Turning into a mermaid was bliss. I hadn't relaxed for almost an entire day straight, except when I fell asleep, but that was more from pure exhaustion, so it didn't really count.

I was finally forced to truly relax. Just let go of all that anxiety, flow like the river, swell like the ocean. You are free. Free from worry. Free from anxiety. Free from fear.

And for a moment, the freedom was beautiful. But immediately after I transformed, everything came rushing back, hitting me full force in the center of my soul. I felt like throwing up.

"Sierra, look at your clip," Sophie said in subdued excitement.

I reached up and touched my butterfly clip. It had turned sleek and almost plastic-like. Perfect for going underwater. I grinned in spite of myself.

I touched the necklace at my neck. It was a simple four-pointed start within a circle. Abigail had given it to me before she parted. "It's so you can communicate with me too," she had whispered.

Then she had flown away on a broomstick ("because even a sorceress deserves to be a little dramatic").

I missed her. True, I had only known her for a few hours, but she seemed like a true kindred spirit. And now she was gone, and we were alone once more.

"Hey Sierra, don't you think we should send them a message now?" Audrey asked. "Just so they know what we're doing."

I nodded. "Yeah that's a great idea." I propped myself up on the island and unclipped the butterfly, which converted back into its original form.
Audrey and Sophie swam up next to me. I nodded to Audrey, and she took the blush container out of her...pocket? I wasn't sure where she got it actually.
I placed the blush packet on top of the butterfly. They both began to glow. I cleared my throat. "Send this message to Tess Varela," I said as clearly as I could.

The blush container lifted into the air, spun once, and then settled on the ground. The butterfly's wings flapped once, and then went still. A blue sphere floated up out of its back.

I waited, but nothing happened.
Audrey nudged me. "I think this is where you say stuff," she whispered.
I nodded. "Um, hi Tess, this is Sierra. As you probably know at this point, we happened to escape the dome, and are now traveling. We met a friendly sorceress who enchanted this butterfly for me. And, uh, we happened to have something of yours, so we could send it to you."

"I took your blush thingie," Audrey butted in. "Ha!"

I gave her a warning look and continued. "You don't need anything of mine to send a message back, it automatically returns to me."

I took a breath. "Ok, now for the important part. Tell Mrs. Simone that we..." I hesitated. I took a deep breath. "We're going to try and stop Giselle."

There was silence. Now that we were sending this message, there was no turning back.

"Tell her not to worry..." -even though she probably should- "...and, uh, respond as soon as possible. Bye."

We waited for a moment. The butterfly seemed to sense that we were done. The light sank back into the clip. It's wings glowed with new vivacity. Then the butterfly flapped its wings and fluttered into the air.
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We swam for what seemed like ages. There's something beautiful about being completely surrounded by water. It's safety, almost. The world loses its sharp edges, and everything blends together. Everything you see merges with everything you feel, surrounding you with peace. And you hear nothing but the rushing of the water in your ears. All of the tension in my chest fell away and mingled with the endless complexity yet simplicity of the ocean.

After a while, Audrey signaled to me that we should surface. Reluctantly, I nodded. Flicking my tail down, I shot towards the light of the surface.

The open air was colder than I expected. A slight wind blew, making the hairs on my arm stand. I shivered. I wanted nothing more than to plunge back into the warmth and comfort of the water, but I resisted.

"Why did you want to surface Audrey?" I asked, wringing out my hair.

"Look," Audrey said, pointing. My eyes followed her finger.

There was a tree.

Like, a legitimate magnolia tree, just floating in the ocean.

"What the..." I gaped.

"Maybe it's...growing on a really small island?" Sophie tried hesitantly.

Audrey shook her head. "That's why I found it weird. There's nothing beneath it, just roots spreading out."

"That is just...bizarre," I muttered.

"You're telling me," Audrey snorted. "Should we check it out? I don't know."

"Yeah, sure." Something about the tree called to me, in a mysterious, intriguing way.

We dove back under the water and swam the few yards to the tree. We surfaced next to the furthest root.
I touched the root in front of me. It seemed normal enough. I looked at Sophie. She shrugged. Audrey looked like she was contemplating burning it, but didn't know if it would be worth the trouble.

And then the freakiest thing happened.

"WHAT THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, STOP TOUCHING MY FEET!" the tree screamed.

Yeah. The tree screamed.

I shot backwards into the water, and only mermaid instincts or whatever kept me from falling under. Sophie dove underwater quicker than a sparrow.

Audrey...sigh.

Audrey not only shot into the air, but flipped, transformed back into human, landed on one of the larger tree roots, transformed into warrior and held a sword up against the tree's trunk.

"Whoa, ok man calm down, what did I ever do to you, eh?"

Sophie surfaced next to me. "Why is the tree talking?" she whispered. "And why...why is Audrey holding it hostage?"

"Because she's impulsive, that's why," I muttered. "And I have no idea why or how it's talking." I cleared my throat. "Um, hello tree! We were passing through and, ah, didn't expect to see...anything...quite like you. I'm terribly sorry for my friend's behavior, she tends to act on her instincts. I'm sure," I said raising my voice meaningfully, "that she'll transform into a less threatening form."

"Yeah that would be nice. And get off my leg, that hurts."

Audrey stood from her crouched position. "Do you promise you mean us no harm?"

"Uh, yeah! Did I threaten you? I don't recall threatening you. I DO recall, however, some other people acting very threatening to me!"

Audrey sighed, but took a deep breath and transformed back into human. She stayed sitting on the root.

"Did I not just ask you to get off my leg? I'm pretty sure I JUST asked you that."

"No, you ordered," Audrey grumbled. "I'll get off once you get in my good side."

"Fine then, I suppose I'll come out," the tree sighed.

Come out?

Suddenly, a part of the trunk seemed to inflate, a bulb about the side of a basketball. Then the bark seemed to turn elastic, as if something was pushing out of the tree. Something humanoid...

Then a GIRL emerged.

She stepped out of the tree as easily as one might step off a curb. She had shocking white hair the color of the flowers on the tree, that fell in curly ringlets to her shoulders. Her skin was the same color as the brown wood of the tree. She wore a green dress.

"Hi," she said casually, leaning against the trunk. "My name is Magnolia. I'm a dryad. It's nice to meet you."

There was silence, except for the sound of waves lapping against the tree roots.

"Why are you in the middle of the ocean?" Audrey blurted out.

Magnolia sighed. "That wasn't very polite now was it? The only reason I came out at all is because I saw YOU transform," she said with a pointed look at Audrey. "Meaning you're a myth. Meaning you couldn't be working for Giselle." She said the name like it was dirt on her tongue.

"Oh...so you don't like Giselle?" I asked hopefully. Maybe this girl--um, tree--was on our side.

Magnolia snorted. "Like her? I ran away from her!" Her eyes narrowed. "I used to be a tree on her island. She wanted every single type of tree in her little paradise," she said bitterly. "Well, I had had enough. I ran away."

"I'm confused...you moved your tree?" Audrey said blankly.

Magnolia looked at her weirdly. "No...I took the tree within me and ran..."

"Oh," Audrey said. "Naturally."

Magnolia sighed again. "If not for my neried friends, I wouldn't be alive right now. But they bring me food, and protect me when one of Giselle's minions comes after me."

"Her...minions?" Sophie whispered.

I looked over. The poor thing looked terrified.

"Giselle has an army of tormentors," Magnolia said shuddering. "Creepy little things."

"What the heck are those?" Audrey asked.

Then Magnolia looked at something behind me and screamed.
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Look how cool I am, updating early right after I apologized for how late I'm going to be for the next month!

~Paint_splatt