Beatrix was singing. Or at least she had been.
Now she was crumpled up in the water, pain and nausea wracking her body. She was fighting every instinct in her body to swim, instead she curled up in a fetal position, floating along the waves.
She had difficulty telling if the feeling in her body was from the emotions raging in her heart or the sickening experience of transporting to a new book.
Either way, it wasn't as bad this time, maybe her body was adjusting.
Vertigo was still plaguing her, and she was still completely overwhelmed by the information rushing into her head, but she was able to understand some of her situation, at least.
She had a tail, that she was sure of. And she was breathing in the water, which came as a relief, as she was at the bottom of the ocean floor.
It was dark, but it seemed this body's eyes were adjusted for the environment, as she could see perfectly.
It was difficult to adapt to her new strange situation, considering her mind was tumbling.
And she didn't want to move. She'd rather pretend she didn't exist.
But she had to. Beatrix had no idea what to expect from this strange environment.
This book was a bit different than the last one she visited. While it was still a romance novel, it took place in a modern fantasy setting. The world was standard for the most part, except for some more advanced technology, as well as what surprised Beatrix the most: supernatural beings existed.
Mermaids, in particular, were the focus of this book. In fact, no other supernatural beings were ever mentioned. Mermaids exist hidden in the ocean, far away from human society and its issues. Usually, that is. This book's mermaids are very involved with humans, and vice versa.
Emea, the main character, is a headstrong mermaid princess. She's often described in the book as adventurous and humorous, getting herself into tricky situations. Even though she's the daughter of the mermaid king and queen, she never acts proper and is very down to earth.
The book starts with her meeting the male lead, Dominic. He's being lured into the ocean by an evil siren, Narcissa, the villain of this story. Narcissa is not only an evil man-eating creature, but she's also the character Beatrix is occupying at the moment, which certainly made her pause at first.
Narcissa lures in the unfortunate male lead, and just before she's about to enjoy her dinner, Emea swoops in and saves Dominic. He falls in love at first sight with her beauty and good heart, and decides she's the only one for him. And the feeling's mutual, as Emea also fell in love with him instantly.
Yet a period of yearning begins, as neither party knows how to find each other later. They become memories to each other, to fondly remember. At least for a while.
In the book, the mermaids and sirens have had a long-standing feud. The animalistic and cruel man-eating sirens and the good-hearted pure mermaids serve as opposites and naturally have issues with each other. They had to enact a treaty stating that neither race would interfere with the other, in order to avoid provocation.
However, Emea's actions broke that treaty and directly angered Narcissa, whose ego was bruised. Saving a human from a siren's grasp was akin to saving a gazelle from a lion, pointless and against the laws of nature. And in this case, Narcissa was the lion who had her dinner stolen.
So she decided to kill Emea. Her actions were pretty extreme, even to the other sirens. It was accurate to say she overreacted, but she had to have some sort of motivation as a villain.
She viciously hunts down Emea, yet Emea is able to escape by the skin of her teeth using her quick wit and sly thinking. She doesn't get out without injuries, however. While seeking help, she runs into Dominic's boat, and they have a tearful reunion. Absorbed in their emotions, they share a tender first kiss, cementing their relationship.
It's at this time that Emea's main character abilities are revealed in all their glory. After getting the kiss of her true love, she gains the ability to turn into a human.
Emea is able to undergo a beautiful transformation; however, at this time, Dominic's big secret is revealed. He's an aquatic researcher and wants to study Emea. Emea tearfully runs away, and Dominic deeply regrets it. He decides love is more important than his pursuit of knowledge.
As she flees from her true love, she runs into her second true love, the second male lead, Austin. Austin is a surfer who frequents a nearby beach to Emea, and found out her secret by chance one day. They've always had an ambiguous relationship, and Emea runs to him after being betrayed. While they don't quite cement themselves into a romantic relationship, they get close.
They're interrupted by Narcissa, who decides to get revenge. Again.
So naturally, she kidnaps Emea and tortures her.
Dominic and Austin save Emea together using their advanced technology and decide that Narcissa, and the rest of the sirens, must be dealt with.
Emea begins her noble main character journey and decides to allow Dominic to research her for the good of all mermaid kind.
He's able to develop a weapon out of her mermaid powers that specifically target sirens. The technology was amazing enough in this world that they were able to specially engineer a weapon to target one specific race.
Hopefully, that didn't cause any issues in the future.
Emea continues her hero's journey by boldly deciding to approach Narcissa on her own to defeat her. Dominic and Austin would have gladly taken her place, but they hadn't yet developed the technology to breathe underwater.
However, her daring expedition goes wrong. While she's able to defeat Narcissa, she accidentally kills Narcissa's harmless sister, Risa, in the process.
Wracked with guilt, Emea turns to Austin and Dominic, who decide to put away their jealousy and take care of Emea together.
The book then reaches the climax of its romantic tension. Literally.
Beatrix tried skipping over that bit as fast as she could.