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“Use my ocean as your—oh, what do you landlubbers call it? Dump?”

Shelly’s heart thumped fast

Then the voice softened “But don’t be afraid, my child I’m here to help poor unfortunate souls like yourself Souls who have proble It’s what I do!” The voice broke into a dark, churlish chuckle Where was it co from? Was there a creature with tentacles that couldtalk?

“What happened toin the crystal ball Peering down, she could faintly make out some sort of clawed, spiny pedestal that held it

“You are a poor unfortunate soul,” the voice replied “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? My dear, you can trust Auntie Ursula” There was another flash of soh the cavern

Shelly shied away fro in the ball with her arms wrapped around her knees Was she a poor unfortunate soul? All the things that had gone wrong in her life lately flashed through her head Her parents splitting Her fatherwith Dawson and theirschools The Semester of No Friends, as she’d co of the year And now that she had friends—Kendall, Attina, and Alana—all she could think of was losing theotten there? Her memory was fuzzy, but she recalled the nautilus in the dark

“Ursulacan you let me out of here?” asked Shelly

“In time,” replied Ursula “But first, what do you want even more than that?”

That caught Shelly off guard She thought about it and said, “To be happy?”

“Is that it? Come on, now I’m a very busy woman Go ahead and make your wish”

“A wish? You can grant wishes?” asked Shelly The words felt funny leaving her e dream possible, if it even was a dream?

“Of course I can, silly girl,” said Ursula “Nohat’ll it be?”

“But who” Shelly began, feeling a stab of fear “But what are you?”

“Oh, a good question, my dear Some call me the sea witch”

“You’re a witch?” Shelly asked, straining to get a gli shifted in the shadows She caught sight of a flash of what looked like white hair and a ripple of lass, but then the voice probed at her again