Bella

Chapter 1 The Beginning

She swam quickly up to the surface just to feel her wet skin being dried by the burning sun. Then, after making sure she was alone, watched the far away fishing boats and islands where the humans lived. Then she would hurry home to watch her little sister while her parents, high nobles of their people, worked with the king and queen to make this a better life for their children.

They all thought the good times would never end., the fun would last forever. That was a horrid guess though. They felt too safe, so they took chances, at least the young adult mermaids and mermen did. They took greater leaps to the human cities to watch the women walk on their legs, like frogs had, bustling around in long swooping skirts and flirting with men with their long legs like frogs, long coat tails almost dragging in the dust.

But they always made it back home to do their chores with lowered eyes, respectful to their parents so they wouldn’t know. They never were seen by the humans, not one of them, they wouldn’t be till a sickness took over their village.

“Where’s Bella?” The little girl asked, waiting for her only sibling, her older sister, to come and watch her.

“She’ll be here soon darling, now go lay down, we don’t want that fever to get worse.” Her mother said, kissing her young daughter on the forehead and swimming off, tail hesitant for a moment. But she knew she had to go and hurried off, the sooner she got to the council meeting the sooner she was home.

“Florie! Where are you?” Bella cried out, worried. She had heard from the towns people her sister was sick, that a doctor had been called. She darted into Florie’s bedroom, thankful to see her little sister with her green hair floating sickly sitting up in her bed and waiting for Bella to tell her the bedtime story she always had.

Bella smiled and settled next to Florie’s bed, a large plate of Coral with a piece of woven seaweed tucking her in. She started on a story then, voice hardly a whisper, about a young human girl who went for a trip on the sea and saw the most lovely girl mermaid named Florie and then got a tail and went to live with her.

When Florie was in a slightly feverish sleep and kissed her forehead and slowly swam off to her bedroom to remember the glorious day they had had, weaving flower wreaths for Geene’s older sisters wedding. It would be tomorrow and she had made her own flower wreath for it, tucked neatly under a rock by her house. It was a deep green seaweed with the prettiest blue and purple flowers tucked in. Geene had tucked it in her hair before Bella had left, it sparked nicely off her black locks.
Then she heard a moaning noise and peered around her as if looking for some sort of hurt animal. She remembered Florie and charged off through their house. Her little sister was flipping around her bed, whining out. Bella felt her head gently, it was burning on her hand like the sun on her skin.

She carefully picked Florie up and swam out of her house and down the street to the doctors house, why hadn’t he come over yet? But he wasn’t home. Of course! He would be at the council meeting like all the important people.

She had to think of something and fast. The witch, she lived alone in a cave and people thought she was crazy and killed mermaids and mermen who swam to close. But this was her last chance. She re-adjusted her hold on her sister and swam out of town to where the caves turned from ivory to ebony.

It was easy to find the Merwitch’s cave, as a child they had been warned on going near it and of course had always played around it for that reason. They had always hoped to anger the witch so she came out and they could see what she looked like. But they had never gone in like she was slowly swimming in today.

The moment she entered the mouth of the cave the water around her turned icy cold. She held Florie tighter to keep her warm. She stared around at the markings in the stone of the cave. They were warnings, to turn around, she shouldn’t be here. That if she went further she would be cursed.

“I’ll help you Florie…” Bella whispered into her sister’s ear.

“How can I help you?” She heard a voice say and stared around, not able to move another inch. She heard the click of something hard on the walls of the cave and went to turn around.

“I have to get out of here” She whispered to herself in a low voice, finally able to move her tail, she turned around and started to swim away.

“If you go I can’t help Florie, dear.” The voice said in a cunning way, it was also drawing nearer.

“How do you know her name?” Bella asked, turning around slowly.

“I know all of your names Bella dear. Now come over here and we’ll see what we can do about your sister.” The voice commanded, still silky smooth like eel flesh going down her throat.

She brought Florie over to where the voice was and tried hard not to gasp. There sat a mermaid, with her tail disfigured and covered with what looked like boils. Her hair was a mix of green and grey. But her face was old and haggard, pulled into a rather sickening smile.

“Do not fear what use to be a beautiful and enchanting face and body dear and place your sister on the rock.” The Merwitch said, pointing to the large flat rock before her. As Bella swam forward she had time to notice all the strange glowing bottles and jars surrounding them on shelves. She carefully laid her sister down, smoothing back Florie’s hair from her face.

