You slowly walk up to the teary woman to find out these questions that are running through your head.
Who is she?
Why are you both trapped in this place?
Why is she naked?
But first, you decide to try comforting her. You sat next to her, before slowly moving into a hug, letting her cry on your shoulder.
When she stopped crying, feeling a bit better, she looked you in the eyes, her face the very embodiment of seriousness. "Whatever happens, never enter the pool."
"Why?" You eloquently asked.
"Because it's cursed." When you laughed, she quickly got up, saying "Since you don't trust me, let me show you." before slowly entering in the water. Then, after a court instant, she swam to the other side of the pool, revealing a fish-like tail were where her legs where only moment ago, before swimming back to your side. She then hoisted herself on the pool's edge, before crawling toward you, stopping only wen she was sitting at your side.
"So… The water IS cursed…" You said wile looking at her tail, transfixed. Upon examining it up close, you saw that she got two fins on her sides, just below her waist.
"Not the water, but the pool itself. So I could go back in there and splash you with my tail, and nothing would happen to you. But if even the lightest part of yourself got below the pool's edge, you will share my curse, even without wetting yourself." she corrected. Then seeing how you were looking at her tail, she asked "Do you want to touch my tail?"
To ashamed to admit it out loud, you simply nodded. "Then go on," she answered "don't be afraid."
You tentatively ran your hand against her tail, which was cold to the touch and slightly tacky. Then you looked at her, and asked "How did you discover it wasn't the water that was cursed?"
"It was empty the first time I entered it, but I still changed into a mermaid. Exiting it took me days! And since I didn't knew how to change back at the time, I crawled as best as I could the farther away from the pool I could, ending up in the equipment room. Don't be fooled by the name, the only ‘equipment’ I found there was the machinery to either fill or empty the pool, and a lot of books about mermaid physiologies."
That made you wonder about something. "Why didn't you try to escape sooner?"
"Because the pool changed me into a mermaid, and like any mermaid, I can't sleep without being underwater. I may be able to change my tail back into legs, but it only make me LOOK human. Plus, since I became a mermaid, I feel some sort of call coming from the pool, similar to what I should feel from the sea. But this morning I found a diary, something left here by someone who got trapped here before us. Do you know what I discovered by reading it?"
When you shook your head the girl, panicking, revealed that "This place is home to a group of sorcerers. They magically draw peoples to this mansion, using traps so we unknowingly curse ourself, changing into rare and priceless ingredients for their potions. We're going to be potions! POTIONS!"