THE THIRD DAY

The next morning I walked downstairs to find the entire palace in an uproar: people were hurrying in all directions, pushing trolleys of food and decorations and shouting orders at one another. I recognized a young servant that had helped me the other day. He was checking things off a list and issuing orders, and I walked up to him and asked him what was going on.

"Why, you haven't heard yet?" he said with a grin. "The Prince is getting married! He just announced it this morning! Getting married this very day, before the sun sets!"

I stared in surprise. "We're in a hurry to prepare the wedding," the servant went on. "It will be in a few hours, so if you'll excuse me I need to see how the cake is doing."

He hurried off after some other bustling people, and left me alone and bewildered. But then I smiled, because I knew Ariel had done it. She had won the Prince's love, and they were getting married this very day. Once they kissed at the wedding, she would be safe from the Sea Witch and stay human forever. She would get the life she always wanted.

I ran up the stairs to her room, but she wasn't there. Then I went back to my room, and found she had come looking for me. She was carrying Sebastian in her hand, and smiled at me.

"Ariel, you did it!" I beamed. "Congratulations!"

She looked confused, and then I wondered if she actually didn't know yet. "Don't you know?" I asked, as confused as she was. "Didn't he even ask you?"

Her face said she had no idea what I was talking about, and I exclaimed, "The Prince has announced he's getting married! Today, before sunset! Ariel, he's going to marry you today!"

For a brief instant she didn't look happy at all, but slightly dismayed and maybe even…sad? But it was only an instant, and I wasn't even sure I saw it. Part of me wondered about this, but I let it go as she broke into a smile, stepped up to me and hugged me. She looked happy, but for some reason, not quite as happy as I expected her to be.

We were standing in my room, and Sebastian was sitting on the bed. "Is it true?" he demanded of me. "Are you sure of it, Urchin?"

"Yes! The whole palace is being turned upside down, trying to get the wedding together! Just go downstairs and see!"

"You've done it, child!" Sebastian said happily to Ariel, looking very much relieved. "He'll kiss you today at the wedding, and then you'll be married and safe from the Sea Witch! Things have turned out alright after all."

But as he was saying this, Ariel had spotted something on the floor of my room, and was staring at it. I realized what it was: the dagger, and I cringed as she stooped to pick it up. I had forgotten to hide it; it was exactly where I had thrown it last night. She held it up and looked at me beseechingly as if to ask what it was.

I didn't want to tell her. I was about to make up a lie, but for once in my life couldn't think up of one to tell. Then I figured she had the right to know. "Your sisters gave that dagger to me," I explained miserably. "They miss you and want you to come home, so they made a deal with the Sea Witch. They all cut off their hair and gave it to her, and in exchange the Witch gave them that dagger. They told me if I killed the Prince with it, and smeared his blood on your feet, you would be a mermaid again, and could go home to your family and stay with them forever."

Ariel was staring wide-eyed in horror, but I couldn't stop now. "I couldn't do it," I said, not able to meet her eyes. "Your sisters asked me to do it, but I couldn't. I couldn't kill the one you love, not even if it means," I hesitated, but finished quietly, "even if it means that none of us will ever see you again."

Ariel's face was pale and aghast as she stared at the dagger a long time. She looked heartbroken, but it was impossible for me to know just what she was thinking. Finally I took the dagger gently from her hands, stowed it away in a drawer where she couldn't see it, and held her hands in mine.

"It's alright," I said. "Everything has turned out just the way we wanted it. You'll marry the Prince and live happily ever after. I'll go back and tell your father and your sisters that you'll be happy here, and that they should be happy for you. I'll give them your love. Do you want me to do that?" She nodded, but her eyes were leaking water again. She threw her arms around my neck, and had to stand on tip-toe to do it, because I had grown taller. She planted a kiss on my cheek and smiled at me. I smiled too, and I wiped away the troublesome water that kept coursing down her face. "You'll be fine," I said. "But I can't stay for the wedding. I have to get back to the ocean before the sun sets. My contract with Ursula says I have to be standing in the water at sunset in order to turn back. I'm sorry I can't stay and see you get married."

