Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch (9 page)

The way Ursula saw the town of Ipswich.

Ursula laughed.

“There was a time when your words hurt me beyond measure. Now they only fuel my hatred for you.”

“You’ve violated the laws of the seas far too many times, Ursula. It’s time you return to the shores so you can dwell with those pathetic humans you love so well!”

“Is this about the princess Morningstar?”

“Yes. You know the law. Her father’s coffers have grown fat on fishing these waters! I won’t have you protecting his children while he puts mine in danger every time his men cast their nets into the sea!”

“I am not bound by your laws, Triton. I do not live in your waters. This realm is mine! I make the laws in the Unprotected Waters! Besides, you might be happy to know his coffers are now empty after some bad dealings with the Beast prince. Perhaps that is punishment enough? I don’t see why his daughter should suffer any further for her father’s choices.”

“Clearly you know well of daughters who’ve suffered for their fathers’ choices.”

“Don’t you dare speak of my father! Not ever! You don’t have the right!”

“That human wasn’t your true father, and he deserved his fate for surrounding himself with those repugnant murdering humans! You’ve become the thing you hated, Ursula, just like your victims in Ipswich.”

“Get out! And go back to your simpering, mealymouthed subjects! You have no power here, Triton! These are the Unprotected Waters. Your rule does not extend here or to me!”

“I have the means to take the last shreds of your power, and I shall do so at my pleasure if you extend your support to another human. This is your final warning, Ursula. Keep to the shadows, where foul ugly creatures belong, so no one may suffer the sight of you!”

“If I am this foul creature you describe, it’s by
your design
!”

“You’ve always been this way! You refused, even as a small child, to take the proper form.”

She was thunderstruck. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “What? What did you just say?”

“You heard me! You were a vile little thing. I left you adrift because I foresaw the monster you would become!”

“I wasn’t lost as you said? You left me?”

“Yes, and clearly it was the right choice. Look at you. You’re disgusting. Shameful.”

Ursula thought she had hardened her heart against her brother long before, when he banished her from his kingdom, but this betrayal was more than she could comprehend. Her mind whirled at the notion of a young Triton abandoning his little sister to the perilous waves, not knowing if she lived or died. Hoping she had met the latter fate.

No wonder he had never sought her out all those years.

She hadn’t the strength to ask what their parents had thought of her disappearance. She wouldn’t be able to bear it if they had been privy to her brother’s plan. Surely they hadn’t. They must have been told some lurid tale of mishap. She wondered if they had ever suspected their “perfect” son of such a terrible deed. Why else would the king dictate that Triton prove she was dead or unworthy before he could take the throne? It was all too awful. Too profane. How dare he cast judgment on her when he had left his little sister to die? And to think that her parents might have been privy to his acts, that they could have known the truth.
That
would be too heartbreaking, too terrible even to fathom. It couldn’t possibly be true.

She was done.

There was no love left for her brother. There was no doubt. And he had given her no choice. No choice at all. This foul, ugly, murdering creature was going to do what she did best. She was going to take her revenge.

U
rsula didn’t dismiss the near miss between Ariel and Eric as casually as the sisters three had. If it hadn’t been for her poopsies’ tipping over the boat, the prince would have kissed that little brat and it would have ruined her plans!

“Nice work, boys!” she said to Flotsam and Jetsam, looking into the magic divining sphere the sisters had given her when they saw each other last.

“That was a close one. Too close!” She was furious with the odd sisters for letting Ariel get so close to the prince. “The little tramp! Gods, she’s better than I thought!” She was enraged.

“At this rate he’ll be kissing her by sunset for sure.” She swam to her pantry, where she kept all manner of components for spell craft.

What have those sisters been doing? I can’t believe they allowed this to happen!

“Well! It’s time Ursula took matters into her own tentacles!”

Smashing a glass ball containing a butterfly into her cauldron, she said, “Triton’s daughter will be mine! Then I will make him writhe, and I will see him wiggle like a worm on a hook!”

All at once, everything turned gold, encompassing her, transforming her into…something else. Something she hated.
Vanessa,
she thought.
Revolting Vanessa, with its large violet eyes and long black hair.
She felt sickened in that human flesh, forced once again to use another’s beauty to hide herself, but this would be the last time; of that she was sure.

A
s Ursula stood on the shores of Prince Eric’s estate, wearing someone else’s body, and carrying someone else’s voice, she mused.

Soon Triton would be dead, and she would take her rightful place on the throne. She would do so in her true design! How fortuitous that Triton’s youngest daughter should fall in love with a human! How poetic! If she hadn’t needed Ariel’s soul, she would have let her marry Mr. Fancy Prince! It would have broken her father’s heart seeing her become the thing he hated most. A human! It was divine intervention! But she had other plans for Ariel’s soul. She wouldn’t have bothered taking the little mermaid’s voice had she intended the mergirl and Eric to marry.

