That was all very interesting, but with no clue as to how to reach an underwater hidden place, we were still more or less stuck. I voiced my concerns to Clarissa, who raised an eyebrow and took a few marbles out of her marble pouch. Real witches don’t need ‘abracadabra’ to perform simple spells, nor wands or any of the like. Clarissa, as previously mentioned, was surprisingly delicate when it came to magic. She took a feather out of her armband and gently waved it over the marbles, turning them into bubbles.

Babette smiled and turned back to the water, where a nayad was awaiting. Her name was Melusine, and she would be our guide, apparently. The bubbles in Clarissa’s hand started to expand, taking different sizes and shapes, and I finally understood: these were air bubbles.

Once all of us, except Melusine of course, were safe and snug inside our bubbles, we entered the water and followed the nayad. She spent the whole trip talking to Babette in the language of the Ocean, and we felt a little left out. Luckily we arrived at the Castle before Clarissa could get too worked up, and we avoided any diplomatic incident. For now, at least. The Castle itself was in a sort of dry cave, where we could shed our bubbles and breathe the very salty air without other issues than a weird aftertaste.

The crabs were, indeed, having a party. Have you ever heard of crab parties? No? Of course you haven’t, you’re probably not a sea-creature. Well let me tell you, the fellas know how to celebrate all right! There was a giant buffet filled with all sorts of food, oddly hypnotic music played by a couple of seahorses in their aquarium, light, salt statues, a gigantic dancefloor and… Hyacinthe, at the back, seated next to the King’s throne. At least we had found her.

One crab didn’t seem too happy about the revelries, and was seated as far away from it all as he could without seeming too impolite. I winked at Zazzles: it was my time to shine. I started walking around as if I had every right to be here, as all cats do, and nobody even dared try to stop me. After a while my seemingly random stroll took me to the grumpy crab, and as I sat down next to him he started grumbling. Perfect. That was exactly what I was hoping for.

“A cat. Can this masquerade get even more ridiculous? First we crown a new Crab king that isn’t a crab, then we invite a Forest representative that is domesticated, and now we even have a cat. Hah, all that’s missing is a witch and this coronation will be the worst joke in crab history!” I had to refrain a laugh at this point. If only he knew…

“A Crab King that isn’t a crab?” I asked, making sure to look completely disinterested by examining my claws. I needed more information, and this little fellow seemed to have a lot more to say.

“Yes, that’s what I said. How can you not know? Our old King grew tired of reigning over us, saying we were all just a bunch of inconsiderate idiots and he’d rather abdicate. So he did just that, and now we’re going to be the laughingstock of the entire Ocean Folk… He left the throne to that ridiculous bow tie wearing cat with a beak! The thing couldn’t tell a pincer from a pair of scissors and that’s the King we’re crowning today!”