Ariel’s soul.
Ursula’s pets were swimming about her, having missed their mistress desperately when she was away with Lucinda, Ruby, and Martha. But they were careful not to speak just yet, for they knew she was devising her schemes to trick Ariel. They watched their mistress with a shared enthusiasm, each with a sickly yellow eye glowing in Ursula’s murky domain. Only Ursula knew the true nature of the beasts, but they seemed to inhabit the same mind, making them appear symbiotic in their deviousness.
The slinking creatures sliced through the water and Ursula watched through a mystical bubble in her throne room as Ariel rushed home to Triton. The little mermaid was late for the most important event of her young life—her presentation to the merfolk.
“Yes, hurry home, Princess, we wouldn’t want to miss dear old daddy’s celebration, would we? Celebration indeed! Bah! In my day, we had fantastical feasts when I lived in the palace. And now, look at me…banished and exiled! While he and his flimsy fish folks celebrate! Well, I’ll give them something to celebrate soon enough.
“Flotsam! Jetsam! I want you to keep an extra-close watch on this pretty little daughter of his. She may be the key to Triton’s undoing….”
How Ursula hated being relegated to these paltry dealings since being banished from her brother’s kingdom and sent off into the darkness to usher little exchanges for bits of power. It would have taken an eternity to steal one soul at a time, waiting until she had enough power to destroy Triton. If it hadn’t been for the odd sisters and their dear sister Circe’s returning the shell necklace Triton had previously robbed her of, Ursula wouldn’t be in full possession of her powers.
It played in her favor, however, to let her brother think she was still powerless and alone in the darkness with only her harmless spells—not that they were ever really harmless, mind you, just not as grand as they might have been.
Until now.
She smiled when she looked upon the withered little souls in her garden, the poor unfortunate creatures she’d taken into her charge. It wasn’t her fault they flitted their lives away. No one had made them place their souls in her hands; they were the ones unable to fulfill the terms of the contract, not her!
Now that she had her true powers, she needed not meddle in the lives of Triton’s silly subjects. She needed not lure them into the unprotected realms seeking her magic, hoping she would fulfill their wishes in exchange for their souls. She had real power now, her own. And she had great allies in the sisters. If she was going to take a soul, it would be for her pleasure and amusement. Yes, she only had to play the part of the maker of deals one last time. After that, she needed not ever put herself on display like a carnival barker, singing her wares, enchanting her would-be victims with songs about her desire to help those in need. It was sickening, really, the depths to which she’d had to sink to gather the pitiful little souls in her garden. Those days were finally behind her. She had only one more performance. One last soul she needed for bartering purposes.
Ariel’s.
She wondered what the girl was like. It was difficult to tell from the glimpses she caught in her bubble orb. She was no doubt headstrong like her father. That could mean she would drive a hard bargain. The girl was beautiful, too. Ursula couldn’t imagine Triton having a daughter who wasn’t. He certainly couldn’t stand to have a sister who didn’t fit his image of beauty. Then Ursula thought of her: Athena, Ariel’s departed mother. She had been very beautiful, even for a mermaid. Ursula wondered if Ariel shared her mother’s heart as well as her beauty.
Remembering Athena made Ursula’s heart hurt. Ariel isn’t Triton’s daughter alone, she thought. She shares her mother’s blood, as well. Would Ursula be able to destroy Athena’s daughter? Athena had fought endlessly with Triton, defending Ursula, trying to persuade him to let his sister rule by his side, reminding him of their parents’ wishes. The memories felt hidden, as if they were veiled by murky water or a thick fog, hard to reach, hard to connect to, because Ursula was no longer the creature who cared what her brother thought of her. Athena had never made her feel loathsome. Never made her feel ashamed of who she was. Never wanted her to hide. If it hadn’t been for Athena, Ursula would have gone off into the Unprotected Waters long before she was banished. It was Athena who had railed against Triton the night of ball, denouncing his treatment of his sister when she had decided to show up to the royal function in her true form. It was Athena who had called her beautiful. And Ursula believed her words were heartfelt and true.
