THE MAGIC MERMAID #three (Swimming) by Summer Day

The next day, Storm was born anew, just as the woman in the cave told her she would be. The ache started in the joints of her legs and to stand was not only difficult but excruciating. Storm whimpered and cried out in agony. Thankfully, the pain subsided after a few hours. The girl studied her feet, toes and limbs; she crawled onto the face of a rock and leaned onto another with the great effort it took to stand. Finally, Storm stood on her own two feet for the first time. She took the package wrapped around her waist and pulled out a folded waterproof coat which she wrapped around her. Inside was a plastic credit card, some money (also sealed in plastic) and the names of her foster family.

   By now, Storm had been standing for a few minutes. As she tried to walk for the first time, she screamed in agony. Falling to the ground she wondered if she’d ever be able to get up again. As she fainted, she could not believe she had made such a stupid mistake. In her mind, she envisaged a place of comfort, warm and dry.

   When she woke, she was in her new home with her foster mom’s face hovering over her. It was a kind face but almost instantly, Storm missed her family.  She thought about her sisters and their disappointed faces as they read her note. They would want to meet, or at least see, the boy - the reason she’d run away from home.

    As Storm lay recovering in bed and her wounded, reddened joints healed themselves with each breath she took, she realized, with her human transformation came an incredible power. The power to journey in moments what would have once taken hours. When she had healed sufficiently to walk without too much agony she merged from her bed to the bench in seconds.

    By her first day of school, she was feeling, almost human. But she craved water. Not just to drink but to swim in. It was very lucky Sloan Select High had the best swim team in the state and that Jack Hunter was the captain of the team. There was only one problem. If Storm stayed in the water too long, like a human in a bath whose skin might turn prune-like, her legs resumed their mermaid status and Storm’s tail returned, although with no ability to breathe underwater, she would never be a real mermaid again.

    But Storm was not worried. Love had changed her, made her even more optimistic, if that was possible. Unfortunately for her, Storm’s love was, so far, very one-sided.

   In the earliest mornings, she crept out of her bed, merged to school in double quick time, pulled on her swimsuit and dived into the pool.

   It wasn’t as nice as the ocean, but Storm was getting used to chlorine. After ten seconds or so, Storm could feel her body tightening and her fish tail growing in all its silky, fluorescent glory. Although she couldn’t breathe underwater through her gills, the scar remained. Storm missed her gems and shells; being human was like being born anew.

   The minute she was out of water, her gills and tail dissolved. She climbed out of the water using her long, delicate but muscular legs. The thrill of walking was different. The pain had subsided but Storm didn’t feel steady, yet. She told herself Jack was worth the transition without ever really asking the important questions.

    How would she feel if he didn’t love her back?

    Storm was enjoying herself, swimming like a fish in the pool in the hours before classes started, that first week, never daring to stay long. Though the school was full of ‘exceptional teens’, Storm knew none as freakish, in reality, as her. There was talk that Jack was a shape shifter and his (rumored girlfriend) Sara, was a merger and weather changer and that mean girl Lavinina Snow was a powerful conjurer. In any case, she hadn’t befriended anyone yet, so how would she know for sure? She knew the school rules prohibited use of these powers outside controlled classroom environments. Extraordinary powers could only be used during lessons like ‘Chemical Romance’, ‘Merging’, and ‘Invisibility’.

   Storm liked to swim underwater. She liked to feel the rhythm and the pressure around her. It reminded her of home. She knew she had to pull herself together, that after her transition – which seemed to be taking more than a few days – she’d feel close to normal.

THE MAGIC MERMAID #four (School)

   She was surprised that second early morning when an explosion of human-like proportions went off in the deep end of the pool. Storm was thinking about her sisters and how she’d meet Jack properly during the ‘merging’ class they shared after French Literature. It would be the first time she’d speak to him as a real girl. Storm didn’t anticipate they’d meet even sooner. After Storm had finished her laps, Jack dived into the far end of the school pool, barely making a splash.  

    Instantly, Storm climbed out of the wet. She couldn’t risk letting her love see her swim underwater. She’d been enjoying swimming in circles, she’d even become used to the chlorine and began spreading her glamorous tale out under the fluorescent lights just before Jack had dived in. He too, needed to practice. That was the truth. He needed to be faster and stronger in his human form if he and Sara were ever to beat Lavinia at her own game.

    Lavinia and the powerful Minchin sisters at a neighboring school had grown in stature. They’d already had a close call at homecoming. Lavinia’s conjuring had improved; it was almost as good as Sara’s. Lavinia still hid her banned cell phone and checked it whenever she needed answers to secret questions. Jack and Sara needed to build a small army to challenge Lavinia’s power.  

    Meanwhile, Storm needed to resume human form before Jack noticed her tail. She dripped at the edge of the pool as her legs reformed the instant the lower half of her body was exposed to the air. But the change exhausted her. Her face went pink, then slightly blue – she could feel the coldness running in her veins and exhaustion in her transforming muscles. The undetectable changes made her gasp for breath.

    “Are you okay?”

    Jack looked into her face.

    “Hey, don’t I…?”  Her eyes looked familiar. But it couldn’t be.

