Turns out that the day was only going to hit rock bottom. I only think this as I sit here with my legs in the water, as Ariel lectures me about fighting her. "I am your mother whether you like it or not, and I don't want you to get hurt, so you'll do as I say." She says. Then she carries on with the lecture with a surprising aspect. "I want you to go find Ursula. Get her to help fight King Triton. She has magic to fight him." I gasp in horror.
"Why make me do it. She's your sister. Not mine. And, if you didn't remember, she had tried to kill me multiple times." I tell her, my voice pulling the best sass I could all at once. I didn't need her making me do things she could easily do herself. I wasn't her servant. I sigh when I see her roll her eyes. Did she really not care if I drowned? Was I really just a pawn to defeat all her demons? I think annoyed. I watch her carefully as I wait for her response.
"Yes, well, she wants to kill me too you know. But I can tell you what to do, Ember, because I know you. You can't stand not helping someone." She says, and I resent ever trying to know who she was. Now, with seeing her real side, she should have just run away to New York like she had lied.
"Alright, I'll go." I say with a calm, soft voice and dive into the surface of the chilly water. I smile as I get closer and closer because I've got a plan when I get there. I'll get more out of it, I'll make her suffer for telling me she doesn't care about me as her own daughter.
I stop suddenly when I see the cliff she had stopped me at to protect me, then I frown deeply. She didn't care, I think angrily. I swim faster as I come closer to a cave that looks dark and mysterious and still realize that my vision is still there even if she isn't with me. I smile gratefully, but then huff in frustration. She's just doing it to make her own wishes come true, not mine, I think lowly. I am cut from my thoughts of Ariel and her stubbornness when I hear a familiar voice.
"Finally, someone who comes when I want them." Ursula says evilly as I see her in my view now. Her blonde hair is curling around her body like snakes, and on the top of her head she wears a silver crown.
"Ariel...my mother sent me." I say, feeling awkward suddenly calling her by her first name with her sister present. Ursula smiles.
"I see you follow orders. I thought you'd be here sometime. Now, let's make a deal." Ursula replies greedily. I look down to hide the smile I wear suddenly.
"Now for my plan." I say in a whisper. She looks at me, curious.
"What was that dear?" She asks as she swims closer. I try my best to look scared even when inside, I'm excited.
"Nothing, Auntie." I say cleverly. Time to get into her head. Make her hate Ariel more than me and pair up with me to defeat King Triton, I think hastily.
***
We stare at each other for a while until I realize I see a difference in Ursula's eyes. She grins at me, and that is the moment I know I'm dead. She knows, I think. I feel my throat start to close up in my own nervousness. I look to her, looking for answers.
Ursula sits down, and I relax a bit, but as I see her expression, my body tenses again. I stare, unhelpfully because I realize it will do me no good in knowing what she's thinking. Whether she's planning on killing me or something similar, it doesn't look good from her face. I am about to say something to her, but instead she interrupts the silence.
"Now, what do you need?" Ursula calmly asks, her demeanor completely changing, like the ice melting under the heat of cider. I stare, speechless. Who is she? I think frightened by the sudden change. She went from completely evil and full of herself, to curious and nice? That either had to be fake or she had been acting fake the entire time. Something was off.
"For..." I pause, trying to compose myself in a less spooked manner. It might change again, I think. "For you to help defeat King Triton." I say simply. She laughs, but now it sounds less like her evil side I'd only knew, to sounding like a completely different person; one that was much more different from my mother. I'd originally started to think that my mother and Ursula had more in common, but now as I sit here with Ursula brightly smiling at me, and her actually looking quite like a concerned mother does, I think differently. That my mother is the only evil one. That she is really the one to watch out for.
"Well, there is something I can help with." She says like she thinks that I've only ever seen her nicely, instead of evil. I stare, trying to completely organize my thoughts. Trying to see if I can see past any sort of façade that she has suddenly built, but I can't find anything. I realize I feel somewhat disappointed, and that surprises me. "Now, let's talk about your mother." She says lightly like she's never hated her, but as I stare at her expression I see it's the opposite.
"But you hate her." I finally say after stumbling with the statement in my mind, trying to think if it's the best thing to say to someone who hates me for being Ariel's daughter.
"And I have my reasons. For now, I'll put them aside and help you. I'd rather not see an innocent home like both of ours go to waste." Ursula replies and I have to wonder if I'm dreaming or not.
***
When I surface the water, I see no one but Ariel. I frown. Maybe I had half expected Madilyn and Avery to be there, or maybe I just didn't want to keep confronting my mother myself. I hated talking to her, she always brought out the angry side of me, which I hated myself. "I did it. You happy?" I say annoyed. She smiles and it only makes me angrier with her. I storm off up towards the beach and sidewalk to walk home. I'm already tired of seeing her. As I keep my path towards the way home, my vision blurs until its completely black and I find I'm getting used to the constant change from darkness to seeing and the reverse. Even if I hate that my mother does this only when she wants help without doing anything herself, I am admittedly used to the changing. I pull out my walking stick, half using it, half lazily listening to my surroundings to get back to the cabins.
I get myself back and once I do, I surprisingly don't feel like going inside my cabin. Instead, I find myself at the end of the docks, letting my feet sink into the familiar cold water. I sigh, relieved instantly. Then my thoughts are interrupted by a recent one. Avery. He talked. I heard his voice, the one he was now hiding from his family. The one no one knew he had.
I continue to stare into my familiar darkness as the image of Avery pops into my head; his shy smile and black curly hair falling over his face, half hiding it. I smile sadly. Why would he hide his speech? When did he do this? Then the answer suddenly comes to me in a realization. Ursula. Just like in those Disney movies, she takes his voice. It's the reverse. He's the character of Ariel, but switched. I realize that Ursula may be the culprit for a reason, that she may have a different reason behind why she granted Avery his voice. But what was his reason for going to her?
tatg{]{
YOU ARE READING
Ariel's Daughter
Fantasy"I don't like it, but it's true." It's my dad's voice. Sad and full of guilt. I frown. He must feel horrible, but I realized yesterday, that I can't blame him for this turnout. It was my mother that kept me in the dark all this time. Dad was only th...
