1
Genny

I rose through the calm water, staring up at the ship's hull as it appeared to grow larger and larger. Lagging slightly, my team swam up, each member located the same distance away from me. They formed a ring with me in the middle.

From the sheath I wore around my waist, I pulled out a sizable dagger. Placing one hand on the bottom of the ship to steady myself, I used the other to force the metal though the hull. It cut though the weak, human-made material like a crab through sand. The weapon I held cut a large, even circle that spanned the entire shape of the vessel that was visible underwater. When I finished, I pulled it free, and quickly swam out of the way. Though the cut was almost perfect, a few others had to pull down the circle of hull material.

Once it was finally dislodged, it slowly began to fall down through the water, and the people who had been detaching it from the ship were now swimming up into the now exposed interior as it filled up with water. The ship was being torn apart with various weapons by stronger members of the pod. I waited as the ship sank deeper into the water, then swam up to the very top level of it where many humans had rushed to.

I grabbed onto the side of the ship, and climbed to the top where I was met with screams. As I dangled off the side, I lifted my knife and held it level with the ship. I muttered a spell underneath my breath, and it elongated into a long, thin sword. I forced the sword down, and let go of the side of the ship. I fell quickly as the sword cut easily through the metal. I reached the bottom of the ship again, where I shrunk the sword and sheathed it.

Six others, three on each side, grabbed ahold of the ship on either side of where I had made the cut. They swam In the opposite direction of the other trio, ripping apart the boat. Though most of the humans remained at the top of the ship, some were jumping into the water, some had fallen, and some had already been dragged down by other members of the team.

I pulled out a net that I had tucked between the strap of the sheath, and my waist, and swam towards a few of the humans who had jumped. For each of them, I clamped my hand over their mouths, muttered the spell for air bubbles, and forced them into my net.

After the fifth person was breathing and tucked away for easy transportation, I sped away from the shipwreck with a flick of my tail. They could make me participate, but they couldn't make me do more than the bare minimum.

I entered the conversion center, dropping off four of the humans in the lobby. The last one, I brought to one of the white rooms. I dropped the human onto the floor, then quickly left, making sure to close the door behind me. I returned with a small vial of the shimmery purple elixir that would forever change the identity of this human I'd brought down to the ocean floor.

I swam back into the room, and stared down at the human who lay unconscious on the floor of the otherwise empty room. The human was small, with long, dark hair. Covering its chest, it wore a red shirt made of cloth, and its legs were covered with a pair of blue cloth pants. I knew these would become a problem during the transition, so I floated down to the floor, and worked them off of the human's short, pale legs.

I righted myself again, holding the blue garment along with the smaller, white piece of cloth the human had also been wearing. I bunched them both up, and dropped them in the corner.

I waited for a little while longer before the human regained consciousness. When it did, it was wide-eyed and immediately backed up to the wall. It tried to pull down its shirt before attempting to speak. When it finally managed to open its mouth, it demanded, "Who are you? What do you want?"

"Well, that's rude," I complained, glaring at it. "Don't they teach you manners up there?"

"Did you kill them?" it asked.

"Kill who?" I asked, indulging in the conversation.

"My classmates. The other people who were on the boat." It continued frantically.

"No." I admitted. "But I'm going to kill you."

"What?" The human's mouth was wide open and fear was evident in its eyes.

In under a second, I was in front of it and had forced the vial into its mouth. The human tried to spit it out, but I clamped my hand over its mouth. The vial was rapidly dissolving and the liquid within was entering the human's bloodstream.

I let go when the human started shaking uncontrollably all over. The human spat out a small lump of transparent material, and screamed as its legs fused together, and became a long grayish brown tail. When the change stopped, and the air bubble around its face disappeared, I floated down so that my body was parallel with its.

"This is going to hurt," I said, more to myself then the now former human. I grabbed the sides of its head with my hands, and concentrated. After about a second, I let go, and left the room.

I was almost at the exit when I heard a familiar, grating voice.

"Hi Genny. Just checking to see that you've-"

I cut off the ramblings of the green-tailed mer with, "I changed one. Its in room 875. I also brought down four others. They're in rooms 876 to 874. Do with them what you will. I'm leaving."

