Part of Your World (Disney Twisted Tales) - Liz Braswell Page 0,107

to be there.

She thought her heart would break. He had been there when it all started, and Eric obviously wanted to make sure his friend was there when it all ended—no matter how it ended. She felt tears bead up and her heart contmued to flutter.

And flutter.

A lot. Scritchily.

Panicked, Ariel put her hand to her chest.

"HEY, WATCH THE FINGERS!" a voice snapped as she touched a strange, hard lump below her clavicle.

"Sebastian?"

The little crab scuttled up so his eyestalks popped up above her necklme. It itched and tickled mightily but the queen restrained herself.

"What... What are you... What... ?"

"I couldn't let you do this all alone," Sebastian said matter-of-factly. "I have done nothing all this time but rule the sea in your place and worry. I had to do something"'

She carefully reached down her front and unhooked him from the rough wool, then held him up to her face.

"Sebastian..." she said, trying not to smile. Trying to look frowny and fierce.

The crab put a claw over his antennule. "Can't talk. No oxygen out of the water. I have less than a day before I need to go back. Have to conserve."

"Well, thank the sea for something," she said, then kissed him on his carapace and carefully placed him on her shoulder. First a seagull, then I'm hosting a crab. Am I the Queen of the Sea or of random sea creatures?

Back on the dais, Eric was gracefully making sure Vanessa was on his right side, closer to the saltwater fountam. They stood together, every mch a mighty power couple.

"Good people of Tirulia/ he cried. "Thank you for joining me this afternoon. That I could give you this performance fills my heart with no end of gladness....I only wish I could do more for the greatest people in the The crowd went wild, stamping and hollering.

"No artist can create without an inspiration; no man can work so without a muse. So it is with your prince. Everything I've ever done, every piece you've ever heard, every- tune I've ever scribbled in the wee hours as a Mad Prince does, they are all because of one woman, who owns me heart and soul."

This was met with awwws and cries about the power of love.

Eric looked out at the crowd, but his eyes didn't find hers. It didn't matter. Ariel knew he was speaking to her, and she felt her eyes moisten.

He let the moment drag out and then turned dramatically to Vanessa, making a very distmct break between what he had said before and now—but only to those who knew. "I hereby dedicate La Sirenetta to the most unforgettable princess in the world. For Vanessa, and for Tirulia!" He took out his ocarina, toasted her with it, and then hurled it into the crowd.

There was a little bit of a scuffle, but it wound up in the chubby hands of a toddler on someone's shoulder. Everyone cheered madly when she raised it above her head in triumph. Eric laughed. He bowed and kissed the prmcess's hand.

Ariel felt her stomach turn. Despite his vow of silence, Sebastian muttered and clicked angrily. Vanessa curtsied low, then sashayed forward.

Flotsam and Jetsam were suddenly behind her. They held a chest between them.

"Thank you. Prince Eric," Vanessa said sweetly—or as sweetly as she could, shouting m Ursula's voice. More than a few people looked confused. "And thank you, good citizens of Tirulia. Bear with me while I hack and cough through this...the summer cold I had destroyed my lungs."

Did anyone really buy that?

Sneaking a glance at the people around her, Ariel saw a mix of reactions: surprise, skepticism, and horribly enough, pity.

"Could a prmcess be any luckier to have found such a prince? Truly, I am honored to be the... inspiration for his art. I have just a couple of words to say before we begin."

Ariel tensed—the sea witch had to be pushed mto the fountain soon. But Vanessa was sort of in front of Eric now, moving diagonally away from where she needed to be. With Flotsam and Jetsam up on the stage with her, it might become even more difficult. Could Eric handle them if they saw their mistress was in trouble?

"First, I would like to thank Lord and Lady Savho, who have generously loaned the government of Tirulia two of their heaviest cargo vessels to fill in while we rebuild our fleet. They are on maneuvers right now, even as we speak, headmg toward the open waters....Testing powerful new munitions we plan to use