Ben was sitting on the beach, staring out into the ocean and was feeling miserable while Ruby lay next to him and she looked anxiously at her owner who seemed to be a million miles away and not focusing on anything.

Normally, he would be going for his early morning swim and then taking Ruby for her walk but instead he just sat and stared into space, thinking about his mysterious girl and hearing her beautiful voice in his head.

'That voice, I just can't get it out of my head,' Ben said, 'and that girl. I dreamed about her again, Ruby, I know she's real even if Dad and the guys say that she's nothing more than an illusion that I made up but why can't I find her?'

Ruby gave a sympathetic whimper and leaned against her owner and Ben petted her as tears were forming in his eyes.

In the few days since he was rescued from the storm that had almost claimed his life, he had been haunted by the voice of the girl and nightmares of drowning which had ended with her rescuing him and was hounded by concerned members of the public who had heard his story on the news and had wanted to know if he was alright.

Ben knew they meant well but he was getting sick of their endless questions, especially ones about the mysterious girl and he had asked them politely to leave him alone, even to his friends who were genuinely concerned about him but he wasn't in the mood for their company and just wanted to be by himself for a while.

He had also driven around the Gold Coast in his new car several times under the ruse that he was taking it out for a first drive and also searched every beach and suburb looking for her but had been unsuccessful and it was tearing him up inside that he couldn't find his true love as he heard her singing in his mind again.

Ben sighed heavily and said, 'I've looked everywhere, Ruby, where could she be?'

Unbeknownst to Ben at this very moment while he and Ruby walked across the beach, Senna and Aurora were dragging themselves to the shallow water and were clearly exhausted from their swim to bring Lily to the surface at the very place where they had been a few days ago, dragging another useless human body.

Lily was resting next to them before she stirred and noticed the tops of knees poking out of the water and she lifted her new lower right leg up and smiled as she wiggled her toes.

She used them to tickle Aurora to wake her up and the little fish giggled and gasped in amazement at seeing the strange things on Lily but Senna didn't share her feelings as she looked at Lily's legs.

'Look at those stumpy things you have now, Lily,' she muttered to herself, 'and humans think that they are beautiful? They look clumsy and difficult to walk on, so I don't know how on earth you are going to manage walking on them and not having a voice..'

'Well, look what the catfish dragged in!' squawked the familiar foghorn voice of Sandy, interrupting Senna as she swooped down and landed ungracefully as ever in the water before she shook it off and jumped on Lily's lower right leg.

'Look at you, sweetie! There's something different about you, I know there is! No, wait; don't tell me, I'll get it in a jiffy!' she said.

'She's got…' Senna began but Sandy ignored her as she was straining to think and then said,

'You got a new hairdo, didn't you? That dinglehopper sure did the trick; your hair looks as lovely as ever! What's your secret?'

Lily shook her head and Sandy frowned, 'No new hairdo? Fair dinkum but there is definitely something different about you…'

'Look where her tail used to be,' Senna whispered to her.

'Don't tell me, I will get this!' squawked Sandy, 'new seashells?' she then said to Lily before realising that she still wore the same pink seashell bra that she always had.

'Okay, no new seashells,' Sandy said as Lily wiggled her right leg up and down to get her clueless friend to see that she had legs instead of a tail.

But the clueless seagull didn't even when she was bounced off Lily's leg and fell into the water, coughing and spluttering before shaking droplets off her feathers and continued with her guessing game and Senna was starting to get fed up with it, as she said,

'Sandy, you featherbrain, if you would actually bother to use those glassy beads for eyes, you will see that Lily's tail has been replaced with….'

'NO CLUES!' Sandy squawked at the crab, 'I'll get this in a minute!' but after many more fruitless guesses, she gave up and said,

'Well, sweetie, I am truly stumped. I just can't figure out what is different about you, but if I just stand here long enough, maybe it'll come to me…'

That was the final straw for Senna and she was fed up with this mindless game and Sandy's clueless behaviour.

'OH, RUDDY HECK, SHE'S GOT LEGS, YOU DIM-WIT!' she yelled at Sandy,

'She traded her voice to Sharla the sea witch and she gave her legs! How could you not see those stumpy things RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU?! Blooming heck, you'll lose your head if it wasn't screwed on!'

'I knew that, you pompous pommie!' Sandy said, defensively, 'it was obvious from here to Hobbittbarty!'

'Not to you it wasn't,' muttered Senna.

'Lily's been turned into a human,' Aurora said, calmly as Lily attempted to stand up only to lose her balance and fall into the water with each clumsy attempt.

It was like when she was a toddler and was learning to swim for the first time, only she was using legs to walk instead of her tail and it was proving to be very difficult but Lily was determined to get the hang of it, as she kept trying.

