The Little Mer-Betty, Part 3

Lady Ruth Geddy was a very elegant and very popular merfolk actress. She was also a witch – the possessor of some of the darkest magic in the entire Atlantic. She lived in a beautiful, expensive grotto made of black crystal on the end of a wealthy street in a fashionable part of the ocean. Her glistening royal blue scales were always bedecked with fine crystals and precious sea-stones. No one knew where her army of loyal slaves came from. They were shriveled, mindless creatures covered in ragged seaweed that obeyed no one but her.

Hilary hated Lady Ruth. When Ruth was an up-and-coming star and Hilary was one of the most popular performers in the mid-Atlantic, Hilary had gotten a role Ruth badly wanted. She sabotaged Hilary...then reminded the producers that she could sing, and Hilary couldn't.

Jeff and his three younger siblings swam through the grotto, passing strange flowers that closed when they came near and dried-out arms that grabbed at them. Enid screamed when one reached for her with long, shriveled fingers. Doug managed to untangle her tail and pull her away.

Enid shivered. “I'm not at all certain I consider this to be a good idea now. What were those...those things...we passed?”

“No one knows, Enid.” Doug gulped. “I have the feeling we're better off not knowing.”

One of the creatures stopped Jeff at the main room of the grotto. “Is Lady Geddy in, uh, sir?” he asked, trying not to look at the withered creature.

It nodded and lead them through a series of corridors. Lady Ruth's grotto was, indeed, a thing of wicked beauty. It was almost as large as their own grotto, decorated in black and dark blue crystal. Seaweed-papers detailing her career and drawings of her many performances could be seen on every surface.

They were brought into the largest antechamber, a huge cave with a vaulted ceiling made entirely of sparking blue and purple crystals. Ruth was turned to a cauldron that was much larger and newer than Hilary's. She was a small merwoman with full red lips and wide dark eyes. Her thick, straight auburn hair waved around her shoulders. She wore a fish-scale wrap that was all the rage among society merwomen that season.

Jeff didn't like the look on her face. Her brown eyes were cold as the ice that crusted the Atlantic in the winter. The expression on her round, pink face was that of pure arrogance. Even his beloved Hilary never looked that spoiled...or that cruel.

She gave them a small smile, almost a smirk, when she turned to the four. “My goodness. King MacKinley's brood certainly has grown up lately. You've all gotten so long since I was last at the palace.” She looked around. “But there's one of you missing. The oldest mergirl, I believe?”

“Ruth,” Jeff started, “our sister Betty made a deal with my wife to go to the surface and get an immortal soul.”

“She did?” Ruth got closer to him. She played with the brown curls that spilled over his shoulders. “I can't say I blame her. I'd love to have an immortal soul. If I had a soul, why I could conquer land with my voice, and get even more applause there than I already do here.”

“Isn't it enough that you're one of the most famous of all performers under the Atlantic?” Enid pointed out timidly.

“Of course it isn't, little mermaid. It's never enough.” She turned to her cauldron. “What kind of deal did your sweet sister make?”

Jeff frowned. “She gave Hilary her voice, her hair, and a scale from her tail to make a potion that changed her tail into legs. She only has two weeks to get this man to love her, Ruth! If he doesn't, she'll die! We'll lose our sister!”

Ruth put up a hand. “Calm down, fair merman. I can help your sibling. I think I can even guess what spell Hilary used.” She took down a heavy book, very similar to the one on Hilary's shelf, and ran a finger down a page. “Ahh, here it is. The antidote. This will restore the Princess's mermaid form, whether or not her human has agreed to marry her. It is, however, more complicated to assemble than the transformation potion. I'll need many ingredients, some of them spread across hundreds of miles.”

“We'll do it.” Jeff drew himself up to his full height before her. “We'll do whatever it takes to get our sister back to normal.”

She picked up a sharp fish scale quill and scratched off words quickly, then threw the list into Jeff's arms. “Here. This is everything you'll need to assemble the potion. I do have some of the items here, but many of them can only be found in caves or grottoes in the deep parts of the ocean. A person of my finer qualities wouldn't fit there. Besides, I do have my concert schedule to keep up with.”

Doug glared at her. “This had better be on the level. I know the rules for this sort of thing. If we do all this work for you, you have to give something to us.”

“You'll have a potion, of course, and your sister.” She turned on him angrily. “Don't question me, lawyer. You're the one who came to me. All I need from you are scales, stones, sand, and cold water from the very bottom of the sea. This is nothing that difficult.”

Jeff's fists were clenched in anger. “So help me, Ruth, if you hurt any of my family, including Hilary and my father and grandmother, I'll...”

