Arista was late.

She was never late, but when she woke up to find that she was running behind for her band practice, it was like someone had pressed a fast-forward button. As Arista zoomed around her underwater castle collecting her music sheets and instruments, it was times like these that she was glad that her sister, Ariel, had modified her music case. Allowing Arista to strap it across her back, giving her more room to swim. As soon as Arista had gathered her things, she quickly said goodbye to her five sisters and left the castle.

Arista was almost at her school, where her band practices, when one of the patrol dolphins stopped her. "Hey!-", Arista said annoyed,"- What is the meaning of this?!"

"Apologies princess, but a human has been spotted just a few yards away from our borders.", The dolphin says telepathically

"A human? That's impossible. They can't swim down this deep.", Arista replies confused

"The human seems to be unconscious and barely alive."

Arista then understood the urgency of the situation. "They're dying!? Why didn't you tell me sooner!"

Arista turns abruptly and rapidly moves through the water, with the patrol dolphin not far behind. As soon as Arista reaches the border she sees a blonde female floating aimlessly in the ocean and swims toward her. Arista gently grabs the human and searches for a pulse. The princess is relieved when she discovers a slight beating in the blonde's chest, but knows that the human could die very soon.

Arista frantically searches for a way to save the blonde. She could swim her back to the surface, but that would take too long. Arista then recalls her father telling her of a power that only the royal bloodline possessed. Arista never had to use her power before, but this was an urgent matter. So without further hesitation, Arista began to sing a soft tune.

Suddenly golden light began to swirl around the human, encircling her legs. Arista looked to the blonde and noticed her skin return to a normal color and that her breathing had become even. She sighed in relief and ordered the patrol dolphin to take them back to the castle.

It looked like Arista would miss band practice after all.

Emma's POV

The first thing I registered was the pounding in my head. I groaned as I tried to sit up, but then a pair of small hands pushed me back down.

"Don't get up", the voice said," You need to rest."

Since I was so tired I just laid back down obediently," M'kay Gina", I mumbled not knowing what I was saying

Xxxxx

"I can't believe you turned her into a mermaid."

"What is father going to say?"

"Shh! She's waking up!"

I slowly open my eyes to find myself surrounded by a bunch of girls. One of them, with a red crown and sand-colored hair spoke first.

"Hello."

"Ugh, where am I?", I ask groggily

"Atlantis", She smiled

I snapped my head up, did she just say 'Atlantis'? I must've hit my head really hard. I then sat up to get a better view of the small crowd that was staring at me, but when I took the blanket off, I realized I didn't have feet anymore.

"HOLY SHIT!", I yelled causing the girls to move back. I then saw that all of them had tails, or fins, or whatever you call them. "What is going on here?!", I demanded

The girl with the sand-colored hair moved forward," One of he patrol dolphins saw you near the border, you were near death, so I turned you into a mermaid to save you."

"Mermaid?", I repeated shocked at what I was hearing," The kind that lives underwater?"

"Yes, that's the one!", the girl smiled as if nothing was wrong

I then touched the side of my stomach and felt something weird, something that was definitely not there before. "Do I have gills?", I ask quietly afraid of the answer. "Of course you have gills!", another girl answered or is it mergirl?," -how else would you be able to breath?" she said annoyed.

"Attina! There is no need to be so rude, she is just adjusting.", the girl scolded

" Apologies, but what will father say when he sees her?"

I began to grow tired of them talking as if I wasn't there so I decided to get some real answers," Sorry to interrupt, but who are you people?"

"Oh, how rude of me. I'm am Arista. These are my sisters Attina, Alana, Adella, Aquata,and Andrina. We are the princesses of Atlantis."

Each of the princesses smiled kindly and waved at me. I awkwardly waved back. " How did I end up here?", I ask Arista. She motions for her sisters to leave before answering.

" Well, like I said, one of the patrol dolphins found you near the border. You were unconscious and barely had a pulse. I turned you into a mermaid so that you wouldn't die and then brought you to our castle."

"How long have I been out?"

"About two days. ", Arista answers

"Two days?!", I shout," I have to get back! I have to help find Henry and-"

"Calm down, you can go back to your family a soon as you fully recover.", Arista said in an attempt to pacify me, but I had to get back now. I couldn't wait any longer, they probably already think I'm dead.

" What do you mean fully recover? I feel fine", I say as try to walk, or swim, to the nearest exit, but the sudden pounding in my head (and the fact I don't know how to swim with a fin/tail) caused me to stumble into the arms of Arista.

"See?", She tells me," You barely know how to swim, let alone go back to the surface."

" Fine.", I huff after Arista helps me back onto the bed," How long 'till I can leave?", I ask anxious to get back to Regina...and my family.

"Should take a week more or less, depending how fast you can recover and learn to swim.", Arista replies.

I groan.

"By the way, you never gave me your name."

"It's Emma.", I answer bitterly

"Well Emma, it's going to be a long week."

A/N: Hope you like the chapter 3