The gods of fortune had been working in Ursula’s favor the day the waves ripped Prince Eric’s ship asunder, sending him deep within the ocean into Triton’s domain. Thank the sea gods Ariel fell in love with Eric in that moment. Ursula’s minions had told her when it happened. It was all too perfect: the gods granting the little mermaid the strength to save the prince and take him safely to shore! It was as if they were working toward Ursula’s aims.

And as far as Ursula could surmise, the prince had begun to fall in love with the gorgeous young redhead who had saved him, and he’d been pining for this dream girl ever since. Thank goodness she’d thought to take Ariel’s voice or they probably would have married the moment she opened her stupid little mouth. The poor prince thought he’d conjured that songstress in his drowning delirium, the girl with the beautiful voice.

Now Ursula was in possession of that voice and she intended to use it; she intended to snare herself the little mermaid’s prince and make him hers. Her musings were interrupted by the whistling sound of a human instrument—a flute—flying through the air and splashing into the waves.

He’s here,
she thought.
Perfect.
With Ariel’s voice Vanessa sang the tune that had enchanted the prince on the day Ariel saved his life. She felt like one of her sirens: calling forth her prey, bewitching a human man with her song. Ariel’s song. Drawing him to the shore and to his utter destruction. Then a thought came to her.

If she were to possess Triton’s power and at the same time rule in Eric’s kingdom, she would dominate both land
and
sea!

It was too brilliant, too perfect, and utterly divine. She would just need to keep Prince Eric enchanted as long as it served her aims. Then she’d get rid of him once he was no longer of use.

Eric wandered to the shore, drawn by the sound of Ariel’s voice within Vanessa and bewitched by her magic. To say he had any thoughts or feelings of his own would be a great exaggeration. Or better, purely inaccurate.

It was a little unfair bewitching him like that, but Ursula didn’t want to leave anything to chance. She could have simply lured him by employing Ariel’s voice alone, without witchery, and he would have thought it was Vanessa who had saved his life, but time was running thin and she needed to be sure Eric wouldn’t fall in love with Ariel. She needed Ariel’s soul.

Had she any empathy left in her, she would have felt sorry for the poor prince, dizzy-eyed and befogged as he was. He seemed like a decent fellow: quiet, sweet, humble. Rather moral…and far too handsome. When he approached Ursula in the fog, his eyes dazed by her magic, she sighed.

He finds this human shell beautiful. Not Ursula—he finds
Vanessa
beautiful.

She had never been loved for herself by anyone but the human who had adopted her. Her father. He had loved her even when she had transformed into something monstrous, ugly, and foul, as her brother had called her.

Never mind the past!
she thought.
None of that will matter. Not when both the land and sea are mine.

D
earest Princess Tulip Morningstar,

Tulip sat gobsmacked, with the letter from Prince Popinjay in her hands.

She hadn’t the words to tell Nanny what he had written—she hadn’t fully processed what it meant—so she simply handed the letter over so Nanny might read it herself.

“Well, he is rather gifted at expressing himself! Better, I daresay, than he is at ramming down castle gates!”

Tulip was still in a daze. “Nanny, do you think what he says is true? Were those men under some sort of enchantment?”

Nanny knew very well they had been.

“Yes, my dear, they were.”

Tulip looked at her skeptically. “Why didn’t you say so before?”

Nanny sighed. “Because, my dear, you would have given me the look you’re giving me now, like poor Nanny has lost her mind. And honestly, I had more pressing matters at hand, trying to summon Circe and contending with Ursula when she showed up in Circe’s place. But trust me, my darling girl, those men were enchanted and your prince can hardly be held accountable for his actions.”

Tulip’s face squished up with displeasure.

“He’s not my prince!”

Nanny laughed.

“If you say so, dear. But he sounds very much like your prince to me!”

Tulip hated this feeling. The last time she had felt this way, she had been utterly humiliated and deeply hurt. She couldn’t imagine allowing herself to be charmed by another handsome man only to be heartbroken again. But she was different now, wasn’t she? Stronger, bolder, and indeed more worldly. And it seemed those were the very qualities the prince admired in her.

“I wish Circe were here, Nanny. She’d know what I should do.”

Nanny sighed. “I believe Circe would tell you to write this gentleman back, thank him for his kind words, and extend an invitation to tea.”

Tulip smiled.

“Do you really think so?”

“I do, my dear.”

“Then I think I will!” said Tulip with a quick kiss for Nanny on her soft powdery cheek. Then she dashed out of the room so she might write the letter. Nanny laughed. How she had longed to see Tulip so happy again, and she felt Popinjay’s intentions were honorable. But she’d better take a closer look at him just in case.
He’s a fine fellow for a human,
said Pflanze in Nanny’s head.
And I am sure Tulip will be quite happy with him, but we have to focus on Circe. I’m afraid she’s in grave danger. I fear we all are.