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laughed again. She had to admit this daughter of Triton’s was a lovely little creature with her large blue eyes and bunny-like features. She looked remarkably like her mother, and it almost made Ursula sad to scheme against the near mirror image of the only person in Triton’s kingdom who had treated her with the tiniest shred of kindness and respect.
    “This way,” Flotsam and Jetsam hissed, and Ariel shuddered.
    The poor dear was struggling in the garden of lost souls. If she’d had any sense about her, she would have escaped then, but luckily for Ursula, the minds of young girls with rebellion in their hearts were easy targets for the likes of the sea witch. Triton had caused his own undoing when he drove his daughter away by destroying her collection of human trinkets and condemning her for loving a human. Well, her aunt Ursula would take pity on the poor girl. She would take her to her breast and give her a chance to snare that handsome prince she had fallen in love with so she might leave her tyrannical father behind…alone, to be snatched by Ursula, who would then gain her rightful place as queen.
    “Come in. Come in, my child. We mustn’t lurk in doorways. It’s
rude
! One
might
question your upbringing!”
    Ursula laughed as she swam to her vanity to touch up her makeup and add a bit of flair and drama to the conversation.
    “Now then, you’re here because you have a thing for this human, this Sir Prince fellow? Not that I blame you. He is quite a catch, isn’t he?” Ursula laughed as Ariel listened, transfixed by the sea witch.
    “Well, angelfish, the solution to your problem is simple.”
    Taking a page from the odd sisters’ beauty book, she slathered on a brilliant layer of red lipstick. She pursed her lips and kissed them together to smooth the lipstick. Then she finished her thought.
    “The only way to get what you want is to become a human yourself.”
    “Can you do that?” asked the frightened mermaid.
    “My dear sweet child, that’s what I
do
! It’s what I
live for
. To help unfortunate merfolk, like
yourself
. Poor souls with no one else to turn to…”
    She hated performing and the way it made her feel. But she found it was the very best way to get her victims’ attention, to entrance them with a spectacle they couldn’t resist. And she did love the opportunity for a bit of cheek!
    “I admit that in the past I’ve been a
nasty
. They weren’t kidding when they called me, well, a
witch
! But you’ll find that nowadays I’ve mended all my ways, repented, seen the light, and made a switch!
True? Yes!
And I fortunately know a little magic. It’s a talent that I always have possessed. And here lately, please don’t laugh, I use it on behalf of the miserable, lonely, and depressed.”
    Hardly able to stomach her own words, she whispered to her minions,
“Pathetic!
    “
Poor unfortunate souls!
In
pain
, in
need
! This one longing to be thinner, that one wants to get the girl—and do I help them? Yes, indeed!
    “
Those poor unfortunate souls!
So sad, so true! They come flocking to my cauldron, crying,
‘Spells, Ursula, please!’
—and I help them! Yes, I do!
    “Now, it’s happened once or twice someone couldn’t pay the price, and I’m afraid I had to rake ’em across the coals.
    “Yes, I’ve had the odd complaint, but on the whole I’ve been a
saint
—to those
poor unfortunate souls
!
    “Now, here’s the deal. I will make you a potion that will turn you into a human for three days. Got that?
Three days!
Now listen, this is important! Before the sun sets on the third day, you’ve got to get dear old princey to fall in love with you. That is, he’s got to kiss you. Not just any kiss, the Kiss of True Love! If he does kiss you before the sun sets on the third day, you’ll remain human,
permanently
—but if he doesn’t, you turn back into a mermaid and…you belong to me!”
    Ariel looked stunned.
    “Have we got a deal?” Ursula asked.
    “If I become human,