"What a funny little trinket." She thought while admiring the gold object she had discovered in the wet sand of the shore. "Funny but pretty. It must be some sort of decoration. Like my necklace, though I'm not sure how humans where this thing."

She examined the each of the charms individually.

"I wonder what these are supposed to be." She inquired when she looked at the piano shaped charm and the note shaped charm. "I know that one is a human girl, the other is a type of land creature, what are they called again? Birds? I think that's it. But these two...I can't put my finger on what they could be."

But before she could even think about doing a investigation, she sensed that someone was coming and she hid herself behind the rocks like last time. She took a moment peer over and she saw that it was the young girl from before. The one who had come to aid that poor man she had saved.

"It has to be around here somewhere." Beth said looking over the sand. "Oh please don't let it have been washed away."

When she couldn't find what she was searching for in the dry sand, Beth moved closer to the shore. She saw something sparkling in the water by some rocks and moved toward that item. What was hiding near those rocks panicked. It suddenly moved away real fast like in hopes of hiding from the girl but it was a futile effort.

"Who's there?" The red-headed girl called. When no one answered she spoke, "Hey I'm young but I'm not stupid. I know someone is back there, show yourself."

"Now what?" Thought the hidden figure. "Don't know anyway out of this without exposing myself to her."

"If you won't come out then I'll come in." Beth warned.

"No! Wait a minute! Don't come over I...I'll come out."

The child heard a deep breath being taken before the owner of the voice made herself visible at last. Beth was immediately astounded by the beauty of this figure. Her hair was long enough to cover her body and it was a pale shade blonde that reminded Beth of the finest silk, her eyes were deep blue like the sea but also bright silver like moonlight, skin as fair and blush as an evening primrose, she was as beautiful as a pearl maybe even more so. However Beth's astonishment was increased ten fold when she looked down at the woman's lower body to see a scaly, turquoise colored fish tail instead of legs.

"Oh my God." Beth had to blink a few times and splash her face with water to make sure that she wasn't hallucinating. "Are you...A...A...A mermaid?"

The enchanting creature waited five minutes before answering.

"Yes." She smiled nervously.

"Oh my God!" Beth shouted in amazement. "This is...This is incredible! I never thought- Wait are you for real or just some lady in a costume trying to advertise?"

"I'm sorry what?" The mermaid asked confused. "Costume? Advertise? What in the world are those?"

Beth looked down at her fish tail. It did look very authentic. It even had movable fins. She bent over and grabbed a little of the scaly flesh to see if it would tear off like cloth.

"Ow!" The mermaid cried, jerking her tail back. "That hurt! What did you do that for?"

"It didn't tear!" The girl realized. "It doesn't come off! It's not a costume! You're the real deal! Holy crap!"

Beth was ecstatic. Growing up she had always believed in mermaids and she adored reading or hearing stories about them. When she was much younger she would search the bayou creek for mermaids but then she found out that they were native to the sea. Her brother and all other adults in her life had written such creatures of as fictional and nothing more. But here was a real live mermaid right in front of her. A real live half woman half fish.

"I don't believe this!" She squealed. "This is the most amazing moment of my life! I told Al that some legends were real! Oh there's so much I want to know about you!"

"Well hold on, would you mind keeping your voice down?" The mermaid requested. "I'm technically not supposed to let humans see me and I've already been seen by you, I wouldn't want to expose myself to anyone else."

"Oh...Sorry." Beth changed her tone. "Wait you're not going to go away are you? I have some many things I want to ask you?"

"Well...According to my father it would be in my best interest to swim away right now but I haven't exactly been following his rules lately so I suppose I could stay to answer some questions. Especially from a human calf."

"A human calf?"

"Well that's what dolphin and whale young are called, a calf. And humans are mammals like dolphins and whales so I thought-"

"Not all mammals call their young the same thing. You merfolk don't call your young calves, do you? Wait are you mammals? Do you like lay eggs or something?"

"No we're mammals. We're warm blooded and produce our offspring through birth. We also refer to our young has younglings. What exactly are human young called?"

"Children."

"Oh!"

"But you know I've always wondered something, if you're a mammal how can you breathe underwater?"

"I don't know but I heard that there's a land mammal that can lay eggs. Is that true?"

"Yes. It's called a platypus."

"Well how can that mammal lay eggs?"

"I don't think even Einstein could have cracked that mystery."

"Who's Einstein?"

