Chapter 1: From Queen to Errand Girl

Caroline gives Arielle her first errand. On the way, she sees a glimpse of a Shelby look-alike. And after the job, Arielle sees her again. So, what does Arielle do?

    Arielle woke up at the bottom of her pool. Not that it really mattered for she was a mermaid. The nightmare she had last night was of her and Shelby in a fiery standoff.
   
    Both girls sang their songs with passion and strength, but neither could overpower the other. That was very frustrating to the both of them.
   
    Finally, Shelby had enough. Her piercing screech made Arielle stop her singing to cover her ears. Big mistake on Arielle’s part. Shelby received the upper hand and the black mass came out of her hands in the form of the black cat. The black cat transformed into Kasi, who smirked before possessing Arielle’s body. Arielle cried out in agony as her body began to twist and turn.
   
    As Arielle screamed, she woke up in the pool. Her scream of air bubbles popped at the surface. She sighed in relief, ‘It was just a dream.’
   
    Arielle allowed herself to float towards the surface. She grabbed the edge of the warm pool and heaved herself out. As her tailfin turned back into legs, she got up and entered her house. She went to her room and got dressed into her normal outfit.
   
    The doorbell rang throughout the house, almost scaring Arielle half to death. She ran quickly down the stairs and opened the door. Sam stood there with a smile on his face and a strange device in his hand. It was strange to Arielle, at least.
   
    “M-morning.” Sam greeted, “Miss Cadaver wanted me to bring you this.”
   
    Arielle looked at the small rectangular box in his hand and asked, “What is it?”
   
    “It’s a cell phone.” Sam explained, “It’s used to call people.”
   
    “Oh!” Arielle took it from him, “Kind of like a shell phone?”
   
    “Yeah.” Sam said, “It’s a version called an ‘iPhone’.”
   
    Arielle examined the cell phone carefully, making Sam sigh. He briefly explained how it worked.
   
    “Miss Cadaver will be calling you from this phone.” Sam said, “That’s how she will give you your errands.”
   
    Arielle nodded, “Alright. I got it.”
   
    After a small chat between the two, Sam waved and explained how he needed to get back to Caroline. With that, he was gone.
   
    On cue, her cell phone rang. Arielle almost dropped it in surprise, but she caught it in time and answered with a, “Hello?”
   
    “Arielle.” Caroline’s voice was on the other end, “I’ve got a job for you.”

…

    Arielle was carrying a crate. What it was filled with, she didn’t know. All she knew was she was suppose to deliver it to a farm on the outskirts of town; the girl who owned the farm was one named Jackie Lantern.
   
    “I wish I had a vehicle or something.” Arielle mused to herself, “Then I wouldn’t have to ride the bus everywhere. But all I know how to drive are water chariots and dolphins.”
   
    She reached the bus stop and stood there, holding the crate by its straps. Other people started arriving and each and every one of them stared at Arielle’s crate. She glared at each of them, giving them the ‘What-The-Hell-Are-You-Looking-At?’ face. Something caught her eye as she turned her head though. A girl with short blonde hair and pale skin who was wearing a green bikini top, a white rippled skirt much like Arielle’s black one, white suspenders that clipped onto the front of her skirt and went over her shoulders to clip onto the back of her skirt, and white flats.
   
    “Shelby… Siren?“ Arielle watched as the girl looked at a piece of paper in her hand then looked around. She was definitely searching for something.
   
    The girl turned the corner and Arielle quickly ran off the find her again. However, as soon as Arielle turned the corner herself, she lost the other in a sea of people.
   
    “Damn.” Arielle sighed and went back to her bus stop where the bus had already arrived.

…

    Misc. City had four gates in total. The East Gate was where Arielle had entered and also a little ways off from where Alicia’s house was located. Then there was the South Gate, which a little ways off was the Black Sand Beach. The North held the Abatis Mountain Range, the range that separated Vampire Country from Werewolf Country. And finally, the West where Jackie Lantern’s farm was.
   
    Arielle got off at the West Bus Stop that was in front of the West Gate. A long country road stretched far into the West and Arielle began her long walk. The crate started to take a toll on Arielle, for the longer she walked, the heavier it got.
   
    “What bad Luck.” a smooth voice giggled.
   
    Arielle wasn’t even surprised to see the black cat walking with her.
   
    “What do you want, Kasi?” Arielle asked nonchalantly.
   
    The cat turned into her girl form, “Nothing much. Just watching you.”
   
    Arielle huffed as she felt the crate growing heavier, thinking, ‘Just what is it this thing?!’
   
    “Heavy?” Kasi smirked catlike, “Would you like some help?”
   
    Arielle looked at her in suspicion, “Really?”
   
    Kasi nodded with a friendly smile and held out her finger. Arielle hesitantly put the straps on the lone finger and let go. Kasi held the crate with extreme ease.
   
    “Wow.” Arielle gaped, “You are strong.”
   
    “I’m only as strong as your Luck, Finn. Oops.” Kasi let go of the crate with a smirk. The crate fell onto Arielle’s left foot.
   
