Maureen combed through her ocean blue hair humming. A quixotic smile caressed her rose-hued lips, her green eyes flashed a remarkable gold in the lantern's light. People twirled around in front of her on the pearlescent dance floor. The striking colors of their attire flew before her like a flock of birds.

Her amused gaze fell upon an odd locket lying abandoned on the ground like a bird with a broken wing. She wondered why no one had yet found it or picked it up. Perhaps she could find the poor soul who lost it? She knelt gingerly and picked it up. The world tumbled and jolted giving her a violent vertigo sensation.

She collapsed on the ground -- only it wasn't the stone ballroom floor. It was putrid scented dirt and ash. She gasped scrambling to her feet as best as she could, her lovely emerald gown having been soiled. She looked around in panic at the apocalyptic world around her. She backed into a charcoaled tree and shrieked as it writhed with insects. She heard a growl and quickly silenced her panicking cries. What was out here with her? She began to walk away from the direction she'd heard the growl.

She tried not to panic when one of her steps back took her into water. It was no puddle, it was a lake. The moon caused the lake to look as silvery as a pool of mercury rippling on a tabletop. She stepped away from the lake but not before a hand clasping her ankle caused her to scream as she was dragged into the watery depths. She struggled and flailed, but to no avail. This was the end. She was sure of it.

She woke in an amber room. She was still surrounded by water, but she could breathe...What was going on? Was this all a dream? She couldn't begin to fathom how this was possible.

A young man with ebony skin came into the room and smiled a brilliantly white smile.

"You're awake!"

"Who are you?"

"I am Prince Sar of the Sirens and you are the long lost daughter of the Duchess."

"I'm what? No, no, this is a mistake. I was at a ball and then I picked up a locket and ended up here with monsters chasing me." She shuddered.

"Ball? You mean those things humans used to have before they were all eaten?" Sar asked curiously.

"Eaten?!" Maureen exclaimed paling.

"Yes...are you alright?"

"I-I...I'm no Siren. I'm a human. None of this is real!" She tugged at her hair trying to keep herself under control.

"Please, calm yourself. Everything will be explained. In time you'll come to love your Siren nature, humans are so weak and frail. Honestly they couldn't last long." Sar told her gently.

Maureen took a deep shaky breath. This was to become her life now, Living beneath the water with these Sirens she'd never met. But what about the ball and gowns -- her other life -- the life she grew up with? Somehow she would find a way back.