Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch (5 page)

She sometimes looked back at herself, feeling stupid and foolish for having allowed the Prince to treat her as he had.
Well, that will never happen again!
she thought as she petted Pflanze. Lately she’d made it her business to learn something of the world. No more fumbling for the right word or giggling rather than taking part in a conversation. She was a new woman, and she’d never been happier.

“Oh, Nanny! It’s my Pflanze!” Tulip squealed.

“I don’t like it, my girl! Not one bit! I won’t have anything from that accursed place in our home!” Pflanze gave Nanny a terrible look. But she knew that Nanny wasn’t like most humans; she saw things others did not. Pflanze wouldn’t be surprised if Tulip’s dear nanny was a witch who had lost her powers and memories long before but had an inkling of magic still within her.

“Nanny, no! It isn’t Pflanze’s fault! And you know very well the castle is no longer enchanted! Circe told us so on her last visit.”

Pflanze’s ears perked up. That was why she had gone there. She was hoping for some news of Circe. She didn’t doubt her witches’ power or ability to find their little sister, and she knew they were in fine company with Ursula, sequestered away with their schemes, potions, and spells. But Pflanze wanted to help, and since Morningstar Castle was the last place Circe had visited before she took to paths unknown, Pflanze thought it was a good place to start.

“I don’t care if he’s married to the sweetest, most angelic girl in the world! I still don’t trust him!” Nanny bellowed, clearly still angry with the Beast prince.

Ignoring her nanny, Tulip turned her attention to her long-lost friend.

“My goodness, Pflanze! How did you get here?” The silent beauty looked at Tulip with her black-rimmed golden eyes but couldn’t answer. Pflanze hoped that Tulip assumed she had been sent to her by someone at the castle. The princess didn’t know Pflanze belonged to the odd sisters, of course, or who the odd sisters were, for that matter. Tulip had always assumed Pflanze lived in the court of the Beast prince (and so she had, for a time, when it suited her mistresses).

“Can’t we keep her, Nanny? You know how much I love her! I’ve often spoken about it.”

Pflanze rubbed her face against Tulip’s and purred.

“I suppose, my dear,” Nanny sighed, unable to deny her Tulip almost anything. “But perhaps we will have Circe take a look at her and make sure she was not sent for evil means!”

“My goodness, Nanny, the way you talk! You’d think Circe was some sort of witch that could do such things!”

“Well, she is, my dear! A truer witch than I have ever met!”

“Nonsense, Nanny! I won’t have that sort of talk! Circe is a dear friend! Like a sister!”

Nanny sighed. “Well, when she visits next, it wouldn’t hurt to ask what she thinks. Do you know if we’re expecting her soon?”

“She comes as she wishes, but it’s been some time. Last she was here she was trying to explain the virtues of trust and opening up to the idea of falling in love and all that rubbish again. As if I’d marry one of the arrogant fools who have been clamoring at the gates since the return of my beauty and fortune! I’d rather spend my days reading and learning something of the world! Not trapped away in some man’s castle, at his beck and call!”

Nanny smiled at Tulip knowingly. “Well, my dear, that is the last thing I want for you, as well. But perhaps now you will find a young man who loves you not only for your beauty and fortune but for your enchanting mind.”

Tulip wrinkled her nose in distaste, but Nanny continued.

“And if you do, my dear, I wouldn’t be so quick to turn my nose up at him!” Nanny put her hand on Tulip’s cheek tenderly and looked deep into her sky-blue eyes. “I daresay whether you had lost your beauty or not, you would have realized your potential. You forget, Nanny sees into your heart, and she always knew there was an eager mind waiting to be filled with knowledge. Your beauty wasn’t holding you back, my love—you were. I’m so happy you’ve found yourself at last.”

Pflanze thought Nanny was right: her old friend Tulip had rather changed…and she liked it. She had never minded Tulip’s silly, dim-witted nature; she had always found Tulip quite sweet and loved the attention she heaped upon her. But this new Tulip with a sense of self was interesting, and Pflanze could tell she was going to enjoy Tulip’s, and indeed Nanny’s, company more than ever.

D
eep within the ocean, below the cliffs of Morningstar Kingdom, was Ursula’s lair. It was fashioned out of the skeletal remains of a horrid sea monster and it glowed with an eerie putrescence. The sea witch was happy to be home with her minions and the comfort of all her things around her. She had recently spent far too much time on land and needed the tranquility of being under the sea. The three sisters had their tasks on land and were working hard at them while Ursula prepared below for her visit from Triton’s youngest daughter. There was only one element of the spell they required:

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!”

A
fter 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.