Slamming both hands against one of the barred doors, Lena huffed in frustration. Of course, she thought to herself, the only cell containing anything of interest has to be the only cell with a door not swinging open on its hinges. Gritting her teeth, she wrapped her slender fingers around two of the bars and yanked it towards her, but to no avail. Giving up for the moment, she let herself sink to the floor, lying on her belly and folding her hands under her chin, gazing at the object of her wrapt attention, a worn, leather tri-corn hat, still in prime condition, untouched by the years it had spent under the Ocean. It was precariously balanced upon a rotting, wooden cabinet, suspended just a moment away from falling.

It fascinated her.

Mer folk didn't typically wear hats - they had no need for them. As such, Lena immediately found herself desperately wanting to touch the aforementioned hat with her own hands, rather than just gazing upon it as an outsider. Frustration took over her again after a few moments of peace, and she rose up from the floor, slamming her tail into the bars as if in the hopes of getting some sort of reaction.

A piece of wood fell from the ceiling.

Being under the water, it fell slowly, drifting towards the floor. Lena paid it no attention, instead reaching through the bars and stretching her fingers out as far as she could, trying to get to the hat. Only when the plank of wood shifted suddenly downwards and landed heavily on her shoulder did she pay it any mind.

Crying out in pain and shock, she quickly pulled backwards, trying to get away from the thick splinter that was cutting into her skin. This only served to push it in deeper, and she let out a noise somewhere between a gasp and a grunt as she lifted her other arm to shove the main bit of wood down to the floor. When it had settled, she turned her attention to getting out of the Pearl without injuring herself further. Swimming upwards, she made her way back through the maze of planks, up to the sleeping quarters and back through the large hole in the side of the ship. Weak from shock, she swam over to a nearby rock and lowered herself down on it. The sharp wood had torn her makeshift top, and she tore it away unhappily. She didn't really need it; scales curled up her sides and around to cover her chest from the rest of the world while she was in the water, but she went up to the Surface so often, that she could never really be bothered to take it off. And she felt safer with it on, protected by the little bit of the Surface that she could carry around with her.

Looking down at her shoulder, she winced. The shard of wood was the length of her hand and as thick as her little finger. Reaching for the torn material that used to be her shirt, she tore it into long strips, balling one up and shoving it in her mouth biting down hard before wrapping her hand around the piece of wood and yanking it out of her shoulder.

Her cries of pain muffled by the material in her mouth, she let the sea water clean the hole in her skin before hurriedly picking up a strip of black material. Reaching out with her mind, she located a pod of dolphins that she knew nearby and called out to them for help. Before long, they had arrived, one of the mother dolphins swimming towards her and taking the end of the material in her mouth. With the dolphin's help, the injury was soon bandaged, the blood stopped.

Thank you, she murmured to the dolphins in her mind.

Their leader bowed, the others following suit. Princess, he acknowledged. She wrinkled her nose in disgust, and a ripple of laughter went through the pod, but their leader was not finished talking. Why are you not at the palace?

She shook her head in confusion. I hate the palace. Surely you knew that.

The leader nodded his head in agreement, and she could feel his eyes smiling. Of course, your majesty. But is there not a special event going on today? One that I believe your cousin is the centre of?

Lena slapped a hand to her forehead. "No!" she exclaimed out loud. How could I have forgotten? Are you on your way there? The pod nodded their confirmation. May I . . . ? She left the end of the request open for interpretation, and the dolphins took it the right way, as she knew they would.

It would be an honour, Princess.

Even following behind the dolphins and being pulled forwards in their slipstream, she barely made it in time. Thanking them hurriedly, she swam as fast as she could to her room, throwing her draw open and scrabbling around inside it for her healing stone. Ripping the bandages off her arm, she pressed it to the wound and tried not to scream as the muscles and skin joined themselves together again, leaving a dark, lumpy scar at the top of her arm.

Somewhere in the palace, an orchestra began to play.

Swearing, Lena flew to her bed, scrambling underneath it for the silver crown that she was requested to wear at ceremonies. Pulling it out, she ducked over to the mirror, trying to arrange her tangled hair in a way that looked somewhat respectable while still covering the scar on her arm. She placed the horrendously beautiful crown upon her head, looped a string of pearls around her neck, and burst out of the room to rush down to the concert hall.

She could practically feel her mother's glare as she took her usual place next to her older sister, but she ignored it and pretended to focus on the orchestra that was still playing. Beside her, Evangeline pinched her tail.

"Where in the name of Calypso have you been?" she hissed under her breath.

"None of your business," Lena hissed back. She sensed her sister shaking her perfect, blonde head without having to look.

