"There, there," Jon's mom comforted. "I know it seems awful now, but it'll be all right. There're a couple thousand kids a year who go through a sex change, and the majority of them adjust to it okay, after a year or two."
"I don't want to adjust to it!" Jon wailed. "I want to change back!"
"I know you do," her mother said. "Very few people who change actually want what they get, you know that. Most victims are doing good if they get something they're indifferent to. But eventually, they accept it and move on, and that's the important part. It's understandable that you aren't used to the idea yet, but eventually you're going to have to realize that your old life is never coming back. Whether you accept it or not, you're going to be this way for the rest of your life."
"No," Jon sobbed, "no, there has to be another way. I'll find another way!"
Her mother sighed. "Jon, sweetie," she said, "people have been trying to find another way for years. We simply don't have the kind of technology required to reverse anything more than basic cosmetic changes. I know I can't stop you from believing that, but I don't want to see you live the rest of your life in denial when you could be coming to accept what you are now. The best thing for you to is to come to terms with your new body."
Jon said nothing, quietly sobbing, her mother gently rubbing her shoulders in the comforting way she'd done when Jon's grandma died, years ago. After a while, Jon's dad came in. "Hi, Jon," he said. "Are you feeling better yet?"
Jon shook her head. He sighed. "Well, I can't say that I blame you," he said. "But the pool is all filled, and I don't think you're ever going to feel much better cooped up in the tub." He reached out into the hall and produced one of their old collapsible campers' cots. "I figured this would work for a stretcher," he said. "No sense putting undue strain on your back."
Jon's mom and dad assembled the cot, and she climbed out of the tub and crawled over onto it. Her parents lifted the cot by the frame and began to carry her outside. Getting down the stairs was tricky, but they managed, and soon they had her out in the backyard.
The pool in question was one of those collapsible above-ground models, but it was bigger than most - six feet tall and twenty-five feet wide. It wasn't exactly spacious, but it was, at least, a lot roomier than the bathtub. Jon's dad had filled it to the brim, since Jon wouldn't have to worry about drowning, so she had well upwards of twenty-seven hundred cubic feet of water to move around in. Her parents lifted the makeshift stretcher up to the edge of the pool and tipped it just enough to help her roll off, getting thoroughly splashed by the water she displaced as she tumbled in.
Coming up from the bottom of the pool, Jon poked her head above the water just as her mom came up the ladder on the side of the pool. "All right, sweetie," she said, "your father has to go to work, and I have to go buy some clothes for Mikey and some tops for you, so we're going to have to leave you by yourself for a while. Your father hung a bucket on the side of the pool in case you have to use the bathroom, and there's a cooler with some food in it at the base of the ladder here if you get hungry. And remember, dear: no matter what happens, you're still our child, and we love you."
Jon watched her parents head into the house to dry off, then ducked below the surface. She took a deep breath, her epiglottis closing off both her windpipe and her throat, directing the water through her new gills, which were conveniently hidden just behind her ears. Satisfied that she wasn't going to drown, she let all her muscles go loose and just hung there, neutrally buoyant, her sobs muted by the water.
Distantly, distorted through the water and the plastic walls of the pool, she heard the family car start, pull out of the driveway, and drive away. She was alone, except for her thoughts. Would she ever find a way to return to normal? If the stone was magic, there might very well be other magic items out there, but how would she ever find them if she was stuck in the water? Was her mother right? Would it be better to just give up and accept life as a mermaid? What would happen to her?
