It was in the wee hours of the morning, before the sun came up and it was still dark when Vaggie awoke to sound of metal jingling. At first she thought she was dreaming but then she had loud clang that knocked her wide awake. Getting up from the cage floor, she saw Mr. Pentious and Husk standing by the open door. On the ground she could see the discarded prosthetic legs that MR. Pentious had always used and next to them was his long, black,serpent tail which he had used to pick the lock to her prison.
"Mr. Pentious what are you doing?" She asked him confused.
"Shh!" He hushed her with a hiss. "I'm getting you and Husk out of here."
"Why?"
"Because I know realize the truth. You and Husk were right all along, Valentino doesn't care anybody but himself and now he's gone completely mad."
"What do you mean?"
"He's going to try to kill Rosie, Vaggie." Husk said. "And Angel and Beth and anyone else he deems a threat to his power."
"Oh my God!"
"You two must get out of here!" Mr. Pentious said. "You must warn them! And leave this place!"
"We can't." Vaggie said. "Not without our souls!"
"You need not worry, I've hidden them. Valentino made the mistake of assuming I'd never betray him and so he never cared if I saw where he kept our souls. The contract keeps me from freeing them but Valentino can't use them if he can't find them. I don't how much time you all have, but it should be enough to warn your loved ones and maybe even free yourselves with their love. Now hurry."
Vaggie quickly got up and quietly stepped out of the cage. She and Husk then quietly headed for the exit but Mr. Pentious didn't follow.
"Aren't you going to come with us?" Vaggie asked him.
"No. I still have to try to release those poor young lovers in the tank, not to mention someone has to stay behind and keep Valentino at bay."
"Mr. Pentious you can't, he'll kill you when he finds out what you've done."
"If he does, so be it. It's what I deserve, unlike you two, I was a willing accomplice."
"But you didn't understand what you were doing. He manipulated you. He lied to you."
"Doesn't change the fact that I went along with everything of my own free will. He never had to force me like he did you two. And...And I'm afraid there's more to my sins than just that. I...I helped him escape that psychiatric ward Rosie put him in years ago."
"You what?!?" Husk cried.
"I was empathetic to the patients there because I thought they were all like me, misunderstood outcasts who the world declared wrong because they were different. So I would write to them, and I told them what I was because I knew no one would believe them. It was just to let them know that they weren't alone in the world. But when Valentino received my letter he must've sensed my vulnerability and decided to use it to his advantage. He wrote me back many times, saying he could help me find a place in the world. That he'd be my friend and give me a home and that he was just like me. I believed him and that's why I helped him. Words cannot begin to describe the regret I feel for what I've done and I know that I can't ever do anything to make up for it but I can at the very least try."
"Oh Mr. Pentious." Vaggie said expressing compassion for him.
"No time for goodbyes sweet fairy. Just go. Leave. Before he wakes up."
In the end, Husk and Vaggie had to reluctantly escape without him. Doing everything they could not to make a sound, the two of them ran to the cabaret as fast as they could. Mr. Pentious watched them until they made it safely across the street, then he slithered to where Charlie and Alastor were being kept.
They had spent hours trying to escape, banging and kicking at the tank but the glass was hexed to be unbreakable. Mr. Pentious had watched how exhaustion and sorrow forced them to give up and then watched Alastor take Charlie into his arms, he sat propped up against the glass while she laid in his lap, with her head resting on his chest and her own arms draped over his neck. All they could do now was just hold each other until sleep came.
"Charlie." He said softly running his fingers through her hair. "Do you think...Do you think that God would end my existence if I asked him to?"
"No. Never." She answered, horrified at the idea. "Why would you even ask for that?"
"Because if you truly have no soul, if you truly have no afterlife, if I cannot be with you even in death, then I wish to disappear completely. Just as you will."
"Alastor." She didn't know if she should be sad or happy. Maybe she was both. "Would you really give up your immortal soul for me?"
"I would give up anything for you. I love you. I don't want to exist without you."
"Neither do I. Oh if only we could have been married, then part of your soul would flow into my body, and we would truly share a life together."
"Oh Charlie." He held her closer to him. "Grant me one last favor."
"Of course. Anything."
"Pray with me that God will take away my immortal soul, so that we'll die together and turn to foam together."
"No." She shook her head. "I beg you, ask anything of me but that. I can't pray for that. You have too much to live for. What about Beth? Would you really pray to die and fade away right now, knowing that would mean she would be left all alone?"
"She would not be alone. Roise would look after her. She's come to love her as much as I do, as much as our mother loved her." He sighed. "But you are right, I can't just simply leave her and at the same time, I know I can't survive without you."
