If you had been standing on dry land, you probably would've fallen back on your rear end in surprise. Floating as you were, all that happened was a quarter of a flip before righting yourself. Marisa's face looked terrifying. From the top of her head to her chin must have been as long as six times the length of your whole body. Not to mention the effect of seeing her distorted through the semi-reflective glass. You swim forward a little, braving the monster in front of you to reach out and touch the glass, touch the reflection you'd rather not see. Marisa smiles weakly, probably trying to look compassionate, though it's hard to tell at this scale. "Sorry, David. I had to act fast and this was the first place I could think of to put you. Don't worry, though, none of the other fish in there are predators, so you'll be safe... even if I did accidentally make you smaller than all of them." Your eyes widen as you hear this, but she just shrugs it off. "Like I said, I was in a hurry. I'm just glad I got you into some water in time."
You glare at her angrily. Her magic has been making your life more and more miserable and she doesn't even seem to care! You open your mouth to protest, but find you can't speak. Try as you might, you just can't force the words out of your body. All your anger fizzles in your silence, turned into frustration and panic.
Marisa seems to realize what you're trying to do, leaning closer worriedly. "David, calm... calm down! You won't be able to talk while you're underwater, no mermaid can. There's no air to move through your voice box. Just relax, okay?"
You do relax somewhat at hearing you aren't completely mute. Still, you can't just float here silently while she watches you like you're a goldfish. As fast as you can get your tail to move you, you swim up to the surface. You're a little disappointed to find that the tank isn't open, only a small sliver of air between the water and the black covering. "You can't just keep me here!" you yell, head pressed to the ceiling as you bang on the glass. "Make me big again, put me in a pool or something!"
She shakes her head. At least she can hear you, though! "Sorry, that would be way too risky. You might get discovered. This way I can keep an eye on you, and you're so small you can hide from anyone else who might be looking. No, I might've put you in there in desperation, but I still think it's the best plan." You start to object again, but she doesn't seem to be listening anymore, checking her watch. "Look, it's getting late. I'll check on you tomorrow morning, and I promise I'll spend my free time trying to figure out what happened. For now, just relax. Being able to just float underwater with no responsibilities sounds like a vacation to me." Faster than seemed possible, she was gone. You suspected she was still in the shop, but it was difficult to see too far outside the tank with your reflection in the way.
Sighing hopelessly, just let yourself sink back into the water. Even for such a short period of time, breathing air had made your throat sore, so it was a relief to go back to using your gills. At least that was one nice thing about all this. What wasn't nice was looking out at the rest of the tank. Despite knowing it was all fake plastic, the strange objects and plants littered about were quite imposing to you, not to mention the size of the tank itself. Just how small were you? Lost in thought, you don't notice something nearby until you feel something bump into your back. Letting out a soundless scream, you turn around to face whoever touched you. It's a...
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