'And she has to make Ben fall in love with her and he has to kiss her!' Aurora then said.

'And she only has four days!' Senna moaned, flailing her arms like a terrible actor on stage, as she watched the former mermaid struggle to stand upright, her legs wobbling with each turn and for Senna to see it, it was like the world was ending.

'Didn't it used to be three days?' Sandy said.

'Yes, well, Sharla was being 'very generous' and gave Lily an extra day,' Senna said, 'just look at her! On legs! Human legs! Those awful stumpy things that humans think are beautiful! My nerves are completely shot! This is an absolute disaster!

What would her mother say if she was to see her now? I'll tell her what she'll say, she'll say, 'You're crab cakes now, Senna!' and give me to the palace chef to be tomorrow night's entrée, which is my very worst fear!'

Lily had now managed to stand upright but still had some wobbles in her legs as she scooped up Senna in her hands, as she said,

'I'm going to put a stop to this nonsense once and for all! I'll march myself up to the queen and tell her like I should've done in the first place and nipped it in the bud before..

And don't you dare shake your head at me, young lady! You've made your bed, now you must lie in it!' Senna shouted at Lily who was shaking her head frantically at the crab and dangled her above the water like she was going to drop her and that wouldn't have been fun for her.

Senna then took a few deep breaths to compose herself as Lily placed her back in her palm and she calmly said,

'Alright, let's stay calm here, maybe all is not lost. Maybe we still have time to fix this mess before the queen knows about it.

If we can go back to the sea, visit Sharla and convince her to give you your voice back and turn you into a mermaid again, you can go home to your mother and sisters and all the normal fish and just be.. just be..'

Senna stopped mid-sentence when she saw the face Lily was giving her, putting on her best puppy-dog eyes and her lip was trembling slightly as if to convince Senna not to dash her dreams and the crab sighed heavily, knowing that she had been beaten.

'Just be miserable for the rest of your life,' she said.

Although she couldn't believe what she was going to say next, she wanted to make up for all the hurt she had caused Lily and had fuelled her resentment of her and sighed again, as she said,

'Alright, alright, you got me. I'll help you win over what's-his-face,' as Lily smiled and gave the crab a kiss as her way to forgive her and to apologise for shouting at her before placing her down on the sand where she had been.

'Ben,' Aurora piped up, 'his name is Ben.'

'Right, Ben,' Senna said, sighing, 'Blooming heck, what a soft shell I'm turning out to be. I try to be firm but fair but I always end up cracking!'

'Now, Lily, since you are now a human, you have to dress like one,' Sandy said, 'going au naturelly may be fine in the merworld but here it is severely frowned upon.

I mean, you don't see any human without any clothes on and you certainly can't go around in just your seashells, but don't worry, I'll find you something really nice.

Just sit tight and I'll be back in a jiffy!' as she flew away into the distance.

Elsewhere, Ben was strolling along the beach with Ruby running in front of him, still feeling sorry for himself at not being able to find the girl he had fallen in love with.

His phone, which the crew of the yacht was able to get for him, along with his friends' ones, was beeping in his pocket but he ignored it as he walked rather slowly, kicking the sand with his feet and not caring if it got into his thongs.

Then an obnoxiously loud car horn blared at him, which made Ben look up and see that it was Cody, Adam and Matt, another one of his friends, in Cody's car which was a blue Holden and they called out to him,

'Hey Ben, mate, we're going to Maccas for breakfast! Wanna come with us?'

'No, thank you, I'm taking Ruby for her walk,' Ben said, rather sourly which made his friends frown at his unusual behaviour yet they knew it had something to do with that mysterious girl who he said saved him and it was messing with his head.

'Aw come on, mate, you gotta get that girl out of your head!' Matt said, 'come and have breakfast with us, that'll cheer you up and make you forget about her!'

'You got to stop moping around, Ben and have a life,' Cody said, 'you know that she doesn't exist. She's just a deluded fantasy you had when you nearly drowned and swallowed all that seawater.'

'That's what Dad said to me earlier,' Ben said, 'but I'll keep looking for her, no matter what, so can you please just leave me alone now? I'm not in the mood for Maccas, I'll get something when I go home.'

'Suit yourself,' Cody said, 'see you this arvo,' as he and the boys drove away.

Ben was wondering what his friend meant when Ruby noticed something and sniffed the air, picking up a very familiar scent which she realised that it was her owner's mystery girl and she began bouncing around, barking excitedly.

'Ruby?' Ben said, confused at his dog's suddenly strange behaviour, 'Ruby, what are you doing, girl? What has gotten into you?'

