The Little Mer-Betty, Part 2

Betty knew what she had to do. She put her tiara on her book, then swam out of the palace, to her brother Jeff's smaller grotto.

Her brother was married to Hilary Booth. She had once been one of the finest performers in the Atlantic Ocean...and one of the most notorious sea witches, offering her potions for a price. When her popularity among merfolk faded, she turned to her other profession. Though she did love her husband Prince Jeffrey, she still spent most of her time in her grotto, trying to find ways to return to the legitimate stage.

“Jeff!” She was thankful her brother was at home, reading and listening to a fish orchestra near-by practice. “I need to see Hilary.”

Jeff put his book aside. “Why? What's wrong?”

“I want to become human, and she's the only one who can help me.”

“Betty, are you crazy?” Jeff put his hands on her shoulder. “You're a mermaid. You belong here, with us. You don't belong up there. You wouldn't know how to act, how to behave. Besides, you don't have legs.”

“I have to get up there, Jeff. Hilary knows how. I know she has potions that can make anyone into anything.”

“Betty, there are plenty of young mermen you can choose from down here.”

Betty smirked. “You will take me to Hilary, or I'll tell Father what the two of you were doing in the back of the hall during our last concert.”

Jeff glared at her. “You wouldn't.”

She crossed her arms. “Try me.”

“All right, all right.” He lead her out of the grotto and towards the darker part of the ocean. “But if anyone asks, this was all your idea.”

Betty shivered as she followed Jeff. She knew about the sea witches. They were discussed in hushed tones by merfolk. Some of the witches were healers who aided the sick with potions. They were respected and well-thought of in the Atlantic. Most, though, practiced strange and frightening black magic. Betty heard the rumors of the worst of them, who took a creatures heart or mind or hair in exchange for a potion that could make all their dreams come true...or make their lives a living hell.

She dodged the waving seaweed that tried to grab at her tail and long brown locks, passing by eels and strange fish with eyes that were too large or small for their bodies and spiny fins that would kill anything that touched them. The grotto was dim and moody, just barely lit by sparkling rock embedded in the walls.

“Jeffrey?” Hilary looked up as the duo entered the caves. She was mixing a glowing green liquid and chunks of something pinkish into a gleaming cauldron. “This is a surprise. I thought you wanted to spend the night at home.” She raised her eyebrows at his visitor. “Betty? You're the last person I expected to see. I thought you disapproved of my...work.”

The younger woman gathered all the courage she could muster. “Hilary, I need your help.”

“So does everyone, dear.” She dipped her finger into a viscous purple liquid, then poured it slowly into the cauldron.

“I want to be human.”

Hilary stirred the cauldron slowly. “Why in the name of the seven seas would you want to be one of those ignorant fish murderers? We live longer, we have a whole ocean to explore, we can breathe and move around underwater better, we...”

“Hilary, I'm in love. With a human...and with the land. I have to get up there somehow. You're the only one I know who'll do it. I want to have a soul, like humans do.”

“Ahhh.” Hilary went to a large, crumbling old book on a high shelf in a corner of the grotto. “You made the mistake of falling for one of those two-legged monstrosities.” She couldn't help her small smirk. “Is he good-looking...for a human?”

Betty smiled dreamily. “Oh, incredibly so! Good-looking, smart, fun and kind to his workers.” She sighed. “I do love my family, and my home. But land...there's so many things on land I want to see, so much I want to experience. I want to dance and sing and celebrate among the humans. I want to know what it feels like, well, to have real feelings.”

“I tried to talk her out of it, Hilary.” Jeff made a face. “I think she's crazy, but she's bound and determined to do this.”

Hilary put the book on a flat rock. “I can help you, dear...but there are several conditions. First, I'll require three things from you.” She worked her fingers through Betty's chestnut curls. “I'll need your hair and one of your largest scales to make the potion work.” Her fingers went down to the mermaid's slender white throat. “Second, I'll need you to trade your most precious possession to me. Your voice.”

“My voice?” Betty drew back, her eyes wide with surprise.

“Hilary,” Jeff snapped, “can't you ask for something else?”