“Please help her get better…” Bella whispered. The Merwitch looked the girl over, feeling her tail and head. Then she grabbed some bottles and started mixing things together.

“She has a horrible sickness, it affects her tail and head. Thank goodness you brought her to me.” She said, as she mixed stirred and added more things.

“Your…sure you can help her?” Bella asked the woman, attempting to comfort her sister who flipped around on the stone, face looking pained.

“I am the only one who can cure her dear. Your village doctors don’t know how to help something as serious as this.” She said as she poured the mixture into a small hard kelp ball and put it into Florie’s mouth. She moved Florie’s mouth to have her chew it and ran her fingers along her throat to force her to swallow.

The moment she swallowed it she started to glow a bit, floating upwards just a moment. Then all the sudden the glowing stopped and she dropped harshly back onto the rock. Bella gasped and felt Florie’s head. The fever…somehow was gone.

“Florie! Florie are you alright?” Bella cried out to her younger sister. The girls eyes opened and she stared around confused.

“Where am I?” She asked and sat up, tail moving slowly backwards and forwards as if she was testing it.

“Thank goodness your alright. Thank you so much Merwitch” Bella said and bowed, picking Florie up “I better get her back home”

“I…will need a payment” The woman said, lips curling into a smile.

“I shall have food supplies and money sent over here right away.” Bella said and went to turn around, still holding Florie.

“No, I would rather take a few things from you, my land loving mermaid” She said slowly. Bella went pale, carefully putting Florie down who swam behind her to hide from the Merwitch.

“What….what do you want?” Bella asked, hands sliding behind her.

“Give me your voice, and I want to turn you into a human.” She said with an almost evil grin.

“Why…why would you want to turn me into a human?” Bella said, slowly swimming backwards.

“So I can once more swim through the oceans, I shall just take your tail and your strong water breathing lungs. I Promise I won’t even go near your village. Besides, with your voice I could never again sound old and haggard.” She said, nodding like this was asking for the shell on her necklace.

“But…I…you can’t” Bella whimpered out.

“If you try and get away or say no I will just give your sister back her sickness, leaving her for death.” She said, her voice once more making this seem simple.

“Couldn’t I have a night to think about this?” Bella pleaded.

“No, then you would tell your parents and they would send an army after me or something. Oh and I shall wipe your sisters memory of this. All she will remember is her sister saying she is running away with a merman from another village.” She said and reached for a blue and a yellow glowing bottle.

“Fine…we have a deal.” Bella said, lowering her head and swimming slowly forward.

“Bella no! You can’t!” Florie finally cried out, holding tightly to her sisters hand. Bella pulled her hand away, so Florie’s grip slipped off with Bella’s ring.

“Good, now please lay down on the stone. This will take but a moment.” The Merwitch said. Bella obeyed and laid down and Florie swam out of the cave sobbing and screaming. Bella turned her head so she could watch her sister one last time.

“I love you Florie!” She cried out and drank the potion the Merwitch handed to her.

She felt the strangest tingle in her tail. Then a ripping pain. She stared down to see her blue/silver scales falling off and her tail ripping in half. She leaned her head back so she wouldn’t have to watch and cried out in pain. Then suddenly her crying stopped with a burning in her throat. Her lungs were being ripped out as well.

“Perfect” She heard her own voice say. She tried to scream out but nothing happened, and suddenly the water, it was so thick on her throat. She couldn’t…breath.

“Goodbye Bella…” She heard her voice say once more, and before she was launched out of the cave she turned towards the Merwitch and saw her, silvery blue tail and face once more young. She was smiling at Bella. Then suddenly threw a bottle towards her and her body was pushed by an amazing forced out of the cave. Then she fainted.



Chapter 2 A Pretend Princess

The Royal family had decided to go on a boat. The king, the Queen, and their daughter and son. Boats were all around them, fishing boast hired to surround them so no strange boat could slide over.

The boats where doing their normal chores, throwing out their nets and then pulling them back up when they ran through a school of fish. The Princess Juliette was leaning on the side of the boat staring out at the water and all the strange fish dance around their boat. She was such a young, small thing a guard was standing right by her so she didn’t blow over from the strong sea winds.

The King and Queen where sitting on the shaded part of the deck, sipping cool light summer wine and going over something to do with running the kingdom. The Prince, Anthony, was watching the fishing boats and wishing he could be on one, doing the work they did.