I could tell that Jeff wanted to say something else, but I didn't hang around long enough to find out what.

The conversion center was on the outskirts of the kingdom, like my home. It wasn't directly next to where I lived, but close enough that it only took roughly ten minutes for me to get there. I swam higher than most others did, so I easily avoided swimming into anyone.

When I entered my home, I first removed the sheath around my waist, and tossed it onto the floor. It fell with a dull, slightly metallic thud. I swam across the room, and fell into my bed, where I lay on my side, staring at nothing.

2
Hailey

I sat in the little cabin I was assigned on the school-rented cruise ship. I hugged my knees, and leaned against the wall. What am I doing? I asked myself after a while. School's over. There's a party upstairs. Why am I hiding down here?

I knew, of course, but I wasn't prepared to admit anything to anyone, especially not myself. I took in a deep breath, and unwrapped my arms from around my legs, and slowly stood up. I made my way to the door, then stopped. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and continued out the door.

I made my way up the levels until I reached the top deck. No one noticed me, and I didn't expect anyone to. No one ever did, because no one ever cares.

I made my way around the edges of the top deck watching as the others danced to the pulsating music that blared from the speakers. I stood, watching for a while when suddenly the floor fell.

I screamed reflexively, and as did most everyone else. The lower the ship sank, the louder the screams got, and the more people ran up to the top deck.

I looked around, knowing I'd have to make a decision, and fast. There was another burst of screams as the deck tilted. I looked in the direction that slanted downwards to see a massive split in the side of the ship. I kicked off my flip-flops, and climbed up the railing that lined the edges of the deck.

I crouched at the top, sitting like a frog, my feet on the smooth metal bar, and my hands gripping the parts that extended past my feet. The boat jerked downwards, and I gasped for air, let go of the railing, and propelled myself forwards. I landed as a cannonball in the water. I sunk down under the waves, blowing water and air out of my nose, before pushing down with my feet and shooting up to the surface.

I treaded water, trying to figure out what was going on, but before long I felt a hand grab my ankle and pull me under. I gasped for breath, and surprisingly found it despite being surrounded by water. I could see as well, and my face was unnaturally dry.

Before I could figure out what was going on, I could feel water rushing past me, and passed out at the speed and pressure change.

I opened my eyes to find myself staring at a blank white ceiling. I looked around to see nothing but white, then directly in front of me there was a blur of red and blue. My eyes focused, and floating in the water in front of me, there was a mermaid. Her bright red hair floated around her, and her tail was long with scales of every shade of blue. I stared at her eyes, the same mixture of color found on her tail, then I backed up against the wall, pushing against the floor with my legs.

The room was filled with water. Why wouldn't it be? This was obviously a mermaid place. I could feel water touching all parts of my body, except my face, where there seemed to be some kind of air bubble. I looked around the room, finding nothing except my pants in a pile in the corner.

My pants? I glanced down, and tried to pull down my shirt. It was too short, so I pulled up my legs close to my body. "Who are you and what do you want?" I asked, hoping I sounded more confident than I felt. Luckily, I could actually talk underwater.

"Well that's rude." Her voice was sweet as honey, fitting for an angel, "Don't they teach you manners up there?"

I paused briefly, remembering that this monster sunk the ship I was on, and then kidnapped me. "Did you kill them?"

"Kill who?" the mermaid asked in false innocence.

"My classmates." I stated. "The other people who were on the boat."

"No." I felt slight relief at that word. I didn't really care about the others, but was glad that whatever this being was going to do to me, it didn't involve murder. "But I'm going to kill you," she continued.

Wait. "What?"

Suddenly, the mermaid was directly in front of me. My eyes honed in on the little purple ball she held in her hand. She shoved it in my mouth, and I tried to spit it out. Suddenly, my mouth was filled with a bizarre liquid. It was both the most disgusting, bitter thing in all the world, and the sweetest, sugary taste of all the frosting you could fit in your mouth.

I spat, and the lump of what I assumed was plastic flew out of my mouth. The liquid was now sliding down my throat towards towards my stomach. Or maybe into my bloodstream. I wasn't very focused on where it was going, and more on the effects of it. It burned, but I couldn't stop shaking in cold.

