The figure stared menacingly at her see-all bubble, as she saw the little mermaid and her fishy companion swim hurriedly home from her lair which was in the darkest depths of the ocean, far away from Aquaria and it was where unsavoury types of sea creatures or those who posed a threat to the kingdom's safety within the ocean were banished and exiled, unfit to face society and to keep Aquaria's citizens safe from harm.

And that was certainly the case for this particular creature, a sea witch that was called Sharla, who was as thin and sleek as a shark, which was true, since she had the lower body of one and the upper half of a human.

She had light blue skin, dark teal hair in a bob with stray bits flying all over the place, blue eyes and she wore heavy make-up and lipstick and a slightly sheer dark teal top which was the same colour as her tail and it had light teal tips at the bottom and fins.

Still staring into the bubble, Sharla gave a wicked grin when she saw that the mermaid was Lily and knew the reason why she was in such a hurry to get home.

'Yes that's right, swim home, little princess,' she said, her voice dripping like honey, 'You don't want to miss your kingdom's big day and Mummy's special little concert, do you?'

Sharla's smile then turned into a scowl of disgust as she rose up from her 'throne' and swam around her lair, her tail swishing back and forth while she ranted to no one in particular, for this day brought out her anger and resentment about the queen, the kingdom and the reason she had been exiled.

She had been an important part of the royal court years ago, but she abused her power and privileges and had tried to overthrow Daisy as she believed that she would make a better ruler than the queen.

As a result, like she did with anyone who posed a threat to the kingdom, Daisy swiftly banished her to where she lived now and Sharla carried that resentment for years and was constantly thinking about ways to get back at the queen.

'Of course, it had to be Aquarian National Day today,' she said bitterly,

'Bah, what a joke it is! It's nothing more than a shameless vanity production where those lowlifes of merfolk talk and show off about how great their kingdom is and how much they love their queen!

And don't get me started on that concert! Those little brats singing that sickly sweet song, praising how great they are and how much their dear little mummy loves them and gave them such lovely names!'

'Ah, we are the daughters of Daisy,' she sang in a mockingly sweet voice, 'Great mother who loves us and named us well!'

'Uggh, it's enough to make anyone nauseous! And the little flowers those brats throw around so that the crowd can catch them? That's just so sickening and it makes you want to throw up!'

She then made mock-vomit noises, as she gathered up a plate of whimpering shrimp and sat back down on her throne, fuming as she picked up a poor little shrimp and ate it, with the others watching nervously, then squeaking in relief that it wasn't them but it wouldn't be long before they too were devoured.

'Look at this,' Sharla said, giving the shrimp a menacing look, as they cowered back in fear before another one was picked up, squeaking and whimpering at the creature, as if to say, 'Please don't eat me.'

'Look at what I am reduced to,' as she popped another shrimp in her mouth,

'Eating whimpering shrimp in this miserable place, whereas back in my days in the palace, I slept in the finest beds, attended the best parties and ate the finest foods that any sea creature would only dream of eating.

I could've been the ruler of that pathetic little kingdom instead of that flimsy flowerhead Daisy!

I make one little mistake and I pay for it by being banished, exiled, unfit to face polite society, never to show my face again, considered a threat to Aquaria and practically starving!' Sharla moaned.

'Wasting away to nothing while she and her flimsy merfolk celebrate how wonderful they are and how great everything is in their kingdom!

Are you happy, Daisy? Are you happy knowing that I'm starving and miserable in this dump that you sent me to? You may have thought that you have exiled me away forever but soon I'll come back to Aquaria and I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!' Sharla shouted.

She then threw a starfish at a portrait of Daisy on the wall which had a crudely drawn moustache and beard on it and several starfish that Sharla had already thrown were lodged into it, like a dartboard.

Sharla had many things to be bitter about and being banished by Daisy was the main one.

She had sworn that she would get her revenge against her, but hadn't been able to since she didn't know her weakness until today and it was in the form of her youngest daughter.

'The party is well and truly over, Daisy, for you'll soon have nothing to celebrate!' Sharla chuckled evilly.

'Teale! Neale! Get over here!' she called to her pets, two teal coloured eels, who were just as evil and malicious as she was but weren't exactly the brightest coral in the sea.

'You called, Mistress Sharla?' they said, slithering over to her, as she petted them.

