Chapter Thirty

Morgana concluded that flying through the sky was almost like swimming. The transformation she managed to throw together for herself was a bird. Morgana was unclear the type of bird she had become, but it was something local to not arouse suspicion. And she really didn't care. The sea witch would have preferred something more intimidating, but her purpose right now was to gain information. This disguise would allow her to get close to the turned-human-Atlanticans undetected.

The castle of those awful people was now in view, and Morgana began her descent. She flew in wide circles, the bird eyes searching for her prey. Luckily, two of her targets were outside. Ariel and Eric were moving among the not-merpeople, handing out food and chatting. But their faces weren't sad looking. Where were the tears? The hysterics? Why weren't they on a silly boat or a smelly legged creature searching for their daughter? Morgana found it strange that two such loving parents (who had shown their so-called love for their daughter by building an entire wall after a simple threat) were so calm now.

Where did my spell send Melody? Or was my spell interrupted and the minnow got away?

Morgana's one consolation was that the little brat was nowhere to be seen.

Instead, the sea witch was distracted by a small boy who was acting the way she wanted the queen and king to be behaving. Morgana perched her bird body on a nearby branch and watched the show.

"Where is it?" The boy muttered aloud to himself. He was desperately searching for something among the colorful land anemones.

"Good morning, Alex." Ariel said. Eric was beside her; the two had walked over with their arms linked together with dreadful, polite smiles on their faces.

"Morning." The boy, Alex, was trying to hide his tear-stained face.

Morgana's bird instincts at being so pleased with the sight before her, she began to preen.

"Alex, thank you for all of your help in the library. But can you please hand over the book now?" Eric asked.

Book? Your daughter is missing, and you care about a book?

The book in question must be very important, because the blonde boy began to cry. "I'm sorry. I've…the book…I don't know where it is."

"Are you sure?" And Ariel started to look a little panicked.

The boy nodded and began to cry even harder. Morgana looked on with delighted anticipation, waiting for the two monarchs to begin shouting at the kid. Maybe they would even throw him in the dungeon. Sadly, they just stood quietly in front of the child, their faces going the slightest shade paler.

"I'm sorry. I just put it down for a second. I've looked everywhere."

The king walked forward and hugged the boy who was shaking from his tears. "Alex, I'm sure you didn't mean to lose it. I know how important Melody is to you."

Ariel came forward and wiped his tears away with a piece of cloth. "Why don't you tell us what happened?"

"I wasn't having any luck in the mythology section, so I started to go to another. And that's when I saw this light in this room and met, well, I forgot his name, but he called himself an Alchi? Achemi?"

"Alchemist? You met Kurt that night?"

"Yes! Alchemist Kurt Anders. That was him. Anyway, I asked if he knew anything about Saleen and he didn't, but he showed me something outside on the balcony. I put the book down on the desk and when I came back in it was gone! I checked every book in the mythology section and then I checked that room again. I can't find it anywhere."

"Could Morgana have it?" Ariel asked.

"I don't think so. She would be gloating about it to us by now," Eric said. "So, I don't think we need to panic just yet. Here's what we'll do. I'll ask Grimsby if any servants were in the library last night and we'll talk to Kurt. It's possible he didn't understand the importance and took it."

"Alex, have you gotten any sleep?"

Alex shook his head. "I've been looking."

"You'll be no good to Melody if you don't get your rest. Come with me. But next time, if something very important goes missing, you need to tell somebody right away. Promise?"

"I promise."

"Good. Now, we're going to keep this quiet. There's no reason to bring attention to the book. Especially Morgana's."

Too late. Morgana would have been more pleased at her discovery, but she still didn't fully understand the connection between Melody and a book. But if Ariel and Eric didn't want her to have it, then that meant it was very valuable.

Morgana spread her wings to take to the sky. She had a book to find.