I'm back! I'm introducing eight new characters. Their names from oldest to youngest are Gavin, Maria, Bert, Ryo, Lyle (mentioned earlier in the story), Brooke, Jules, and MacKenzie. And I'm making this in one of my classmate's favorite new character's POV. I wanna code name them. Oh, I know! Webster, this is for you! And I really wanna-

OCS and Melody: AUTHOR!

Me: What?

Cat: The chapter?

Twiz: We need to keep going.

Webster: Or else you'll never finish this story!

Me: Fine! Gentlemen, care to give the disclaimer?

Estar: *snicker*

Kanade: Yeah, sure. GENTLEMEN.

"Gentlemen": SHUT UP! Sure!

Jay: This other does not…

Mikey: … own any of The Little Mermaid.

Nathan: All rights go to…

Gentlemen: WALT DISNEY STUDIOS!

Me: Thanks, guys! And now…

Webster and Twiz: ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

Chapter 18: Capture and Confession

Webster's POV

I awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of voices coming from the beach. I sat up straight in the boat Jay and I were sleeping in and listening. People were calling Cat (by her full name, nickname, and just plain Cat), Twiz, Nathan, Mikey, and even me and Jay to come back home. I knew who the people were. They're my siblings (there are ten of us in total) and my parents, Nathan's parents and apparently siblings, and Cat's parents and sisters. I shook Jay awake as the boat rocked.

"What now, Webster?" he grumbled, sounding both sleepy and annoyed.

"There are people outside, including mom, dad, Bert, Ryo, Lyle, Brooke, Jules, and MacKenzie!" I hissed but whispered at the same time. Jay bolted upright.

"What? Why?"

"Gee, I don't know, maybe because we ran away and we're in hiding now? IDIOT!" I smacked him in the back of his head (hoping to smack some sense into him).

"Well, come on! We have to hide!" Jay climbed out of the boat first then helped me up. We stopped in our tracks when we saw a light walking towards us from a window.

"Quick!" he said. "Behind these boats!" We ducked behind a stack of boats on the floor, and just in time, too. For at that moment, the door creaked open and we heard our mother's voice call to us.

"Webster? Twiz? Jay? Mikey? You kids in here?" she called softly. Jay and I held our breath as we peek a little bit over the boats and saw our mother holding a lantern. Her wide, light blue sad eyes glittered in the lantern's light as tears started brimming. Just then, the sound of heavy boots was heard and we saw our father come in next to our mother.

"Any luck?" he asked in a soft and gentle tone.

"No…" our mother replied. Her voice was so soft that it was barely audible. Our father put one arm on her shoulders and the other around her waist. Our mother laid her head on his chest, let out a deep sigh, and said, "I hope we find them soon, Gavin. I miss them so much. I hope they're safe, too. They're only little kids, for crying out loud!"

"We're not little!" Jay and I both muttered under our breaths, but luckily we weren't heard and our parents continued.

"Don't worry, Maria," our father cooed. "They'll turn up eventually, and then they'll be safe and sound back in their beds at home."

Our mom looked up at him and they both kissed.

"Ew…" I heard Jay whisper lightly.

Then, King Eric walked into the room saying, "Maria, Gavin. We think we know which way they went."

With that, our parents left the room. We watched the door to see if anyone else came for about ten minutes, but nothing happened. Jay and I let out a long, deep sigh.

"We have to plan this more thoroughly," Jay said and I nodded in agreement. I clutched the mirror close to my chest. Cat had snuck into her parent's room for this, our only way to communicate with them. I missed my friends and siblings, especially Twiz. Her voice always filled my life with happiness and light; even when we argued. I could her her wonderful laughter ringing in my ears, along with her beautiful singing boice. Tears started coming to my eyes when the mirror lit up and started showing the same swirling pattern we were to see whenever the others called, which meant they finally reached land. I wiped away my tears and said, "Show me Cat."

Sure enough, Cat's face appeared, along with Mikey's, Nathan's… and Twiz's.

"Web!" Twiz exclaimed at seeing my face.

"Shh!" I whispered. I looked around, in case anyone heard.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Everyone's looking for us." They fell silent. They looked like they'd seen a ghost.

"What is it?" Jay asked, coming next to me.

"Guys," Cat said, "You might want to turn around."

She pointed behind us and we did as we were told. I gasped at who I saw.

"Well, well, well… What do we have here?" Our sisters said. Standing before us was Brooke, Jules, and MacKenzie. I looked back at the mirror. The others were still watching. Jay tried to make a run for it. I was too shocked to move. I heard more feet and Jay angrily shouting,

"Let me go! Let me go!"

