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 in 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 princess 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 into 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, heading toward the open waters…Testing powerful new munitions we plan to use against enemies of the state.”
Ariel felt her heart stop. Ursula’s eyes glittered and she looked carefully out over the crowd—hoping to see a reaction, hoping 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—including me!”
The Queen of the Sea thought quickly. If she ran, she could dive into 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 human.
And this might be the only chance they ever had to stop the sea witch. Ariel needed to be there in case something 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.
“Secondly,” 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 behind 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.
“Flounder,” Ariel whispered. She put her hand to her hair, feeling 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 agitating. The sea witch seemed to gauge them for a moment before coming to a decision.