It was the middle of the night and twelve-year-old Marsious couldn't sleep. He could hear whispers coming from the living room. His father and someone else whose voice he could not place. He got out of bed and swam over to the doorway of his bedroom, peering around the corner. His father and King Triton were sitting in large coral chairs, deep in conversation.

"When are you planning on telling them?" Marsious' father asked. "They deserve to know."

"They are not yet old enough," the king said dismissively.

"With all due respect, Your Magesty," his father replied, "I think that the sooner we tell them the better. Ariel and my son will only resent us all the more the longer we keep something as huge as their betrothal from them. It's been arranged since they were born! Isn't twelve years long enough to keep silent on such an important matter?"

Marsious almost let out an audible gasp, but managed to cover his mouth with his hand just in time to prevent it. He and Ariel were betrothed? He was going to have to marry her? Gross!

King Triton stroked his long, white beard. "My dear Misenus," he said, his voice grave, "I understand what you are saying, I truly do. But I fear that as soon as I tell Ariel the truth, she will start asking questions. She will want to know why I arranged her marriage and not any of her sisters'. And what am I to tell her? That she must marry a merman so that she does not seek out the love of a human? That there is a prophecy that her love for this human will bring about the destruction of our kingdom? I cannot tell her these things."

"So what are you going to do?" Misenus asked sarcastically. "Spring it on her the day of the wedding? Happy Eighteenth birthday! By the way, you're getting married!"

"I will tell her soon enough!" the king snapped. "I just need to think of the best way to tell her first, is all."

Marsious felt light-headed. He backed up slowly, the two men's voices growing fainter and fainter. Falling back onto his bed, he stared up at the ceiling, trying to wrap his mind around what he had just heard. He and Ariel were betrothed. They were betrothed to keep her from falling in love with a human. The king was worried about this because there had been a prophecy that this would destroy the kingdom.

"Damn," he whispered softly. That was certainly a lot to take in.


Ariel picked up the strange object Scuttle had given her earlier that morning. He said that humans used it to clean their teeth. She ran her fingers over the bristles, wondering what good they could possibly do. She set the object down, next to the broken clock and the chipped tea cup, and gazed upwards. She'd discovered this place a couple years ago. It was a large cave with hollowed out walls that made perfect shelves. Every human treasure she obtained, whether it was from exploring a sunken ship or receiving a gift from Scuttle, she put in here. There were still many empty shelves, but her stash grew more and more every day.

The light that poured through the top hole in the cave was suddenly dimmed. She glanced up and gasped in shock when she saw that someone was peering down at her from above.

"Hey, Ariel!" a voice called. "I have something to tell you."

She breathed a sigh of relief. It was only Marsious. It wasn't that she particularly wanted to see him, but at least it wasn't her father or someone who would tell her father about this place.

He ducked into the hole and began to swim downwards, coming to a stop when he reached the bottom where she was floating.

"How did you find me here?" she asked. She had never told anyone about this place. She couldn't risk it.

He ignored her question. "I overheard my dad and your dad talking last night," he said. "And let's just say that it was quite enlightening."

"What were they talking about?" she asked, her curiosity piqued.

He looked around the cave casually, taking in his surroundings and not answering her question. "What is this place anyway?" he asked.

"It's just a place where I hide my treasures," she muttered in reply.

He lifted an eyebrow, a smirk spreading across his face. "Your treasures?" he repeated. "This junk isn't treasure, Ari."

"Don't call me that," she growled through gritted teeth. "And it is to me!"

"Why are you so obsessed with humans anyway?" he asked. "It's so strange."

"Go away, Marsious!" she snapped.

"Okay," he said slowly, beginning to swim upwards. "But I thought you wanted to know what our fathers were talking about last night. It did after all concern you, after all. And me."

"What were they talking about?" she asked. "Tell me!"

He stopped swimming. "We're betrothed," he said, amusement in his eyes. "They've been planning it since we were born."

Her eyes widened. "Are you messing around with me, Marsious? Because if you're lying about this, I swear I'll—"

He chuckled. "Trust me, Ariel. It's the truth."

"Why do you seem to think this is funny?" she asked. "This is horrible!"

"I'll admit I wasn't thrilled when I found out," he said, "but now that I'm here and I'm seeing the look on your face, I'm realizing that it's not entirely bad."

Her eyes narrowed. "You're okay with marrying simply because it annoys me?"

He laughed again and she had to clench her hands into fists to stop herself from smacking the smug look off his face.

"Being married to you won't be all bad," he said. "Yes, you're annoying, but you're also pretty damn beautiful."

Ariel felt her face heat up. This was the first time a boy had called her beautiful. It was a monumental moment. Too bad it was ruined by the fact that it had come from stupid Marsious.

"I'm not going to marry you!" she snapped. "I don't care what my father says!"

"He sounded pretty serious about it, Ariel."

