Ariel Slick writes original fiction including short stories, novels, and memoirs to spread the joy of imagination and creativity. She also helps clients achieve their fiction writing goals with her ghostwriting skills on Upwork.com and Guru.com. 

Rory the merman wants just one thing in this life: to become a good king and lead his tribe of mer-people who live in the ocean, but when a mysterious illness strikes and mermaids start dying, he begins to investigate why, and who is behind it. 

When he discovers that it is humans who are dumping toxic waste into the water, he is spurred by tragedy to go ashore and speak with the human king himself. When he makes a deal with the evil Sea Warlock, he receives a magic spell to turn him human for seven days.

There’s just one catch: he must kill a human. That will be pretty difficult to do considering he just fell in love with the king’s daughter...


The King and His Sea

"Human?" the Warlock sneered. "Why would you ever want to become human? You crawl slowly on the hot, stinking earth like a deranged beetle, living a short, painful life until you succumb to the pull of gravity and die." The Warlock bent his head toward the octopus, and the two seemed to confer, with the octopus nuzzling his cheek. The octopus swam away, up out of the cave, but not before swimming so close to Rory that it lashed out one of its tentacles at him. 


"I don't need to be human forever; just long enough to convince the King that someone is poisoning the water-"


"I do not care what your pathetic reason is to become human. Save yourself the abject humiliation of slinking along the surface, trying to convince anybody of anything. Trust me, I know." The Warlock swam closer to Rory, but Rory instinctively shrank back against the wall. The Warlock laughed again. 


Chapter 21