"Oh no, don't you dare give me that. Mother is furious! How could you-"

"Evie!" she cut in before her sister could continue in her whispered shout. She painted the most infuriatingly innocent and sincere expression onto her face, one that she knew would annoy Evangeline to the point of tearing her hair out. "You're interrupting the ceremony, Evie! Dear Alexander is about to get his award!" Sure enough, there he was, the stuck-up cousin that she had always held a personal grudge against making his way to the stage in time with the music which had finally come to its end. Lena and Evangeline ignored each other in favour of watching their father hand Alexander a golden trident and medal as a reward for some sort of service.

"Use this trident wisely," the king was saying in his rich, deep voice, "not to achieve your own ends, but for the greater good of the people you serve. From now on . . ." Lena zoned out as he droned on, pretending to fall asleep on her sister's shoulder. The older mermaid shrugged her off with a noise of disgust. She grinned.

When the ceremony was over, everyone swam from their seats down to the main hall for a banquet. The orchestra continued to play throughout the meal, and Lena went off to talk to her father, escaping her fuming sister and mother in the process. She found him discussing the principles of Ocean magic with her uncle and a few other officials. Rolling her eyes, she swam towards the group of serious adults and positioned herself underneath them, in the centre of their circle, already planning the best way to interrupt their conversation.

"Hello, daddy!" she squealed, zooming up and suddenly appearing in the middle of the group. The other Mer folk jumped, but the king merely raised an eyebrow at her. She made a face of disappointment, and flung her arms around his neck. "Aren't you happy to see me, daddy?" She could almost feel the disapproving looks burning into her back. After a moment of awkward silence, she moved away from her father with a bright smile on her face. "I'm happy to see you!" she exclaimed.

More silence.

At last, her father spoke.

"You cut your hair." It was a statement, not a question, one that made Lena's fake expression of excitement fall away immediately.

She nodded. "Yes, father."

He frowned, and opened his mouth, no doubt to lecture her as her mother had, but was interrupted.

"Your Majesty!"

The lines in his forehead deepening, Poseidon tilted his face upwards to face the guard at one of the top entrances. The Mer man was waving his trident, frantically trying to get everyone's attention. He yelled something in their direction, but none of them heard over the commotion.

"SILENCE," Poseidon thundered. A hush fell over the crowd.

"EVERYONE CLEAR OUT," the guard yelled. "IT'S THE FLYING DU-"

Chaos took over as a monstrous ship crashed through the delicate coral wall of the concert hall, sending shards raining down on the Mer folk below. The guests scattered in all directions, some screaming, some assembling with the guards to fight. The ship was crewed by scores of sea monsters, all cackling and calling for Mer blood, brandishing swords and pikes and all sorts of remorseless pieces of metal designed for killing.

Lena was entranced.

At the helm of the ship, a monster with a beard of tentacles and cruelty in his eyes who was clearly the captain called for quiet. The Mer stopped their frantic escape, trembling while the crewmen stopped their threats. Out of nowhere, Poseidon suddenly appeared, floating right in front of the helm of the cursed ship, trident in hand. "What is your purpose here?" His voice was deep, calming, and the braver Mer folk in the crowd straightened up a little.

"I seek a ship-a," the captain snarled, "one that I know lies nearby this flimsy fortress." His crew laughed. "The Black Pearl."

Lena jolted visibly, and looked down. The action was not missed.

"You," the captain murmured, looking past Poseidon and towards the young girl. "You know of this ship." She tried to look away, but found herself paralysed. The captain gave a cruel smile. "You know of its whereabouts, do you not?" She shook her head. An invisible hand locked around her neck, and when she looked up again, she was hovering directly above the captain, his claw locked around her throat. She wrapped her hands around it in an attempt to pry it away, but to no avail. One of his tentacles rose up and moved a lock of hair away from her neck before coming to rest on her collarbone. She gave a silent scream as the stinging rings burned into her skin. "Liar," he hissed. "You'd get along well with a good friend of mine. Jack Sp-"

"Jones!" the King's voice thundered. "Release her!"

Looking past Lena, Jones grimaced and threw her away from him. She slammed into the railing of the ship and gasped, drawing breaths as fast as she could. Looking down at the patch of skin between her shoulder and her neck, she shuddered at the sight of the swollen, red circles that marred the usually even colour.

"The girl comes with us," Jones was saying. "She'll lead us to the ship, and then she will be released."

Poseidon shook his head in refusal. Jones tilted his head.

"Do not test me, Your Majesty," he growled.

"She is not going anywhere!"

Jones gave a cold smile and drew his sword. "Oh, but she is, Poseidon-a. You don't have a choice."

REPLIES TO REVIEWS

TheHowlingBlueWolf: Thanks heaps, that means so much! Yeah, hope this chapter was okay ;P Thanks for the review, they make me smile :)

Luna543: Haha, thanks, yeah, she's really pretty, but not in mermaid terms, unfortunately for her.

Reviews are love :)

CJS xxx