Trapped with a Way Out

by Jeffery Martinez

  At this, Linda gave such a sadistic chuckle that it made William' skin crawl.

  "It ist very foolish of you," Linda sneered, "but just the same you shall haf your way, for it will bring you to grief, which will bring me great pleasure."

  William opened her mouth in protest.

  "Now, here's the deal," Linda interrupted, "I shall concoct a potion that will cause your tail to divide und shrink until it becomes what humans call a 'pair of shapely legs.' But it will hurt; it will feel as if thousands of sharp little blades slashed through you."

  William' eyes widened, and then they spied the scythe on Linda's shoulder.

  "Should you overcome the pain, everyone who sees you will say that you are the most graceful human being they have ever laid eyes on, for you will keep your gliding fishy movements that no dancer will be able to match. But every step you take will feel like treading upon blades so sharp that blood will flow. Are you willing to suffer all this?"

  "W-what?" William asked in a trembling voice.

  "Oh, und I forgot to mention that if you do not win the love of the count so completely that for your sake he forgets everything, cleaves to you with his every thought and his whole heart, und lets the priest join your hands in marriage, then you will win no happy end. If he marries another, the tiny little knives that you feel when you drink the potion und when you walk the land shall travel to your heart the very next morning, und you will die at sunrise! That's right, you will become foam! Foam on the waves!"

  The Sea Witch then gave such a bellowing laugh that the very polyp forest shrank from her.

  "Shall you take that risk?" Linda asked.

  "Y-you can't be serious!" William cried, as she turned pale as death.

  "Of course, all of this comes with a price," said the Sea Witch, "and it is no trifling price that I ask. You have the sweetest voice of anyone down here at the bottom of the sea—don't be modest; we both know it to be true. Und while I don't doubt that you would like to captivate the count with it—especially now that your lovely, flowing locks are gone…" The Sea Witch paused to cackle sadistically. William ran her hand over her short hair, and felt a deep melancholy. "Nein, you must give this voice to me. I will take the very best thing that you haf, in return for my sovereign draught. I must pour my own blood in it to make the drink as sharp as a two-edged scythe."

  "B-but why does it need to be sharp?!" William cried, and she felt herself shake with dread.

  "Well, have you lost your courage? Stick out your little tongue und I shall cut it off," Linda leered, her scythe poised at the ready, and her face so covered with shadows that only her toothy leer and her glowing lazy eye could be seen. "I shall haf my price, und you shall haf the potent draught."

  William gasped and shrank from the scythe.

  "Y-you can't be serious!" William cried, and flung her hands over her mouth.

  "Well, excuse me, little princess!" Linda sneered, "I thought you wanted the count."

  "I-I do!" William croaked.

  "Well then," the Sea Witch said indifferently, "I guess you don't want him that much." She shrugged as though it were a trifling matter, barely worth her time, and moved on.

  "N-no! I do! Please! Let me think!"

  "Thinking is for the indecisive," Linda frowned, "If you truly wanted the Count more than anything, you would not even need to think of what you must do before you go to do it. You would dive into the leviathan's jaws without even giving it a second thought. I guess if you value your tongue and health over him, he does not mean that much to you."

  "P-please!" William cried, "I… I also want to live on the surface! And… and I can't do that if every step feels like I'm being ripped into by sharks!"

  "Well, that ist quite the vivid description," Linda sneered. "I should use that in the future. But that ist still not your choice to make. 'Beggars can't be choosers,' und you must be the most pathetic little beggar I ever did see. Unless you truly want the Count, you waste your time und mine."

  "Please!" William cried, "There must be another way!"

  "Not for you, there isn't," Linda sneered, and she disappeared inside her hut.

  William was left floating there. She was numb with shock and denial. The Sea Witch said no. Her last chance for happiness and the Sea Witch said no. William slowly sank to the muddy barren ground, and felt another bout of sobbing come up. Would anything ever go right for her?

  "Now, what are you crying about?"

