstars. It was still early enough that a new moon hung low in the west.It reflected along the lagoon. There was color in the view. Subduedsubtle colors of the night.Fully out of the water Ariadne reached down to the merge between thehuman looking part of her torso, and the fish part. The scales werealive. She attempted to slip her fingernail into the gap to remove thetail. There was no gap. She tugged and pulled on it as best she could..She reached up to see if the wig would come off. The glue "remover" wasstill at the abandoned boathouse in the bag by the jetty. She regrettedthat she had not used the "lubricant" to put on the tail. The wizardswaring about swimming after dark was just that. Friendly advice. Hislittle trick was to include the tail lubricant. Without it using it,she would be a mermaid as long as this body existed.There was nothing else to do. She could not stay dry. Slipping down tothe waterline, she let the wave lap over her. Parts of he slept throughthe night. The formerly human parts. The fish parts did what fish partsdo. She realized that she was going to be hungry in the morning. Beforebreak of dawn, she slipped into the water and set out in search for food.The hunted became the hunter. She also learned that, there were smallthings in the water, planktons, algae, that she had been ingesting thathelped sustain her.Not venturing far, she would check on the sleeping Buck between herexploratory foraging expeditions. In doing so she found a convenientoutcropping that she could lay on to watch over him. The waves wouldbreak across this as she sat upon her curled prehensile tail. Evoking theimage painted and sculpted by artists throughout the ages. The dawnreviled a secluded beach. Buck awoke shortly after the first light.Af first he looked disoriented. Then he saw Ariadne. On the rockoutcropping. She was still tugging at the separation between fish andhuman. Hoping he would not notice."Why are you still in your tail?" It was not really a question. "Ishould have known, You must have gone to that shop in the mall, The onethat seems to produce an extraordinary number of buxom beauties."A small wave swept across them both. She looked up with her bigexpansive eyes. She had no words to say. Deep in her heart she couldhear the siren song calling out.Buck sat down, in the soft sand as another wave flowed around him. "Yousee, my name was once Brenda, I was naturally a Buxom beauty, and hadbeen taught the wrong things in life, about the gift I was given. Iwanted to compete. There was one thing I could no do an that was toswim. So I found that little shop, and though I would be the next EthelMerman. He certainly likes his little jokes, Quick, into the watersomeone is coming "Behind the fern bracken at the edge of the beach was a floating beachumbrella, in the most hideous striped pattern. Below this carrying awicker basket. Was a man in sunglasses, wearing a bathrobe and awizards hat. He planted the umbrella into the sand at a rakish angle.From the basket, he pulled out a stripped beach chair, much to big tohave fit. Now he was wearing Arron's straw boater. The stripes on thebeach chair clashing with the umbrella. Removing his bathrobe, he waswearing only his boxers in the appropriate Hawaiian print, his darkglasses and straw hat. He sat down in the chair, then pulled out aneven more hideous beach towel which he laid down at the base of the beachchair, Then unpacked all sort of beach toys, pails, buckets and stufffor building sandcastles. These were all laid out in mathematical order.The last thing he pulled out was the latest summer bestsellingblockbuster novel.It was evident that he was here to enjoy the day at the secluded beach.A moment or two after settling in he looked over to the rocky outcroppingwhere Ariadne and buck were hiding."Why Hello there, nice to see a few sea creatures decided to stop by."Buck/Brenda, I have your selkie skin. You will not be able to be Brendaagain, but I think that you have learned your lesson, to be careful whatyou wish for."Ariadne, my dear Ariadne Clearlake, where will you lead us to this time.Actually I have left a string line, for you to follow. It leads to anearby sea cave, which will make you a nice home. There are also threewrecked ships in the area, from different eras, where you will find allthat you need to decorate it. Your time will be rather busy I amafraid, as you have a job to do. Which is to prevent some of the collegestudents from drowning. You see some of them, who come to me for my,"hecleared his throat and it was hard to make out what he said," sometime donot have the brightest, intellect. Not that I had anything to do withit, naturally."The wizard pulled the skin from the bag and gave it to Buck. Who had nochoice but to put it on and become a bull seal. The wizard returned tohis beach chair and book. He looked up from it, lifted the shades fromhis eyes and said, "Oh one, more thing, You will like this. Naturallyin this state, you can not be together. However, as per the standardmagical boilerplate, taken as read, you both take your human form, forthe three days when the moon is full."It was evident that the wizard had nothing more to say. Dipping underthe waves Ariadne felt for the string, It was just as the wizardpromised, It lead to the cave and the three ships, The string alsocontinued to lead on. Back to the secluded beach. Ariadne peeked upabove the ceiling that was now her sky. The wizard was on the beach,singing to himself some sea shanty, like a little kid building asandcastle, with turrets and a moat, for some strange reason the castlelooked a lot like a shopping mall.