“You'll do what you're told.” She shooed them off with the list. “Go! I need all of these things within two weeks. Then, you'll have your precious sister back.”

She watched the quartet swim off with their list. “Those foolish children.” She turned to one of her dried slaves. “They think I actually care about that silly sister of theirs. I have no use for her, except for as a slave.” She paged through the book. “I really want to get on land. Oh, I can turn my tail into legs any time I wish. I have the potion for that. It's a matter of staying there and not becoming sea foam after a week or so, not to mention get around the constant pain. For that, I need a human soul. A good, strong one, one that will allow me to continue on for a very, very long time.”

She smirked. “I'm going to go for a swim up to the land. I haven't been there in a while. Perhaps I'll see a soul there worthy of being in my beautiful body.”

Betty had never felt so pampered and petted in her whole life. Scott had carried her across the sands, to one of the largest of the boxes made from driftwood. A plump female in a simple blue-striped wrap, her hair pulled back in a bun, met him at the entrance.

“My goodness, Mr. Sherwood! Who's this pretty girl?” Betty liked the female right away. She had a sweet, cheery voice and a gentle, round face that looked like the moon over the waters at night. “What happened to her? Where are her clothes?”

“We don't know. She can't talk. I think she's just scared. She probably washed up from a capsized schooner or something.” Betty clung to Scott as he went through the entrance. She'd never seen anything like this grotto. It was filled with strange objects, golden squares with pictures of humans and animals and places, a huge hunk of driftwood with little white and black rectangles lined up in rows, a big fat bass hung on a one wall, old netting and dried starfish and crabs decorating another. A huge old crab trap and a thick piece of driftwood stood in front of soft sea-blue chairs and couches.

“You poor thing!” Scott finally set her down. She wobbled, wincing in pain and falling back into his arms. Eugenia took her other arm. “You must have broken something. Why don't we give you a good, warm bath, then see if we can get you some clothes. I'm afraid I don't have anything that'll remotely fit you.”

“We'll take her shoppin' tomorrow.” Maple put an arm around her. “For now, I'll loan her a blouse and skirt. She'll need underthings that are tailored to fit her. Her bosom is a lot smaller than mine n' yours, Eugenia.”

Eugenia pushed Scott towards the kitchen as Maple lead Betty to another room. “Mr. Sherwood, why don't you go check on the clam chowder and make sure it's not boiling over? And if you eat it now, you won't be getting any blackberry pie with fresh cream for dessert!”

Scott crossed his fingers in front of his chest. “Cross m' heart, Eugenia. I'm no snitch.” He patted Betty's arm, then headed towards the back of the box.

Betty was lead to a small room in the back of the house. Maple and Eugenia helped her into a white basin made of a rock-like material. They filled it with water that didn't taste of salt, then added a liquid that smelled like roses and created the most wonderful bubbles! Eugenia laughed as Betty blew them around, giggling when they tickled her nose.

“You're such a beauty,” Eugenia said as she picked up a long brush and scrubbed Betty's back with it. “I wonder where you came from?”

Betty showed her the pearl around her neck. “Yes, that's a beautiful pearl. It looks like a real raw pearl from the sea.” Betty nodded hard at the last word. “I know you came from the sea, miss. That's where Mr. Sherwood found you. But we're going to have to find your real home sooner or later.”

But that is my real home...or it was. Betty finally just let Eugenia rub all over her body with a soft cloth. Eugenia was just helping her out of the basin when Maple came in, carrying something pale and flowing over her arms.

“Well, she's looking a little better. Not so much like a drowned puppy.” The tall red-head frowned and tugged at Betty's hacked-off curls. “No offense, sister, but who did your hair? Looks like someone took a knife to your head.” Betty nodded. “They ought to be horsewhipped. You have nice hair. It deserves better n' this.” She pulled a strange metal object from a drawer in the shelves across from the basin that looked like two small knives fused together. “We'll have to fix that. Good thing I used to do my brothers' an' sisters' hair when they were kids.”

Maple sat Betty down on a soft little chair with no sides. She trimmed the ragged edges off, trying to even them out. “There,” she said after a few minutes. “Much better. It'll probably look even nicer when it dries.”

“Miss Maple, could you get her dressed?” Eugenia nodded at the door. “I have to check in on the clam chowder and slice the bread and cheese, before Mr. Sherwood and Mr. Foley eat them all.”

“Sure, Eugenia.” She helped Betty to her feet. “Come on. Let's see what we can do with this outfit.”

