PROLOGUE…

Long ago there was a very small town. Everyone knew everyone else and, for the most part, got along with each other. There were eight girls who grew up together; they were best friends. One girl was promised to the prince of a nearby kingdom and was due to leave in a couple days to marry him. The girls decided to have one last adventure together before she left. Just outside the town was a forest that rumored to be haunted. Not even the bravest of men went in there. Of course, the girls knew that's where they going to go until their friend had to leave.

They wandered far into the forest, but never saw or heard any sign of a ghost. As it got late, the girls became very tired and needed to rest for the night. Up ahead they noticed a faint light coming from between the trees. The girls were drawn to it. As they stepped into the clearing they found a small lake. The light was coming from just underneath the surface of the water. The girls sat down at the edge peered down at it. The face of a beautiful girl slowly emerged from the water. The girls were startled to see her, but not afraid. The girl in the water braced herself on the shore, but did not come out of the water.

"My name is Marine," She said. "What are yours?"

The girls introduced themselves.

"Why won't you come out of the water?" one of them asked.

"I can't," she replied. "I'm a mermaid."

The girls were excited to meet a mermaid. They had all heard stories of mermaids, but never knew they were real. Marine told them stories of what it was like to be a mermaid, and the girls told her what it was like to be human.

One of the girls asked Marine how there was a light in the water. Marine explained it was her magic aura. Once every 100 years or so, a sorceress mermaid chooses one mermaid baby to bestow a magical gift. When she was a baby, the sorceress chose Marine.

Unbeknownst to them, a witch happened to be passing through the woods that night and had noticed the light as well. She heard Marine talking about her magic and thought if she had Marine's magic, as well as her own, she could be the most powerful witch.

The next night, the witch returned to the lake. This time she wasn't alone; she brought eight henchmen with her. They snuck up on the girls and each man grabbed one of the girls, as the witch approached Marine. The witch demanded that Marine surrender all of her power to her, or she would kill her new friends. Not seeing any other choice, Marine agreed. The witch put her hand on Marine's chest, and Marine released her magic to her. She could feel it slowly draining from her body, and she knew she had to do something quick.

Not much of her magic remained, but she summoned what she had left and used it to trap the witch and her henchmen underground. Her friends rushed over to her.

"Are you all right?" they asked.

Marine nodded. "Yes, but she is very powerful, and will eventually break free. When she does, she will come after us for revenge. We must all go our separate ways and hide."

The girls reluctantly agreed. Before they parted, they made a pact with each other; they would one day destroy the witch. Marine used her last bit of magic to put a spell on each of them, including herself, if they don't defeat the witch themselves, after they die their spirits will remain earth-bound and watch over their descendants. When the witch re-surfaces, they will summon the girls of that generation to come together and defeat the witch.

It would be 200 years before the witch would come back. In that time, not much of the area had changed. The lake had dried up, but she was still in the middle of the forest. She immediately went back to the town where the eight girls had come from. Of course, they were all gone by then. The witch remembered one girl was to marry the prince of the neighboring kingdom. When the witch arrived in the kingdom, the castle was almost completely abandoned. A few servants still took care of it, but none of the royal family lived there anymore. The witch grabbed the first servant she found. It was an older lady who was tending to the garden.

"You," the witch demanded. "Tell me where to find Princess Heidi."

The old lady thought for a moment, and then said, "Queen Heidi died many years ago."

The witch cursed under her breath. How was she to take revenge when the girls were already dead?

"The royal family lived in this castle for many generations," the old lady continued, "until recently when the Queen died. However, there is still a direct descendant of Queen Heidi. She lives not far from here, in another castle. Her name is Princess Snow White. Maybe she can help you."

At first, the witch just shrugged off the last statement from the old lady. But, as she walked away, she realized she could still have her revenge. She couldn't go after the girls and the mermaid who had her trapped beneath the ground, but she still had this generation of girls. Of course, there was no way of finding all of girls. But, she knew where one was, and she would use Princess Snow White to find the other girls.

…End Prologue.