A/N: Thanks for the reviews!

Part II

Justin made his way down to the beach, holding Alyssa's hand as they climbed down some rocks. The sand along the Hudson river was grainy, with short grass scattered along the coast line. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Justin asked while they began to walk. "I mean, sure, the idea of walking around the beach sounds romantic. Until you factor in the cold October winds."

"That just makes it even more romantic. We can walk with our arms around each other for warmth," Alyssa replied, tugging Justin ahead further down the coast. "Water is so cool, isn't it?"

Feeling his teeth chatter as the wind sprayed freezing water on his skin, Justin replied, "Yes, it's definitely cool. In fact I'd say it's downright chilly."

"Don't be such a downer. Haven't you ever done something spontaneous?" Alyssa asked. She spun around in a circle with her arms spread open and her straight auburn hair falling away from her shoulders, taking in the fresh sea air.

Justin stubbornly stuffed his cold hands in his pockets and forced his teeth to stop shaking. So what if he was a little chilly? He was on a date, for crying out loud. No girl liked a whiner. "Of course I have. I'm just sayin' it's cold, that's it. So, uh, you really like the beach, don't you?"

"Love it. I grew up by the beach. This beach, actually," Alyssa answered.

Grateful for the subject change, Justin asked, "So you live in this neighborhood."

Alyssa paused. "Uh, yeah, I guess you could say that. What about you? You said you lived in the lower West side, right?"

"Yeah, over on Waverly Place. My family owns the sub station there," Justin answered.

Her bright brown eyes widening, Alyssa replied, "Love that place! My friend and I picked up shrimp sandwiches there, they're delicious!"

"Yeah, that was one of Max's creations," Justin replied with a chuckle. Content for the moment, he stood and watched the calming sea. "You know, I'm having a good time. My parents don't know what they're talking about."

Alyssa raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, no, it's nothing personal," Justin was quick to add. "It's just that…well, this is a little embarrassing, but I haven't had the best experiences with WizSpace. You know how it is. One girl's a centaur, another's a werewolf, next thing you know, your parents aren't letting you date any more girls you meet online. But they're totally paranoid, not everyone is like that."

At that, Alyssa gave him a weak smile. "O-Oh. D-does that bother you? You know, if a girl's not entirely human?"

"Well, depends on what she is. Heck, I'm half-wizard. No one's perfect," Justin answered, getting a queasy feeling in his stomach. The way she had hesitated at his suggestion made him start to wonder…

"Hm, that's true. You mentioned that you're in training with your siblings," Alyssa replied. "And, wizards don't have the best reputation either. Uptight know-it-all bunch, from what I've heard."

"Hey!" Justin exclaimed.

Alyssa laughed. "You're cute when you're all exasperated."

The compliment managed to calm him down quite a bit. "Uh, thanks. So are you…not that I've, uh, seen you exasperated since I met you. But I'm sure you are," he replied. Smooth, he thought, mentally smacking himself.

"You're also cute when you're flustered," Alyssa teased. She then made a serious face and glanced toward the water. "Hey, Justin…you want to go for a swim?"

Justin gaped at her. The suggestion had been made in an intense tone that didn't match the casual words. But besides that…"A swim? Are you nuts? It's freezing! What are you, a fish?"

"Ironic you should ask that," Alyssa muttered under her breath.

But Justin heard it. And that nervous feeling intensified. "W-what was that?"

Instead of saying anything, Alyssa took off her shoes and walked barefoot to the water's edge. Much to his surprise, she ran and dived in with her clothes on.

When she emerged, she was wearing a bikini top made of purple shells. Up through the waves poked the tip of a scaly tail. The scales shimmered purple and were streaked with a silvery green.

Justin felt his jaw drop to his shoulders. Abruptly closing it, he stuttered, "Y-you're a mermaid?"

"Duh," Alyssa joked, thumping her tail on the wave and splashing him. "Are you okay with this?"

Unable to do anything else, Justin shrugged. "U-uh, sure, yeah. Just wondering why you never told me."

"This is the kind of thing I usually wait to tell someone until I meet them in real life," Alyssa explained, swimming up to the shore and lying on the sand before him. "It's different for you. Wizards are common in the magical community. Me…most other people I've told online haven't been able to look past the tail."

"Uh huh," Justin answered. Okay, relax, this isn't so bad. So she's a mermaid. Mermaids are cool, right? And it's not like…uh… "Y-you can't turn me into a mermaid, right? Sorry, bad werewolf experience."

Alyssa laughed. "No, don't worry, it's not contagious."

"And if I say that my sister loved The Little Mermaid when she was a kid, you're not going to blast me for accepting stereotypes, right?" Justin asked.

Laughing again, Alyssa answered, "No. In fact, The Little Mermaid was my favorite movie growing up too."

"That's good to hear," Justin replied. He was beginning to relax at this point, relieved. Thinking back to their conversation, he started, "So, wait, when you said you lived in the neighborhood…"

"You know, if we're going to have a conversation, I better change," Alyssa interrupted. Before Justin could continue, she swung her tail in front of her and touched the shell necklace that she had been wearing the whole night. There was a blue light as the tail morphed into legs.

Stunned, Justin asked, "How does that work, exactly? You just turned into a mermaid when you touched water before."

"Well, changing back into a mermaid can be done with no magical help. It's natural and can be done at will," Alyssa explained, getting up and brushing off her jeans, which were somehow still dry. "But transforming into a human requires an extra magical boost. These necklaces aren't rare, but they're still hard to get."

"Why do you have one then?" Justin asked. He'd never met a mermaid before and was becoming curious.

Alyssa just shook her head and chuckled, pulling him along the beach. "Aren't you full of questions."