My legs forced themselves together, and I screamed as I felt my bones twisting together to form a completely new anatomy. My toes flattened, and my skin felt like it was being ripped away as dark grayish brown scales appeared across what was once my legs.

After what felt like an eternity passed, I heard the sweet voice again.

"This is going to hurt."

Too late, I thought, thinking that nothing could be worse than the agony I had just experienced. I was wrong.

I felt a pair of hands - one on each side of my face - followed by a pain twice as worse as what I'd just been through.

I'd passed out, and when I regained consciousness, I saw another merperson in the room with me. He had a long green tail, and short purple hair. The other mer was gone.

"Hello. My name is Jeff. Are you doing ok?" He reached out a hand to me. I nodded a moment, then reached up to take his hand. He slowly pulled me up off of the floor, and I soon found myself floating upright next to him.

I looked down at myself, and stared at the foreign appendage that extended from my waist.

"Did Genny explain anything to you?" he asked.

"Who?" I spoke without air for the first time.

"The mer who was in here before you." He replied before specifying. "Red hair, blue tail?"

"She was here but didn't tell me anything." I explained. I didn't mention the jumble of words that came when I blacked out.

"Damnit." He sighed then asked, "What's you're name?"

"Hailey." I answered.

"Ok, Hailey, I'm going to have to bring you with me. Come on." Jeff gently pulled me out of the empty box of a room into a colorful hallway. The floor looked like a coral reef with plants of every color, and the walls shimmered with crushed glass. Jeff didn't stop for me to stare at the walls, and dragged me along to a large busy room.

The room was filled with various mer coming in and out to do whatever it was they were doing.

"Sit down." It took a moment for me to realize that it was Jeff talking to me. I briefly wondered what it was he wanted me to sit on before noticing a large orange sponge near where we floated. I moved to sit down. "Wait here," Jeff commanded before swimming away.

3
Hailey

I sat there nervously. Through my mind, information swam around my head like a memory. The thoughts weren't mine, and it was as if someone had just given me a crash course on a history that I knew nothing about.

There were three races on Earth other than the humans. In the water there were the merpeople. On land, there were the werewolves. In the clouds there were the fairies. All three groups were trying as fast as they could to transform as many humans to become of their respective races. Apparently noone was happy with the way the humans had been treating the Earth. This explained why huge groups of people had been going missing lately.

In my mind I also now knew about this underwater city, the layout of it, and some various things about surviving underwater. Apparently, there is a residential area designed for assimilating changed humans. I guess that's where I'll end up living.

Maybe now I would have a purpose. That purpose would be helping the merpeople, but nonetheless, I would have something to do. It was a reason for being alive.

Jeff returned. "So you should already be filled in, right?"

"I guess?" I thought for a moment. Something that Genny did must've given me this information.

"Yeah," he sighed, "Genny was supposed to explain the situation to you verbally, but instead she shared her memories. She's not supposed to do that. It can be dangerous. Clearly it worked this time, but it won't always work. Would you like me to take you to where you'll be living?"

"Um. I guess?" I tried to stand up, but it came across as kind of off as I now had a tail. I wondered how long it would take me to get used to this.

"Good. Everyone else from your boat has already been processed except for you and four others. Follow me. Your new apartment isn't far from this facility." Jeff started off down the hallway, and I followed him out.

It was beautiful underwater. The plants and fish were abundant and colorful. As I exited the building I saw that it was somewhat rounded and there were corals and plants growing all over the walls.

I was brought to a tall yellow and green building. I went inside after Jeff, and was taken to a room that looked like a modified dorm room that contained a girl with short brown hair and a short, round tail that matched the color of her lovely green eyes.

"Sylvia, this will be your new roommate," Jeff announced.

"Oh nice," Sylvia said, looking up from her book. "So you're from that new sunken ship are you?"

"Yeah. I guess," I muttered shyly.

"Really turns your life upside down don't it?" She came over and shook my hand. "Don't worry you'll soon find that its better down here than it is up there. What's your name?"

"Hailey." I answered.