Ruby realised that her owner didn't understand what she was trying to tell him, that his mysterious girl was nearby so she ran off in the direction that the scent was coming from and since she didn't have a leash on, she attracted some unwanted attention from an elderly couple that were walking down the beach.

'That dog ought to be on a leash!' the woman said, 'what kind of irresponsible owner lets their dog run wild on the beach?'

'Ruby!' Ben called while running after his dog and ignoring the stares that the couple were giving him, 'Ruby, come back, girl!'

'Hey, that's Phil Steele's son,' the man said, 'Poor bloke's been through a lot lately with nearly drowning on his birthday and making up crazy stories about a girl rescuing him, so don't be giving him any more grief, love,' as he and his wife watched the boy chase his dog down the beach.

'Here you go, sweetie, a beeut-fiul new dress for you!' Sandy said, triumphantly as she draped a baby-blue curtain with a pink and yellow rose print around Lily and tied the cord around her waist to keep it in place.

'And don't you just look fabulous in it!' she said as Lily twirled around in it while Senna frowned at the awful pattern and was wondering how Sandy managed to get it, as she hadn't seen it lying around on the beach.

'Sandy, where on earth did you get this thing?' Senna said.

'Oh, I..found it lying around,' said Sandy, shifting her eyes back and forward in a suspicious manner.

Meanwhile, at a house on the beachfront…

'Did you see that, luv?' an elderly woman said to her husband as she looked at the missing curtain that had been on the living room window, that Sandy had stolen earlier when she wasn't looking,

'Some dirty seagull flew in and nicked one of the curtains! Those were our best curtains from Myer and the rat with wings stole it! Bloody thief! When I get my hands on it..'

'You must be seeing things, darl,' the man said, while reading his newspaper.

Back on the beach…

'Well, I wouldn't have chosen the pattern but at least she's clothed,' Senna said, still frowning at the curtain-dress but Lily seemed to be unfazed by it.

'Thank you, I do have a great taste in fashion, if I say so myself,' Sandy said, which Senna rolled her eyes at before the sound of barking could be heard nearby which made the seagull squawk out,

'Look out, furry land creature at nine o'clock!'

Aurora gasped and swam below the surface and Senna ducked for cover by hiding in the curtain around Lily just as Ruby appeared, panting and barking excitedly as she saw Lily who was sitting down on the sand and was shifting away from the dog.

Ruby then approached the former mermaid, sniffing her familiar scent and ran around her, barking happily before standing on her back paws and licked Lily's cheek repeatedly like she did on the night of the party which made Lily smile as she saw the friendly dog that liked her so much.

Hey, it's you! She thought, smiling as the dog kept licking her just as a very familiar voice called out to her, 'Ruby?'

Lily looked up just in time to see Ben appear on the beach, which made her heart flutter as she hastily brushed her hair with her fingers in an effort to look tidy, which wasn't easy since Ruby was still leaping on her.

Ben was dressed in a white Superdry T-shirt and Maroons shorts and he had blue Quiksilver thongs on his feet and Lily thought he was as handsome as the day she met him now that she was seeing him properly for the first time.

'Ruby, what has gotten into you, girl.. Oh I see,' he said only to stop short to see a blonde-haired girl sitting on the beach looking at him, wearing an old person's curtain like a dress and being subjected to Ruby's frisky behaviour.

'Oh, strewth, are you alright, miss?' Ben said, rushing to her side.

'Ruby! Heel! Get down, Ruby! Heel!' he then said as he lunged forward and pulled the dog away from Lily, holding her firmly in his arms as Lily tided herself up again.

'I'm so sorry about this, miss, I hope this dingbat hasn't been bothering you,' Ben said, patting Ruby and ruffling her fur as Lily smiled at him.

'She's harmless and friendly and wouldn't hurt a fly. She just gets excited, that's all and regards everyone she meets as a friend. Something about you must have made her excited…'

Ben stopped mid-sentence as he got a good look at the girl for the first time.

She had beautiful blue eyes and her blonde hair flowed behind her like a veil, just like his mysterious girl did and there was something very familiar about her but he couldn't figure out what it was.

'You look familiar,' he said, never taking his eyes off Lily, 'you remind me of the girl that rescued me from drowning when the yacht I was on broke up in a fire on the ocean…'

Could it really be her? He thought as his eyes widened hopefully. Maybe his search was over and that the girl that was sitting right in front of him was the one who saved him and who he vowed to find and had searched the entire Gold Coast for.

'Is it you?' Ben said, then realised that what he said was pretty tactless and corrected himself, 'I mean, have we met?'

Lily nodded cheerfully and Ruby barked happily. He had almost gotten it right and if he seemed to have a good memory of the storm, then this wasn't as hard as she thought it would be and it was turning out to be like her dream.