Just then, the fishing boat he was watching stopped just after pulling up it’s net. After a minute one of the guards noticed and hurried over to the Prince’s side. The fishing boat that had stopped started to turn and draw near them. The guard by the Prince silently motioned for the guards of the royal ship to come by him.

“We found something you might want to see in our net!” The fisherman said, holding up his hands so they would not attack as they slowly drew closer. The head guard walked over to the King and Queen and relayed the message. They both walked over, Princess Juliette following.

A large thick board was brought out and put across the two boats, so three of the guards walked over to the fishing boat and searched it for any assassins and then nodded to the King and Queen who stepped up on the board and hurried over to the net.

Inside the net, half covered by fish was a young woman, skin almost ethereal and long black hair knotted with kelp. She wore nothing but a seashell necklace around her neck. Though she seemed to be alive she wasn’t moving. The King and Queen gasped at seeing her. The queen knelt down by the girl and put her fingers gently on her legs. Her fingers came away bloody.

The girl was brought by the guards over to the ship, body covered by a thick tarp. The royal healer was brought from the inside of the ship to look her over. The girls legs where horrible scratched up, and no skin was on the insides of her legs, like it had been peeled off.

They placed her on a cot in the shade of the tent and bandaged up her strangely long and thin legs. They covered her in a blanket and let her be, eight year old Princess Juliette promising to watch over her.

Then all the boats were motioned to turn around and they headed back to the sea-side kingdom of Alforet, to see what could be done about this strange girl pulled out of the ocean.

She woke up in a comfy pad of something, covered with thick pieces of heavy softness. Bella was so warm…and comfortable. Why was she here? Her skin was burning because there was no water But she could breath. Smooth even breaths. She sat up and stared around.

A woman in one of those dresses, hers a thick white material, hurried forward, with a bowl of something. She smiled and filled a long piece of metal with a hallow with the liquid inside and held it out to Bella.

“Drink this.” She said with a smile. The liquid was brown like old water. She made a face, wondering why these people, who obviously had great richness at the look of the room, were giving her old water.

But the woman forced it in her mouth. It was warm and rich, floating around her mouth like nothing else. She smiled and swallowed, throat horribly sore but this stuff helping a bit. The elderly woman in the white dress spooned more into her until it was all gone and then hurried off.

She was with the humans, she smiled bit then remembered why she was here and sighed. Oh well, what could she do? She stared around at the pretty room, a desk made out of wood was in the corner, with a human chair in front of it.

She was so proud of herself for knowing what so much in the room is. She had once found a human book of pictures, all sort of things humans used. She had studied it for ages, hidden away in her favorite cave. She had swam far away to ask certain wise birds and fish how to say those words. Then she had repeated them over and over in her head.

A group of girls in grey dresses hurried in, giggling and hauling baskets and the same sort of stuff that laid over her, keeping her warm. Two of them easily plucked her out of the bed. She saw she was wearing human clothing a light, thin white piece.

They carried her down the hall into a dark wet room. Even the feeling of the room calmed and warmed her more then the blankets ever could. There was a giant bowl, taking up half the room, filled with steaming bubbling water like a volcano had just past through it warming and bubbling the water just like in the giant bowl.

Then a large comfortable looking woman came forward and took her from the girls. The two girls pulled out long pieces of rope, dotted all over with writing then wrapped them around her in different places, calling out numbers to a group of girls in a circle. Then the large woman slid her out of the soft cloud of stuff covering her and dropped her in the huge bowl.

She smiled and clapped in the water, all the girls giggled at her and went back to their work. The large woman bent down and started to scrub at her skin till she was fresh and rosy pink, she dunked her head under the water to scrub out her hair.

“So what’s your name dear?” The woman asked. Bella opened her mouth but couldn’t make a sound. She kept trying, she could say “Bella” couldn’t she?

“I don’t think she can say anything” Said a young girl she hadn’t noticed before. The girl was dressed in the smoothest stuff she had ever seen, shimmering with pearls covering it. She was placed in a chair that looked as soft as a cloud. She had to be Florie’s age but looked sickly and smaller.

“Oh, is that right Lass?” The woman asked as she pulled her out of the tub, rubbing her with a rough cloth till she was dry. The young girl stood up and walked over to the maids and nodded.