"But why?" she exclaimed. "None of my sisters are being forced to marry against their will."

"I don't know," he muttered, dropping his gaze.

She squinted at him suspiciously, trying to figure out if he was telling the truth. Did he really not know?

"But you're going to have to marry me whether you want to or not," he continued. "There's no way you're going to get out of this one, Ari."

She groaned in frustration and pushed past him, swimming upwards until she was out of the cavern and then continuing on until she broke the surface. She could see the shoreline off in the distance. It was far away, but she desperately wanted to see it up close. She'd spent years gazing at it, yearning for it, but she'd never actually made the journey to see it for herself. She ducked back under the water and began to swim, faster than she ever had before. If she was going to make it to the shore and back home before dark, she was going to have to move very quickly.


A boy stood at the edge of the ocean, the waves lapping at his bare feet. "Eric!" he called to another boy in the distance. "Nanny says to come inside immediately. It's time for tea!"

Eric scowled and began to make his way towards shore. Moments later he emerged from the ocean, shaking the water from his shaggy black hair. "I can't wait until we're old enough to be rid of that old hag," he muttered. "I hate being told what to do. I'm fifteen years old, for God's sake."

The boy rolled his eyes. "Stop whining so much."

"When I said I didn't like people telling me what to do, I especially meant my little brother," Eric said, but his tone had changed to a playful one and he grinned as he gave the boy a slight shove.

The two of them took off running down the beach, toward the castle that they called home.

"Andy, wait!" Eric called a few minutes later, skidding to a stop and peering curiously out at the ocean. "Do you see that?"

"See what?" Andy asked, shielding his eyes from the sun as he gazed out over the water.

"That girl out there," Eric said. "She's over by those rocks." He pointed. "See?"

"Oh, yeah," Andy said. "I see her now." The girl had long red hair and looked to be about his age, which was twelve. "So what?"

"She has a tail," Eric murmured, still staring at her.

Andy let out a bark of laughter. "A tail? Eric, are you mad? You sound like those drunken sailors down by the docks who are always going on about mermaids."

"I saw a tail, I swear," Eric said. "I'm not mad. It was there."

Andy rolled his eyes and began to walk away. "Whatever you say," he called over his shoulder. "I'll just tell Nanny you're late because you've gone mental from inhaling too much saltwater into your lungs and have started hallucinating."

Eric watched as his brother disappeared from sight and then redirected his gaze back toward the girl. She wasn't looking at him and so he crept a bit closer, determined to catch a glimpse of her tail again. He had seen it. There was no doubt in his mind.

A moment later, the girl dove underwater, her tail flipping up in the air and then disappearing into the ocean with her.

Eric stood rooted to the spot, stunned. All those old sailor legends were true after all. Mermaids were real. A smile spread across his face. Imagine if was able to prove their existence. He was already going to be king someday, but such a feat would surely solidify him as one of the most legendary monarchs the kingdom of Reissa had ever seen. Still grinning smugly to himself, he began to trudge back toward the castle. It had been a magnificent place to grow up, built right into the cliffs that bordered the sea. And someday—when his father was finally out of the way—it would all belong to him. The castle. The kingdom. Everything.


Later that evening after dinner, Eric wandered into the library. He scanned the hundreds of titles carefully, grabbing any that sounded as if they would have information on mermaids. Sitting down in an old armchair by the fire, he opened the biggest one first and blew the dust from its yellowed pages. It was an old collection of sailor's legends. He skimmed over the first few, finding nothing of interest. But the fourth story, titled simply "The Sea Witch" caught his eye. The witch herself was not a mermaid, but the legend said that she had once been. But she had betrayed the kingdom and the king himself had exiled her. Having been born with magic that few mer-people possessed, she was able to change her appearance at will and had transformed her tail into octopus tentacles. She lived alone in a cave a few miles from the kingdom. She was immortal and had spent centuries making deals with mermen and mermaids, giving them whatever they wanted in return for whatever she desired. It was said that only the most desperate sought her out because her near-impossible bargains were well-known amongst the kingdom. If one could not meet his or her end of the deal, she would transform him or her into a small, helpless plantlike creature. It was also said that once every four years, she would transform her appearance into a human one and make her way to shore. Then and only then could the rare human who knew of and believed in her existence seek out her help. There was a chart that took up one whole page in the book, chronicling every date that the witch would come to shore over the next few centuries. Eric was disappointed to see that the next date was not for nearly four more years. He shut the book and stared into the fire. It was a good thing he was willing to wait.


So I know I said I wouldn't update this story until I finished After the Fairytale, but I have no self-control. BUT THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN! To the reviewer who asked why this story is rated M instead of T like After the Fairytale, the answer is that this story will be a lot darker. As you can probably already tell, the Eric in this story is nothing like the Eric we all know and love from the Disney movie.

As always, don't forget to review!