Well, this has been sitting in Microsoft Word compelted for quite some time... Anyways, I decided to bring it out now. Just to get the facts straight before I go with this;
a) I know that Blackbeard actually treated his prisoners decently for a pirate, and that he didn't kill everyone in a ten feet radius. I know, I know; I did my research. But I needed a supervillain, so I'm doing what the rest of society's always done: romanticising Blackbeard and turning him into Captain Hook's soul sister.
b) Reyna isn't going to sound a lot like Reyna in the first few chapters. Bear with me. This is a story about Reyna growing up as well; so it isn't necessarily out of character, it's more like a younger, more naive version of her.
Thanks to Princess Anonymous who read this first, and I hope you enjoy! Not all chapters are this long.
1
The Island
I looked into the kitchen. None of the appliances were on, the lights were off, the curtains hadn't been pulled open, and Hylla wasn't there either.
"Hylla!" I called. "Hylla!"
"What!" Her reply came from her room. Wow-I'd forgotten to check her room. Smooth.
"Do you have the straightener?"
"Which one?" she asked.
"The good one," I replied.
"Oh you mean mine," Hylla said.
"Whatever," I rolled my eyes so she couldn't see. "Do you?"
"Yes."
"Come on- I need it!" I said. "Your hair actually looks good when it's curly."
"No it doesn't," Hylla said.
"Come on- my hair's already a mess, the highlights are wearing out!" I whined. She ignored me. I guess since we've been living just the two of us for six years she'd perfected that; just as I'd perfected the art of not being ignored.
I pounded on her door some more. "Hylla I'm going to be late!"
"Well so am I!"
"Hylla!" I yelled through the door.
"OW!" The door opened and I saw Hylla standing there, shaking her hand.
"See what happens when you're yelling at me when I'm using the straightener? I burn myself- good job, midget." She said shoving me on the way to the bathroom to pass her hand under cool water.
"You deserve it," I muttered, walking into the room. The straightener was on the dresser, and I took it pretty quickly. I noticed a little bottle of nail polish shaped like a diamond that I'd never seen before.
"Hey Hylla, this colour's nice." I said examining the tube. 'Golden Rules' was the colour name, and the colour itself was caught between gold and brown. "Can I borrow it?"
"No," she called. I pocketed it anyway and gathered the straightener as Hylla walked in.
"Reyna- I'm not done yet." She said.
"Not my problem." I said ducking under her arm. She closed her arm around my neck and squeezed.
"Ow- let go or I'm going to burn you with this!" I said wriggling like a worm.
"You won't live if you try," she muttered. I fought and finally kicked back to her shin.
"Reyna!"
I managed to get myself free. I dashed into the bathroom and locked the door behind me.
"Reyna!" She yelled from outside, banging on the door. "I'm going to be late!"
"Well so am I," I muttered plugging the straightener into the wall.
It was lunch break, and Hope and I had crashed at my house.
Hope Longing had long blond curls, light as feathers, and brown eyes. She was fit and pretty enough to play on a TV show, and nice enough to be a superstar and endure people putting her face on lunchboxes and t-shirts, or yelling her name. It would drive me insane, but Hope was amazing that way. She was always patient with the customers at the spa; she was always polite and flattering. Circe loved putting her on any job that made her mingle. I was usually shut in the back because I in no way have any power over my tongue.
She was surfing the web and we were pretty much ignoring the TV as 'Dear John' rolled. We knew the script by heart anyways; we did this all the time during lunch break. Circe insisted most movies be anti-male and we'd just taken our wild pick at that one when we'd been told to pick a new movie.
"Hey- look at this." She said. I leaned in towards her and looked at the screen. It was one of those sites with a million tests on it- Which nail polish colour is the right for you?
"Seriously?" I asked.
"Yeah," Hope said. "I'm going to do it."
"In case you didn't notice, your nails are hot pink and lime green right now." I told her.
"So," Hope shrugged. She clicked on the bubbles next to her answers and got 'pink'.
"Okay so- I am secure enough not to follow every trend."
"But some." I said.
"Of course," Hope said. "I'm the perfect blend of preppy, stylish and cute- heavy on the cute."
