A soft breeze played across Terralyn's face, rustling her hair and the blankets on her bed. Her eyes fluttered open and widened as she took in the view of her new room. She rubbed her head and her eyes, blinking in the sunlight, and sat up.

With a groan she got out of bed and stumbled over to the washroom, almost smacking into a wall.

With a muffled curse, she swung the door open and stopped in the door frame, her eyes wide with surprise.

The washroom was the most expensive looking room in the palace she had seen yet- it had white walls, and all bathroom fixtures looked like they were made of pure gold. The gold bathtub was already filled with water, and Terralyn was delighted to see individual rosebuds floating around in the water. It was every girls dream.

Terralyn stripped off her clothes and without hesitation threw herself into the bath. She took a deep breath and then dunked herself under water, scrubbing at her hair furiously. She wanted to get all the sea salt off of her. Or maybe she was trying to wash away the memories of yesterday- she did not really know. She came up for air with a gasp and wiped the water out of her eyes. Then she turned on the water jets and bubbles began to foam up. With a laugh she rescued a rose from the water and stuck it in her wet hair.

Finally she got out of the bathtub and dried off. She wrapped the towel around herself and went back into her room. Her old clothes were useless- dirty and encrusted with sea salt- so what was she to wear? As this question crossed her mind, she spotted a dress that had been laid out across a chair across the room. She picked it up and looked it over critically. It was not that the dress was ugly; in fact it was quite beautiful with its turquoise color and faint silver embroidery. But it was a dress. Terralyn had never worn a dress in her life, and even if she would have, it would have been something sexy, probably a black number. This dress was long and very medieval; not exactly Terralyn's style, but it was the only item of clothing in the room. With a sigh, Terralyn slipped on the dress, and then put on the pair of turquoise sandals that were sitting on her vanity table. She looked at herself in the mirror.

Who is this girl? She asked herself, staring at a fairy-like person with black hair and blue eyes that were emphasized by her turquoise gown. This can't be me.

She turned away from the mirror and preceded to finger comb her wet hair. She tucked the rose back into her hair afterwards. Then went to open the door-

Only to find that the door was gone.

"What the-" Terralyn inspected all the walls, running her hand along them as if attempting to make the door appear at her touch. "There was a door here last night…"

She went out onto her balcony (which was thankfully still there), and searched for an escape route; stairs, anything really that could help her out of her room. But all there was was a small balcony with a firm wooden fence surrounding it.

Is he keeping me prisoner here? She thought. This is just stupid. What am I supposed to do all day? Stare at the ceiling??? She tested the fence surrounding the balcony, but it was no use; the fence would not budge.

She paced the balcony impatiently, and once or twice she had to push a tree branch out of her way to avoid colliding with it.

Stupid tree. She thought. Then it hit her. Wait a minute… There's a tree here! With a gleeful smile, Terralyn hiked up her dress and carefully stepped over the fence, and then onto the strong leafy branches of the tree.

"He is so stupid," she said to herself. "He put a tree here and he didn't expect me to climb it?!"

It was the perfect climbing tree to – it had strong branches that were thick enough to sit on. It was also an apple tree. Another added bonus, Terralyn thought, as she picked an apple and ate it. I haven't eaten since yesterday morning.

Terralyn scrambled down the tree with the apple hanging out of her mouth. When she reached the bottom, she took the apple and continued eating it as she walked leisurely around the courtyard. She was definitely in an exploring mood.

It was still hard for her to believe that all this was real- that Neptune was a real Roman god and that he had saved her from drowning in the very ocean waters he commanded. But as it was, Terralyn was not a girl to dwell on things, and so she chose to accept this new found information.

Besides, there is a huge island and castle to explore. Who cares if it's real or not? Terralyn thought, pitching out her apple core. She wandered around the gardens for awhile. At first she tried to keep track of where she was. She gave the gardens names, such as Rose Garden, Hummingbird Den, Fountain Garden, and so on. She always kept the palace in sight, but after awhile, she got lost.

She thought that the palace might be behind her, but the trees and bushes hid it from view, so it was hard to tell exactly where the palace was. Shaking her head frustratingly, Terralyn climbed the closest climbable tree and scanned the tops of the trees around her. The castle was indeed behind her, just as she had thought. She was about to climb down when she heard her name being called in the distance.

