The following arc is based on the storybook Ariel and the Secret Grotto, so it's not my idea!

Enjoy the chapter!

A few days had passed Stormy was released.

Since then, Ariel and Garret had been training to ride their seahorses under the guidance of Marley. He taught them everything he knew, from how to take care of them to practicing tricks. Before long, both Garret and Ariel had taken seahorse riding like a duck takes to water.

One day, Ariel and Garret were racing with their horses through a course Marley made close to the ranch to test their growth while Marley and Flounder supervised them. As he watched them, Marley was impressed.

"It's only been a few days, and those kids already have gotten used to riding," he thought. "And their seahorses have grown to trust them a lot. Especially Mira. I've never seen her look so outgoing before."

Ariel and Garret raced along on their steeds neck-in-neck and almost to the end of the course.

"Come on, Sea Biscuit!" encouraged Ariel. "You're almost there!"

"Let's go, Mira!" whooped Garret. "We got 'em now!"

Both their seahorses responded to their rider's call and went even faster, determined to win for them. Then, both Mira and Sea Biscuit shot through the finish simultaneously and came to a stop.

"Looks like we tied again, Ariel!" said Garret.

"Yeah! That makes our fourth tie!" said Ariel. "I honestly thought that Sea Biscuit and I had you."

Marley swam up to them. "All right, you kids. I think that's enough for today," he said. "Sea Biscuit and Mira could use a good break, as do you two."

"All right then, Marley," replied Garret as he dismounted his horse. "You did great today, Mira. I'll see you later, OK?"

Mira whinnied and nuzzled against Garret in response.

"Goodbye, Sea Biscuit," Ariel spoke to her horse. "Make sure you get plenty of rest. You've earned it."

Sea Biscuit happily snorted as Ariel patted his snout.

"We'll see you around, Marley," said Garret. "Thanks for the lessons today. We had fun."

"Anytime," Marley winked. "See you around, youngins."

And while waving goodbye, Ariel and Garret swam off, heading back to the palace.

"Wow, wasn't that a lot of fun, Garret?" asked Ariel. "We learned so much these past few days."

"I'll say we did," agreed Garret. "And it was nice of Marley to teach us. I never realized there was much to learn about giant seahorses."

"Neither did I," said Flounder. "That Marley sure knows his stuff."

Then, Garret suddenly remembered. "Say, Ariel, there's something I've been wanting to ask you," he said. "With all the craziness with the seahorses, I almost forgot to ask you."

"Sure. What is it?" asked Ariel.

"See, I'm curious about something," Garret said. "I know this may seem like a weird question, but... do you know any merpeople that look a bit like you?"

Both Ariel and Flounder stopped puzzling.

"A mermaid that looks like me?" repeated Ariel.

"That's a weird question to ask," said Flounder. "I didn't know that another Ariel lived around here."

"That's because there isn't Flounder," chuckled Ariel. "But I don't think I've seen anyone around here that looks like me. Why do you ask?"

"Well, uh," said Garret. "Let's say that recently, I saw someone who looked a bit like you and was curious. Sorry for asking such a weird question."

Eventually, the trio returned to the palace. Ariel and Flounder had to leave for Ariel's usual music practice with Sebastian. Garret was left alone, but he didn't mind. He thought that it would be a great chance to continue his investigation.

"Since I don't have much to do right now, and Ariel and her sisters are at music practice, I suppose I can start asking around. Maybe someone will know in the marketplace."

He was about to leave the palace when he heard someone call out.

"Excuse me! Sir Garret!"

It was the seahorse herald.

"Oh, hello, Mr. Herald," said Garret. "Was there something that you needed? And you don't have to call me sir, you know."

"Apologies, Garret. I always make it a habit to address King Triton and his associates with respect," spoke the herald. He cleared his throat. "Now, to come to the point, I've come to inform you that the king has approved the request you made previously."

Garret's face lit up. "That's great! Do you know when it'll be finished?"

"In about two days," replied the herald. "And when it's finished, I'll arrange for them to be sent to Marley."

"Sounds good," smiled Garret. "Thank you very much, Mr. Herald."

The herald bowed. "It is my pleasure," the seahorse replied.

"By the way, Mr. Herald, do you know where King Triton would be right now?" asked Garret.

"His majesty is handling his royal duties for the day," said the herald. "If you wish to speak to him, I can put you in for an appointment."

"No, no. That won't be necessary," said Garret. "But if he's looking for me, tell him I decided to go for a swim and be back later. The same goes for Ariel and the others."

"Duly noted," acknowledged the herald. "It shall be done."

Garret was about to swim away but then stopped. "Oh, one more thing!" he said. "Have you ever seen a mermaid with long red hair besides Ariel?"

