Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original The Little Mermaid or The Little Mermaid II characters. I do, however own characters of my own creation such as Christella.

Sorry I took a while, school camps, assignments, car crashes, exploding taps… You know the deal ;)

Aaaaaaaargh! So much is happening! There's Chrissie, Mel-Mel, Derek and Mariya, Rhiannon and Ray, Ariel and Eric, Lumpy-Tail, Darcy… I will try my best. looks dramatic

Last Time:

A slightly crazy smile passed her lips. She was not gentle like her mother. She was ruthless. There would be no mercy.

Chapter 15:

She heard the swish of water as someone approached her door. She stuffed the single verse into a nearby drawer, wincing. She usually treated like it was the most precious thing in the world. For her, in a way, it was. The one chance for her and her kind.

Darcy barged in without knocking. No respect for anyone, she though contemptuously.

He stood in the doorway and said simply: "Are you ready?" She simply nodded casually. His plan was only a minor detail in hers.

It put her in the perfect position. Darcy narrowed his eyes. It seemed odd, all the stories said that her kind were the fighting type, hardly submissive, he thought. Mentally he tossed it aside; she had been brought up differently than her ancestors. She would serve his purpose.

ooOoo

Christella

I briskly swam down the slowly descending corridor, hardly noticing the silent servants that moved out of my way as I passed. The kitchens smelt divine. I inhaled deeply, the exotic scents filling my nostrils. I stared around everyone was silent and the place was spotless. A slim woman came forward.

"Hello," she said with a sweet smile. "I'm Moira, I'm here most days, feel free to come any time. Are you hungry?" I nodded enthusiastically. The moment I had walked in my empty stomach had decided to make itself known with an audible growl. Moira gave me a bag full of food.

"For lunch," she explained. I nodded my thanks and slipped out the back door, opening the bag as I went. I fished out a jammy pastry swirl. It was delicious and still warm! I noticed a few jealous looks and I came out near the busy place outside the front of the palace. Outside the Palace was The Square.

It was not unlike the markets in the centre of the village I loved visiting on land. Though, unlike the little village square The Square was huge. It was full of buskers, beggars, shop owners, pick pockets, police mermen, dolphin drawn clams and any other thing you could care to imagine.

I wandered up to a particularly pretty pink clam with sweet dolphins. Some of the other dolphins nearby were chomping on their bits with a particularly chipped clam behind it. I timidly put out my hand to stoke the dolphin.

"It's a fee o' one copper per knot and a further two coppers after that," the driver said cheerfully. "I'm sorry, did I frighten ye?" he added when he registered how I had jumped.

"How… how far is it to Finworthy's Academy?" I stammered. "Aye, that'd be 'bout 5 knots from here." "So seven coppers then?" "You're quick then! Aye, that would be fine."

I looked through my purse, and realised I haven't spent a thing since my arrival. The ten gold clams gleamed in the shifting light. I slowly handed one over to the driver. His eyebrows shot up and he let out a low whistle. Silently he handed over nine silver shells and three copper ones. I quickly shoved them in my purse and hopped into the clam. As we started off I looked closely at my change.

The silver clams were smaller than the gold, and the copper smaller still. My tutor had instilled me with a great love of mathematics. I quickly figured that there must be ten silver clams to a gold and ten copper to a silver. I smiled at my small discovery; I could work it all out by myself hopefully.

I hardly noticed the things we were passing until a blot of navy sped by. I looked around and saw that we were passing more and more merteens with navy tails. I watched them carefully. The younger ones often had a parent with them and looked nervous. The older ones were grouped with friends and were talking and laughing.

I tried to imagine myself among them, laughing at some inside joke we alone knew. It didn't seem to fit. I looked ahead and saw a towering building. It was an artful creation, almost a miniature of the palace. A steady stream of students swam through the open doors or lounged in the small courtyard. I realised that I'd been lucky this far, but know I had no idea what to do! The driver stopped a small way from the courtyard.

"Thank you," I murmured, in a distracted way. I swam off to the courtyard where there was a large map posted on a large noticeboard. I stared at it wondering what the best place to start would be. Thankfully the lettering that indicated what everything was basically was the same as that I had been taught to use, though it was more ornate and curly. The interior of the building was vastly different to the palace. I memorised the directions to a place called "Headmistress' Office".