She nodded in understanding, but then her face set into determination. She went over to the desk in my room which I had no use for, pulled out a piece of paper and pen and once again startled scribbling. She wrote until the entire page was full, and then rolled up the paper and slid it gently into my hand. "Ariel, I can't read it," I reminded her. She wrapped my hands around the paper and patted them. "I'll take it home with me," I said, understanding what she wanted me to do. She nodded.

Just then a servant lady poked her head in the door, and called out to Ariel. We backed away from each other quickly and tried to look normal. "Princess Ariel," she said happily. "I've been looking for you! When you get a chance, will you come downstairs? We need to get a gown fitted for you!"

Then she disappeared again, and left me standing alone with Ariel. "Go on," I said to her with a smile. "Go get ready for your wedding." She took my hands again and smiled up at me – but there was something in that smile like regret. She released my hands slowly and walked out of the room. I took the piece of paper she had given me and stowed it securely in my pocket. I wondered what it said, but I wouldn't have anyone read it to me until I returned home. I understood that's what Ariel wanted. Then again, maybe I would never read it at all. Maybe it would be better to forget her.

I had forgotten Sebastian was there. He was sitting calmly on the bed, watching me. "You know, child," he said gently. "Ariel is very fond of you. She doesn't want to see you leave."

"I'm not going to stay on land and be human forever," I said. "Not while she's busy being married and then being a queen, maybe even a mother. This is her world now, and there's no place for me in it."

"I read Ariel's contract with the Sea Witch, you know," he said. "The wording of these things is very important. It said that Ariel has to get the kiss of true love, to stay human forever, and not belong to the Sea Witch."

"And that's what she's doing," I said, wondering why he was telling me things I already knew. "She's getting married to the Prince and he'll kiss her at the wedding."

"It didn't say," he said slowly, "that the kiss of true love must come from the Prince."

I stared at him. "What are you trying to say?" I demanded, and it came out more frustrated and angry than I meant for it to.

"I've seen what you've done for her," he persisted, not put off my anger. "You left your home and followed her on land, just to make sure she was alright. You helped her win the love of another, though I could see in your eyes that it killed you. You would have killed a man for her. And more than that, you decided not to kill him, and to let her go, which was by far the hardest thing to do. And you did all this so that she could be happy. If that is not true love," he said at last, "then I have lived all my years and have never seen love at all."

I felt sick for some reason. I fell down on the edge of the bed, leaning over my knees and staring down at the floor. I couldn't meet Sebastian's eyes. I shook my head violently and said, "Ariel is a princess. Eric is a prince. They were meant to be together; that's just how these things work. It doesn't matter how much I love her or what I would do for her, even if no one else in the world could match my love. I'm a nobody. I'm not a prince; I'm a pauper. I've got no money and no family and no home. I'm just Urchin. And I don't stand a chance with a princess. You don't think I've ever thought about it? What do you think her father would say, if I told him I loved her? If I asked his permission to marry her? He would laugh at me; that's what he'd do. It's wrong of me even to think about her that way."

"If her father knew half the things you have done for her," Sebastian answered. "He would know you are the worthiest young man that could ever ask his daughter's hand."

"And then what?" I said, laughing bitterly. "Say I married her. Can you imagine them making me a prince? And after that, would they crown me a king? I couldn't run a country. It's ridiculous to think about."

"Ariel is youngest in line for the throne," he objected. "You don't have to worry about ever becoming king. And besides," he went on, "whatever happens, and however this ends, Ariel can never return to the sea. If she gets the kiss, she'll be human forever, regardless of who gives her the kiss."

"Then it will be better for her to be married to a human prince," I said. "Instead of a nobody."

"Maybe that should be for Ariel to decide," Sebastian said sternly, but I had already flung myself up from the bed and was stomping away angrily.

"I'm leaving now," I said, turning back to him. "There's no need for me here anymore. I can't attend the wedding because I have to be back in the sea at sunset. Otherwise I'll be stuck up here forever."

"Are you going to say good-bye to Ariel?"

"No," I said quietly. "I wouldn't know what to say. Besides, I'm sure she's busy getting ready for the wedding. Will you come with me, or are you staying here with her?"

