𝐿𝑜𝓋𝑒'𝓈 𝒶𝓈 𝒟𝑒𝑒𝓅 𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒪𝒸𝑒𝒶𝓃

Switching Species

When me and Gill got back up to the surface, I felt a weird phantom-like substance wash over me as I came out of the water. I was then suddenly cold from being out of the water in the chilly air. Gill saw me go through that and rushed to say; "that's normal, it's just the necklace adjusting to the change in atmosphere, you'll get used to it" I then stood up and opened the spell jar, it actually smelled pretty good! Unlike Ida's lair. It smelled like sea lilies & salt water breeze! I gave it to Gill as he sat on a rock. "Remember what Ida said! Drink a tea spoon! And only a tea spoon!" I exclaimed. "Yea, yea" Gill replied not listening to a word I was saying but just waiting to drink the spell. He took the jar out of my hands and drank way more then what was required. We waited but nothing happened "maybe it's just taking a while to kick in!" Said Gill. I was getting impatient. I sat on the sand until I heard Gill almost fall off of the rock he was sitting on. He seemed surprised, and so was I. We watched in satisfaction as his light periwinkle scales slowly turned into human legs! I watched as the scales that were fading away got higher up his legs! Oh crabs! I knew what was coming. I quickly turned away as he laughed. "Gill! Ya might wanna get a leaf or something to cover up...that area" I said while intensely closing my eyes and blushing a bit at the thought of the sight. "How's this?" He asked me. "I opened my eyes to see seaweed tied around his waist, covering...that...specific..area. "It looks great! But maybe we should get you some REA clothes" I said to him looking at the seaweed cover up. "Yea, your definitely right, haha" Gill said as he started to take it off "BUT KEEP THAT ON FOR NOW" I said stopping him. "C'mon! I'll sneak you into my house and you can wait in my room while I get you some of my dad's old clothes!!" I said while grabbing his hand and running in the direction of my house. When we got there I snuck Gill in through the back door, past my sleeping nonna, and into my room. "Ok Gill, just wait here! If anyone comes in while I'm still not here, just hide in the closet!" I said while pointing to the closet that was right across from my bed. "Okay! Got it!!" Gill replied making it like he was sure of himself. I went to go look for clothing in my dad's room downstairs.

Gill's POV:
Marina went to her dad's room downstairs to look for human clothing for me. I sat there patiently waiting for her. Do I like Marina? Or am I just getting platonic love confused with romance? I thought to myself. Just then, I heard large-sounding footsteps interrupt my thoughts, I quickly ran into the closet like Marina told me to if someone were to come in. My heart was pounding out of my chest, I was still getting used to walking. Walking is hard if your a first timer but it's not as dramatic as they make it in movies. I sat there sitting in my own sweat biting my nails. Just then, I heard the door open, my heart dropped to the bottom of the sea. "Marina? Are you in here Bella?" I heard a booming voice ask, I stayed as quiet as I possibly could. "Hello??" I heard the man ask as he walked in the room, he looked a lot like Marina so I assumed he was her dad. As he entered the room I heard lighter footsteps running towards the room from the distance. I heard Marina's voice! "Papa!! What are you doing in here?" I heard Marina ask. "I thought you were in here" the man replied. "Ok, we'll now you know where I am and you can leave now" said Marina while pushing who I'm pretty sure is her dad out of the door and locking it. "I should've just locked the door in the first place" I heard Marina say under her panting breath. "Can I come out now?" I asked Marina "yes you can! I got the clothes!" She responded.

Back to Marina's POV:

I helped Gill out of the closet as I handed him the clothes. "Now you can go in the bathroom and try these on!" I said while pointing to the bathroom door. "Alright!" Gill replied, probably still a bit shaken up from my dad coming in. I waited for a bit until I heard Gill open the door, "How do I look?" He asked posing like he was Hercules or something. I looked him up and down and saw that he had his shirt on backwards. "Gill, the tag is sticking out the front! You have it in backwards!" I said laughing a bit and coming to help him. I took the shirt off and flipped it around, about to put it back on him the right way but then I was distracted by his eye contact. I stopped for a minute to lock eye contact with him, he kept staring into my eyes as if he wanted to tell me something important but I didn't know what. I quickly turned away about to put his shirt on but I somehow ended up getting stuck in the shirt and when I put it on him I ended putting it on us and we were squished together! Chest to chest! He was 2 inches away from my face!!!! "Oops, hehe, let me just-" I then slipped out from under the shirt to look at him dressed in a nice button-up shirt and pants. "You look handsome Gill" oh my gosh!! Why did I just say that?! Marina are you crazy?! I thought right after I said that. "And you look beautiful as always, Marina" he replied his voice getting a bit softer. I blushed and turned away, Marina you have to stop denying it! This is your chance! Your moment! Just go for it!! I thought, I leaned in to kiss him but just as I was about to touch his lips, my dad came barging in! I swear, me and Gill are always in the wrong place at the wrong time! "Marina! that's the boy I was talking about! Are you guys dating?" My dad asked me getting purposely Teary eyed to show how emotional he was to "see his little girl growing up" as he would always say to me. Me and Gill looked at each other awkwardly as he asked if we were dating. We went along with it and said that we were! "You should stay for dinner young man!!" My dad told Gill "uh, sure Mr Conchiglia! I'd be honored to!" Gill replied puffing up his chest. My dad took us into the dining room where there were 4 bowls of spaghetti on the table, my dad must've been planning this or something!! Me and Gill sat down at the table as my Grandma got up from her knitting chair and sat down to eat with us. "Who is this delightful young man?" She asked referring to Gill "oh, grandma, this is Gill Correnti! My....boyfriend!" I said blushing at the thought of it. "Oh! He's such a cutie Isn't he Marina?" She said as she started to intensely pinch Gill's cheek. I quickly stopped her as my dad put down four glasses of water for all of us to drink. Just then, I looked down only to see Gill's legs start to form as one and fade into periwinkle scales!! What? Why is this happening?? I thought. I quickly got the spell jar out and poured a tea spoon of the spell into the cup of water, "Gill! Just drink it already!" I told him hoping my dad & grandma who were cleaning up in the kitchen wouldn't see him like this. As I watched the clear water slowly turn sea foam green due to the spell that I had just poured in it. Gill quickly chugged the glass of water making sure my dad didn't see his tail, it was long enough to be visible from the other side of the table!! Gill intensely slammed the empty cup onto the table with a sigh of relief as he saw his light purple scales slowly fade back into his tan skined legs. After dinner we went back down to the shore line, it was during sunset and nightfall was about to come. We wanted to quickly go back down to Ida's lair to see why he turned back into his original form because 24 hours didn't even pass when it happened!! Gill dove into the water waiting for me to jump in, I held my necklace tight and jumped into the cool, deep, turquoise underworld as I felt the water wrap around my body like a wet blanket.