     Storm shrugged him off quickly. He couldn’t see her like this – hair wet and breathless, tail whirling underneath. This was how she’d first looked to him and he was sure to remember. She wanted him to see her as a real girl; he’d never be able to love her as a scaly, shiny creature of the sea. 

     Storm pulled herself up through the water, her tail transforming as she emerged into air, never giving Jack even a glimpse of her scales. He smiled at her. Storm hurried to the changing rooms without so much as a “hi.”

     It had been a strange introduction.

     When new students arrived, their talents weren’t announced. It was up to the student to ‘share’ when they were ready, according to the guidance officer, Mrs Styles – a ‘fashion victim’ according to Lavinia. Her mean girl trainees would take notes on their tablets and report back to Lavinia that afternoon, but Lavinia didn’t really need their help. Via her smart phone, which told her everything, she considered herself streets ahead of almost everyone else in school – except perhaps Jack and Sara. She’d pretended she wanted a truce with them – but it had all gone pear shaped in the school gym after homecoming. Now they were openly hostile. After her suspension, Sara just acted like nothing had happened. Around them, she even pretended she’d given up her wicked conjuring on school grounds.

    Sara and Jack didn’t trust Lavinia after she’d tried to kill Sara – or at least keep her in a deep sleep for a hundred years. The plan had backfired but over lunch, Lavinia was not deterred. Her new followers - Rapunzel Jones and Reddie Hood -  were ever eager to listen to all her news.

    Lavinia realized followers were better than friends. Already, she was wary of the new girl, Storm. Lavinia, too, had followed her to the swimming pool. Lavinia had spied on Storm and seen her luscious mermaid tale. Storm was too weird even for Lavinia.  

    Over lunch, she told Reddie and Rapunzel to “be careful of the freak show.”

    “Which one?” Reddie asked, eager to please. Her home life wasn’t too great either.

   “The new one – she’s amphibious.”

   “Wow,” Rapunzel said, trying to hide her awe. They’d never had an amphibious student at Sloan Select. She’d heard about them at Venice Beach High, though. Amphibious humans had been nearly wiped out by all the vampires. Mermaid blood, which was blue, was a sweet elixir to bloodsuckers.    

     

     Arriving part way through the semester put Storm at a disadvantage and Jack was determined to speak with the new girl during lunch. He didn’t want her to sit alone. Besides, Sara had a vision. In this vision, they were all friends.

     Jack had been serious about Sara – or seriously in love with her – since the first time (in Sara’s trailer one night) they’d changed a rock to water and back again. They’d also grown up together in the children’s home where they were discovered in in East LA. They trusted each other implicitly; though Jack wanted to take things further, Sara always held back and kept him at a safe distance. Jack knew Sara wasn’t ready to trust anyone just yet – especially a guy who could shape shift from human to cougar and back again.

     Still, they needed another friend to add to their group since Lavinia had been building an army against them. Lavinia and her new friends, Reddie Hill and Rupunzel Jones sat eating lunch together and plotting the Sloan Select Tournament of Skill – something Lavinia said would, “separate the sheep from the wolves.” Lavinia liked Jack more than a lot. It was a constant source of irritation to her that he and Sara were continuously together.

    The Tournament of Skill was scheduled to begin in one month and all the students attending the ‘gifted and talented schools’ (eight schools in total, including Venice Beach High) – were due to take part. Venice Beach High hosted many covens of vampire teens (including the Minchin sisters) and they were not known for playing fair. Lavinia had been networking for weeks now.

    Meanwhile, Jack and Sara were sure they needed to get a larger team together. Sara had even dreamt they needed a third person. Jack had tried to explain his mermaid vision to Sara but she joked that he was delusional prior to her dream. Now she was sure the third member was coming. Even though he was a shape-shifter and Sara had her own incredible powers to merge and change objects and people, they both knew the existence of mermaids was only speculated about in children’s stories. Still, Sara knew she and Storm would be friends; maybe even besties.

   That night, as Storm lay in bed listening to the ocean in her mind as she tried to sleep, she remembered the stabilizer pills her foster mom had recommended.      “These will prevent you from changing. When you’re in water, you’ll stay human. But remember, you’ll have to teach yourself to swim again. ” Storm got out of her bunk and took a pill. She knew that once she’d started the process of stabilization, it would be impossible to turn back. In order to have the boy she loved, her change had to be complete. Jack Hunter was worth it. Storm knew, deep inside, he was her dream.

   Real life had taken over that first week on land. School, homework, swim practice and a glimpse of him every morning filled her days.

   Storm only had one foster brother – he was nine and slept next door to her. Her foster parents were nice – they were used to dealing with “specific needs” students, as they put it. Storm’s specific need was water and no matter how many pills she took, she knew she’d never stop craving it. That Thursday night, Storm drank an entire glass of H2O with her pill then pulled out the classic novel, Les Miserables, assigned for French homework. 

    Les Miserables was a huge story that her French teacher told her was maybe too huge for a sixteen year old to read. It wasn’t required reading but Storm liked to read about Marius, the young revolutionary. Storm wasn’t a fan of Cosette – the girl who’d won his heart without doing anything to deserve it, except existing. It had occurred to Storm, as she read under the covers, using her torch (her foster mom had warned  her to get more rest) that she was in danger of becoming the Eponine in her own story. Eponine was the girl who loved Marius from afar but who, in the end, always looked on from the sidelines. Eponine was the girl who never knew she was worthy of being loved, the girl who was cast aside.

