Part of Your Nightmare

by Vera Strange

  Coach Greeley ran over to her with clipboard and stopwatch in hand. “Great job, Shelly!” she exclaimed. “A new school record! And this time, it’s official! Better yet, it’s even faster than your practice time. Wow! Just wow!”

  “Thanks,” Shelly said sheepishly. While Coach Greeley scribbled more notes on her clipboard, Shelly glanced at her team. They were out of the pool and racing toward her, cheering for her along with the crowd in the stands, which was missing her parents.

  But Kendall was not cheering.

  Their eyes met as Kendall climbed out of the water—and she glared at Shelly something fierce. Alana and Attina looked glum. They both knew what had just happened. They knew that Shelly had taken the record from Kendall. And this time, like Coach said, it was official.

  Coach Greeley patted Shelly hard on the back as she addressed the rest of the team. “Looks like we have a new top swimmer at Triton Bay!” She beamed at Shelly, who cringed in response.

  Kendall looked downright furious. Her expression sent a cold wave through Shelly. The whole reason she had made her wish—the reason this all had been happening to her—was that she didn’t want to lose her new friends. But the wish hadn’t helped at all. In fact, it had made everything worse. Kendall hated her. And the twins would surely follow suit.

  “Shelly, where are you going?” Coach Greeley called after her.

  But Shelly had rushed to the locker room, tears pricking her eyes and blurring her vision. She tried to change quickly before the rest of her team came in. She needed to get her gloves on and fasten her scarf around her neck. She couldn’t risk anyone seeing her without her disguise.

  She pulled out the gloves and slid one on, but in her frazzled state, she dropped the other on the floor. She reached down to pick it up when someone stepped on it. Shelly looked up. Kendall was staring down at her. She studied Shelly’s bare hand—complete with its webbed fingers.

  Kendall’s face contorted in disgust. “What’s that? Did you cheat or something?”

  Shelly yanked the glove from under Kendall’s foot and slid it on. “No. Not at all!”

  Kendall squinted at her. “You’re acting awfully fishy. Also, how could you take over my event?”

  “What? Why? Didn’t you want me to win?” Shelly said, scared of her friend’s reaction. “So that we could beat Little River? I did it. We did it! What does it matter who came first as long as we got the trophy?”

  “Who cares about the trophy?” said Kendall. “You were just being a show-off. And nobody likes a show-off.” Kendall eyed Shelly’s now gloved hand. “Or a cheat.” And with that, Kendall stormed out.

  Shelly felt as if a jellyfish had stung her right in the heart.

  * * *

  Shelly hid in the showers until all the girls had gone, and then she stumbled back into the locker room. When she cracked open her locker and pulled out her backpack, she felt the shell lodged in there. The nautilus shell that started this wild chain of events. That shell and the sea witch were the reasons she was in this mess in the first place. Sure, things hadn’t been perfect in her life before her wish. But they were better than this. Fish lover taunts reverberated in her head.

  Her body was transforming into a fish. Would it ever go back to normal?

  She pulled out the shell and stared at it, and then—almost on impulse—she tossed it into the trash can. She waited for something terrible to happen, but nothing did. She let out her breath. It felt like a weight had lifted off her shoulders. Good riddance, she thought. She headed back to the indoor pool. All she could think about was the look of disgust on Kendall’s face. It hovered in her memory with every step she took. Shelly’s mother was supposed to be in the school parking lot by then to pick her up. As Shelly passed the pool, it was dark and shadowy. The main lights had already been turned off. Only the pool lights glowed, casting eerie rippling shadows across the walls. She walked along the edge of the pool.

  Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a dark shadow dart under the water. It created a ripple that curled from one end of the pool to the other. Watching it, Shelly skidded to a halt, her heart thudding. “Hello . . . is anybody there?” she called out, squinting at the pool.

  That was when she saw it again. There was something in the water.

  She peered over the edge of the pool and down at the blue-green water.

  Glowing eyes locked on to hers. She staggered backward and ran.

  But a thick black tentacle shot out of the water and grabbed her ankle.

