The Wicked Crown

CHAPTER 4

Katherine was beginning to adapt to the wet, salty air, the water folk swimming instead of walking, and the millions of sea creatures gliding through the water, or slowly crawling on the sand right out her window.

In a way, though, she wanted to go back on land. Of course, that thought always brought chills over her, and the memory of Evelyn invaded her mind, filling with a sickness that she couldn't describe. The disgust of the cruel princess herself, and also what she did to other living things, and dead things, too.

There was a saying that if you were a land folk, you could not stay in the water for too long or else you would either become a water folk yourself, or get terribly sick, and it would apply to the water folk on land as well. Katherine never believed that; she thought that old sayings were just things that someone made up halfway through one's life just for fun.

She never knew that some sayings actually had some meaning after all.

Katherine had lived underwater for nearly a week now, though it only felt like two days. All the water folk were extremely kind to her, sympathetic for her when she told them her story. All of them, all, expect the nymph, Elvira. It wasn't that she wasn't nice: of course she was nice, she had to be. It was a rule for all water folk to welcome lower-class land folks if they were dying in the water, because it was always lower-class folks who got punished by being thrown into the water until they drowned.

Elvira was sort of like Evelyn. She had a mysterious air to her, and was somewhat evil. It was just impossible to describe. It was like there was a clear coating of kindness, but it was translucent, and you could see right through to the evil inside her.

The time that she had stayed underwater was pleasing. She got actual clothing that were not dirty rags of cloth stained with dirty water: they were dresses made of satin, woven with pearl dust. She got actual meals that were not stale bread and cold porridge, but delicacies ordered by the queen, food that would suit land folk. She didn't get ordered around, she didn't need to do chores, but the best part: she was free.

Everything was fine until about four days later. Katherine started to have breathing problems, and she could swim way better than she could before. So, was she turning into a water folk? Or would it go the other way, and she'd get terribly sick?

Katherine met the queen every three days at two o'clock in the afternoon, sharp. The queen wanted to hear about Katherine's life. It wasn't entertainment, because to take someone's life story as life entertainment would be rude, but instead it was because the queen wanted to help Katherine. As a queen, she had her own things to do, but since Katherine was nearly killed by a high-classer... it was different than what it would be like, usually, when they saved a land folk.

Everyone knew about Evelyn, including the queen.

Everyone wanted to change Evelyn, including the queen.

Everyone hated the things Evelyn did, including the queen.

But no one would take one little step to try to stop Evelyn, no one would even try to budge an inch. Evelyn was so young, yet she was terrifying if you met her in person.

So terrifying that, even the queen of the water folks didn't want to do anything.