'Yes, my precious pets, for I have found Daisy's weakness which is just the thing that I need for my long-awaited revenge on her,' Sharla said.

'I want you two to keep an eye on that pretty little daughter of hers,' as she pointed to the seeing bubble which still had Lily's image on it.

'Which daughter is it, Mistress Sharla?' Neale asked rather stupidly, 'Queen Daisy has seven pretty little daughters, which one of them do you want us to watch?'

'The youngest daughter, that's who, you dim-wit!' Sharla shouted, which made Neale flinch as he didn't like being yelled at.

'I'm sorry, poopsie,' she then said to Neale, petting him, 'I didn't mean to yell at you, it's just that Aquaria's national day always puts me in a bad mood and you didn't deserve that, although you are clearly not as bright as you think you are.'

'But why her?' Teale, the smarter of the two then said, 'why not the crown princess, since she is the eldest and heir to the throne of Aquaria? Why do you want the youngest daughter?'

'Because, Teale, she is her mummy's favourite,' Sharla said, 'which is why she may very well be the key to the downfall of Daisy.'

Sharla chuckled evilly, while Teale and Neale looked nervously at each other.

Lily knew that when she eventually got home, her mother would be furious at her for missing the concert and denying the kingdom the chance to see her debut and to hear her beautiful voice that they had waited for so long.

And she was right, although Daisy hadn't actually said anything yet, as Lily stood in front of her in the throne room of the palace.

She had many disappointed and angry eyes of the merpeople staring at her, as well as hearing muttered words and whispers when she had made it back to the kingdom and it made her feel ashamed and foolish, as she kept her head down, not wanting to look at her mother.

As if the kingdom's stares, silent anger and mutterings about her and the ruined concert weren't bad enough, she was soon about to face the reprimand of her mother and Senna about her behaviour today and her sisters would no doubt share the same feelings when she would inevitably face them.

Aurora was also proving to be no help at all as she cowered behind a corner rather than supporting her for fear of the queen's temper.

Lily may be her mother's favourite daughter, but even she wasn't immune to being reprimanded by her which didn't happen as often but today turned out to be one of those exceptions.

At first there was an uncomfortable silence which made the atmosphere so thick that not even the sharpest of knives could cut it, as Lily's tail twitched nervously while she was thinking of what she was going to say to her mother and explain why she had unintentionally missed the concert.

Eventually, Daisy broke the silence as she took a sharp breath while remaining calm, cool and collected as usual, although her anger was raging inside her and said,

'I don't know what else we're going to do with you, young lady,' while pinching the bridge of her nose as Senna peeked out from her crown, staring angrily at Lily.

'Mum, I'm…' Lily said, but Daisy cut her off.

'As a princess of Aquaria, you knew that today was an important day in our kingdom and that you were expected to sing in the concert like your sisters do and all the princesses have done before you.

The entire kingdom was really looking forward to hearing you sing in your musical debut, it was all they had been talking about for weeks and it's what they only get to hear once a year.

After years of begging me to let you take part in the concert and when you finally get the chance to do so, you don't even turn up! Why did you do that, Lily? What was so important that made you miss it?' Daisy said.

'Mum, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to,' Lily said, 'I really wanted to be there today but I totally forgot about it, okay? It was a complete accident but you're acting like I did it on purpose!'

'That's because you did!' Senna said, adding her two cents before Daisy shushed her.

'I'll deal with this, Senna, thank you,' said Daisy, 'I honestly believed that this was going to be the best national day concert in our proud history, but as a result of your careless and reckless behaviour..'

'Your very careless and reckless behaviour, might I add!' Senna said, chiming in and she was clearly angry at the young mermaid for nearly wrecking her career and ruining the kingdom's celebration.

'The whole concert was..how can I describe it?' said Daisy.

'It was completely ruined!' Senna said, 'This was to be the most important concert in my distinguished career and the finest one in Aquaria's history.

I was hoping to impress the high society of my fellow crabs and music lovers, but thanks to you, my career nearly came to an end, my reputation is hanging on by a thread, I'm in your mother's bad books and I'm now the laughing stock of all of Aquaria!

I don't think that I'll be able to show my face in public for months because of that fiasco! And not only that, you hung your poor sisters out to dry on the stage and they were on the receiving end of the audience's disgust by having their flowers thrown at them! I bet that they will have a few words to say when they see you!

