As Alice followed Ursula to the moat, she suddenly gasped. She tried to turn around, but she didn't want to lose the octopus-like woman in the dark corridors. Julius looked at her with concern. "Alice, what's wrong?"
"Julius, I forgot to get Aurora's gem from Flora!"
Suddenly, she slipped her hand in her pocket, and realized that there was a third hard mass within, wrapped in parchment.
She pulled it out, and found a lovely gem, its facets sparkling blue or pink depending on the light that hit them. The parchment simply read: "You have earned this, Alice, for your courage in facing Maleficent and all of the other villains. Good luck, and remember to be very careful on your journey."
Alice breathed a sigh of relief, and then noticed that she was outside, facing the moat. She gulped when she saw that it was little more than a narrow river, at the bottom of a deep canyon. They crossed the drawbridge, and faced the small body of water from the other side.
Ursula stopped, setting up a large boulder with a depression in the center. "This will do quite nicely." She took the pendant from her necklace, a nautilus shell, and slowly tipped it over, spilling more seawater into the boulder's depression than the shell seemed capable of holding. The sea witch thought for a moment, before pulling a dead, decaying fish from her bosom, and tossing it into the rock. She also added bits of seaweed, and various odds and ends.
When she was finished, the whole concoction glowed a shade of gold, and a fine mist seeped from it. Ursula looked at Alice, and an odd light entered her eyes. She began to chant in a strange voice: "Sevruga, Beluga, Come winds of the Caspian sea…. Aquatus, Aquarius, Transform maritimus, A new shape for thee….."
Suddenly, the mist shaped itself into a giant pair of claws, grabbing at Alice. She gazed toward Julius, trying to scream, but not able to. She was surrounded by the mist, and all she could hear was Ursula calling "Good luck, Dear!" and Julius screaming her name.
She felt a tightness in her legs, and she suddenly found herself unable to move them. "Julius! Julius!" She could feel herself falling, and she knew that Ursula had helped her, had thrown her over the edge of the canyon.
Before she knew what had happened, she hit the water.
She expected to be surrounded by darkness. To stop breathing, to slowly feel the life seep from her limbs. To die.
Instead, she opened her eyes, and found that she was able to breathe. It was just like being on land! She could feel herself floating, suspended in the water, and she tried to swim forward, into the large hole in the side of the landform that she supposed was the canyon wall.
Much to her chagrin, however, she found that she couldn't move her legs, and couldn't swim very well because of it. She looked back to see what was wrong, if maybe Ursula had bound her legs for some reason.
Her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open. "Oh…. Oh, my god!" She wasn't even able to be surprised at how well her voice worked.
Alice's legs were gone. In their place was a long, gorgeous pink tail, complete with scales and fins. In addition, she assumed that the witch had snatched her dress in the confusion, replacing it with a small, somewhat revealing garment crafted from the two halves of a large, pink clam. She blushed when she realized what she was wearing, but thought no more of it, instead concentrating on the matter at hand.
She thrashed her tail, not really sure what to do with it, and nearly screamed at the speed with which she was propelled forward. With no sense of direction, and no real skill at swimming, Alice gradually made her way forward, until the water began to taste somewhat salty.
She saw light filtering down from above, and realized that morning had already arrived, and that she was no longer underground. She looked around, and her heart leapt at the beautiful colors surrounding her.
Everywhere was beautiful coral in fabulous shades, and tropical fish darted around, intent on their own business. It was like some marvelous, underwater fairy-land.
She was so busy gazing at everything, that she didn't notice the shape heading, out of control, right for her.
She gasped in surprise as it barreled in to her, and a kind, masculine voice began apologizing profusely. She looked up, and saw a blushing merman. "I'm really sorry, I should have watched where I was going…" His wavy black hair floated about his head, contrasting his blue eyes. His long, sapphire-blue tail glittered in the filtered sunlight, and Alice blushed when she realized that he wore nothing. However, she figured that that was probably customary among merpeople, especially considering what she herself was wearing.
"That's okay," she said, "I wasn't paying attention, either."
The merman blinked. "Wait a minute, you're from the real world, aren't you? It's funny, I've never heard of mermaids from there before…."
Alice blushed. "Well, I'm not really a mermaid. It's kind of a long story."
The merman breathed a sigh of relief, "And I thought I was the only one! You see, my father-in-law kind of turned me into a merman for the family reunion…" The merman shrugged. "I'm not a real merman, either. My name's Eric."
She shook his hand. "Hi, Eric! I'm Alice. Say, would you happen to know where we are?"
"This is Atlantica, kingdom of the merpeople. We're on the outskirts right now, but I'm just practicing my swimming. I'm not very good yet. It's a good thing my wife really is a mermaid, because she's been trying to teach me."
Alice smiled. "Do you think she'd help me, too? I'm not very good at it, either."
Eric smiled back. "I'm sure she would."
"Of course I will!" came a lovely, musical voice from behind a reef. With a giggle, a red-haired mermaid with shining blue eyes popped out. "You said your name is Alice? Hello, I'm Ariel!" The mermaid shook Alice's hand, smiling.
"Hello, Ariel. So, you're a real mermaid?"
Ariel smiled. "Of course!" She did three quick backflips, laughing all the while. "I was born and raised here in Atlantica. As much as I love the land, it's always so nice to come home!"
"We're here visiting her family," explained Eric.
Soon, Ariel was demonstrating how to properly flip one's tail, and how one should move one's arms when swimming as a merperson. Alice was pleased to discover that she was a natural, and before long, was swimming almost as well as Ariel. Eric, however, was a nearly hopeless case.
"It's okay, Eric," said Ariel, slight pity in her smile. "You'll get it eventually."
Eric laughed. "You say that every time we come here, Ariel!"
"Hey, ummm…. Not to interrupt, but…" Alice began. "Do you know where I can find the princess of Atlantica?"
Ariel smiled. "Well, Atlantica has six princesses now. I used to be, but since I married Prince Eric here, I'm only a princess in his kingdom on land, now. But I can take you to my sisters, if you'd like."