Sabrina gawked at the aquarium, kneeling to look inside. She pressed her hand to the glass, watching the fake fish swim through a forest of papercraft seaweed. There were scenes of miniature divers venturing from their sub, of a kraken pulling down a pirate ship, and of a forlorn castle with flickering lights, and more. All of it, somehow alive, somehow real in a delightfully fake way.

“What do you think?” A voice from behind her chimed. It took her a moment to recognize Becca, even though they went to the same schools all through primary school.

“It’s…it’s incredible.” Sabrina said, turning back to the aquarium, pointing at a plastic clownfish, “How are they moving? I can’t see any strings. I mean, they have to be there, but…”

Becca smiled. “Oh, there’s no strings.”

Sabrina stared a moment. “C’mon. It has to be strings. Or maybe magnets? How else could they just float and move like that? They’re toys.” The aquarium had sort of…appeared one day, in the once empty space in the strip mall next to a dying toy store. It was an exhibit, only it didn’t make money; not in any way Sabrina knew of.

“Magic…” Becca said, grinning with a slight tilt of madness. She pulled something from behind her back; a dinky plastic genie lamp with bad mold lines. “…from this.”

Sabrina furrowed her brows, and started to respond, until Becca brushed her hand across the lamp. A font of sand and light suddenly poured from the lamp, a startling torrent that twisted and took shape. That stream of sand became a woman wearing a blue vest and skirt, and yellow tights. She looked half as startled as Sabrina. She looked between the two women, and her eyes shot wide.

“Is…is this your friend you were telling me about, Master?”

Friend? Sabrina thought. They had known each other since kindergarten but were never close; they hadn’t said more than a sentence to each other since High School. And not much more than that in high school. Something about all of this was beginning to set off alarm bells in Sabrina’s mind.

Becca responded with a flush and cough. “Anyway, this is my Genie. She helped me make this.”

“Genie?” Sabrina said, quirking her eyebrow. If she hadn’t actually seen the woman appear from a lamp, she wouldn’t have believed it. Hell, she still wondered if this wasn’t a trick.

“Toy genie,” the woman corrected quickly. She turned to Becca. “Master, can I go back into my toy lamp? I was truly enjoying reading your novel, and I just got to a really good part. That way, your friend can go on about her day.”

“No,” Becca said firmly, “I’d like to make a wish, like we talked about.”

Sabrina took a wary step toward the door, as the toy genie looked at her with resignation. “Becca, what’s going on here. What did you two talk about?”

Becca’s crazed smile grew a little wider. Actually, a lot wider. She laughed to herself, as if remembering something. “Toy Genie, I wish my friend Sabrina was a mermaid.”

The genie looked at Sabrina. “I’m so sorry about this.” She said, and promptly unleashed a whirlwind of magic that enveloped Sabrina before she could get out a scream.

Splash.

Sabrina spun, twisted, her eyes adjusting. She wasn’t in the store anymore. Her vision cleared, and her eyes went wide as she saw the impossibly huge plastic castle of the aquarium in the distance. A plastic fish swam by her, without any strings.

She looked at herself, gawking. She wore—no, was made from—waterproof cloth. Sabrina turned, and her plush heart stopped. Becca’s crazed smile came into view, larger than Sabrina was now.

“Why?” She asked, her voice small, insignificant, swallowed up by the water before it reached the glass. But the intent, Sabrina hoped, made it through.

“Do you remember career day back in second grade?” Becca asked. Her voice, as she spoke, echoed through the aquarium, coming from everywhere all at once. “I remember. I remember you getting in front of the class and saying you wanted to grow up to be a mermaid.” Becca giggled at the memory. “Aren’t you happy I made your wish come true?”