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Nothing is quite as magnificentas the world under the sea.On first glance,there is a captivating calm that permeates the boundless expanse.Colorful plants sway gently,dancing among the tall rock formations that tower from the sandy seafloor.And hidden far from human eyes,a majestic palace of coral is cen-tered perfectly within a luscious garden of blues and pinks.
Of course,the real beauty of the sea is the way it teems with life.From his throne,King Triton can see bales of sea turtles floating by while dolphins playfully dance around each other,chittering away.Schools of fish dart through the water,trying to keep up with each other.And all around him are the sounds of music and happy chatter as the palace merfolk make hasty preparations.
TonighttheCoralMooncelebrationsbegin.
It is the sea king’s favorite time of year.It’s when merfolk near and far gather to celebrate the moon’s blessing of good luck and abun-dance.Most important,it’s one of the few opportunities for Triton to see all his daugh-ters gatheredtogether.There is always work to be done but much joy to be had so long as everything remains on track.
Triton puts a large conch shell to his lips and blows.The trumpeting sound blares throughout the waters.The sea king’s daugh-ters know what this means.It doesn’t take long for the princesses to make their way into their father’s throne room.King Triton’s stat-ure suggests great might and power,but there is a lightness within him as he looks around.His family is together,safe,ready to start a new year.Triton takes a seat on the natural carved throne in the center of the room.His daughters settle on the coral ledges all around him.
“My daughters of the Seven Seas,”he be-gins,beamingwith pride,“it fills my heart to have you all here.”He says to each of them in turn,“Tamika,Perla—it’s so good to see you.Caspia,Indira—I welcome news from all your waters.Mala,Karina...”A noticeable gap catches his attention,and he pauses.“Where’s Ariel?”
There is an uncomfortable pause as his daughters stare helplessly at each other.None of them have ever been too successful at keep-ing an eye on their youngest sister.
Triton starts to massage his temples,his frustrationonly increasing at the silence.All he wanted was a smooth start to this impor-tant celebration with all seven of his daugh-ters.Was that too much to ask?
Most of the time,ruling the Seven Seas seems easy compared to keeping track of Ariel.She has never been one to stay still for long.She has too much of an adventurousspirit.It’s frightening how much she reminds him of her mother.A lump rises in his throat at the thought.He shakes his head to clear it and refocuses on the problem at hand.
He notices a sudden movement out of the corner of his eye.He sees Sebastian,his righthand crab,attempting to scutter quietly away.Frowning,Triton reaches out and pins Sebas-tian under his finger.
“Sebastian!”The crab shakes as Triton’s nostrilsflare angrily.“You were supposed to see to it that Ariel was here!”
“Oh,I tried,Your Majesty,but that child, she is impossible!I reminded her about the gathering just this morning.What else can one crustacean do?”
“You can go find her!Yes?”Triton re-leases his grip on the crab.
“Yes,Your Majesty!Right away!”Sebas-tian scurries away as fast as his little legs will allow.
Triton watches him go before pinching the bridge of his nose.It is so like his youngest child to miss an important event because she is off exploringthe seas or some such non-sense.Why can’t she be less...curious?No, that’s not what he wants.As much as her be-havior frustrates him,there’s a calming famil-iarityto even Ariel’s most exasperating quirks.The thought slowly melts away Triton’s anger,leaving the sea king lost in an old memory.
Meanwhile,Sebastian grumblesto him-self as he makes his way out of the throne room.“How hard can it be to find a mer-maid?”And wasn’t that always the question with Ariel?If he’s lucky,he’ll have to search only one ocean.The crab sighs deeply.“Where are you,child?”
Ariel swims leisurelythrough the water, keeping her eyes open for any interesting trea-sures hiding themselves among the rocks and corals.She woke up this morning with the urge to explore burning in her belly.It’s been a few days since she’s found anything new to add to her collection.She’s a bit farther out from the palace than she knows she’s supposed to be,but the best objects can be discovered onlyoutwherethehuman shipwreckssettled.
The glint of something in a creviceamong the rocks catches Ariel’s eye.She reaches for the shiny unfamiliar treasure.
“Haven’t seen one of these before,”she mumbles to herself.It has a long cylindrical shape,with one side larger than the other.Ariel’s fascinated smile spreads from ear to ear as she lifts the large end to her face and squints through it.She sees her friend Floun-der on the other side.The timidyoung fish, looking impossibly small,swims toward her.
