Secrets Reviled

Ch.13

It had taken Peter and Melody the rest of the day to get to Morganas lair. The sun was now low in the sky and was issuing a dark golden glow. Now they were back in the ice land and were floating on the surface. Peter was floating on his stomach, arms tucked under his chin, just above the surface of the water while Melody floated atop the surface on her back.

"Well, we did it." said Peter.

"Yeah, we did..." Melody admitted.

The way they spoke each other, it was as if they just admitted to committing a terrible crime. They looked at each other.

"Did you really think we could?"

Melody nodded. Silence again.

"So,…what happens now?" Peter asked.

Melody sat up and looked up at him.

"I don't know." she said simply.

They stared at each other for a long time. Then from behind them they heard a loud splash. They turned and saw Undertow swimming towards them.

"Hey ya kids."

As he got closer he saw the trident in Melodys hands. His eyes went wide and his jaw dropped. Then he leaped in the air and shouted with joy.

"YOU GOT IT!" he yelled. "Kids, you're my new heroes!"

He laughed as Peter and Melody smiled proudly at him.

"Ok, lets go. It's time for some magic."

Melody and Peter smiled at each other before following Undertow into the cave and back to Morganas lair.

Ariel and Flounder had been following the two rays all day. Now they were swimming towards some cave in the water. As the rays got to the entrance, Ariel and Flounder hid behind a large rock.

"She must be in there." Ariel breathed.

She continued to look at the cave for a moment. Then she turned to Flounder.

"Swim back as fast as you can and tell my father. I'll try to find Melody."

But even as she started forward Flounder swam in front of her, blocking her path.

"But if that old sea witch really is in there, and then there's that mean little shark. And then those manta rays come, and she takes those-those creepy tentacles, so soon she'll start sticking to your face, and…and…"

He took a long deep breath.

"Uh uh, no way your going in there alone."

"But Flounder, if we both go who's going to tell daddy where Morgana's been hiding?"

Just then, Sebastian splashed in front of them.

"Dere you are." he said, he sounded out of breath.

"Sebastian?" said Ariel. "What are you doing here?"

"Ta follow you of cause."

They stared at each other for a long moment. Then a second later, Ariel smiled.

"Wait a minute, Sebastian can get help!"

"You're right." said Flounder.

"Sebastian, do you think you can go get help?"

"Absolutely Ariel."

"Oh there you are darlings." Morgana said happily.

Peter and Melody had just come down the long pathway into Morganas place. She stood up as they swam towards her.

"Oh I was so worried about you two." Morgana turned to Melody. "And look, you've brought my trident. Clever dears..."

Morgana reached her hand out towards Melody. Suddenly Undertow shot towards her.

"Give it, give it, give it!" he snapped at her.

Then Morgana snatched him with one of her tentacles and flung him back against the wall.

"Hey-"

But Morgana had covered his mouth with one of her tentacles.

"Forgive him dears, he's got a little size issue."

Melody raised an eyebrow as Peter looked at her questioningly. Morgana walked over to them and held out her hand.

"Now then, if you'll just hand over the-"

"Melody don't!"

Ariel had just popped out of nowhere, swimming right up to them.

"Mom?" Melody gasped.

"Don't listen to her, it-"

Ariel stopped and stared at Melody, who stared back. Each had eyes wide and jaws opened.

"You're a mermaid?" they breathed in unison.

"Ariel, how nice to see you." said Morgana. "And you've brought Flopper with you."

Flounder glared at her. "The name's Flounder."

He charged at her, but Undertow stopped in front of him and growled.

"Grrr yourself, pipsqueak."

"Take that thing and hit me!" Undertow dared. "One bite me shrimp toast."

Melody continued to stare at Ariel, her eyes full of confusion. Ariel looked at her for another second, then she noticed Peter, and gasped.

"Peter?!"

Melodys jaw dropped even lower as she looked from Peter to her mother and back in a second.

"Peter…" she started. "you know my mother?"

Peter looked at her sheepishly. "Maybe…"

"Sweethearts," Morgana sang, holding her hand out towards Peter and Melody. "One of you hand me my trident now please."

But neither of them moved, but continued to stare at each other. Then Melody spoke again.

"But…if you knew my mother…"

Melodys face slowly turned into a glare.

"Then you knew about…about everything?"

"Not everything." Peter said quickly. "I don't know why Ariel doesn't let you in the sea, she wouldn't tell me-"

"But you knew that I was a mermaid!" Melody said angrily. "You knew who I was, what I was, and you never told me!?"

"Melody, stop this." Ariel said suddenly. "It wasn't Peters fault, it was mine."

"What do you mean?"

"The last time I saw Peter I made him promise to never tell you about me or that you were half mermaid. I thought it best to keep it a secret. I thought it would protect you best, and I was trying to keep him safe by keeping him in the dark about everything else."

Melody looked at her for a second then turned back to Peter.

"I don't suppose you know what she means by 'everything else", huh?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"No, I don't." Peter said honestly. "Like she said, she didn't tell me why she won't let you go in the sea."

"But you still could've told me what you knew." she said. "Couldn't you?"

"Well…yes…" Peter admitted. "But I didn't have a choice."

"I don't care!" Melodys voice broke. "I can take lies from everyone else, but not from you! How could you keep the truth from me,…I trusted you!"