"You wish," I joked. She made a face.
"…And I'm girly without being high maintenance."
"I think you're both high maintenance." Hylla said walking into the house. Obvious sign she hadn't forgiven me for the straightener spaz this morning.
"Hey Hylla," Hope said.
"Hi." Hylla raised her hand in hello and walked back to where our rooms and the bathroom were in the bungalow.
"Okay, your turn to do the test." Hope said pushing the laptop onto my lap. I just clicked on the bubbles without paying much attention. They were just tests made by other people. And as much as they were our only contact with anyone off the island- that didn't mean they were automatically right. Ever.
"Reyna?" Hylla called.
"Yeah?" I said, filling in the last few bubbles.
"Did you see the welcome badge? That I'm supposed to have on my uniform?"
"No." I said clicking on 'submit answers'.
"Can you help me look?"
"No." I said as it loaded. She muttered –probably something very against me.
You live for trends. They help make you look good, which is fine. But you can forget worrying about your look when you wear dark blue nail polish, which will look nice but slightly irregular, so you can finally feel confident and stand out.
"Miss Trend over here," Hope said bumping into my shoulder.
"Living for trends. What a purposeful life," I muttered.
"Don't worry, we'll find you some dark blue." Hope said, as Hylla walked past us again.
"At supper you are so explaining to me why this was in your room." She said doing the 'I've got my eyes on you'.
"You went in my room!" I protested.
"It's my house," Hylla said making a face.
"Circe's land," I said.
"I got the job first," she said, swinging the door open. I rolled my eyes at her and she left too.
"Hey," Hope said. "If Hylla just took her five minute break, doesn't that mean that we're due at the pool…"
"In five minutes!" I said. Hope clicked the 'off' button on the remote, I shut down the computer and we both bounced to our feet, and ran as fast as we could back to the spa area.
I wondered if I'd have ran just as fast if I'd have known what was coming.
I was putting a colourful drink down next to a woman covered in some hydration cream and wearing a bright bikini.
"Circe's Orange Coconut Smoothie Deluxe," I said. I hated listing the orders. What kind of idiot forgot what they ordered in five minutes' time?
"Does it have a vitamin boost?" She asked, not moving an inch to keep the cream from scrunching and ruining.
"Umm, no." I said. "Sorry miss." Did she think she was seriously not getting enough vitamins? Lying in the sun drinking fruit smoothies all day begged to differ. I was about to force feed it to her, but I picked it up and put it back on the tray. I manoeuvred around the pool, stepped over a trail of baby turtles that were dragging their way to the pool for a dip.
I stopped to take an order, dropped off a C.C. Citrus Shake, and got to the hut where everything came from.
"There's supposed to be a vitamin boost in the Orange Coconut," I said. The counter girl, Monelle, smiled at me with perfect white teeth.
"They're picky today?" She asked. I motioned my hand to my temples in a finger gun manoeuvre. Monelle laughed and emptied a package in the smoothie. "Hang in there. Here's the Berry Bazooka for the lady on the bottom pool, Brazilian Fruit Forest for the one on the left hand side pool you've got on the top floor, and you can just give this to the leopard on the diving board." She said dropping two smoothies and a strip of ham on the platter.
"Thanks," I said before heading off to the glass elevator that went inside the mountain. Tubes filled with tropical fish and others that were actually water slides twirled around the elevator like a candy cane. One girl shot past me, her arms crossed over her chest, and screaming bloody murder. She had definitely jumped into the tube from the top of the mountain… I hated the rush.
Other than that, I could see my reflection perfectly. I looked like Hylla except younger, and I'd barely ever tied my hair if I wasn't working in the kitchen. Getting brown highlights had been a way to see if clients wouldn't ask me 'do you have a sister?' They still did. I guess we had the same dark eyes- nearly shark black, and they seemed to stay shark black no matter what kind of contacts Circe put in. Maybe it was the hard and distinct features that Circe said would make great models. I'd never agreed to that. I'd always thought there was more to it than a model, but I wouldn't know.
The elevator stopped at the top floor and I stepped out. This was where all the best slides started and where people could go hand gliding from.
