The Magical Mermaid and the Moon

by Angiah Harris

  He had stolen her heart, and she had stolen his.

  They stared at each other, wishing the moment could last forever, but they both knew the reality of the situation. As the princess adjusted her body, she suddenly brushed across the stone hidden beneath the gray-eyed shark’s shirt. She gasped and sprang away in horror, remembering the true power of the stone.

  The shark had completely forgotten that he was wearing the stone and about the darkness it had caused. He ripped the stone from around his neck and gripped it in his hands.

  The princess fought back tears, staring at his hands.

  “I’m sorry—I am so sorry,” the shark general whispered.

  Without responding, the princess rolled off of her rock and swam down to the rations to make something to eat. The gray-eyed general followed and watched her in silence. He was in love with the creature in front of him, and he would do anything to protect her now.

  “We should run away together!” he said suddenly.

  The princess froze, dropping the fruit she was holding.

  “I love you,” the gray-eyed shark continued. “And the shark king will have our heads when he finds out.”

  The princess listened as her new love poured his heart out to her.

  The shark moved closer. “We can go to the dark kingdom, rescue your mother, and leave for good. I know the sea very well and can find us somewhere to live in peace for the rest of our days. I’m so sorry for my role in all of this—I am so sorry for everything.”

  The princess appreciated that he’d mentioned her mother, but she knew the shark king would never let them run away, and that even if they did, they would never be safe or able to live freely.

  “My sweet love,” she said as she moved next to him and took his hand. “We cannot run—we must fight. The only way we can be free is if we fight.”

  The gray-eyed general cringed at the idea of fighting the shark king, but he knew the princess was worth it.

  They both sat down to eat and tried to develop a plan of attack on the dark kingdom, but their planning quickly turned into laughing, joking, hugging, and kissing one another. They both enjoyed each other so much, they didn’t want to dampen the moment with reality.

  However, the princess kept thinking about the stone, which she’d noticed the gray-eyed shark had shoved in his pocket earlier. She wondered whether it would kill her if she broke out into full song. She hadn’t sung during the time she’d spent with the gray-eyed general, unsure of how he’d feel if she did. With these thoughts on her mind, the princess began to hum. She needed to distract herself, so she asked her new beau, “Would you like to paint something?”

  “Yes, I’ll try,” the gray-eyed general said. When she’d started humming just then, he’d felt the stone begin a low pulse in his pocket, and not wanting to tell her this since he knew the stone could cause her a lot of pain, he hoped the painting would distract her from humming.

  He watched as she mixed together different fruits, vegetables, and seasonings to create the colors. She explained everything she was doing to him as though he were a child learning in school for the first time. He imagined her as a mother—so soft and nurturing. She was not only beautiful but extremely intelligent and kind. Any child would be lucky to call her Mom. He had never thought of anyone this way and usually had no interest in children, but all at once, the idea of marrying her and having a family seemed appealing.

  When the colors were mixed, he helped her carry them over to an empty wall in the enclosure. The princess started humming again, and the general felt the rock in his pocket vibrate more intensely.

  “How should I begin?” he asked as he stared at the blank wall.

  The princess smiled and kissed the shark on his cheek. “However you want,” she said lightly. “The fun in creating is that there are no rules, no laws, no boundaries—only the limitless possibilities of the mind.”

  The shark general felt lost in those words, staring at the wall. He slowly reached for a color, unsure of which to use first, then settled on red and took it in his hands.

  The princess started humming louder, and the stone jumped around in the general’s pocket even more.

  I have to get her away from it and find a way to get rid of it, he thought.

  As charmingly as possible, he suggested that he wanted to surprise her with whatever he decided to paint and that she should go find something to do until he was done. Giggling and blushing, the princess agreed and swam to the far end of the enclosure, on the other side of the enormous rock.

  Is he just being sweet? she thought. She could tell the gray-eyed general experienced discomfort when she hummed—she’d noticed him reach for his pocket when she began and hurry along their conversations or interrupt her. She hoped he had the best intentions, but she kept her guard up—after all, he still had the weapon that killed her father in his pocket.

  She tidied up while he worked on the other end of the enclosure, peeking around the rock occasionally to watch him as he focused on unleashing something from deep within himself. This excited her. Her mother and father had taught her that art could heal some creatures for whom song or other avenues of healing didn’t work. She wondered if the shark was healing. He’d spoken to her about his gloomy childhood and losing his family, about how he’d met the shark king, and about how the shark king had raised him after saving his life. He’d lived much of his life in the dark with his heart in chains, and she hoped that with each stroke of paint on the wall, he was releasing it all.

  The princess sprawled out on the blanket next to her bed, staring upward. Since they’d slept much of the day, the night sky would descend soon, and the beautiful ball of light would hopefully arrive. She decided to go up to her spot on the rock and watch the daytime sky greet the night before it went to bed.

