

Our budding author Sharanya Banerjee weaves a fantasy story about a girl with magical powers, partly inspired by the Netflix Series, H2O: Just Add Water.
Sketch of the mermaid Amelia by Sharanya Banerjee
Amelia was doing nothing more than she usually did. It was a normal Saturday, with Amelia sitting on her normal sectional, playing Pac Man on her normal iPad, and her normal 6-year-old brother, Georgie was jumping on the couch normally. There was nothing different about that day. And Amelia wanted to keep it that way. It wasn’t until Amelia had a peculiar tingling sensation in her hands, and she decided to get up from the couch.
“What happened?” Georgie said.
“Oh, nothing. I’m just feeling kind of weird.” Amelia said.
She rushed to the bathroom. Nothing seemed to be different. She walked back to the couch, confused. A few minutes later, that tingling sensation started again. This time, something a little different happened. When she tried to wash her hands, the water seemed to follow the movements of her had. It was as if she was bending the water. Thinking that she was dreaming, she went back to the couch. When she reached for her glass filled with water, the water from the glass started floating. The glass dropped to the floor with a loud crash. It shattered, with pieces of glass flying everywhere. The water was still floating. Amelia was too shocked to say anything.
“What the heck?” Amelia said, shocked.
Georgie stopped jumping. He stared in awe at the floating water. Amelia moved her hand up. The water followed. She moved her hand down, to the side, to the other side, and back. The water followed her hand’s command.
“Wait here,” Amelia said to Georgie.
Amelia was confused. How was this even possible? She rushed to the bathroom, concerned. She looked in the mirror and turned the water on. She moved her hand the same way she did in the living room. The water immediately formed into a big ball of water. Amelia moved her other hand forward. The water immediately froze and dropped to the ground with a large thump. Confused, she moved her other hand away from the water. The water quickly transfigured into a big puddle of water, lying flat on the ground, shapeless. She started to realize what was happening.
That night, Amelia lay in her bed, stunned. Not being able to sleep, she quickly grabbed a glass of water. She started to explore what she could do with it. She moved her hand in different ways and found out she could control the movement of water, freeze water, and shapeshift water. She tried other liquids, such as the root beer left in the fridge, some disgusting lemonade that her brother made, and mystery liquid that her brother left in his room. But nothing seemed to work other than water. The next day, Amelia tried to do it outside. Even though it was risky, she needed to know if it was just the water inside. Just like she thought, the water worked. There must be some logical explanation for this.
Amelia searched the Internet for any logical explanations for her unusual abilities. In the middle of her search, her brother walked into her room.
“Whatcha doing?” he asked.
“Ummm… nothing,” Amelia said, trying her best not to seem suspicious.
Georgie knew that voice. Something was up, and he would be the first to find out. He figured that Amelia wouldn’t like him snooping, but he had a different plan. Luckily, he knew a spot where he could see every room of the house. He climbed to the top of the roof, making sure no one heard him. He heard the clickety-clack of the keyboard, but he couldn’t see what was on her screen. After 15 minutes of looking, he gave up. It was obvious that he wasn’t the world’s best snooper.
“Forget it,” Georgie murmured to himself.
Amelia knew he was snooping on her, and knew he would give up. She took a quick pause, turned to see if he was there anymore, and returned to her search.
She looked and looked and looked until she couldn’t anymore, but there was nothing.
“Amelia?” her mom shouted.
Amelia wanted to reply but figured she would ask her about what she was doing. She wondered what her mom would say. She decided not to reply. Her mom walked up into her room.
“So…” her mom said.
Amelia made no reply. While she was typing, her elbow knocked down her glass of water. Amelia moved her hand in a certain way, instantly freezing water.
“What?” her mom exclaimed.
Her mom made a certain face as if she knew this would happen.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” she said, grasping Amelia’s hand.
She instantly knew something was up. She felt her heart pounding, getting louder at every second. She knew that this had to do with her so-called “magic powers”.
“You are adopted, and your real parents are mermaids. There, I said it.” her mom said, stuttering at every other word.
Amelia stood in awe. Her brother had teased her about being adopted, but she thought it wasn’t true. And mermaids? Ha! She certainly wasn’t as majestic as one. There had to be some way that this was false. But then again, she never looked like her parents. But that doesn’t explain her powers! She had so many questions, and only one person to answer them.
Quite unexpectedly, Amelia wasn’t mad. She was frustrated that she didn’t know this before, yes, but she understood why. Amelia wanted to say something, but when she opened her mouth, her stomach knotted, and her vocal cords refused to move. Her thoughts clumped into a million sentences, removing any perception she had obtained seconds ago. After a minute or two, she spoke.
“If that is true, why don’t I have a tail?” she asked, taking in a large breath shortly after.
“That’s why I was surprised before. You’re only 14, but your parents said it wouldn’t happen until you were 19 or so. I was going to tell you when you would leave for college.” her mother replied, her heart beating so loudly that Amelia could hear it from afar.
By now, Amelia was infuriated. She had so many questions for her mother and wasn’t even sure if she knew the answers. She took a deep breath in and started speaking again.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” she asked, looking at her mother as she shed a tear.
“I… I…” Her mother stuttered as if she didn’t want the words to come out of her mouth. “ I was afraid.” she finally said, shedding a tear as well.
Amelia wanted to ask why, but she knew what she was going to say. Her mother looked at her with tearful eyes.