  William gasped and looked up. "Schrödinger?!"

  "The one und only," he grinned, his hands tucked behind his head. "Now, what ist bothering you?"

  She wrapped her arms around Schrödinger without even thinking. "She said no! I came all this way to see Linda Mills, and she turned me away!"

  "And you're just going to take no for an answer?"

  "What…? B… but what else can I do?"

  "Look, if you want to sit here und cry, you may. But the little mermaid I know does not give up so easily."

  William gasped and widened her eyes.

  Schrödinger smirked insolently. "Why do you think I follow you around everywhere?"

  William again widened her eyes in surprise, then they melted into a pleased smile.

  "Go on! Ask her!" he said.

  William took a deep breath, and approached the Sea Witch's hut.

  "Why are you still here? I thought I told you to scram!" Linda called from her window.

  "Please, there must be another way!"

  "There isn't!" Linda called, but her voice lacked the sharp edge it had before.

  William must have noticed it too, for she continued just as passionately, "Please, I watched my parents get eaten alive by creatures of the deep! My mum, she… One reason I want to go to the surface is to escape the darkness of the deep that reminds me of their deaths every day, and… and I can't do that if every step feels like I'm being eaten alive by the very monsters that devoured them! Please! I want to live on the surface, happy and free! As much as I want to live with the Count. There must be some other way that doesn't involve being cut open with sharp teeth!"

  Linda smirked in amusement. "Well, if you are truly desperate, there ist one other way..."

  "Name it!" William cried.

  Linda Mills smirked. "There are other types of magic I might be able to use…"

  "Use it!" William said with conviction. "Anything but the draught that cuts."

  Linda Mills laughed. "Well, aren't you a tough little wench? Very well, if you truly are determined, I might be able to whip up one other kind of spell. You shall still get your draught that gives you legs, and I shall still get your voice—yes, even that—but there ist a different method that does not involve my blood or your tongue."

  So saying, she flexed her tattooed hand, and a giant purple eye opened.

  William flinched.

  "Scared already? You shouldn't be. It won't hurt as much as the draught that cuts like knives. In fact, it won't hurt at all. I shall use a special, ancient magic with long-forgotten incantations that will make the potion thick as ooze, und it shall feel as thick und sloppy as the soft mud of the sea floor running through your veins. It will hurt, I will not lie, but not as bad as the knife, und it will be quick und passing. Once you become human, the transformation will be complete, und you will never feel the effects of the potion again."

  William sighed with relief.

  "… Until you turn back into a mermaid," the Sea Witch said.

  "What?!"

  "Oh, did I mention your life on land would still end if the Count chooses another? Silly me. If the count marries you, you shall remain human permanently, in this life und the next. But, if he chooses another, you'll turn back into a mermaid und… You'll belong to me!" Linda Mills murmured so huskily that William instinctively covered her breasts and flinched away.

  William had no idea why Linda Mills would want to keep her as a slave, but the way she kept touching her and leering over her made her very uncomfortable indeed. The fact that she was s
o cruel and sadistic and seemed to enjoy bringing pain to even her 'little chickabiddies' did not help at all.

  "Have we got a deal?" she grinned.

  "… If I become your slave, what will you do with me?" William asked.

  "What indeed?" the Sea Witch said with frightful sarcasm. "You're a pretty catch, why don't you figure it out?"

  "Come on, William, even you can't be that stupid!" Schrödinger cried.

  William wrapped her arms around herself with shame and embarrassment.

  "Now, there is one more thing. We still must discuss the subject of payment!"

  "But I can't give my…" William began, her hands instantly flying over her mouth.

  Linda then slapped her hands with a tentacle. "I'm not asking for that. You need not cover your pretty little mouth with your white little hands. What I'm asking cannot be extracted with any blade... though I haf tried," she grinned wickedly. "Nein, it's not your little pink tongue. It's just a token really, a trifle! You'll never even miss it. What I want from you is... your voice."

  "… My voice?" William murmured, her fingers resting delicately on her neck.