  “No! Let me go!” she screamed, digging her nails into the tentacle to try to get free. But the tentacle pulled her closer to the edge of the pool, where the glowing eyes and dark shadow waited for her just under the waterline. Shelly staggered toward the water, closer and closer, trying her hardest to break free. A cackle reverberated through the arena. It was the sea witch.

  “Stop!” Shelly screamed, fighting to pry the tentacle off her leg.

  She was on the cement floor as it kept pulling her toward the pool, closer and closer. The eyes watched her, unblinking. Shelly was inches away from being yanked into the water.

  “You forgot our deal!” Ursula cackled. “You owe me a favor!”

  “But I take my wish back!” Shelly screamed as the tentacle tightened. “I didn’t mean it!”

  “No takebacks, my dear! Come to my lair—or else!”

  Shelly struggled against the tentacle, punching the slimy flesh, and finally it released its grip and slithered back into the pool. Shelly ran as fast as she could. The sea witch couldn’t follow her out of the water—could she? I’m dreaming, she thought. It’s the only explanation. It’s not real.

  But when she reached the parking lot, she glanced down at her ankle. There were bright red welts where the tentacle’s suction cups had grabbed her. She rubbed the skin carefully, wincing.

  Shelly climbed into the back seat of her mother’s minivan, numb with shock. Her ankle throbbed. Her best friends thought she was a total freak. And the worst part was Kendall was right. She was a freak. And a cheater. She didn’t deserve the high score. And she certainly didn’t deserve friends. As the car whipped along the ocean parkway, her gaze drifted to the open sea.

  One thought filled her head: she had to figure out a way to make this stop, once and for all. She had a terrible feeling the sea witch wasn’t going to let her forget about their deal that easily. She’d escaped this time—but next time she might not be so lucky.

  Shelly biked back to the pool later that evening in a panic. The sea witch’s cackles echoed in her head.

  You forgot our deal! You owe me a favor!

  Shelly had to find a way to put an end to whatever the sea witch was playing at. She had to fulfill her part of the contract she had signed, or the witch wouldn’t stop haunting her and ruining her life. It was the only solution. She had to find the nautilus she’d thrown away—and return to the sea witch’s lair. She had to find out what Ursula wanted from her.

  But she also couldn’t trust the sea witch. The “gift” of becoming the fastest swimmer had turned out to be a terrible curse. Sure, she’d won the swim meet and beat Judy Weisberg, but she lost her friends, was still part fish, and had to hide her body. And it was only getting worse.

  She biked faster. The sun was just beginning to set. A brisk wind made her shiver as she stowed her bike and clambered up to the pool arena by the school. But the door was locked. She should have expected it would be. It was after hours.

  Shelly crept around the outside until she found the window that led to the girls’ locker room. She reached up and pushed it open, then slithered through, landing in a crouch in the dark. She rushed over to the trash bin where she’d tossed the shell—but it was empty.

  “I’m so stupid,” Shelly muttered through her teeth. “But I can’t give up!”

  If the staff had emptied the bins, then the contents would be in the dumpster outside. She crawled back through the window, careful to shut it behind her, then circled around to
the dumpster out back. As soon as she lifted the lid, she was hit by the stench. Pinching her nose, she rooted through the trash until she saw a soft glow coming from the back of the dumpster.

  Could it be? She reached farther, almost slipping into the dumpster as she picked through the disgusting trash; then she felt the hard outline of the shell. As soon as her fingers touched it, she experienced the now familiar, but still terrifying, sensation of being sucked down into the ocean and into Ursula’s lair. She pressed her palms against the glass of the crystal ball.

  “Took long enough, didn’t you?” cooed Ursula. The sea witch didn’t sound happy.

  In the dimly lit lair, Shelly could just make out her dark figure swimming around. She caught a glimpse of tentacles, then a glimmer of Ursula’s wide evil smile.

  “I want to take my wish back!” Shelly screamed at the shadows. “This isn’t what I meant! I don’t want to be the fastest swimmer anymore! I don’t want the gills or webbed things!” She held the nautilus in her hand. Her webbed hand. She drew her arm back and then chucked the shell at the glass. It magically passed through the barrier and sailed into Ursula’s lair. For a minute, nothing happened. Then it ricocheted back into the crystal ball—along with something else.