The herald hummed. "I'm afraid I haven't," he said. "The only person I've seen who matches that description is the princess."

"Well, thanks for answering anyway," said Garret. "I'll see you around."

Garret then swam away, out of the palace and towards the marketplace.

But as the boy swam away, a pair of glowing eyes were watching him from under the shadows of a rock. It was Flotsam and Jetsam who were once again spying on the merman for their mistress, Ursula.

In her little hideaway, Ursula was watching Garret through her crystal bubble. She had heard the entire conversation between Garret and the herald, and even she couldn't help but feel puzzled. However, she was also interested.

"So, the boy's searching for a mermaid that resembles red hair, is he?" she purred. "How very peculiar. One would think he would be looking for that fool Triton's daughter, but that doesn't seem to be the case. But I do wonder who it is he could be searching for?"

The sea witch hummed to herself in thought until a devious smile turned her lips.

"Flotsam. Jetsam. Make sure you don't let that boy out of your sight," she told her pets. "The princess and her little friends will be busy inside the palace, so this will be a good chance for us to see if this boy finds this mysterious girl. His search could prove fruitful not just for him but for us as well."

Garret swam around the marketplace, asking every merman and sea creature he encountered about anyone with red hair. But much to his disappointment, they all gave him the same response; Ariel was the only one they knew matching his description. Eventually, he took a break after asking the fiftieth merman he saw.

"Darn it. I've asked almost every person in the marketplace, but none of them have seen anything," Garret sighed. "Well, I figured it would be difficult, but at least someone could have seen something."

He then started thinking about who else to ask.

"Well, maybe I can ask King Triton? He is the king and should know just about everyone in the city. And Ariel's sisters might know a couple of people, so it can't hurt to ask them too."

As he sat where he was, Garret looked around, watching as the merpeople swam by. Some were shopping, some were talking to each other, and some were carrying bags of their shopping. In addition, there were a few people stealing glances over at him, which made him a bit shy.

"Now that I think about it, even though I've been here for a while, I still stick out a bit."

Then, two mermaids swam past, and when they saw Garret, they stared at him for a quick moment before swimming away, giggling and whispering to each other.

Garret now felt his face getting hot. "I think - my break is over now."

He then swam off, not wanting to stick around. He was about to leave the marketplace when he happened to swim past a couple.

"I wonder how King Triton and his daughters are getting along?" wondered the male.

"I'm sure everything's going fine for them," said the female. "Although, those girls are growing up fast. Which reminds me, isn't Princess Ariel's birthday coming soon?"

When Garret heard this, he couldn't help but stop and listen.

"Yes, it is," said the male. "She'll be turning fifteen, I believe. Hah, I wish I could be her age again."

"I'm sure anyone would wish for something like that," chuckled the female. "I just hope Princess Ariel doesn't become more rebellious than she already is."

The two then went away.

"So, Ariel's almost the same age as me, huh?" Garret hummed to himself. "Guess I should wish her a happy birthday, whenever that is. Maybe I can ask her when I get back to the palace. But for now, I might as well keep asking around."

After a while, Garret returned to the palace from his search, which resulted in no result. While disappointed, he decided to go back inside and ask King Triton and his daughters.

He had just swam through the main stone archway when Ariel and Flounder came swimming up.

"Hey, Garret! We were just looking for you!" said Ariel.

"What's up?" asked Garret.

"Well, Flounder wanted to show me something that he found the other day, and we were wondering if you wanted to come with us," explained Ariel.

"Oh yeah?" said Garret. "What was it you saw, Flounder?"

"It's a surprise!" Flounder said with a smile. "You'll see when you get there!"

Garret rose a brow in suspicion.

"Don't worry! I know you and Ariel are going to like it! I promise!" insisted Flounder.

Garret wanted to continue his investigation, but he couldn't refuse the little fish's request feeling a bit curious. "OK. I'll come along," he said. "But only because you piqued my curiosity. Plus, someone's got to keep you two out of trouble."

"All right! Let's go!" smiled Ariel. "Lead the way, Flounder!"

And the trio swam off.

But as he followed Ariel and Flounder, Garret realized something. The direction they headed towards was familiar: the same dark, murky waters where a few beams of sunlight illuminated the area.

"Wait a minute. Don't tell me Flounder's leading us to - !"

Sure enough, Garret was shocked to find that Flounder had led them to the ship graveyard, the same one he had gone into before.

Upon seeing it, Ariel's eyes sparkled with excitement. "Oh, wow! A ship graveyard!" she gushed. "I've always wanted to explore one of these!"

She then swam into the graveyard without fear while Garret and Flounder followed. As they explored the area, Garret had already started having flashbacks of his experience.

"Of all the places Flounder had to show us, it had to be this one," he thought. "I've still got the creeps just for being here."