    “HOLY SEA COW!” Arielle held onto her foot, which was throbbing in agony. She growled, picked up the crate by the straps, and proceeded to swing it at Kasi.
   
    Kasi dodged the swinging crate with a back flip and a graceful landing. She laughed, “You are quite amusing!”
   
    Arielle huffed again and continued on without looking at Kasi, but she knew the cat was following her.
   
    The farm was a simple two story house with a barn-like garage. The surrounding area looked ready for things to be planted. Arielle followed the straight path up to the house.
   
    “Jackie? Jackie Lantern?” Arielle called.
   
    “That’s me!” a bubbly-sounding girl came outside. She had tan skin, shoulder length black hair, and brown eyes. She wore an orange jumpsuit made of shorts and a camisole, a black belt on her waist, black leggings, and orange rain boots. She also had numerous pumpkin themed accessories such as pumpkin earrings, orange gloves with pumpkins on them, pumpkin headband, pumpkin rings, and a pumpkin belt buckle.
   
    “I’m Jackie.” the girl smiled brightly, “The Pumpkin Master. What is it you need from me?”
   
    Arielle held up the crate, “Delivery. Courtesy of Mayor Cadaver.”
   
    “Ah!” Jackie picked the crate from Arielle with ease, “My pumpkin seeds are here! Thank you!”
   
    “Pumpkin seeds?” Arielle asked.
   
    Jackie nodded and opened the crate. Inside was a large bag of pumpkin seeds.
   
    “That’s a lot of seeds.” Arielle commented.
   
    Jackie nodded again, “That’s right. I need to plant them and then I can grow them easily. I just ran out of them, so I applied for more as soon as I could.”
   
    Jackie whistled and a “Quack!” was heard from inside the house. Moments later, a duck with the head of a girl and the bill for the mouth came out. It squawked at the new visitors, including at Kasi who had changed back into a cat.
   
    “What is that?” Arielle asked.
   
    “Her name is Jenny Duck.” Jackie began, “She was once a human, but then she got fused with a duck. The apprentice of Alicia’s, Sabrina, was trying to show off to her mentor, and this is what happened. Alicia gave Jenny to me because she was complaining how much noise Jenny made. Jenny is a great pumpkin planter though. Right, Jenny Duck?”
   
    Jenny Duck quacked and grabbed a few seeds out of the crate. She then ran over to the rich planting soil area and stabbed her bill into the dirt before dropping a seed into it. She repeated the process along a line before running out of seeds. She then quacked once more, going into the garage and bringing out a watering pail. She flew over the seeds, pouring water onto all of them.
   
    “Good girl!” Jackie rewarded the duck with a slice of bread, which Jenny ate hastily.
   
    Arielle smiled, “Well, I guess that’s all I needed to come here for.”
   
    “Wait!” Jackie told Arielle as she walked over to a certain seed. She bent down and whispered something before the seed began to grow into a large tree. Pumpkins hung off every limb of the tree, but one in particular stood out. It was the smallest out of them all. Jackie plucked that particular one and handed it to Arielle.
   
    “What?” Arielle looked at it.
   
    “Eat it when you are weak.” Jackie instructed, “But save the seeds for another.”
   
    Arielle didn’t quite understand, but as soon as she was about to ask, a hiss was heard. The two looked to find a humorous scene. Jenny Duck was quacking furiously as she flew at Kasi, who was running away in fright. Kasi’s tail was flared up like a feather duster.
   
    “Jenny Duck!” Jackie scolded, “Is that anyway to treat a guest?”
   
    Jenny Duck flew over to Jackie and settled in her arms.
   
    “You’re tired, huh?” Jackie asked the duck before turning to Arielle, “Thanks again for the seeds.” She then walked into the house.
   
    “Thanks for the… uh… pumpkin!” Arielle called back. She turned around and walked back down the country road. Kasi, still in cat form, followed closely.
   
    “How long are you planning on following me?” Arielle asked. However, she received no answer. She looked down to find that the cat had disappeared. With a sigh, Arielle continued down the road alone.

…

    “Good job.” Caroline said through the phone, “No more jobs for today.”
   
    Arielle sighed as the other hung up on her. She put the cell phone back into her pocket as she plopped onto her new bed. She hadn’t gotten a chance to sleep in it yet. It felt like silk under her. She sighed contently and closed her eyes for a moment.
   
    Her fingers played with the pumpkin in her hand. What exactly had Jackie meant when she said, “Eat it when you are weak, but save the seeds for another.”
  
    Arielle opened her eyes and held the pumpkin above her. She examined it slowly until her eyelids grew heavy. Setting the pumpkin on her nightstand, she rolled over and fell asleep.

…

    It wasn’t until a week of errands later that she saw the girl who looked like Shelby Siren again.
   
    Arielle was simply walking around with her nose in a letter that she had received from Sabrina. The two of them had been writing letters to each other since three days ago. Sabrina had found out where Arielle lived from Alicia, and she began writing letters asking how Arielle was and if her curse was starting to get better. Arielle had written back once that she was doing well and her curse was still there, but nothing bad really happened yet. Sabrina’s reply from Arielle’s letter came and it was what Arielle was currently reading.
   
