Ava, the woman who claimed to be Brennan's mother, stood by the sea. Her cries came in sudden sobs, breaking through the silence. She looked at me. She looked desperate and miserable. I felt like I had failed her, though I had done nothing. Then she ran into the sea and disappeared into the foaming waves. I stood, shocked.

I started awake with something like gasp. My breath was coming in quick rasps.

"Are you alright?" Brennan asked, awake beside.

I breathed deeply, to slow down my pounding heart. "I'm fine," I said.

As soon as I heard his breathing become even, I stood up and walked away from where we were sleeping. I walked to the hills, but they provided no comfort. I felt so alone. I didn't want to go back to sleep for fear of dreams. Not that they were nightmares, but they troubled me just as much. I did not understand, and I didn't like it. It seemed that there was something I should have been doing, but I knew not what.

This dream had upset me more than the others. It had appeared that Ava had drowned herself, though I hoped desperately that it was not true. And the way she had looked at me, like I could have done something to prevent it.

I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself. I could hear the gentle lapping of the sea, even from where I stood far inland. I walked to the shore and down a far length of the island. Soon came dawn and the sun brightened the world through the clouds.

I did not think of going back to Brennan. It wasn't that I was avoiding him, I just wanted to be alone. I was sure he would understand and hoped he would not worry.

I stood looking out at the sea. Before it had been grey, but today it shone out a bright blue. I stared out the horizon, that beautiful and unreachable place. I wondered what it would be like if you could find the horizon, where the sky met the water, both living in perfect harmony with one another.

After a time, I started to walk back towards where Brennan would be. When I got close, I stopped to look at the sea once more. I loved it. It filled me with such a calm feeling. It was like home. I wanted it so bad. I wanted to be in it, forever. To feel the cool waves wash over me, to be a part of it. As strange as it seemed, I almost felt ready to throw myself into it, much the same as Ava had. I loved the sea so much it hurt.

I start to slowly walk into the water, relishing the feeling of the waves washing the sand out from beneath my feet. But when I saw my skin begin to transform again, I pulled myself away and back to shore.

I swallowed. "I just want to know what's happening to me!" I shouted out to the sea.

There was no answer, but the eddying waves and the cry of seagulls. With a sigh, I kept walking. From a few hundred feet away, I could see Brennan carrying wood from the inland to the beach. To start a fire for signaling a ship, like we had tried to do earlier. I watched him, and finally walked over to him, to make sure he didn't think I'd walked into the sea and drowned myself like I nearly did the night of the storm.

He looked glad to see me. "Where have you been? I was a little worried, but I thought I would have woken up if you did anything—drastic.

"I just took a walk around the island."

He nodded. "Are you alright? When you woke up last night, you sounded very—frightened."

"I was—a little. But I'm ok now. I think I'll walk a bit more."

He nodded his approval. "I'll just keep finding dry wood."

I walked on the beach, to where some big, black boulders were sticking out of the water. I waded a little, to where I could get up on one of them. From there I jumped from one to another until I got to the farthest one out at sea.

I watched the sea, occasionally spotting small fish come up close to the surface. I smiled. I wondered about what was going on—why I had such strange dreams and why I seemed to turn into a water nymph when I went into the water.

I suddenly saw something in the water, and it was definitely not a fish. A girl—a water nymph to be exact—came up to the surface and pulled herself onto the rock next to me. She stared at me with her bright blue eyes, and I observed the slippery, transparent look of her skin. Exactly how Brennan had described me looking.

She looked like she was going to faint, when she grabbed her necklace, which was a large conch shell. She held it up by her nose and breathed deeply. She looked much revived.

"Darya," she finally said in a strange voice. It was musical, in a way, though it was hardly above a whisper.

The strange fact that she knew my name hardly even registered. I was entranced by her. She was beautiful and I felt a strange link to her.

"Darya," she said yet again, then she took another breath of her conch shell.

"Yes?" I asked.

"I am Nadia."

I nodded slightly.

She looked as if it was taking a great effort to speak to me. "Recently you have nearly thrown yourself to the sea," she said.

"I know, I know, I just don't know what's happening to me anymore, I—"

"You cannot do that," she said softly, yet forcibly.

"I—why?"

She took a deep breath from the conch shell again, as though it were a sweet-smelling flower, but I got the idea that it was what was keeping her alive above the surface.

"It is an age old story, the curse of the water nymphs. You must break the curse, Darya, for all of us."

"Well, what is the curse?"

"Tis a long story."

"I have time."

She pursed her lips slightly. "Very well," she said.

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Was last chapter like bad or something? I only got one review. I guess I've only had it up for one day though, so I shouldn't be so concerned. Anyway, the next chapter is the end of the story! If I get some reviews I'll put it up quicker, like maybe tomorrow, but if not I'll wait until Monday or Tuesday.