It took me an hour to get ready for this party. The problem was I didn't know what to wear, formal, casual, swimsuit. How was I to know what to wear to a party that celebrates the full moon when I never even attended one? I looked at my choices that were spread out on the bed, a beautiful light blue beach dress, a white t-shirt, and a pair of shorts, or a light green swimsuit. "Well, I guess I could wear the swimsuit underneath one of the outfits, but which one?" I asked myself.

I looked down at my charm bracelet and opened the small locket containing the photo of my mother. If only you were here. Mother always knew how to help me with an outfit, and she gave me a tip when it came to choosing the perfect one. "Don't choose the outfit that will get people to notice you. Choose the outfit that reflects your personality," When I looked back at the dress, I knew that it was too "look at me, look at me," and that wasn't who I was, or at least, who I didn't want people to see me as.

"You'll do," I said, grabbing the swimsuit and casual outfit. I slipped the pieces of clothing on, and when I stared at myself in the mirror, I could hardly recognize myself.

I quickly pulled my hair back into an elegant bun, knowing my hair could get wet if I went into the ocean. I heard a knock at the door, and I was worried that it was Aunt Kit. But when I looked at the small clock resting on my bedside table, the time read 8:02, now was my chance to leave and go to the party.

"Kit's fast asleep. Now's your chance," Uncle Dewey said when I opened the door and saw him standing there with a sleeping Beatrice in his arms. "Thanks again, Uncle Dewey," I smiled. "Remember what I said, be back before midnight," He reminded me as I carefully walked to the front door. "Have a good time tonight," I gave him a quick hug and gave Beatrice a small kiss on her head, and walked out onto the sidewalk, and followed the sounds of voices down to the beach.

Tiki torches lit the way down to the water, and small crowds of people gathered in small circles of conversation. "Delphine! You made it!" Veronica yelled as she ran towards me and embraced me tightly. "My uncle let me go. Aunt Kit and I got into a fight and went to bed early," I explained. Veronica took my hand and led me down to the beach to a small group of teens about my age.

"Guys, this is my friend Delphine. Delphine, these are my friends," Veronica introduced us. Everyone seemed so welcoming, and I was glad that I got to meet them. "I'm Violet Baudelaire, and these are my siblings Klaus and Sunny," the girl with long brown hair and bangs smiled. "It's so nice to meet you all," I smiled. Sunny walked over to me, and I felt her gently hug my legs.

"Sorry, she does that to a lot of people. It's better than her biting, though," Klaus smiled. There was another girl in the group who looked almost similar to Violet. The only difference was that she didn't have bangs. Klaus looked over at the girl and two other boys and cleared his throat. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm Isadora Quagmire, and these are my brothers, Duncan and Quigley," the girl said, looking up from her book.

"Isadora, I don't see the point in you bringing a book here. There's not a lot of light for you to read," Klaus sighed. Isadora sighed as she closed her book and placed it in the sand next to her. "Klaus, you should know that I try to read whenever I get the chance," she sighed. Veronica leaned in close to my ear and whispered. "Isadora is slightly sassy, just to let you know,"

It seems like it. "Are you guys planning on going night swimming?" Klaus asked. Violet and Sunny looked over at him, confused and scared, I heard that at this time of night, sharks could be nearby ready to feed on people who were stupid enough to go into the deep water,  but it could be my only chance to see if the rumor of becoming a mermaid was true. "Isn't that dangerous?" Violet asked. "As long as we don't go too far, we'll be fine," he answered, taking off his jacket.

"You're not getting me in that water. It's too cold!" Isadora scoffed. "Come on. It'll be fun!" I begged. After a minute, Isadora finally caved in and walked down to the water. I set my clothes to the side far away from the waves and carefully stepped in, silently praying that I would become a creature of the sea.

"Come on in, the water's fine!" I called out to the others, and they soon joined me. The full moon's reflection in the water was so beautiful, and at the bottom, I could see small fish swimming around me. "Anything yet?" Veronica asked. I knew she was asking if there was any change to the lower half of my body. "Only one way to find out," I answered as I lifted my leg out of the water.

No change whatsoever. I let out a small frustrated sigh. "No use, I'll never become a mermaid," I frowned. "Don't tell me you believe that stupid myth," Violet said, lifting Sunny slightly out of the water. "Mermaids aren't real. They're mythical creatures, besides even if you wanted to become a mermaid, I doubt they would make it this easy,"

"My sister's right. They're myths, I have heard of mermaid sightings in the past, but none of them have been proven," Klaus sighed, swimming to his sister's side. "But, you never know, they could be real. They could choose not to make their presence known to us," Veronica explained. But, from the looks on Violet and Klaus' faces, they didn't want to hear it. "HEY! What do you think you're doing? It's dangerous to be in the water at night!" Someone on shore shouted to us. 

"Sorry! We'll get out now!" I shouted back to them. Even though we hadn't gone too far, it was still risky. As we swam towards the shore, I started to feel this weird pull, like someone was tugging on my insides. "Guys! Help me!" I called out. I saw Veronica turn around and swim towards me. "Are you okay?" she asked as she grabbed my hand. "I don't know. I just felt this weird tug," I answered.

When we reached the shore, we gathered around a fire pit and ate some food they had on one of the tables. "You know, I think it would be cool to see a mermaid just so I could see if they're real or not," Duncan said, breaking the silence between the group. "Duncan, get your head out of the saltwater, mermaids are not real, and they never will be!" Isadora said, smacking her brother lightly on the head.

I wanted to say something, but Veronica looked at me, silently telling me not to say anything. Even though the others didn't believe in mermaids, we could still believe in them. I looked behind me and saw the majority of the other groups were gone. There were only a few people besides us who were still at this party.