“We aren’t supposed to be this far from the palace,Ariel,”Flounder says.
She is surprised at how near his voice sounds.She’s even more surprised when she lowers the object and sees that Flounder is much closer than he appeared.“Oh!”
“Let’s go back,”Flounder begs.
But the strange device has captured Ariel’s attention.
How does it work? She raisesand lowers it,watching things around her shift from big to small.Humans create such interesting ob-jects.How could anyone not be intrigued?
“Come on,Ariel.Please!”
She grins at her friend’s typical behavior.He looks like he’s fighting the urge to see if he can wrap his little fins around her arm and drag her away.“Oh,Flounder.Stop being such a guppy.”
“I’m not a guppy.”He is unable to keep the pout from his voice.
Ariel playfully raises an eyebrow but doesn’t contradicthim.She swims over a rise and raises the object,looking through the small end this time.A thrill runs through her as she sees that things in the distance appear much closer.Now this is useful.
“I think we’ve gone far enough,”Floun-der continues.But Ariel catches a glimpse of a group of jagged rocks,littered with the wrecked hulls and rotting timberof sunken ships.
“Wait,what is that?”She has explored this shipwreck graveyardcountless times, much to her father’s consternation,but she’s certain she hasn’t seen this wreck before.Ariel’s stomach flutters.A new wreck means new things to explore.“Come on!”she says to Flounder as she lowers the object.It collapses in on itself,and she tucks it into the treasure bag she keeps strapped across her shoulder.Delighted,she races off.
Flounder jumps,panicked.He watches Ariel head toward the mass of giant creak-ing ship remains.Even from this far away he can feel the large debris loom over them.He doesn’t want to go anywhere near it,but he wants to be left behind even less.“Ariel, wait for me!You know I can’t swim that fast.”
The new shipwreck has probably carried dozens,maybe even hundreds,of humans in its time.The ship itself appears mostly intact, though it’s surrounded by broken glass and sharp splinters of wooden beams.There’s a gaping hole in the center of the ship’s hull—a perfect invitation!Ariel peers inside.Debris is strewn around,but there are many strange treasures wanting to catch her eye.
“Look at all that!”Awefills her voice.“They must have used this ship for battlesor something.”
Flounder finally catches up to her,wheez-ing.“Yeah,great.Now let’s get out of here.”
“Getting cold fins?”Ariel grins,biting back a laugh,before swimming into the ship.
“Who,me?No way.”
“Good.Then you can stay out here and watch for sharks.”She tosses him a wink be-fore swimming out of view.
“ What? Ariel—wait!”Flounder cries as he swims into the ship.He looks around apprehensively as a shadow passes over the ship’s hull.
Ariel ignores Flounder’s squeals of pro-testas she moves through the gangway.She notices a door halfway off its hinges,creating the perfect entrance.Ariel pushes it aside just as Flounder catches up to her again.His eyes dart around nervously.
“Do you really think there might be sharks around here?”
“Oh,Flounder.”Ariel chuckles.Her friend can be a scaredy-fish sometimes,but it rarely keeps him from joining her adventures.That makes her glad.She loves getting to dis-cover new things with him.
Many of the human objects inside are in pieces across the floor.Ariel begins sortingthrough them,hoping to find something left intact to add to her collection.
Ariel gasps and pulls a small shiny object from a pile of scrap on a table.“Look at this!”She holds it up so Flounder can see.The tiny object is silvery,with three sharp points,and barely bigger than her hand.“It’s the smallest tridentI’ve ever seen!”
“Whoa.”Flounder marvels,taking a closer look.He may be a nervous fish,but he is just as amazed by these human treasures as Ariel.
She playfully jabs the tiny trident toward her friend.“I’m King Flounder,”she says in a deep,kingly voice.“Lord of the Seven Seas!”
Flounder giggles.“I wonder why a hu-man would need one that size.”
“I bet Scuttle would know.She always does,”Ariel says,dropping the tiny trident into her bag.She is distracted by the sight of a large sheet covering something.She tugs it away and comes face to face with her own im-age.Ariel has seen a mirror once before,but not one this large.Flounder gives a startled cry when he sees himself.
Ariel can’t help laughing.“Will you relax? It’s just your reflection.Calm down.Nothing is going to happen—”
But as she glances at the mirror again,a third figure appears,looming larger and larger in the mirror’s reflection.
A shark.