"I know, and I'm so sorry."

Peter floated closer to Melody, a hand raised to her shoulder. But Melody backed up, a look of disgust on her face, and she glared at Peter through tear soaked eyes. It looked as though she was going to say something, but she kept her mouth shut. There were no words for how angry she was.

"Mel, you have to believe me." said Peter, his voice now definitely cracking. "I hated lying to you, the guilt was eating me alive, and I couldn't tell you. But I swear on my life, if I could go back and tell you I would."

"But instead you went ahead and kept secrets about me with my mother." Melody said waspishly.

Morgana went up to Melody and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Can you believe it?" she whispered, but loud enough for everyone to hear. "Kept the most important secret of your own life from you, and all because he fancied your mother."

"Don't talk to her like that Morgana!" Ariel snapped. "It wasn't like that, and you know it!"

"Then what was it exactly?" Melody asked tonelessly.

"Please Melody," Ariel said softly. "I promise to explain everything later. Now give me the trident."

"No, give it to me." said Morgana in a hushed voice. "It's for your own good."

"She's lying!"

"I've given you what you've always wanted." Morgana glared at Ariel. "She's the one who was sneaking around with your one and only best friend and made him lie to you all these years."

"I was just trying to protect you-"

"By fencing me in?" Melody cried, her voice cracking. "You knew how much I loved the sea. Why did you keep the truth from me? Why did you make Peter lie to me!?"

Ariel came up and put her arms around Melody.

"Melody listen to me, if there was one thing in my life I could do over again I-"

But Melody pushed away from her and backed up. She went to Morgana and raised her hand that was holding the trident to her.

"Too late mom."

"Melody no!"

But it was too late, Melody had already handed Morgana the trident. At once, it started to glow a bright green and she floated up, cackling loudly. They all looked up at her, jaws opened.

"All the power of the seven seas are in my command!" she laughed loudly.

"What's going on?" Peter asked Melody.

"I don't know." she said, sounding very scared.

As Morgana laughed again, one of her tentacles came down and wrapped around Ariel and pulled her up. At this both Peter and Melody both yelled in unison

"Mom!"

"Ariel!"

Melody and Peter started forward, but Morgana pointed the trident at them, stopping then in their tacks. Morgana laughed.

"Dear Ariel was only trying to protect you both from maw. What she did, she did out of…love."

She sniffed in a mock baby voice and Ariel glared at her. Morgana turned back to Peter and Melody.

"Little Melody and dear Peter have been very naughty children,…stealing from Melodys own grandfather."

Both Peters and Melodys jaws dropped as they started at Morgana.

"Her what?" Peter gasped.

"My…my grandfather?"

"King Triton!" Morgana bellowed. "Ruler of Atlantica, commander and chief of all the ocean. Or at least he was until two certain little thieves came along."

She laughed wickedly. Peter and Melody glared at her.

"You tricked us!" he yelled.

"You've got no one to blame but yourselves." Morgana snapped at him.

Peter and Melody looked at each other, same expression on their faces. As much as they hated it, she was right. If they hadn't been stupid enough to fall for her trick, this wouldn't of happened. They both looked shamefully at the ground. Morgana went up between them and put a hand on their shoulders.

"Now come on darlings, you should be happy. I'm about to finally take over as queen of the sea, and it's all thanks to you two."

This made Peter and Melody feel even worse. Morgana turned to face Melody.

"So Melody, you've become a mermaid like you always wanted, discovered the truth about your past and found your true self. And all you had to do was steal from your grandfather, break your mothers heart, and leave your own best friend because he was lying, only to find he was just trying to protect you."

Morgana smiled evilly at the look Melody gave her.

"So tell me, was it all worth it?"

Morgana laughed wickedly and without warning two of her tentacles shoot forward and wrapped around Peter and Melody. They tried to get out, but she had a too tight of a grip on them. Then suddenly Morgana flung Melody into a large hole. As Melody flew in, she smacked hard against the wall and fell, almost knocking her unconscious.

"Melody!" everyone yelled in unison.

Flounder floated in after her. But before Peter could do anything, Morgana threw him up and shoot a bolt of lightening at him. When it hit him, a circling green orb seemed to have encased him. Morgana shot him again, and he started shooting forward and through the thick rock wall back to the surface.

"Peter!" Melody cried.

Then Morgana aimed the trident at the edges of the cave and started circling around them, forming what looked like an electric shield surrounding Melody and Flounder. As she heard the sound stop, Melody looked up to see Morgana smiling evilly at her.

"Oh, and by the way precious, your time as a mermaid has just about expired."

Morgana laughed wickedly as Melody gapped at her, eyes wide and full of fear.

"Catch ya later." Morgana called. "I've got bigger fish to fry!"

And they floated out of the cave. Melody got up and her and Flounder went up to the wall. Flounder looked at it for a moment then shot right at it. As soon as it made contact he had been electrocuted and shot back at the stone wall.

"Flounder!" Melody gasped.

"I'm fine." said Flounder as he floated back up. "There's gotta be a way to get out."

They continued to try to somehow break through the electric wall. But no matter what they did nothing would penetrate it.

"It's no use." Melody whimpered. "There's no way out."

Melody floated down and sat on the ground. She folded her arms across her tail, buried her head in them and began to cry softly.

"Oh Flounder, I've ruined everything."