“They used the blue silk” She told Bella, who peered at her as she was wrapped in all sorts of confusing clothes. Then the maid came forward with a blue dress. The blue stuff she now knew as silk sparkled and shimmered in the light. The girls smartly pulled it over her shoulders.

“Mama and Papa will be happy” The young girl said with a smile. Then they carefully carried Bella over to a chair in front of a mirror, Florie and her had treasured their mirror, found on a sunken human ship.

“This is a mirror, and your sitting on a chair” The girl said, and she herself started to brush back Bella’s hair just like Florie use to do. Then she braided it and pulled it into a bun. Bella had worn her hair like this once, when she was being presented as an adult.

“Come on! It’s time for dinner. Oh, I’m Juliette!” She said with a big smile. Bella pushed herself onto her feet, taking a weak shaky step, then grabbing at the wall to make sure she didn’t fall. The maids hurried over, giggling, and each took one of her arms and put it over their shoulders so she was hanging off of them.

“Left foot, Right foot, Left foot, Right foot.” One of the girls whispered into her ear she slowly started to get how hard it was for human girls to walk with all these skirts on. She was helped out of the room and down many halls and stairways to a set of huge wooden doors. Guards pushed them open and she was brought inside.

There was a huge table, people of all types sitting around it with silver domes placed down an amber runner before the people. The maids each took a turn curtseying to everyone while the other held Bella then hurried her over to the only empty chair at the table by who must be the King and Queen. Bella tried to mimic the girls in curtseying then sat carefully down.

The Queen leaned over with a smile to the girl. Her hair was a rich brown, hardly spotted with strands of grey. Her green eyes where sharp and intelligent and she had nobility in her face.

“Welcome, I’m Queen Eleanor. We have been dying to meet you dear, what’s your name?” The woman said, then motioned for the servants to come over. The servants all pulled the domes off the dishes, revealing steaming food.

Bella once more attempted to talk but frowned a bit and looked around. Then she saw a little golden jeweled bell by the Queens hand and grabbed it. Suddenly a guard hurried forward and grabbed her wrist in a way that forced her to drop it.

“Do not steal from the Queen Girl.” He snarled at her. The Queen glared as him and petted the hand Bella now cradled in pain.

“Sir, go to your place. Now what were you trying to show me?” The Queen said, handing her the bell once more. She pointed to herself then the Bell a few times.

“Bell? Is that your name?” She asked with the same smile on her face. Bella slowly pulled her hands apart a bit.

“Bell…e? Bellie?”

Bella shook her head. A young man and Juliette who were sitting together looked over and started to join in on the game.

“Bell…u? Bellu?” Juliette tried.

“Bellur?” The man asked.

“Bellum?” The Queen tried.

“Aaaaaa….” The young man said in thought. Bella pointed to him and clapped her hands.

“Bella?” Juliette asked, then smiled and nodded “That’s pretty right Mama?”

“Yes Very pretty.” The Queen said just as the King nodded to everyone and the servants started to serve everyone. She shook her head to everything but the large fish and took it in her hands. It was warm like a fish rotted in the sun she dropped it and sighed.

“Haven’t you ever heard of silverware child?” One of the maids said, hurrying forward to lean over at Bella’s side. She held each piece of thin and strangely shaped metal and named it. Then she took the Fork and poked it into the fish, coming back with a piece of it and handing the handle of the fork to Bella. She just stared at the metal blankly before the Queen took notice and carefully guided the fish into her mouth.

She chewed it for a moment. It wasn’t the sweet raw fish she grabbed from the schools and slurped up raw, bones and all. It was softer and denser. It tasted of all things like the strange stuff her parents had explained to her was corn when a carriage load of it fell into the ocean.

They had feasted on that corn for ages raw, pickled, laid out on the rocks in the sun so the sweetness could come out of the flesh. But fish…that was the only thing she had left, or so she had thought.

She pushed the disgusting fish away and gave a silent sigh, leaning neatly back into her chair. The Queen gave her a curious look and went back to her meal. The Dinner seemed to last forever in Bella’s mind.

Then the dancing began, she sat there at the long table with the King and Queen smiling and clapping at all the swirling and twirling dancing couples. The jewels and silks glimmered in the candlelight.

“Are you enjoying this dear?” The Queen whispered into her ear. Bella turned to her with a quick nod. Then she turned back to the floor. Her favorite thing about humans was their dancing. She had gotten dangerously close to land so at one point she could watch a couple dance through their window.