“I could give you my books, or my stories.” Betty fingered the pearl on her breast. “Or the necklace that Doug and C.J gave me. Or the tiara that was Mother's.”

“No, my dear.” She rubbed Betty's throat a little more. “I've heard you sing. You have a voice like an angel. If I had your voice, I would be the greatest music star in all the Atlantic, not sequestering myself away in my grotto, dreaming about impossible romances.”

“If I can't talk, how can I tell Scott how I feel?”

Hilary smirked. “There are other ways to tell a man you love him besides words. A mere glance can speak a thousand words. A gesture can say more than some of the greatest monologues in merfolk history.” She swam around her husband, grinning like a catfish. Her hand sprang out to Jeff's tail. He nearly toppled over into the grotto!

Jeff rubbed the back of his tail. “Hilary, please.” He made a face. “I enjoy our little games too, but save them for when we get home and don't have an audience.”

“Hold that thought.” She patted Jeff's cheek, then went to Betty. “This won't be easy for you, dear. You're giving up not only your tail and your voice. The moment you stand, you'll feel like you're walking on sharp knives. Every step will feel like a stab into your nether limbs. However, you will be able to dance and walk and see everything you've been dreaming of.”

“Betty, you can't be considering this.” Jeff's large deep-brown eyes were pleading. “Think of everything you're giving up. We're your family. It's not on the surface. It's here.”

Hilary nodded. “For once, I agree with Jeffrey. I think you're insane to want this. You only saw this fellow once.”

The younger mermaid shook her head. “I have to do it, Hilary. I want to love Scott...and the land. Oh Hilary, he's so worth it.” She patted her brother's shoulder. “How did you feel when you first met Jeff? I know you two love each other, even if you fight sometimes.”

Jeff raised an eyebrow. Their noisy quarrels were legendary in the grotto. “Sometimes?”

“Like...” Hilary sighed. “Like I'd do anything for him. Of course, I regretted it the next day, but...”

Jeff glared at her. “Hilary....”

Hilary ignored him and began gathering ingredients from her shelves. “If you do this, you'll have two weeks to gain his love. He must come to love you, cherish you, appreciate you. When he does, he'll declare his love for you, then kiss you. His kiss will transfer part of his soul to yours, making you soulmates...and giving you an eternal soul.” She frowned, pushing back her long, heavy auburn waves. “If he marries another, or fails to kiss you by the last rays of twilight on the final day, you'll become sea foam on the waves. You'll never be able to return to the sea. You won't be seeing your family and friends or Jeff or me ever again.”

Betty only nodded again. “I understand.”

“I don't think you do.” Hilary took a coin on a long gold chain off of a hook. “However, since you seem bound and determined to ruin your life, I'm not going to stop you.” She sat Betty down in a bed of seaweed. “I'm going to put you under a trance. The voice removal and tail splitting can be excruciatingly painful. I don't want you to back ou...to suffer more than you've already set yourself up to.”

Betty sighed. “All right, Hilary.”

Jeff watched from the cauldron. “Hilary, what are you doing?”

“Jeffrey, quiet.” She swung the medallion in front of the younger mermaid's wide, innocent eyes. “Now, watch the medallion, Betty. Concentrate on it. Let it lull you into a sweet slumber. Don't think about anything but the coin and the sound of my voice.”

Jeff watched as Betty's eyes glazed over and became murky. Her pretty, slender face was placid and gentle. Her lids lowered, then closed all together, and her breathing slowed.

“Jeffrey, hand me the knife. The one with the pearl handle.”

He did as he was bid. “Is she all right?”

“Yes, dear. She's just under hypnosis.” She took the knife from him and cut off Betty's floor-length reddish-brown curls, cropping them close to her chin. She dropped the long ropes of hair into the cauldron.

Jeff looked sadly at his sister's now-short locks. “Did you really need that much, Hilary?”

“It's part of the potion.” She shrugged. “Besides, I think she looks much better that way. Here.” She handed him a knife. “You get a scale. Be careful. Don't hit her skin. I don't want blood, just a scale.”

