After waiting for a few minutes, an old lady came out. She snarled at them and shut the door. The girls turned around to leave and Angel said "Strange".

They took a step forward and then fell through an invisible whole that led them to the basement of the lake house. It was completely dark until their eyes adjusted and then they could see. They were sitting in wooden chairs in the middle of a torture room for mermaids! Their chairs then turned suddenly and jerked the other way to face the door. There were lots of shelves around them that had dusty jars. They couldn't tell what was inside. But they guessed mermaid parts.

Footsteps were heard and the lights switched on. The old lady appeared walking down to her basement. She held three little glass bottles with yellow glowing  liquid in them in her left hand.
She said a spell and flicked her right hand tying the kids up with rope to the chairs they sat in. Then she moved closer to them.

"Here, have this." She growled and emptied the bottles into their mouths.

"Oh my gosh, that's disgusting!" Said Elizabeth gagging. "What have you given us?" She said throwing up a bit on the floor.

"It's a Dimcrush potion. It will show your true identities. It lasts for two days." The old woman explained.

The girls in the attic felt relieved when the taste was gone. And then, Elizabeth and Angela stared at Evangeline as she changed into her true self.

"Woooah! What are you?!" Elizabeth said to Evangeline. "Huh, and how am I related to that? " She asked Angel.

Angel was dumbstruck by what Evangeline actually looked like and didn't answer. The old lady looked from one girl to the next trying to figure out what was going on.

"You were quite an ugly little thing before, it's true. So... what happened? You're not a mermaid for sure. Come on, don't be shy, you can tell us. Why do you hide your beauty, my child?" The old lady said.

"I-um-I" she had to think of an excuse quickly. "I am an elf, yes. And I didn't want you to -um be jealous of me and i wanted to have friends who cared about me and not my looks. That is real love. And you guys really love me. I love you too." She said and tried to lean over to hug them but her ropes stopped her. She looked at the old lady. "Uh-can you maybe..."

"Oh! Right! Yes of course dear!" And she did a spell that untied the rope for all of them. The three girls got up and hugged each other.

"So... what did you come here for?" The old lady said interrupting their hug.

"We came for equipment because we have to get some things from the lake. Here is the list. We already got everything from land." Evangeline passes the list to the woman.

"Oh i see, well i have everything that you need except the frogs and basterspid blood. You will have difficulty getting that."

"So what is the story of the lake? Why is it so creepy?" Evangeline said changing the subject.

"I could tell you!" Angela perked.

"Or you could hear it from me." The old lady said.

Evangeline looked at Angela and said "I prefer to hear the story from her, sorry. You can tell us interesting fact afterwards."

"Come upstairs with me and I'll make you tea." The old lady said. Leading them to the lounge. "Sit" and they sat on the couches.

A minute later the old lady came back holding four cups of tea. She handed one to each of them. "Thank you" they said. And put them on the table.

"So the tale is a nasty one and I'm sure you are too young to know but I'll tell you anyway. Are you comfortable?"

The kids nodded.

And she started...