Chapter 10: A Nightmare in Disguise

Meanwhile in the sea witch's lair, Jasper was gazing through the magic, viewing bubble as Lapis slept. Maybe it was just his imagination, but he thought the young girl looked even more beauteous and innocent when she was asleep.

"Perhaps this is a great opportunity to lure the princess into my dwelling." he said evilly to himself.

"Oh, ladies." the male sea witch called. From the shadows, three feminine silhouettes that looked like mermaids appeared before him.

"What is your will, master Jasper?" one of them asked, bowing.

"I need your help to capture a mermaid named Lapis Lazuli." Jasper explained, showing the trio an image of what Lapis looked like. "She is a princess and the mermaid I want to be my bride."

The three mermaid-like creatures' eyes glinted wickedly. "To help you in your endeavor to capture young Lapis, I will be using this." the sea witch's son continued.

Jasper put a hand behind his back and presented a cloudy bottle to the three feminine silhouettes.

"This potion will not only guide the princess into a deeper sleep, but will tease her mind into thinking she's having a sweet dream." he told the trio of evil creatures. "Once I release the potion, I want you three to sing one of your hypnotic songs that will draw the child into the ocean and towards a whirlpool from which she'll have no means of escaping."

"How clever, your Evilness." one of the other monsters hissed.

"Yes." Jasper said, proudly. "Now go my sirens, find the mermaid princess and bring her to me. The sooner she is in my clutches, the sooner I can begin my oceanwide conquest."

"It shall be done." the three mermaid-like monsters responded in unison before swimming off.

No sooner were the sirens gone that Jasper pulled the cork from the potion bottle and the sirens began singing their haunting accord. A sinister green haze flowed from the bottle and mixed with the sound of the sirens' calmative melody. The vapor and the alluring song of the sirens traveled their way above the water and into the sleeping girl's tent. The wicked concoction flowed through Lapis's ear and seeped into her brain; putting her into an even deeper sleep.

"Lapis." a wicked voice whispered to her. "You must come back to the water. You have to come home."

Then, her eyes opened up half-lidded, but she wasn't awake. Her eye color changed from a beautiful ocean blue to a glowing toxic green. After that, she crawled out of bed and out the tent, leaving her locket and Jamie behind, saying in a sleepy monotone, "Goootta get to occcean."

Hearing her voice, Jamie instantly awoke, "Lapis?" That was when he noticed that her side of the mattress was empty, but her locket was still there. He picked up and said to himself, "She would never leave without this."

Jamie peeked out the tent opening and saw Lapis walking awkwardly towards the ocean.

"Lapis." he whisper shouted to her. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"Neeeed to gooooo baaack to wwwwater." the blue girl mumbled in response.

"That's right." whispered Jasper, schemingly as he watched Lapis through his viewing bubble. "Come to me, my little princess puppet. Come back to the water."

In Lapis's "dream," it was a sunny day and in the crystal blue waters; a group of giggly mermaids were waving their arms and ushering her into to come into the ocean.

"Come on in, Lapis." one of the mermaids said in a bubbly tone. "The water is fine."

"Don't you wanna join us for a swim?" asked another mermaid in an equally peppy tone.

Lapis giggled playfully and said, "Here I come!"

Back in reality, as Lapis began wading in the water; Jamie looked out and saw three mermaid-like girls creating a whirlpool. They had pasty skin, shark-like tails, fins on the sides of their heads, webbed hands, and slits on their necks that resembled gills. One had straw-colored hair in a perm, one had ash-colored hair in two side buns along with an eyepatch made out of seaweed that covered one of her eyes, and one had powder blue hair that almost covered her eyes.

Jamie looked over to the other tents and then to the rocks and knew that everyone was still fast asleep and that there would be no time to wake them up. He instantly knew that he was going to have to rescue his girlfriend himself.

As soon as Lapis was deep enough in the water, she started to float towards the whirlpool since she wasn't conscious enough to swim. Fortunately for her, Jamie wasn't too far behind and had started swimming after her. Just in the nick of time, he snatched his girlfriend's arm and started to pull her back, much to the sirens' chagrin.

Meanwhile, Lapis's dream suddenly became a nightmare when Jasper jumped out of the water and grabbed the young mermaid's arm. She screamed in pure terror.

"The mermaids can't protect you forever, little girl." the monsterous sea witch proclaimed, wickedly. "There's no where to hide where I can't find you. You are meant to be mine and mine alone. Soon, you will belong to me forever and you will never see another loved one ever again!"

"No!" Lapis cried as she felt herself being dragged away. "No! No! NOOOOOOO!"

"Wake up, Lapis!" Jamie said, loudly; holding the young girl tight. Lapis blinked back into reality, her eye color returned to normal, and she started thrashing in the water yelling, "What am I doing out here?"

"You were about to float unconsciously right into a whirlpool." the teenage boy explained. "You were under some kind of trance."

Lapis was in shock. She didn't remember anything after falling asleep. But, the nightmare she had sure burned into her memory and she started to tear up.

"Jamie!" she started sobbing and hiccupping as she hugged her boyfriend and buried her face in his shoulder. "I had a nightmare about a monster named Jasper! He's out to get me!"

"Lapis, shhhh." Jamie said, soothingly as he rubbed the blue girl's back. "It's okay. It's okay. It was just a bad dream."

As the two of them swam back to shore, Lapis yelled as she felt herself being forcibly dragged down underwater by her legs. Jamie immediately dove underwater and saw that the three sirens were still trying to take her away. Quickly, he took a hold Lapis's arm pulled her away from the wicked creatures and back up to the surface.

"Come on, let's get to shallow water." said the teenage boy, carrying his girlfriend in a bridal style back to the camp.

Back on the shore, he and Lapis changed into dry pajamas and tried to go back to sleep. However, the poor girl was too chilled to the bone from the cold air and water to fall asleep, even with her locket playing it's lullaby. Jamie took notice and got an idea. He wrapped Lapis in a cocoon of extra blankets and held her close to him as he threw a blanket over himself.

Lapis didn't know what was more calming: her music box playing, the cocoon of blankets, the warmth and heartbeat of her boyfriend's body, or the way he ran his fingers through her hair. But whatever the reason, she found herself relaxed enough to fall asleep again.

Meanwhile, Jamie felt concerned about this Jasper character Lapis mentioned. She really seemed freaked out about him, almost as if she believed he was real and maybe he was. He looked down at his sleeping girlfriend and realized how close he was to losing her. This time, he was not going to let her be in harm's way like that again.