"Well then, Hailey, why don't we get to know each other?" She looked over a Jeff. "You. Leave."

He bowed sarcastically. "As you wish." Jeff left, closing the door behind him.

I went to sit down on the bed opposite from the one where Sylvia had previously been sitting.

"So, what's going through your mind right now? Are you chill or are you one of the panickers?" she asked.

"I'm freaking out internally right now." I admitted. While I did think that this whole thing was cool, I was also indeed freaking out.

"Well you're going a pretty good job at hiding it, just try not to have a mental breakdown. That wouldn't be good. Have you gotten your shellphone yet?"

"My what?" I said.

"Of course you haven't. I found mine in my dresser." She swam over to the dresser on my side and rifled through the drawers before fishing out a large shell. She flipped open the fan-shaped shell, revealing that the bottom part contained a keyboard and the top part contained a screen. The symbols on the keyboard were unfamiliar, but somehow I could read it. "What you do is you hold it in front of your face so that it scans you, then it automatically creates a profile for you. You can edit it later. It allows you to communicate with anyone else underwater that you want. You can look for friends or family that might've bene transformed, and there's sites you can access were you can talk to werewolves and fairies. I wouldn't recommend doing that last thing though."

She handed me the device.

I took it and held it in front of me. After a moment, there was a red light as it scanned my face. A blank profile with my face and a number filled out was present on the screen.

"What's this number?" I asked.

"That's your ID number. These things are pretty official as well as being for entertainment purposes. They can be used for classes and also for getting orders from the government to participate in sinkings and stuff like that. If you're trying to do certain things, then you'll want this to identify you. I don't know. I haven't really used it for much."

"Ok." I set to work filling out the profile. After a bit, I got a notification of a message. I looked over at Sylvia who sat on her bed grinning. I checked and indeed it was from her.

Hi

I paused then typed back a response.

Hi.

How's it going

"I'm sitting right here." I said aloud

"I know. I'm just messing around." She shrugged.

"Ok."

What were those classes you mentioned earlier?

Standardized magic and defense classes.

Old Draft

Description
Genny is a pessimistic mermaid only willing to do what it required of her to do by society.
Hailey is a depressed teenage human girl.
What will happen when Hailey is pulled underwater into the magical mer realm and into the home of a certain blue-tailed mer?

1

I rose through the calm water, staring up at the ship's hull as it appeared to grow larger and larger. Lagging slightly, my team swam up, each member located the same distance away from me. They formed a ring with me in the middle.

From the sheath I wore around my waist, I pulled out a sizable dagger. Placing one hand on the bottom of the ship to steady myself, I used the other to force the metal though the hull. It cut though the weak, human-made material like a crab through sand. The weapon I held cut a large, even circle that spanned the entire shape of the vessel that was visible underwater. When I finished, I pulled it free, and quickly swam out of the way. Though the cut was almost perfect, a few others had to pull down the circle of hull material.

Once it was finally dislodged, it slowly began to fall down through the water, and the people who had been detaching it from the ship were now swimming up into the now exposed interior as it filled up with water. The ship was being torn apart with various weapons by stronger members of the pod. I waited as the ship sank deeper into the water, then swam up to the very top level of it where many humans had rushed to.

I grabbed onto the side of the ship, and climbed to the top where I was met with screams. As I dangled off the side, I lifted my knife and held it level with the ship. I muttered a spell underneath my breath, and it elongated into a long, thin sword. I forced the sword down, and let go of the side of the ship. I fell quickly as the sword cut easily through the metal. I reached the bottom of the ship again, where I shrunk the sword and sheathed it.

Six others, three on each side, grabbed ahold of the ship on either side of where I had made the cut. They swam In the opposite direction of the other trio, ripping apart the boat. Though most of the humans remained at the top of the ship, some were jumping into the water, some had fallen, and some had already been dragged down by other members of the team.

I pulled out a net that I had tucked between the strap of the sheath, and my waist, and swam towards a few of the humans who had jumped. For each of them, I clamped my hand over their mouths, muttered the spell for air bubbles, and forced them into my net.

After the fifth person was breathing and tucked away for easy transportation, I sped away from the shipwreck with a flick of my tail. They could make me participate, but they couldn't make me do more than the bare minimum.

