WILD UNCHARTED WATERS: RANI'S UNDERSEA ADVENTURE

chapter v: the above world

I definitely wasn't sure what Ariel and I were getting ourselves into, but I knew it was a trap. We were following the two eels I had seen earlier when we went to the palace very late for the Coral Moon. We were swimming to the darker depths of the sea, where it was colder than Atlantica and Carinae, and where underwater volcanoes bubbled and boiled. Finally we reached an old lair, a monster's bones with a gaping mouth, that seemed to invite us both in to the belly of the beast, so to speak.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked, now really scared.

"No." Ariel said, equally as frightened as I was.

The eels saw that we were hesitant, and they sparked electricity from their tails to ensure we didn't turn back.

Ariel swam in, with me close behind her. We looked around warily.

"Not to sound like Flounder, but, you think it's too late to turn back?" I whispered in fear.

Before she could answer, there were polyps that came from out of nowhere, grabbing at her arms and neck.

"ARIEL!!!" I screamed, terrified, before the polyps grabbed my tail and arms.

"RANI, LOOK OUT!" Ariel had wriggled free, and saw me ensnared, and cried out in worry, coming back for me.

"ARGH! GET OFF OF ME!! GET! OFF!!!" I yelled, setting my powers off, causing the polyps to let go, and I began quickly swimming away further into the belly with Ariel, to Ursula's lair.

"How did you do that?" Ariel asked me.

"I'm a Sorceress. I have magic in me. It's been a part of me since I was a baby." I explained quietly. "Don't tell your aunt."

Ariel nodded. A promise was a promise.

"Come in, come in, children. We mustn't lurk in the passageways."

There she was, sitting upon a giant clamshell amid the skulls and bones of dead shipwrecked humans at the entrance.

"Forgive my poor circumstances. I wouldn't choose to live like this, believe me." She told us. "Daddy's been so unfair to both of us—controlling everything we say and do. In a way, we're the same, you and I."

To my relief, she had her eyes only on Ariel, and not on me, since I mentally checked my magical essence. Good. She didn't sense anything.

"You don't seem at all like Father described." Ariel said as she looked up and down, observing her aunt.

"Is that right? We never did get along. He always got what he wanted, and what did I get? Nothing. Zip. Nada. Squat." Ursula grinned deviously as she slithered towards us. "Sound familiar, hon? I know what you're going through, believe me...and I know why you're here."

You do, huh? Well, I know you're tricking her. I thought suspiciously.

"I'm not sure I do." Ariel answered, making me relieved that she was having second thoughts.

I could sense the Sea Witch's bad intentions, but I didn't say anything. I knew that in the dream I had before I came to Atlantica and Carinae, she was the one who was pulling me down, trying to drown me, so before I got going, I made sure I cast a spell so my magical presence wasn't known.

"Oh please. I've been watching you for a long time, dearie. What you really want is to be up there in the above world. It's always had your curiosity, and now it's got your heart." Ursula explained, bringing herself nose to nose with her youngest niece.

"What do you mean?" Ariel seemed surprised that her aunt knew that much about her interest in my world.

I wasn't shocked, but I kept a poker face.