Part of Your World (Disney Twisted Tales) - Liz Braswell Page 0,55

Ariel felt bad for the woman, who was obviously having a hard time dealmg with it all, directly confronted with the truth of magic.

"Everything's clearer now, you know," Carlotta said, falling heavily onto a tree stump. She waved her hand around. "That day. The cake I helped make. The lightning. I may...have even ...seen you...your tail."

She looked Ariel up and down, as if for the first time. Then her eyes rested on the apron full of shells.

"What in the name of all that is good and holy is thai? Something for a spell? More magic? More. ..sea stuff?"

"No, it's part of my disguise," Ariel said. "If anyone asked me what I was domg I would say it was for Vanessa."

"Shells?" Carlotta asked, starting to laugh. Ariel recognized that laugh. It was the beginning of hysteria. "From the beach? And driftwood1." "They're beautiful," Ariel protested.

"Oh, oh, I know," Carlotta said, laughing and wheezing. "I'm sure you think so. But nobody wants those. Not a princess—not even a fake one, like Vanessa. There was a fad for a bit where fancy girls with nothmg better to do would glue lots of tiny shells to boxes or frames like mosaics... hideous, really...but those were tiny shells. Dear, you wouldn't have lasted a moment even if you'd made it inside the castle. Oh, what are we to do?"

"I have to find my father," Ariel said firmly. "He is the King of the Sea and Ursula's prisoner. She turned him into a polyp. She has him hidden here somewhere. I need to find him and free him. Then, together, we can defeat the sea witch and free Tirulia from her rule forever."

Carlotta just stared at her as she said all that.

Then the maid shook her head vigorously, as if she could physically thrust away all the crazy thmgs she had just heard.

"Whatever else, you can't set four steps mside that door without someone stoppmg you. You sound exactly like Vanessa! And believe me, everyone knows what she sounds like. Even if you disguise your voice, you still don't sound like a servant girl. I need to think about what to do. Who could help us? Who could be clever and figure out a plan? You need someone on the mside, more connected than me. Someone like..."

She looked up, her eyes suddenly set and certain.

"Grimsby."

Carlotta led Ariel by the hand mto the castle, screaming nonsense at her and waving a hand m her face at just the right time when people looked too closely—especially the guards. The Queen of the Sea just let herself be dragged along; she was too terrified just being m the castle to do much else. Ursula could always be counted on to make good with her threats; Triton's life was definitely being put in danger by this. And Carlotta had only slightly eased her fears, bragging about the number of secret lovers' trysts she had covered for.

Ariel was also strangely embarrassed—and it wasn't just because she was bemg pulled along by the housemaid like a girl in trouble. They were going to see Grimsby. Although the butler bore no real resemblance to her father (and was, moreover, a servant) he nevertheless possessed an air of ancient patriarchal wisdom. His was the final and correct word m the castle. Sometimes more so than his master's.

The butler was downstairs m his tiny "office," little more than an upright desk in an oversized closet. He was admonishing a footman for some mdiscretion. The young man was handsome, olive-cheeked and blushing fiercely. While Grimsby spoke mildly, his eyes were ironic and cold.

But when he saw the look on Carlotta's face he changed his tone, hurrying the whole thing along.

"Yes, well, don't do it again. Am I clear? You're dismissed."

"Yes, Mr. Grimsby, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Grimsby...."

The youth, overwhelmed at the shortening of the lecture and cancellation of whatever punishment he had assumed he would get, practically fell over himself to get out of the room. In doing so he tangled with Carlotta and caught sight of Ariel, who was hiding behind the maid. She smiled at him. A dazed expression came over his face: one of utter rapture. It was a full moment before he recovered himself and ran down the hallway.

"Carlotta, what is the matter?" Grimsby demanded.

She didn't say a word, just stepped aside to reveal Ariel.

Ariel found herself shy, unqueenly, overcome with the urge to look down at the ground. But she didn't.

Grimsby's eyes, sunk deep behind veils of skin like parchment,