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Ariel spins around to find the shark nearly at the window behind Flounder.
“Flounder!Look out!”
He turns just as the shark crashes through the window.The creature bites widely.Ariel barely moves fast enough.The shark snaps at her tail,and as she swivels to avoid the attack, she drops her bag.A brief flutter of panic fills her chest at the thought of losing her treasure, but her focus is quickly stolen as the shark an-grily bares its teeth at them.Ariel and Floun-der race out of the room and down the gang-way.They swim as fast as they can.Ariel’s heart pounds.Getting eaten was definitely not part of her plans for today.
Ariel pauses once they reach the other end of the ship.An eerie silence settles over them,making her tense.She realizes she doesn’t hear the shark moving anymore.
“Ariel...”Flounder whispers.
She hesitantly looks around.Is it gone?
Crash! The shark suddenly bursts through the hull behind them.It’s so close Ariel can feel the heat of its breath on her tail.The shark’s momentum sends it crashing to the floor,and Ariel and Flounder immediately take off.The shark doesn’t stay down long,though.Its fin tears through the floor and rips up floor-boards as it chases after them.They dive through another hole in the ship,but the shark smashesthrough the side wall,send-ing debris everywhere.Ariel swims faster.She and Flounder need to keep getting distance from the shark,and—
Ariel freezes when she realizes she can’t see Flounder anymore.Her gaze darts around frantically. Oh,Flounder,where are you? She fi-nally spots his hiding place—at the same time the shark does.
“Flounder!”she cries.She has to do something—now.Through a hole in the wall, she catches a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror they uncovered earlier.An idea sparks.
It’s not unusual for one of Ariel’s ideas to result from little planning and quick thinking.She does not hesitate.She pushes a loose bar-rel toward the shark.It looks up and trains its eyes on her.Its fierce teeth curve into an al-most smile before it rockets toward her.Ariel swims through the hole,back into the first room she was in.
Moments later the shark bursts inside, heading straight forward.Ariel can tell it’s ready to devour her.Lucky for her,it doesn’t notice that it is actually diving toward Ariel’s reflection.The shark crashes through the mir-ror,its body getting stuck in the heavy round frame.
Ariel:one;shark:zero.
Flounder immediately swims toward the real Ariel.For a moment they watch as the shark struggles in vain to escape.Ariel then glances down and sees her bag of treasures right where she dropped it.Relief floods through her. Can’t leave here without this, she thinks.She grabs the bag and scoops Floun-der inside before speeding out of the ship.
The shark may be trapped,but Ariel doesn’t slow down until they make it to the edge of an ocean shelf near the water’s sur-face.Beams of sunlight break through,bright-ening up the space in a way that makes it seem safer,more open.No sharks are hiding up here.Ariel releases Flounder from her bag and frowns as she notices his trembling.
“You okay?”she asks him.She can’t help feeling a tiny bit guilty for almost getting her best friend eaten.
Flounder tries to put on a brave face and nods.“Sure.I mean,I’ve seen bigger sharks.”He puffs up in a show of bravado.“Just,you know...you can’t back down.You gotta show them who’s in charge— ahh !”He darts for cover as a seabird suddenly divesthrough the water,racing past them.
Ariel shakes her head.Some things never change.“Come back,Flounder.It’s just Scuttle.”
They watch as their friend Scuttle,an ec-centric seabird,grabs a minnow and surfaces.She dives back down to greet them and swims to the ledge.
“Ariel!Hey,kid,how’re you doing?Don’t mind me.I was just grabbing a snack.”
Ariel holds up her bag for Scuttle to see.“Look!We found more treasure!”
“Yeah,we went into this sunken ship,”Flounder adds.He makes a face and shudders.“It was really creepy.”
“Human stuff!”Scuttle hops forward,her beak curved into a smile.She’s the only one whose level of excitement ever matches Ariel’s when it comes to objects from above the sur-face.“All right,all right,lemme see!”
“Any idea what this is?”Ariel holds out the tiny trident to Scuttle.
Scuttle peers at it closely.In truth she has no idea what it is,but Scuttle’s motto has al-ways been when in doubt,make it up .“Wow, yes,”she says,nodding sagely.
“This is very,very unusual.”
Ariel eagerly leans forward.“What?What is it?”Dozens of ideas run through her mind.Is it a toy weapon for play battles?Is it used for decoration?Maybe it helps them open things?
Scuttle clears her throatand gives a con-fident nod.“This is...a dinglehopper!”
“A dinglehopper,”Ariel says,her voice filled with wonder. Scuttle knows so many amazing things.
“Yeah,”Scuttle continues.“Humans use these babies to style their hair.You just give it a little twirl.A little yank.”Scuttle demon-strates,combing it through her feathers.“You might get some pieces with it,and you’re left with an artistically pleasing conflagration of hair that humans go nuts for.”
