Chapter Eighteen
I woke up to hear a soft melody playing, the music echoing around the large boulders. Sitting up, I observed my surroundings. At first, I didn't find anything unusual, but then in the distance I saw something shining.
"Sebastian," I whispered swimming up to the snoring crab.
"Five more minutes, Mommy," he grumbled sleepily.
"Sebastian, did you hear that?" I inquired peering over my shoulder at the glimmer in the distance.
One of his eyes popped open and he looked annoyed with me. "Leave me alone!" he moaned with a yawn, placing his claw over his face, "Sleeping."
"But there's something out there," I insisted gesturing to the boulders, "Come on, help me find it!"
"I'm tired," he said waving me away before turning over on his side, "You go check it out."
Nervously biting my lip, I realized he was being serious and turned to swim towards whatever was shining. I eventually came to some sort of cave with a rock blocking the entrance and the music seemed to be coming from behind that rock. It was almost as if the music was beckoning me forward, so I pushed the rock aside, and entered the cave. I stared at what I saw before me. The cavern was covered from top to bottom in human objects. Becoming excited, I looked at everything, being careful not to touch. Turning around, I was a bit startled to see my reflection in a piece of glass but soon relaxed and giggled from excitement. Moving away from the glass, I finally found where the music was coming from. A blue and gold music box in the shape of a clam was open emitting a lovely melody. The figurines in the music box were of King Triton, Queen Athena and their daughters, including Ariel and Melody. For a moment, a memory flashed through my mind of the two lost sisters smiling at me. Holding the music box close to myself, I slid into a sitting position.
"It was a present," I heard Sebastian say and I looked up to see the crab had followed me into the grotto, "King Triton had the music box made for Ariel and Melody. They were the only two that loved music the most."
"The family together," I said quietly turning my attention back to the figurines inside the box, "Everyone happy."
"And the palace hallways echoing with laughter," Sebastian added, "When Ariel died, the whole kingdom was heartbroken. The heart that never healed was your father's, especially after Melody disappeared."
Shutting the box and cutting off the music, I hugged it. "It's so sad," I replied, "He's forgotten what it feels like to be happy." Glancing down at the object in my hands, an idea formed in my head, and I smiled. "I... I have to bring this back to him!"
"If you insist."
"This is why we came here," I said to the crab who was also forming a small smile, "isn't it?"
Together, Sebastian and I left the cavern, closing it up and swam back to Flounder, waking him up and explaining the plan. We all headed back towards Atlantica.
Flotsam and Jetsam were watching a magic projection in a bubble of Aralyne swimming and Ursula was right behind the evil eels.
"Yeeeeeees," she sneered out in pleasure. She had been watching Aralyne for the past couple of days and knew that the girl had lost her memory. "Hurry back, princess. We wouldn't want to make old Triton angry, now, would we? Huh! I can't believe they allowed her to live since she's the one that killed off his daughters! Flotsam! Jetsam! I want you to keep an extra close watch on this pretty little liar. She may be the key to her own undoing. . . ."
Sebastian and I had returned to Atlantica right before breakfast and ran into Queen Athena and King Triton in one of the hall ways. Thankfully, they have no clue I snuck out last night, but that wouldn't be a secret for long.
"Sir, I found this, " I said and held up the music box before me.
Athena gasped and the angry look on Triton's face faded as he stared at the music box in surprise. Slowly he took the object from me and opened it up. Music rang through out the hall and almost as if it was beckoning them, the princesses appeared and silently watched the scene.
"Where did you get this?" he quietly inquired.
"I found it in a grotto," I replied, "It must have been Ariel's and Melody's right?"
"You left the palace?" he asked shutting the music box and looking back up at me. I winced. "I just don't know what we're going to do with you, young lady."
"Sir, I'm sorry," I began, but he cut me off.
"As a result of your careless behavior -" as he spoke, I interrupted him.
"Nothing - happened. . . ." I nervously began.
"As long as you live under my ocean, you'll obey my rules!" Triton roared.
"But if you would just listen -"
"Not another word! Is that clear?!" he yelled. I bit my lip to keep it from trembling, and turned with tears in my eyes. When Athena reached out to me, I pulled back and swam away with Flounder following me.
Athena gestured to her daughters and said, "Come on, girls. Breakfast." All of the females left, glancing back at Triton.
Sebastian had stayed behind.
Triton looked down at the music box thinking of Ariel and Melody and asked, "Do you, er, think I - I was too hard on her? Aralyne needs constant supervision. Someone to watch over her - to keep her out of trouble. And you are just the crab to do it!" The King poked him. "Don't let me down."
Surprised, Sebastian nodded and quickly scuttled away after Aralyne. When he was far enough away, he muttered to himself, "How do I get myself into these situations? I should be writing symphonies - not tagging along after some headstrong teenager." Seeing Aralyne and Flounder sneaking off out of the palace, he followed. "Hmm? What is that girl up to now?" He chased after them all the way back to the grotto. The crab barely made it into the cave before Aralyne shut the entrance and didn't notice him.
"Aralyne, are you okay?" Flounder asked as I twirled a fork between my fingers.
"If only I could make him understand that I'm not a monster," I muttered, putting the fork back where I found it. Swimming around the cavern, I examined everything with Flounder, becoming excited by the treasures. What if I found the charm here?!
When I stopped exploring, there was a loud crash, making me jump. Flounder and I swiveled around to see a familiar crab tangled in a bunch of human objects.
"Sebastian!?" I said in surprise.
