Chapter Three

The corners of Dean's mouth began to twitch upwards as he looked up at Sam's face.

"Don't say it," Sam growled.

"Dude…" said Dean, beginning to smile.

"Don't!" said Sam.

"You have a tail!" laughed Dean.

Sam rolled his eyes, rubbing a hand over his forehead, as Dean laughed out loud.

Dean's laughter tapered off, and he frowned. "Hang on." He grabbed Sam's hand and pulled it down so they could look at it.

Sam's hand was covered sporadically with shiny, light blue scales—just like the mermaid they had killed. He also had scales scattered on his neck of the same color. Sam also had small fins stretching out from his wrists and down towards his elbows. Sam's skin seemed to shine—more like glow—now. About two inches below Sam's navel, his skin changed to the aqua-colored scales of his tail. His tail was aqua near his waist and slowly darkened to royal blue down at the bottom near his feet—or, actually, his tail fin.

"So…you got turned into a mermaid?" asked Dean, letting go of Sam's hand.

"Merman," Sam corrected, looking up at Dean.

Dean shook his head, shrugging. "No, no, I'm going with mermaid."

Sam glared at him. "Very funny. How do we undo it?"

"Undo it?" asked Dean. "Do I look like I know the cure for mermaidism?"

"I meant the transformation," said Sam. "I can't exactly stay like this."

"Well…" muttered Dean, thinking for a moment. He suddenly had an idea. "You said this happened as soon as you got into the shower, right? Just as you touched the water?"

Sam thought for a moment, suddenly realizing what had happened. "Yeah, as soon as the water touched my skin, my legs turned into this tail."

"Well, then, I say we dry you off," said Dean. "Maybe once the water is off of you, the tail will go away."

Sam shrugged. "Works for me. Help me get out." He held up a hand towards his brother.

Dean grasped Sam's hand and bent his knees a little to brace himself. "Ready?"

Sam put his other hand on the lip of the tub. "Yeah."

"Alright, go," said Dean, pulling on Sam's arm.

Together, the two of them managed to get Sam onto the edge of the tub. Dean had to keep his hands braced on Sam's back. He could not keep himself upright with his tail. Usually, he would bend his legs to use as support, but the tail didn't have joints like human legs. It didn't have muscles to stand or walk; it had muscles used for swimming.

"Alright, I'm gonna have to drag you into the other room, okay?" asked Dean.

"Are the blinds closed?" asked Sam.

"I don't know," said Dean. "Why?"

Sam turned his head to glare at Dean. "Do we really want anyone passing by to see this?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "I'll go take care of it."

Sam grabbed hold of the wall and nodded. "I'm good."

Dean left and headed into the other room.

Sam took the time to assess his new look. He reached a hand down towards his tail, feeling the scales under his palm. They felt so smooth…like water. And the tail really felt weird. He was used to thighs and calves and feet and quadriceps and hamstrings…This tail definitely did not have any of that. It felt like it was just one big muscle…one big powerful muscle.

Sam tried to figure out how to control that muscle. He tried it out. The corners of the tail fin twitched. Despite himself, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly into a smile. He tried it again, and the tail curled towards his right.

"Okay, now can we move?" asked Dean as he walked back into the bathroom.

"Yeah," said Sam.

Dean looped his arms under Sam's and pulled. He groaned as Sam slid off the side of the tub and gently fell towards the floor. Sam's tail curled over the tub's lid and into the basin.

"Damn, why do you have to be so heavy?" grunted Dean as he began pulling Sam towards the bathroom door.

"I am not heavy; I'm tall," Sam defended as his tail slid out of the tub and plopped onto the floor with a splash.

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that," muttered Dean as he dragged Sam out of the bathroom and towards the two beds.

Dean managed to get Sam over to one of the beds, and he pulled with all his strength to get Sam onto the bed. Sam's torso fell onto the mattress next to Dean, and Dean reached down, pulling Sam's tail onto the bed with him. Sam sat up and pulled himself up the bed to lean against the headboard. Dean headed to the bathroom and came back with a couple towels.

"Here, dry off," Dean told him.

Sam grabbed hold of the towels and tried to dry himself off. Unfortunately, the scales were a lot like wet hair: once you get it wet, it has to take time to dry itself out. Looks like he would just have to wait for his tail and skin to dry off.

Dean pulled his phone out and dialed a number.

"Hello?" answered Bobby Singer.

"Hey, Bobby," began Dean, clearing his throat. "Um…what do you know about mermaids?"

"Mermaids?" asked Bobby. "Well, they're located mainly on the Eastern coast, usually around coastal beaches—"

"You mean, you know they exist?" asked Dean.

"Yeah," said Bobby.

"Why didn't you ever tell us?" asked Dean.

"Never really came up," said Bobby. "We never hunted any."

"Well, what would you do…if someone—complete stranger that we don't know—got…turned into one?" asked Dean.

Bobby sighed long and hard. "You or your brother?"

"Well, not me, if that helps at all," said Dean.

"Is he safe?" asked Bobby.

Dean frowned. "What do you mean?"

"There are a lot of bounty hunters out there who would kill to get their hands on a mermaid," Bobby told him. "Mermaid scales are—"

"Hang on, Bobby," said Dean. "Let me put you on speakerphone."

Dean pressed a button on his phone and held it up so Sam could hear also.

After a moment, Bobby continued. "Mermaid scales are used for healing tonics and creams. They also help slow aging. The blood is used to create pills that enhance the senses. And to catch a live mermaid, people will pay a fortune for that. You hear that, Sam?"