  It was the crumpled coffee cup with the two straws.

  The one she’d thrown into the ocean before everything went wrong.

  Shelly stared at it, then picked it up and inspected it. What did that mean? What did it all mean? She’d thrown it into the ocean only for it to come back to her. Defeated, she sat down and sobbed, gripping the shell hard. “I wish I never signed it. I wish I could take it all back. . . .”

  The second those words left her mouth, the lair started to churn angrily with a current.

  A cackle echoed from the shadows. “No takebacks, my dearie! You signed the contract!”

  The shadow of an enormous tentacled body floated just outside the crystal ball.

  “But I didn’t mean for it to happen this way,” Shelly said, feeling her heart lurch. “Please, make it stop.” She held up her hands to show off her fingers. “I’m turning into a fish!”

  The sea witch cackled. “Well, how else did you expect to become the fastest swimmer?”

  “Please, make it stop,” Shelly begged. “I’ll do anything you want. Just make it stop!”

  “Anything, my dearie?”

  “Yes, I swear. I’ll do anything!”

  “You poor unfortunate soul,” Ursula said in a sympathetic voice. “What fine timing.”

  Shelly felt a stab of hope. “Just tell me what you want—I’ll do it.”

  The sea witch snorted. “In that case, I want the trident from your family’s aquarium.”

  Shelly frowned. “You mean the old trident? In the main exhibit? But that’s just a phony hunk of junk to entertain the tourists. Why in the world would you want that?”

  Ursula sighed. “So many questions for someone in your precarious situation,” she said. “It sounds like you don’t want to help me. . . .”

  “No, that’s not what I meant!” Shelly backtracked quickly. “I can do it. I just don’t understand why you want it, or why you can’t get it yourself. You have powers, after all. Why me? I’m . . . I’m no one.”

  “Oh, come now, dear. You’re just the one. And besides, I can’t get it myself,” Ursula said in an exasperated voice. “You know all the security they have in that place. Fish talk.”

  “Well, what makes you think I can take it?” Shelly asked.

  “You believe in Shelly, don’t you, boys?” Ursula said.

  At that, two sea eels—moray eels, if Shelly had to guess—swam past the crystal ball. Each had one glowing yellow eye—just like she’d seen in the ocean: the eyes that diverged and swam in different directions.

  Shelly had a bad feeling. “But why do you want the trident so much?”

  “That doesn’t concern you. All you have to worry about is retrieving it from the exhibit. And then your world goes back to normal. No more gills. No more webbed things. Now, no more questions, my dearie. This is your only chance. Do it, or you’ll turn into a fish . . . forever!”

  Shelly panicked. “No, I’ll do it! Just promise to reverse my wish, and I’ll get it for you.”

  “My dear, you have forty-eight hours,” the sea witch said in her deep voice. “Otherwise, it will be too late to reverse your wish. And it will become permanent. Do you understand?”

  Shelly felt torn and deeply unsettled, but she didn’t have a choice. She couldn’t turn into a fish! She had to do exactly what the sea witch wanted. “Yes, I understand,” she said. “I’ll do it. I’ll get the trident and bring it here.”

  A deep cackle emanated from the darkness. “Don’t fail me—or else!”

  Slowly, the lair dissolved into nothingness and the sea witch along with it. Last, the two glowing eyes of the eels vanished into the watery shadows.

  “What’s so important about this trident?” Shelly asked herself.

  She stared through the thick glass while tourists milled around, oohing and aahing at the main exhibit. The reef shark darted past the glass, drawing excited squeals from the crowd.

  But Shelly didn’t flinch. The shark was harmless; he just looked scary.

  But also, she had bigger fish to fry.

  She kept her eyes fixed on the trident in the main exhibit, trying to process everything she’d just learned from the sea witch. The prongs pointed upward. The trident itself was badly corroded and covered in barnacles. Behind it, a treasure chest overflowed with faux precious gems and ancient gold coins. Or at least, she thought they were faux. But then she remembered the other day. The old trident had flashed with golden light. She’d thought it was a trick of the eye—shifting sunlight filtered through water—but what if it was something else?