I entered the conversion center, dropping off four of the humans in the lobby. The last one, I brought to one of the white rooms. I dropped the human onto the floor, then quickly left, making sure to close the door behind me. I returned with a small vial of the shimmery purple elixir that would forever change the identity of this human I'd brought down to the ocean floor.

I swam back into the room, and stared down at the human who lay unconscious on the floor of the otherwise empty room. The human was small, with long, dark hair. Covering its chest, it wore a red shirt made of cloth, and its legs were covered with a pair of blue cloth pants. I knew these would become a problem during the transition, so I floated down to the floor, and worked them off of the human's short, pale legs.

I righted myself again, holding the blue garment along with the smaller, white piece of cloth the human had also been wearing. I bunched them both up, and dropped them in the corner.

I waited for a little while longer before the human regained consciousness. When it did, it was wide-eyed and immediately backed up to the wall. It tried to pull down its shirt before attempting to speak. When it finally managed to open its mouth, it demanded, "Who are you? What do you want?"

"Well, that's rude," I complained, glaring at it. "Don't they teach you manners up there?"

"Did you kill them?" it asked.

"Kill who?" I asked, indulging in the conversation.

"My classmates. The other people who were on the boat." It continued frantically.

"No." I admitted. "But I'm going to kill you."

"What?" The human's mouth was wide open and fear was evident in its eyes.

In under a second, I was in front of it and had forced the vial into its mouth. The human tried to spit it out, but I clamped my hand over its mouth. The vial was rapidly dissolving and the liquid within was entering the human's bloodstream.

I let go when the human started shaking uncontrollably all over. The human spat out a small lump of transparent material, and screamed as its legs fused together, and became a long grayish brown tail. When the change stopped, and the air bubble around its face disappeared, I floated down so that my body was parallel with its.

"This is going to hurt," I said, more to myself then the now former human. I grabbed the sides of its head with my hands, and concentrated. After about a second, I let go, and left the room.

I was almost at the exit when I heard a familiar, grating voice.

"Hi Genny. Just checking to see that you've-"

I cut off the ramblings of the green-tailed mer with, "I changed one. Its in room 875. I also brought down four others. They're in rooms 876 to 874. Do with them what you will. I'm leaving."

I could tell that Jeff wanted to say something else, but I didn't hang around long enough to find out what.

The conversion center was on the outskirts of the kingdom, like my home. It wasn't directly next to where I lived, but close enough that it only took roughly ten minutes for me to get there. I swam higher than most others did, so I easily avoided swimming into anyone.

When I entered my home, I first removed the sheath around my waist, and tossed it onto the floor. It fell with a dull, slightly metallic thud. I swam across the room, and fell into my bed, where I lay on my side, staring at nothing.

2

I sat in the little cabin I was assigned on the school-rented cruise ship. I hugged my knees, and leaned against the wall. What am I doing? I asked myself after a while. School's over. There's a party upstairs. Why am I hiding down here?

I knew, of course, but I wasn't prepared to admit anything to anyone, especially not myself. I took in a deep breath, and unwrapped my arms from around my legs, and slowly stood up. I made my way to the door, then stopped. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and continued out the door.

I made my way up the levels until I reached the top deck. No one noticed me, and I didn't expect anyone to. No one ever did, because no one ever cares.

I made my way around the edges of the top deck watching as the others danced to the pulsating music that blared from the speakers. I stood, watching for a while when suddenly the floor fell.

I screamed reflexively, and as did most everyone else. The lower the ship sank, the louder the screams got, and the more people ran up to the top deck.

I looked around, knowing I'd have to make a decision, and fast. There was another burst of screams as the deck tilted. I looked in the direction that slanted downwards to see a massive split in the side of the ship. I kicked off my flip-flops, and climbed up the railing that lined the edges of the deck.

I crouched at the top, sitting like a frog, my feet on the smooth metal bar, and my hands gripping the parts that extended past my feet. The boat jerked downwards, and I gasped for air, let go of the railing, and propelled myself forwards. I landed as a cannonball in the water. I sunk down under the waves, blowing water and air out of my nose, before pushing down with my feet and shooting up to the surface.

