Chapter 22

Chapter 22

One dreary February morning, Jade was sleeping peacefully, dreaming about being back home at Eaglesclaw castle. She wouldn't have admitted it to anyone, but she was a bit homesick. She missed her familiar classes with familiar teachers, she missed knowing everyone who she passed, and she missed her parents.

In her dream, she was just walking through the halls, waving at everyone around her- but no one seemed to notice her. They all turned away and whispered behind their hands, ignoring her attempts to say hello. Someone pointed at her face, and Jade turned to see a mirror behind her. When she saw herself, she screamed loud enough to wake the dead.
In the mirror, she looked normal enough. But behind her, two ghostly shapes floated behind her, and she saw Alana's freckles and West's tiny ears. Alana looked sorrowful, and West glared.

"You failed, Jade."
"You didn't make it to the bottom of the lake in time, and we died."
"You made a mistake, and we had to pay for it."
Alana's eyes turned red, full of angry fire, and she lunged for Jade, wrapping her spiritual arms around her neck and starting to choke her.

She sat bolt upright in bed, untangling the sheets from around herself. There were no ghosts around her, no malevolent spirits telling her of her failure. Just West, shaking her shoulder.

"Jade, you've got to get up. The challenge starts in twenty minutes!"
Jade flew out of bed and began pulling off her pajamas. "What do I do? How am I going to breathe underwater for an hour?"
West smiled slyly at her. "You could use...this." She extended a strange thing that looked like a sheet of furry leather. Jade pinched it between thumb and forefinger.
"What is this, leather?"
"No, elephant seal skin. Humanely harvested, and enchanted! You owe me sixteen Galleons." West looked proud of herself for finding it and charging Jade money for it.
"What does it do, though? I'm kind of missing the point here." Jade searched the closet for her swimsuit.

West threw her hands into the air. "Jade, have you ever heard of a Selkie?"

Jade shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so. They're those people who can put on a seal skin and turn into a...Oh." She took the skin and fastened it like a cloak around her shoulders, but nothing happened.

"You have to go into the water, Jade. The magic only begins when the skin gets wet." West handed Jade her shoes.

"Have you seen Alana, by any chance?" Jade laced her boot and nearly toppled over.
West shuffled her feet. "I haven't seen her." The lie was obvious, but Jade shrugged and opened the door, heading down to the field outside.
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Standing on the platform in front of the Black Lake, Jade shivered and drew her cloak of seal skin tighter around her shoulders. The February air was chilling her to the very bone, and the idea of diving into a freezing lake was about as appealing as eating tacks. She steeled her nerve and prepared to dive. She pulled the hood of the cloak over her long curls and prepared herself on the platform.

"Three, two, one, DIVE!" Dumbledore shouted, and Jade leaped into the water with a small splash. The freezing, icicle cold gave her goosebumps, but suddenly she felt impervious to the chill. Her body felt slick and hydrodynamic, and her eyes seemed to widen as her face elongated into a dark, spotted snout. A prickle of pain brushed her cheeks as thin white whiskers sprouted. Her hands became fins, and her feet were meshed together. Her lungs expanded, and she dove lower and flapped the tail she now possessed. The dark, murky water seemed to clear as she neared the bottom, and a pure, ocean-blue light illuminated all of the silt floating in the water.

The light drew Jade towards it, and she let her nose touch the sand at the bottom of the lake. A forest of seaweed was ahead of her, but when she penetrated it, she saw three bodies floating and tied to a statue. There was a red-haired, gangly boy, a gorgeous Asian girl in Ravenclaw robes, and a pale, shimmery blonde girl with a decidedly French expression on her face. But where was her treasured person?

"Jade," a voice burbled behind her, and she whirled around. Behind her was...Alana?

It didn't really look like Alana, but it did at the same time. Alana's light red locks swirled around her face in tendrils, and her skin had taken on a slightly bluish tint. Her eyes were a brighter and more powerful sapphire color than they had ever been, and they seemed to see things differently. She was surrounded by a fierce blue light, and she seemed ensconced in foamy waves. There was a strange circlet of pearls around her head, and she had on a gleeful smile.

Jade grabbed her friend around the waist and tried to kick up, but her flippers slipped. Alana took her flipper in hand and kicked off the sandy bottom. The girls were nearing the top of the water when the clasp of Jade's sealskin cloak suddenly snapped and she started to sink, fast. She began to try and gasp for air frantically, but her lungs filled with water. Her sealskin was falling off partially, and she flailed her arms in the water, all of her years swimming forgotten.

Alana was by her side in a second, and she snapped her fingers. The water parted around them, and the two girls were propelled through the air by a geyser, coming to a landing on the platform in front of the judges. Everyone was doused by a monstrous wave, and Jade hit the deck, coughing up water and shaking violently. Alana knelt next to her, now in her soaking wet school uniform, her hair limp, her glow and circlet and magic gone.

"Breathe, Jade, just breathe. Don't stress out."

Jade sat up, even though her lungs were screaming at her. "What happened? Why were you all glowing?"

Alana laughed softly. "It's a long story. I'll tell you after."

Jade's belligerent nature got the better of her. "No, I want to hear it now. I need answers."

Her friend brushed a chunk of wet auburn hair out of her eyes and sighed. "Fine. You want answers? It's answers you get."

"It's answers I want."

"It's answers you get." Alana straightened up and shooed away the reporter who was eagerly leaning over her shoulder. "Jade, I...I'm a mermaid."