Stolen Wonderland

Chapter 2

My eyes flashed open. I was choking. Gasping for air. Trying to get the water out of my lungs. I turned on my side spitting up all the water I could. Once everything was clear I sat up and looked around me. I was in a cave. There were rocks that glowed brightly illuminating the whole room. The large oval slab of rock I laid on was like a temple, the flat surface where I laid on had three sets of stone steps to get down from. Where my head lay was nothing but wall. On my right were a set of steps that follow a stone path against the wall out of the room, on my left was the same thing. The steps by my feet led a a small distance to a round area filled with stone seats and a round table filled with gold and silver goblets forks spoons, things that were made for the richest of the rich. The room was like a rounded pitchfork, everywhere that wasn't a stone walk way was water, dark water. What scared me the most was that I had no clue where Julian was.

I stood from the stone bed and decided to take the right path. I quietly stepped down the stairs and made it to 'ground' level. This is when I realized that I was no longer in the outfit I had fallen in the water with. I was wearing black and silver slippers a grey and blue dress that looked like it was made of shreds of cloth. It was a one shoulder strap that started from my right hip and came up over my left shoulder and back in to the dress. It looked like a crinkled sash. As I continued my walk I noticed that the whole room was lined with treasures, diamond pearls coins, everything. Once I made my way to the mouth of the cave, looking out I realized I was still inside a cave I was just in one of it's 'rooms'. This larger area was like an indoor beach in a way. The stone path way lined the edges of the cave and there were stone steps that led in to the water. There was a much larger opening which was cover by running water.

"Am I in a water fall?" I muttered as I looked at the wall of water.

"No, you're underwater." A sultry voice answered causing me to jump and look in the direction it came from.

"Who are you? Where is my son?" I couldn't see much of the woman, because she sat in a dark corner but something kept slapping in the water below her, it was black and glistened like scales in the light.

"I am the one that saved you and gave you new clothes, I would think I at least deserve a thank you." She answered feigning hurt.

"Not until, I find my son." I demanded trying to see her face.

She sighed and the slapping stopped just before I caught a glimpse of her sliding in to the water. She disappeared beneath it for a moment before appearing before me sitting on the little island of rock that sat in the middle of the dark water. She wasn't human, at least some of her wasn't. She had long black hair that laid over her left shoulder pooling by her hip. Her ear exposed ear was in the shape of a fish fin, like small, red with black spotting, fans that looked almost like stained glass. Her make up was dark and smokey grey, her lips were blood red. Around her neck were black and silver pearls in different lengths, cascading over her seaweed wrapped breasts, ending at her waist. Her skin was sickly pale almost translucent blue.

On her arms were patches of what looked like scales, starting from the rounding of her shoulders twisting down to her wrists. She also had the strange fins sticking out on the outside of her forearms, closer to her wrist bone. By her hips, she seemed to be wearing a black sequin skirt- that is, until she moved her legs. At the ends of what I thought was her skirt was a large fish fin. It was a little larger than a dolphins, but enough to balance out with her body. She was a mermaid, I guessed the latter.

"You're a very persistent human, I like that about you, but sometimes persistence can get you killed in this world." She spoke with admiration as her long bony finger played with her hair.

"Where. Is. My. Child, Mermaid?" I demanded though gritted teeth, all fear of her gone.

"There's, food in the next area, why don't you have a seat and we'll talk." Her long fingers gestured to my right.