The current of 'merman tears' carried Alex through another area of this strange world and before he knew it, he could see what appeared to be a purple sky out of the top of the tiny bottle containing him. Alex tried to swim up to the top of the bottle, but it was only halfway filled with water so he couldn't quite reach the rim with just his arms length alone, finally he kicked his tail hard enough for him to jump up just enough for him to reach it.

His fingers grasped the edge of the bottle's top and he grunted a bit as he climbed up halfway and peeked his head out. The merman blinked in even more confusion. He was floating in a vast ocean. The sound of whistling caught his ears and he looked in the distance to see something approaching. At first, he wondered if it were a ship but upon the object floating closer he saw it was a large bird floating on the feet of another black bird, which was being pushed by another white bird.

"Ok. That's not normal?" he thought outloud.

Upon that thought a huge wave crashed into the bottle, tumbling it over a few times and making Alex lose his grip and slip back inside. It filled with even more water as it floated upright again. Alex shook his head dazed and now was able to pull his torso out of the top of the bottle without having to try to jump to the rim again.

"Ahoy! A fellow mer-mate!" he heard a voice say near him. It came from the dodo bird floating nearby.

"Hello!" Alex called back, going with it.

"Can you help me?" he asked.

However the dodo wasn't even listening, as he already passed Alex and pointed to land that the waves were taking him to.

"Wait!" he called again. Another wave sent him toppling over and he was this time flung out of the bottle and on to the shore. Alex was surprised to hit the sand and didn't notice how shallow the water suddenly got. He was able to sit up and looked up again to see the dodo bird perched on a rock with a fire burning next to it as the waves crashed upon the bottom of the rock.

"My my." the dodo said, "What's a fish like you doing sitting on the shore like that? You'll never get dry if you don't move away from these waves."

"Uhh, yes I kno-" Alex started but he was cut off by another wave crashing into him. This time it worked in his favor as he was carried further onto the dry land. Alex breathed in again and coughed a bit as his gills have been in and out of the air for a while now. Alex sat up and once again spotted the white rabbit sitting right next to him.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "I was looking for you rabbit! Can you tell me where I am?"

The rabbit merely laughed. "I have no time to chat young mer. I'm very late!"

With that it dashed off again into nearby woods that were just a few feet away from the shore.

"No! Wait! Come back!" Alex desperately called reaching his hand out. He wished so badly that he could run after it, but his tail proved to be useless yet again on the land.

"I need to change back" He thought with his fins flicking in irritation at his inconvenient situation.

Just as he was about to crawl further on to the shore, a yelp escaped him as something heavy pinched onto one of his fins.

"Hey! I think I stepped on something Dee."

Alex looked behind him to the source of the uncomfortable pain, a foot was stepping on his fin, and it was not moving either.

"Please get off my fin!" Alex finally yelled at the offending person above him. In doing so the foot finally lifted him and allowed him to pull his tail closer to him in protection.

"Oh, sorry." the short person named Dee said as he realized what he stepped on. Alex turned over and glared at not one but two short round boys looking down at him. From the looks of their features they appeared to be twins.

"Oi, look what you done now Dee. You made 'em angry."

"Not on purpose Dum, jus' look at that tail of his though. Very pretty."

Alex's eyes widened as he realized that while these boys were a bit odd looking, they still had two legs- which made them human. He shrunk back a bit in fear that they might hunt him or worse. His reaction did not go unnoticed by the twins.

"ey ey!" one of them said "Why you acting like that? We ain't gonna hurt you."

"You…aren't?" the merman questioned wearily.

"Pssh of course not." the other twin giggled.

"We got better things to do than to hurt anyone. Besides only the queen can do that."

Alex furrowed his brows. "Queen? You have a Queen here?"

The two boys immediately shushed him before he could say anymore.

"Keep your voice down! She got ears everywhere ya know?"

"Uhh yes, we love her majesty queen of hearts!" Dee said loudly as if someone were listening to their conversation.

Dum leaned in to Alex and whispered, "why don't you come with us- you were looking for the white rabbit no?"

Alex nodded but motioned to his tail. "I'd love to, but I'll need your help getting dry so I can walk again."

"We can help with that."

Without any warning Dee and Dum Hoisted Alex into their arms. He wrapped his arms around their shoulders for support while they had him sitting in their arms like a seat.

"You're heavy mate." Dum complained as they walked.

The two took several steps into the woods before finally they reached a large tree hollow. The twins placed the merman on a nearby stump and instructed him to wait while they fetch him some clothing from inside the tree.

Alex shrugged and nodded, not much else he could do anyways. Dee threw a blanket to him so he can dry off what was left of the water on his tail. Alex gave the twins a look of gratitude as he began to rub his tail dry. Only a few moments later did he transform back into his legs. Dum gave him a pair of blue trousers, black shoes and a new white shirt since the one he had been wearing was still soaked and filthy.

Alex stood up as he changed into his new attire. He could feel that Dee and Dum were staring at him intensely and whispering to each other as he was doing so.

"Thank you for the clothing." he said politely. "Out of curiosity, I have to ask, why are you helping me?"

Dee and Dum looked around anxiously before answering softly.

"We've seen a mer like you before in these parts. It's quite odd actually. But we feel that you might know how to stop her."

"Stop? Stop who from what?" he asked incredulously.

"That's all we can tell you right now."

Alex raised a brow. "Ok…But wait, another mer like me? Can you tell me what they looked like? I actually haven't met one before."

"We cannot tell you any more. Now get out of our sight!" The twins shoved him along the path going deeper into the woods.

"Ok ok!" Alex didn't try to argue, they done enough for him already.

"Bye Fish-boy!" They called out in unison and waved goodbye.

"I have a name you know! He called back, It's Alex…"

He almost didn't finish his sentence as he looked back and noticed the scenery had changed again.

The tree hollow was gone, the twins were nowhere to be seen. There was nothing but darkness going that way.

Alex sighed. He was starting not to get as surprised anymore with each new thing that did not make any sense. The young mer continued to follow the path into the woods as he walked towards another new area of this peculiar world he was in.