"I'll stay here long enough to see the Prince kiss her," he said. "Then I'm going home, to the sea, where things make more sense. Not much more, but a little."

"Then tell her that I said good-bye," I said. "And congratulations on getting married. I know she'll make a wonderful queen. And tell her that," I finished lamely, "she was the best friend I ever had."

"I'll tell her if you want me to," he said glumly. "But I wish you would tell her yourself."

"I've interfered up here long enough," I said. "Good-bye, Sebastian. I guess I'll see you around, after all this is over."

"Good-bye, Urchin," he said sadly, as I closed the door behind me. Then he shouted at me just as I closed the door, "But why don't you use your head for once and think things over!" I walked down the halls, down the stairs, and out of the palace. People were bustling in all directions, preparing food and decorations, and fitting bridesmaids in their gowns. The wedding was to take place on a ship, the largest and stateliest the kingdom had to offer. It was anchored at the palace docks, and people were scurrying about it, cleaning and loading goods and putting things in place. The ship would set sail in a few hours, with the wedding party aboard. It wouldn't be back until tomorrow morning. I could have attended the wedding if I had really wanted to. I could have gone on board, watched the wedding, and simply jumped into the sea right before sunset. There was nothing to stop me. But I didn't want to see the wedding.

I guess when we were younger I had always supposed Ariel would have to marry some foreign prince one day, and live in his palace and be queen of some other country I would never see. I hadn't thought too much about it because it had always seemed too far away to worry about. But now it was here. She was marrying the human prince, which was a bit of a surprise, but not much. Fate had played out like it was supposed to: princesses fell in love with princes, and lived happily ever after. I was in a story, Ariel's story, but I wasn't a main character. Poor boys with no future didn't a get a main role to play.

I strayed away from the docks, the ship, and the palace, and wandered down the beach to a point where I could no longer hear the bustling of the wedding preparations. I sat on the shoreline for a long time, staring at the sea, which still looked dark and stormy in the distance.

After a few hours a man came strolling up the beach with his fishing pole, and he recognized me and called out to me. It was none other than Joseph Higgins, the man who had found me on the beach when I first washed up. He smiled to see me, and I couldn't help but feel happy to run across him again.

"Urchin!" he said, hurrying up to me. "How are you? Have you been staying at the palace? Did you find your friend?"

"I've been good, thank you, and yes I have, and yes I did. She's very happy here."

"What are you doing here all by yourself? Here I find you again exactly where I found you three days ago." He grinned. "My wife thinks you're a little merboy who washed up from the underwater kingdom," he said with a chuckle.

I smiled. "Maybe I am."

"But say, why aren't you attending the Prince's wedding? The ship is setting sail in a few minutes. A young lad like yourself shouldn't miss it; you'll have fun."

"Oh, I don't think I want to go," I said with a shrug. "Why aren't you going?"

"Ha, I've had enough of weddings after my own," he said cheerily. Then he looked at me with concern. "Do you need a place to stay, Urchin? Do you need anything at all? Don't be afraid to ask; my wife and I are quite fond of you."

"I'm fond of you too," I said. "Both of you. You're some of the kindest people I've ever met, and I know now humans aren't all that bad." He looked at me curiously, but I kept going. "Thank you for everything you've done, but I don't think I'll be staying around much longer. Wait, there is one more thing you can do for me." I pulled out Ariel's rolled-up letter from my jacket pocket, and held it out to him. "My friend wrote this to me, but I can't read it," I explained. "It might be very important, what she's written. I don't know. It might decide what I do with the rest of my life." He looked at the paper with raised eyebrows, taking it gently in his hands and unrolling it. "Can you please read it to me?" I asked.

"I will," he said, "though I'm not the best at letters, I'll do my best. I hope what it says is good to you, Urchin." Then he read the letter aloud. It said:

"To my dearest Urchin, You have done so much for me and I will never be able to thank you. You have done more for me than I deserve. I should have never run away from home. I have brought heartache and misery on my father and sisters, and now I realize, on you as well.