  "You've got it, sweet cheeks," Linda said, "You'll have a more absolute draught, und so a more absolute payment. When it was just your tongue, there would still be a way to use your so pretty voice with wordless songs, for it rests in the throat where the tongue rests in the mouth. But now, since I am using absolute magic to make you an absolute human, you shall give your absolute voice. Since I'll extend my magic to give you human form, I demand you extend your voice for me to listen to whenever I want… should you fail to return the whole package," she leered.

  "But if you take my voice," said the little mermaid, "what will be left to me?"

  "You'll have your looks!" Linda exclaimed, gesturing toward her body, "Your pretty face!"

  Linda then sauntered away, her hand on her hips. "Und don't underestimate the importance of BODY LANGUAGE!" she leered maniacally, thrusting her hips suggestively. "HA! The men up there don't like a lot of blather... They think a girl who gossips is a bore! Yes, on land it's much preferred for ladies not to say a word! Und after all, dear, what is idle prattle for?"

  So saying, she threw her caldron on a small lava pit, to brew the draught.

  "Come on! They're not all that impressed with conversation! True gentlemen avoid it when they can!"

  As she talked, the Sea Witch constantly threw new ingredients into the caldron till it started to boil with the sound of a crocodile shedding tears.

  "But they dote und swoon und fawn on a lady who's withdrawn! It's she who holds her tongue who gets her man!"

  So saying, the Sea Witch extracted a large whale's tongue and threw it into the cauldron, so that it boiled and boomed.

  William flinched away from the steam and explosions.

  "COME ON! You poor unfortunate soul! Go ahead! Make your choice!"

  Linda Mills was getting riled up with maniac energy. Where before she merely leered and cackled with sadistic amusement, now she was screaming and laughing and gesturing with all of her might.

  Linda then held out a scythe in one hand and an arm full of tattoos and an eye on another. "We can do this one of two more ways. You can let me cut your tongue und cut my breast so you may feel the cut of endless knives slashing down your throat und through your legs und in your feet und in your heart after your true love picks another tart... OR you can trade your VOICE for a smooth und comfortable loss of speech, followed by a smooth und comfortable transformation into a smooth und comfortable life of slavery forever after he chooses someone else!"

  All of these outcomes seemed disturbingly specific, and William vaguely wondered why the Sea Witch was so convinced her love would fall for another.

  However, Linda was a fast talker and kept throwing new details faster than William could keep up.

  "I'm a very busy woman and I haven't got all day," she said with casual indifference, and then a mural of the handsome count emerged from the cauldron before William. He smiled roguishly at her, and William melted before his insolent grin. "It won't cost much... JUST YOUR VOICE!" the Count bellowed, then Linda's face burst through him.

  William gasped and flinched back.

  "It's a very simple deal und you don't haf much to choose. You want your voice, or tongue? It doesn't matter much, one way or another I shall get your speech und you shall haf your legs! You poor unfortunate soul. You want knives? Or mute?"

  The Sea Witch then came upon William from behind. "If you want to learn to walk, my sweet, you've got to make a stand! Take a gulp and take a breath, und go ahead and pick a hand! (Flotsam, Jetsam, now I've got her, boys!) THE BOSS IS ON A ROLL!" Linda bellowed triumphantly, diving into the air and unraveling her tentacles theatrically.

  William looked up at her with horror, and looked for a moment like she would call it off.

  Then, Linda made the smartest move of her life: she wounded William' pride.

  Gesturing to her with both hands, she bellowed sarcastically: "THIS POOR! UN! FORTUNATE SOUUUUL~!"

  William glared defiantly, and flexed her hand. The whole reason she was doing this was to create a new life for herself, and the new life she wanted involved freedom and sunlight over the oppression and darkness of the Sea King's realm. In the split second it took her to choose a hand, William thought of how the legs she desired were required for 'running, jumping, dancing,' and how she could never enjoy those things if she always felt like she were treading on knives.

