I met Lena back at the house. She was mildly annoyed that I'd disappeared out on the beach, but she also wasn't going to bring it up in front of Mom and Dad or anything. Mainly because she would've gotten busted too for not watching me. But it was a good reminder that I had to be a little more careful from now on. 

I didn't go out that night—between meeting the Undersea Queen, boutiquing with Lena and Tess, and meeting Max at the aquarium I was exhausted. So instead I planned the ultimate night in. I put on Gilmore Girls, took a long bath, brewed up some tea Dad kept in the kitchen cabinet, and did some writing in my diary. 

Specifically, I found myself writing about Talu, the mysterious prince of the Undersea who'd saved my life as a princely type should. We'd had a connection on the beach, and again in the palace when I'd been introduced to his mother.

Was Talu the kind of boy I could fall in love with?
I could easily see it, and yet—

It was forbidden, wasn't it? For a human to love a mermaid? 

Maybe I could be the exception—not quite human, not quite mermaid.

But he was also a prince. And in love with another girl, a mermaid and a sea-witch at that.

The idea seemed preposterous. After all, I was the girl who had only just figured out how to be pretty. I was the girl that no boy had a crush on in my class, the girl who boys asked to the school dance as a joke to snigger over when I showed up disappointed and dolled up. How could someone like that suddenly expect to have a prince fall in love with them?
My eyes burned and something seized in my stomach—there it was. 

Lena had done so much to try to help me, but what if there was something wrong with me that couldn't be changed? There was a reason I wasn't exactly crush-worthy, and trying to pretend that someone like Max who knew me all my life suddenly might have any interest in me felt more like a patronizing attempt to boost my self-esteem, not rooted in any truth. Taking me to parties changed nothing because deep down I was never going to be the girl who went to parties and enjoyed them. 

I closed the diary and realized I was crying. Which felt pretty pathetic, given that it was all true, but that didn't stop the feelings, I guess. 

Maybe I wasn't ready for love like I kept dreaming of.

But I wasn't going to stop trying. 

The next morning, instead of using the pearl, I swam down to the usual place. Instead of Talu or Lumi, I was instead greeted by Jewel. 

"I was wondering when you'd get here," Jewel said with a smile. "Talu had a feeling you'd come here."
Somehow he knew I wouldn't use the pearl yet.

"I realized I never learned where you live," I said. "And since we left all of my makeover stuff there. . . "

"Yeah, Lumi and Talu told me about your surprise meeting with the High Queen." Jewel's smile turned sympathetic. "I was thinking the same thing. Besides, everybody loves to see my house."

"That's right, Lumi said something about that," I recalled aloud. "I'd love to see it."

At that, Jewel let out an excited little squeal that sounded kind of like a dolphin. She grabbed my hand. "Let's go then, come on!" 

We swam a ways from Silversurf Village and the witches' cottages to where there was this giant pirate's ship sitting in the middle of the reef. All around it were jade-green fronds like what I'd seen Lumi and Dominique cut for potion ingredients and from the fronds came these brightly-colored flowers that looked like they were made from jewels. The ship itself looked amazing, considering it had been down at the bottom of the ocean for who-knew-how-long. There were even sails, although they definitely weren't the white linen that was usually used for sailing. Jewel, or her family, had replaced them with purple silk trimmed with gold in design that had flowers around a seahorse.

"My mom paid for it to be converted into a home after she'd built up some gold with the business," Jewel explained as we headed for the door to the below-decks, in the middle of the floor of the center deck. "It was a real human ship, at one point."

"No way." I frowned as she leaned down and unlatched the grid. The sails weren't the only part that had been replaced. Instead of a plain black metal grate, or one made of wood, this gate was made of intricately-worked iron, more fancy to match the banner and everything else.

My dad worked as a historian, and his family had lived in Wilmington for generations. As a result, he was totally geeked about pirates. He'd once driven me and Lena up the coast for a weekend while Mom was away on some business trip, and he'd taken us to Blackbeard's house. Which was okay, considering it was just a house.

Whenever there was a pirate show or attraction, we had to go. He could always make Mom laugh by adopting a stereotypical pirate accent. 

The point was, I felt like I'd gotten a lot of pirate facts at least by osmosis. And because they were kind of cool.

"How did this get here?" I followed her into the inside. 

There were all these curtains blowing, and walls had been inset with shelves that contained books and all sorts of treasures. I knew instantly that if I'd thought Jewel had exquisite taste, it had to be because she'd inherited it from her mother.

Jewel glanced over her shoulder, sending all her hair this way and that, billowing like the sails and the curtains in the current. "It sank here, silly."

"But I thought that the Undersea was a separate world, and that humans couldn't accidentally come through the portals." 

Jewel led me to a room with a proper door, once again upgraded to be fancier with stained glass that a real pirate captain wouldn't have had access to. "There are places where the Undersea meets the true ocean. And while humans can't end up here by mistake, their things. . . "

"Oh, I get it." I nodded.

"And it's great that they do, otherwise we wouldn't have a business, or your wonderful things," Jewel giggled. "Welcome to my room!"

"Whoa." I knew my jaw dropped comically. But I didn't care.

Because Jewel's room was as gorgeous as she was.

Brightly-colored banners and curtains were draped everywhere, with this crystal chandelier in the middle for light. She had a wardrobe with one of the doors left open, revealing all sorts of beautiful clothes. Her bed was a four-poster human bed, with a canopy of gossamer and soft-looking pillows. Diamond-patterned windows with latches looked out to the surrounding open blue. Underneath the latch was a real-life treasure chest. An elaborately-embroidered carpet covered the magically-preserved floorboards, and a silver floor-length mirror stood between the wardrobe and a shelf filled with an odd assortment of human items.

Those ended up drawing my attention, and I drifted over there. I picked up a music box. "What's this?"

"Oh, that!" Jewel's eyes widened, and she darted over to me. "That's my greatest treasure. The first human thing I ever fixed."

"It works?" I looked to her, my eyes now as wide as hers were. 

"It does." She nodded, and there was this weird energy around her. Like she was actually nervous. "Try it, just wind the little golden key!"

I nodded, unlocked the box to see a little ballerina inside. Then I wound the key.

Music like a carousel played, and the ballerina spun around perfectly.

"That's amazing!" I cried. "How did you fix the mechanisms?"

"A lot of work." Jewel gently took the box from me and sat it back on the shelf. She tilted her head and touched two fingers to her chin as she admired it. "It was the first thing I ever fixed. I saw the potential in it, when my mother and her work-supervisors wanted me to throw it out. I'd just come on the dive because that's what my mother required, like my brothers and sisters before me. But that was when I saw potential, purpose. And I knew what I was meant to do."

She stared at it for a long time, then she blinked and looked back to me. She smiled. "I've got your things set aside in my treasure box, right by the window. You can get your stuff there, and drop by when you'd like."

"Thank you." I thought of how I'd thought initially that she hadn't liked me. How wrong I'd been. 

"Of course, while we're here. . ." Jewel's smile turned mischievous. "Would you like to try some of my outfits?"

I hesitated. "Could I?"

Jewel grinned and took my hand. "Of course!"