"Wait, what?" Monroe picked up a hair which was still attached to the twine. "Ah. Looks like you got spelled."

"Spelled?" Nick looked up. "L- like magic?"

Monroe nodded. "Not just any kind of magic. You've got wassermann magic right here."

The casing was still on the ground, and Nick picked it up. Upon closer investigation, he saw it was some type of seaweed. "What's a wassermann?"

Monroe sat on the bed. "Water sprite. Basically the bastard love child of two different creatures. Like, if I got a blutbad woman pregnant, bam, puppies. Oh, stop smirking, I'm just making a point. But if I were to knock up, I don't know, say a mauzhertz, the result would be a wassermann. I just can't believe you had one of those things in your house, man. Gross."

Nick put a hand on his forehead. "What do you mean, 'gross'? Why is it gross? And besides, she can't be one. I would have seen her change, wouldn't I? We talked about some things that would have made her show herself."

"Does she close her eyes a lot?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Wassermann." Monroe didn't even let him finish. "They're kind of a 'border creature', I guess you could say. Not quite a creature, but not exactly human, either. They don't change like we do. It's only their eyes. Every time she closed her eyes, there's no doubt they were changing colour." He got up and picked up the trash can from the corner and help it up. "Do you think anything else drinks this much water in, what, two days? Not even?" It was true. There were at least twelve plastic bottles. "They're weird.

"See, wassermanns are probably the most hated thing out there. They've always been seen as mistakes, or symbols of affairs. Famous for trying to drown people, taking a hair from them, then letting them escape. Once they're gone, they make one of these babies." He referred to the bundle in Nick's hand. "Once your hair's in there, they can make you do anything until it breaks. They're pretty limited to power, but I've heard of people killing themselves because of these things. Looks like your girl's new at this, though, considering A: She left it just laying around and B: It came apart so easily. Well, she is just fifteen. She probably hasn't had her powers for more that three, four years."

Nick nodded slowly. "So, what do I do? I can't just kick her out."

"Sure you can. Just get her alone, tell her you know what she is, and threaten her with some Grimm power thing. It doesn't even have to be true, those morons will believe anything." Monroe stated.

"What's going on here?" They turned their heads to see the teenage girl standing about three feet from them. Without thinking, Nick tackled her to the ground. "Nick! What the hell are you doing?"

He pinned her arms. "Who are you?" He demanded.

"Nick, it's me! Alexandra Burkhardt! Alex!" Her eyes moved to the left and she saw a shard of topaz laying by her head. "Oh, you found it. I guess the jig is up, then. Just hear me out, will ya?"

He reluctantly got off of her, but took his gun out of his pocket. "Just don't try anything."

Alex sat up, but she didn't get off the floor. "My name is Alexandra Smith. And judging by your buddy's expression, you both know what I am. My mother died when I was twelve, and I was adopted by Matthew Burkhardt two years ago. After he died, I became an emancipated minor. With a bit of influencing, or course." She glanced at the rock beside her. "I wasn't lying when I said I'm your cousin. It's just not by blood."

"But if it's true, why didn't you just tell me?" Nick looked her straight in the face.

He almost jumped when the dark brown eyes flashed to an abnormally bright blue. "What, just walk up to your door, 'Hi. You're a Grimm and I'm a wassermann, and guess what? Your dead uncle is my adopted father, even though he never mentioned me once'. Yeah, because that could only have ended well." She went over to her bag and pulled out a metal water bottle and took a drink. When she caught sight of the look on Monroe's face, she returned his scowl with one of her own, which looked almost exactly like his. "What? You don't want to be in the same room with me, blutbad?" Again, her eyes turned, this time staying the piercing colour for more than a moment. Monroe stayed silent, glaring at her. "Fine. Have it your way." She stormed out of the room, out of the house. She didn't start to cry until she was sure she wasn't being followed.

There was silence in the guest room for about a minute before Monroe spoke. "Typical wassermann. Always playing the pity card."

Nick began making his way to the door. "I have to go find her."

"No, you don't." Monroe grabbed the sleeve of Nick's shirt. "She'll come back. She just wants you to feel guilty, then she'll have you like a puppet. The best thing you can do is let her realize her tactics aren't going to work."

"Well... Alright." Every ounce of morality he had screamed at him to do just the opposite, but he figured Monroe knew more about the subject than he did.

He gave Nick a friendly pat on the back. "I'm gonna go. She'll be back by the time you wake up tomorrow."

He got into bed with Juliette, but instead of sleeping, he reflected on the day's events. Despite Monroe's explanation, he didn't quite understand why wassermanns were so despised. She seemed innocent enough. Were they really that dangerous? Or maybe Monroe was exaggerating. But he refused to even talk to her. Something just didn't add up.

Monroe took a shower the moment he got home to get the stench off of him, but he quickly discovered it would be at least two days before it went away completely. He sighed and simply walked around his house, thinking. The wassermann reminded him of someone, but he couldn't put his finger on who. He shook his head and fell asleep on the couch, dreaming of days long since passed.