But she couldn’t think of Athena. She couldn’t be distracted by the past. She needed Ariel’s soul. If she is anything like her remarkable mother, Ursula thought, this girl should be willing to fight for what she believes in, even against her father. But there was only one question worth asking: Is Ariel the sort of girl willing to wager her soul for the possibility of true love?
“Well, well, we shall see!”
After only a few days—far sooner than expected—Ursula heard stirring at the entry to her lair, shaped from the gaping maw of a sea creature’s skeleton. She turned to see Ariel following close behind Flotsam and Jetsam, just beyond the sharp teeth of the entranceway.
She chuckled at the wide-eyed beauty trembling in the darkness with her red hair floating in Ophelian fashion. Too fitting, Ursula thought as she laughed again. She had to admit this daughter of Triton’s was a lovely little creature with her large blue eyes and bunny-like features. She looked remarkably like her mother, and it almost made Ursula sad to scheme against the near mirror image of the only person in Triton’s kingdom who had treated her with the tiniest shred of kindness and respect.
“This way,” Flotsam and Jetsam hissed, and Ariel shuddered.
The poor dear was struggling in the garden of lost souls. If she’d had any sense about her, she would have escaped then, but luckily for Ursula, the minds of young girls with rebellion in their hearts were easy targets for the likes of the sea witch. Triton had caused his own undoing when he drove his daughter away by destroying her collection of human trinkets and condemning her for loving a human. Well, her aunt Ursula would take pity on the poor girl. She would take her to her breast and give her a chance to snare that handsome prince she had fallen in love with so she might leave her tyrannical father behind…alone, to be snatched by Ursula, who would then gain her rightful place as queen.
“Come in. Come in, my child. We mustn’t lurk in doorways. It’s rude! One might question your upbringing!”
Ursula laughed as she swam to her vanity to touch up her makeup and add a bit of flair and drama to the conversation.
“Now then, you’re here because you have a thing for this human, this Sir Prince fellow? Not that I blame you. He is quite a catch, isn’t he?” Ursula laughed as Ariel listened, transfixed by the sea witch.
“Well, angelfish, the solution to your problem is simple.”
Taking a page from the odd sisters’ beauty book, she slathered on a brilliant layer of red lipstick. She pursed her lips and kissed them together to smooth the lipstick. Then she finished her thought.
“The only way to get what you want is to become a human yourself.”
“Can you do that?” asked the frightened mermaid.
“My dear sweet child, that’s what I do! It’s what I live for. To help unfortunate merfolk, like yourself. Poor souls with no one else to turn to…”
She hated performing and the way it made her feel. But she found it was the very best way to get her victims’ attention, to entrance them with a spectacle they couldn’t resist. And she did love the opportunity for a bit of cheek!
“I admit that in the past I’ve been a nasty. They weren’t kidding when they called me, well, a witch! But you’ll find that nowadays I’ve mended all my ways, repented, seen the light, and made a switch! True? Yes! And I fortunately know a little magic. It’s a talent that I always have possessed. And here lately, please don’t laugh, I use it on behalf of the miserable, lonely, and depressed.”
Hardly a
ble to stomach her own words, she whispered to her minions, “Pathetic!
“Poor unfortunate souls! In pain, in need! This one longing to be thinner, that one wants to get the girl—and do I help them? Yes, indeed!
“Those poor unfortunate souls! So sad, so true! They come flocking to my cauldron, crying, ‘Spells, Ursula, please!’—and I help them! Yes, I do!
“Now, it’s happened once or twice someone couldn’t pay the price, and I’m afraid I had to rake ’em across the coals.
“Yes, I’ve had the odd complaint, but on the whole I’ve been a saint—to those poor unfortunate souls!
“Now, here’s the deal. I will make you a potion that will turn you into a human for three days. Got that? Three days! Now listen, this is important! Before the sun sets on the third day, you’ve got to get dear old princey to fall in love with you. That is, he’s got to kiss you. Not just any kiss, the Kiss of True Love! If he does kiss you before the sun sets on the third day, you’ll remain human, permanently—but if he doesn’t, you turn back into a mermaid and…you belong to me!”