I treaded water, trying to figure out what was going on, but before long I felt a hand grab my ankle and pull me under. I gasped for breath, and surprisingly found it despite being surrounded by water. I could see as well, and my face was unnaturally dry.

Before I could figure out what was going on, I could feel water rushing past me, and passed out at the speed and pressure change.

I opened my eyes to find myself staring at a blank white ceiling. I looked around to see nothing but white, then directly in front of me there was a blur of red and blue. My eyes focused, and floating in the water in front of me, there was a mermaid. Her bright red hair floated around her, and her tail was long with scales of every shade of blue. I stared at her eyes, the same mixture of color found on her tail, then backed up against the wall, pushing against the floor with my legs.

The room was filled with water. Why wouldn't it be? This was obviously a mermaid place. I could feel water touching all parts of my body, except my face, where there seemed to be some kind of air bubble. I looked around the room, finding nothing except my pants in a pile in the corner.

My pants? I glanced down, and tried to pull down my shirt. It was too short, so I pulled up my legs close to my body. "Who are you and what do you want?" I asked, hoping I sounded more confident than I felt. Luckily, I could actually talk underwater.

"Well that's rude." Her voice was sweet as honey, fitting for an angel, "Don't they teach you manners up there?"

I paused briefly, remembering that this monster sunk the ship I was on, and then kidnapped me. "Did you kill them?"

"Kill who?" the mermaid asked in false innocence.

"My classmates." I stated. "The other people who were on the boat."

"No." I felt slight relief at that word. I didn't really care about the others, but was glad that whatever this being was going to do to me, it didn't involve murder. "But I'm going to kill you," she continued.

Wait. "What?"

Suddenly, the mermaid was directly in front of me. My eyes honed in on the little purple ball she held in her hand. She shoved it in my mouth, and I tried to spit it out. Suddenly, my mouth was filled with a bizarre liquid. It was both the most disgusting, bitter thing in all the world, and the sweetest, sugary taste of all the frosting you could fit in your mouth.

I spat, and the lump of what I assumed was plastic flew out of my mouth. The liquid was now sliding down my throat towards towards my stomach. Or maybe into my bloodstream. I wasn't very focused on where it was going, and more on the effects of it. It burned, but I couldn't stop shaking in cold.

My legs forced themselves together, and I screamed as I felt my bones twisting together to form a completely new anatomy. My toes flattened, and my skin felt like it was being ripped away as dark grayish brown scales appeared across what was once my legs.

After what felt like an eternity passed, I heard the sweet voice again.

"This is going to hurt."

Too late, I thought, thinking that nothing could be worse than the agony I had just experienced. I was wrong.

I felt a pair of hands - one on each side of my face - followed by a pain twice as worse as what I'd just been through.

I'd passed out, and when I regained consciousness, I saw another merperson in the room with me. He had a long green tail, and short purple hair. The other mer was gone.

"Hello. My name is Jeff. Are you doing ok?" He reached out a hand to me. I nodded a moment, then reached up to take his hand. He slowly pulled me up off of the floor, and I soon found myself floating upright next to him.

I looked down at myself, and stared at the foreign appendage that extended from my waist.

"Did Genny explain anything to you?" he asked.

"Who?" I spoke without air for the first time.

"The mer who was in here before you." He replied before specifying. "Red hair, blue tail?"

"She was here but didn't tell me anything." I explained. I didn't mention the jumble of words that came when I blacked out.

"Damnit." He sighed then asked, "What's you're name?"

"Hailey." I answered.

"Ok, Hailey, I'm going to have to bring you with me. Come on." Jeff gently pulled me out of the empty box of a room into a colorful hallway. The floor looked like a coral reef with plants of every color, and the walls shimmered with crushed glass. Jeff didn't stop for me to stare at the walls, and dragged me along to a large busy room.

The room was filled with various mer coming in and out to do whatever it was they were doing.

"Sit down." It took a moment for me to realize that it was Jeff talking to me. I briefly wondered what it was he wanted me to sit on before noticing a large orange sponge near where we floated. I moved to sit down. "Wait here," Jeff commended before swimming away.