Beth tried not to focus so much on Yvonne's words. After all, looks didn't matter anyway. All that was really important was how you looked on the inside. That's what she always believed. So why did she suddenly feel so self conscious about her appearance?

"So how was your first day?" Alastor had asked her when he picked her up.

"Fine." She half truthed. "Mr. Haskett introduced me and he seems pretty okay."

"Make any friends yet?"

"Not yet."

"Well people hardly make any friends on the first day anyway. I know I didn't."

"Alastor can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Do you think I'm...Pretty?"

"Pretty what? Pretty smart? Pretty well-mannered?"

"Just pretty."

"Oh. Well yes. Yes I think you're pretty. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering."

But Alastor wasn't completely convinced.

"Did something happen today?"

"No. Can't a girl just wonder about her appearance?"

"Yes but you never have."

"Well today I noticed that a lot of girls in my class were wearing make up and nice clothes. In other words they didn't really look like me."

"Beth no one looks like you."

"I mean none of them had freckles or red hair."

"So that means you're not pretty?"

"Nevermind. It was a stupid question to ask."

"Well hang on if something is bothering you-"

"Nothing is bothering me. I just noticed that the girls in my class dress differently than I do. It's nothing to get upset or worried about. Can we just forget the whole thing?"

"If you say so." He accepted reluctantly.

"So listen I was wondering if I could go swimming this afternoon? Is that alright?"

"Well I don't have to leave until 5:30 so I don't see why not. But once I leave you come out of the water and back to the house. Understand?"

"I understand. What time will you be back?"

"Late. Probably around eleven or midnight but I'll have Angel bring you something for dinner at seven."

"Oh no don't leave me alone with him."

"He's just going to drop off dinner for you and go."

"Why couldn't just fix me something to eat earlier and save it for me to have later?"

"I thought you would want something fresh."

"Liar! He's your snitch! You're sending him to check up on me!"

"Alright you caught me." He said. "I just want to make sure that you are staying out of the water when I'm not there."

"You don't trust me?"

"No. I know how obsessed you are with the ocean and you have a rebellious streak. I wouldn't be smart to trust you."

"Fair enough."

When they came to the house, Beth immediately put on her swimsuit and went down to meet Charlie by the shore. She had gotten Beth's message in a bottle and arrived right on time, both girls were ready to confide to the other about today's events.

"She said I was ugly." Beth told Charlie. "She said that a scrawny body, wacky red hair, freckles, and crooked teeth, aren't exactly what most people would consider pretty."

"What a terrible thing to say." Charlie replied. "You don't actually believe that, do you?"

"Um...Maybe a little bit."

"Oh but you mustn't believe that. Truthfully you're a very beautiful child."

"Don't humor me."

"I mean it. Your hair is so much like the red sea flowers I used to keep my garden, your eyes are like the emeralds from my father's treasure, and your freckles are just adorable. I wish I was lovely as you were when I was young."

"Are you kidding? You were probably the most beautiful little girl in the world."

"Tell that to my sisters. They would always tease me about how short and chubby I was. They said that I would never grow up to be the great beauties they were."

"That's so mean."

"Well that's how older siblings are. Helena was the oldest so naturally she was always treating me like I was a child who didn't know anything. Beatrice was the one who took the most after our father so compassion and understanding were a foreign concept to her. Delilah and Evelyn were vain and flirtatious just like our mother but at least Mom had a heart. Aurora would belittle me like the others but she would treat me kindly. As for Celeste, again she died before I was born so I don't know how she would have treated me."

"Oh but my brother would never be mean to me. He does tease me a lot but he would never make me feel like I was ugly. He's honest and kind and selfless. A terrific man really."

"I wish I could meet him. He sounds like the ideal human to prove my theory and win the wager." Charlie mused.

"What wager?"

"Well my parents discovered that I had tricked them and they found a way to contact me. I worked out a deal with them. If I can prove to them that human beings are not all cruel then they'll call off my betrothal and put an end to their plan for human genocide."

"Well that shouldn't be too hard to prove."

"Guess again. I can't get any proof of that from the sea. I have to go right to the source and that's on land. Unfortunately I lack certain appendages that are required to stay on land." She glanced down at her tail.

"Can't you grow legs when you're dry?"

"No. Where did you get that crazy idea?"

"A lot of movies and books. I guess they were false. So there's no way for you to get legs?"

"There used to be one way. Years ago there used to be a sea witch who could make such a thing possible but my father banished her. He thought merpeople turning into humans was the most horrible thing imaginable and he wouldn't allow it in his domain."

"So sea witches are real too?"

"Yes."

"Are they evil?"

"Some. Not all. I heard that this one in particular was very neutral. Neither good or bad, she was just trying to run a business."

"Do you know where she was banished to?"

"She spent the rest of her days trafficking in the human world. She's dead now so there's no chance of me learning how to walk."

"Unless she left something behind. Like maybe a spell book or a few potions."

"Well if she did there's no way we'd be able to find it. I don't know where in the surface world the sea witch went to. It happened fifty years ago."

"Fifty years ago? How old are you?"

"I'm twenty-five but my kind's lifespan is three hundred years and our physical age moves at a very slow rate. Both my parents are one hundred but they look as if they're in their early forties."

"So that is true. I read in a book that merfolk live a very long time. Is it also true that you don't have souls?"

"That's correct and when we die we turn to sea foam. But long ago I learned that a mermaid like myself earn an immortal soul. There are two ways. She must either spend her life performing good deeds or she must win the love of a human, so that he is willing to forget his father and mother for her sake, and to love her with his whole soul, and allow the priest to join their hands that they may be man and wife, then his immortal soul will be shared with her."

"Did you ever think about trying to earn an immortal soul?"

"I did once. I tried to perform good deeds but in the world I was born into being selfish is a way of life. My father said that goodness would only get me killed and obviously I couldn't try to win a human's love. As much as I believe that humans are capable of love, I am not naive to how fickle they can be. I know that they don't always have one love and I know that there are plenty of cases where it's not even love, it's just lust."

"Not my brother." Beth said. "He's never been one to succumb to lust or toy with the emotions of a woman. In fact I'm pretty sure the only reason he would ever be with a woman is if he was truly in lo-"

Then a light bulb went off. She took a moment to really take in Charlie's entire form. Her angelic face, her lovely eyes that were not one but two colors, the scent radiating off her skin. She smelled like salt but she also smelled of something fragrant. She smelled of flowers.

"Charlie."

"Yes?"

"Are you wearing perfume?"

"What's perfume?"

"Something that humans use to smell nice. I'm asking you this because you smell like flowers."

"That's probably because when I got to the surface I like to smell the flowers that grow near the shore. The land always has the most beautiful flowers like lavender, aster, periwinkle, holly. The petals would fall into my hair and on my arms and neck sometimes."

"Interesting." Beth said liking the answer very much. "And I know that mermaids have wonderful singing voices. Would you say that you have one?"

"Well my mother told me that when I sing it's the most the beautiful sound to have ever been heard under the waves and no human's vocals could ever compare to mine but I think that's just her being too vain again. She's always talking about how the beauty of human women could never be equal to the loveliness of her or her daughters."

"I'll take her word for it for now."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh nothing. I just think that I may have found a way for you to win that little wager you made."

"Really? How?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow. Right now my brother is about to leave for his job and I have to stay inside for the rest of the day. I'll see you tomorrow. Same time."

"Okay."