"Aralyne - what, are you mad? How could you -?" Sebastian stuttered kicking the human stuff off of him. Taking a deep breath he said, "Aralyne. You're under a lot of pressure down here. Come with me, I'll take you to the palace and get you something warm to drink." A shadow passed over us, grabbing my attention.
"What do you suppose?" I muttered gazing up at the hole in the grotto's roof. Leaving my friends behind, I pushed the boulder aside and left the cavern, swimming up towards the surface to find out what the shadow was.
"Aralyne? Aralyne!" Sebastian called out to me, but I ignored him.
Reaching the surface, I saw a multitude of colored fireworks exploding in the sky and stared in amazement and wonder. Underneath the lights was a ship. Flounder and Sebastian arrived just seconds later.
"Aralyne, what - what are you-" Sebastian began but then noticed what had entranced me, "jumpin' jellyfish!" Giggling, I swam towards the ship. "Aralyne, Aralyne! Please come back!"
I swam up to the ship and hauled myself up the side, and sat down on a rigging, well out of sight of human eyes. As I was peering through the railings, a dog appeared out of nowhere and sniffed me before licking my face. I had to bite back a giggle, for it had tickled and I didn't want to be seen.
There was a whistle, and a male voice called out, "Max, here boy." The creature ran off towards a man with auburn hair and green eyes. "Hey, come on, mutt, whatcha doing, huh, Max? Good boy." I stared at him in wonder, heat creeping into my face and my heart thudding like crazy. A dreamy smile slowly spread across my lips.
An older man then stepped forward and said, "Silence! Silence!" Everything on the ship became quiet, the other men giving him their attention. "It is now my honour and privilege to present our esteemed Prince Hans with a very special, very expensive, very large birthday present."
"Ah, Grimsby - y'old beanpole, you shouldn't have," said Hans with a smile.
"I know," replied Grimsby, "Happy birthday, Hans!" A large, gaudy statue of Hans was pulled out on deck. Max growled at it.
"Gee, Grim. It's, err, it's, err - it's really somethin'. . . ." said Hans trying to be polite. I actually loved the statue. They had captured his likeness perfectly!
"Yes, I commissioned it myself."
A streak of lightning lit up the sky and thunder rumbled overhead. The sky grew dark and a strong gust of wind began to blow. I held onto the rope near me for dear life.
"Hurricane a'commin'!" shouted out a crew member. "Stand fast! Secure the riggin'!" The storm finally hit, and I was instantly soaked from the pouring rain.
The ship crashed through the storm. I don't know how long I had managed to cling to the rope, but I eventually lost my grip and landed back in the ocean. Reaching the surface, I was in time to see lightning strike the sail and start a fire. Horrified, I watched the ship head straight for a rock protruding from the ocean.
"Look out!" Hans's voice rang faintly through the howling wind. The ship collided with the giant rock and all of the humans were thrown overboard except Max. Hans and the other humans had managed to get into a small boat before I could get to them. "Grim, hang on!" said Hans pulling the elderly human into the boat. We heard barking and looked up to see Max still on the burning ship. "Max!" Hans dove into the ocean and swam back to the flaming ship climbing onto the deck. I gasped as a mast engulfed in flames fell heading straight for Hans, but gave a sigh of relief when he jumped out of the way. Max was on a higher part of the ship and Hans reached out to the furry creature. "Jump Max! Come on boy, jump! You can do it Max." Max leaped and landed in the human's arms. He ran across the ship but then tripped, sending Max into the water. For some reason, Hans wasn't moving and I became terrified as the flames surrounded him, blocking him from my point of view.
"HANS!" Grimsby shouted pulling Max into the small boat. A split second later, the ship exploded.
"NO!" I screamed swimming forward into the wreckage. Frantically, I searched for any signs of the man and finally found him drifting on a piece of wood before sliding under the waves. I quickly dove after him, grabbed him by his arm, and swam up to the surface. Making sure his head stayed above water, I pulled him towards a nearby beach. By the time we had reached it and I pulled him far away from the tide, the storm had ended and the sun was shining in the sky again.
I sat beside Hans who remained unconscious. "Please don't be dead," I quietly begged, afraid of what the answer might be. Pressing my ear to his chest, I was relieved to hear his heart beat. Sitting up in excitement, I brushed a strand of auburn hair out of his face. "He's so, beautiful."
Hans stirred, his eyes slowly opening as his hand gently grasped mine.
He blinked up at me for a moment, but then I heard barking and looked up to see Max running our way. Panicking, I left Hans, and dove back into the ocean. From a safe distance, I peered out from behind a boulder and watched the scene on the beach as Flounder and Sebastian finally made it to my side.
"Hans! Oh, Hans," said Grimsby reaching Hans's side and helping him up. "You really delight in these sadistic strains on my blood pressure, don't you?"
"A girl - rescued me," said Hans slightly dazed. He nearly collapsed, but Grimbsy held him up.
"Ah, Hans, I think you've swallowed a bit too much seawater. Off we go. Come on, Max," the elderly man led Hans away down the beach.
"We just gotta forget this whole thing ever happened," Sebastian nervously said, but I ignored him, "The sea king will never know. You won't tell him, I won't tell him. I will stay in one piece."
Flotsam and Jetsam appeared not far from Aralyne at the beach and watched the whole thing, while Ursula was watching through their eyes.
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I can't stand it - it's too easy. The child is interested in a prince! And the worst enemy to Tulio! He will love that. This headstrong girl will start a war between kingdoms!"