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

Rory heeded Skelmis' advice; he waited until he had swum to the shallows of the beach to drink the vial of liquid. Rory regarded the bottle; it was composed of a thick, heavy crystal, like a piece of quartz that had been hewn out of the earth, fixed with a ruby topper. Thoughts flew through his mind at what the potion would do to him. It might simply kill him; it could all be a trick of the Sea Warlock to rid the ocean of one more merman. It might cause him excruciating pain-and then kill him. It could turn him into something other than human; something vile and monstrous and deformed, or a tiny creature, like a button jellyfish. 


Chapter 22