The Princess was twirling around laughing with a guard, then quickly brought back to the table where she played with her dolls. Bella didn’t pay much attention to the dolls until she noticed they had tails. She stared at them for what felt like an hour and then stood up, slowly stepping over to Princess Juliette and holding her hand out slowly so she could see one.

“Do you like Mermaid dolls?” The Princess asked, handing her one with white hair made out of strands of silk. Bella, leaning on the empty chair next to the Princess for support, started to gracefully move the mermaid through the air.

“Is that how their suppose to move?” Juliette asked, taking hers and mimicking the way she moved it’s tail. Bella nodded and smiled, gently putting the doll back down, and secretly not wanting to.

“May I have this dance?” She heard in her ear. The King himself was holding out his hand to her. She blushed and lowered her head, but the King took her hands off her chair and went to lead her to the floor.

Bella almost flopped onto the ground, legs weak and shaky under her. The King laughed and put his arms around her waist to support her and brought her out, gently moving her around. She silently laughed, looking down to move her feet the same way as his.

“So, where are you from?” The King asked her as he twirled her around. She gave another silent sigh. How could she explain she came from the sea? She knew she couldn’t without giving away her entire village and she shrugged.

“Don’t know? Well that’s alright, we’ll take care of you.” He said with a smile, Bella just stared at him and then bowed her head, fearing having him let her go so she could curtsey.

The Queen was silently watching that strange girl Bella be twirled around by her husband. She wondered what had happened to her, the Healer had said it was torture. She turned to her son.

“Go dance with her Anthony.” She said sharply, goodness knows the girl could use some cheering up.

“Mother, I don’t dance.” He sighed out, but stood up when he got a death cold stare from his Mother and headed over to where his father and the girl were. He bowed to them and held his hand out to her stiffly.

“You have to support her Son.” His father said in his normal cold way and handed the girl over to him. Bella attempted to stand on her own but flopped down on him, grabbing around his neck for dear life.

So this was the Prince, she was going to dance with the King and the Prince all in one night, how amazing!

“Come on you can do this” He said as he watched his father walk back to the royal table with disgust. Then he pulled her up a bit, arms still around his neck.

He roughly moved her around. It wasn’t nearly as much fun as it had been with the King. But she smiled all the same as to not upset a member of the family who had promised to support her.

“Humph” He said, looking around as if he was bored. Bella couldn’t take it much longer. What a brat! He had an amazing life and he acted like a brat. Her jaw turned stiff, she could tell she was starting to look angry.

Just then someone tapped her on the shoulder and she saw the Prince’s eyes go livid before she turned to see a young man holding his gloved hand out to her.

“Milady? May I have this dance? Obviously our Prince has no idea what an honor it is to dance with such an enchanting Lady.” He said with a charming smile to her then the Prince. The Prince let her go stiffly, Bella almost falling down but the strange new young man grabbed her before she could. The Prince nodded to them before walking back to the Royal table.

“Your name is Bella, Lady?” He asked, carefully adjusting her arms around his neck and holding her back. She nodded and smile up at him.

“A beautiful name for a beautiful Lady. I am Duke of Torrington, Daniel.” He bowed his head to her and grinned, twirling her about.

A Duke now! What an eventful night. After finishing the Dance he carefully guided her back to the table, helping her into her chair and giving her a flourished bow. The Queen smiled and nodded to him.

“I shall be sure to visit you again Milady.” He said before walking away from the Royal table and back to one of the side chairs on the other side of the Ballroom.

“What a charming young man Bella” The Queen whispered to her, then went back to talking to the Countess of Something or other.

After another hour or so the same two maids who had brought her here helped her away and once more to the beautiful bedroom. Laid out on the bed was another floaty gown the Maids said was a “Nightgown”.

“It’s the best cotton” The maids assured Bella as they put up the screen in front of her bed so she could rest on her bed and put it on by herself and in peace. Then the Maids helped her into the chair, handed her a book of poems and pulled down her what they called “Bedcovers”.

“We’ll come in to put out the candles in Half an Hour.” They said slowly and clearly like Bella was stupid and hurried out giggling and whispering over something. Bella stared blankly at the book, not interested in the sappy love poems that of course would lay inside.