Ariel looked stunned.
“Have we got a deal?” Ursula asked.
“If I become human, I’ll never be with my father or sisters again.”
“That’s right, but you’ll have your man. Life’s full of tough choices, isn’t it? Oh, and there is one more thing. We haven’t discussed the subject of payment. You can’t get something for nothing, you know!”
“But I don’t have—” said Ariel.
Before she could finish, Ursula interrupted. “I’m not asking much, just a token, really—a trifle! You’ll never even miss it. What I want from you is…your voice.”
“My voice?”
“You’ve got it, sweet cakes! No more talking, singing…zip.”
“But without my voice, how can I…”
“You’ll have your looks! Your pretty face! And don’t underestimate the importance of body language! The men up there don’t like a lot of blabber. They think a girl who gossips is a bore. Yes, on land, it’s much preferred for ladies not to say a word. And after all, dear, what is idle prattle for? Come on, they’re not all that impressed with conversation. True gentlemen avoid it when they can. But they dote and swoon and fawn on the lady who’s withdrawn. It’s she who holds her tongue who gets a man!
“Come on, you poor unfortunate soul! Go ahead! Make your choice! I’m a very busy woman and I haven’t got all day! It won’t cost much…just…your…voice! You poor unfortunate soul, it’s sad but true: if you want to cross a bridge, my sweet, you’ve got to pay the toll. Take a gulp and take a breath. And go ahead and sign the scroll!”
Ariel closed her eyes and signed the scroll, flinching from Ursula’s power. The moment she finished she knew she had made a mistake.
A terrible mistake.
What have I done?
The scroll was signed and tight in Ursula’s fist and quickly conjured away with her magic. Ariel wondered if she would be able to make the prince fall in love with her, and if she did, would her father ever forgive her? Was this boy she hardly knew worth it, giving up her family, her home…her voice? She felt as if she were floating in a nightmare, in this hideous place, surrounded by revolting creatures and Ursula’s daunting voice as she said the magical words that would bind their contract:
“Beluga, sevruga, come winds of the Caspian Sea!
“Larynxes, glossitis, et max laryngitis, la voce to me!”
Ariel wanted to scream, “No! Stop! I’ve changed my mind!” but where would she go? Home to her father, who had destroyed everything she’d loved when he blasted away her most prized possessions from the surface world? Her father, who had forbidden her ever to see her prince, Eric? No, Ursula was right. She had no other choice.
The sea witch’s cauldron, which she had been filling with ghastly ingredients collected for this purpose, was exploding with blue light that swirled around them like a menacing wall. Ariel’s heart was pounding, thundering in her ears, and she felt a deep sorrow for betraying her family and, worse, for betraying herself. She knew her father would never forgive this. She knew he would never love her again.
Ursula laughed.
He will hate you, as he hates me! He hates all things different from himself, little angelfish. The swirling light transformed into large groping hands greedy for Ariel’s voice.
“Now sing!” Ursula commanded.
The gruesome hands grabbed at Ariel’s throat, starting to take from her the thing that most made her who she was: her voice. The sensation was terrifying. It hadn’t occurred to Ariel that losing her voice would be so painful. It was like a separate entity struggling to remain within her, and Ursula was literally tearing it from her throat, from her soul. The pain was terrible. She tried to let it go willingly, to stop struggling, but she couldn’t. Everything within her fought against the assault. And then it happened.
Her beautiful, beautiful voice—it flowed from her lips involuntarily.
“Keep singing!” Ursula screamed, and her laugh was heard throughout the many kingdoms as her cauldron cast a golden light that surrounded Ariel, ripping her merbody asunder, turning the mermaid into the thing her father hated most: a human.
A human under the sea.
It wasn’t Ursula’s concern that the girl could no longer breathe underwater. She will need to find a way to the surface. Or not.
