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want you to go out to the deeper section of the ocean now,” he whispered tersely. “I will call for you when it is safe to return.”
    “Keel?” She was not willing to leave his side.
    “Go!”
    She watched as he waded over to the unconscious prince and grabbed his clothing. Then he hauled the man all the way to the dry sand and flipped him over. Without looking up, Keel raised his voice and said, “Pearl, if you are still near that rock and not swimming to safety, words will not express my upset. This whole plan will be over.”
    Would he cancel the trip? No. Not now. She had not experienced anything yet! Without a word, she swam out to a deeper portion of the ocean and then reached the surface. Her mind was racing with fear and stress and confusion. What was this world, anyway? Was it really as bad as it seemed? Already she had nearly been captured! She tightened her fist and was amazed to see the vial still within her palm.
    Keel would not abandon the journey if she had already grown legs. He would at least allow her to experience something after all that pain, would he not?
    It was worth a try.
    She glanced at the land and saw Keel walking into the water. He was heading straight for her.
    Without another thought, she quickly opened the bottle and drank the contents.
    There. Now there was nothing he could say or do about anything. For the moment.
    And then the pain began.
    Great, knee-buckling stabs of piercing agony. She lurched forward and felt the searing pain of each scale on her tail growing and expanding, ripping torturously slow.
    Pearl could not remain upright with such tension throughout her body. She curled up and sank to the bottom of the sea. Even though Keel had ordered her to, she had not traveled too far from land—only far enough that she felt he might be happy with her. At this distance, the ocean floor was still a good twelve or so feet beneath the surface. Her back violently arched as she could feel the legs forming beneath her fins. Oh, my word. She had never known such horrendous sensations as these. How had Keel stayed so calm, just wincing and barely gasping? How had he not shown her the true amount of hurt he was experiencing?
    She found a rock jutting up from the bottom and clutched it. When would it stop? Oh, please, make it stop!
    And then she felt strong arms go around her. The sting hurt too much to register who or why someone would hold her—just that it was different. In that moment, it was a distraction from the pain. Turned away as she was, curled in a ball, she clutched the arms wrapped around her waist as tightly as possible. And wailed.
    Oh, how she wailed as she felt herself being lifted to the surface again.
    Once out of the water, her crying sounded different, but it was still intense. Her face probably looked like a purple mess, but she could not care. Nothing mattered.
    “Shh . . . You foolish merwoman, what were you thinking?” Keel murmured in her ear.
    She instantly turned in his arms and wrapped herself around him.
    They began to sink.
    “Whoa!” He chuckled. “I do not have my tail at the moment, remember? I need you to remain still as best as you can and I will get us to that reef, where you can change safely.”
    “I want to go home,” she sobbed into his shoulder. Nothing sounded more perfect than being curled up in her large bed and feeling safe.
    “I know you do. But I cannot give you the antidote right now or it would kill you.”
    Another great slash of pain roared through her. She clutched him and arched and wailed. It felt as if she were already dying.
    “I know how much this hurts, dear, but I need you to try to keep quiet as long as possible. I do not believe we attracted attention when I hit the human man, but I am not willing to attract any more right now. Thank goodness this is a secluded beach, and not many people wander along it.”
    She clamped her mouth shut. Heaven knew he must think she was the most complaining merwoman he had ever met.