THE MAGIC MERMAID #five (Saved) by Summer Day

    The next morning, Storm grabbed her swim tote and an orange and walked to school early. The former mermaid was getting stronger. She could run and better yet, she could merge. Ten minutes took ten seconds.

    The water had been changed from mostly chlorine to a mix of salt. This reminded Storm of home, she liked it. She swam badly at first as she held onto the edge and tried to float. She wasn’t used to kicking her legs, but after about ten laps, was swimming like a champion. She was almost ready to tell Jack when he dived into the pool again, at the deep end.

     “Hey,” he said, as he bobbed up.

     “Hi,” Storm replied shyly. Why hadn’t she been given some manual explaining how to talk to human or human-ish boys?

     “Don’t I know you? I mean, from outside school?”

     It was now or never.

     “I… I saw you, at the beach.”

     A wave of recognition spread over the boy’s face. “Now I remember. You saved me,” he smiled.

     Storm looked at her hands and feet, not webbed, not tailed but not really human. How could she ever tell him?

      “Thank you.”

      “That’s okay,” Storm said. “I’d do it again if I had to.”

      “That’s… that’s amazing. You’re amazing.”

       Storm smiled. She felt shy all of a sudden. She knew to let the boy make the first move. All the other mermaids always did that. Humans couldn’t be so different. If you made the first move, the girl always spent the rest of the relationship catching up, didn’t she? Boys were hunter gatherers or just hunters, weren’t they?

       Jack swam forward.

       Storm moved back.

       “It’s okay, everyone here is weird. What’s your secret? I can change shape,” as if to explain, Jack changed into a cougar as he swam, then back into a teenage boy again.

     Storm shivered.

    “That was… amazing. And scary.”

     “Sorry, I don’t normally do that in front of people. It’s not allowed in school.”

     “I heard you were a merger.”

     “I do merge quickly, Sara does too. She’s my, well, she’s sort of my girlfriend but she likes to keep cool about that stuff. We both have this important tournament to prepare for; us against Lavinia and the winners against the Vamps at Venice Beach High. The teachers don’t know about it but all the students do. Sara is a conjurer, she also merges and changes the elements, sun to storms, that sort of thing – a lot of kids around here envy the weather changing part for some reason. It’s pretty powerful.”

   Storm knew her weirdness went far deeper – to tell someone her human form was just a vision, that she was really a creature of the sea? That was sure to create obstacles. It was okay for a guy to be different, faster, stronger but being a mermaid? That was girly and weak, sure to create barriers.

   But Jack wasn’t interested in obstacles. He was interested in joining forces.

   He splashed her.

   Storm smiled and splashed him back.

   “I… I swim fast,” Storm said. Then she hesitated, “or, I used to. It may take me a while to... get my groove back.”
   “That all?”

   “Kind of. I used to be a mermaid… Now, I’m not sure what my gifts are.”

    Incredibly, Storm realized Jack might not love her now that she was so normal. Besides, Sara already had his love bottled away for a rainy day. Storm realized she was reading his mind – could read another’s mind. The girl who hid in the shadows, Lavinia, had just run out of the room.

   “Lavinia was here. She hates you or she likes you, I’m not sure.”

   “Lavinia? She hates everyone. Wow. That’s some gift. I couldn’t sense her, didn’t even notice her.”

    Storm realized she had powers anew. When Lavinia was near her or at least in the room, she could read her thoughts.

     “Want me to show you something? Check this out,” Jack said. He disappeared under the water and the water turned into a rainbow of color and light, then mist, as he swam up to the surface, close to her. He’d transformed the elements.

    “Sara taught me,” he said. “I bet she could teach you.”

    Storm wanted to be near him, his perfect chest and dimpled smile. Just as she was about to swim closer, the other girl arrived. 

THE MAGIC MERMAID #six (Sara) by Summer Day

    Sara wore a blue, school regulation swimsuit. She was beautiful, at least as pretty as Storm but not awkward or shy. She dived, swan-like into the pool and swam a perfect freestyle towards them.

    “Hi,” Sara said. She smiled at Storm and welcomed her again to Sloan Select.

    It was hard to dislike Sara since she was so nice, but to Storm, the other girl was just another obstacle – not insurmountable – but it was a pity she wasn’t a mean girl like Lavinia Snow. Then she wouldn’t feel so bad about…

    In that moment when her new friends – or the two people who had tried to befriend her at her new school – waded over to her, Storm stopped breathing. It was as if her lungs wouldn’t work – she needed her gills to breathe and her tail to swim.

    “Quick,” Jack said.

    He scooped her up and together, he and Sara placed her on the side of the pool, they draped a towel over her and gave her CPR until she was breathing normally.

     Storm coughed and spluttered when she woke.

    “What happened?”

    “You just passed out…”

    “It must be the pills I took.”

    “Hey Storm, this place is really strict about drugs…” Sara said.

    “No, they’re… prescription. They’re for my…. I’m not normal.”