"Well, you're a mermaid, I…" He trailed off and smiled as she ran ahead of him, enjoying the Autumn sun and the crashing waves. Maybe dating a mermaid won't be so bad.

Sitting in the lair, Alex picked at her nails while her father taught their next magic lesson. He'd been going on about some history of something or other for the past fifteen minutes. And Alex had no inclination to tune in to find out what it was.

I need a manicure…she thought, holding her hand up in front of her. She caught her older brother's glare out of the corner of her eye, but whatever, he could glare all he wanted. Her dismissive attitude toward the day's lecture was nothing new.

She did, however, raise an eyebrow in surprise when he just gave her a small smirk and refocused on the lesson. Any other day, he would have ratted her out for not paying attention.

It must be that girl, Alex thought, sitting up on the couch and studying her brother. He seemed to be enjoying the lesson more than usual, a goofy grin on his face when he thought no one was looking. He's crushing hard. Well, if it means less trouble for me, I'm all for it.

I wonder what she is…Alex thought, reflecting on what she knew of the new girl in her brother's life. Justin had been somewhat mysterious when he came back from the date a couple of days ago. It was so obvious that he'd had a great time, yet he kept explanations simple, just saying that she was a great, free-spirited girl. Which probably explained his new laid-back demeanor.

Still, Alex's instincts were going off like crazy. If Justin met this girl on WizSpace, she couldn't be normal. She just couldn't. It was simply Justin's track record that history repeat itself.

Not that she cared. Her stupid brother could date whoever or whatever he wanted. But it was always fun for Alex to try and figure out other people's secrets. And then use them to her advantage.

As she thought, she subconsciously took note that she was staring at her brother in deep concentration. She then blinked as her father's hand waved before her eyes to get her attention.

Snapping out of it, Alex blinked and straightened up on the sofa. "What? I'm listening!"

"Sure you are. And I was just teaching you all the Cha Cha Slide." Jerry retorted.

Alex smirked. "Really? 'Cause you never could do it at weddings."

"Yeah, Dad, you always trip over yourself when you try to criss-cross," Max added, laughing and shaking his head.

His hands on his hips, Jerry said, "Alright, just for that…Justin, perform the spell I mentioned on your sister."

"With pleasure," Justin said with a wide smile. With that, he took out his wand and pointed it Alex.

Alex was suddenly nervous. She had no idea what her brother was about to do to her. "Wait, what's he…"

"That'll teach you not to listen. Justin, go ahead," Jerry insisted.

Waving his wand, Justin chanted, "Amoveo Magicus."

Alex felt the spell zap her and looked down at herself. Nothing changed…as far as she could see. "What happened? What'd he do?"

"Now, Alex, turn your brother into a frog," Jerry said.

Doing a double take, Alex replied, "You serious?"

"Yeah, sure, knock yourself out," Jerry replied.

He's up to something. After trading looks with Max, who shrugged, Alex got out her wand. "Alright then. This annoying brother is now not, an ugly frog should fill its slot." She finished the spell with a final point of her wand for emphasis, but nothing happened. "Wait, why isn't he an ugly frog? Well, literally, anyway."

"Because the spell I cast on you disables your powers for a whole three minutes," Justin bragged, a smirk on his face.

Alex gasped and put her hands on her hips. "That's not fair!"

"And bunk, too. I wanted to see Justin as a frog!" Max exclaimed.

"Well, Alex, you would have known he was about to shut down your powers if you listened to the lecture!" Jerry pointed out. "As I've already mentioned, the spell was developed in the middle ages for use during the heat of a wizard battle. You cannot imagine how much a powerless three minutes can affect the outcome. It's usually enough for the losing wizard to escape defeat for the moment."

Checking her watch, Alex waited. Then she grinned. "Well, that was for the moment. Guess what, three minutes is up!" Waving her wand, she said, "This annoying brother is now not, an ugly frog should fill its slot!"

"Alex!" Justin managed to exclaim before he began to morph. A scaly frog stood where Justin had a second earlier.

"What the…how the…Alex!" Jerry sputtered. "That was just for the demonstration! Turn your brother back now!"

"Fine. But in my defense, he's less ugly this way," Alex replied as she once again directed her wand. "This frog is now not, Justin should fill its slot."

The spell took effect, and Justin became human again in an instant. An angry human. "Alex! Consider yourself a rat!" Justin yelled, raising his wand.

Sick of the lesson anyway, Alex ran from the lair, Justin right behind her. She almost crashed into her mother when she made it to the kitchen.

"Alex? What's going on in there?" Theresa demanded, putting her hands on Alex's shoulders.

Feigning tears, Alex whined, "Justin said he's going to turn me into a rat!"

Justin burst into the kitchen, wand still raised as he closed the kitchen door behind him. At his mother's glare, he lowered his wand and hid it behind his back. "Uh, hi Mom."

"Justin! You know there's a rule in this family against turning siblings into animals," Theresa chided.

"Oh, come on, you have to admit she was a cute mouse that one time…" Justin replied. At his mother's stern look, he added, "Besides, she turned me into a frog first!"

"Alex!" Theresa exclaimed.

Trading glances with her brother, Alex muttered, "I'm sorry I turned you into a frog."

"I'm sorry for chasing you," Justin muttered back.

Alex glanced at him. "Call it even?"

"Not even close," Justin joked, but gave her a friendly smile.

Relieved the fighting was over, Theresa ushered them back towards the lair door. "Now you two get back in the lair. I'm sure your father is angry at you for running out on a magic lesson."

"Fine with me. I want to get this over with. I'm meeting Alyssa at the beach later," Justin said, leading the way into the lair.

Alex considered her brother's words as they re-entered the lair. There was the mention of the beach again – what was up with that?