Heat hangs in the air as the sun beats down. The bright sky shines blue with the sun’s rays, not but a single cloud in the sky, the light heating the world like an open oven. It was the hottest day of the year so far, and all I wanted to do when I got up today was sink into the pool, cool off in the water while my scales basked in the sun’s warm rays.

I almost pulled my partner in after me to wrap around them in the pool, but today seemed a perfect day to try a little experiment we’d discussed. Something I always wanted to try, and they agreed to help me with, and we learned how it could be done safely from a local witch.

I feel a little bad having them go get the potion, but they insisted. They enjoy the freedom of running an errand after I’ve hypnotized them to.

The first time they asked for that I got so flustered I couldn’t even look at them. It seemed wrong to hypnotize someone to run an errand for me, but they said they enjoyed it and wanted to do it, and I suppose that’s what matters.

“Hi, Lila. I have the potion and salve.”

The airy voice of my partner trails through the hot air as they step to the patio, their movements at once exact and yet fluid, like a marionette operated by a master puppeteer.

I direct them to sit on the patio chair and tap their forehead once they do, snapping the spell off them. They blink as if unaware of their location, but their smile never fades.

“You’re gonna have to tell me if I’ve actually gone and gotten the potion,” they say. They look at a woven bag by their feet. “Oh, I guess I did.”

“I really should have gotten it myself,” I say. I pull on my hair. “It’s so hot out today.” My partner waves a hand.

“Nonsense. Your graceful beauty ‘round my thoughts entwined, no heat could bother me as you cooled my mind.”

I sink my head halfway into the water to hide a blush. My partner reaches into the bag.

“If you’ll remember how the witch told us it works, you just have to drink the potion.” They hold it out, and I rise from the pool to take the potion. I look at it, my eyes gazing over the warnings that the witch Erada already explained to us when we first inquired.

A potion to transform the drinker into a slime.

I fantasized about it before, to have the boundary between myself and the water blurred, to melt into a relaxed puddle. I never had the boldness to try it, but my partner, so bold in what they did, inspired me to go for it.

Eventually.

And no time like the present, I suppose. I removed the cap.

“Remember,” my partner says, “you have to drink it all in one gulp, and quickly. Take a deep breath, first.” I nod.

“You just rub the salve into my—slime form—when I’m ready to go back, right?”

“Yes.”

Speaking aloud the thought of myself as a slime girl made my heart beat. What will happen to my heart after I drank it? My brain? What if they’re in the wrong position when we turn me back? Erada said it was safe, nothing would go wrong in the process as long as we follow the directions, but still, a million worries started to crowd my head.

I look at my partner, who cooled themself with a handheld fan.

“Whenever you’re ready, though,” they say. “No pressure—we can even keep them for another day if you’re not ready.”

I stare at the bottle. I take a deep breath.

“No time like the present.” I exhale. Another deep breath, and I swallow the potion in one gulp.

I shiver as the liquid slides down my throat. It’s colder than I expected, like drinking slush. I shiver, first from my shoulders down to my hips and all through my tail lounging in the pool. I’m not sure I like the sudden chill, but the sun’s heat feels magnified, and I sink into the pool until only my nose is above the water, eyes shut.

I’ve imagined, before, sinking into the pool and letting the boundary between me and the water blurring. My skin smoothing, softening, like a solid block of ice cream melting into a gooey form. My body melting into gel, growing lighter where thin, but heavier where thicker.

My tail so heavy in the water, it’s so easy to let it sink to the bottom and slosh in the water. I can feel my skin rippling, my hair thickening as if hair gel soaked into it and became more gel than hair.

All my rigidity melts away. No aches, no pains, like a massage melting my body into a literal puddle. I could just float away, let my melting fingers drift away as all becomes soft and squishy and gooey. My head feels empty, yet my body feels full. My mind floats through my body, through my tail, everywhere.

My breath catches as if my lungs fill with goo, but it passes and I feel no difficulty breathing. My heavy tail, sometimes dragging my breaths laboriously, almost seems to aid in my breathing now.

Am I breathing? I feel no need. No need to breathe, no need to think, no need to move, just melting.

“Lila!”

“What?” I shout and gargle and sit up in the pool. I’d sank all the way into the water without realizing it.

“Uh. Sorry.” My partner tilts their head back and forth. “I guess there’s not much concern about you drowning now.”

“What are you—?” I look at the pool. The water is darker than I remember. I lift the end of my tail out, lighter than I remember, the pattern melted away.

I can see light through my tail.

My body convulses as I try to gasp. My arm is the color of my scales, now—but no scales, nothing so bumpy, instead only smooth goo covering my skin, my tail, my body.

No, not covering. I squeeze my sticky arm with a gooey hand, and it squishes like a water balloon.

“Oh my gosh!” I press my hands to my malleable face and goo trails off. I giggle as I squeeze my squishy arms around my squishier body. I pause to let the water settle so I can see myself in the reflection, dark as it’s become. My slime body seems to constantly breathe and tingle in the water.

I grin at the stretchy, rubbery face that looks at me, all blemishes smoothed away, all sharp angles melted into goo. I wave my sticky hair behind me and pull it forward to show my partner.

“My hair! It’s like a big, gooey marshmallow blob!” I laugh, and my partner laughs too.

“I’m glad you’re having fun with it,” they say. “Did it hurt at all?”

“Not at all,” I say. “I barely even realized it.”

My partner frowns.

“Say—is the water level in the pool dropping?”

I look at the pool. I look at my long body, like a big tube of goo winding through the pool. I half-chuckle.

“I, ah, I appear to be absorbing the water.” I shut my eyes and smile, pressing my hands to my face. “It feels nice, like drinking and hydrating my throat, but over my entire body.”

“I wonder if we should get you to a certain water ratio before we use the salve.”

“We can worry about that later,” I say. I lean on the edge of the pool and smile to my partner. “Want to join me while there’s still water left?”

My partner stammers and blushes, glancing everywhere but directly at me. I smile—they’re so cute when nervous. They’d be even cuter in the pool of me—with me.

“Maybe—Maybe later?” they say. “Maybe we should—make sure you’re new form is stable?”

Maybe they’re just making excuses.

I grin.

Good thing they haven’t noticed my slime tail slithering around their ankle.