Part of Your World (Twisted Tales)(92)

The crowd began to mutter, puzzled by this. Ursula really doesn’t understand humans at all if she thinks they wouldn’t care. In one sentence the sea witch had admitted to the existence of a kingdom of mythical creatures—and how she now wanted to exterminate them.

“But she foiled that plan by destroying my fleet…and a number of your own fishing vessels as well. Remember that great storm? Yes, that was her. Every time I’ve tried to take care of her quietly, she comes back, ruining everything. If she had just stayed away none of this would have happened.”

It’s my fault that Ursula has my father? I made her try to bomb Atlantica? Ursula was twisting everything around so much—did she even believe her own rhetoric? Or did she just say whatever made her look good, knowing even while she said it that it was false information?

“Some of you who actually saw the opera might already know a bit of my past,” Ursula continued casually, regarding the tips of some of her tentacles. “I was a…powerful witch under the sea. But really, how much power is enough? So I became a powerful ruler on the land. And that was fun. But then I thought…why choose?”

Time stopped for Ariel. Blood filled her ears as the strangely banal question rang loud and ominous.

What did she mean?

“So,” Ursula sighed, taking the necklace off and holding the glass ampoule in her hands, “I won’t. Thanks to the ancient blood running in this little guy here, and…well, a lot more blood—your blood, in fact—I will soon be what you little folk would refer to as a god of both the Dry World and the World Under the Sea.

“Hold still now, won’t you? This won’t hurt a bit….”





I?! I?! Egrsi phtaqn! Bh’n’e vh ssrbykl Y’ryel varrotel phtaqn!


The ancient words flowed like black music through her body. No one had recited them in over three thousand years, and the culture that had spawned that priestess had disappeared into a howling vortex of chaos and agony.

Soon these Elder Gods would come and take the people of Tirulia as her offering and feed upon the soul of Triton. In return they would grant Ursula the unthinkable: power over two demesnes, two worlds that had always been separated under ancient, inviolate law. She would be the mightiest creature Gaia had ever seen—or bowed down to.

Hideous shrieks from beyond the stars rent the atmosphere, preparing the way for their singers to come through.

The crowd went deliciously mad. Like a mermaid’s song turned inside out, the verses ripped into their skulls through their ears. People screamed, trying to block out the sound with their hands. They sank down to the ground, and Ursula saw precious, bright-red drops of blood start to seep between their fingers.

Well, all right, she conceded. It might hurt. A little…





“No!”

She cried out before she had a plan.

Sebastian didn’t even chastise her, too busy staring in horror at the groaning and screaming people around them.

Ursula looked up. It was easy to find Ariel now; she was the only one still standing. The terrible chant in the forbidden language didn’t affect her the same way it did the humans, perhaps because she understood some of its foul purpose and its origin. It wasn’t meant for her, only the poor humans.

Ariel pushed her way to the front. Think like it’s a game of koralli, she told herself. What do I have that Ursula doesn’t expect? What is Ursula’s weakness?

“URSULA!” she cried again. “Stop this! I surrender!”

A slow, ugly smile grew from one side of the sea witch’s mouth to the other. Something like relief and pleasure mixed disgustingly on her face: she really had been afraid Ariel wouldn’t show. That she wouldn’t witness Ursula’s triumph.

The hideous wailing from the blackness beyond the stars wavered and slowly died off.

The groans of the Tirulians could be heard now as they recovered, weeping and bleeding.

“And why do I need you to surrender?” the cecaelia asked languidly. “I have everything I want now. Land, sea, power, a bit of a show, blood…What could I possibly want you for?”

“Please,” Ariel begged. “I know you want revenge on me and my father. But leave the humans out of it. They have never done anything to you.”

“La sirenetta?” someone whispered in wonder.

“Is she a mermaid?” another Tirulian asked, slowly straightening herself out, wiping the blood off her face.

“Wait, is the octopus-woman a mermaid, too?”

“Is that the mermaid from the opera?”

“She’s beautiful….”

“Ursula, I know this isn’t what you really want,” Ariel hazarded. “What you really want is to rule Atlantica, to show all the merfolk what you do to those who treat you badly. You want to to reign over and enslave the people who know who you really are. These humans have no idea!” She waved her arms at the crowd. “They have no concept of what happened to you a hundred years ago. Your triumph over the Dry World is meaningless, because they don’t even know who Ursula is. Everyone under the sea does.”

“Don’t tell me what I want!” Ursula snapped.

But she looked uncertain.

“Don’t tell me you actually like it here,” Ariel pressed. “It’s so dry and everything is so heavy and things fall and people live such short, ugly lives….”