Betty couldn't believe how complicated human scales were! There were so many things to hook and thread and tie. Maple did up her white wrap, which she wore above her torso. There was lots of fluff around her neck and chest, just like on Maple's wrap. It was too long and too wide in the bosom; Maple had to pull it down to keep it from sticking out. Her legs were covered by a pale blue wrap that flowed around them like seawater. Her new red-haired friend had to wrap a piece of thick leather around her waist to get the too-big wrap to stay put.

“There.” She sighed. “My feet are bigger n' yours. You're probably not gonna go anywhere else tonight, anyway. You can go barefoot until we can borrow some shoes from Eugenia.”

Scott and a smaller man with a thin mustache were setting the table when Maple brought Betty out. Her now-chin-length curls were tied back from her face with a soft blue piece of wrap. “Wow.” Scott went to her, turning her around. “Is this the same skinny, half-drowned sea urchin we found at the beach?” Betty bristled at being called “skinny,” but his eyes were twinkling. “You look gorgeous, miss. Like every Charles Gibson model rolled into one.”

“You know,” Eugenia said as they sat down on hard chairs made of driftwood, “we can't keep calling her 'miss.' She needs a name of some kind.”

Betty frowned. She had a name, a perfectly good one. Her eyes lit up, and she darted into the living room. Scott and the smaller man exchanged amused looks as she came back with a book. She pointed to the cover.

Scott read where her finger was pointing. “History of England, Elizabethan Era.” He looked up at her. “Your name is Elizabeth?” She nodded, smiling. “What's your last name?” Betty's face fell. She didn't know what he meant by “last” names. Merfolk only had one name! He sighed. “You know, we'll figure that one out tomorrow. From the look on your face, you may not even remember.”

“I'll bet you have amnesia, like in the old romances.” Eugenia was putting small bowls of a white liquid in front of them, along with a plate of bright green sticks and red circles. A long crusty white sponge sat in the middle of the table. Eugenia cut slices from it, then spread it with a thick yellow substance.

The little man smiled as he passed her some sponge slices. “This is Mr. Foley,” Eugenia started before the little fellow could open his mouth. “He's our gardener and handyman. Does just about everything that needs to be done around here.” Mr. Foley opened his mouth to talk again, even as he ate a second slice of bread, but Eugenia shook a finger in his face. “It's not polite to talk with your mouth full, Foley.”

Betty sniffed at the liquid. It smelled absolutely delicious! She started to pick up the bowl with her fingers, the way they did at home...then realized everyone else at the table was staring at her. She put the bowl down, a red hot flame spreading across her cheeks.

Scott smiled and took her hand. “Here.” He put a long, silvery stick with a small basin on the end into her hand. “Around here, we usually use these for eating soup.” She watched her dinner companions eat, trying to get the hang of it. They stared at her when she slurped. She couldn't help it! She never ate from a basin like this before.

She had an even harder time with the tiny trident that was used to eat the red circles and green sticks. She couldn't get the food to stay on the tines. She sighed, annoyed. She felt the flame on her cheeks again when Scott helped her hold the trident properly.

After dinner was lovely. Eugenia took the dishes to another room to be cleaned, while Betty, Maple, and the two men went out to the shady place in the front of the grotto Scott called “the porch.” Mr. Foley played a song on a stringed instrument, and he, Maple, and Scott sang along. I wish I could sing along, too, thought Betty sadly. I used to love singing with Father and Grandmother and my brothers and sisters.

“Are you ok, Elizabeth?” Scott gave her his lopsided smile. “Missing your family?”

She nodded sadly. She wanted to tell him so badly how much she missed them. She wanted them to be a part of this world...and him to be a part of hers. She was surprised when she felt salty water running down her cheeks, flowing across her chin and dripping onto her white wrap. She rubbed violently at her smarting eyes.

“Tears?” Scott gently wiped the water away. “Aw, don't cry, Liz. You're too pretty to cry. We'll get you back to your family. I promise.”

She made a face at the “Liz.” She hated being called that. “Ok, you don't like Liz. Lizzie? Beth? Betty?” She nodded at the last one with a grin of her own. “You're now Betty, then.”

Maple put an arm around her. “How'd you like to see the town with me tomorrow, Betty? We could go shopping and even take in one of those moving picture shows at the theater that just opened.”

“I'm afraid I'll have to miss out on the shopping,” Scott admitted. “I have to meet the crew down at the docks and see what we can do about salvaging the ship. How about I meet the two most beautiful women at the new restaurant at Brant Point for lunch?”

Betty nodded. She didn't know what a “restaurant” was. It sounded fascinating. Maple agreed. “Yeah. We'll do lunch, then go see the picture show, then do the beach. It'll be a great day!”