The next morning after breakfast, Lucy decided to go down to the beach for a swim. She put on her sunscreen, let it dry for a little bit, then dived into the sea. For a moment all she felt was the same wonderful sensation she usually got from when she went swimming but that was quickly replaced by a strange new feeling. The water below her started to bubble as her body changed. Looking down she realized that her legs had been replaced by an orange fish tail, a glittering starfish had been pinned to her hair, and her swimsuit top had been replaced by a top that matched her pin.

"What the heck?!" She cried in disbelief.

Meanwhile Juvia had decided to start her morning by taking a bath. But shortly after getting into the tub her legs changed into a purple fish tail and a white coral barrette appeared in her hair along with a matching top.

"Huh?!" She gasped at the sight of her tail.

"Juvia how long are you going to soak in there?!" Cried the cranky voice of Porlyuscia from behind the bathroom door. "Remember that Cheila and Romeo need a bath too!"

"O...Okay Porlyuscia I...I'll be out in a minute!"

As for Erza she was taking a morning jog when she ran by a lawn that had sprinklers going. A few droplets of water were sprayed in her direction and about ten seconds after making contact with her skin she found herself falling to the ground with a red fish tail, a seashell top, and a matching seashell headband in her hair.

"No way."

Later when the girls dried off they changed back and immediately went to meet with each other. They chose to meet up Lucy's place because her father wouldn't be there, he would be at work.

"And you're sure that on one else is here?" Juvia asked Lucy when they arrived.

"Yes. Dad just left for work and the staff have the day off."

"Nice place you got here." Erza said observing the large house with expensive furniture. "If I may ask what exactly does your dad do for a living?"

"You know Magnolia's marine park Ryuzetsu Land?" Lucy said. "My dad is the owner."

"Serously?"

"Yep, it was him and Mom's special project in college."

"No wonder you're so loaded."

"Yeah I'm rich whatever. Now can we talk about why we're here? Have any of you experinced anything strange happen to you when you get wet?"

"You mean like have we grown fish tails?" Erza said. "I have."

"So have I?" Juvia said.

"Then that makes three of us." Lucy said. "Happened to me at the beach."

"And did you lose your tail when you were dry again?" Erza asked.

"Yes."

"What's going on?" Juvia wondered. "We get wet and we sprout tails. We get dry and we sprout legs. Are we turning into fish?"

"I wouldn't call us turning into fish." Erza said. "I thinks it's more like us turning into mermaids."

"Mermaids?"

"Yeah you know mermaids. Half woman half fish."

"That's ridiculous there's no such thing as mermaids." Lucy said.

"Then what do you call a girl with a fish tail?"

"I don't know but we can't be mermaids."

"I'm pretty sure that's what we are."

"How did this happen?" Juvia said. "And what should we do? Should we call a doctor?"

"No!" Erza objected. "Haven't you ever seen what happens to mermaids in movies when people find out about them? They lock them up or study them or disect them and I'm not interested in being lab rat."

Knock-knock!

"Who's that?" Erza asked.

"I don't know." Lucy looked through the peep hole of her front door. On the other side was a young man around their age. "Juvia it's Gray."

"Gray? What's he doing here?"

Gray Fullbuster was a close friend of Juvia's. In fact they were more than just close friends, they had lost their parents around the same time and had grown up together in Ur's foster home. She had known him longer than she had known Lucy.

"Oh no I forgot. I was supposed to help him study for his test today." Juvia said.

"You needed to help him?" Lucy said confused. "I thought he was super smart."

"In math and science but he struggles in literature and history which I happen to get straight A's in."

Juvia went to the door and opened it.

"Hi Gray." She said.

"I thought you would be here." Gray said. "I couldn't find you anywhere this morning, what's going on?"

"I'm sorry I forgot. Something came up."

"Like what?"

"It's...It's complicated. Listen I'll still help you study but can we do it this afternoon? Please, I really need to do something much more important right now."

"Alright I'll see you this afternoon."

"Wait Gray!"

"Yeah."

"You...You know a lot about fish right?"

"Sure. I mean I am studying to become a marine biologist one day."

"Okay do you think that you might be able to find out something about unsual fish."

"What kind of unsual fish?"

"Oh you know like um...Jellyfish, anglerfish, cuddlefish, barracuda,...Mermaids?"

"Mermaids? Juvia you know those aren't real right?"

"Right! Silly me heh, heh." She giggled nervously. "I'll talk to you later okay? Bye!"

She then closed the door.

"She's my best friend but she can be so weird sometimes." Gray said to himself before walking away.

"Are you crazy?" Erza told Juvia once they were sure that Gray was gone.

"What?"

"You can't ask Gray to look into mermaids."

"Why not? He's very smart, he might be able to provide an explaination."

