Once again, Beatrice met a few fish along the way. She overheard some of them talking about the restaurant.

Two squids were discussing the performance of last night.

Beatrice listened in closely.

"They were very good if you ask me," one squid said to the other.

"And very handsome," the other squid added.

"Yes, for a whale maybe. Their noses are a little bit too big to be considered truly handsome I think."

"You're right."

"Um, sorry. Excuse me," Beatrice interrupted.

The two squids looked at her with an annoyed expression on their face. It looked pretty funny, because squids don't have any eyebrows, but Beatrice didn't want to make them mad so she held in her laugh.

"We were talking, girl. It's extremely rude to interrupt," the squid that had first spoken said.

"Yes, sorry about that. I just couldn't help but overhear your conversation just now and I was wondering if-"

"Couldn't help but overhear? That's called spying on people, girl." The squid shook his head disapprovingly.

"Yes, sorry. I just wanted to know if you've met any people in the restaurant who know a way out of this place."

"You want to get out of here? Foolish girl! You'll never get out. The world is now simply the way it is, just accept it, adapt and get over yourself. Apparently, this is the way things go now. You want to go back to land? Well go fly all the way up there! You'll never find the Old World again. It's gone, forever."

The squid was being pretty harsh. Beatrice could feel some tears stinging in her eyes, but she tried not to show it to the squids. She averted her eyes to the ground, or in this case, to the clouds.

"Can you even fly? You're walking on the clouds, right? Typical humans, always walking and walking and it never leads them anywhere," the squid went on.

The tears in her eyes were becoming heavier. She couldn't hold them back any longer. They slid down her cheek and fell on the cloud beneath her. Its colour changed from light pink to a slightly darker shade.

The other squid, who had been silent this whole time, noticed. "You know, we haven't really talked with anyone about that. We like it here. So yeah, we wouldn't know if there's a way out or not, but maybe there is. The restaurant has a lot of visitors, so yeah, it's completely possible that someone might know something about getting back to the Old World."

Beatrice dried her tears. At least not every squid acted like an ass. "Thanks."

"You're very close to the restaurant. You'll be there in a few minutes." The friendly squid pointed one of its tentacles in the direction of another flashy sign.

"Whatever..." The mean squid rolled its eyes.

"Thanks again."

Beatrice said her goodbyes to the squids and started walking again. She was very close, this was not the time for feeling defeated. She shouldn't think about the words that came out of the mean squid's mouth, it would only make her spiral and panic.

There she was. Standing in front of an enormous building. It must've been a luxurious hotel before the world turned upside down. It was bigger than anything Beatrice had ever seen. Twenty stories high, every single room had a balcony... It looked like it came right out of a movie set in the French country side.

With small steps Beatrice walked her way up the stairway, to the door. The stairs were made of marble. How beautiful, Beatrice thought. She felt a bit underdressed for a stylish place like this one. All she was wearing was her favourite yellow hoodie with thick black stripes and a pair of black jeans. She wasn't going to exactly blend into a stunning and sophisticated place like this one.

The door was, just like the rest of the place, gigantic. It was probably three times bigger than Beatrice. She could just barely reach the doorhandle.

She knocked on the door and clutched the straps of her backpack.

The door flew open and Beatrice looked inside in amazement. It was like a big convention for fish, even though there were some birds and insects here and there too. The majority were sea creatures. They were all talking peacefully to each other in the reception hall.

A clownfish was floating on top of a sofa, next to a white shark. A baby dolphin was jumping around, bumping into an orca, but the orca just smiled down at the infant and swam away.

How was it possible that they were all living together in harmony? Prey and predator, all together in a room, yet no one was trying to eat the other.

"Welcome, human girl." An eel was floating behind the reception desk. He had a piccolo hat on, but Beatrice didn't seem to notice.

She was still staring around her, now completely focused on the chandelier. A lot of smaller fish were swimming around it. She wanted to join them... For a moment, she could've sworn she felt her feet being lifted from the ground.

Meanwhile, the eel was getting impatient. There were so many fish that need his services, he couldn't just wait around all day for a little girl to stop her daydreaming. "Girl! Please come to the desk right now, or we'll have to escort you out of here."

Beatrice finally heard the eel and rushed over to the desk. The floating feeling she had felt a few moments ago was completely gone.

"What can I help you with? Do you want to make a reservation? Sadly, we're booked full for the upcoming six weeks, but anything after that is completely possible," the eel explained calmly.

For a moment Beatrice felt the hopelessness coming up again. How was she supposed to find answers if she had to wait here for six weeks before getting a chance to have just one dinner? If she couldn't eat here, how was she supposed to ask around?

Beatrice clenched her fists. She was not going to take no for an answer, she had come a long way. "I actually need to be here right now. Six weeks won't do it."

The eel let out a small laugh. "Well sorry, Missy. I can't manipulate time, sadly. Six weeks is six weeks, nothing to do about that."

"I don't care, Mr. Eel. I need to be here. Isn't there anything you can arrange to make that possible?" The desperation was seeping from Beatrice's tone of voice. She didn't want to start sounding pathetic, so she slammed one of her fists on the table.

The eel let out a surprised gasp. He'd heard the uncertainty in her voice just now. It intrigued him how this girl was trying so hard to convince him. What was she after? He squinted his eyes and then let out a small sigh. "Alright, Missy, you seem quite determined to be here. What do you need from this place? Surely you can get delicious food and spectacular entertainment somewhere else."

"That's not why I'm here," Beatrice said quickly. "I'm here because I heard this is the most popular place in the world. Everyone comes to this place."

The eel lifted a non-existing eyebrow. "So you're here for our popularity?"

"No, that's not what I meant. I'm here because I need to find answers. I want to go back home. If someone knows how to do that, they'll come here and I can ask them. Everyone comes here so this is my best chance." Beatrice forced herself to look into the black, scary eyes of the eel. "I need to go back. Please."

Empathy overflooded the eel. She'd put up this whole tough-girl act for him, but now she was confiding him with who she actually was. She was scared and desperate. It reminded him a little of himself when he'd first set foot in this place.

"I'll help you, Missy."