A/N Sorry this chapter took so long to update. I was going to wait until I had a new chapter for my other stories to go with it, but I figured you readers deserved it by now. Thank you so much to the reviewers of my last chapter: PandaPuppet, liveonpurpose, and even charlotte bird! Your reviews made my day when I read them! Even if some were just asking for more :P. I am so glad that some people do care enough to tell me their opinions and comment on my work. :D

Chapter 3: My Island Kingdom

Emma's P.O.V.

His stark bluntness stunned me to silence for a few minutes, but he kept silent the whole time, patiently waiting for my response.

"H-how do you know that?" I eventually replied.

"You have the royal birthmark on your neck," he said, "It's been so long, I wouldn't recognize you otherwise.

"What? I don't have a birthmark on my neck," I said touching my neck, as if I could feel it.

"Yes, in fact, you do," he said smiling smugly, "It's an intricate silver crown that sparkles in the sunlight."

"Wouldn't I or someone else have noticed it by now if it was there?" I asked doubtfully.

"Oh, it appears as a mark of seventeen years since your initiation into the Sirenthian society as royalty. The initiation ceremony itself is a great celebration for the whole kingdom, believe me," He said smiling, "I believe today would be the seventeenth years since yours. If you were home today there would be an equally glorious celebration for your people since your birthmark now marks you as royalty." That was probably that weird tingling feeling this morning …

"Fine, I'll take that as an answer," I said to him, I would be checking out this birthmark later, "But how can you prove the rest of it?"

"I thought you might ask," he said opening his suitcase then handing me a bundle of papers from it, "Here is some legal forms that prove my story."

I flipped through the papers. There was one that declared him the head guard and a paper with a picture of him giving his name, age, birth date, initiation date, parents names, and other information. There was also a world map with the small, otherwise invisible dot that represented the island of Sirenthia, circled in red, and there was even picture of a castle with the caption "Vanderville Palace." There was even my birth certificate plus much other evidence of his story, but I was still skeptical.

"You really seem to know a lot about me," I said suspiciously.

"Yes princess, I knew you when you were very young," he replied.

"Just call me Emma," I said, it felt weird to be called a princess.

"Fine … Emma … Kind of a strange name don't you think?" He said thinking, now that really irritated me.

"It's the name I grew up with," I said glaring at him, "Care to explain why?"

"Oh yes, my bad," He was suddenly getting more serious and dark, "First I must ask you, how much do you remember from your … um ... early years?"

"Nothing, I had amnesia when I was found and haven't remembered a thing since," I said sadly; I was still not sure if the vision I saw when I was passed out was a memory.

"Okay go- I mean … uh … that's terrible," he said suspiciously, "good thing I'm here to help."

"Yeah, sure," I replied.

"Anyway, since you don't remember, I must inform you of something about your parents that could help you make the right choice," he said, though I don't know what choice I was supposed to be making, "but you may not like it."

"Fine, just tell me," I said impatiently.

"Your parents are the reason you ended up alone on Mako Island. They never treated you right, never loved you like they should have. Sure they put on a show around other people, but behind the scenes they would beat you, yell at you, they never once listened to you, and anything you did was wrong. One night you just disappeared. No one knows exactly what happened, they figured you had either run away or been kidnapped. You were looked for, but never turned up. It was suspected you had somehow left the island but eventually they just gave up, presuming you were dead," he said this all with little to no expression. I felt like I was going to cry, but I also felt like that would just be showing weakness to him. So I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and counted to ten. When I felt surer I could keep myself together I turned my attention back to him.

"You worked for them, why do you care what happened to me?" I asked.

"I had no idea what was happening to you, I swear. I trusted that the king and queen were good people; the idea didn't even cross my mind. But one night not long before you disappeared I found you curled up and crying in the castle basement. First I was shocked, then I took a picture to use as evidence against them, and then I gave you a treat to cheer you up," he said handing over a photo of a girl, no older than three, who looked in pain and was or had been crying. He waited a bit, and I just stayed quiet, not trusting my own voice, "They found me in the basement and banished me from the kingdom before I could say anything. I have been searching for you ever since."

"Why?" I asked.

"At first I wanted to find you so you could take your place as heir, but since it has been so long I have formed a different proposal," he said, his smile returning, "I propose you hand over the island to me."

"What?" I asked, not sure if I heard him right. Why would I hand over the island I hardly know about to a strange man I hardly know?

"Wait now, hear me out," he said putting his hands up in defense, "I assume you have a pretty good life here by now. Adopted family, good friends, the works; do you really want to leave them to go live on some island and meet the parents who hate you? Live a life where there is no rest, where everyone is expecting you to be perfect and solve all the problems of a society and culture you don't even know? Plus, you can't take over officially until you are twenty-one. You think your parents are going to let you influence their current decisions, and after do you think they will just let you be? No, I'd bet anything that if you took the throne, you would become their puppet, they would manipulate you and, if you rebel, humiliate you. You sign over the throne to me, I have all the documents with me now, and I will make sure your parents get the punishment they deserve. I could even keep you updated if you wished, or you could put this whole thing behind you and go back to living your simple, normal life."

I didn't say anything – it was too much to take in – I didn't know what to think. My life now was anything but simple and normal now, but certainly it would be worse trying to run a kingdom. He waited a good five minutes to let his words sink in. Then he took some papers out of his briefcase.

"Just sign here and you can put this whole mess behind you," He finished turning one piece of paper over to face me and handing me a pen that read 'Sirenthia' and was a pearly white.

I'm not going to lie, I really did almost sign those papers; it seemed like an easy way out of this highly uncomfortable situation. Sign the papers and the whole mess just goes away. But I just couldn't, something felt wrong about it. I had no idea what he would do to my real parents or if they would even really deserve it. How could I trust those who are supposedly my people to a man who I hardly know?

"I can't," I said exasperated, pushing the papers back towards him.

"Why not?" He said with a hint of anger.

"I simply don't know enough about any of this to make an educated decision," I said.

"What else do you need to know?" He asked, "Isn't it obvious this is the best decision."

"I can't make such an important decision like this right away," I replied defiantly, "I need more time to think things through."

"Fine," he said rubbing his chin in irritation, "I'll give you three days. Then meet me here at this same time with your decision."

"Fine," I said getting up, he stuffed his papers in his briefcase, muttering under his breath, and then followed suit.

"Well, we shall meet again princess," he said bowing, causing me to sarcastically roll my eyes. He then left the Juicenet Café. IT was about 7:50, ten minutes before opening. I found Ash wiping a table not too far away, obviously eavesdropping, but he looked kind of baffled or confused. I could relate.

"So you heard all of that huh? It is really crazy," I said walking up to him.

"I had no idea what you were talking about," Ash said, "I understood none of that."

"Yeah, I had trouble understanding some of what he was saying too, it's unbelievable." I replied.

"Emma," he said looking at me incredulously, "you weren't even speaking English…"

A/N Sorry it is short, but there is a lot of information in this chapter and I think it ended pretty well. :) Please review and tell me what you think about the chapter, about the story so far, or even what you think will happen in the future of this story! I want to know! :D