It had been several weeks since Pflanze had arrived at Morningstar Castle, and everything she’d heard on the day of her arrival was true. She and Tulip were up in the king’s highest tower, looking down on all of Tulip’s “gentlemen callers,” as Nanny liked to say. There were at least five and forty of them, all waiting for the slightest glimpse of Tulip. The guardsmen had gone out more than once to get the young men to stop fighting with each other, reminding them all that the princess would not care for brutish men who brawled like common drunkards at the local tavern.
It didn’t seem to help matters. The men kept vying for Tulip’s attention, some of them in more unique ways than others. One of the men, for example, stood out from the rest. He was wearing a sky-blue velvet frock coat with gold embellishments on his lapels and white lace ruffles at his sleeves and cravat. He played a lute decorated with lovely matching ribbons, which he used to compose songs about Tulip’s beauty.
“Her skin is like honey, her eyes like the sky. Her hair is like sunshine—”
Tulip slammed the window before she could hear the rest of the song.
“This is just too much, Nanny! Really! It’s getting rather ludicrous, don’t you think?” she asked, frustrated with the endless parade of suitors.
“It really is, my dear! What possesses them?” She quickly caught herself and added, “Not that your beauty shouldn’t command such attention, my dear!”
Tulip sighed. “I wish I knew. It’s like a mania! Something has come over these men and taken hold of their senses! I’d feel sorry for them if it weren’t so…annoying!”
“I agree, my dear! I think we should call upon Circe!”
“Call her? How do you suppose we do that?”
“I have my ways, my dear! You just leave it to old Nanny and Miss Pflanze here.”
Pflanze gave Nanny a puzzled look and let out an inquisitive meow, wondering what the old woman had in mind.
“Pflanze? What do you want with her?” Tulip asked. “You get queerer every day, Nanny!” Nanny gave Tulip a kiss on the cheek as she scooped up Pflanze and took her off to their mysterious errand.
“Come on, my dear girl. I should like your company for a while.”
It wasn’t customary by any means for Nanny to be down in the kitchens, searching for this thing or that. And it was clear the chef was rather put out when Nanny suggested he take a nice afternoon walk.
“You’re looking a little peaky, dear. You really should spend more time in the sun. It will do you some good to get out and about. Perhaps a walk?”
The chef grumbled, leaving the little cakes he had lined up t
o decorate sitting on the marble counter, not wanting to argue with Nanny.
Nanny set out a saucer of heavy cream for Pflanze while she got a few things together. Pflanze knew at once what she was up to. Nanny intended to do a scrying spell. Pflanze had seen her witches do it many times in the years she’d spent with them. She heard Nanny in the pantry muttering to herself while gathering the herbs she needed.
“Everyone thinks Nanny is a silly old woman, but she knows a trick or two.” Pflanze watched Nanny break an egg into a wooden bowl. It floated on the surface of the water like a strange eye, but that’s what it was, wasn’t it—an eye? A way to see into the world. The sisters had already tried finding Circe that way, but perhaps Nanny’s magic would find her where the sisters’ could not. Pflanze was pleased that she was right about Nanny’s being a witch.
“That’s right, precious!” Nanny said to Pflanze, who was leisurely drinking her cream. “And I know who you belong to! But never mind that now. They don’t meddle with the likes of me. Not anymore. Not after our dealings with the Dark Fairy.” Pflanze wondered for the briefest of moments if Nanny could read her thoughts, but she decided the old woman was simply talking to herself as she often did, and as she continued to do then. “It’s time to find their little sister, Circe. We need to know what’s come over these men! Clearly they’re enchanted and it’s not by your witches. It’s someone else’s magic and I don’t like it one bit!”
Pflanze didn’t blink an eye at Nanny’s mention of knowing her mistresses. Other witches didn’t frighten her, especially sweet elderly witches who’d lost most of their powers. Hopefully Nanny would remember the proper incantation to call up Circe. Pflanze knew it, of course, but had no means of conveying it to Nanny—not any that she intended to use, anyway. Not unless Nanny really could read her thoughts. Pflanze’s magic was unlike the witches’. It took long stretches of time to recharge. It sometimes took Pflanze years to recover after using her magic, so she had to choose very carefully the precise time in which to employ it.
Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch Page 4