  William closed her and looked away as she shot her right hand forward and grabbed Linda's tattooed hand with the purple eye in the palm.

  The Sea Witch then squeezed so hard William felt sure her hand would break, and she felt as though her life force drained for a moment. When she looked back, William saw that the tattoos on Linda's right arm had glowed and traveled up her arm, around her body, then returned back to the place they belonged. Then Linda let go and flexed her hand above her head, grinning wickedly.

  She then turned to her potion, evoking its magic with chanting.

  BELUGA SEVRUGA

  COME WINDS OF THE CASPIAN SEA!

  She bellowed so loudly the whole skeleton home and the polyp forest shook. The cauldron bubbled and boiled, and from the dread draught the Sea Witch evoked a terrible whirlpool that rivaled those outside her realm.

  LARENGIX GLAUCITIS

  ET MAX LARYNGITIS

  LA VOCE TO ME!

  While she chanted, she raised her tattooed hand high above her head, and then plunged her open palm deep within the boiling cauldron, eye first. After a few moments, it seemed the letters and symbols of the tattoos flowed out of her arm and into the concoction. It boiled and bubbled wildly, then suddenly the thick purple liquid of the potion saturated in the letters of the tattoos sprang out of the cauldron, shaped like two giant arms ending in hands with claws.

  The Sea Witch looked truly possessed, and her eyes glowed red.

  "NOW, SING!" she ordered, in a voice that was truly demonic.

  Compelled by a force greater than her own, William felt herself begin to sing a wordless song.

  "KEEP SINGING!" Linda bellowed, and the giant clawed hands reached for William.

  She almost lost her nerve, but carried out the tune without so much as a waiver.

  William felt the liquid tattoo hands with claws cover her entire body and travel down her throat, where her voice felt thick as a lump and got plucked out of her throat like a fruit. She then saw and heard the glowing, singing little voice in front of her face, clutched between the magical claws of the Sea Witch, and her hands clutched her empty throat in horror.

  Her glowing voice continued to sing as the magical hands carried it back to the Sea Witch, who held open a conch shell. The glowing tattoo hands then sank into the shell and took the glowing voice with it. As soon as the voice was locked tight, any pretense of sanity dropped.

  The Sea Witch began to laugh maniacally, and the clawed potion tattoo hands that had plucked out th
e little mermaid's voice suddenly shot forward and engulfed her entire body. William felt herself getting saturated in the hot, thick, syrupy liquid, as it forced its way down her throat and through her veins. She felt as though her entire insides were thick with ooze, and she nearly passed out from blinding agony. Just as the Sea Witch promised, she could feel her long fish tail split down the middle and shrink into two human legs. Then, she felt shooting pain down the middle of each leg as bones formed within them. Like a flash of lightning that starts out as a skeletal bolt and then lights up the sky, William felt the blinding pain of her splitting legs and skeletal shoots before it expanded to the muscles, flesh, and skin. The pain was so intense, she blacked out.

  After what felt like a few seconds, William slowly came to and vaguely wondered why her head hurt and why she felt such pressure in her chest.

  Then, she realized to her panic and dismay that Linda had turned her into human right on the sea floor! She couldn't breathe! Couldn't move! Her gills and fins were gone! She struggled to take in water without hurting her lungs and then convulsed. She then struggled to rise to the surface, but did not know how to use her new limbs and floundered on the sea floor.

  "Whoa Schatzi! I got'cha!" Schrodinger cried cheerfully, and grabbed William under the shoulders and pushed her up toward the surface.

  Linda Mills continued to laugh maniacally as Schrödinger helped William rise above her house of bones, her forest of doomed merpeople, her burning peat mire, her barren wasteland, and her dark perilous depths as they rose up to the surface above.

  After years of resenting Schrödinger for being a faster swimmer than her, William suddenly felt a profound pang of gratitude as he rushed her up to the surface in record time. She felt as though the rapid change in water pressure would make her pop, but she was so desperate for air she hardly cared.