'We have?' Ben said, a dazzling smile appearing on his face as he gently pushed Ruby aside and Lily nodded again which made Ben smile and his eyes lit up as he took Lily's hands into his which made both their hearts flutter.

'I knew it, you're the one! The girl I have been looking for!' Ben said, 'and to think I searched all over the Gold Coast only for you to be right here in Mermaid Beach! What's your name?'

Only then did Lily realise that she had no voice to speak with as she tried to say her name but no words came out and she turned away from Ben disappointed.

'Oh, you can't talk?' Ben said, as Lily shook her head sadly and he then sighed in disappointment for getting his hopes up again only for them to be dashed yet again.

'Then you can't be who I thought you were,' he said, 'sorry about that, I guess I got my hopes up prematurely again.'

Ruby gave her owner a sceptical look by blowing her ears up in the air and Lily copied her by blowing her hair out of her eyes which made Ben chuckle as he sat down next to Lily and held her hand which made her heart flutter again.

'Still, it was lovely to meet you anyway,' Ben said, kindly as Ruby nuzzled up to Lily, ''I'm Ben, by the way, Ben Steele.'

Although Lily already knew his name, she liked hearing it again, especially from him since his voice was so kind and gentle and his accent was so enchanting, even if she didn't really understand it.

'Well, Benjamin really, but no one ever calls me that except my old teachers from school and even my old man's given up on it,' Ben then said, chuckling.

'Still it's always nice to make a new friend but I don't suppose we can get along if I don't know your name especially since you can't speak.'

Then he had a brilliant idea and gave Lily the smile that she was starting to like so much and he seemed to be much happier with her rather than with his friends which was in contrast to his mood earlier with them.

'Why don't you write it down for me in the sand?' Ben said and Lily nodded eagerly.

Sharla may have taken away her voice but she still had the ability to write and if she couldn't tell Ben her name, she could at least write it down for him.

She slowly rose up from the sand as Ben took her hand and helped her walk down to the water, although her wobbles were getting better and she was walking quite steadily but she was happy for Ben to help her as they found the damper sand and Lily knelt down and picked up a stick and carefully wrote down her name.

'Lily,' Ben then said, 'that's such a beautiful name.'

This made her blush and in an attempt to show Ben that she was the one who saved his life and how she came onto the beach, she drew a yacht, some waves and a few streaks of lightning under her name.

'What are you…oh, you were on a yacht in a storm weren't you?' Ben said, as he saw the drawing, 'and you got shipwrecked and wound up here and…' as he saw Lily using her hand to imitate Sharla taking her voice but he interpreted that she had injured her throat which would explain why she couldn't speak.

'And you injured your throat so that you can't speak and you were the only one who survived.' Ben said, as he looked at the girl sympathetically.

Even though she may not be the one who saved him, he was starting to like her and she needed help after everything she had been through.

'Strewth, you've really been through a lot, haven't you?' Ben said as Lily nodded at him, although she was frustrated that she had been unable to explain the truth to him but maybe he was better off not knowing, he probably wouldn't believe her.

'Well, welcome to Queensland,' he said, 'we get hit with nasty storms and cyclones every year and around this time as well, but it's a small price to pay to live in the sunshine state which is such a beaut place.'

'Speaking of which, why don't you come and crash at my house?' Ben then suggested, 'you can't stay at the beach forever, especially not in an oldies' curtain!' which make Lily smirk and she nodded eagerly at accepting his offer.

'We can help you get on your feet, get you cleaned up and some nice clothes and you can stay as long as you need to,' Ben then said, talking both figuratively and literally as he helped Lily up and she leaned against him to get her balance.

'I'm sure my dad and our housekeeper won't mind, we'll be happy to have you and no, I don't live on the beach but I do live near it in Hedges Avenue, which is only a stone's throw away,' as he pointed to a row of houses that were near the beach front.

'Don't worry, I'll help you,' Ben said as he wrapped his arm around Lily and Ruby stayed by her side as he led her towards his house which was only a short walk away, 'you're safe with me now.'

Lily glanced over her shoulder and saw Aurora and Sandy smiling and waving as they watched her walk away with Ben and she smiled at them as Sandy gave her a thumbs-up with her wing and Senna grinned slightly as she peeked out from a fold in the curtain.

Ruby barked merrily as she trotted beside her master and the former mermaid as she titled her head back and looked up at the cloudless blue sky while feeling the slight breeze blow through her hair and the warm rays from the sun shine on her face and she savoured every moment.

For the first time in sixteen years, she was truly free.

Welcome to the Gold Coast, Lily! Will she be welcomed with open arms by Ben's father, housekeeper and his friends?

Read and review to find out! :)