"Nevermind. No more complicated questions. Only simple ones. So what's your name?"

"Charlotte but you can call me Charlie."

"Where did you come from?"

"From the kingdom of Magne which dwells at the bottom of the South Seas."

"Wow. That's a long address."

"What's your name?"

"My name is Elisabeth. Elisabeth Boudreaux but I prefer to be called Beth."

"Alright but Elisabeth is a lovely name."

"Thank you. It was my grandmother's. My mother named me after her because apparently I had her eyes." The girl explained. "When I was first learning to talk I had a hard time saying my name so my brother proposed that everyone call me Beth."

"I don't really my name so that's why I prefer to be called Charlie."

"Why? Charlotte is a beautiful name and you know in Louisiana it means freedom."

"What's Louisiana?"

"It's where I live and where you are right now. To be exact we're in Chant de la Mer."

"Song of the Sea."

"Excuse me?"

"Chant de la Mer, it's French for Song of the Sea."

"You speak French?"

"Yes. For years I've taught myself to know every human language spoken. Much to my father's chargin. He thinks it's a foolish subject to learn."

"You mean merfolk don't speak English?"

"No. We have our own language like your species does but we can learn other languages if we're willing to. My father tries to prevent any way of obtaining human knowledge but I was able to self-educate myself."

"How?"

"Well I learned English, French, and Spanish by observing humans and paying attention to how they speak and what their words refer to. The rest of the languages I learned by reading books that were lost at sea. A lot of ships sink down to my world."

Beth cringed for a moment.

"Does that mean a lot of human...Bodies sink down to your world?"

Guilt flashed in her eyes.

"I can't really answer that. I haven't seen many human bodies but I know that my father doesn't exactly feel compassion for your kind."

"Then is it true that mermaids use their voices to lure humans to their death?"

Charlie nodded remorsefully.

"My mother is one of them but not me. Believe me I've never done anything so cruel and I would never harm you. I believe that all creatures have a right to live."

Now Beth didn't know this mermaid very well. Logically speaking, there was no way she could tell right now if Charlie was being sincere or lying. But human logic did not apply to merfolk and Beth could tell just by Charlie's eyes, that a gentle and selfless heart was beating within her chest. That she truly felt horrified and ashamed by the acts committed by the more wicked members of her kind.That's thing about other worldly creatures, you could always tell who they really were just by looking into their eyes.

"I believe you." Beth said.

Charlie smiled and gazed into the girl's pupils in return.

"I like you. You have a keen mind and flashing eyes." She commented. "Do you want to go swimming?"

"Are you kidding?!" Beth was almost leaping. "That's like a dream come true for me! I'd love to go swimming with you!"

But then she remembered her brother. Alastor had told her that she was to never go swiming alone and she had already broken one rule by leaving the house when he wasn't there. Though on the other hand, technically she wouldn't be swimming alone. She would have someone with her, someone who's an adult no less. So there was no danger.

"Give me one moment." She said. "I need to get changed and I'm expecting a call from my brother. If I don't pick up he'll panic."

"Alright."

Beth went back up to the house and after thirty minutes of waiting, Alastor called.

"So did you make it on time?" Beth asked. "Good so how was the audition...Oh you haven't done it yet?...There are more acts trying out huh? Well you're ten times better than them...I don't care I if I haven't even seen them I know you're better...Oh no! No need to send Angel I've decided not to go into town today. I'll just stay here...I promise I'm not going swimming alone. Trust me...Great so um what time will you be back?...At three? Okay. See you then. I love you...Bye."

She hung up and quickly changed into her one piece swimsuit, put on her goggles, and went back down to the beach. She had also brought her snorkel but Charlie gave her a special shell to stick to her face which would allow her to breathe better in the water and go even deeper. Hand in hand, the mermaid and her new human friend swam deep into the ocean to observe the life that existed below. It was beyond Beth's wildest dreams.

All her life she had enjoyed swimming. There was just something about being in the water that made her feel so alive and she was always longed to see the underwater world up close. Now she could. She could see all the bright and colorful fish, coral, reefs, first hand. It was better than what she dreamed.

"It was beautiful." Beth said when they came up to the surface. "You're so lucky that you get to see all that everyday."

"If you ask me it's your world that's more exciting." Charlie said. "For years I've watched it from the surface, observing how your kind lives, collecting mementos that get tossed in the sea."

"Mementos? Like what?"

"Well follow me and I'll show you."

And down again they went.