Part of Your World (Disney Twisted Tales) - Liz Braswell Page 0,108

against enemies of the state."

Ariel felt her heart stop. Ursula's eyes glittered and she looked carefully out over the crowd—hopmg to see a reaction, hopmg to catch out the mermaid, hoping to gloat.

"What does she mean? So what? I don't..." Sebastian whispered.

"She means to blow up Atlantica. She means to do it now, while everyone is at the opera—mcludmg me!"

The Queen of the Sea thought quickly. If she ran, she could dive mto the water, summon a storm, and possibly stop them in time. But the moon wasn't in the best phase; it was already taking most of her effort to remain

And this might be the only chance they ever had to stop the sea witch. Ariel needed to be there in case somethmg went wrong. Vanessa said heading to open waters. They still had a little time. Her heart pounding, she decided to stay. For at least a few more minutes.

"Secotidly, " Ursula said, looking disappointed as she failed to spot Ariel, "I wish to announce the winners of our special fishing contest—to find the magic blue-and-yellow fish. Unfortunately, and somewhat embarrassingly, the prize goes to my own servants, Flotsam and Jetsam"'

They knelt forward and threw open the top of the chest they held, sickly grins on their faces.

Flounder tried to leap out.

"But that's—" Sebastian started to cry.

Ariel squeezed his mouth shut with her hand and tried not to cry out herself.

Eric's eyes practically popped out of his skull. He shook his head desperately, looking for Ariel in the crowd. He had managed to stop the contest, but not Ursula. The crowd booed. Cries of "Cheaters!" and "It was rigged!" were hurled at the dais. Vanessa deflected them with a cool grin. "Of course this looks bad. My servants are highly skilled hunters—I mean, fishers. Fishermen. Best of their people."

As she said this she came forward and seized Flounder violently but securely around his waist. He threw himself back and forth, but behmd Vanessa's weak and skinny little arms was the might of the cecaelia, and she didn't even flinch.

He screamed silently—his words killed by the atmosphere of the Dry World. "Flourider, " Ariel whispered. She put her hand to her hair, feelmg the trident. If only...

The moment dragged out. The crowd grew impatient and grumbly, but not prone to violence—yet. And Vanessa just stood there calmly, not so much gazing at them as scanning them. Looking for the mermaid. She was doing all of this just to lure Ariel out into the open.

As much as she hated it, Ariel had to resist her instinct to jump up and rescue him. She would wait.

"My servants are a generous pair of boys," Vanessa finally continued, sashaying closer to the fountain. With a nonchalance that disgusted Ariel to her core, the sea witch tossed the fish into the fountain, then clapped her hands to clean them of water and scales. Flounder dove deep for a breath then leapt out of the water a few times like an upset goldfish, confused and terrified and trying to figure out where he was.

Ariel breathed a deep sigh of relief. Ursula was keeping him alive for now—probably to use as leverage later.

The crowd was still agitatmg. The sea witch seemed to gauge them for a moment before coming to a decision.

"My servants have decided to give up the prize to the good people of Tirulia!" she cried.

With skeletal leers, the two eel brothers reached into the bottom of the chest that had held Flounder and pulled up drippmg handfuls of gold coins. They flung them mto the crowd. There were immediate cheers—and a few shrieks as the heavy corns struck some in the head and face.

Ariel frowned. That was an unexpected move. The sea witch never cared about the feelings of the commoners, even when she was under the sea. She generally referred to them as riffraff. Her goal had always been to rise far above the masses, as prmcess, queen, or god. Why did she care what they thought of her now? Why was she trying to buy them off?

Unless it was just to keep the crowd calm and happy for some other reason....

Eric moved toward Vanessa, slippmg in between her manservants while she was distracted, enjoying the cheers.

Flotsam and Jetsam were riot distracted; they immediately pulled out daggers with their free hands, crossing them in front of the prmce. Most of the crowd didn't notice this; they were too busy looking for missed coins, arguing with their neighbors, cheermg, or watching Vanessa. Grimsby