Part IX

Antoine quietly slipped out into the castle hallway. His wife had been on his case again and he was getting tired of her badgering. She had wondered why he wouldn't dance with her and he had told her he didn't feel like dancing and he hadn't. He couldn't get his mind off his mermaid and the girl with the black hair.

He had decidedly left the ball and, one in the hall, stood alone, trying to put his thoughts back in order. His mermaid… the girl…. Oh! He could think of nothing else. He needed a plan of action. He needed some sort of answer.

It is then he remembered. The spare room. If that dress the raven-haired girl wore was indeed the same his wife had had made for the mermaid, the dress would be missing from the armoire in the spare bedroom! He decided to go have a look. Once he knew the truth he could return to the ball and his mind would finally be at peace. Or at lest he hoped.

* * *

The mermaid wasn't enjoying the ball. It's not that she didn't like parties; it's just that she felt bombarded by rules. The witch wouldn't let her near the prince or princess and the mermaid was sad. She hadn't seen her prince for many years and missed him dearly. She wanted to see him. She wanted to walk up to him and take him by the hand. She wanted to dance with him again as she had before, at her very first ball. She felt the need to be close to him. Perhaps the princess would invite her to live in the palace again?

"It's almost midnight." The witch hissed in her ear, shattering all her daydreams.

She looked up at her, startled, "What happens at midnight?" She asked.

"That's when you take off your mask." Explained the old woman, "But you must be dancing with the prince then."

"Why is that?"

"Just hush."

"But you told me not to go near the prince."

"But now I want you to."

"Why is that?"

"Enough questions." Demanded the witch harshly, "Just do as I say."

The mermaid looked worriedly over at Jim, but he wasn't paying attention. She was so very confused and needed someone to confide in. If only her friend was here, but then she remembered what Knight Reynold had told her the night she was kidnapped: "He's dead, little mermaid." She shuttered. Her friend was dead. She didn't have him anymore. She only had the witch, and Jim, and the prince.

"I don't see him." The witch said suddenly.

"Who?" Asked the mermaid.

"The prince! He must have left the room."

The news was distressing. How was she going to dance with the prince now?

"Jim!"

The blonde orchard-hand looked over at the witch when she addressed him. "Um, yes, ma'am?"

"Go out and find the prince. He left the ballroom, but he must be back here in time for the last song." The witch's eyes scanned the room again.

"But what will I say to him if I do find him?" Asked Jim, and the mermaid thought this a very good question. "How will I get him to come with me?"

"Tell him you know something about his little mermaid. He will surely come with you them."

"His little mermaid?" Jim repeated.

The mermaid looked back at him to see him staring perplexedly at her.

"Just do as I say."

"Yes 'um."

The mermaid watched as Jim scurried off. He would find her prince. She was sure.

"Well…" The witch let out an exhausted sigh. "I guess now, we wait." She led the mermaid over to some vacant chairs in the corner and sat down. She looked tired and the mermaid felt sorry for her.

It must be terribly tiring being mean to people. She thought and sunk gracefully into the chair beside the old woman. The old woman patted her hand gently and then continued watching the dancers.

The little mermaid turned her attention back to the princess, who remained sitting at the front of the room. Leonela and Jacqueline stood nearby.

The mermaid found herself missing that life. Not all the fineries and nice clothes, because she never much liked that. She missed living in the castle and seeing the prince everyday. The princess had been so kind to her and the prince never told her to go away. She had been happy.

She looked to the witch. The last few years had been a little miserable. She didn't mind helping the witch with house chores, but she never saw her prince. She thought about him and prayed for him every night, but that didn't fill the empty void in her heart. I must see him again. She thought and turned her attention back to the dancers, waiting anxiously for Jim to appear with her beloved.

* * *

Antoine had found what he was looking for almost too easily. He entered the spare room and noticed the bed had been slept in. Yes, it was neatly made, but the bedspread was wrinkled. Further examination of the room advanced his suspicions that someone had been living there unbeknownst to either his wife or himself.

He ended his search at the large wooden armoire in the corner. He swung open the doors to find twelve dresses hanging inside. One of the twelve was not an original, however, and he pulled it off the hanger for further examination. It was a simple white dress grayed with age and with a faded red sash around the middle. Though he couldn't be sure, he thought he had seen it before.

He looked back to the dresses hanging in the closet. As he had suspected, the gauzy blue one was missing. That meant the woman at the ball had stolen it. He tried to picture her in the old garment he had found in the armoire. Though he couldn't see her face, what his mind put together startled him. Of course! The girl on the castle wall! That benevolent beauty, down at the ball, was the same girl who had hit him over the head!