After five minutes of looking at the swirling blue on the bedcovers and thinking of the ocean with a dismissal sigh and opened the book and started to read. They were poems she felt had been picked out just for her, about the ocean.

She felt as if it had only been a few seconds of reading the beautiful pieces before the maids hurried in, gutting out all the candles but one and helping her into bed with promises of a sweet sleep for her like she was but a baby.

After such a scary and busy day she fell asleep within moments. She dreamed all night of her childhood and the first time she had seen the human island and had wondered why those mermaids looked like frogs.




Chapter 3 Wishing for Bella, and Everyone has a mask

Miles away and under the sea Florie was being pressed for where her sister had been. She held the ring in the Merwitch’s cave she had pulled from Bella’s hand and cried out that she had run away with a merman from another village, over and over.

They asked her till she was sobbing and her mother told everyone to leave, cuddling her daughter and wondering why Bella would leave so…..suddenly. She tucked her daughter into bed left the house, swimming up to the surface and over to her favorite island, keeping everything under her eyes in the water.

She took a big gulp of water and pushed herself onto the island, staring out at the sea and thinking. She thought about her village, her family, her life, and why her dear daughter would run away.



Bella woke by herself, early in the morning while the sun was still rising. She had been instructed that she could ring the little bell by her bedside if she woke up on her own and the maids weren’t there but why rush them?

She reached for the book of poems and opened it, reading while the sun rose until she heard a knock on the door. Once the fish had told her in the human world a lady must say “You may come in”. But how was she suppose to do that? She waited as they knocked again then rushed in. It was the maids, looking flushed.

“So….sorry miss. We forgot” They mumbled, opening a huge wooden cabinet. Bella silently gasped as the fact it was filled to the brim with clothing. She thought the maids would be shocked by it too but they just consulted each other and picked out a yellow gown and a green kirtle.

They stood her up, in their almost cold curt way and one held her up while the other slipped some sort of stomach thing around her over a small dress. She stared at them confused until they started to lace it and pull it tight. She gasped trying to breath, where they trying to kill her?

She tried to pull away from them but the one holding her up held her tightly on the shoulder while the other pulled as she tried to breath. She was trying to scream for help but couldn’t make a sound.

She grabbed the statue of a pretty woman in a dress walking and threw it at the wall, trying to make some sort of noise so someone would come. She grabbed the book of poems and threw that at the wall, struggling with all her might. The maids tied their torture device and smiled to enjoy it.

“She’s fine” Said the maid as a guard finally stuck his head in to see what was wrong. The maids carefully pulled the yellow dress over her head. It was made out of a “yellow gauze” they explained to her as they neatly laced the kirtle around her stomach and each one of them took one of her arms once more and helped her walk out of the room.

She was better at walking then yesterday. She could almost manage by her own. They figured that out and they both let go of her arms, rushing off to do some sort of chore together. She slowly walked through the door they had pointed to.

Inside was a neat little room, a woman with a stiff white dress nodded and smiled to her, patted a comfortable looking grey chair. Bella stumbled over and sat on it. The woman showed her how to change the bandages on her legs and if they didn’t start to patch up or look funny to come to her right away then showed her down the hall to another door.

“Thank you Lady, and enjoy your day” She said to her and opened the door for her to go through. Bella gave her a weak smile and walked out.

She was outside, the cool ocean breezes blowing on her face and lifting up the hair the maids had tied back with a ribbon. The Queen and Juliette were being helped into a carriage, she had always stared at them while the pretty human ladies and gentlemen were driven around. While the king spoke to a young boy the prince was climbing onto a gigantic brown animal.

She stared at the huge creatures, never before seeing one up close. On it’s back was a piece of brown leather and there were two strings of leather hanging out of it’s huge mouth. The Princess was leaning over and petting one of the animals, a huge white one. The King kissed Queen Eleanor on the cheek and headed back into the castle.

“It’s Bella!” The Princess cried out, clapping her hands and turning to her mother “Oh Mama can she please come in the carriage with us?”

The Queen looked to Juliette, face seeming delighted. Then she nodded and pointed to space of seat not taken up by her and Juliette’s large pretty skirts. Bella carefully walked over to he carriage and was helped up by the young boy who was talking to the King.

“Your doing very well on your legs Bella.” Eleanor said with a smile, looking over her daughter to Bella who smiled and nodded. Juliette grabbed Bella’s hand tightly and squeezed it.