“I’m sorry, Amelia,” she said, eyes full of sorrow and melancholy.
Amelia quickly wiped off her tears and walked out of the room. She knew what she was going to do. She was going to find her parents. Her real ones.
Amelia woke up early that day. She left a note saying she went to a friend’s house, but she was worried her mom would question if she was even at her friend’s house. She ran out the door with her backpack and began her journey. Little did she know, someone was following her. Someone very evil.
“At last! I finally have my hands on her.” Dr. DeRek whispered, popping out behind a bush.
Amelia stopped in her tracks. She heard a rustling sound, as if someone was watching her. She hesitated for a second but then continued, thinking it was just the wind. Dr. DeRek followed, making sure he made no more sounds.
Amelia stopped at the beach. The sun was just beginning to rise, and its pinkish-orange glow gleamed over the water. It was such a beautiful sight, Amelia almost forgot what she came for.
“Nature? Please. Why do people like it?” Dr. DeRek groaned, rolling his eyes so much they were about to bulge out of his head. Shaking his head, he knew this was the time to strike. Before Amelia could get on her boat, someone stopped her. Before she could manage to figure out who or what it was, she was blinded by a cloud of smoke.
Amelia woke up in a strange room. Everything was titanium white, and there was a little window box in the corner of the room. There did not seem to be a door, but there probably was.
“Where am I?” she said, pacing back and forth across the room.
A muffled voice responded. It came out of a large speaker at the top of the ceiling that she didn’t notice before.
“Only the highest security room in the entirety of the world. And don’t bother trying to lie to me. I know about your powers.” the voice said.
“Who are you and why am I here?” Amelia asked, speaking as loud as she could.
“The name’s DeRek. Dr. DeRek,” he said.
“Derek? Wow, what a name.” Amelia mumbled,
“It’s DeRek, not Derek,” he annoyingly groaned.
Amelia thought for a moment. What did they want from her? How long had it been since she was there? She looked through the window box. There was a woman in a bright white lab coat, with luscious ginger hair flowing down her shoulders. Her face looked very much like Amelia’s. She had hazel eyes, long lashes, and freckles all over her face. She was looking down at what seemed to be a computer, typing quickly. She tapped the man next to her and then started staring blankly at Amelia. Another voice came up from the speaker.
“Amelia?” the woman asked, almost as if she knew Amelia.
Amelia stared at her blankly. She didn’t know her, but the woman knew her. The woman typed in a code, and the door to the room opened. She walked into the room and gave out a big grin.
“It’s you! It’s you! Oh my gosh, it’s you!” she yelled, jumping up and down.
“My beautiful daughter, oh! I thought I’d never see you again!” she said, shedding a tear of joy.
Amelia started to understand. It was her mother! She put on a big smile and hugged her.
“It’s… You’re… You!” Amelia stuttered, looking for words.
“Wait… why are you here?” Amelia asked.
“But I thought you were a mermaid!” Amelia said, confused.
The woman gave a big sigh. Amelia just noticed her name tag, which said, Annika.
“It’s complicated,” Annika said.
“Where’s Dad?” Amelia asked, twirling her hair.
The room went silent for a little. Amelia knew that she shouldn’t have asked, but her curiosity got the best of her. Annika looked down at her shoes, a tear shedding across her pale face. Amelia gulped to somehow cure the silence.
“Can you help me out of here?” Amelia asked, suddenly realizing that she had a crumpled candy wrapper in her pocket.
Annika thought for a while. She knew she would probably be fired, but this was her daughter she was talking about! Who knows what they could find out about her? She knew the right thing to do.
“Ok, I guess.” she sighed. “But we have to have a plan. This place is crawling with security guards, and we don’t want to be seen walking out. I have a keycard, but I need to be approved for it to work. Can you use your powers for that?”
“Sure!” she replied, trying to understand every word she said.
They snook past the first set of guards easily. Well, not exactly sneak. More like freeze. You see, the poor security guard just happened to have a water cup in his hand. Amelia froze it until it was almost solid, and the man had such a terrible brain freeze his brain went numb. They snook past him from behind the wall and stumbled upon a thick metal door. They could have used the keycard, but as Annika said, it needed to be approved for it to work.
“Oh no, what will we do now?” Annika mumbled, hand on her head while pacing back and forth.
“Hold on…” Annika said, her face with a remembering expression on her face.
She started typing in a code on the side of the handle. Amelia then remembered something. Something important.
“Of course!” Amelia whispered, so soft that she couldn’t tell if she said it in her mind or in her head.
A few seconds later, the door hissed. Amelia and Annika both smiled and looked at each other, clasping each other’s hands. Inside, there was an enormous cylindrical machine with a series of claw-like robot hands with yellow strips of paint trickling down its body. Also, there were two people. One of them looked exactly like Annika, and it looked like she was trapped. Before she could figure out what happened, Annika pushed her in, and the door slammed shut.
“Annika… what are you doing?” Amelia asked, her heart pounding fast.
Annika looked at her with a sinister smile.
“The name’s DeRek.” Annika, or so she thought, said.
She took off her lab coat and suddenly morphed into Dr. DeRek himself. His minions grabbed hold of Amelia before she could run away. She tried to wriggle free, but it was no use. They lifted her into the machine, and the claws grabbed her arms.
“You won’t get away with this!” Amelia said, struggling to get out of the machine. She looked to her right, and there she was. It was her mother, Annika. Whatever DeRek did was quite accurate.
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