Summary: What if the loss of her tail wasn't permanent for Evie? What if it came back at a less than ideal moment when someone who didn't know the secret
Word Count: 1834
The dragon was gone, and it turned out that it had been Zac and Mimmi's mother, Nerissa. Evie listened intently as Zac recalled the previous night to her, Cam, Carly, and David. The group talked for a few minutes after Zac finished telling the story. Though Zac thought it'd be weird having two mums around, he decided that it'd be best to tell his parents the truth, which was something he shared with the group.
It was only a short while after that that the group had to disperse. Carly and David had to get back to work in the café, Cam needed to get to the beach for his shift lifeguarding, Zac was going to meet up with Nerissa and Mimmi, and Evie had promised her dad she'd be home to finish up some chores around the house.
After bidding one another goodbye, the group each went on their way.
When Evie got home, her dad was just getting back from his morning tours.
"Hey dad," Evie greeted him, setting her bag down on a chair in the dining room. "I'll get to the dishes now. Sorry about letting them sit for a couple days again; I've been really busy lately."
"It's fine. I've neglected bathroom duty for longer than I should have." Doug went to set down his briefcase on one of the chairs at their dining room table while Evie got the water in the sink running to do the dishes.
After letting the water run on hot for a couple seconds, Evie put her hand under the faucet to make sure it was getting warm; satisfied, she made the water splash over several other things in the sink. However, about ten seconds later she felt a familiar feeling she hadn't experienced in just over a month.
The next sensation she felt was almost like slipping on something wet, yet it was completely different. The next thing Evie knew, she lay on the floor. Her dad, who had been standing in the doorway, looked down at her, eyes wide in shock.
Evie took a deep breath as she looked down to her tail. Her brow furrowed when she realized she had her tail. Wasn't the loss supposed to be permanent? "Dad, I can explain. Well, kind of," Evie spoke, looking to her dad whose eyes were still wide. She sighed and held her hand out to the faucet, hoping everything with her powers was the same. Evie was able to turn the water off and then dry her tail with her powers. She gave a sigh of relief, happy that her powers were the same. "Dad?" Evie spoke softly, now standing and approaching him. She was sure she was treading on thin ice and she didn't want to do anything to upset him. "Dad?" she asked again when he didn't reply.
Doug blinked a couple times, coming out of his daze. "What happened there?" he asked slowly.
Evie pursued her lips. "A little over a year ago, I became a mermaid for the first time. A month ago I lost my tail to a water dragon. The loss was supposed to be permanent, but apparently it wasn't," Evie trailed off.
"You what? A water dragon?" Doug couldn't believe his ears. Evie had to be pulling some sort of trick on him, but she'd never pulled any pranks on him before. The two of them were close and had a relationship most parents only dreamed of having with their children. "Start from the beginning," Doug settled on. "And let's go sit in the living room."
Evie nodded and followed her dad to the couch. She sunk into the seat beside him. He faced her, but she took a minute to collect herself by taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly before turning to him. "First, Dad, I need you to promise you won't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you. You could put me and hundreds of others in danger by telling anyone."
Doug had never seen Evie more serious or solemn in his life. He nodded. "I won't tell anyone. You can trust me."
Evie gave a nod. "There's a lot you need to know for any of this to make sense," she started. "You should know that Zac's a merman and his real mother is one of the most powerful mermaids to ever live, if not the most powerful mermaid to ever live. When Zac was little she, Nerissa, put a spell on Zac so he wouldn't become a merman. The spell was broken, but the natural mermaids who lived at Mako didn't know he was a natural merman and fled from Mako. Two mermaids were trying to take his tail away seven months after he got his when I went to go stop what they were doing and got mine."
"When you got your tail the first time?" Doug asked to clarify, his voice much slower than it was normally.
"Yeah, that was how I got it the first time around."
"What happened so you, um, lost it and regained it?"
"Well, just now was the first time I've transformed in about a month," Evie started. She went on to explain how the water dragon had appeared and they knew they needed to get rid of it. She explained Zac and Weilan's plan which had ultimately failed and resulted in her losing her tail.
"If you lost your tail and haven't been a mermaid for the last month, how are you a mermaid again now?"
"That's the part I don't understand," Evie spoke. "According to Weilan, the loss was supposed to be permanent. I wasn't supposed to ever get it back."