I figured my brothers had caught him. My sisters tried doing the same thing. I tried to break, but not soon enough. In just two minutes, I was in my sisters' grasp. Jules and MacKenzie grabbed my arms while Brooke took hold of the mirror. I kicked and struggled to get free. I screamed.

SLAP!

"Shut up, Webster," Jules and MacKenzie scolded me as their grip became even tighter, making my wrists very sore.

"As for the four of you… you are confronting everyone else along with these two," Brooke hissed at the mirror. My other brothers came out of the shadows holding a struggling Jay.

"Let's go," Bert barked. Jules and MacKenzie dragged me out of the shed, followed by Brooke, then Ryo and Lyle with Jay (who by now was starting to kick them in the shins), and finally Bert. I saw in the corner of my eye Cat, Mikey, Nathan, and Twiz hanging their heads in the mirror. Why are they still there? They can escape, but why won't they? I was soon pulled out of my thoughts when I felt my sisters push me onto the ground. My brothers did the same with Jay.

I groaned. Even though the sand was soft, my sisters pushed me hard enough for my fall to hurt. I looked forward and saw a pair of slippers right in front of me. I slowly looked up and my mother's brown eyes locked onto mine. Her arms were crossed and she didn't look too happy. I managed a shy smile.

"Hi, mom!" I said shakily, "How's your day been?"

"How's my day been?" She shot back, "Do you know how worried your father and I have been? Didn't you hear me call your name? We've been worried sick!"

"Why?" Jay said, standing on his feet and helping me up. "We're not kids anymore. We're twelve and a half, not two. We can handle ourselves."

"Well, no matter what your age, you are still our children and we still love and care about you. You can't just run off like that…" She paused as if she just noticed something. "Where are Mikey and Twiz?"

Jay and I exchanged a look that meant were SO. DEAD.

"You don't know where they are?"

"Well…" I said hesitantly, "Sort of."

"They're right here, mom," Brooke said, presenting the mirror. "The other two are here as well."

I looked at the mirror and sure enough, the others were still there, their eyes filled with defeat and their faces showed a depressed expression.

"Mikey! Twiz!" our father exclaimed. "Where are you?"

"Uh…" Mikey started. I knew that he was thinking. They were already caught, they didn't want to be brought back home.

"We aren't telling you anything!" Twiz protested. I was shocked. Twiz was the youngest of the five sisters, yet she somehow seemed the bravest. I looked at my father. He seemed furious and ready to explode, and he did.

"Why you-! When we find you, both of you are going to be in so much trouble!"

"The same goes for you, Nathan!" His mother cried.

"Mother, you know I always do these kinds of things!" Nathan stated. "Why do you always get so worked up about it?"

His mother stood speechless for a moment, and then spoke in a harsh voice. "Nathan, when I get my hands on you, you will regret ever saying those words."

I looked at King Eric to see what he would say.

"Cat, you will be punished the most," he said firmly. He didn't seem as upset as the other parents, but maybe that's because the same kind of situation happened with Melody six years ago. Cat just hung her head and went silent. Queen Ariel noticed this and said in a reluctant tone,

"Cat, sweetie, I need you to look at me."

Cat didn't move a muscle.

"Cat?"

Again, no movement.

"Cat, please!"

Finally, she looked up, her eyes beginning to get puffy and red. I figured she must have been crying, though, I didn't know why. Queen Ariel continued.

"Cat, why would you do such a thing? Running away itself isn't a good thing to do, especially when you're a princess. But dragging your friends into this? What were you thinking?"

"I… I…" Cat stuttered. "I just wanted to make you happy. You said you didn't want me back at home, so I left, but couldn't do it alone. I asked my friends if they could help, and they said yes."

Silence fell upon us. King Eric spoke up.

"Cat, we love you dearly. We didn't mean it this way. We just wanted you safe."

"Well, the way you told your plan made it sound like you didn't want me anymore."

"No, sweetheart. We love you! Now, all we want is for you kids to come home."

"Uh… we would."

"You WOULD?"

"If we knew how."

"What do you mean?" King Eric got a worried look on his face. "How else could you have gotten there?"

"Actually, we don't know where we are. You see, we had planned to just go straight so that it would be easy to find our way back if we got lost, but along the way… we got caught in a few storms… and we were thrown off course."

What's gonna happen? Find out in the next chapter. And Webster, I'm sorry if you aren't happy with the outcome of this chapter, but that's my way of making the story more interesting.