"Please tell my family that I love them, and I never meant to hurt them. I would return to them and embrace them and never hurt them again, if only I could. And I would do the same to you.

"I ran away from home looking for something, though I didn't know what. I was always dreaming of something else out there, but now that I am here, I realize that everything I wanted I already had. It had been right there in front of me, the entire time, and I was too young and silly to realize it. If only I still had my voice to speak, I would tell you how much you mean to me. But by the time you read this it will be too late. Come sunset I will belong to the Sea Witch. I hope that I have not caused you so much pain that you will not remember me fondly. It's only now, after all this time, and after everything I've put us through, that I realize – I realize too late – that I love you.

With all the love in my heart,

Ariel."

He finished reading and fell solemnly silent, and I stood there, not knowing what to say. She loved me? Surely she couldn't really, or she wouldn't be getting married to the Prince right now. And what did she mean that she would belong to the Sea Witch? Once the Prince kissed her, she wouldn't have to worry about the Sea Witch anymore. Or had I missed something? I felt more confused than ever.

"She writes as if she'll never see you again," the man said to me, looking at the letter in his hand, "as if it's too late."

"But it's not too late," I said, and I swiveled my head to see the wedding ship in the distance. It hadn't left port yet. The man followed my gaze, and understood.

"Then you must go to her," he said, "with all the speed you possess." He lay his hand on my shoulder, looked at me fondly, and said, "Run."

He gave me a shove and I stumbled forward, then broke off into a run. I was dashing down the beach toward the port and the ship in the distance, and behind me the man was laughing loudly and happily. He shouted me on, and it echoed in my ears until he was too far back for me to hear. I didn't look back. I kept my eyes on the ship; it could leave port at any moment. The sun was getting dangerously low in the sky, and I knew if I wasn't in the water the moment it hit the horizon, I would be stuck on land forever. But it didn't matter to me anymore.

I arrived at the port sweating and panting for breath, just as the last of the wedding guests were boarding the ship. I followed them onto the deck, and then the sailors cast off and the ship was sailing away. The deck was crowded with guests waiting for the wedding to commence, all dressed in colorful suits and huge bulging ball gowns. I shoved my way through the crowd, very rudely I admit, searching for a glimpse of familiar red hair. I didn't see her anywhere. She must be below deck somewhere, or in the cabin. I had never been to a wedding, but I figured the bride wouldn't come out until the wedding began.

I pushed my way through the crowd, people gasping in shock or yelling at me in anger, until I had fought my way to the staircase the led below deck. I dashed down the stairs and then down the hallway, glancing into rooms and not finding what I was looking for. Finally I heard the voices of girls chatting and giggling, and I stopped in front of a half-open door. There were a dozen girls in matching bridesmaid gowns, all talking eagerly, and surrounding another girl in a long veil and white dress.

I wasn't sure what I intended to do; I hadn't thought it over very well. All I knew was I had to tell Ariel the truth. She had the right to know. I didn't expect her to pick me, but the choice was still hers to make. I burst through the doorway, slamming the door open, and all the girls gasped and spun around to stare at me.

"Ariel, wait," I shouted. "I have to tell you-" But then I stopped. The bride had spun around to reveal a girl with long brown hair, kind brown eyes, and a confused expression on her face. The bride wasn't Ariel.

...

I would learn the whole story eventually, by Ariel writing it down and having Sebastian read it aloud. Here's what had happened.

That morning Ariel had woke up and come downstairs to find the Prince with a beautiful girl not much older than herself, with long brown hair and gentle eyes. She had something that Ariel did not: a voice. She and Eric were chatting and laughing happily, and Eric had introduced her to Ariel as Princess Miranda. She was the princess of a neighboring country, and Eric's parents had arranged with hers that she would come and meet Eric, in the hopes of a union between their two countries. Eric hadn't been too happy about being pressured into it, and in fact had been dreading it, but upon meeting Miranda in person, they both had realized they had met before. Some years back, both of them had run away from home, and had happened to meet each other and become friends. Neither had told the other they were in fact royalty. But eventually they had both been caught and brought home by their parents, both still unaware of the others' true identity. Eric said he had been searching for Miranda for years, and here she showed up as the neighboring country's princess. Both were equally surprised and delighted. It was obviously fate. It even seemed so to me, and I wasn't sure yet I believed in fate. Eric announced their engagement at once, and wished to be married that very day.

