Rachel, Merlin, Alan, and Guinevere were taken from Eline's throne room towards the cells. Rachel felt a tingling sensation in her mind, almost as though someone were tickling her skull as they were taken into the lower levels of the palace.

Only one merman held her. The others seemed more concerned with holding Alan and Merlin in place, leaving the two girls mostly alone. Rachel closed her eyes, absorbing the thoughts of Merlin. Even though he was awake, Rachel still had the ability to speak to him in her mind. "Merlin."

"Rachel?" Merlin sounded astonished. Risking a peep Rachel saw him staring at her in utter confusion.

"Look, my Morpheus magic is working, but I don't have enough to put all of them to sleep. Is yours working?"

"No." Merlin hesitated. "Just put yours to sleep and get out. You can come back for us later. It's you the Editor wants, not the rest of us."

"Leave the rest of you?" The idea was appalling, and unfortunately brought to mind a memory from four months ago, when Ewan had dragged her through a Story door and left Will and Merlin behind to be captured. "Merlin, I can't!"

"Get help," Merlin insisted. "Go now!"

Rachel forced her magic to hit her captor. The merman floated to the palace floor, fast asleep, and Rachel shot away from him. It took the others a moment to realize she was fleeing.

The good thing about being underwater was she didn't have to worry when she broke through a window. The glass shards did cut her, but she didn't concern herself with how far off the ground she was—though it wasn't that far anyway. She heard the shouts of merpeople behind her, and an alarm bell started ringing frantically. Eline's not happy about me getting away, she thought, smiling a little. It served her right.

Rachel swam through the city as fast as she could, trying to ignore the guilt burning in her chest. The scratches from the glass bled a little, leaving the water tinged red. She got out of the city and went close to the ocean floor, hiding among the flailing plants in hopes of shaking off her pursuers.

She remembered only a second too late the seaweed that had snared Merlin. Before she could swim away, a piece wrapped itself around her tail, holding her firmly in place as another draped around her neck. For a moment, Rachel thought she could escape the weed's grasp, right up until the one around her neck squeezed. She cried out as her breath was cut off and her vision started to fade. No...what a way to go. Strangled by vicious seaweed. Ewan, forgive me.

The last thing Rachel heard was a woman's voice above her. "What a fine specimen."

Then she lost consciousness.

. . . . . .

When Rachel woke up, her first thought was, Wow, I'm glad I woke up. But her next immediate thought was, Where the heck am I? She remembered with great detail that woman's voice. "What a fine specimen." That couldn't be good. In Rachel's experience, being a "specimen" was never a good thing.

"She is awake, mistress." The man's voice seemed to bounce around in Rachel's pounding skull. She squinted at the merman, who moved aside to reveal his mistress.

The first thing Rachel noticed about the mermaid was her hair. Sea-green, Rachel saw more of that cursed seaweed hanging in her dreadlocks, reaching down to the tip of her tail. Her eyes literally glowed green in the dark cave. "Ah, it seems I was quite correct!" she said in a harsh voice. One of the pieces of seaweed reached out and touched Rachel's cheek, making her flinch. "An Andric...the last Andric. What a pleasure...you may address me as the Sea Witch."

Rachel tried to draw back and found she was tied up with, of course, more of the seaweed. "What do you want from me?" she demanded, glancing at the Sea Witch's two bullyboys—burly mermen carrying massive swords.

Rachel was even more disturbed when she felt the lack of a familiar feeling on her left hand. The Sea Witch had stolen her engagement ring. There was little chance of Rachel using her magic to escape this encounter; her confusion from nearly being strangled to death by the seaweed and her fury at having the ring stolen were throwing her magic into disarray.

The Sea Witch's seaweed stroked Rachel's hair absently. "That's a very good question, barn," she agreed. She flipped backwards suddenly, her black tail nearly slapping Rachel's face. "But an even better one is, what do you want from me? Everyone who comes to my cave must leave with a deal, or...well, I'm afraid it doesn't end well. For the one who attempts to leave, I mean. Either way, I get a good deal."

"What happens to someone who tries to leave without making a deal?" Rachel asked nervously. She didn't want to make any one-sided deals with the Sea Witch, but if there were consequences for not doing so, she wanted to know about them.

"Do you see these, my precious tang?" the Sea Witch asked, waving the seaweed in Rachel's face. "They were not always this way. They all have something in common. They all used to be...people."

Rachel stared at her, horrified. "People?" she exclaimed, again trying to draw back from the demonic woman.

"Ja," the Sea Witch said, nodding. "For instance, this one? A lovesick mermaid who wanted to made a deal...until the poor barn realized she would have to give much more than she wanted. Greedy girl, really. And they're all under my control." One of the pieces of seaweed dangled in front of Rachel's eyes, Rachel's ring curled in its grasp. "Is this yours?"

Rachel strained against the weeds holding her bound. There was something about seeing the ring Guy had given her in the hands of that...monster that roused Rachel's ire, uncertain circumstances with Guy or not. "Give that to me!" she snapped. The seaweed tightened around her, holding her fast.

The Sea Witch left the ring in front of Rachel, tantalizingly close and mocking her. "You want this, don't you?" she said teasingly, bouncing it up and down. "Well...let's make a deal, shall we? You tell me the name of the man who gave you this ring, and I'll give it back."

"Would that deal result in me getting out of here?" Rachel asked, trying to maintain some sort of control of the conversation. She couldn't let the Sea Witch get the better of her. That simply wasn't an option.

"Ingen," the Sea Witch shook her head with a smile, "but a good try. We shall formulate a deal that...may result in your freedom. Do we have a deal, involving the ring?"

Rachel couldn't lose that ring. It meant too much. "Fine. His name is Guy of Gisborne. He's my fiancé."

The Sea Witch slid the ring back onto Rachel's finger without removing the seaweed around her wrists. "Guy of Gisborne, hmm?" she said, smiling. "How...interesting."

Rachel really didn't like that tone of voice. She adopted a slightly interested face, figuring if she humored the Sea Witch she would be more likely to tell Rachel what was "interesting" about Guy.

Her tactic worked. The Sea Witch formed a stool with her seaweed and sat on it, leaning towards Rachel in a conspiratorial way. "This Guy, he visited me two days ago," she said in a low voice.

"That's impossible," Rachel argued. "He's not a Guardian or a merman. He simply can't breathe underwater."

"However he did it, he did," the Sea Witch replied, shrugging. "I captured him and brought him here, but the sheer arrogance of him! It was like he knew I was going to do that. Honestly. Anyhow, the boy—he really wasn't much more than a boy—he made a deal with me. In exchange for his freedom, he offered another in his place. You can do that, you know, and they come from anywhere in The Story! Whoever signs the contract brings them to me."

Rachel hadn't heard much beyond Guy's bargain for his freedom. "He offered...somebody else?" she asked breathlessly.

"Ja!" the Sea Witch answered, producing a piece of seaweed and holding it in front of Rachel. "Would you like to see who it is?"

Unable to breathe past the lump in her throat, Rachel felt herself nod, almost as though from afar. The Sea Witch dropped the seaweed and it began to morph its shape. It bubbled and grew into a human form, growing long raven hair and...a red cloak.

Guy had exchanged his freedom for Little Red Riding Hood.