"Here's your smoothie, Mrs. Bowyer." I said putting it down next to her.
"Thanks, hon." She said, blindly reaching out for it, as to not move her face and crinkle the seaweed aloes wrap. Her hand was held out and Hope was painting sky blue nail polish on her nails. She looked up and grinned at me. I saw lids of bottles and various nail filing kits in her white coat's pockets.
Hope held out her hand and I tickled her fingers, held on, and blasted my hand away like a rocket ship.
"See you at the luau." She said.
I wondered if I'd have left if I'd known that they separated the prisoners by where they'd been captured.
Hylla
My hands were chained behind my back, and my jaw locked. My cheek stung like crazy where it'd been cut, and my heart thumped like the little drummer boy.
"Hylla…" A voice behind me said.
"I know, Rey, I know." I said. "Just hold on."
We marched across Circe's island in flames and ashes behind everyone else on the island, and I couldn't believe it. I'd been so sure this was going to be safe, and now my sister walked on ruins with ancient guns pointed at us from nearly 360 degrees.
They loaded us into different ships.
"He stole me ship, that swine of a lad… Children of the sea think they govern it. We'll show that stupid Percy Jackson!"
My thoughts exactly, I thought as Blackbeard called that out.
He shot his gun in the air, making us all jump. He yelled again; "I'll get the old girl back! I'll get the old girl back!"
The pirates cheered and I felt the fear collecting in my throat. I looked up at the sky.
"Mother, help." I whispered. I'd never prayed before. I'd always ignored the fact there was someone up there to pray too, but now I needed help. Reyna needed help. And Circe couldn't give it to us; I'd been there when her body had thudded to the ground, and I'd watched Blackbeard slide his sword out from her chest.
"Walk, girl, walk!" The pirate said kicking at my shin with his wooden leg. It'd been gnawed a bit by the guinea pigs.
The wood was hard but I did what he said and tried to ignore it.
"The two lassies in the back, in my own ship!" Blackbeard called. Oh no, that was us...
He divided his men; some of them were to follow the Queen Anne's Revenge and the two who'd stolen it and blew the island apart. Percy Jackson and the blonde. The name set my teeth on edge already.
The rest were to take prisoners at sea, but Reyna and I weren't with them. We were with Blackbeard himself, and another small group of prisoners, and I was very, very afraid. I noticed that most of them had been high in charge of the island. Circe wasn't there, of course. Circe was dead. The idea haunted me and made me shiver. But I saw Valentina the vet, Maisie the head hair stylist, Paulette from the cosmetic centre, Tabitha who'd been Circe's right hand in everything... And then me, head of client service. And Reyna dragged with. Oh no…
An old man with a limp and no shoes took us into a ship and to the bottom; a place that I knew was a cargo hold. They threw me against the wall and I heard a second thump, and Reyna's cry of surprise.
"The Captain will see to you soon," he said. "Pray to the god of your choice now." He added darkly before going back above deck, slamming the door. I jumped towards it but there was a click and I knew it was locked.
"No!" I slammed the door and dropped my head against it.
"Hylla?" Reyna asked. I took a deep breath and turned around.
Only 12, but tall for her age, she got to my shoulders. Her black hair was loose down her back, except for two gold braids, on either side of her head. Her eyes were scared, like whenever a victim realised that Mistress' milkshake was more than a treat.
"Come here," I said. She came to me and buried her face in my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her. I hadn't done that in a long time, even if it used to be daily activity. I'd been taking care of her from the time she was six, up to whatever age she'd started not wanting to be taken care of anymore.
After Dad died in that police shooting in Atlanta, I'd had absolutely nowhere to go. It was a mix of mixed up planes from the foster family that was supposed to take Reyna and I to a state home in the south of the state, and sheer luck that we'd gotten to Circe's island.
I'd sworn I'd take any option I could, any option that would stay far from guns and violence long before we got there. The state home would separate us, and I couldn't let that happen; violence had ripped my family once, I wouldn't let it do it twice. I couldn't believe I'd watched Dad clean his gun in the living room in the evenings, and that I'd even asked to shoot it once. He'd smiled and called me my mother's daughter, saying that one day I'd be able to do that kind of thing. Violence disgusted me after I saw my father's bullet wound, which was also technically the last nail in his coffin. Circe's island was too good to be true, and now you couldn't tell it'd ever been anything if you looked.