They headed off, Bella grabbing the side of the carriage as the huge animals started walking at a slow and steady pace. Juliette giggle and patted Bella’s hand, then turned to her mother to start on how happy she was Bella was here with them.

“Have you ever ridden a horse before?” The Princess then asked Bella, pointed to one of the huge creatures. She nervously shook her head. The Prince was riding a while ahead of them on the “Horse”.

“I have my own pony, Mama was going to let me ride it but Papa said no. But I am so happy your in the carriage with us!” She cried out. Her energy reminded Bella so much of Florie she could only give Juliette a weak smile.

They rode through what must be their town. It was huge, buildings surrounding them and the strange scents of human food. She felt her mouth water when they passed a large cart filled to the brim with fish fresh from the ocean.

“Mama can we stop at the toy shop? I am sure Bella would love to look at the dolls with me” Juliette begged, petting her mothers arm. The Queen laughed and nodded, gesturing to the drivers. They made the horses stop, causing Bella to grab onto the side of the carriage again.

Juliette carefully hopped out without the help of the driver but Bella patiently waited for him to climb out so he could help her. Then, holding tightly to Juliette’s hand, she wobbled into the “Toy shop”.

Florie would have adored to be in this place, obviously filled with the kinds of things children love. Juliette giggled and clapped as the people inside bowed down to her. She brought Bella to the back, where there were dolls of all types.

She helped Juliette pick out some, then they just walked out. She thought this was weird for a moment because of all she had heard about humans and their paying for things with gold, until she heard who must be the owner of the magical toy place say something to the driver about the gold they had gotten this morning from the royal family and how he was praying they came tomorrow.

The dolls were packed under the seat and they continued their ride, turning towards the beach. Bella just stared out at it, not paying attention to the conversation around her. She could see how strangely close home she was by where the rocks were placed. The Queen suddenly stopped the carriage and climbed out.

“Bella, you come from across the ocean don’t you?” She said as she walked over to the sand. Bella gave a half nod, as if to say close…if she could. She let out an annoyed breath of air and looked down on her lap, wondering if her family was doing anything to get her back.




“Bella!” They had cried for hours, looking for her all over. Florie’s throat was sore from screaming her sisters name so many times, over and over. Her parents said over and over they weren’t mad at Florie, but she still felt horrible.

She laid on the coral plank in her room and played with her sisters ring. It was so pretty, and she had always wished it was hers ever since Bella had gotten it when she had turned fifteen, two years ago. Bella had once in a while let her wear it but always said it was rightfully hers. In seven years when she turned fifteen she would also get one.

“The Merwitch! She’s gone!” She heard someone cry from the other room. She swam quietly to peek in the room. She heard her mother and father gasp and saw one of the younger men standing before them.

“What do you mean she’s gone” Her father asked him, eyes glaring. Her Mother’s tail had slightly went limp.

“Me and a group of people went to see if she had taken Bella. Her, her potions, everything is gone.” He said, she saw her mother stare at her father, worried.

“Did you find anything there?” Her father demanded, swimming towards the young man. He looked down nervously, then pulled a small pouch out of his bag at his side. He emptied it into his hand, a handful of silver/blue scales, tipped with gold.

She felt herself get dizzy, swimming backwards into her room just as she heard her mother cry out and her Father growl.

“Bella…” She whispered floated down onto her coral, holding the ring tightly.




Bella didn’t look up much the rest of the ride. And if she could speak she wouldn’t have. She stumbled into her room where those strange maids freshened up her hair and sat her down to “calm herself”. Then hurried out pointing to the bell. Then a rather regal woman walked right in without knocking.

“Come on child.” She said in a harsh way, waiting while Bella stood herself up and stepped slowly over, legs a bit stronger under her.

She lead her down a case of stairs and through a few halls and outside a pretty blue and gold door. Inside she heard a bunch of giggling and laughing voices. The woman opened the door to a merry room of the Queen and a bunch of other noble and pretty looking women with heaps of cloth on their laps. They were sorting them into piles.

“Oh Good you brought her!” The Queen said and stood up, walking over to Bella and turning to the ladies who had all gone quiet “This is Bella, the girl I was just speaking of.”

She got a call of laughs and “Hellos” before the girls went back to work. The Queen brought Bella to a chair next to hers and handed her a small case. Bella just opened it, staring at the contents, a row of thin pieces of metal, and bunches of thin string.

