Isabella giggled as she climbed out of the window using a rope which was a bit difficult wearing a ballgown. She wondered how Max liked her little surprise she did feel bad about pranking him but she could already hear him and Olivia talking. 'Wait why is he with Olivia' she thought involuntarily. Then her feet touched the ground and she brushed the thought from her mind. It was time for her escape.

As Isabella walked through the gardens she thought about how she would actually leave the castle. Clearly, she hadn't thought this plan out properly. She then saw the carriages dropping their masters off at the palace doors. Looks like she found her ticket out of the palace.

As one of the carriages turned around Isabella ran up to it grabbed the handle of the door opened it slightly and slipped inside.' Looks like my secret nighttime training in the guards gym worked out' she thought.

The carriage drove on for a long time before it came to a stop at the palace gates. 'Oh no, oh no, oh no' Isabella thought when she heard voices outside.

"Can I please search your carriage" she heard a man ask and peaked out the carriage window to see a guard talking to the carriage driver.

"For what reason?" the driver asked angrily.

"The queen has told us that the princess was not in her room and that she might try and leave the palace," the guard said.

"Well I can assure you that I am not carrying any runaway princess's with me on my carriage," the driver said.

"Well then it won't be much of a problem if I search hour carriage," the guard said and Isabella saw the door handle turn.

Isabella quickly lied down flat on the floor and rolled under the couch thingy that she had previously been sitting on. She then brought her knees up to her chest and watched as the man stepped into the carriage.

Then she saw the man starting to bend down like he was going to look under the couch where she was lying.' I'm gonna go back to the palace and I haven't even left yet' Isabella thought dejectedly but then...

"Julius, could you come back here? The Queen has sent another message" a ladies came.

The guard quickly stood up "OK coming" he said exiting the carriage and closing the door softly behind him.

Isabella sighed in relief 'That was close' she thought ' too close' for a long time Isabella stayed hidden under the couch. And finally, when she thought they were far enough from the castle did she come out.

Isabella slowly opened the door so that it was just big enough for her to fit through. she then waited till they came to a tree and silently slipped out and jumped behind the tree.

She then heard the carriage door crash to the side and saw the carriage coming to an abrupt halt. The driver then got off to close the door while muttering some pretty rude words. He then got back onto his seat and carried on driving away.

Looking around to make sure no one was around Isabella came out from behind the tree and turned to face the other direction.

"W-wowww," Isabella said her eyes wide at the beauty in front of her. They're just more than a few metres away was the was the glittering turquoise blue ocean with its pearly white sand layer out before it.

As Isabella came closer to the ocean she saw a girl swimming through the waves and coming to ready at the shoreline of the sea.

Suddenly Isabella was at the beach so she took off her high heels and stepped onto the sand and instantly giggled at the ticklish and squishy feeling of the sand going through her toes.

She then happily skipped down to where the girl was sitting with the waves lapping lightly up to her waist. But as Isabella got closer she saw that the girl was not a regular girl. She was actually a mermaid.

From the back, Isabella could see that this mermaid was really pretty. She and light brown hair with an ice blue streak going through it. She then had a silver purple and blue tail which glistened as the sun hit it. And she also had a light purple top. The front part of the top came to the beginning of her tail and then it turned to a see-through light blue skirt that flared out behind her.

Suddenly as Isabella was about to call out to the mermaid. Her tail disappeared and became legs. "Uh...what?" Isabella said and only once the words came out of her mouth had she realised she said it out loud.

The girl whipped her head in Isabella's direction pure terror showing in her aquamarine eyes. "I...uh..." she looked at a loss for words and frantically looked around.

Isabella awkwardly stood there looking at the girl. The girl suddenly snapped out of her frenzy and looked curiously at Isabella. "Why haven't you gone to tell the whole world that you saw a mermaid turn into a human?" The girl asked fiddling with the skirt part of her dress.

"Uh... I wasn't sure if that was something normal for all mermaids " Isabella said with a shrug. "But don't worry I won't tell anyone" Isabella added lifting her dress up a little and sitting down on the sand.

"Thank you," the girl said with a smile.

" So what's your name?" Isabella asked curious about this mysterious mermaid who could turn into a human.

The girl flicked her now dry hair over her shoulder " My name is Crystal " she said. "And yours is?"

