Jenny decided that either way she'd be in trouble, so she decided to try and drag herself out of the cavern and see how far she could make it.
She drank half of the bowl and poured out the rest all over her body as best she could. She felt relief as the water soaked her scales and let her breathe a little better. She knew it wouldn't last long so she decided to start moving as fast as she could, we'll at least in her current state.
When she made it to the front door her body was beginning to dry and she was starting to get tired. She kept on pulling herself, she had to try and get away.
Half way out onto the front yard she was finding herself short of breath, her gills opening and closing in the dry air. She kept on going until she pulled herself out of the yard, but only to end up in a thick creek. She took stock of her surroundings and notice that she was still far from the beach and dragging herself on the ground over dirt and tree limbs was painful.
She was getting weaker and weaker, she felt very dry and could barely breathe. She turned to look back at her progress and realized she barely made it about 5 yards past the front yard. She was in trouble...
"what do I do now..."she breathed out. She felt incredibly dry and the heat was getting to her. She could hardly breathe, it was too much for her.
Jenny was terrified, all she could do now was lay there, flopping weakly and gasping for breath. Somehow she knew this mermaid transformation was permanent, she wasn't going to change back come sunrise. She was stuck.
She froze as she saw the fisherman walk towards her....
"Well that wasn't very smart now, was it?" he said, almost laughing at her. "You seriously thought you'd make it back to the ocean on your own?"
"Please.....take me back.....I cant....live.....out here....." she gasped out, begging him to let her go.
"Nah, your mine for the keeping" he said as he bent down and scooped her up in his arms.
All Jenny could do was weakly squirm and gasp for water in his grasp as he carried her back into his cavern.....
"What do I do now....." she thought to herself.....