    “She’s a… she was…”

     “… a mermaid. I know. I read your mind. You are the third. We’ve been waiting for you. You complement our powers and together we can win the Tournament of Skill and so much more. Welcome to the club,” Sara said. Jack nodded.

     “I’m… I’m not a mermaid anymore.”

     “Oh, so that’s why you swim so perfectly,” Sara said, in awe, “Never mind, you must have been gifted some other power during transition.”

     Storm studied Jack’s concerned face. He didn’t have feelings for her. Not in that way. Storm could read his mind.

     “I… I just want to go home.”

     Storm suddenly realized Jack was in love with Sara, might always be in love with Sara. He was only interested in Storm because she could help them win the tournament. Storm was now ninety-nine percent relegated to the role of friend - perhaps forever. What had she done? How could she have been so… foolish?

     “You stay here,” Sara said. “I’ll go get help. Jack, stay with her.”

     Jack placed a rolled up towel under Storm’s head. As he did so, he noticed Storm’s sun bleached blonde hair and pale blue eyes closely. Her skin was slightly freckled and tanned from the sun. Storm was beautiful.

      “You saved me,” he said. “We’ll save you.”

      “I came here to be with you,” Storm whispered. There was no use hiding it anymore. Jack looked stunned. He didn’t know what to say so he said nothing. Storm rolled over, coughed and sat up. “I’m just not used to being in the water without my tail.”

    Storm started to cry. She wanted to go home. Jack didn’t know what to do so he put his arm around her.

     Wow. That’s really weird.  He acted as if he hadn’t heard her declaration – or as good as one. Maybe she needed to be clearer.

   Jack, although he was the hottest boy at Sloane Select by far, never really imagined too many girls thought the same because Sara had always kept him at a distance. Now, here was a new girl – a special girl – damaged, like all the students, in her own brilliant way, admitting that she’d come to the school just to be with him.

   He didn’t want the responsibility of that. He’d loved Sara since the first time he’d seen her. He was loyal to his first love. This one would never work.

   Yet Storm looked into his eyes with her pale blue ones, searching and sweet. Storm held him close and kissed him on his hands; she slipped her fingers through his hair and kissed his neck before he realized what she was doing. Then he used all his power to silently, softly, push her away.  

THE MAGIC MERMAID #seven (Sun)

   Storm was miserable. She needed to be on the beach, in the ocean, under the sun. Her love for jack seemed illusory. He’d laughed off the moment they shared beside the pool, joking that although he thought she was ‘beautiful’ he was in love with Sara but that Storm was the kind of friend he’d always dreamt about – brave and strong and wild.

    Storm wished she’d been more of a shrinking violet; a storm chaser (literally), a weather changer, an amphibious life saver – anything other than her now almost-helplessly human self. What was the point if you couldn’t have the boy you wanted? Storm left school early and took the bus to Venice Beach boardwalk, too tired to use her power and merge. She longed to return to the utopian world of her sisters and family who lived under the sea. So far, the human world was very disappointing. 

   That night, after dinner with her foster family, Storm pretended to go to sleep and stuffed her pillows under the covers before returning to the ocean. Regenerated, Storm merged all the way to the boardwalk overlooking the sea. Jack had been worried about her leaving school early and Sara had suggested he go over to her place to see if she was okay. “It’s important Jack. She needs friends and we need her.”  

    Unbeknownst to Storm that night, Jack had followed her. Sara had to babysit her foster brothers and Jack had explained to Sara that he thought Storm wasn’t transitioning to the human world easily.

     Sara agreed. “It takes time to adjust.”

    Growing up in the foster system gave Jack and Sara empathy for other teens in similar circumstances. They looked like the perfect couple but they hadn’t had the perfect upbringing. Together, they’d discovered their individual weirdness. Together, they’d been alone at the children’s home. Sara always pretended the last thing she needed was a boyfriend but then clung to him in the dark, loving him when no one else was around. Jack convinced himself that one day soon, Sara would be okay with sharing the fact that they were a couple to anyone who was interested. Sara seemed to think being openly together made them some sort of security risk. If Lavinia’s posse or the Minchin sisters knew, they’d be more of a target to tear apart.

    It was one messed up world they inhabited – shape shifters, weather changers, and vampires. There weren’t any vampires at Sloan Select but Venice Beach High was a whole other story.

   Storm had merged to Santa Monica Pier. The Minchin girls could smell her blue blood close by. They were the three evil sisters who gathered at a Santa Monica café most evenings now that they’d turned sixteen. They were bored at home in their palatial mansion. They couldn’t even attempt to draw the blood of their step-sister, Julissa. Besides Julissa had a boyfriend now that she spent every waking moment (and probably unwaking ones), with. Vanity sniggered at the thought. Charity thought Julissa was welcome to her new man – he was just some no-good vampire prince from the provinces.

    Instead, the sisters were over their recent designer fashion phase. Now they wore black from head to toe. They never did their homework – they’d been doing it for more than two centuries and they were so over school. Instead, they hung out at Santa Monica Pier between the hours of midnight and two in the morning. They merged there in seconds to hunt, dance and play music. Occasionally, a lost or stray teenager wandered along the boardwalk; an after dinner snack.