Curious, Terralyn peered down through the bushes, spotting a very bald Pete who was walking around the garden, very close to her tree. He was the one who was calling her name.

Shoot. They know I've gone out.

She kept quiet; the last thing she wanted to do was get into trouble, especially with a god. Eventually Pete stopped calling. He was now standing by a fountain fairly near Terralyn's tree, although he was not close enough to see the hidden girl.

"I can't find her anywhere, your Majesty." Pete said, apparently to thin air.

"WHAT?!" A voice roared. The fountain cracked neatly in half by the sheer force of Neptune's shout. "TERRALYN!" he yelled, appearing beside Pete. He was also huge, taller than the trees.

Boy, he's mad. Terralyn thought. She sat completely still in the tree. Her heart was pounding and her breathing was too loud for her ears.

Neptune's head snapped towards the tree, his eyes furious. Shit! She thought. He must have heard me breathing!

His hand shot out and grabbed her from the tree. Although Neptune was furious, he did not hurt her, but he gripped her tight enough for her to be uncomfortable.

"I THOUGHT I ASKED YOU TO STAY IN YOUR ROOM!" he yelled. Terralyn looked up at him, her eyes flashing angrily.

"You never asked me," she said coolly. "I woke up- and the door was gone. What did you expect me to do?"

He looked stricken for a moment. What had he expected her to do? Had he expected her to burst into tears and beg him for forgiveness? Had he expected her to act like a damsel in distress?

"I- I suppose-" he looked down at the girl who's hair was wild and still wet, her dress torn and her hands and knees caked with dirt. "Oh never mind." He pouted and slowly grew smaller until he was able to set Terralyn down and look her in the eye. "Just do not run away again." He said crossly. He sounded like an overprotective kid brother.

"I wasn't running away," she said mildly. "I was exploring."

Neptune stared at her incredulously. Exploring? Since when had women taken an interest in exploring? He thought, and then he smiled slowly. He glanced at Pete, and his eyes held a clear message: go. Pete melted away in the foliage, and made his way towards the castle.

"You are not like other women, are you, darling Terralyn?"

She sniffed. "What do you know," she said, turning away. "You don't know anything about me."

She walked over to the broken fountain and stared at it sadly.

"You didn't have to break it, you know," she muttered, trailing her fingers in the now very shallow water.

"But I do know some things about you," he whispered in her ear, making her jump. He had come up right behind her without her knowing. His arms went around her waist, and he pulled her close to him until her back hit his chest. "I know your name; I know that you like blue, and that you like climbing trees. I know that you like exploring, and that you do not like to show your true self to just anyone…

"I know that you are not easily shocked, or surprised or scared- though you seem to be easily angered." He chuckled slightly. She tried to pull away from him, but he just tightened his arms around her and kept talking. "I know that you find it hard to show some emotions…"

"What do you know?" she said, her cheeks flushing red. "You don't know anything at all! NOW LET ME GO!"

His breathe tickled her ear as he sighed loudly.

"Terralyn. You are trying to get me mad so I will not see your embarrassment," he teased, then his voice grew serious. "I already know this much about you after one day. Can you imagine how well we will get to know each other after a week? A month? A year?"

"I don't know anything about you," Terralyn said, trying to wiggle out of his grasp. His arms got so tight that she gave up trying to get free. "Although I do know one thing…"

"And what is that?" he whispered into her ear. She paused, debating whether to tell him or not. She decided she had to tell him.

"I know that you're a big flirt!" she exclaimed. She turned her head and caught the look on Neptune's face- completely shell shocked. She laughed uproariously. Tears of laughter coursed down her face. "I'm sorry," Laughter. "You should have seen your face!" More laughter. "Oh that made my day!" Laughter.

His arms were still around her, and he flipped her around, pulling her close. His face was an inch from hers.

"I love you, Terralyn." He said solemnly. Then he leaned down and kissed her cheek, just missing her lips.

Now it was his turn to laugh- Terralyn looked not only shell shocked but embarrassed and a little bit intimidated as well. She stood there for a moment, completely dumbfounded, watching as Neptune doubled over in laughter. Then she gave a huff and turned away from him, strolling angrily and deliberately from the garden.

"Wait!" Neptune gasped, still bent over from laughing so hard. "Come back! 'Twas just a joke!"

"I don't care!" she yelled at him over her shoulder. "You're such a jerk!"