Delighted,Ariel uses the dinglehopper to twirl a lock of her hair.“I would love to see that.”
“Can’t,”says Flounder,a bubble-bursting voice of reason.
“Flounder!”Ariel chides him.
“You know it’s true.”
Scuttle nods understandingly.“Your fa-ther still won’t let you go to the surface, huh?”
“Nope.It’s forbidden.He thinks all hu-mans are barbarians.”She doesn’t under-stand why her father gets so stubborn when it comes to humans.Everything she has ever found from their shipwrecks makes them seem thoughtful and creative.There is probably so much they could learn from the humans if her father would just be open to it.
Sighing,Ariel pulls the dinglehopper from her hair and places it back in her bag.
“Oh,they’re not so bad,”Scuttle says be-fore pausing thoughtfully.“Well,unless you’re a coconut.They hate coconuts.I swear,they get a hold of one,they smash it to pieces just like that.”Scuttle knocks her head on the ledge for emphasis.“It’s weird.”
Ariel reaches into her bag to take out an-other interesting object she managed to nab from before.It’s a funny-looking instrument, about the size of her palm.It’s long and skinny on one end and curves up into a large bowl shape.Ariel twirls it around in her hand before holding it out to Scuttle.“And what’s this?”
Scuttle opens her mouth to give her own elaborate description when a voice from be-low causes them all to jump.
“ARIEL!”
Startled,Ariel drops the object.She looks down to see it clonk the head of Sebastian,her father’s majordomo.
“Ari— OWW! ”
Oops! Ariel covers her laugh with her hand.“Sorry about that!”
The disapprovalon Sebastian’s face is clear.“Ariel!What are you doing up there? Wasting your time with this know-nothing bird that can’t tell swimming from flying?”
“Hey!”Scuttle squawks.
Sebastian ignores her.“And I suppose you’ve completely forgotten tonight’s the Coral Moon?”
Ariel’s eyes widen.She isn’t sure how it could have slipped her mind.“Oh,no!”
“Oh,yes!The gathering of Triton’s daugh-ters, minus one! ”Sebastian waves an accusa-tory claw at her.
“Oh,my father’s going to kill me!”Ariel has been late to other gatherings,but never one as important as the Coral Moon celebra-tion.Her father will be so angry.Worse,he might fix her with that disappointed stare that always makes her feel smaller than a plankton.“Sorry,Scuttle,gotta go!”
Scuttle assures her it’s fine before heading to the surface.Ariel quickly swims off,with Flounder and Sebastian close behind her.Not a single one of them has noticed that they were being watched.
Way deep in a dark corner of the sea, where the life and vibrancy of Triton’s king-dom has not reached,Ursula waits.Her pet eels,Flotsam and Jetsam,follow Ariel as she races toward the palace.The sea witch sits back,observing it all in a large black pearl floating in the center of her lair.
Ursula smiles bitterlyto herself.“Yes, hurry home,Princess.We wouldn’t want to be late for Daddy’s gathering,now would we? Perhaps I’ll join them—Oh,wait!”She pre-tends to look around for a nonexistent invita-tion.“What a shame...It seems they forgot to invite Ursula again !”
She has a strong urge to hit something but settles for reaching with one of her squid-like tentacles into a cage and plucking out a live shrimp.
Ursula lets out an enraged shriek.“I should be the one throwing parties!Not wait-ing on my invitation.”She stuffs the shrimp into her mouth and spits out the shell.She can barely taste a thing in her anger.
Look at me, Ursula thinks. Wasting away to practically nothing.And for what? For fif-teen long years she has lived in exile,banished and driven to boredom in this dimlittle crev-ice.
Sometimes Ursula looks around herself and is overcome by a wave of sadness.It is very cold in this part of the sea.It is even lone-lier.She has her eels,of course.Flotsam and Jetsam are her pride and joy.But Ursula was not meant to be such a solitary creature.When she was a young squid,everyone knew her as the life of the party.Some called her loud and dramatic,but no one could deny she was a master entertainer.Now here she is, muttering to herself.
“All while Daddy and his spoiled little mer-brats celebrate the Coral Moon!”Sadness quickly leaves to make room for fury.It’s not fair!
Deep breaths,Ursula, she reminds herself.This is not the time for wallowing in self-pity.If there’s one thing that’s true about Ursula,it’s that she has never been one to stay down for long.She has been accruing magic of her own for the last decade and a half.
If those mermaids want something to celebrate,Ursula will give it to them.She reaches for the nautilus shell around her neck and twists it between her fingers as she leans in toward her black pearl.She watches Ariel in its inky depths.“I may have finally found Daddy’s weakness after all.”Ariel’s fascination with humans might be just the opening Ursula has been waiting for.A smile creeps onto her face as she begins to form a plan.