What do you have to say for yourself, Lily?' said Senna.

'Senna, please stop yelling at her!' Aurora said, having finally decided that she was fed up with the crab scolding her friend and wanted to defend her, 'it wasn't her fault!'

Realising that she was in the presence of the queen, Aurora shook nervously as her new-found confidence had gone as quickly as it came and with the queen and Senna looking expectantly at her, she knew she had to give them answers.

'Is there something that you would like to tell us, Aurora?' said Daisy. Knowing better than to not answer the queen, Aurora cleared her throat and said, or rather stuttered,

'You see, we were exploring, yeah..that's it and..it was fine until..this really mean and scary shark chased us. It was really hungry and we thought we would be its dinner..'

Aurora growled as she did a very poor imitation of the shark but it was enough to convince Daisy and Senna as they looked at each other, while Lily was signalling to her to keep quiet but Aurora kept talking, giving them far more information than she was supposed to.

'And we managed to get away, but then we went to see the seagull and she was like 'this is this and that is that' and…'

Realising what she just said, Aurora gasped and put her fin over her mouth as Lily stared at her but it was too late as the fish had unintentionally told the queen everything and she was smart enough to come to one conclusion.

'A seagull,' Daisy said, trying to remain calm,

'If you managed to see one, that must mean…you went up to the surface again, didn't you, Lily?' as her barely contained anger was starting to show, which was sensed by Senna, as she shook in fear while Aurora hid behind Lily.

'Oh, no, here we go again,' she said.

'Tell me the truth!' Daisy practically shouted, her anger finally erupting in spite of her best efforts to control it.

'Mum, chill out, everything was fine,' said Lily, 'Yes, I did go up there but I was very careful and I managed not to be seen. Nothing happened to me and I came back home safe and sound.'

'Don't get smart with me, missy,' said Daisy.

'If I've said it once, I've said it a million times, the surface is forbidden for a very good reason and that you weren't to go up there! You could've have been seen or killed by one of those..barbarians! Those things…those h..hu…hu..'

'Humans, Your Majesty,' said Senna.

'Yes, humans,' Daisy said, like it was a disgusting swear word.

Although Daisy was the ruler of Aquaria and had control over the entire ocean, the human world was out of her reach and it was one that she mistrusted and considered dangerous and hostile to merpeople.

Ever since the death of her husband Hollis who had been also known as Holley, at the hands of modern-day pirates, Daisy abhorred humans and their artefacts and forbade any one to go up on the surface or make contact with humans or have any of their objects in the kingdom.

The pain of losing her beloved Holley and Aquaria's well-loved king consort had been too much to bear for the queen and she did not want to lose Lily or any of her other daughters to humans.

But Lily didn't see it that way.

'Mum, how can you think that?' Lily said, 'Not all humans are barbarians, you know, there are many that are gentle, kind and loving. They wouldn't dare hurt us, if only you would give us the chance to know them.'

'Don't be ridiculous, Lily!' Daisy shouted, 'How can those barbarians have even one shred of kindness in them if they do the things they do to sea life here?

They are very dangerous and the ones that called themselves 'pirates' took your father away from me! Poseidon forbid that I want to see my youngest daughter face the same fate or being snared by some fish-eater's hook!'

'Mum, leave Daddy out of this!' shouted Lily, 'and I'm sixteen years old, I'm not a little child anymore, I should be allowed to do what I want! If you wouldn't be so ignorant and actually listen to me…'

'Don't you raise your voice to me, young lady!' shouted Daisy, 'You're still a child and as long as you live in my ocean, you will obey my rules and you are NEVER to go back to the surface again! Do I make myself clear?'

'Yes, Mum, I won't go near the surface again,' Lily said, somewhat insincerely but Daisy didn't notice.

'This is your last chance to straighten up and be the proper princess that you are so don't mess it up again,' Daisy said, now calm, 'now, I believe that you have some sisters to apologise to, don't you?'

Lily nodded and swam away disappointedly with Aurora faithfully following her, while Queen Daisy slumped back on her throne, sighing heavily.

'Oh, Lily,' she said, 'as much as I love her, she can be quite a handful sometimes.'

'I couldn't agree more, Your Majesty,' Senna said, standing on one of the armrests,

'But that's teenagers for you. They believe that they should be independent and free without their parents' rules and restrictions. You give them an inch and they'll swim all over you, queen or not!'