"And he might also find out that we're mermaids and sell us to the nearest circus."

"He wouldn't do that."

"Still we're taking no chances." Lucy said. "We can't tell anyone about this. Not our other friends and not our families."

"Don't worry there's no way I'm telling my mom about this." Erza said. "She's already got enough stress to handle."

"Lord only knows what my dad would do if he ever found out." Lucy said. "He would probably have a heart attack and die."

""Maybe they won't take it so bad." Juvia said. "I mean I know Ur wouldn't."

"Juvia you can't tell Ur about this." Lucy told her sternly.

"But I tell Ur everything. She always says that I can go to her for any problem."

"She wouldn't understand. Nobody would understand that's why we have to keep it a secret."

"Fine I won't tell anyone...Except Gray."

"No!"

"But Gray has always kept my secrets, even when we were little. If I can't trust him I can't trust anybody."

"That's the point." Erza said. "We can't trust anyone with this."

"She's right Juvia, no telling Gray."

"Alright." Juvia sighed. "I won't tell anyone."

In the afternoon Juvia went to do her study session with Gray. They went to the libary and read several books on the history of Magnolia as that was what they were being tested on. But Gray noticed that Juvia didn't seem to be all that interested in their studies.

"Everything okay?" He asked her as they walked back home together.

"Yes I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know. You just seem a little distracted."

"I'm not distracted. All I've been thinking about is the events leading up to how Magnolia was founded." As she spoke these words her eyes were glued to the sidewalk below her.

"Juvia you're looking at your feet." Gray said.

"So?"

"So you only do that when you're lying. You've done it ever since we were kids now what's up?"

"Well I...It's a...I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"It's a private thing."

"Private? What private thing could distract you so- Oh...Oh I get it I'm sorry."

"No it's not!...Nevermind." She figured it was best that he think that.

"So referring to what you said earlier, why the interest in mermaids?"

"Well we...We do live by the sea and a lot of people do talk about them. In stories I mean."

"Uh-huh. Well I decided to dig up a little information on them since you're so curious about them and I learned some interesting things."

"Like what?"

"Apparently legends and myths about them are as old as time itself. They're famous for being great hunters of sea life, singing siren songs, and causing natural disastors."

"Really?"

"Hmm-hmm."

They were halfway home when they were stopped by a motor cycle being driven by Jellal. Sensing trouble the two tried to ignore him but they blocked their way. He looked very angry which made Juvia a little scared.

"What do you want Jellal?" She asked.

"My father didn't aprreciate the water police coming to our house." He said. "He had to pay a ticket for his boat being left on that island and he grounded me for it."

"That's not my fault. You left me drifting on it remember?"

"If you had just swam back and brought the boat with you none of this would have happened! But no! You had to be a stupid and scared little girl!"

"Leave her alone Jellal!" Gray defended. "It's your fault you got grounded! And you know it!"

"Out of my way loser, I'm not dealing with you right now."

"You got a lot of nerve picking girls like that Jellal. Why don't you ever pick on the boys? Scared that somebody might fight back?"

"Someone like you, you mean? Don't make me laugh. I could take you in five seconds flat."

Juvia was getting real nervous. Why couldn't Jellal just leave them alone? Didn't he have anything better to do?

"If only he would just go away." She thought to herself. She looked around, seeing nothing but a tree and a fire hydrant. "I wish something could just make him go away."

As she kept thinking that in her head over and over again she srucnched her fingers up togther. The fire hydrant starting to shake and it burst open spraying Jellal saw hard that it sent him rolling down a grass hill. Juvia blinked in shock.

"Whoa! What just happened?" Gray asked while scratching his head.

"Uh...I gotta go. See you later Gray."

And she was long gone before he could stop her. She quickly called Lucy and Erza, telling them to that they should meet up so she could show them something. Just like in the morning they got together at Lucy's house.

"So what did you want to show us?" Erza asked.

Juvia grabbed a glass and filled it with water from the sink. She moved her hand around near the glass and the water began to rise up from the cup. Lucy and Erza's jaws both dropped at the sight of it.

"How are you doing that?" Lucy asked.

"I don't know." Juvia answered.

She put her hand down and the water started to fall toward Lucy. She held up her hand in fear which caused the water to instantly freeze.

"Did I do that?" Lucy asked.

"It wasn't me." Juvia replied.

"Cool." Erza said. "Let me try."

Erza held out her hand to the frozen water, trying to make it change or do something but nothing happened.

"No fair why don't I have any powers?"

"Don't ask me." Juvia said. "This is so freaky."

"You think?" Lucy said. "I dont 'know what we've gotten ourselves into but I'm pretty sure that we are way in over heads."

So the three ordinary girls were no longer ordinary and they had a lot ahead of them.