Left, left, right, straight, right, left then the door at the end of the hall. I went as quickly as I could; avoiding looking anyone I passed in the eye. I reached the end of the hall where the door was. The gold sign on it indicated it was my destination. I exhaled deeply and knocked on the door firmly, making a satisfying sound on the expensive wood.

"Come in," said a brisk, but annoying voice. I opened the door to find a small office with a frazzled looking mermaid wearing glasses and a tag proclaiming that she was the secretary.

"Do you have an appointment?" she inquired, eyeing me iron scrutiny. "Um… no…" I muttered and watched alarmed as the mermaids face darkened. "But my mother may have!" I was taking a wild guess, and she huffed as if it was a frequent excuse. "What's your name?" "I'm Christella," "Oh! So you're the princess!" she intoned sarcastically.

"Yes, she is," said a prim mermaid, appearing as if from nowhere. She glowed gold. Her hair, her shells, her tail, the bangles and necklace she wore were all the colour of the precious metal. Even her skin was a sickly shade of yellow. The secretary looked like the world was crashing down on her. I realised that it was my fault, just because of who I was. The gold mermaid gave her a foreboding look. She turned to face me and the whole persona changed dramatically.

"I am Miss Finworthy, the great, great, great, great, great grand daughter of the original Sir Finworthy," she said in a sickly sweet voice with a smile to match. "Pleased to meet you," I replied in my most formal voice. "Ah, good," she whispered a little nervously, "I'll show you to your locker room."

Whispers followed us down the corridor as the word began to spread. There was a princess at Finworthy's Academy. Not just an ordinary princess though, a land princess. I had never felt more embarrassed in my life. It even beat the time some spotty prince three years younger than me tried to kiss me in front of a whole ballroom full of people!

After ages of wandering the maze-like passageways, we reach a room where the walls were lined with large metal lockers. The room was U shaped and around the corner from the entrance there was a wall not lined with lockers, but three doors. One bronze, one silver and one gold. Above the door handle was a keyhole. Miss Finworthy handed me a gold key.

"You're in the gold room," she said with the syrupy little smile, "Inside there's notebooks for all your subjects and your timetable. Oh, and of course the latest Clam. The ClamGoldX I think." (NB: The CalmGoldX is like a laptop computer.) I must have looked like she was speaking another language because the said "Go on! It's yours." With that she drifted away. The key was the most intricate and detailed I had ever seen. I slid it gently into the keyhole and turned…

The door swished open to reveal a fully furnish room all in gold. There was a bookshelf, a desk, a couch and even a rug and a gold anchor! I tossed my bag on the couch and sat down at the desk. On it was a large squarish clam and a manual (gold, of course) but also some notebooks and a time table with a map on the back.

I studied the timetable. Monday: first lesson; Writing, then Mythology, morning break. Then Comportment, Art, afternoon break, History and Old Merish. I scanned my whole timetable. Nothing sounded remotely like arithmetic or mathematics. I sighed. My first day of school. Great.

ooOoo

Mariya followed her soon to be father-in-law through the most expensive shops in Atlantica. She twisted her arm around Derek's and smiled sweetly at him while he faced stubbornly ahead. Derek thought about how he tried to tell his father about Mariya and the alleged 'proposal'.

"Father," he had said. "About this proposal, well I have to tell you the truth I…" "Of course!" Branson had cut in, "You didn't get her a ring! No fears boy, we'll go get one tomorrow after breakfast." "But…" Derek started, "Not another word! I know how thankful you are and it's no trouble, I assure you," he said with a smile that looked more like a leer.

Mariya thought about her friend she had contacted that morning. She managed to spot him in the crowd. He was almost invisible in the way that he looked just like every other rich merperson in the street. He followed them indiscreetly pausing at shops as if he was in no hurry.

When they reached the most expensive jewellers in all of Atlantica Mariya started fawning over expensive rings encrusted with huge diamonds and other precious gems. She pointed excitedly to a particularly expensive one that held three big sparkly pink diamonds.

"May I try it on?" Mariya asked the jeweller behind the counter sweetly. As he removed it Mariya turned to Derek.

"Smile darling! You look so mournful." Derek obeyed with a smile that looked real, except for his eyes that could make any person capable of emotion cry. The jeweller handed Derek the ring.

Still smiling his sad-eyed smile, Derek slipped the extravagant ring on Mariya's finger.

Only Mariya heard the clicking that lasted only for a moment. She smiled and knew that Derek was definitely hers.

Sorry again for taking a long long long long… etc. time. If you never review again I don't blame you… But please review anyway!