"You are my good friend," Eric had said to Ariel, taking her hands, "And so I know you will rejoice in my happiness."

Ariel hugged and kissed them both to express her happiness for them. She gladly accepted Miranda's invitation to be one of her bridesmaids. She was genuinely happy for them, even though she knew what it meant for her: come sunset, she would belong to the Sea Witch forever. It was her last day of freedom on the earth.

She said that even if the Prince had proposed to her, she couldn't have accepted. Not at that point. She was a different person than she was three days ago. We both were. She thought fondly of him, but wasn't in love with him anymore. She doubted she ever really had been.

The entire palace was already preparing their wedding ship. Ariel had slipped upstairs to find me and Sebastian, where she discovered that we were under the impression that she was the one getting married. She hadn't the heart to tell us the truth. She didn't want us to know that, come sunset, she would belong to the Sea Witch, and was probably better off dead. She knew there was nothing we could to save her. So she had gone along with us, and pretended to be happy and excited.

Then I had slipped off, thinking she was happy and getting married, and not wanting to see the wedding myself. Sebastian had decided to leave and find King Triton, to tell him the good news. Then Ariel had cried because she was alone, and would never see her father and sisters again, and it was all her own doing. She thought about the dagger her sisters had bought, and found it in my room where I had left it. She toyed with the idea, but decided she could never hurt the Prince, who had been kind to her after all. She took the dagger, stood in front of the mirror, and sawed off her long hair, to be like her sisters. Then she stood on the beach and threw the dagger into the sea. Blood-red bubbles rose where it fell, and it sank beneath the waves.

She had been planning on being a bridesmaid, and carrying the train of Miranda's dress as she walked down the aisle, but she changed her mind. There was something else she wanted to do, before the Sea Witch came to claim her forever. So she ran away from the wedding, and went looking for the person she wanted to see, before it was too late.

She had gone looking for me.

...

Now I stood in front of the bride, expecting to find Ariel, but instead finding this other girl who I had never met before. I didn't understand at first, and then it hit me like a tidal wave. Ariel wasn't the bride, and never had been. I had never actually heard anyone say Ariel was the bride; I had only assumed. But it had really been this girl the whole time.

Ariel had known all along. But then why had she let me believe she was the one getting married? The answer hit me once again: she didn't want me to be worried about her. She knew she had lost in her deal with the Sea Witch, and there was nothing any of us could do about it. Come sunset, she would belong to Ursula. And she knew it. I remembered her look of dismay and sadness when I told her the news of the wedding. She had known the Prince was marrying someone else. And yet she hadn't told me or Sebastian the truth. She hadn't wanted to cause us any more pain.

The bride and bridesmaids were still staring at me, and I blushed and said, "I'm very sorry. I'm looking for someone. A girl named Ariel, with red hair. She doesn't speak."

"There was such a girl here," the bride said kindly. "She was a friend of the Prince's. She was to be one of my bridesmaids. But she's gone missing. We looked for her, but she isn't on the ship anywhere. The Prince said she might have gone to find her friend, who had also gone missing. I assume you are that friend."

"I am," I said, and I cursed inwardly. Ariel had gone to find me. I should never have left her at all. In a few minutes the sun would set, and she would belong to the Sea Witch. I had to find her, and, somehow, I would save her. I would kill the Sea Witch if I had to.

"Thank you, ladies," I said hurriedly. "I have to go and find her." I turned to the bride. "Congratulations on your marriage to the Prince," I told her. "I know you'll be happy together." I meant it; they were both kind people. She smiled at me as I dashed away, back down the hallway and up the stairs onto the deck. If Ariel wasn't on the ship, where was she? I fought my way to the railing and saw a figure in the distance, a figure with a familiar red head. She was alone on the beach, hurrying along the shoreline, and I wondered where she was going. Then I realized she was looking for me.