"Uhh..." Isabella didn't expect this and she wasn't sure if she could trust the girl. But on seeing the girls soft smile she just felt like she would trust her. "Its Isabella," she said smiling back.

" Can I ask you something? " Isabella questioned.

"Yeah sure. What?" Crystal asked.

"I don't leave my house allot and don't really know much about mermaids. But in pretty sure their tails aren't supposed to change to legs. So how did yours?" Isabella asked softly.

" It's a long story and I'll have to start from the beginning. Do you have time?" Crystal asked focusing her eyes on the waves lapping the sand.

" Yes, I do" Isabella answered.

Crystal took a deep breath " Okay first promise me that no matter what I tell you. You cannot and will not judge me." She said.

" Promise " Isabella said looking sincere.

"OK so... I'm the Mermaid princess. And unlike regular princesses I've never left the palace until today and the in my reason that even happened was because I finally got the courage to sneak out. I also get super annoyed at my mother for this reason " Crystal said rolling her eyes. "Also one of my dreams is to explore the world and there's no way you can really do that underwater. So I snuck into this super guarded room where they keep all magical objects. And I stole this magic pearl " she said holding up the pearl that was resting around her neck. " And this is the only thing in the entire world that can turn mermaid to human and vice versa" she finished.

"Woah that's really cool," Isabella said looking at the pearl with fascination.

"Please don't try and steal the pearl," Crystal said noting how Isabella was looking at it.

Before Isabella could reply she caught a glimpse of a boy swimming out of the sea. And at the same time as she noticed him Crystal did too.

Crystal paled " Oh No..."

~ • ~ • ~ •

" ISABELLA!!!" Max shouted running to the girl lying on the floor thinking it was Isabella. He quickly turned the girl over so that her face was facing his and was confronted with... a scarecrow? " What?" Max said utterly confused.

" Uh, that's not Isabella " Olivia pointed out.

"Thank you for stating something I didn't already know," Max said sarcastically.

Just then the secret door to Isabella's room opened and Lila stood there grinning at them. " I hope you liked my pranks," she said.

" We didn't," Max said flatly.

" Lila, do you know where Isabella is ?" Olivia asked sweetly.

"Yup," Lila said brightly " But she told me not to tell you guys" she added.

" Lila we not playing games. This is important. Tell us where's Isabella " Max said his patience wearing out.

" B-but Isabella said I mustn't tell you " Lila protested.

Max took a deep breath and led Lila over to Isabella's bed and seating her down " You have to tell me how Isabella left and where she went. It is extremely important that she remains safe" he said.

"Fineee " Lila wailed. "She went out of the window and said she was going to explore the world." She finished.

"Oh that's just great " Olivia mumbled.

" Are you going to go after her?" Lila asked. " And if you are, can I come with?" She said staring up at Max.

" Yes, we are going to go after her. And no there is absolutely no way that you are coming with us. Also, go find Helen tell her what's going on and tell her to leave ASAP. And go with her "Max instructed.

" OK, I will," Lila said nodding solemnly at him. She walked over to the door and just as she was about to walk out she turned around and said "Please be careful" and then she left closing the door softly behind her.

" Do you think Isabella left any clues as to where she's going?" Max asked turning to Olivia.

" Yes definitely. Because she knows where everything is and how everything looks. And also she's stupid enough to leave clues " Olivia answered sarcastically.

Max walked over to the open window and looked down " Look the rope is still here " Max said to Olivia who was looking carefully at all the things in Isabella's dresser.

She looked back at him " You know maybe we should just alert the guard on what's going on and then they can go and look for Isabella " Olivia suggested.

"Are you crazy?" Max asked looking extremely shocked. "Do you not realise the amount of trouble we'd be in and how much trouble Isabella would get into if anyone found her? " Max said.

"Ok, ok chill it was a small suggestion no news to get so worked up about-" Olivia was cut off by Max putting his fingers to his lips. Signalling that she should keep quiet.

She turned to look at what he was staring at and saw him staring at the door. And then she heard the voices "Maybe we should check the princess's room for clues" someone said.

She then heard fumbling outside the door as if someone was going to open it. Olivia looked at Max fear showing in her eyes ' What were they going to do?'

Word count: 1828
Original amount of words: 1047

Hey guys. Sorry for making y'all wait so long for the new update. But I worked really hard to make this sound good. So I hope it was worth the wait. And you enjoyed it.

Byeee 💕