"I can't find her," Eric yelled as he resurfaced.

"Look harder" Bernard yelled back but both knew that it was useless. Eric refused to believe she was gone and dove under again. Bernard longed to dive in and do anything he could to help but Eric had given him strict instructions to watch the ship and alert him if she resurfaced. Never feeling more useless he scanned the sea again and again but there was still no sign. All the while he waited on edge. Valida had disappeared directly after sending Ariana to her watery grave. Bernard could not help thinking that she would return. Surely death would be expected for the two of them. Sorceress didn't strike him as the type to only kill one of the group who had humiliated her. He also had a feeling that leaving Eric alive after Ariana's death would prove far more cruel.

Eventually Bernard had to intervene. He could see Eric growing exhausted with no intention of stopping. "Maybe she got washed back to shore. If you did it, anyone can" he yelled with no real belief. Eric was ready to grasp onto the slightest ray of hope and quickly climbed back aboard.

Neither man who remember a boat moving so slowly. Both couldn't find it in themselves to speak and silently watched the surface, praying that she would appear.

She never did.

Hope returned when they saw a small crowd of people gathered around the shore. Eric was practically leaping from the ship when he saw a flash of silver. Pushing people out of the way he dropped down to hold her.

"She has a heartbeat," he yelled to Bernard who was also racing over.

They tried everything to wake her up. Finally, gradually and slowly, her eyes opened. She looked confused and disorientated but she smiled at Eric. The moment was brought to a halt as she could coughed up an impressive amount of water.

She searched through her memories, trying to piece how she got there. The flash of silver before she passed out must have been the answer. "Thank you Florence" she murmured and wished desperately that he was there. She had never wished harder for the return of her tail. That feeling of drowning was terrifying, not to mention the embarrassment of being the first mermaid to drown.

Her conclusion was that Valida must have possessed great powers. Legs or no, Ariana was still a mermaid and this meant that she had the power to breath under or above the surface. The pendant around her neck seemed to be the source. But it's glow was faint as she crashed into the depths and dulled into nothingness. Stronger magic had blocked her breath as it was replaced with an agonising burn all over her throat.

There had been slight peace as the burning faded. Thinking back, it horrified her how that must have been the feeling of death.

These thoughts disappeared when she looked at Eric again, and felt safe. Again she was simply confused.

The one good thing about drowning was being saturated afterward and she took advantage by kissing him. For this moment she was blissfully happy. Then the cold began to set in and she was shivering uncontrollably. Bernard ushered the crowd back as Eric picked her up and carried her away. Her exhaustion fro drowning made her eyes heavy but she fought to stay awake. Anything to remember this moment of simply being with him.

She knew that when she awoke, planning would have to begin again to destroy him.

Her last thought was how much simpler life was with a tail.

Then sleep consumed her.