Then, he heard Ariel.

"Come on, Garret! Hurry up! You're not getting cold fins, are you?!"

Not wanting to show that he was scared, Garret called back. "C-Coming!"

He followed Ariel and Flounder through the graveyard, ignoring the same dark corners and shadows until they came to a ship a few feet away from the one Garret saw.

"Wow, look at this ship!" Ariel gasped. "I've seen plenty, but nothing like this one! Nice job finding this, Flounder!"

Flounder smiled. "I'm glad you like it," said the fish. "But I can do without all the creepy shadows and stuff."

"You and me both," Garret muttered to himself.

Ariel inspected the ship's outside, trying to find a way inside until she saw a porthole. Then, without a second thought, she quickly squeezed through it. When she got inside, she gasped in delight.

"Garret! Flounder! Come here and see this!" she urged. "You won't believe what's in here!"

Feeling curious, Flounder entered the port hole, and while still hesitant to do so, Garret followed suit. Inside was a room filled with many different and ancient objects: candles, clocks, silverware, and even some furniture. There was even a small windup toy on top of a desk.

Ariel couldn't help but dart from one object to the next, even more excited. "Oh my gosh! I've never seen so many wonderful treasures in one place!"

Even Garret was amazed as he inspected the windup toy. "I wonder how old these things are?" he wondered.

Then, as he looked around, he saw another mirror. It was similar to the ones he had seen before but had a different design and was cracked along the edges.

"I wonder if this mirror is like the others I've passed through?"

Then, he saw something in the mirror's reflection that made him gasp. Ariel had picked up an old fish hook and was now curiously inspecting it.

"Hey, Ariel! Maybe you should be careful with that!" Garret warned. "That's sharp!"

Flounder was also a bit tentative. "Yeah. And I'm starting to feel that showing you this place was a bad idea. So we should probably get out of here."

"Oh, come on, you two. Don't be a couple of guppies," Ariel soothed as she put down the hook. "There's nothing to worry about."

At that moment, the porthole suddenly swung open, making everyone jump in surprise, only to see a familiar red crab enter, looking very cross.

"Geez, Crabby! Would it kill you not to scare us like that?!" Garret snapped. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Ariel, I've been looking all over for you!" Sebastian spoke crossly. "It's bad enough dat you left rehearsal early, but now I find you and your friends in dis place?!"

"I'm sorry, Sebastian," said Ariel. "But look! Isn't this place wonderful?"

Sebastian scowled. "You shouldn't even be here, girl," he said sternly. "Dis is a sunken ship, in case you forgot, and t'ings like dese are not'ing but trouble! Humans used dese ships to sail across de seven seas and catch fish like de barbarians dey are! Dat is why King Triton forbids contact with de human world because humans are dangerous, including dese human t'ings!"

Garret also wanted to tell Sebastian he was wrong, but even he couldn't deny that Sebastian was somewhat correct regarding what humans did with ships. But he didn't want to risk knowing about humans if they suspected him of being one, so he said nothing.

"Come on, Sebastian. We were just looking," Flounder pouted. "Besides, they're that dangerous. I don't think."

"Yeah, you sound just like Father." she sighed as she picked up a pearl necklace, put it on, and smiled at herself in the mirror. "Besides, it can't be that bad if humans can make such wonderful things like this. I wish I could go up to the surface and see for myself."

"Well, looking leads to wanting, and dat leads to trouble!" Sebastian spoke firmly. "And even if you could, you can only go up dere once on your birthday, Ariel! And if your father heard you talking like dat, your father would crack me to bits! So now, take dat t'ing off, and let go home!"

Ariel rolled her eyes and did as she was told, but as she and her friends exited the ship, she secretly picked up a jeweled hairpin and took it with her making sure Sebastian didn't see.

The four friends then set off for home. As they did, Ariel noticed that Garret had been quiet for quite a while.

"Garret, is something wrong?" inquired Ariel.

"Oh, it's nothing, Ariel," replied Garret. "Nothing at all."

He then swam ahead, leaving Ariel feeling puzzled.

Nightfall came. Ariel stayed up for a little bit admiring the hairpin she had acquired from the ship. As she turned it, the jewel on its end glistened, making rainbow-colored lights dance across the ceiling.

"I just don't see how anyone who could make such wonderful things could be bad," she said. "I know Sebastian is looking out for me, but I'm sure he's wrong, him and Father."

The more Ariel thought about this, the stronger her interest in the human world became, and the little mermaid vowed to learn more about the human world, despite Sebastian's and her father's objections.

She then hid her hairpin under her pillow and went to sleep, but as she did, a pair of glowing yellow eyes appeared outside her window. The eyes remained on the little mermaid for a brief moment; then, they disappeared into the darkness as the sound of sly laughter came.