  A sunken pirate ship towered over the scene while fish, sharks, and the leatherback sea turtle swam around the exhibit. Sunlight rippled over everything. The trident really did look like a rusty hunk of junk. But she caught a flash of gold again as the sunlight shifted, the same shimmering she had noticed the other day. It wasn’t just her eyes playing tricks on her.

  Maybe it was full of magic. And if it was, what did the sea witch plan to do with it? What exactly would she use it for? And how had Shelly’s family gotten involved in the first place?

  Enrique appeared behind her, clutching a slop bucket of fish to feed the dolphins. It was after school, when he came to the aquarium to help out his brother, who still interned there.

  When he saw her, he frowned. “What happened to you? Looks like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  Shelly bit her lip. She couldn’t tell him, could she? He’d just think she was imagining things. Maybe he’d even tease her about it. She started to turn away, but he stopped her.

  “Come on, spit it out already,” he said, flashing her a mischievous grin. “I promise, I’m good at keeping secrets. The dolphins tell me all their gossip. And my lips are sealed.”

  “The dolphins gossip?” Despite her stress, she cracked a smile.

  “Yup, they’re worse than my dad’s book club.” He grinned but then turned more serious. “Look, I see you here all the time. And lately, you’ve been acting . . . different.”

  “Different?” she said with a start, nervous he was on to her. “How so?”

  “Jumpy. Quiet. Running away from me.” He frowned. “You never used to be afraid before. It’s what I liked most about you. But now, it’s like something changed. Ever since I pulled you out of the ocean that day you almost drowned.”

  She hesitated. He was right—it had all started when she intentionally dropped that stupid coffee cup into the ocean and the wave swept her out to sea. Enrique had saved her life. Shouldn’t she trust him? But something stopped her. She remembered Kendall’s disgusted face in the locker room when she saw Shelly’s webbed hand. “Why do you care so much?” she asked, torn. “It’s not your problem.”

  He grinned. “Science nerds have to stick to
gether, right?”

  “Then prove it. What’s the name of that fish?” She pointed to a bright orange-and-white fish floating in a sea anemone’s glowing blue tentacles. Its adorable little face poked out.

  “Clown fish . . . also known as anemonefish.”

  “Okay. And what are its attributes?” pressed Shelly.

  Enrique studied the fish as the sea anemone’s tentacles caressed it. “Well, it’s called anemonefish because it’s symbiotic with that sea anemone. The anemone’s tentacles are poisonous—but not to the clown fish. Those tentacles protect it from unwanted predators.”

  “And that?” Shelly pointed to two eyes in the sand.

  He rolled his eyes. “A flounder, obviously. Ask me a hard one next time, okay?”

  Shelly giggled. He really was a science nerd like her. For a moment, her troubles dissolved, but then they rushed back in, like a riptide. She glanced around and lowered her voice.

  “All right, something did happen . . .” she started, feeling completely paranoid. Tourists milled around the exhibits. “But you have to promise me that you won’t think I’m crazy.”

  “I swear,” he said. “Cross my heart.”

  “And we can’t talk here,” she added. “We need to talk somewhere private.”

  He lifted the slop bucket. “I know just the place.”

  * * *

  Shelly and Enrique stepped out onto the sundeck, where the aquarium looked out on the open sea. The waves rolled uneasily in the distance while clouds built overhead. It looked like a storm was coming in over the Pacific. Cold wind whipped off the water and tousled their hair, bringing with it the briny tang of the sea. It was a smell Shelly had once loved, but now it reminded her of evil.

  But instead of staying outside with the tourists, Enrique pulled her backstage behind the dolphin exhibit, where only the dolphin trainers were permitted. PRIVATE: KEEP OUT signs were posted, but Enrique ignored them. He was practically staff at this point. He’d been going there with his brother, Miguel, for a long time, helping out and learning everything—and apparently studying Shelly like some curious creature while he was at it.