“She's my sister, Hilary. I may think she's off her seashell for wanting to do this, but I do love her.” He gently pried a scale from close to the bottom of Betty's red-gold tail, making sure he didn't push too hard.

“Here.” Hilary dropped the scale in the cauldron, then handed Jeff a long-handled spoon. “Keep stirring this. I'll get her voice.”

“Hilary,” Jeff started to protest, “why can't you leave her voice alone? She wants so badly to talk to this human of hers.”

“She agreed to it.” Hilary took a long-necked green glass bottle from a shelf. “Now, dear girl,” she said as she went to Betty, “tilt your head back, close your eyes, and open your mouth for me. Let the magic pull your voice free of your throat. It's no longer yours.”

As Betty opened her mouth, Hilary put the bottle close to the younger mermaid's lips. A green light flowed from Betty's throat into the bottle. Even under a trance, Betty winced in pain. Her throat was on fire. She could barely swallow, and she couldn't feel her tongue at all.

The moment the light stopped flowing, Hilary put a piece of quartz into the stopper. “There. I believe that's all of it.” She put the bottle on a shelf. “Now, speak to me.”

Betty opened her little red mouth, but not a sound emerged. She tried again, but she remained silent.

“Good.” She dipped another green glass bottle into the thick black liquid in the cauldron. “I want you to swim to land and drink this potion. When you awaken, you will be out of the trance, and your tail will be legs. You will not only remember all that happened here, but that your movements will be lovely and graceful, but also painful.” She handed Betty the bottle. “Go. You have two weeks.”

Betty nodded and swam away, clutching the potion between her small, delicate fingers.

Jeff turned on his wife with an anger he'd never felt before, even during one of their periodic quarrels. “Hilary Booth, how could you let her do that? Why didn't you make her listen? Not only is she going to be one of those...those land monsters, but if she doesn't get some human she saw once to fall for her, she'll lose her life! She doesn't deserve that!” He groaned. “And how will I tell the rest of the family? Father will kill me!”

“She wanted it, Jeff. I did try to talk her out of it.” She smiled and patted her husband's rear tail. “Why don't you go home and prepare a fish souffle for us? I could use a nice meal after a hard day of helping poor unfortunate merfolk.”

“Hilary....”

“You move along.” She almost shoved Jeff out of the grotto. “I'll be ready and willing to join you on our bed when you get home. A night of....love...sounds like fun.”

The moment Jeff was out of sight of the grotto, Hilary went to the shelf with her potions. She took down the green glass jar with Betty's voice. “I'm sorry, dear girl, but this is the only way to get what I want.”

Hilary Booth had a secret. For all her success with every other form of entertainment, she'd never been as good of a singer as most merfolk actresses were. She watched them enchant audiences with their amazing voices and stunning songs, while she merely recited words etched onto dried seaweed paper. Princess Betty's request had given her one last chance to restore her former glory.

She pulled out the quartz and drained every last bit of her sister-in-law's voice from the jar. She started to sing...and was delighted to hear beautiful music pouring forth. “Maybe it is wrong,” she muttered to herself, “and maybe Jeffrey will have my head. It's worth it. My sweet, silly sister's loss is my gain.”

While Hilary was rehearsing with her voice, Betty swam to the patch of coastline where she'd taken Scott after the storm. The first light of the day spilled on Betty as she dragged herself onto the soft yellow sand. She pulled the stopper off the jar and drank it deeply.

That was the last thing she remembered. The moment the potion went down her throat, there was a sudden stabbing pain in the center of her tail. It felt as if it were being cleft in two. The pain below her torso was so unbearable that she blacked out.

“Miss?” Everything was blurry at first when she finally awoke. All she could make out at first was black and pale peach. Gradually, she found herself staring into the warm, comforting eyes of her beloved Scott.

“Are you all right?” She was laying on his surprisingly comfortable lap. Maple, the pretty red-headed lady with the odd voice, knelt next to him. Scott wore a plain white cover on his upper half and gray over his legs. Maple was mostly covered by masses of pale blue and white fluff and frills. A wide-brimmed yellow circle with blue flowers around the crown shaded her soft, pale skin.

“Poor kid.” Maple was rubbing her hand. “You ok, honey?”

