Chapter 3

When Christine's eyes fluttered open, the very first thing she saw was the face of the human. Gasping, she bolted into a sitting position and scooted away from him as a first reaction. It was only then that all the events of the previous night floated back to her mind. Her eyes drifted down to her tail, only to see… legs? Legs! Yes, now she remembered!

Her masked stranger had been about to drown when she had come to his rescue. And in order to have completed that rescue, she had to transform to human… which brought her to now.

Thankfully, he had not woken up before her. His side seemed to have healed somewhat overnight, but he still needed medical care.

Grasping a tree for support, Christine raised herself onto her two feet, then let go slowly. Well, she could stand on her own. That was a good thing. As she took a step, she realized that as long as she was close by to some trees, she should be able to make her way to the village without falling too much.

Walking was actually fun. Although her legs still felt weak and as if they would give out from underneath her at any moment, she enjoyed placing one in front of the other and making her way through the woods.

Speaking of which… where was she going? She had no idea whatsoever where to village was, although she did know that her island was huge. She could easily get lost and spend days trying to find her way out! After about ten minutes of wondering aimlessly through the trees, she believed she saw a worn path a little to her left. A smile spread over her lips as she made her way to that path, and then began following it.

All around her were the sounds of the forest, sounds she had never heard before: birds, insects, creatures rolling around in the leaves surrounding her. Not once did she become frightened… instead, all of the things that she had never had the chance to experience fascinated her.

Her excitement was short-lived, however, for she quickly stumbled upon the village. Literally. There was a rusty bucket blocking the entrance of the path to the open space of the village, and Christine's foot got caught on the metal, sending her sprawling to the ground.

"Uhhhhg…" Moaning quietly, she sat herself up, her eyes darting to the throbbing in her foot. There was a cut there, nothing too serious, but more than a scratch. For someone that already could not walk well, a scratch on the foot could not be a good thing.

She had to get the supplies for the human, though, so she pushed down her pain and looked up at the village around her. There were several tiny houses, all handcrafted from wood and mud and lifted off the ground about two feet by bamboo supports. In the center of the circle of homes was a fire pit, and to the back, behind the furthest houses, Christine could see what she assumed had used to be a garden. A garden! She had read about those. Beautiful patches of colorful flowers, as well as fresh vegetables and fruits. The entire thing seemed to be like something out of a book, the more she thought about it. The garden, the fire, the homes… it all seemed so surreal.

Limping towards the fire pit, Christine began making a mental list of what she should look for. Any food, though she doubted there would be any seeing as the place had been deserted for quite some time. Some bandages, perhaps, and maybe some stuff to help build him a shelter?

Nearly an hour later and with full arms, the girl was on her way back to the beach. She had managed to find a hut with plenty of bandages and even some extra clothes. In addition, she had picked up the bucket she had previously tripped over. There had also been some wild fruits growing along the edges of the clearing, which would provide food until she could find more.

Soon enough, she could see the beach again, and she warily peeked out between the trees to see if the human had woken up. Much to her surprise, he was still lying in the same position she had left him. He must have really been tired if he had slept all this time… or perhaps he was just used to sleeping late.

Placing all of her newly acquired things down, the first thing she set out to do was to tend to his bandages. She removed the old shirt she had tied around him last night, then hobbled to the sea to scoop up some sea water with her bucket.

After wiping down his side gently with a cloth soaked in the water, she rewrapped a bandage around him. At one point, he stirred, causing Christine to freeze with fright. His eyes never opened, however, so Christine quickly finished tending to him. Once that was finished, she placed all of the fruits she had picked in the bucket, finally sighing as she realized she had done all she could do.

Her eyes slowly raised to his face, and for the first time, she really looked at him. He had a hard jaw and some stubble that lined his chin and cheeks. To Christine, he seemed very handsome. The men she was always around didn't look anything like him… they're all clean, shaved, and, of course, didn't have legs. Her hand lifted hesitantly, running along the revealed side of his face, feeling the rough skin around his forehead and the stubble down near his chin.

Her hand bumped the mask, and she bit her lip. What was beneath it? Why did he wear it? She felt her fingers slipping underneath it, pulling it up ever so slightly…

No. No, she couldn't do that. He wore it for a reason, and whatever that reason, she didn't want to know. She wanted to remember him in her mind as the man with the mysterious mask. If she removed the mask, that mystery would be gone.

Perhaps she should return to her home. However, when she began to think of turning back to a mermaid, she knew she couldn't put herself through that pain again. Not yet. Her legs still ached from the day before, and she also had that cut on her foot which added to the pain. She would wait a little longer.

A debate was raging in Christine's mind. What would she do when he woke? Would she hide? Would she just sit there and let him see her? Would she speak? Or would she remain silent? She was anxious for him to wake. What would he be like? Was he a cruel, hateful person? For some reason, Christine had a hard time picturing him like that, especially after seeing his large grin during the party on the ship. At the same time, however, he didn't look like someone who was shy and hid his feelings.

Before too long, Christine found herself growing tired of waiting for him to wake, and a song burst forward from her lips. It was a song that held a special place in her heart, the song that her mother used to sing to her when she was a baby and then, as a child. Now, however, with her hand still touching the man's face, it felt like she was singing it to him. Like she was singing it for him.