    Arielle looked up for a second, a split second, and happened to catch the Shelby look-alike walking down another road that Arielle was passing. Arielle quickly folded the letter up into her pocket and ran after the girl.
   
    “Shelby?” Arielle caught up with the girl.
   
    The girl turned around, “Yes?” She had her hair up in a high ponytail that day.
   
    “You’re Shelby Siren?” Arielle asked.
   
    “Yeah, what of it?” the other looked Arielle up and down with a frown until it turned into a sneer, “Oh. Well if it isn’t the Queen of Atlantis, Arielle McFinn.”
   
    “It’s just ‘Finn’ now.” Arielle corrected her.
   
    “Wait.” Shelby’s sneer turned into a smirk, “So, you aren’t the ruler now? What happened?”
   
    Arielle ignored Shelby’s sarcasm, “Ocean Country has abandoned me.”
   
    Shelby laughed, “I’m glad that my curse is finally working. So now you are just a plain commoner like me?”
   
    Arielle sighed and nodded, “Anyway, what are you doing here?”
   
    “YOU banished me, remember?” Shelby growled, “Now I have to find a new place to live and a job to survive. Happy that I’m so helpless? Because I am VERY happy that you are.”
   
    “I’m NOT helpless!” Arielle argued, “I have a job AND a house!”
   
    Shelby’s eyes narrowed, “How?”
   
    It was Arielle’s turn to smirk, “Well, I have connections with the mayor. She gave me a job as an errand girl and gave me a house.”
   
    “You went from Queen to Errand girl.” Shelby sneered again, “How amusing.”
   
    There was a small silence between them. Suddenly, Arielle felt a burning sensation where her mark used to be. She looked at Shelby and noted the burning hatred in her eyes. Arielle sighed and said something unexpected:
   
    “Would you like to live with me?”
   
    Shelby looked surprised, “What?! Why would I live with you?!”
   
    “Because you have nowhere to go.” Arielle replied, “And I can probably get you a job with my connections.”
   
    Shelby growled under her breath and thought for a moment. Arielle patiently waited for the siren’s answer.
   
    “Hmph! Fine!” Shelby said, “But if you make me angry--”
   
    “Understood.” Arielle didn’t need to hear the end of Shelby’s sentence to know that if she made the siren mad then she would get hurt. Arielle motioned for Shelby to follow her back to the house.
   
    “You know,” Arielle began with a smirk, “once you find a job, you’ll have to pay rent.”
   
    Shelby sneered, but nodded hesitantly.

…

    Another week passed by and all Shelby did was stay in the backyard by the pool. She also slept in the pool. And she was also still jobless.
   
    Arielle sighed and thought for a moment, ‘Maybe if I find her a job, she’ll be less of a loner. Who could I possibly ask?’ An idea came to her as she pulled out her phone and dialed a familiar number.
   
    “Hello?” a boy answered.
   
    “Sam?” Arielle asked, “It’s me. Arielle.”
   
    “O-oh! Hello!” Sam said cheerfully, “What is it that you need?”
   
    “A job.” Arielle looked out her glass windows at the sullen siren, “For a friend.”
   
    “Hmm.” Sam pondered for a moment, “Miss Jackie Lantern has put up a Help Wanted ad for a pumpkin picker. Pays well. Not too far from here. It should be perfect for your friend.”
   
    “Thanks, Sam!” Arielle said, “See ya!
   
    “Your welcome. See ya.” Sam hung up.
   
    Arielle hung up her phone and went out to the backyard, “Shelby?”
   
    “What do you want?” Shelby frowned, “Can’t you see I’m busy?”
   
    “With what? Sulking?” Arielle asked, “I’ve got you a job.”
   
    “Really?” Shelby stood up, “Pays well?”
   
    “Yup.” Arielle replied, “And it’s not too far from here.”
   
    Shelby thought for a moment before saying, “Take me there.”

…

    The two were ringing Jackie’s doorbell in a matter of minutes. The door opened and Jackie came out.
   
    “Arielle!” Jackie hugged the mermaid, “How are you? Are you the one who took my job offering?”
   
    “Actually,” Arielle pointed to Shelby, who was next to her, “My friend here needs that job more than me.”
   
    Jackie looked Shelby over, “She seems good. I’d love to hire her.”
   
    Shelby smiled lightly, “Thank you.”
   
    Arielle smiled as she ruffled the siren’s hair, “You know the way home, I hope.”
   
    Arielle felt the girl punch her fiercely in the arm. Arielle yelped and looked back to see Shelby giving Arielle the thumbs-up sign as she followed her employer into the house. Arielle rubbed her arm and began her long journey home.

(End of Chapter 1)

Author's Note

Ah, so I just finished this. You can really see the small friendship blooming between Arielle and Shelby. Though I don't think it will take a short time. I mean, would you be friends with someone who banished you? Exactly. Tell me of any errors. ^^

Reviews

[Emunah June.]

HOLY SEA COW!

Im going to say that from now on....Sea Cows...hah hah. :D