'Senna, do you think that I was too hard on Lily?' Daisy then asked,

'I mean, it's not often that I have to reprimand her and I did try my best to be calm and collected like I always am, but you know that my anger gets the best of me sometimes. Was I right in disciplining her?'

'Of course you were, Your Majesty, you had every right to lay down the law and tell her that you weren't going to stand for any of her nonsense!' Senna said,

'It does not make you a bad parent, children need rules and discipline and you weren't too hard on her at all!

Hopefully that would've made her come to her senses and get these silly ideas about humans out of her head! Because if I had been in your fins, Your Majesty, I would've done the same thing!

Yes indeed, if Lily was my daughter, I would lay down the law myself and show her who the boss around here is!

There would be no talk about humans and flitting off to the surface and other silly bollocks, that's for sure! I would keep a close watch on her and under the tightest control ever!'

That had got Daisy thinking, as she ran her fingers through her hair and she smiled at the crab.

'You know, Senna, what you have said is very true. Lily does indeed require someone to watch over her, to keep her safe and out of trouble,' she said.

'Absolutely, Your Majesty, you're not wrong there,' said Senna, grinning.

'Lily needs constant supervision at all times and someone to keep her on the straight and narrow and protect her from any harm when I or any of her sisters are not around to do so,' Daisy said.

'Every single day,' replied Senna.

'And who better to do it than you, Senna?' said Daisy, poking the crab in her soft stomach, 'you are the perfect crab to do this very important job of looking after Lily!'

'Yes, Your Majesty, I am the perfect crab…wait, what? You're asking me to play nursemaid to Lily? Surely you can't be serious?' Senna said, in surprise and dismay.

She was the court composer, for Poseidon's sake, not a nursemaid for a troublemaking teenager! Why did she have to open her big mouth and tell the queen what she wanted to hear? Why couldn't she had stayed silent and not talk up what she couldn't do?

She had wanted to suck the offer right back in her mouth, or at least tell Daisy that she was joking or hoped that the queen wouldn't take it to heart but by looking at the queen's face, she had indeed taken her seriously, which made Senna groan.

Oh, she has, she thought miserably to herself, me and my big gob, why couldn't I just keep quiet?

'Of course I am, Senna, you yourself had said that you would keep a close watch on Lily and supervise her at all times, did you not? You can't go back on your word now,' said Daisy.

Senna wanted to protest, but she knew better than to disobey the queen and with the crab already in her bad books about the concert and with the now little reputation she had left, this would be a perfect opportunity to win back her favour and restore her dignity.

Not only that, it would help her to keep Lily in line and to discourage her from going up from the surface again and there was nothing more than Senna wanted was to please the queen and to be in her good books again.

'Alright, Your Majesty, I will do it,' Senna said, as the queen smiled at her, 'I will make sure that Lily will stay out of trouble and supervise her at all times and she'll be a good little mer-princess and forget all about humans and going up to the surface again.

You can trust me on this, Your Majesty, I won't let you down,' as the little crab grinned at her, hoping that she would buy it, which she did.

'I hope so, Senna, I am putting my deepest and greatest trust in you,' said Queen Daisy, as Senna left the throne room.

I hope so too, Your Majesty, Senna thought as she swam down the palace halls, while thinking about the predicament that she had gotten herself into.

By now, she should have been composing her latest piece and thinking about how she was going to restore her good name, not boasting about how she would be a good nursemaid to a mischievous mer-princess, who had landed her into all this trouble.

'Why do I get myself into these situations?' she said, 'I just hope that Lily makes my job easy for me, then I can get back to composing and forget about this terrible day!'

No sooner had she said it, she looked out the window and saw that Lily and Aurora were looking to the left and to the right, to make sure that they weren't being watched and then left the palace, with Lily clutching her treasure bag close to her.

They seemed to be swimming off to Poseidon knows where and Senna realised that she had been way over in her head by agreeing to this difficult task.

'Spoke too soon,' Senna said as she sighed heavily and dutifully swam towards them.

Oooh, touchy much, Daisy? And Sharla? Well, this modern-day Ursula is clearly up to no good and Senna has her work cut out for her with Lily!

At least by now you know why Sharla wants revenge against Daisy and why Daisy hates humans.

Read and review and thank you to those who have done so! :)