   The Minchin sisters usually only partially drained their victims – they didn’t want any real trouble – they just drank enough to sate or amuse themselves. They liked to listen to their fave bands beside the waves. The girls dreamed of driving all the way to Vegas to see The Killers play. Vanity liked the lead singer even though he was married. She knew it was bad but she liked guys who were at least thirty – after all, she was nearly two hundred (although she only looked sixteen).

    That night there was a fresh scent in the air, floral and sweet. They could smell Storm’s blood – newly humanoid – from a mile away. To find the fragile, perfect creature running all the way to the ocean, her thin shirt barely covering the pulsing veins in her wrists – what a prize, what a treat.

    They even had a new friend with them, Hansel Worthington. He wasn’t a vamp and his little sister was too ‘scaredy cat’ to come out with them. But Hansel was very strong and brave. He liked the fact that Gretel slept while he snuck out of their dwelling. When his sister was with him it was a lot harder to protect her.

   Hansel wasn’t scared of anything – or so he said. He wasn’t a vampire, but then, he was special and his blood did not appeal. He was just some guy the mean sisters hung out with and tried to flirt with.

     They knew they should have gone to practice that afternoon – their team was getting ready for the Tournament of Skills but for decades the vamps had literally slaughtered the kids at Sloan Select – they were all about magic and not very keen to draw blood – so it was all kind of a joke to the kids of Venice Beach High.

  “Hey girly girl,” Vanity, Charity and Patience looked up as Storm walked by. Vanity was the one who spoke first.

   “What’s your name?” Patience asked with a smile to cover her sister’s taunt. It was never very good to let your potential victim know your full intentions straight off the bat. Hansel was hunched on a bench, listening to music with his new headphones on and so far, too cool to notice the newbie.

   Storm turned around briefly. She was listening for the sounds of her sisters in the water.

    “Are you talking to me?”

    “Sure,” Charity said. “We’re always up for making new friends.”

    “Do you go to school around here?” Patience asked.

    “Uh… no, I go to Sloan Select.”

     Vanity made a hissing sound with her teeth. The girl’s blood was getting a bit hot. If it were up to her they would have drained her by now rather than waste precious time trying to make friends. Vanity Minchin was over making friends. Her whole life, since she was sixteen years old and turned (two hundred years ago), other teenaged girls had been jealous of her good looks and charm. Friendship was overrated – except with her sisters, of course. But she quite liked this new kid, Hansel. He was tough enough. And there was no weirdness between them, even though he was hot, because his blood didn’t appeal.

    Hansel nodded to the girl. He’d never seen such a fragile yet strong looking beauty. Her wild blonde curls and piercing blue eyes touched his heart as it had not been touched before. He’d spent most of his life with his twin sister fighting his evil foster mom’s plans for them – and now they were runaways, just like this girl.

    He knew the look.

    She was either running to something or from someone. He felt a little uncomfortable. He knew his new friends weren’t the most likeable girls in school but at least they were real – and tough enough to hang with. Besides, they were much more mature than his sister, Gretel, who was the only person he trusted on earth now that their family life was so messed up. 

THE MAGIC MERMAID #eight (Sea) by Summer Day

    Since it was Friday night, Lavinia Snow, mean girl extraordinaire and unofficial ruler of Sloan Select, was out with Reddie and Rapunzel Jones. They were drawn to Santa Monica Pier. Rapunzel’s hair was wound around her head in an intricate maze of braids although Lavinia had tried to convince her to get it cut properly, Rapunzel had shown some real kick and ignored her advice on this one matter. Lavinia couldn’t help but actually respect that. Reddie, on the other hand, had her hair styled just the way Lavinia had suggested, in the latest most fashionable bob of the season.

    Lavinia liked it when her minions followed her advice; but sometimes having friends who could think for themselves was a load off Lavinia’s mind. Still, she was yet to uncover the secret of Rapunzel’s red-gold hair and Rapunzel herself had never worn it down. Whatever. Lavinia realized, like all the other teenagers she knew, they were just weird. Reddie and Rapunzel had their own quirks and skills. Lavinia told herself normal was boring although she sometimes wondered how it would feel to be ‘normal’ and then shuddered at the thought. She liked being different. It would not be much fun to be a ‘normal’ mean girl with bad intentions.

    That’s why she liked the Minchin sisters. She was O generic so they didn’t want to drain her; and, they were at the top of the social pyramid. The intra schools online blog always mentioned them – their daily comings and goings. Under what was hot (not, what was not), the Minchin sisters always earned a mention. It was just the way things were. 

     When she told Reddie and Rapunzel to be prepared to party with the cool kids at midnight - Lavinia had heard all about the Minchin sisters going to a secluded place near Venice Beach - her followers were totally down with her suggestion. The girls even played the latest Killers cd – at Vanity’s suggestion – so they’d have something to talk about besides their wrong doings.

    The Minchin girls had befriended Lavinia on Twitter because they wanted some information on their ace opponents – Jack and Sara – at the upcoming Tournament of Skill. They’d heard Lavinia was a mean girl, disliked and feared by many at Sloan Select. The Minchins realized she might be surprisingly easy to elicit information out of.

    So, at the edge of the water, down by Santa Monica Pier, the teens met, by planning or mistake. You see, Jack had also followed Storm and was dismayed to see where she’d ended up.

