The Journey Upward
By Penelope Pagan June Sea Witch
The depths below the waves is a cold black void. It wasn’t a place where desire manifested. In order to desire you must be aware of what you don’t have. That is impossible down below. The depths are so expansive it is hard to believe there is anything else. All one would think is that the world was entirely cold currents and passing detritus. But Ursula knew otherwise. It was a fleeting thing, a memory so faint and so long ago it might have been imagined. It was just the barest impression of warmth. Ursula clung tight to that memory, unable to let go.
Ursula might have thought differently than the other denizens of the deep but she didn’t look all that different. She was an octopus, black eyed and tentacled. Her life was a lethal game of hunting and hiding. Still, she didn’t act like other octopuses, not that she knew this.
She walked on two tentacles and would draw her memories in the sand. She even, though it was a failed experiment, tried to keep a guppy as a pet. She had fashioned a leash with seaweed and had tried to lasso the poor fish without much success. Such experiments were common, she’d have an idea that popped into her head out of nowhere and just had to act on it. They never succeeded, but it was always exciting to try.
Ursula’s existence carried on like that until one day the unthinkable happened; she got caught. It wasn’t by the usual predators either; they were tall, green and bizarre strands of seaweed grew out of their heads. The word hair popped into Ursula’s head but she was too afraid to notice. She was trapped inside something though she could see out of it. It reminded her of a time she had trapped light bugs as a child. She blinked and the remembrance faded away.
The creatures were arguing about something, gesturing down at her with their weird fins. In the end, instead of eating her, one of them picked her up and carried her away. Wherever the creature was taking her, it was from from the depths. For a long while it was just the black of the ocean, only the vibration of movement to keep Ursula occupied. Then, slowly, ever so slowly, warmth crept down from above and she began to see.
She saw all manner of things from her vantage point: sea beasts of startling size and shape, peculiar objects that she instinctively knew to be man made, despite not knowing what a man was, but mostly she saw color. There were more rich hues and shades passing her by in a minute than she had seen her entire life. The sea beasts were simply lavished with blues, reds and greens. She tried to mimic each and every color she saw.
After what felt like an eternity, the ceiling to Ursula’s world burst open as the creature broke through the surface of the ocean. Warm rays stroked Ursula with a caress that lingered. She tried to make sense of her new found surroundings and as she did so the trickle of words became a flood. She was in a jar held by a merperson and there was a a man standing on a dock, looking down at them with incredulity.
The merperson began to talk in mermish to the man and a dialogue of high pitched shrieks filled the air. The man seemed dismissive but the merperson pressed until he was downright angry. Finally, the merperson just chucked Ursula at the man before diving back into the depths. The man just barely caught the jar before it hit the dock and brought it up to his face.
For a long moment Ursula and the man stared at eachother. Ursula wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do when being scrutinized like this. Then she remembered manners and nodded at the man. His eyes grew wide and Ursula wondered if she had done the wrong thing.
The man pulled out his wand, and for a second Ursula thought he might hex her but instead there was a little pop and she felt like she had been sucked into a vacuum tube. In the next moment she was in a building all white. This, she remembered, was a hospital, but what was she doing here? Hospitals were for people not octopuses.
The man brought her to a mediwitch who then brought her to a bed. The witch pulled off the stopper to the bottle and Ursula seized her chance. She clambered out of the bottle and was half way off the bed before the wizard shouted “immobilous!” And Ursula became petrified, unable to move, let alone blink.
“Are you sure that isn’t just an Octopus, Charlie?” The witch asked.
“It bowed to me Deborah, and the merperson vouched it wasn’t an ordinary one. It’s got to at least be hexed.”
“Alright, I’ll run some tests, you can leave now.”
The man turned and left and the witch, Deborah, picked up Ursula and placed her squarely on the bed again. She then took out her wand and began to prod and poke while muttering spells.
“Blimey, you're a human aren’t you?” The witch finally exclaimed looking down at Ursula with concern. Ursula herself was confused by the question. Of course she wasn’t human, she was an octopus. Anybody could tell that. She had 8 tentacles for crying out loud!
“It doesn’t look like you're an animagus so sit tight. I’m going to get the transfiguration expert up here.” the witch said before exiting the room.
Ursula sat there in her confused thoughts. If she could have, she would have ran. It seemed a good idea to not interact with crazy people and any person who thought an octopus was a person was indeed crazy. She wished she had a wand, that way she could have at least defended herself against this nonsense. The witch returned with another one, this one wearing more impressive robes and a kind smile.
“You’ve been stuck a long time dearie. I’m sure you're relieved that you’ve been found. I’ll have you fixed in no time flat.” She said.
Ursula was not relieved. She was terrified of this witch, now advancing toward her, with her bright smile and menacing wand. She was an octopus. She didn’t want to be a human. That wouldn’t even work, how would she know what to do? She’d probably forget to breathe and asphyxiate. Despite her internal protests the witch waved her wand in the air and Ursula began to change.
It was not a quick process. four of her tentacles grew while the rest shrank. Her body elongated and skin became soft and fuzzy. Worst of all was her vision, it changed as she changed, moving backwards and becoming narrower all the while seeing herself become a human. Bile came up from her stomach and she wanted to wretch. Thankfully the woman conjured a hospital gown around her so she was saved from prolonged exposure of her new disgusting body.
“Isn’t that better?” The witch asked but Ursula was still petrified and couldn't say anything.
“What’s wrong with her?” The witch asked the other.
“Oh yeah, I forgot.” The other witch said before saying the counter jinx allowing Ursula to move.
The first thing Ursula did was twist her torso over the bed and wretch. Once she was spent she laid back on the bed and screamed.