My feeling of unease only grew as a strange, scary, half-octopus lady appeared, along with two large eel-like creatures with glowing eyes. I watched her with trepidation as she talked about how she'd been banished from the kingdom. It was mostly her voice that scared me, rather than anything else about her.

"Flotsam! Jetsam! I want you to keep an extra close watch on this pretty little daughter of his. She may be the key to Triton's undoing..."

"Is she bad?" My voice had dropped to barely a whisper now.

"Maybe, but maybe not," Laurel whispered back.

I continued to watch in silence, readjusting the blanket around my shoulders as I tried to make sense of Laurel's rather cryptic answer. As I pondered this, I sort of blocked out what was happening — that is, until Ariel's father was yelling at her.

"Don't you take that tone of voice with me, young lady!"

I hugged my legs to my body, rocking back and forth slightly.

"As long as you live under my ocean, you'll obey my rules!"

Even Laurel was apparently oblivious to how I was feeling this time, her eyes fixed on the movie. So, I did the one thing I knew how to do in these situations.

I Stepped Out.

It was almost as easy as flicking a switch. Within moments of deciding I wanted out of this situation, my vision became a little fuzzy, then blurred, and finally... nothing. I was now alone, floating in an infinite abyss of white mist. Then, as I focused on my energy, and my breathing in and out, the mist transformed into a pearly-white version of Hogwarts castle.

This was a trick Adrienne had taught me, just a few months before she'd been killed. She used it a lot herself, she'd said, as we'd sat drawing patterns in the dust of our cell. It made her punishments more bearable, made the pain feel further away. You just had to shut off your mind, to allow your subconscious to take over and transport you into the mist. The place that formed from that mist meant something important to you — an escape, a crossroads, a safe place.

Mine had always been Hogwarts. Rennie's had been too.

The castle looked odd, almost otherworldly, though that was probably due to its unnatural colour. Determined to fix it, I focused on what the castle actually looked like — its grey stone, sweeping green lawns, shimmering lake, and shadowy forest. I allowed the colours to pour from every inch of my being, slowly but surely filling the place, and making it look right.

As soon as the castle was normal, I felt myself being almost pulled through it — along corridors, through doors, and up stairs — as if led by an invisible force. I didn't know where I was going, and I didn't know why, but allowing myself to be taken to my unknown destination just felt right. I thought about Hogwarts as I walked, each new thought appearing when I came to some significant landmark on my journey.

Past the Charms classroom.

I thought I'd never see this place again.

Through a tapestry.

It's too quiet with nobody here.

Up two flights of stairs.

I want to see my friends.

Along a hidden corridor.

They all think I'm dead.

I stopped in front of a dark, wooden door, with golden embellishments on the corners, and a silver doorknob that was polished so much, it almost shined. I knew instantly that this was it... whatever it might be. Reaching my hand out, I took hold of the handle—

"Ivory!"

I opened my eyes suddenly, a wave of frustration rushing through my body as I saw Laurel looking at me a little worriedly, and heard the sound of The Little Mermaid fill my ears once more.

"You alright?"

I nodded, suppressing a yawn as I turned my attention back to the movie. Stepping Out always made me feel incredibly tired, which was why I used it so rarely. When I was somewhere I might be attacked — basically, anywhere that wasn't a carefully protected safehouse, like I was in now — it made my reactions far too slow, should I need to defend myself. Adrienne had told me that if I trained the skill enough, I would be able to push past the tiredness, until eventually, it wouldn't bother me at all. But I had never got that opportunity. After I'd lost her, my world had become too dark a place for me to lose focus for even a moment.

"Okay; so far, so good. I don't think the king knows."

"Knows what?" I mumbled sleepily to Laurel. "What did I miss?"

"Ariel saw the boat with Prince Eric on and watched them," she started to explain quietly. "Then there was a hurricane, and the boat got shipwrecked. Ariel saved Eric, and now she's in love with him, but she can't be with him because she's a mermaid and he's a human. Oh, and he hasn't actually seen her for longer than thirty seconds, so he hasn't spoken to her or anything."

"So how is she in love with him?"

Laurel looked a little confused at this, but to me, it seemed like the most obvious question in the world.

"Love at first sight," she whispered, as if this explained everything. Then, upon seeing my bewildered expression, she added, "She's got a crush on him."

"A what now?"

"A crush." Her increasing confusion at my increasing confusion was obvious. "It's a desire to be with someone you find attractive."

I took a few seconds to process this new information, trying to make sense of it. Then, I eventually asked, "What, like as friends?"

"No, romantically." Laurel's face now mirrored my confusion exactly, and she frowned as she tried to see whether I was joking or not. "Haven't you ever felt like that about someone before?"

"Like what?"

"Like they're perfect. Your heart soars every time you see them, and you can't help but smile. Any interaction with them makes you feel like you have butterflies in your stomach. You'd give up almost anything to be near them, to have them feel the same way about you as you do about them. They're all you can think about — all you want to think about — and you just want to kiss them, and... other things."

"That was all sounding pretty nice until the kissing part," I said quietly. "But to answer your question — no, I haven't."

"Ah well, I'm sure it'll happen soon," she murmured reassuringly. "After all, you're only fourteen, and it's possible that how you've — er — grown up has delayed your development a little in some areas." She smiled at me, then turned back to the movie once again.

It was only now that I realised the crab — Sebastian, I think his name was — was singing, along with a load of other sea creatures.

"Why're they singing?" I mumbled, trying to work out the answer to my question.

"It's a Disney movie," Laurel said. "Almost all of them have the characters randomly singing throughout."

"Weird."

I curled myself up under the blanket, getting back into the flow of the movie. The merman king scared me a little, in all honesty, but Sebastian sort of evened it out with his unintentional humour.

"It looks just like him; it even has his eyes!"

I raised an eyebrow as Ariel swam around the statue of Eric, acting as if it was a real person.

"Why, Eric — run away with you? This is all so — so sudden..."

"Iv, you probably shouldn't watch this bit," Laurel said suddenly, sounding a little worried.

"Daddy...!"

"Why?"

"You just­—"

But her warning had come too late.

***
A/n: Sweet Merlin, this chapter is a hot mess 😂

How did y'all like my frankly terrible description of crushes 😂 Being aroace, it was a little weird to be writing about how aMaZiNg romantic love is without ever having actually experienced it at all 😂

Also, what's your thoughts on the whole Hogwarts bit?  Personally, I quite liked writing it, and when I thought of it (and its significance later on in the story, which I'mma leave y'all to figure out for yourself 🙃) I literally just yelled "I AM A GENIUSSSS!!!" for about 5 minutes straight 😂

~Charlie 🖤