Aquarium Star (Patreon)

Now everyone has heard of "The Big Break" when a acting wannabe is discovered and propelled to stardom.  Lee-Anne thought she'd discovered her big break when she bought the old ring at the estate auction.

It wasn't that the ring itself was a great beauty or anything.  In fact, on the bus on the way home, she couldn't, for the life of her, figure out why she'd even bought the thing. It was, as she discovered when she rubbed the ring as she cleaned centuries of grime from it at home, the fact that it contained a genie (or Djinni, as she lovely being insisted).  

Now Djinn, as a rule, grant wishes.  There's all kinds of horror  stories in myth and legend about Djinn wishes gone wrong because they were poorly phrased.  Lee-Anne, had read a few of these (as scripts for productions that, time and again, she failed to get the part).  So she very carefully phrased her wish.  There was a mermaid movie being filmed and she wanted a real role in it instead of the bit part she had.  She thought several days before rubbing the ring and summoning the Djinni inside.

"You know what a mermaid is?" she began once the Djinni materialized.
"Indeed.  Half woman, half fish.  Such appear in the mythology of many cultures."
"I told you of our culture's story-telling."
"Movies.  I did as you asked and sat through one.  They are most interesting."
"You know I'm acting in one now."
"Yes.  You are a performer."
"I have what is called a bit part.  I don't really get to do anything special.  It's more like I'm part of the scenery than anything else."
"And this annoys you?"
"I want a bigger part.  Something where I can actually use my talent, play a role in the movie."
"And you want me to get you such a role?"
"I have a plan for it.  You will make me a mermaid, so sexy and beautiful that the director cannot resist me. I want to be in the Director's home when he returns so he must notice me.  I'll turn on the charms and I'll get a much better role."
"So you want to be a real mermaid for this director then?"
"A star!  A star mermaid!" Lee-Anne blurted.  

All through this chat,Lee-Anne had been idly moving the ring (which was large) loosely about in her hands.

"So be it," the Djinni stated.

Lee-Anne discovered four things instantly.

First, she was indeed in the Director's home.  Looking about at the rich fittings, it could be no place else.  Second, everything looked strange.  She discovered she wasn't on a couch or something.  She was inside a huge aquarium.  Third, she was indeed a mermaid.  A star mermaid.  From her hips down, she was now a starfish.  It was then she discovered the final and terrifying thing: she couldn't speak underwater and, in the process of being teleported to the director's home, the ring had dropped from her hand.

She was now a "Star Mermaid" in the Director's aquarium for the rest of her life.  Not what she wanted at all!