Unpleasentness
A gentle amber light flickers into existence. You're standing in an elegant marble-and-gold rotunda. On the floor is a compass rose, which makes naming your choices very easy. The rotunda branches off in four directions, which, conveniently, line up with the compass points.
You are facing north. Directly ahead of you is a grandiose marble staircase that spirals away, out of sight. Behind you is similar staircase, leading down. To the east lies a long, dark, hallway, and West of you is a large, ornately carved doorway. It is exactly the same scene you encountered when you first arrived. The only difference is the large gold key that lies on the ground near the door. Then, like a ton of ornately carved marble bricks, it hits you. The mermaid is gone. She saved your life, then you saved hers, and you never even learned each others' names.
"Where is she?!" you shout into the rotunda dome. The Voice is silent. The Voice, who had never hesitated to jump in and explain stuff, is silent. You don't even get a cryptic half-answer. You just get silence. "Where's the mermaid?" you ask again. Silence.
You look around. She's definately not in the rotunda. But you were only out for a fraction of a second, so she couldn't have walked off. She can't be past the Western Door either, since the key is still on the floor, where she threw it moments ago. It appears that she disappeared entirely. You could look for her, but somehow you feel that you wouldn't find her.
Written by Zodiac on 01 June 2008