With a thump, Terralyn collided directly into Neptune's chest. He had appeared suddenly in front of her, directly in her path.

"Joker, I am," he said seriously. "But jerk, I am not." He bowed slightly, stepping away from Terralyn. From his hand, a rose bud appeared.

The same one I put in my hair this morning, Terralyn thought. I'm sure I dropped it somewhere… how on earth did he find that?

"I shall see you at dinner, fair damsel. Until then, feel free to explore anywhere you wish… but do not go into the forest." Terralyn blinked. He was gone.

Suddenly, her exploring spirit died. All she wanted to do was go back to her room and try to sleep off her new found headache. Every time he comes around I get a headache! She thought, rubbing her temples. Maybe it's because he's such a jerk.

"Bloody gods," Terralyn muttered as she walked back to her room. "They think they can just meddle with everyone's life and get away with it! Hmph. We'll just see about that, won't we?" she climbed back up the tree and into her room, just in time to hear a knock on her door.

Yay! My door is back! She thought as she opened it. A very odd looking person stepped inside, carrying a huge black bag.

"Hi," she said. "I was sent to clean you up." Terralyn looked the creature up and down, taking in the blue, snakelike skin, green eyes, green hair and oily hands.

"No thanks," Terralyn said. "I already took a bath this morning."

The water nymph gave Terralyn a stern look.

"His majesty said I was to clean you up," the nymph said firmly. Then she opened her bag and pulled out her instruments of torture: lipstick, mascara, blush, glitter, hair rollers, hair pins, clips, gloves, glitter, soaps, shampoos, tweezers, material, scissors, sewing needles and sewing pins, and other various materials.

The nymph picked up the tweezers and advanced towards her, a grim vision of death for poor Terralyn.

"Now, let us get those eyebrows fixed."

"Anything but that!" she backed away from the nymph until she reached the balcony fence. "I don't mind makeup and hair things! Anything but the tweezers!"

"Neptune has ordered me to clean you up," the nymph said. "And I will. Now we can do this the hard way-"

Terralyn hopped onto the tree and scrambled down it to the ground.

"I won't go up there until you find another way to 'clean me up'!" Terralyn yelled. Then she ran back out into the garden.

Her headache was now a full blown migraine. Gingerly, she rubbed her temples, trying to will her headache away. She realized that maybe she was dehydrated, so she found a nice juicy apple and bit into it, savoring the flavor.

Her headache left her as soon as she ate the apple. She stared at the apple core in shock, and then let the core tumble from her hands and onto the ground. Why am I so surprised? Everything here was created by a god… of course it's going to be magical. She thought as she strolled through the gardens. Finally, after walking for quite some time, she found the cracked fountain and sat beside it. She trailed her finger along the broken crack as she studied the now completely empty fountain. The bottom was covered in golden swirls that seemed to glitter in the sun, and –to Terralyn's great surprise- there was a gold locket stuck fast in the wall of the fountain. Terralyn studied it, and tried to pull it out, but it would not budge. After some time she gave up, and headed back for her room. Water Nymph or not, she had to get ready for dinner. If she did not show up, surely Neptune would get angry, something that Terralyn found very amusing and terrifying at the same time.

She climbed up her tree and jumped onto her balcony. Looking out over the palace grounds, she could see a stone wall that surrounded the palace and its courtyards. She could also see a darker forest beyond the walls.

Is that the forest that Neptune said I wasn't supposed to go into? She thought. Weird. It almost seems as if the forest doesn't belong here…

Maybe I am like the forest…

Authors note: yes, yes. I know- not a very good chapter. And I'm sorry I haven't updated- I guess I'm just so busy. I hope this story isn't too lame so far-

Thanks so much to my reviewers: Mariacin, Nixiesocean, Trackdog, Animals are my LIFE, Ihaconch, kolrega, porkypick, and simplegrl007. I really appreciate your reviews!

Anyways, I have a favor to ask of my readers. I'm proposing a vote for my story, so please, if you want to, pick one of the choices below and put it in your review-

For the next chapter,

Should Terralyn explore the palace, and consequently, get lost?

Should I introduce a new character? (I have a good idea for this one. Muhahaha)

Should Neptune organize a party just for Terralyn?

Should Terralyn explore the forest?(… and who knows what or who she'll find there)