The magic swirled around you, lifting you off of the rock you were sitting on. You were blinded by it; it was beyond the light of the sun against the waters. You were lifted only for a moment before you were placed back down, this time without a fin, but instead two legs. You were covered by your top and a torn skirt made from material from the sea that you had wrapped around your waist prior to swimming to the surface.

You didn't know what to do. "I can't believe it," you whispered.

Ian looked nervous. "Do they... do they work?"

"Well, I don't know," you said. You kicked your feet. They felt like they did. "Let's find out."

You held out your hands for both of them and they took them. Their hands fell on your back as you struggled to stand up. It was so strange to stand on two things, especially without the safety of water around you. You gripped on tight to Barley's hand as you swayed, trying to get the hang of it.

When you finally were able to stand without fear of tilting, and you loosened your grip on their hands, you finally looked up at Barley. You grinned.

"It really worked," you said.

He smiled wide and threw his arms around your waist, lifting you off of the ground. He laughed happily and dropped you gently back down on the sand. You held onto his shoulders and looked around.

"I did it," Ian sighed out in relief. He fell back against the rock, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Holy tooth of Zadar, that was stressful."

"Thank you, Ian!" you said. "Oh, I want to get off of this beach. I want to... I want to..."

Barley laughed. "Where do you want to go?"

"I don't know," you said, shaking your head. Your body was shaking, you couldn't stop smiling. "I want to go everywhere. I want to see things."

You let go of Barley and almost fell. He panicked, reaching out to catch you, but you held up your hands. You wanted to know what it felt like to stand on your own. You backed up against the rock and sat down, then stood up. It felt so strange to move like this. You shuffled your feet forward, one hand on the rock as you walked around it. You walked.

You suddenly gasped. "Barley! We can play that game you're always telling me about that I couldn't play."

"Okay, sure. We can do that."

"Really? Your first time to see whatever you want and you want to play a board game?"

"It's a roleplaying game, Ian," Barley said.

"Still..."

"I want to do a lot of things," you said, smiling. "I don't want to waste any time."

"Then waste, we won't," he said, walking to up you and taking your hand. "Let us go, my love. Three days of fun and adventure await us!"

/ /

Barley showed you everything. It took an hour to get home instead of twenty minutes because of how he pulled over so you could look at every single thing that caught your eye. Unicorns eating through trash, a police cruiser speeding by, the lights flashing, a tall building, the gas station. You were fascinated by all of it.

The first stop was to a clothing store. You wanted to find normal clothes. You went into a clothing store in the mall and picked out a t-shirt, a pair of black boots, and a pair of jeans. You tried them on and asked for the boy's approval before deciding if they were okay. They both cheered you on, agreeing that you looked great.

After changing back in the dressing room, you followed Ian and Barley to the checkout. Barley took the shirt, jeans, and shoes from you and dropped them on the counter. The cashier scanned them and you smiled as Barley took out his wallet.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw a blue dress that was on a mannequin. You strayed away from Barley and Ian as they paid and walked up to it. The skirt was a shockingly bright, yet soft blue, and the top was black with a swoop neckline. The sleeves were puffy and quarter-length.

"Uh, babe?"

You still looked at the dress, and Barley walked up to you.

"It's really pretty," you said, reaching out and grabbing the skirt. "I was imagining how it'd look if I wore it on one of those date things."

He turned around. "Uh, good sir, would you mind adding this to our purchase?"

/ /

With your new outfit on, and a bag with your new dress at your feet, Barley drove on. Before going home, he had places he wanted to stop at. He drove with the windows down, and you leaned against the door so that you could feel the breeze on your face. Your hair whipped around you.

Barley stopped to get pizza from Pizza Realm (and had bought a pizza with every single topping so that you could try them all) and Ian paid to rent a few of their most favorite movies for you to see. They took you to SwampGas to buy whatever candy you thought you'd like to try. They took you to an arcade to play games. Ian taught you to play chess in the back of the van while Barley got onto the highway just to show you what it was like.

Finally, he brought you back to his house. He carried in the stack of pizza and clumsily opened the door, nearly dropping all of the boxes. "Hey --- Mom, we're home!" he sang out.

Laurel was at the door, pulling it open. "Barley! When you said you were getting pizzas for dinner, I didn't know you meant twelve pizzas!"

"Yup," he said, sliding half of the stack to her.

"Why did you get so much?" she asked. As Barley stepped aside, you and Ian walked in through the door. "Oh. Is this...?"

"Mom, this is my girlfriend," Barley said proudly.

Laurel pushed her glasses up her nose and smiled. She reached a hand out and you shook hers. "It's wonderful to meet you. Barley talks about you all of the time. Come on in, make yourself at home."

You stepped inside. "Thank you, it's nice to meet you."

"Welcome to our humble abode," Barley said. You followed him to the kitchen, where he placed the pizzas down on the counter. "This is the kitchen. Those in there are the stairs. And I will show you the living room.. oh wait!"

"Barley, get your game off of the table," Laurel requested politely. She and Ian worked on getting plates out. "Your stepfather will be home for dinner too, and you know he doesn't like not being able to eat at the table..."

"I know, I know," Barley said. "I'll get it."

You walked over to the table. "Is this the game?"

"It is. Later, I will give you a tour of the kingdom here. But c'mon." He grabbed your hand and you happily went with him to the other room. You looked around. "That is our couch, our chair, these are our family pictures..."

You stopped in front of them. They made you smile, seeing all the photos of Ian, Barley, and Laurel, and even some of their new stepfather. As you neared the stairs and stepped up on the first one, you saw a single photo of a man and Laurel.

"Is this your dad?" you asked.

Barley, who was standing a step below you, nodded.

"You look like him," you said. "You look like your mom too, but I can see your dad."

"Yeah?"

You nodded. He was staring at you.

"What is it?"

He smiled, his eyebrows furrowed together. He took your hand. "Aw man, I don't know. You're just... you're great."

You laughed. "Great, huh?"

"Yeah. I don't really know how to say much else. I'm just glad that you're actually here."

You took his other hand in yours and smiled. "That's okay. I'm glad, too."

Wordlessly, you bent down, only a few inches taller than him from standing on the step, and you kissed him. You closed your eyes and held his hands tight and struggled not to smile too wide as you did. His cheeks flushed indigo and the two of you just stood there until his mother called you in for dinner.

You never wanted to leave.

//

thank u for all ur support on this series!! i hope you're enjoying it.

part three comes tomorrow