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Ahead of Halle Bailey's The Little Mermaid, which hits theaters later this year, you can dive into the magical oceanic world of the film in a new novel by bestselling author J. Elle, The Little Mermaid: Against the Tide.
The novel (which you can read part of below) is inspired by the live action film and follows a 15-year-old Ariel as she prepares to celebrate a coming of age ceremony that will finally make her the Protector of a territory in the ocean, like her sisters before her. But her sisters aren't united — they've grown apart after the death of their mother, and they haven't seen each other in years. Their blessed reunion turns sour when one of the sisters is abducted; can Ariel and her family rescue her in time? And what will they uncover about what truly happened to their mother?
“Ariel was one of my favorite princesses growing up, so it was incredibly humbling and wildly cool to be a part of such a historic and groundbreaking project," J. Elle tells Teen Vogue. “Not only was I tasked with writing an engaging story focused on sisterhood that leads up to the new reimagining of The Little Mermaid, but I was able to write a heroine my children can see themselves in, and those experiences are now part of Ariel's story.”
You can pre-order The Little Mermaid: Against the Tide now. Below, check out an exclusive first look at chapter 1 of the forthcoming novel.
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Chapter 1: Five Days Until the Coral Moon
Ariel rolled in her clamshell bed with buckling anticipation. She dug her nails into the seaweed covers pulled tight to her chin and looked for the glimpse of morning sunrays that would stream into her room in mere moments, officially marking the day she would get to leave home for the first time.
Click. The clock worm ticked his spindly body to the half shell, signaling the start of the day, and Ariel barreled out of bed as if there were springs under her tail. A hum spilled from her lips, and Ariel swayed along to the melody as she moved through her room. She paused for a glance at the polished glass above her dresser, straightening her back. She twisted her lips, perplexed. She wasn’t sure what she expected to see, but something different, surely.
The next day, she, like each of her sisters before her, would be deemed Protector of her very own sea territory. And she was to be assigned the best territory of all, the one where she lived—Carinae! Their father’s castle, where she had grown up, was in low-sun Carinae, but its boundaries stretched far across the ocean. The high-sun side of Carinae, where her headquarters as Protector would be, was altogether different, she had read. It was rumored to have true turquoise water and fish in every color of the rainbow.
Growing up, she had not been allowed to travel far beyond her father’s castle. Oh, how she hoped being its Protector would mean she could explore its vastness. She closed her eyes, imagining endless undiscovered wonders and all manner of adventure she could unfurl. Ariel had hardly been able to sleep the past few weeks, her excitement growing as each new day brought her closer to her Protector Ceremony.
The ceremony happened the year a member of the royal family turned fifteen, and it was traditionally held four days before the annual Coral Moon Festival, when the moon turned a shade of pink so rare and so beautiful that it was said to bring luck to anyone who viewed it.
Ariel leaned on her desk. Its whalebone was soft to the touch, and she couldn’t help admiring the beautiful detail the royal carpenter had carved into its legs. The desk was a gift from her father: a stately piece of furniture for her to do all her Protector business, which would include creating new territory guidelines, meeting with important figures in the community, hosting events, and a whole slew of other responsibilities to those in Carinae.
She had studied as much as she could about what she would need to do as a Protector. Her father, King Triton, had said she’d learn much “on the job,” and it must have been a big job, because her sisters were so busy with their duties in their respective territories that she hadn’t seen them in . . . years. Mala had left over a decade ago, followed by Indira and Caspia. The others had trickled out over time until Ariel had found herself the only princess in the castle. Though her sisters were good at avoiding each other. So perhaps it wasn’t busyness that kept them away.
Ariel dusted her desk and straightened the things on it: a cockle she’d found once that was just too interesting to leave behind; a jar of squid ink; a stack of sticky Pitonian seaweed perfect for writing notes, which her sister Perla had gifted her before she’d left for her own duties in the Piton Sea when Ariel was just a little fry. She stacked and restacked the scrolls on her desk, almost all of them about Carinae and all the areas she had yet to see. She’d churned her nervous energy these past few weeks between lessons on sea history and reading up on social etiquette, the proper way to host dignitaries, and what sorts of sanctions her sisters had put in place to better their territories for the seafolk there. She wanted to learn all she could, and she looked forward to exploring every nook and cranny of her territory with any free moment she had.
Just the thought sent a shiver of excitement up her arms as she moved back to her mirror. Her bonnet, woven together with silky strands of seaweed, was half off, as it always was each morning. She tossed it, letting her auburn locs, well oiled with sap from misaju-water coconuts, spill down her back. She posed again in the reflective glass, lengthening her torso, then grabbed the fine blue sea whip shawl she would don with her headpiece for the ceremony in a few days. She ran her fingers over its soft coral fibers. They’d been woven together strand by strand for weeks to make the ceremonial garment. Its little sleeves were adorned with pearl beadwork to match the ceremonial headpiece, also made just for her. Both were simply stunning.
“Nice to meet you. I’m . . .” She cleared her throat. Too high. She had to come across as serious. Her father always sounded so deliberate and authoritative when he spoke. She straightened herself, and the words came out stronger this time. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Ariel, Protector of Carinae. How can I be of help?” She dangled her hand in the water, imagining someone taking it in greeting.
She carefully set aside her ceremony shawl and made her way down the halls. The castle came to life with the squeaking of shells being cleaned and windows being opened. Urchins dragged their bodies along the bone walls to polish them, while opah and tuna shuffled back and forth to heat the lower-level rooms.
Ariel frowned impatiently as she was caught in a corridor traffic jam caused by a school of tidying-up wrasse, ushered along by Julia, the head housekeeper.
“Good morning, Julia!” Ariel’s frown turned into a smile as she spotted the matronly arthropod who diligently tidied her bed each morning. Ariel really could make her own bed. She just preferred to fill her tummy first. She’d tell Julia not to worry about it, that she would get to tidying her room later in the day, but she knew the dutiful housekeeper wouldn’t hear of it.
The daughter of the king’s room should be pristine, Julia would say.
Ariel kept moving. The idea of her entire sea present at her ceremony was beyond thrilling. They could make enough room for everyone, surely. She descended a tunnel to the lower floor of the castle, swishing faster down the corridor, eager to get her father on board with her idea during their morning meal.
