Part of Their World
The hallways were dark, save for a few worn down candles that flickered dully in their candelabras against the walls, when Ariel overheard Eric use the word black magic for the first time.
She was sitting against the wall next to her chamber's heavy wooden door, cracked open just enough to hear, but not see them. The sky outside her window was starless and black as pitch that night, and she knew that she should have been long asleep, but the ache in her newly acquired legs had been excruciating that day.
She had been restless in her bed, when the sound of footsteps and then the murmur of voices made their way down the stretch of hallway. She recognized one of the voices as Eric's immediately. The other man she had never heard before.
Ariel listened as they murmured to each other about the sea, and dark magic, and the girl (which she knew must be her), and Ariel was overcome with dread to think that Eric had somehow figured out what she was. That her legs were an abomination and that she had done the unthinkable to get them.
She only had one day left to achieve the true love Ursula had spoken of, before her legs would turn back into the fin she had acquired at birth, but being with Eric had proven to be completely different than what she had expected. He was distant and aloof mostly, and when she would catch him staring from across the room, she could swear that his eyes betrayed him – that he knew more about her than he was letting on.
Ariel climbed back into bed after they turned a corner down the hall and she was left alone, once again, in silence. With a heavy heart, she realized that she desperately longed for the cold currents and salty taste of her home in the sea. She missed her father and sisters and friends. And she resolved that, when her last day as a human was up and her legs turned to scales once again, she would wait on the warm sand of the beach and return to the fathoms below, where she belonged.
-
The next morning, when Ariel entered the main dining hall for breakfast with, she was surprised to see that Eric wasn't alone. Sitting with him was a woman and a man, the latter of whom she recognized as the other voice from the night before, once he spoke up and introduced himself. He presented himself as a 'proprietor of goods', but Ariel was too distracted by the smug smile and the shimmering eyes of the woman next to them. Those eyes had haunted her dreams ever since she had left the water.
They belonged to Ursula; although now they sat in the frame of a pale, two-legged beauty with cascading chestnut locks.
The strange man approached her and took her hand between his;
“Marvelous.” he said, with an airy sigh, “and you're sure she's what you say she is?”
Eric walked towards a large covered box, taller than he was, off to the side of the room.
He grabbed hold of the red velvet cover and looked towards them as he pulled it off with a swift jerk of his arm, sending it fluttering smoothly to the floor;
“I've seen it with my own eyes, back on the beach. Vanessa has seen it too.” he motioned towards the brown haired woman that Ariel knew was not named 'Vanessa'. Ursula offered him a pleasant smile.
'Oh yes. She is one of them. You've heard tales of the witches in the deep – they play the trickiest games. Her spell won't last much longer, I assure you.”
Before Ariel could react, two of Eric's guards were picking her up by her arms and legs, and carrying her effortlessly to the glass tank filled with water that Eric had revealed.
She tried to scream despite knowing she had no voice, and she fell with a splash into the full tank once the men let go of her. It was just deep enough for her to stand with her head above the salty water.
The guards placed a heavy fitted lid with holes in it over the top and replaced the velvet covering. Ariel could hear Eric and his guests leaving the room with talks of breakfast and shopping in the district while they waited for nightfall. Ariel kicked at the glass and pounded it with her fists with as much strength as she could muster, but the tank was built strong, and eventually she grew weak.
The others returned hours later – as had Ariel's tail. The transformation was more painful than the first time. She cried silently and alone in the tank afterwards, drained of all energy. Eric, and the man she now knew had paid a lot of money for her, had peeked under the blanket and stared at her fin in wonder. The last thing she heard before blacking out from fatigue had been Ursula's voice;
“Quite the site to behold, isn't it? Guaranteed to fill seats, I'm sure.”
-
Ariel awoke to the sound of, what at first she thought was thunder, but quickly realized was applause and excited chatter. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, but she quickly realized that the tank she was in was now uncovered, and the sound was coming from the other side of a large, heavy looking black curtain that draped the space all in front of her.
As her eyes adjusted she began to notice other cages and tanks, and beings within them, surrounding her on all sides. To her left, there was a cage with the words The Beastly Prince! painted across a sign on the front; there was a monster inside two times her size, and it had sharp teeth and brown shaggy fur all over it's body, the tattered blue rags of a once princely garb clung to it here and there. On her right sat a glass box with a few odds and ends in it that made it look like a child's playroom. There was a rocking horse, a small chair to sit in, and a wooden doll that she soon realized was moving. She glanced at the sign attached to it, written in a childish font; The Dancing Wooden Boy!
Suddenly, the lights on the stage cracked to life, and the curtain in front of them began to raise up slowly. As it grew higher, the audience erupted into cheers and gasps of amazement. There were more people in the audience than Ariel had ever seen. The announcer on the stage, which she recognized as the man from Eric's castle, introduced the show's newest addition;
“Be careful with this one!” he cried, gesturing towards Ariel, “she may look innocent and pure, but will devour the heart of any man that draws too near!”
The other beings on stage looked disheartened and tired. She knew that this wasn't their first time as a spectacle; only hers. And something told her that it wouldn't be her last. She looked over the audience; the people she had so desperately dreamed of living among. She watched the way they screamed and laughed and pointed.
And then she noticed Eric and Ursula, or Vanessa, sitting in the front row, arms linked together. Eric's eyes moved across the stage in amazement, but Ursula stared right back at her.
“The Sea Witch!” Ariel heard the announcer cry over the applause of the audience.
Ursula winked at her with a smile.