    The Minchin sisters, Hansel (who’d created a huge bonfire), his little sister Gretel who’d woken up, had come running after him (they were homeless this week and sleeping in a tent under the pier).  Storm hadn’t expected to encounter the group. Her blood most definitely appealed, but she had no idea vampires even existed until now and was not afraid. She was not afraid because she cared little about her fate beyond the shoreline now that Jack didn’t love her.

    Storm turned her back to the group and looked longingly out to the sea. She contemplated diving back into the fierce ocean, but something or someone, stopped her.

    Storm hadn’t expected to feel the touch of a hand on her shoulder. Hansel pulled his ear phones off as she turned around.

    “Here, have this.”

     He offered her a drink from his container. The warm flask had belonged to his grandfather and was a memory of home.

     Storm shook her head.

    “What’s up with you?”

    “I… I’m looking for someone, my sisters….”

     “Do they live on a boat or something?”

    “Not exactly.”

     Patience laughed out loud. Jack was always really good with the one liners.

    “No.”

    How could Storm tell them? Who were these people? She thought the sisters looked freakishly beautiful but mean all at once. Then, a new set of girls arrived and walked along the sand. They wore high fashion and Storm could hear their hateful words from a distance. It was all too much for Storm – it was almost like a gang meeting.

    “I… I’m sorry. I must have come to the wrong part of the pier.”

    “You are so right,” Patience agreed unwelcomingly. Vanity smiled, Charity laughed outright. Patience moved towards Storm and just as she was about to savage her, Storm disappeared into air.

    “Wait,” Hansel yelled after her. “Where did she go? Do you always have to scare people like that?” Hansel asked Patience. He was really annoyed. There must have been a better alliance for him and Gretel. He was beginning to realize the Minchin sisters only cared about themselves.

     Meanwhile, the Minchin sisters had been distracted by the arrival of Lavinia, Reddie and Rapunzel, all dressed to the nines.

    Vanity looked up briefly.

    “Hey, where did she go? I was just about to bite!”

    “Vanity, I told you, you have to stop doing that every time we try to make a new friend,” Charity giggled.

    “Is that what we were doing?”

     Hansel looked all around but there was no sign of Storm. She’d disappeared into thin air, which was not unusual in this town.

     

     Jack had saved her, he’d put his arm on her shoulder, waved the elixir of invisibility (the formula Sara had devised and Lavinia had once stolen) under her nose. They’d merged together, quickly and silently, to the top of the pier. They stood up there, looking down.   Sara rushed towards them.

    “You can’t go back; your home is with us now, Storm.”

    “It’s okay here, after a while.” Jack assured her.

    “Now you can see what we are up against,” Sara added. “The vampires in this town are out of control.”

    They stood on the edge of the pier, overlooking the group gathered around the flames below.

    Storm didn’t know what to say. She longed to return to her home under the sea but it was impossible. Jack and Sara had saved her from throwing herself into an ocean that was sure to be pitiless to a near-human girl without mermaid skill. How would she survive the depths of the sea now that she had no gills? What had she been thinking? Her new friends offered a second chance.  Sara had proven to be more than a rival; an unexpected friend. Jack might not know who he loved and even if he didn’t love her, someone would. Storm was sure of it. As a team, they would rid the town of the scourge of vampires and evil shape shifters. Love could wait.

    Jack took Storm’s hand and Sara placed it on his and Sara’s joined palms.

   “Repeat after me, I must stay…”

    Storm felt no power, no power in her legs to return to her ocean home. Her transformation was complete and there appeared to her nothing in the sea but an endless supply of water and fish. It was almost as if the memory of her underwater world, her past, had shifted. She knew she had a family who she loved dearly, but her new friends needed her more. Together they could be a family here on land.

    “I agree to stay forever…” Storm repeated slowly.

    “…or until the scourge of Venice Beach High and Santa Monica Pier goes away.”

    “or until the scourge of the VB High and Santa Monica Pier goes away…”

     Jack continued:

    “More powerful than friends – our bond is unshakeable.”

    The girls spoke:

    “More powerful than friends – our bond is unshakeable.”

    “Our powers interchangeable.”

    “Our powers interchangeable.”

   As if to prove this, Jack and Sara manipulated the tide with their minds. Water came in slowly, dark and turned golden as it reached shore and lapped the flames of the bonfire. Their sworn enemies ran for cover. The trio on the pier were now Sloan Select’s most powerful trinity.

   Taking cover on the boardwalk, Lavinia could sense danger. She’d merged her new friends out of harm’s way. Although the Minchin girls were immune to every weapon but stake and fire. The tidal wave had flattened by shore. Lavinia knew this work – it belonged to Jack Hunter and Sara Bright. Lavinia vowed to get them and all who helped enable their power.

   The Minchin sisters shivered in the wet. They realized Lavinia Snow was far more valuable than they’d previously thought. They weren’t too sure about Reddie Hood and Rapunzel Jones who just seemed doll-like followers and almost as useless, or so they thought.  

    The Venice Beach High group couldn’t see the Trinity. Under cover of invisibility, Jack, Sara and Storm looked like air in the shadows, like black sky, like lights on the pier. The Minchin sisters, Hansel, Gretel and the Mean Girls looked on and wondered what to do next.