"Then let's not pray for death my darling, let us instead pray for a miracle. One that will ensure we can both live together."
Alastor nodded and so, just before sleep took them, the lovers prayed that God would have mercy and grant them a miracle that would somehow make their love powerful enough to conquer even death. It would have brought tears to Mr. Pentious's eyes if he was capable of crying. The love between the human and mermaid was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen and it made him feel more guilty than ever over the mistakes he had made.
He had intended to free them but unfortunately Valentino had put a combination lock on the tank. He couldn't use his tail to pick it like he had for the cages.
"Forgive me." He begged pitifully. "Please forgive me."
He wanted to help them, he wanted to help them all. But he didn't know if he could now.
...
Rosie did not sleep a wink that night. She had been too busy combing through her spell book, desperately trying to find someway to save Charlie's life. She knew that if Charlie ended up turning to sea foam, Alastor and Beth wouldn't be able to live with themselves. They would hold each other accountable for her demise. Alastor would blame himself because he rejected Charlie and Beth would blame herself for giving Charlie the potion. She couldn't let them live with that guilt, it would destroy them.
"Come on, come on, there's got to be something that can stop this. Another way that doesn't involve Alastor getting stabbed with a knife." She thought, flipping pages while taking the time to carefully study each one on merfolk and spells relating to them.
At long last, at sunrise, she found something that might prove useful. There was a page that said that a king of was not only gifted with the power to control the oceans and tides, but also remarkable abilities in healing. Since Charlie had only taken a small amount of the potion, maybe her father could heal her. If they could just get her away from Valentino and back into the ocean, she could swim home and be saved. It was a long shot but it was the only thing left to try.
"Rosie!"
Suddenly Rosie heard the sound of Beth screaming and the girl came running in with tears in her eyes, clutching a piece of paper in one hand and in the other hand she held a small box.
"Beth whatever is the matter dear?"
But poor Beth could only answer in panicked sobs.
"Alastor! He...He...He's gone!"
"Gone? What do you mean he's gone? Where did he go?"
"He...He went and he...He...I don't think he's coming back!"
"What do you mean?"
Beth finally handed Rosie the note she found and Rosie proceeded to read it.
My dear sweet Beth,
I've made a terrible mistake, one that have to make right no matter what. For your sake and the sake of the woman I love. However doing so may cost me dearly and could result in us parting ways for good. Forgive me, if I must leave you but I cannot simply just do nothing and allow Charlie to die.
I did nothing when our mother needed help and to this day I've never been able to forgive myself for that. If this happens twice, if I lose Charlie the same way, I don't think I'll be able to go on. I hope someday you can understand my reasons for doing this and if we don't meet again I want you to know you were one of the best things to ever happen to me. If you had never come along, I know that the guilt I felt over losing our mother would have destroyed me but raising you helped me hold on to my sanity. I wouldn't trade all those years with you for anything in the world. I love you so much and that I'm so proud of the girl you've become. And I just know you'll become a remarkable woman, just like our mother.
I left you my most prized treasures to remember me by and to know more about the incredible person our mother was. I know you will take good care of them, I'll try to get back to you Beth. Really I will, but if I don't, just always remember that I love you and part of me will always be with you.
Love,
Alastor.
P.S Rosie you have been a very dear friend to me and I know you love Beth like she was your own. So I ask you, if something should happen to me, please look after her and raise her the way my mother would have wanted. Thank you for everything.
"Oh Alastor." Rosie sighed. "I should have known he would try something like this. He truly is his father's son."
"What are we going to do?" Beth sniffed. "He's not...Nothing isn't going to happen to him is it? He's coming back right?"
She was waiting for Rosie to tell her that everything was going to be alright. To tell her that she was being irrational and paranoid, and that nothing bad was going to happen to Alastor. she waited and she waited for Rosie to say those words but she never did.
Instead though, there came a rapid banging at the door of Rosie's apartment.
"Maybe that's Al." Beth said hopefully.
Rosie went to the door and looked through the peep hole, then she opened the door. It wasn't Alastor, it was Husk and the sight of him mortified Rosie. His entire body was battered, bruised, and stained with dried blood. It looked like it hurt him to move and that he could barely keep himself standing.
"My God Husk!" She gasped at the state he was in. "What happened to you?"
At first he couldn't speak. He was too busy panting and breathing heavily. The poor man had been running and climbing up stairs while his body was in this condition and without taking a moment to stop for breath until now.
"Danger!" He forced himself to say between breaths. "Valentino! Danger! You! Beth!"
Then he dropped to the floor.