"Yeah," said Sam. "So, how do I avoid a bounty hunter? I mean, Phil and Jack are pretty good at what they do."

Phil Greggins and Jack Morris were two bounty hunters who helped deal with supernatural creatures to create potions or tonics. They were the best in their field.

"As long as you don't change in public or anything, you'll be fine," said Bobby.

"By the way, you know anything about mermaids?" asked Dean. "The research Sam dug up didn't exactly seem complete."

"Well…" began Bobby, sighing, "they change whenever they touch water, they sing to entice mortals, they must have water regularly or they'll dry out, their kiss heals—"

"Their what?" asked Dean, looking wide-eyed at Sam.

"Their kiss heals," said Bobby.

Dean's mouth twitched into a smile as he laughed a little.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," muttered Sam. "What else, Bobby?"

"Their tears have magical properties," said Bobby. "Specifically, mermaid tears mixed with a mortal's blood turn that mortal into a mermaid."

"That explains it," said Sam. "She was on top of me when Dean stabbed her. I had cuts on my neck. Her tears must have fallen into them."

"What else, Bobby?" asked Dean.

"They have the power of hydrokinesis," Bobby continued. "They can see and hear exceptionally well. They can sense changes in the water, such as poison or blood. When they're in their fish form, they have super strength and communicate telepathically with other merfolk. Salt and iron are their weaknesses, and I figure you already know how to kill them."

"Salt-coated iron knife to the heart, yeah," Dean nodded.

"Yeah, so keep Sam away from salt and iron," said Bobby. "They'll—"

"Burn the skin, yeah," Sam told him.

Dean frowned at him. "Now, how would you know that?"

"Well, isn't that what it does to most supernatural things?" asked Sam.

"Yeah, but you said it like you…had firsthand experience, or something," said Dean.

Sam shrugged and avoided Dean's eyes. "Well…maybe."

Dean put his hands on his hips. "When?"

"When we were packing this morning," said Sam. "I noticed that the iron knives burned a little."

Dean glared at him. "Oh, you noticed, huh?" He stepped a little closer to Sam. "Is there anything else you noticed?"

"Um…maybe," said Sam quietly.

Dean threw his hands up in the air. "And you didn't tell me? Didn't you think something was wrong when this started happening? Like, maybe when the iron burned!"

"Yes, obviously," said Sam. "But…I didn't want to believe it."

"Oh, well, then, I guess that makes it okay!" yelled Dean.

"Dean, calm down," said Bobby from the phone.

They had forgotten that he was there.

"Sam, what happened?" asked Bobby.

"Well, my cuts and bruises are completely gone," said Sam. "They healed overnight. And, uh, I've been insanely thirsty the past day," said Sam.

"Yeah, you were," said Dean. "How many glasses did you go through?"

"Last night, or this morning?" asked Sam.

"Not important," said Bobby. "Go on, Sam."

"Uh…well, there was the song incident," said Sam.

Dean frowned. "What song incident?"

"Well, you don't remember, but…" began Sam, wondering how he was going to tell them, "I managed to…hypnotize you."

Dean stepped closer. "You hypnotized me? How?"

"That whole 'their song entices' thing," said Sam. "I started humming, and I was thinking that I wanted you to start being nice for once. The next second, you were being nice."

"I was?" asked Dean. "Why don't I remember that?"

"Because I fixed it," said Sam. "I tried it again, thinking that I wanted you to be yourself again, and it worked. You didn't remember a thing."

Dean frowned, trying to think back over the past day. His eyes suddenly widened. "Oh, my God! You hypnotized me!"

Sam frowned also. "Yeah, that's what we just said."

"I was trying to be your freaking maid!" Dean yelled.

Sam's eyes narrowed. "You remember?"

"Now I do!" said Dean. "It was like you totally brainwashed me!"

"Hey, it's not my fault," Sam told him.

Dean shook his head. "Yes, it is! Remember? You were the one doing it!"

"I meant that I didn't do it on purpose!" said Sam. "I didn't know I was a merman! Obviously, I didn't know that I could hypnotize you into doing something just by singing!"

They paused, staring at each other. Smiles broke out on their faces, and Sam and Dean began laughing.

Dean finally got his laughter under control. "What happened to our lives, man?"

Sam fought for breath. "I don't know. I really don't know."

"Yeah, well, laugh it up," said Bobby. "Until we figure out a cure, Sam is stuck as fish-boy. You two need to be careful."

Dean nodded. "Yeah, sure thing, Bobby."

"So, that's everything?" asked Sam. "Nothing else about merfolk that we need to know?"

"Well, they're immortal," said Bobby. "That's everything, I think."

"Immortal?" asked Sam. "But they can be killed."

"Yes, you can kill them with that salt-iron dagger thing," said Bobby. "But they never die naturally. They live forever…until someone kills them."

Sam's eyes took on a distant look.

"Okay, thanks, Bobby," said Dean.

"Call me if you boys need anything," said Bobby.

"Yeah, will do," said Dean, hanging up. He looked at Sam, who was staring at the wall. "You okay?"

"Yeah," said Sam quietly. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Hey, your scales are fading," said Dean.

Sam looked down at his hands to see that he could barely see the aqua scales anymore, and his forearm fins had diminished in size.

"That's something, huh?" said Dean, heading into the bathroom to fix the shower curtain.

"Yeah…" said Sam. "Something."

He could not stop thinking about what Bobby had just said.

Immortal, Sam thought. Merfolk are immortal…

He could not help thinking that he had just found the magic solution to Dean's deal after all.