Pain flooded Nereus's head as he struggled to wake up. Blinking his eyes, he tried to see through the fog which clouded his eyes. Shifting his position, he yelped at the pain which seemed to fill every cell in his body. Frowning in surprise, he moved his tail slightly and felt it chafe against smooth stone.

By this time, Nereus's eyesight had cleared enough for him to be able to tell that he was laying in a shallow pond inside of a cave. Panic filled him as he looked around his prison, thinking that Tritanus had brought him here. A shadow blocked the light from the cave's entrance and he closed his eyes to mere cracks so that it would appear he was still unconscious.

Peering out through his long eyelashes with his still-fuzzy eyesight, Nereus watched as the figure slowly walked towards him. It must be the Trix. He panicked slightly. Come to finish me off.

The figure leaned over Nereus and he lashed out without warning, taking the figure by surprise. Punching her arm, he heard her cry out and instantly fell still, he did not recognize her voice.

"Hey, cut it!" The girl grabbed his fists in her small hands. He could have easily broken her hold, but was to startled to.

"I...I'm sorry," He stuttered, "I thought..."

"That I was going to harm you? Don't worry, I wouldn't have gone to the trouble of restarting your heart just to kill you now."

"You, what?" Nereus gasped, then gripped his arm with a groan as pain laced up into his shoulder.

"Hey, hold still," The girl mumbled as she wrapped one arm under his tail and the other behind his back, lifting him out of the water.

"What are you doing?" Nereus asked in a hoarse voice as he leaned against her chest, to exhausted to protest how she was holding him.

"Calm down," The girl murmured, "You were injured pretty bad, I'm just going to help you."

Pulling over the bundle she had dropped when Nereus had attacked her, the girl pulled out a jar of herbs. "I'm sorry, this will sting a little," she whispered as she began rubbing them into his wounds.

Wincing, he tightened his grip on her and shivered slightly. Once she had bound the wounds, she eased him back into the pool of water. "Are you alright in there?" She asked, "I don't know much about the mer, I know you have to be in water... But this isn't salt water, is that alright?"

"Yes, thank you." Nereus nodded sleepily and stared at her intently.

"What is it?"

"I think my vision is still fuzzy... I can't see your face clearly." Frowning, he realized that not only was he unable to see her face clearly, but he could also see the wall of the cave through her body.

"It's not your vision," She shrugged, "It's just me. I have a hard time holding onto my tangible form."

"You remind me of..."

"Daphne?"

Nereus startled, "How did you know?"

"Sitting cross-legged next to where Nereus lay, she asked, "Do you want the story?"

"Yes, I would."

"Well, I knew Daphne back before she lost her tangible form. I was much younger than her and followed her around like a puppy. I was one of the village children, she had rescued my from a couple evil men when I was only a toddler and after that, well, she sort of took me under her wing. When I heard that she was going to the Magical Ocean to confront the Ancestral Witches, I wanted to go so badly! But of course, she forbade me to go since I was only ten years old. Not wanting to be left out, I... uh... borrowed a spell to let me breath under water and followed her without her knowing. Daphne and her best friend went to the ocean and I followed, and saw everything. I saw as Daphne's friend refused to aid her and was turned into a dragon because of her blackened heart. I also saw Daphne loose her form. What most don't realize, was that the curse was not only directed at Sirenix, it was directed at every living thing nearby. Most think it was directed towards Sirenix because the two Sirenix fairies were cursed. No one realized that I was there, and I received the back lash of magic and was thrown out of the wwaters and onto this island. Daphne took the brunt, she has no tangible form whatsoever, she is only an apparition. I am somewhere in between... My form... flickers."

"So, sometimes you are solid, and sometimes not?" Nereus cocked his head to the side. "That is all the magic did to you?"

Staring down at her welted hands which she had bandaged earlier, she bit her lip and lied, "Yes."

"Then why can't I see your face?"

Blushing, the girl shrugged, "Believe me, you do not want to see my face." Standing up quickly, she smiled, "I am going to go get you some food, try to rest."

She walked towards the entrance, but before she could leave, Nereus called, "Wait!" When she paused mid-step and turned back to look at him, he turned red with embarrassment and mumbled, "My-y name is Nereus."

"Nereus?" She grinned, "My name is Seraphina."