    The enemy camps saw strange days coming. The Tournament of Skill, a month away, meant many weeks of practice.

     Hansel looked up at the empty pier, full of a newly discovered emotion – desire, for Storm. Storm looked over at Jack; she knew she’d have to pretend she didn’t love him. She was almost human now and the swimming pool would take the place of the sea until the challenge was done.

     Sara glanced over at Jack and her new friend and knew the future would be complicated – but how else could they function, if not together in power? Sure, Lavinia had wanted to join them but Lavinia was evil – she turned their power and magic black and dark. This girl, Storm, gave them the balance of light.

    Below, the Minchin sisters considered draining one of the mean girls. Little Reddie Hood was not O generic – she was sweet and delicious just like that mermaid creature that got away. But they knew they couldn’t. There was power in a large group formed partially with spies – spies who everyone had once thought were enemies.

    When the water retreated from shore, one word was written in the sand: The Trilogy.

    The Minchin sisters shuddered. Lavinia knew they needed to be stronger, faster, and more powerful. They also needed a name for themselves. Reddie and Rapunzel were just happy to be part of something – something bigger than them. Hansel and Gretel knew a group was safer than a twosome, but they weren’t sure they wanted to be part of this one. If only they could track those interlopers - that trio. The power of the combined schools would be theirs. The Minchin sisters knew there was more at stake, much more.

    More than just winning some stupid high school tournament. They needed a name.

   Vanity reached over and found a stick, encouraged by the name of her sister’s fave band she wrote: The Killers. It was as apt a name for their school group as any.

    Underneath their name, Vanity scrawled, Winning is everything. 

Summer Day is the author of Pride & Princesses, Wuthering Nights, Anne Eyre, Truly and The Hotness; teen novels inspired by classics. Pride and Princesses is the companion novel to Popular. Snow Bright, Bella Cinderella and The magic Mermaid are novellas inspired by classic fairy tales. Pride and Princesses is currently available on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0069JLAPA  

Follow Summer on Twitter: http://twitter.com/summerdaylight @summerdaylight and http://summerdaylight.blogspot.com/ Summer loves to hear from her readers at: summerdaylight99@hotmail.com

THIRTY THOUSAND VIEWS! YAY LOVELY READERS!

I'm aiming towards thirty thousand views on my blog by May. TY wonderful readers (& writers) in cyberspace:) I hope to put The Magic Mermaid up on my blog soon as another huge THANKS:) Meanwhile, make sure you read Bella Cinderella and Snow Bright (parts One & Two of my teen fairy tales first - they are uploaded here in their complete forms!) In the Magic Mermaid the entire Tournament of Skills story starts to merge.

I finished Popular and it has been edited and reviewed. It's not strictly a sequel to Pride and Princesses - more of a companion novel but since Pride & Princesses is set some years ago, I'd have to say, Popular is set around now and some of the main characters from Pride & Princesses are in Popular - so, yeah, it's a little bit of a sequel ... a lot like Emma and mostly a 'companion' novel to Pride & Princesses. I hope you like reading it as much as I loved and angstily toiled over the writing of it.

I'm delaying the publication of Popular as I'm not sure how I'm going to publish it yet. In the meantime, I'm working on finishing The Hotness and a teen series I have been working on for a few years... it has been quite a process! 

SNOW BRIGHT by Summer Day: "The Queen Bee" #One

SNOW BRIGHT by Summer Day    

The queen bee 

Once upon a school, Sloane Select High, a sophomore named Lavinia Price wielded her considerable power. Sloane High was so ritzy there was a large crystal chandelier hanging in the entrance hallway. During the holiday season a grand piano played carols all by itself and a huge Christmas tree decorated in magical lights generated real snow. The brilliantly colored lights rearranged themselves without need of human touch.  

    This didn’t impress Lavinia Price who was the richest, most fashionable cheerleader in school.

    The basketball team, The Sloan Shifters, were the best in the district and the school plays at Sloan High always attracted a large audience. As you may have gathered, Sloan Select was very special. So special, in fact, students had to be gifted in an unusual way to gain entry. There were rumors a few of them were actually characters from fairy tales, they just didn’t know it yet.

    Some were gliders (they could move back or forward in time). Others could play piano or sing like a dream. Some were shifters (they could change their form) and some were weather changers (they could manipulate the weather). Object movers (they could move objects with their minds) were very sought after. Sara Bright was a combination of all of the above – the most powerful. 

     Lavinia Price, newly recruited cheerleader, weather changer and object mover, could answer just about any question – with the help of her cell phone. She wasn’t impressed by the other students or the entrance hall at Sloane. Her own home was far more glamorous. Rightly or wrongly, she thought study was boring, socializing was everything and her mad skills (more on those later) reigned supreme. Lavinia had her eye on Jack Hunter, though. He’d been newly recruited to the school basketball team from some forgettable corner of LA and Lavinia had liked him since she first clapped eyes on him. Jack was tall with blonde hair and a cute smile.

     Every morning, Lavinia would text her smart phone the same question (it had voice recognition amongst other things and Lavinia could see her face on the screen), “mirror mirror on my phone who is the hottest girl at Sloane?” Every afternoon her cell texted the same response: You are Lavinia.