  On the rock, she watched as the breathtaking night sky blew thousands of goodbye kisses in the form of stars to the departing daylight. One by one, the stars appeared, bright and luminous, hanging ever so gracefully in the black abyss. Her heart began to pound as the wind picked up—the sign of her friend’s arrival.

  But something was different.

  She searched the sky and waited in silence, but the light did not appear. Confused, she sat frozen, still waiting. Then she remembered her friend telling her that even if she couldn’t see it, it still existed. That thought comforted her.

  Appreciating the beauty of the evening, the princess began to sing the tune she’d been humming.

  The song echoed along the walls of the enclosure, and the gray-eyed general’s stone began to shake violently, pulling him out of his concentration. He’d planned to get rid of the stone when she was distracted, but he’d forgotten when he’d started painting. He spun around, searching for the princess to tell her to stop. Though the stone had vibrated when she’d sung earlier, while he was still just spying on her, it was much stronger now. Her voice was angelic, but he knew the power of the stone—it could drain her of her life. He had to get rid of it.

  But first, he had to make her stop singing.

  * * *

  The shark king moved as if at the speed of light toward the princess’s prison. He had to see with his own eyes what was going on.

  After hearing the soldier’s report, the king had gathered his necessary weapons, put his third-in-command in charge, and left the castle, and he hadn’t slowed his pace since. The dark, calm ocean was easy to navigate now that no one was ever outside; he could move as quickly and violently as possible, and no one was in his path.

  The new king understood it was ludicrous to expect the princess to obey him. But that was exactly what he expected his general to do—especially after all the shark king had done for him. How could the gray-eyed shark betray him this way?

  The shark king felt more hurt than he could understand.

  Someone had to pay.

  Chapter 17

  Fearless

  Where was the princess?

  The gray-eyed general hadn’t realize
d the sun had set and been replaced by the night sky. He’d become so connected to his art that for a moment, nothing existed except himself and the paint splattering onto the wall. The princess was still singing, and the stone was still vibrating in his pocket. He realized the princess was in the same spot in which they had fallen asleep the night before.

  The princess no longer feared the stone—she no longer feared anything. She was free in her heart and would not let anything or anyone convince her otherwise.

  She surveyed the night sky as she sang, expecting to see her still-absent friend, the light in the sky, appear. Even without the new light, the night seemed bright as the princess sang her words of love. The space around her felt charged with power as she delighted in the electricity in the air. Her voice grew louder as she felt the energy build up at the base of her spine.

  Suddenly, strong hands yanked her body into the water. Her breath driven from her, she stopped singing, trying to push away from whomever had grabbed her. Turning, she faced the gray-eyed soldier, who panted hard as he stared at her. Had he turned on her?

  “You can’t sing with this here!” he yelled. He held the flickering stone in front of her face. “I have to get rid of it, but until then, you have to refrain from singing like that. We saw what it can do—I will not lose you that way!”

  The princess immediately regained her composure and smiled, gazing deep into the shark’s gray eyes. Without speaking, she took his hand and led him back to where she’d been singing. The energy continued to build up in her body.

  She would show him what it was like to be fearless.

  The gray-eyed shark started to speak again, but something about the way she held his hand and the look on her face told him she knew exactly what she was doing. He followed in silence.

  * * *

  As the shark king approached the prison, he instantly noticed the glowing plant life that had grown to enormous sizes around the enclosure and brightened the night. The light in the evening sky had not appeared yet, though it had been dark for some time now, and the shark king began to feel hopeful again.

  Maybe the light had run its course and he could continue ruling his dark kingdom with no more distractions.

  Plans flooded his mind—how to contain the glowing plant life, how to kill his general. He would not let him live if the report he’d received was indeed true.

  He would make an example of his general.

  He pondered how he would approach the upcoming situation. Should he move in fast to get his answers or sit back and watch? As easy as watching seemed, the anger coursing through his body could prove difficult for him to withstand. But maybe the third-in-command had been inaccurate and his gray-eyed partner hadn’t betrayed him but was acting on a plan that would help the shark king. He wouldn’t know until he saw with his own eyes, so he silenced his mind and moved forward.

  He felt a vibration around him as he neared the prison entrance. The wind was howling, and he couldn’t hear anything as he moved closer. The unexpected thought that his general and the princess could have already escaped flashed through his mind.

  What would keep them there if my general has truly turned on me? he thought.

  Panic gripped the king, and he moved quickly to the door. He looked inside.

  Bright colors covered the prison’s walls. The king jumped back in disbelief—the princess had no paints. How could she have painted the walls? He couldn’t believe his eyes.

  * * *

  Hurricane-force winds swirled around the princess and the general as she sang her beautiful song of love.

  The gray-eyed general removed the stone from his pocket and held it firmly in his hand. The night before, as she’d slept in his arms, he’d decided he would never let anyone or anything harm her again. He would dedicate his life to her, if she would allow it. But could he stop the stone from hurting her if she kept singing?