Surely he must be dead. He faintly remembered the shipwreck, seeing the crew smash into the rocks, and then the dark water enveloping him. And now, he was roused from his sleep by a singing angel. The voice he heard was so pure and so beautiful that it could only belong to one of God's angels. As he shifted his body ever so slightly, though, a small pain shot through him. There was no pain in Heaven, at least, not that he had heard of. So he was… not dead?

He felt something move against his face, something small and warm. Erik knew what it was immediately.

His arm shot up and he gripped the hand that was on his cheek tightly, pulling the person down and rolling on top of them at the same time, trapping them beneath him. What he saw underneath him, however, was not what he had expected.

Beneath him was possibly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Full red lips, large blue eyes, long, wild brown hair that framed her face perfectly. Before he had time to say anything, however, her knee connected with his groin and he groaned loudly, his arms going limp.

She pushed away from him, scrambling to her feet and running about two steps before she fell. He could hear her cry out in desperation and then moving to her feet again, managing to go about five feet away from him before she collapsed again.

Growling and ignoring the pain in his groin, he pushed himself to his feet as well, striding over to her quickly and grabbing her by the arm, pulling her up and pinning her against a nearby tree. He could not just feel, but see her trembling with fear as she turned her head away from him, her eyes shut tight.

Erik once again had the opportunity to let his eyes roam over her. She was barely dressed- two shells covered what looked to be delicious breasts, and a sort of skirt covered her lower half, although it barely covered her thighs, revealing her long, creamy legs to his eyes. In society it was not acceptable for woman to show their ankles… and here was this gorgeous creature, hardly wearing any clothes at all. The very sight of her made his loins stir.

"Please… don't hurt me."

Those four words made Erik's eyes move from her body to her face, and although she was turned away from him, he could see how frightened she was. Honestly, she could not be a threat. She could barely walk without falling over. His side was beginning to ache as well, so he dropped his hands from her arms, stumbling slowly back towards where he had lain before. "Who are you?"

Instead of answering his question, however, she quickly made her way out onto the rocks that stretched from the shore to the sea, and once she was at the end of the rock 'runway,' she dove into the water, disappearing from sight.

With a sigh, Erik sat down and leaned back against a tree, taking in the sight around him for the first time. Out in the sea he could see the floating pieces of wood from his shipwreck, and he could also see the rocks he remembered his crew smashing into. Grimacing, he turned his head away from the sight and looked at the island. Well, he assumed it was an island. And it appeared to be deserted. He'd have to do some exploring sometime soon, to make sure there wasn't anyone else on this piece of land. His eyes landed on a bucket close to him, a bucket filled with all sorts of fruits and berries. A loud growl came from his stomach as he realized just how hungry he was.

But that wasn't all. There were also some clothes nearby, as well as what looked like bandages. Looking down at his shirtless chest, he realized that his midsection was covered with a white bandage. So this girl was not only harmless… she had also helped him. And he had scared her away! Ah well, she had just jumped into the water, she would have to be back sometime soon. When she did come back, he would try not to be so intimidating. Perhaps, after not too long, he could lure her into his arms… She certainly was beautiful, and he could see himself taking her again and again on the warm sand.

How could she have let that happen? She should have stepped away when she felt him stir, she should have run away right then, but she couldn't pull herself away from him. And then, before she knew what had happened, she was pinned beneath him.

She had managed to raise up her leg and hit him somewhere, and it must have worked for her went limp and she had her chance to escape. Of course, with her newly acquired legs, escaping wasn't exactly something she could do very quickly. He had caught up before too long and pinned her against a tree, before letting her go not long after.

Now, she was in the sea, swimming deeper and deeper down into the water. Swimming was somewhat difficult without her tail, but she adjusted to her legs in the water quickly. While she couldn't move as fast as she could with a tail, she could certainly move faster in the water with her legs than she could on land.

As she neared the kingdom, she paused, then swam behind a large rock planted on the sea floor. What if she couldn't do this? What if she was forever stuck as a human? She couldn't let those thoughts pass her mind. So, with a deep breathe, she squeezed her eyes shut and imagined herself with her tail, pictured her legs coming together to form her pretty pink tail again. She felt a great pain in her lower half (though not as painful as it was the first transformation), and when she looked down again, her tail was back in place.

Thank Heavens! A great smile spread across Christine's face and she danced around in the water, swishing and swimming every which way for a while, before she swam back to her kingdom. No one questioned her being gone for a day- it was understood that sometimes merpeople got antsy and had to go exploring on their own. Overall, Christine was ecstatic to be back, but at the same time, she felt her mind drifting towards the masked man on the beach above.

From behind another great rock near to the kingdom, an evil chuckle could be heard. So the king's one and only daughter had turned herself into a human? And for God only knows what? From behind the rock slithered the sea witch of the deep, octopus-like tentacles covering her bottom half, giving her a very intimidating appearance.

Oh, she could have fun with this. There could only be one reason the girl had decided to turn herself into a human. The very same reason Christine's mother had given herself legs, if Carlotta could remember correctly. Like mother like daughter, she supposed, and this series of events could work out perfectly in her favor.

Before too long, the whole kingdom would be hers. It would just take a little patience…

A/N: You didn't think I'd completely forgotten about the sea witch, did you? Don't worry, while she doesn't play the same role as she does in the movie, she will have a big part in this story. Sorry for the long wait!