He was gone. Her heart lurched. This wasn't right.

She had to find out what he was doing up. She had a bad feeling... She jumped to her feet.

She couldn't speak. It wasn't like her voice had been stolen. Her mouth felt dry and in the quietness she found it hard to speak. She wished she could find her tongue to speak.

The music now had real lyrics. Haunting lyrics. It was beautiful, but she knew better than to find it enchanting. Despite the gorgeous tones she couldn't help but find them horrible and disturbed.

Come away, come away
O'er waters wild
We make them mild
Where we play, where we play

Aurelia shivered. The lagoon came into full view. The glowed a bright turquoise under the light of the bright moon. Luke's light brown hair shined like copper in the moonlight.

Splash!

It was too quick for her to stop it. Lucas had jumped in the water.

Her heart raced, beating at what felt like the speed of sound. She knew he knew how to swim. He had told her how much he liked the ocean before. He had to know to swim. Why wasn't he resurfacing?

"LUCAS!"

Come away, come away
Beneath the wave
Lieth the grave
Of him we slay, him we slay.

She didn't think. She stripped off her dress, so it wouldn't sink her, and dived in.

The water was warmer than expected. She forced her eyes to stay open and she held her breath. Bubbles sprouted in the water.

She saw the top of his messy brown and reached into the darkness. The water weighed down on her, but she continued kicking. Aurelia grabbed his arm.

But something else had hold of him. A woman with straw colored locks and piercing sea colored eyes glared at Aurelia. The woman in the darkness had no legs. A shiny silver tail kept the woman swimming.

A hand left Luke's body. The siren swiped a clawed hand at Aurelia. Aurelia avoided the swipe and kicked the creature in her pretty face.

She now was swimming up towards light with Lucas as dead weight, not literally... She hoped.

The siren wouldn't let her escape that easily. She swiped her hand through the water again, after recovering from Aurelia's mean kick. She left a deep scratch in Aurelia's ankle. The miller's daughter let out a hiss of pain.

Bubbles left her mouth. She was losing oxygen quick. She had to reach the surface soon.

The siren got another swift kick in the face as Aurelia used all her strength to propel herself towards the surface, still clinging to Lucas. Her foot throbbed with a sharp pain, but she didn't have time to focus on that. Both she and Lucas were going to die if she didn't reach the surface.

They had just been planning their futures earlier that day. They couldn't die.

She was nearly out of air. Her energy was depleting. Air, she needed air. Every part of her wanted to sleep. She wanted to give in to the darkness that surrounding her.

She had to keep swimming. With a final push towards the light she found air.

She took a large gulp of air as if it was water and she was dying of dehydration.

She heaved Lucas onto land.

For what seemed like the hundredth time that day her heart jolted. He wasn't breathing.

"Don't do this! Don't leave me now!" She panicked.

She kneeled over him, her wet hair dripping off onto his already wet shirt.

She moved to pinch his nose and start CPR, a technique she had only recently read about. Luckily for her she didn't need to.

There was a loud gasp. Luke's eyes opened wide. He sat up with a jolt, coughing up water.

Aurelia's heart skipped a beat. Her emerald eyes widened with shock and relief.

"Lucas!" She threw her arms around the prince.

"Relia," He coughed. "Am I dead?"

"Why would you think that?" Aurelia's heart seemed to shatter with her tone.

"Cause I- you- drowning." He breathed. "You saved me."

"What were you thinking?" Aurelia squeezed him tightly. She sighed. "I guess it's not your fault. No man can resist the siren's song."

"I'm- I'm sorry, Lia." Lucas hugged her back.

"I thought I lost you." Aurelia's voice was fragile as if it might break like glass at any second. "Don't scare me like that."

"I'm right here." He stroked her back in comfort. "I'm not going anywhere."

They stayed like that for what felt like an eternity to the two friends. It was most likely only a couple minutes.

Eventually Aurelia broke the embrace. She took her head off Luke's chest and wiped a tear from her eye. She hadn't even realized she had been crying against Lucas's soaked shirt.

"We should probably get some actual sleep." Aurelia said, a pink blush crossing her face. She avoided Lucas' soft, sea blue eyes.

Lucas nodded.

They headed back to their makeshift beds in the ground. Aurelia laid down in hers, her back turned away from where Lucas was laying in his. She bit her lip. He was too far away.

"Uh, Lucas?" Aurelia mumbled. "Maybe you should move a little closer just in case..."

Lucas smiled. He dragged his blanket over to where Aurelia was and laid close to her. He was close enough that she wouldn't worry too much, but still far enough away that it wasn't inappropriate.

"Thank you, Lucas." Aurelia mumbled.

She fell asleep grasping his hand.