• I knew it. As soon as I saw my parents for the first time, I knew they weren't mine. I saw they had short golden hair, sorta scraggly, compared to my luxuriously soft, long black hair. And skin color... They were pale, is was medium-ish. And they had wings.

    "Faethe, why don't you come home now? You've been missing for over ten years... It's time to come home Faethe." The one who appeared to be female was speaking. I knew I had a blank look on my face. "Faethe, don't you remember me? I'm your mother."

    Yeah, right.

    "Come on Faethe, get up, let's go home."

    I arose, seeing this as a chance for food I didn't have to fight for, a chance for a warm, soft bed, and civilization. A chance to find out who my true parents are. I trailed along, and we came upon a beautiful palace of flowers.

    "Mom," I forced, "Is this where we live?"

    "No dear." My "father" turned, and pointed to a small hut of grass. " That is."

    After entering and finding out it was smaller on the inside than the outside (which I had figured impossible), three plans formed in my small mind.
    Plan 1: Run away.
    Plan 2: Escape to the palace.
    Plan 3: Go with the flow.

    I almost immediatley scratched plan 2 from my mind. How would I get in? I sighed, and shouted from upstairs to my "parents", "Mom, Dad, can I have some fish?"

    They gasped. Okay, I thought. I'll just get some on my own. " Never mind, I'm going out."

    After a while of walking, I came upon the lake which was the setting of my oldest memory: I woke up, small, and barely 4 years old(I didn't know that at the time). I heard singing; a small, yet beautiful voice carrying over the waves. But the memory is ten years old, faded, almost gone, and I can't remember what was being sung.

    After reminiscing for a while, I took off my overclothes and dove into the lake. Suddenly, I felt stronger, more powerful, when I suddenly realized I didn't have any legs. In their place, a shining blue tail as long as the other half of my body had appeared. I'm a mermaid! Which scratched plan 3. I'll just stay here, I thought.

    5 minutes later, I saw my folly. I couldn't stop moving because then I sank, and fish swam away, thus denying me food. I kept swimming, my tired tail attempting to fall off. When I saw a beautiful palace of coral, shells, seaweed, and other aquatic things, I saw my own kind: I saw merfolk.

    I was entranced, until I realized every single one was coming upon me like a swarm of... fish? Any way... I was scared. Would I be an outcast among my own people?

    "Princess? Princess Faethe, is that really you?"

    Okay. This went from strange to freaky. "Uh... My name is Faethe, but I have zero memory of being a princess."

    "You were captured by fairies ten years ago. Your father loved you more than anything, so they attempted to capture you, but after the net captured you, you chewed through it. We were hoping you would fall into the water, but you fell ahore, and we merfolk can't go on land, except for nobility."

    "I noticed you said loved in the past tense. So does that mean my father's... Dead?"

    "Yes, you're mother is as well. You are not a princess anymore. You are our queen." Chants of "Long live the queen!" sprung up. "Which means you must get married."

    That was when my mind hit a blank. "Huh?"

    " You. Must. Get. Married. Is that so hard to understand?"

    "No, it's just a little thing called shock value."

    "Ah." The merman cleared his throat. "So welcome back!"

    At that point, I figured happily ever after. Until I felt the tight confines of a net surrounding me. As I was slowly dragged upward, I felt the merfolk tugging at the net, but the force pulling me upward was too strong. I broke surface, and my tail changed back to legs.

    "Welcome back princess." The last word was said with a mocking tone. I looked upward. The two fairies toting me through the air were my fake parents!

    Suddenly, I woke up. That, I thought, was a crazy dream. Then I realized: I have a tail.