“There’s a sewing kit. This is my sewing circle, just some of my favorite ladies who get together and chat and sew gown and such.” The Queen and said picked up a piece of cloth that looked as blue as the sky.

Bella stared at the things blankly and pulled one of the thing metal things out. It poked her and she winced, a drop of blood coming out of her skin. She suddenly figured out everyone was watching her. A young woman with blond hair curled back, leaned over.
“Don’t you know how to sew?” She asked with a giggle, all the other women giggled as well. Bella nervously shook her head, wondering what “Sewing” was. After saying that everyone went silent, even the Queen.

“How did you grow up? What did you wear?” The Queen asked her, taking the slim piece of metal from her and that’s where the lesson began. What was a stitch, what was a needle, the different kinds of cloth and thread. It took a dizzying hour but she soon got the hang of it.

Soon she was place on sewing a “blanket“, as all the women here had learned when they were three or four. But all along she kept getting weird looks, like they were wondering where she might have grown up.

She couldn’t explain to them that Mermaids and Mermen didn’t need to cover themselves up. They were comfortable on how they had been born. She had a lot of thinking to do as she worked.

Then the Queen stood up and all the women stood up with her. They all waved goodbye and walked out still chatting. The Queen looked to Bella who just seemed confused and laughed, ushering her out.

“I’ll see you at dinner time, not all of us can naturally be beautiful like you Bella, takes me some time to get ready!” She said and closed the door. Then Bella for once was left alone to get back to her room.

She slowly walked down the halls, looking around and poking her head into open doors. There were so many rooms it was a bit confusing but she soon got the hang of it. Then she saw a rooms she just had to go in. A room filled to the top with books.

Even as a mermaid she had loved books, though it was hard to read some of them when they got wet. Most of the time they got them when a human accidental dropped it into the water or a ship sank. Bella was the first to grab them and try and figure out what they said. On hard books she would take half a day to go to her favorite wise bird to tell her what they said.

She hurried forward to the shelves, scanning all the names and dates and titles. She could have stayed here all day, forgetting the dinner just a few moments ago she had really been looking forward to.

Bella grabbed at a random one and curled up in one of the chairs, enjoying the tale of a man who went on a day trip and found Faeries so much she almost jumped when someone tapped her shoulder.

“Who are you and what are you doing in my library?” Someone said to her sharply. She slowly put the book down and turned to see who it was. The Prince. She stared at him for a moment before standing up quickly and bowing. He nodded and sighed.

“How did you get here?” He almost snarled at her. She blushed and looked down, dropping the book and slowly backing out of the room, happy her legs were working under her.

As she walked to her room she hoped and prayed they wouldn’t kick her out on the streets for just going into people’s rooms. Just was she walked by her door the maids grabbed her and dragged her in, one of them holding a red dress that couldn’t be for her, it looked altogether too small.

“Come on we have to fix your corset hurry!” One of the maids said, snatching off her dress and kirtle and then Bella gasped when she figured out what the corset was.

Over the course of the say it had relaxed and loosened, she could breath so easy now. But the maids untied it and pulled it even tighter, Bella trying not to sob. They somehow pulled the red dress on and sat her down to dress her hair.

“The Queen says she wants to show off Bella.” The one maid whispered to the other.

“Why so?” The other one replied, brushing back her hair.

“I think she wants to pass her off as her own daughter or relation and have her married off and get the King some more land.” The one maid said. Bella felt herself go clammy. Was that why they were being so nice? They wanted to marry her off?

That’s what her real parents were suppose to do. They were suppose to find her the perfect husband. She sat there stiff while the evils maids used some sort of burning hot metal to make her hair curly and laced it with red stones that they were careful when handling.

“She looks good…I suppose for a smelly fish girl she‘ll have to do.” The one who always seemed to talk more said, smirking at her because she couldn’t make a rude reply or tell the Queen about it.

“For a bandy legged pale sea wench?” The other one said with a giggle. They both then hurried out of the room still laughing.

People seemed a lot more cruel and crude when they were humans. She sighed and adjusted the lengths of cloth that hung off the back of her dress. Then she walked slowly and elegantly like the Queen did around her room a few times and, after checking her bandages like the Healer woman had shown her, headed down to the large Hall she had spent last night in.



(( First part of the story, blah I know. Hope you enjoyed some ))