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"Call 911!" The words escaped between coughs. "What is it?" His voice rang through the door. I shook my head.ĭad's footsteps clattered along the wooden floor in the hall. A sharp breath threw me into another fit of coughing. "Ohmigod! Dad!!" I shrank back against the tub, dis­gusted by what I saw, but the tail moved with me. Those and other crazy thoughts shuffled through my brain as I struggled to understand why, instead of legs, the lower half of my body was now encased in a shimmering tail of iridescent scales. What the heck had happened while I'd been asleep? Was I having some kind of allergic reaction to Epsom salt? Had someone slipped hallucinogenic drugs into that Slurpee at the mall? The world tipped on its axis as I worked to make sense of what I was seeing. I braced my hands on the side of the tub and shook my legs to get the blood flowing, but the sight that broke through the foamy surface of the water made me forget the pep talk I'd just given myself about not bothering. I should get dried off, head to bed, and finally put an end to this cruddy day. My eyes burned, plus my legs had gone numb and felt like they'd been set in a block of cement. Dad had enough to deal with.ĭim light from the streetlamp shone through the peb­bled glass of the bathroom window. It had been a year since Mom drowned it was time for me to start figuring things out on my own. I didn't need to run to daddy every time I had a puberty crisis. Yes, getting my first period was a big deal, but I was al­most fourteen, for crying out loud. "Call if you need me." Dad's footsteps moved away from the door and continued down the hall. Hadn't I tortured the poor guy enough for one day? "No, I'm good." I blinked through the haze to the coun­ter where Dad's drugstore bag spilled over with Super Maxi 32-packs and extra-long panty liners.

I rubbed my eyes and instantly regretted it.

What would have happened if I hadn't woken up? My thoughts turned instantly to Mom. Thanks."Ī shiver ran along my damp arm as I pulled a strand of hair from my mouth. "Yea.yeah," I managed to say between coughs, embar­rassed that I'd fallen asleep in the tub, freaked out that I must have slipped underwater. "Jade?" Dad's knock sounded from the other side of the bathroom door. I bolted upright in the bathtub and hacked a mouthful of water.