  The night seemed so bright, though the ball of light was still nowhere to be seen. The princess felt energy intensifying inside her. She squeezed the gray-eyed general’s free hand and felt energy pulsing through his body from the stone in his other hand. She looked into his eyes and felt comforted and safe as she sang.

  They could both feel the stone’s energy growing, but they didn’t feel drained—they felt powerful and uplifted.

  The general’s body relaxed as he released his fear of what could happen. He began to accept the princess’s words, and in that moment, nothing else mattered.

  * * *

  The shark king battled the hurricane-force winds while trying to see what was happening inside. He decided to enter the enclosure, whether the general and the princess were there or not. He was their king, and they would bow down and obey him, or they would die.

  After he turned the key and entered, he glanced around the space. He waited to see if they would appear at the sound of the door opening, but he heard and saw nothing. The sweet smell of fruit lingered in the air, and the walls were full of paint. Neither the princess nor his general was anywhere in sight, but the king assumed they were near—fresh, half-eaten fruits and vegetables scattered the ground.

  The wind danced around him. Suddenly, he thought he could hear talking from above. As he moved quickly toward the sound, he realized his stone was suddenly vibrating much more than before.

  He knew in his gut it was the princess singing.

  Above the water, he spotted both of them, staring into each other’s eyes as the princess sang. He could tell they hadn’t seen or heard him, so he knew he had the advantage. As he watched them stare at each other, he waited for the ball of light to appear, but it was still nowhere in the sky. The princess’s hair had grown long since he’d last seen her—the shark king couldn’t believe how beautiful she was.

  She looked like her mother.

  At this realization, the shark king’s heart ached. He envied the gray-eyed general—not for winning the princess’s heart, but for simply being able to share his heart with someone. The shark king would give anything to go back and switch places with the young mermaid king, to offer his heart to the young mermaid queen first. Life would have been entirely different.

  * * *

  The mermaid queen roamed the empty halls of the castle. She felt that everyone avoided her and that the servants were ashamed to look her in the eyes.

  I have to find out more about what’s happening, she thought as she continued roaming, trying to talk to soldiers and servants she met. After several failed attempts, she decided to find something to eat and headed toward the kitchen.

  When she found it, she realized it was in much worse condition than she’d imagined. It looked as though it hadn’t been cleaned in years, with old food crusted and caked in various places and hundreds of smelly dishes scattered everywhere. The food she found was the bland, mushed-together, almost-tasteless food they fed her in the dungeon, which she had no desire to eat. But wouldn’t the various ingredients, not yet combined, be stored somewhere? She continued searching, and finally she found a few pieces of fruit in a back pantry. She grabbed them, and when she turned, she noticed a small light coming from the patio doors. She quietly approached, listening for guards. Hearing nothing but the wind, she slowly pushed forward through the double doors onto the large patio area.

  A younger dolphin creature sat on the patio, eating quietly and staring at the night sky above. She jumped up at the sound of the door opening and slowly turned her head. She stared at the queen, shock widening her eyes. When she started to speak, the queen hushed her.

  “Sit, sit—may I please join you?” asked the queen.

  The young creature glanced around, as if looking for anyone in sight, then nodded.

  “Yes.” The dolphin returned to her food, keeping her eyes down. She was eating the mush food, and the queen thought she didn’t appear to enjoy it much.

  The queen started to crack open one of the fruits she’d found, and the young creature slightly lifted her head at the sound of it. The queen carefully peele
d away the fruit’s skin, split it into two pieces, and offered a half to the young creature.

  “No, miss,” the young dolphin whispered. “I am not allowed.”

  The queen lifted the young dolphin’s face. “Neither am I, so let’s do it together.”

  The dolphin smiled and took the fruit. She slowly sniffed it and looked at it closely, as if it were the first time she’d ever had the fruit.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  The queen smiled and enjoyed her fruit with the young dolphin. It was nice to have the company and not be ignored. They stared up at the night sky and talked about the light that had recently appeared, though it was now absent. The young creature explained how the new king had announced that he was responsible for the light in the night sky but that no one believed him—everyone just feared his power. She spoke of battles that had ensued on the streets while the queen had been locked away in the dungeon; many creatures had tried to sing, had encountered the stones’ terrible power, and were now fighting to regain their freedom. The queen remembered seeing the large stone in the palace and the small stones worn by each person she interacted with, and she felt immense sadness as she learned more about them. The young dolphin spoke of losing her mother and father as they’d tried to fight the law of darkness and how she’d ended up a servant.

  “I miss the days you and our late king were in charge,” the dolphin said softly. “We all took those days for granted.”

  As they spoke, the wind howled around them, growing stronger the longer they talked. The queen could feel a unique energy in the air, and she knew something was happening.

  The young creature’s stone around her neck began vibrating. Alarmed and unsure of what was happening, they both sat in silence, waiting as the air around them grew more and more charged. The young creature removed the stone from around her neck and placed it on the table. They watched it as it flickered with the energy in the surrounding water.