     That was until Sara Bright arrived.

     Sara was the smartest girl who had ever attended Sloane Select; and the most gifted. She was already taking senior Chemistry and there was talk she could mix potions, any kind of potion, especially love potions.

     Sara was also destined to become quite popular. She was talented, genuinely nice – and pretty, with her dark curls and naturally red lipped smile. Sara kept her distance from Lavinia Price though; it was as if she knew that Lavinia was jealous of her.

     Perhaps that was one of Sara’s gifts, Lavinia thought, the gift of second sight. Sara could answer every question in Math and was particularly good at Physics and chemical equation class. The sophomores nicknamed chemical equation class, chemical romance, because some peeps were working secretly on love potions. Lavinia realised Sara wouldn’t be the first girl at Sloane who came prepared with visions and rare formulas but it didn’t seem fair that she also had Jack Hunter’s undivided attention.

     Lavinia decided to do some research. She headed to the girl’s locker room immediately and attempted to rifle through Sara’s open locker. Her street clothes were dark and shabby – apart from that, nothing. Still, Lavinia sensed her power was being usurped and texted:

Ring ring on my phone, who is the prettiest girl at Sloane?

Why, the new girl, Sara Bright is.

    There was only one word for Lavinia’s feelings: outrage. She’d already done at least six mean things to various girls who thought they were prettier or more popular than her. Lavinia couldn’t believe they hadn’t worked it out yet. She only knew how to rule with fear. It was just who she was.

    Lavinia’s home life hadn’t been that great, her mom was exactly like an older version of her, but that was no excuse. Lavinia knew right from wrong. Being born with (quite) exceptional powers, gave her the ability to gain attention in all the wrong ways. Now, at a school where everyone was exceptional, she’d had to use some old-fashioned nastiness. So far, it was working. Peeps in groups divided in two when they saw her coming.

    Not Jack Hunter and Sara Bright, though. They just stayed talking when they saw her appear, trailed by her mean girl pom poms. She flicked the hem of her cheerleading skirt as she walked by and Jack and Sara laughed. The whole school stopped and stared. Lavinia collected her homework and her lunch from one of the students too afraid to say no to her.

     Once, Lavinia had put a poisonous lizard in someone’s locker. No one knew how she got it, because there was talk that she was neither a glider nor a shifter. Lavinia wasn’t just a weather changer or an object mover. She was the most feared of all… a wicked, little conjurer. Unlike the other students she refused to use her gifts for good. 

     Lavinia could imagine things and make them happen, manifest an object with her mind; it meant her world could appear, like magic, but only briefly. Lavinia’s magic was hollow and brittle, like her personality. People said that’s how the poisonous lizard arrived. Lavinia manifested it, out of thin air. The reptile disappeared as quickly as it appeared so no teacher was the wiser; but everyone was scared of Lavinia.   

    The students were open mouthed when a pathway Lavinia created behind her made a space not just between the gossiping students but merged into a small ocean flowing with waves in the middle of the hallway. The ocean closed up and became a sheet of fire until the smoke alarm sounded and Lavinia shut the whole mirage down. The vice-principal, Mrs Myers, came out screaming but the students just stood open mouthed. They knew it was only Lavinia manifesting visions that weren’t even real.

    Lavinia shook her head. “Why are you all staring at me?” Total Rudeness, Lavinia thought. As she pulled her purse from her locker, she changed the color of her nail polish from pale blue to pink with just the click of her fingers. She was so over people staring at her. They should mind their own business and work on their own dubious talents, Lavinia thought. Sometimes she wondered if her only friend was her smart phone. Her cell never lied but the only way she could control it was by turning the annoying thing off, which she did, right away.

    Lavinia had plans and she didn’t need any more lame advice.  

    Besides, in chemical romance class she’d been working on a formula for invisibility that she’d decided to try as soon as possible. Looking at Sara and Jack huddled together made her think trying it sooner rather than later might be the ticket. She guzzled a small amount of fizzy orange liquid from the tiny ceramic vial she kept on a chain around her wrist. In the minutes it took her to walk from class to the bus stop, it hadn’t worked. Lavinia was wondering what to do in the unlikely event she’d developed the potion with a flaw. Distracted, she didn’t realize Sara was looking at her from the back seat of the bus. 

    “What do you want?”  Sara asked as Lavinia conjured her ticket then moved to take a seat.

    Sara turned around and challenged Lavinia. She was the first girl to ever do this.  

    “Mmm… not so friendly outside school hours, are we?” Lavinia said.

    “… and you’re not so friendly in. Why are you on my bus?”

    “It’s a free country. I’m going shopping.”

     “Where? In East L.A.?”

     “Not exactly…”

      Sara ignored Lavinia and started reading on her tablet.

      Lavinia began to feel her skin tighten and hoped the secret formula would work – just not too soon.

      She looked down at her finger and the polish had disappeared. She felt her lips and there was no gloss. Externals were the first to go. Thankfully, the bus screeched to a halt and Sara moved to get off.

      Lavinia moved also, just as her socks disappeared. It was becoming more and more obvious that Sara was walking towards the opposite side of town.

     “What are you doing?”

    “I’m just going in the same direction as you.”

    “I doubt that.”