"Ariel!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. The crowd of wedding guests all turned to stare at me, making faces of distaste. I was making a scene. I didn't care. "Ariel, wait for me!" I shouted, and I scrambled on top of the railing and fell right over. After a long fall I hit the water with a splash, and started flailing my arms and legs to keep afloat. "Ariel!" I kept shouting, my mouth filling up with seawater. Swimming was harder without a tailfin, and without being able to breath underwater. Luckily the ship wasn't far out yet, and I fought my way to shore and clumsily stumbled out of the water. All the guests had shifted to one side of the ship in order to watch me. Ariel was some ways down the beach, and she hadn't heard me yet.

I ran as fast as I could, my feet pounding the sand, shouting her name at the top of my lungs. She was wearing a blue dress, wet and soiled at the bottom, and she had cut off her hair, like her sisters. She turned in surprise and saw me, and broke into the widest smile. She was smiling and crying at the same time. She ran to meet me, and at last we collided and she threw her arms around my neck. I took her in my arms and hugged her more tightly than I ever had before. She cried into my shoulder, and I held her head against me, my fingers in her hair. It fell in short messy locks around her shoulders and in her face. I pushed the hair out of her face and lifted her chin up, to meet her eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked. "Why didn't you tell me you weren't marrying the Prince? Ariel, if I had known, I would have asked you to marry me myself."

She smiled and cried harder, but shook her head. She pointed to the sea and gave me a little shove in that direction. I knew what she meant; she was saying I had to be back in the sea at sunset. Otherwise I could never go home either.

"I'm not going without you," I said.

But the Sea Witch! she mouthed silently, and gave me another little shove.

"I don't care!" I shouted. "I won't let her take you. And I won't go back to the sea without you. I don't care if I'm on land or sea; it's all the same to me. I just want to be with you. You're the only home I ever had."

She looked at me with her blue eyes, filled with water. She tried to say something, but I couldn't make it out. I was no good at lip-reading. She hung her head in frustration. I took her hands. "And I don't care if you can't talk. Do you hear me, Ariel?" I said, and lifted her chin up again to meet her eyes. "I'll learn to lip-read; I'll learn to read and write. I'll do anything it takes. I'll follow you anywhere. Ariel, you said you wanted to be part of another world. But the only world I ever wanted to be a part of was yours." The sun was setting, sinking quickly on the horizon. But I didn't notice. "Ariel," I said, grasping her hands, "Marry me, Ariel. Marry me, and be part of my world."

She squeezed my hands and smiled and nodded happily, the water streaming down her cheeks. The sky darkened around us as I pulled her toward me, put my hand on her cheek, and kissed her. I had never kissed anyone before, but I kissed her like I had been waiting my entire life to do it. Maybe I had. We broke apart just as the fiery orange sun sank completely beneath the waves, and was lost from sight.

We stood there a moment as the sky darkened around us, and then there was a splashing noise in the water and someone calling Ariel's name. It was Flounder, jumping up out of the waves.

"Ariel!" he shouted, and she turned to him and waved happily. "Ariel, the sun's gone down!" he said excitedly. "And you're still human! Does that mean you got the Prince to kiss you?"

She shook her head, still smiling. She still couldn't speak. But she still had legs. She looked around, confused. She had expected to turn back to a mermaid and for the Sea Witch to come and claim her. "Ariel," I said, blushing, "Your contract didn't say the kiss had to come from the Prince. All it said was…" Her face lit up as she looked at me in realization, and she blushed at the same time. "It just said a kiss of true love," I finished bashfully.

"But if it the Prince didn't kiss you," Flounder shouted out, floating on top of a wave, "then who did?"

Ariel and I looked at him awkwardly, then both started laughing. Flounder looked confused for a moment, and then his face lit up when he realized. Ariel didn't make any sound when she laughed, but she was beautiful, her shorn red hair falling around her smiling face. Her contract with the Sea Witch had been fulfilled. She would never have her voice again, but she got to keep her legs, and her freedom. My contract was ended too. I hadn't been in the water when the sun went down, so now I would stay human the same as Ariel. Land or water didn't matter to me anymore. I just wanted to be wherever she was.