Chapter 4: The Most Beautiful Voice
"Ariel, why won't you talk to me?" Eric asked, sitting in front of her at a table on the other side of the lunch-room from where Rose was.
In response, Ariel looked down and twirled the fettuccini with her fork. Yesterday, she was heading over to the academy's Olympic-sized pool for swimming practice after school, when she got a call on her cellphone. She looked at the ID, sighed, and answered.
"Hi, daddy," she answered reluctantly.
"What's the matter, Ariel? Are you still mad at me?" her father, Mr. King, replied.
"Well, yeah, but it doesn't matter anymore."
"Do you want to talk about it? I have a few minutes before the board meeting with Mr. Stephen."
"Doesn't he own a lot of land or something?"
"Yes, and I'm going to persuade him into becoming my business partner. If all goes well, then I will get to build more resorts, and he will get a share of the profits. He says he has a daughter about your age who's attending Disney Academy."
"Oh? What's her name?"
There was a long pause on the phone, and then Mr. King responded, "I believe it was something like…Aurora?"
"I can't say I've heard of a girl named 'Aurora' before, but maybe I'll look into it." Then before her father could answer, Ariel hung up.
After getting changed into her school bathing-suit, which was a shimmering golden one-piece, she went through the locker-room door. On the other side, a large woman was standing by the pool's edge, wearing a black one-piece bathing-suit, with light-purple skin and short white hair. Ariel took a deep breath, and approached the woman with caution.
"Excuse me, Mrs. Ursula," Ariel said timidly.
The large woman turned slowly and looked at Ariel with surprise.
"Oh, you're earlier than usual," she said in a low voice. "What can I do for you?"
"I heard from a friend of mine, that…you're a witch. Is that true?"
Ursula replied with a small scuff. "I dabble in the art every now and then, but I wouldn't call myself a 'witch'. It sounds too derogatory, like I'm Madam Mim or something."
Madam Mim, according to what Ariel heard, was the former Magic teacher at Disney Academy before Mrs. Fairy took over. She was supposedly a good teacher, until the principal found out she was killing students through her secret 'wizard duels' that were said to involve the participants shape-shifting into different animals. A sorcerer named Merlin was hired to take care of her, and then after she was defeated, Madam Mim was never heard from again. The newspapers said she died of a disease Merlin had infected her with, while some claimed she was still out there, but they were just rumors.
"I suppose so," Ariel replied, and then she asked, "Can you…change someone's mind?"
"It depends on what opinion you want to change, and how you want me to change it."
"Well, there's this boy I really like. His name's Eric Prince. I'm seriously thinking about dating him, but when I described him to my father, he didn't approve, so now I'm distraught."
"Why didn't your father approve of this boy?"
"Because he…has a thing against regular humans. You see...we're mermaids."
"Oh." Ursula appeared to be shocked, but something about her eyes made Ariel realize she was faking it. "That certainly does explain why you're my star swimmer, but how can you be a mermaid when you have legs instead of a fishtail?"
"We take these," Ariel said as she pulled a small waterproof capsule from her cleavage. "They're called Sea Pills, a type of drug that can give mermaids legs for three days at a time. If you don't believe me, you can find them at White Apple Pharmaceuticals."
"No, I believe you." Ursula heard voices from the locker room, and put a hand on Ariel's shoulder. "We'll talk more about this later."
Reluctantly, Ariel joined the other Swim Team members, who were all girls, as they lined up at the platforms for each lane. Ursula gave them a prep talk about the upcoming Swim Meet, and told them to swim twenty laps under five minutes. Naturally, Ariel finished first, followed by two tan girls, one with a blue tattoo below her left eye, and the other with dark brown curls sticking out from under her swimmer's cap. When the buzzer went off, everyone stopped, then Ursula gave an analysis on each swimmer, and the cycle started again. This went on for an hour, with a ten-minute break in-between, then the practice session ended with all the girls jumping off the high-board with various flips and somersaults.
Once the last girl jumped in, Ursula blew the shell-shaped whistle around her neck, and shouted, "All right, ladies! Get out of the pool and hit the showers!"
Gladly, the majority of the girls got out, and went straight for the locker-room. Ariel stayed behind in order to resume her earlier talk, when she was met up by the two tan girls. She tried to look happy, and smiled at them.
"Hey, nice job, Ariel!" said the girl with brown curls.
"Thanks, Esmeralda," Ariel replied.
"You aced that time-limit like it was no big deal! We're going to win the Swim Meet for sure!" added the girl with the blue tattoo.
"I'm sure we will, as a team, of course!" Then Ariel realized, "You're new here, right?"
"Yeah," the girl with the blue tattoo responded. "My name's Kidagakash Nedakh, but you can call me Kida."
The two girls shook hands, and then Esmeralda dragged Kida to the locker room, telling her all about the various victories Ariel had accomplished for the Swim Team. Ariel overheard her, and shrugged them off as she walked over to Ursula. For a while, Ursula said nothing, and then when the voices from the locker room died down, she turned to Ariel.
"After considering your problem, I think I might have a solution for you." Ursula wrapped her arm around Ariel's shoulders and spoke softly. "Tonight, I will make a potion that'll make your father change his mind about you dating Eric. However, the effect will only last three days. So to make the thought-change permanent, you must go on at least one successful date with Eric during that limited time."
"What do you mean by 'successful'?" Ariel asked.
Ursula giggled. "By the end of the date, you two must kiss lips at least once before midnight on the third day. If you don't succeed, your father's opinion will change back, and you'll have to convince him on your own after that. But, there is a price."
"Whatever you want, I'll be willing to pay. If it's money you want-
"No, no, I don't need material wealth, darling. You see, in order to change a person, whether it be a mentally or physically, the one who desires this change must give up something in turn to trigger this effect. So, in exchange for altering your father's spoken opinion, you must give me your voice."
Ariel was shocked. She started to back away, but Ursula grabbed her firmly by the shoulders.
"No! I will not give up my voice! It's the most beautiful voice in the world!" Ariel struggled, but Ursula's grasp was tighter.
"Once you've made a promise to a witch, you are obligated to fulfill your end of the bargain."
Then just as Ariel was going to scream, Ursula placed a hand over Ariel's mouth. She felt something warm going down her throat, and then as Ursula pulled her hand away, a bright orb flashed in her palm. With her eyebrow raised slightly, Ursula placed the glowing orb into the shell-shaped whistle, leaving Ariel dumbfounded.
In the present, the worried look on Eric's face made Ariel feel ashamed of her choice, but she decided she would make the best of it, and deal with Ursula later. So she took out a notebook from her book-bag and a pencil with a mermaid on it, and wrote:
I have a really sore throat, so I can't talk right now. But hopefully, it will go away soon. In the meantime, would you like to do something fun this weekend?
End of Chapter 4