Betty opened her mouth to tell them. The tearing pain in her throat reminded her that she had no way to explain what she was doing there. She settled for shaking her head “no” instead.

“Aw, poor girl.” Maple rubbed her back. “Whatever washed her up here scared her so much, she can't talk.”

“Maybe you'll feel better if we get you into some nice, fresh clothes.” Scott turned red in the face. “We found you, er, naked except for some sea flowers.” As Betty looked around, she realized she was covered in a soft rectangle that was made from many colors and patterns. “Good thing we were on a picnic and had that old quilt with us. Someone might think you're startin' a nudist colony.”

“Let's get you home.” Maple and Scott put their arms around Betty's shoulders. “Do you think you can walk, hon? Scotty lives just beyond the dunes over there.” Maple pointed to a series of wooden boxes with triangular tops that looked like non-floating ships. “His house is closer n' mine. I live in town.”

Betty started to stand...but the moment she got to her newly-created feet, she almost collapsed. Hilary was right. Just moving hurt more than she could have ever imagined. Heavy pain shot up her legs. Her throat and torso felt like they were hotter than boiling water.

“Whoa!” Scott caught her and scooped her and the quilt into his strong arms. “Looks like you don't have your land legs yet, miss. I'll get you home. And don't you worry. I'll be a perfect gentleman.”

“Yeah, or else.” Maple grinned. “I'll keep an eye on him an' make sure his hands don't go anywhere they shouldn't be.”

Betty didn't hear them. She was just happy leaning into Scott's broad, warm, safe chest. Now, surely she could show him how much she cared about him, and how she had saved his life.

************

Mackie was horrified when Jeff told him what happened. “How could you let her do it? My oldest daughter, among those...those fish-snatchers!”

“Father, she was bound and determined to get up to the surface. Hilary and I told her she was crazy. She wouldn't listen. She wants to see the land and get that human to love her.”

“But she only saw the guy one day!” Mackie was swimming up and down, waving his hands around. “Isn't there something we can do?”

“I asked Hilary that later, after we....” Jeff coughed. “Well, I asked her that last night. She said no, there's no way to reverse the spell. What's done is done. The only way to change it is for Betty to get the human to give her part of his soul and make her his soulmate.”

“Isn't there anyone else we could get who could change the spell?” Mackie went to his son. “There's lots of other witches in the sea besides your wife.”

Jeff frowned. “We could try. We'd just have to be careful. Some of those dark witches are truly ruthless. They want a lot more than a pretty voice.”

“Can we help?” Doug came over with C.J and Enid. “Betty's our sister, too.”

Enid nodded. “That's right. We wish for her to return safely to our arms as much as you do.”

Jeff gulped. “I know of another witch who might be able to help us, Father. Her name is Ruth. She worked with Hilary, briefly, several years ago.”

Mackie shook his head. “No, I can't let you go to her. I heard rumors she practices dark magic – a lot darker than Hilary's. She'll end up turning you all into sea cucumbers!”

“She's also one of the strongest witches in the ocean.” Doug frowned. “I don't think we have much of a choice. She may be the only one who can counter Hilary's spell.”

“No!” Mackie shook his head. “I can't let you do it. Not even to save Betty. I don't want to lose all of my children! I forbid you going anywhere near that witch! And that's final!” He swam out in a frustrated huff.

Enid wrung her hands. “Oh brothers, what should we do? I don't wish for Betty to remain above the waters any longer than is absolutely necessary. I'm terribly frightened for her.”

“So am I.” Jeff started out the grotto. “Which is why I'm going to see Ruth. I don't care what Father says. There has to be a way to bring Betty home without making more sacrifices.”

“I'm going with you.” Doug swam right up to him. “I've studied the law of the seas. It might help to have someone who knows how they work on your side.”

“That means us, too.” C.J was on Doug's other side, Enid right behind him. “Do you think you're going to leave Enid and me out, just because we're a little younger than the rest of you?”

“I've never gazed upon a real dark magic sea witch before, besides Hilary,” Enid added. “This will be an extremely edifying experience.”

“Or a frightening one.” Jeff sighed. “Let's go.”