"So what changed?" Doug asked.
Evie furrowed her brow. "You know, Dad, you're taking all of this pretty well."
Doug shrugged.
"I mean, I didn't take it well when I found out about merpeople for the first time."
Again, Doug had no immediate reply. "Wait, did you say that Zac's real mom, Ner—Ner—what was her name?"
"Nerissa."
"Nerissa was the water dragon, correct?" Doug asked.
"Yeah," Evie replied. "What are you on about?"
"Maybe it had something to do with Nerissa not being the water dragon anymore. Maybe that's why you've been able to get you tail back," Doug suggested. "If she's not that water dragon anymore, maybe you get to be a mermaid again."
Evie hummed in thought. It made enough sense, but it definitely wasn't something she would have thought of. It had been the water dragon who took her tail from her a month ago, but now that the water dragon was no more, it made sense that she would get her tail back because of that. "I didn't think of that, but it makes sense," Evie repeated her thought process to her dad. "Do you have any other questions about everything?"
"How did you turn the water in the faucet off back there when you first – transformed?"
"Mermaids and mermen all have powers over water. I can manipulate water which is how I was able to turn the water off, I can heat it to a boil which is how I dried off, and I can also freeze water," Evie explained.
"So is that why you had been reluctant to do the dishes so often?"
"Yeah," Evie answered. "I would let it go for several days because I never had the chance to do it while you weren't home and it was easier to do it then just in case water splashed up on my arm so I wouldn't transform in front of you."
"Well, you don't need to worry anymore because I promise I won't tell anyone about you being a mermaid or Zac a merman or any other merpeople," Doug spoke.
"Thank you, Dad."
"Of course, darling. I love you."
Evie leaned over to give her dad a hug. "I love you too," she said to him while they hugged. "Thank you for promising to keep my secret. You have no idea how much it means to me," Evie said as they broke their hug.
"Well, I may not know exactly how much it means to you right now, but I can see that it's important to you that I keep the secret. You're my little girl no matter how old you get. I'd do anything to protect you."
Evie couldn't help but smile even bigger. She had considered telling her dad when she first got her tail at least once a day while she had it. She was never sure how to tell him when she really thought she might and had always been worried about how he might have taken it. Then, when she had lost her tail, she hadn't needed to worry about keeping it from him anymore. She could dive with him and offer to go with him. She didn't need to turn him down because she had to keep the secret. Him finding out the way he did and promising to keep the secret was the best possible scenario.
Evie hadn't needed to ask the others what they thought of her telling her dad or ask the pod. She could tell them it had all happened by accident and that he had taken it well. How was she to know that she was going to get her tail back? She had been told it would be gone forever and that she was never going to be a mermaid again.
Doug and Evie hugged once more as they stood and Evie went to do the dishes, this time with the addition of the gloves she had used while she was a mermaid the first time.
Later that day, Evie shared first with her friends and then with the pod that her tail was back and that her dad had found out in the process. Everyone was as shocked as she was that her tail had returned. Though the pod wasn't pleased when they found out that Evie's dad knew the secret, they understood that it was an accident because there was no way Evie could have known she was going to transform again, especially not when they hadn't even known she was going to be a mermaid again.
The pod learned to accept Doug knowing the secret. It had been an accident, and, they decided, it was better for it to have been Evie's dad that she accidentally transformed in front of rather than a stranger in the café, on the beach, or while out in any other public setting. Doug turned out to be an asset in helping keep the secret and making sure those on land weren't exposed. All in all, it ended up working out well for them in the end because of how Doug was able to help them through knowing the secret. They realized it was better to have him know that to have him be in the dark all those years because he would keep his daughter safe.
A/N: This is something like what I've written before where Evie got her tail back after season 3 ended. However, this time, her dad was there to find out as well because I really wanted Doug to be in on the secret, and finding out by accident means that the pod couldn't be mad at Evie when her dad found out.
So, it's now been 2 years since I published the first short in this series, and I want to thank everyone for helping me get to this milestone as well as the milestone of the 50th 'short'. When I started I had no idea how long I would keep doing this or if people would want to read it and I'm glad I've been able to continue over these past 2 years. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'd love to know what you thought or how I can improve. Anyway, thanks for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following,
-CrazyHayniac
