[center][youtube]cVaZOdbPw0Y[/youtube][/center]

[b]"I'm sure she does. Go and ask her."[/b]

Harper turned to look at Jasper. He didn't want to approach the strange child and he didn't want to go into the lake. Her sudden appearance was unnerving, though to be fair, she had probably been swimming long before they had arrived. "O-Okay," he stammered. The boy took in a breath of air, puffed up his cheeks then marched towards the lake. He was going to stay calm, he was going to walk up to her and he was going to get some information. Harper wanted to go home and if going home meant sucking things up and being brave, then he'd do it.

Ace told them to relax and the boy gave her a slight smile. The lake terrified him, but it was less scary during the day. He could do this, definitely.

As he approached, Ace began humming. The girl's appearance hadn't fazed her at all and Harper wondered if Ace was oblivious to the dangers of Nowhere, or just ridiculously brave. He kicked off his slippers, rolled up his pant legs, and waded into the water. He quickened his pace so he could keep up with Ace, but the deeper he went, the more he worried. Soon, he was up to his ankles in water. Then Ace suggested she get the girl's attention and Harper watched. This girl...what was she afraid of?

Ace called out to the girl, but the child continued to sing merrily, as if she were the only person in the world.

[b]"Hopefully, she's a good person. If not, I think I'd be kind of screwed."[/b] The words made him jump, if she really was a siren in disguise. It would be over. He could see their dead bodies floating. He could see the shocked expressions on the other human's faces and he gulped.

"Yes...let's hope she likes us." He inched closer to Ace, the girl called out to the child once more and eventually she turned her ice-blue eyes on them.

She stared at the trio and Harper stared back. It was like a game...for a few moments that was all it was then the girl broke into a childish grin, her eyes gleaming with curiosity. "Humans?" She practically screamed before she found herself laughing. They almost never got humans, the girl waved cheerily before she began swimming to shore. She dove beneath the lake only to pop out not too far from then, the broadest grin ever stuck to her face. "Oh golly, humans. I heard mommy and daddy talking about you last night." Her eyes were shining, and the lights in her hair flickered. "Mayor told everyone not too talk to you weird folks." She poked Ace's arm as if wondering if the human was real. She waved at Harper then waved both hands at Jasper, the only human still on the shore.

"We only see your kind once in a long while, so it was silly when the mayor told us to ignore you." She scrunched up her nose in displeasure. "We love getting humans." She pulled Ace and Harper into a wet hug and the boy winced, but it was hard to fear the spirited child. Her grin was cheery and she was just so full of enthusiasm.

"It's nice to meet you," he mumbled before the girl let go. 

She made a face before beaming at them. "What did you want?" She tilted her head the same way a curious puppy would have. "Did you want to play?"

Harper looked at Jasper, then at Ace, before his eyes flitted to the little girl. "We could join you, but at the moment we need to know something. By any chance," he hesitated, was it okay to ask a child about the drownings. What if they frightened her? He decided to soldier on. "Do you know anything about the siren."

"Ah!" Her eyes filled up with sadness and the lights in her hair flickered off. "Serena, she was a really nice lady...we used to be friends." The girl avoided their gaze.

"Do you know what happened to her?" Harper motioned for Jasper to join them. He wondered if he was asking too much of the child.

"..." There was an awkward pause, the child fiddled with the hem of her dress. "She wasn't a witch...Serena was drowned because she saw something she wasn't supposed to." Memories of two cloaked figures came flooding back. "She died because of [i]them.[/i]" It looked as if she was about to cry.