The next morning, I slept in a little later than I usually did. After the party, Veronica and I walked back to our houses, and after I changed into a nightgown, I flopped onto my bed like I was a fish out of water. When I woke up, I was surprised to discover that I had slept in until 11:00 am. I wanted to sleep all day because I was still so tired, but then I felt an ache in my legs. "Delphine, are you up yet?" I heard Aunt Kit ask as she knocked on the door.

I tried my best to act like I had been up for a while, "Yeah, Aunt Kit, I'm up!" I answered. She opened the door, and she just stared at me. "Are you okay? You never usually sleep in," I wiped my tired eyes, and I looked up at her as she stepped closer to the bed. "I'm fine, it's summer, and I like to sleep in," I sighed. She nodded slightly, and she walked out of the room. When I was fully conscious, I began to smell the tangy scent of salt, and I realized that I forgot to wash the saltwater off of my body from the night before.

I grabbed some old clothes from my suitcase and placed them on my bathroom counter. I turned the bathtub handle repeatedly until I got the right temperature, and I carefully stepped in. The hot water began to soothe the painful cramps in my legs. After sitting there for a few minutes, I tried to reach out to the other side of the tub for the soap, but when I looked down at my legs, I was surprised to discover they were gone and replaced with a pink and light blue mermaid tail. 

I let out a small gasp of disbelief, and I couldn't believe that the myth was true! But, I also wondered, if the spell worked for me, did it work for the others? It was hard for me to reach over and grab a towel from the towel rack, but eventually, I lifted myself out of the water and successfully grab a towel and wipe myself dry. Once I finished drying off my tail, it changed back into human legs, and I was so glad that I was not going to be stuck in this mermaid form forever.

I heard a knock on the bathroom door, and I quickly wrapped the towel around me and opened it slightly. "Hey, breakfast is ready," Uncle Dewey said. I nodded and gently closed the door and let out a sigh of relief, knowing that he had not caught me in my mermaid form. As much as I trusted him, I was worried that he would think of me differently if he found out I was a real mermaid.

I quickly changed into my clothes and walked into the dining room, acting like nothing was wrong with me. Aunt Kit and I didn't say a word to each other. The only thing close to talking, was an occasional cold glare as we remembered our dispute from the night before. I was about to start a conversation with my Uncle, but then I heard a knock at the front door. 

"I'll get it!" I volunteered, getting out of my chair. When I opened the door, I saw Veronica, and she looked a little scared and anxious to tell me something. "Veronica, What's going on?" I asked, stepping outside and shutting the door behind me. "Something happened this morning when I took a shower," she whispered into my ear. "I became a mermaid," My eyes went wide when I realized that she had become a mermaid as well.

"I became a mermaid too, the same way you did, but with a bath," I whispered back. "Do you think the others are mermaids too?" There was a possibility now. If Veronica and I became one of them, there was at least a ninety percent chance that they were mermaids like us. "The others are at the beach. I went to their houses before I came here," Veronica explained. I looked back at the house, and I was worried that Aunt Kit and Uncle Dewey were becoming concerned about why I hadn't come back inside.

"Wait here for a second," I told her. When I got back inside, I saw them sitting at the table, still eating their breakfast. "Veronica needs me for something. Can I go help her?" I asked. Aunt Kit sighed and gave me a cold glare. "Aunt Kit, you may think that Veronica is a bad influence, but she's my best friend, and I'm going to go help her," I said as I gave Uncle Dewey a  small hug.

Before she could say anything, I walked out the front door, and I followed Veronica down to the beach to meet up with the Baudelaires and Quagmires.