"It'll be okay, we'll get out of here." I said.
"How?" She asked. "No potions, charms, or weapons." Reyna said. The door clicked open and we scrambled back and away from each other.
Blackbeard was flanked by two other pirates as he looked around. He was a big man, and I was pretty sure there were shoulder pads in his crimson jacket. The colour of blood, some part of me kept thinking. He had tied wicks laced with gunpowder in his hair, and Circe had told me that this barbarian lit them during battle. Just for show, of course. He wore bandoleers packed with guns, pistols and knives, which added to the two already on his side. He was a walking artillery unit that the US military would sit up and beg for! His name hadn't been given lightly, as he had a rugged bear like wire covering most of his face. But I could still see his blood lusting dark eyes. And they landed on us.
"So it's true, eh? Two daughters of Bellona; landed on an island of a spa. Ha! You are out of place, wenches."
"Don't call us that," I said.
"I'll call you what I like, wenches. You should be thankful you and I are half-siblings, and unfit to be my wife."
I clenched my teeth.
"But perfect for prisoners. Dangerous prisoners maybe, but that's why you're in a different room, is it not? And it's part of the fun. The thrill…"
Some thrill…
"You- I remember- fed us every day and never tried to let us out." He said pointing at me. "And you were always on the heels of the witch." He turned to Rey. "As for you- you're her sister; enough damage right there. We'll keep you here for as long as we like."
"Let us go." I said.
"No," Blackbeard said. "You be the caged one now. And watch your sister suffer to it; as I watched my crew."
"Let her go! At least her! Do whatever you want with me, but not her!" I cried.
"If I'd let her go," Blackbeard said, "She'd walk into the Sea of Monsters. You want that?"
"It must be pretty sad that you're our best option." Reyna snapped at him.
"Reyna!" I hissed. Blackbeard raised his rifle and pointed it directly at her head. My heart froze and went into hyperactive mode. Don't shoot, I prayed. Because if he shot…
"You're the prisoner. The prisoner has no power. Stop acting like you have it. Is that clear?"
Reyna shut up, but her eyes told the story.
"Perfect," Blackbeard said. "We're sailing for England. Then we'll see what you'll be good for."
He left, leaving us alone. Reyna sunk to the floor, leaning back on her arms, her head turned away from me.
"Reyna-"
"Don't talk to me."
"Rey-"
"Don't talk to me."
"Yeah but-"
"I said don't, Hylla!" She yelled. "You didn't want me to learn to fight. You didn't want me to learn how to be strong, and now you're asking me to be strong? What the heck?"
"Reyna I never thought this would happen…"
"We're demigods! Blackbeard said it even if you never admitted it when I asked! Bellona's the war goddess isn't she? Even worse! How could you think we'd never need to fight?" She yelled at me. I tipped my head back.
"I don't know Reyna. I just wanted you to be safe."
"Well I'm not, and you're not, and nobody is." She said.
I bit my lips.
I could feel the waves on the boat as we sailed away from the island, on a ship we were prisoners in. Suddenly there was an explosion. Reyna and I ran over to the tiny porthole window, and I saw a fireball in the distance. The island…
I put a hand to my mouth and nearly cried.
"See?" Reyna said, her eyes filling up with her own tears and bitterness. "Nobody's safe." I blinked my tears away.
"It'll be okay." I managed. I tried to talk to her again but she ignored me. She gave me the silent treatment.
I could hear laughing pirates and footsteps above me, shooting into the air for the fun of it and drunk with victory and possibly stronger stuff; but not my sister's voice.
I felt miserable, but I didn't cry, because Reyna was still looking at me from the corner of her eye.
We were completely alone, and even worst because Reyna refused to talk to me for the whole day. She probably hated me more when we heard them say goodnight to each other and go to bed. One day, that'd been.
She might not be talking, but I knew we both wondered how many days it'd be.
