Ch. 2

Once upon a time there was a girl named Halimeda, or Hali to her friends if she had any. Hadie is her brother and together they are the children of Hades, lord of the Underworld.

She wasn't particularly close to her to either of her family members as she spent most of the year at Serpent Prep on the other side of the Isle and Hadie attended Dragon Hall. Regardless of the time and distance separating them, Hali didn't have much in common with her brother anyway. Hadie was younger than her by a few years. He was idealistic which was something that Hali was not. If there was one thing that Hali and Hadie had in common it was their father. The siblings' lifelong bond was forged by their father's fiery temper. While Hades didn't exactly go easy on his son, he reserved only his worst moments for his first born, though the siblings could never figure out why. Feeling sorry for her, Hadie did what he could to take the brunt of Hades harsh treatment. That made him a hero in his sister's eyes. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

All in all, Hali mostly kept to herself, that is, until sweet Gil paid a visit to Hades' Souvlaki.

The shop wasn't exactly bustling, meaning Hadie could probably handle serving what few customers they had on his own. Hali didn't have anything better to do, though, and was hovering near the entrance glaring daggers at anyone who was foolish enough to leave without paying.

Even though she had never done anything to back up her vile reputation, the residents of the Isle weren't about to mess with the god of death's daughter. It went unspoken but while there were some powerful villains on the Isle, there was only one God among them. Hence why a henchmen's kid was reluctantly forking over some cash into Hali's waiting hand. She smirked at the guy and nodded her assent that he was free to leave now which he eagerly did. Pocketing the money, she noticed a new customer enter, one she normally wouldn't pay much attention to except she also noticed how at the same time her brother tensed and all but leapt behind the counter. She was immediately on alert.

The broad shouldered individual sat down at a table near the entrance. His new presence didn't seem particularly threatening enough to warrant Hadie's strange reaction. In fact, he actually smiled at her and waved as if they were old friends.

Hali ignored him and hopped down from her crate and made her way to the counter. She could feel Gil's eyes on her as she weaved gracefully through the mismatched tables. While she was only a little confused by this, she didn't miss a step. Leaning over the blackened and slightly singed counter, she asked, "Should I be concerned about who just walked in?"

Hadie grimaced at her from where he was crouching on the floor, peeking over the countertop. "You mean you haven't heard?" He glanced at her quickly and took her lack of expression as answer enough. "Every shop Gil has gone to since Uma left, he's robbed!" he hissed at his sister.

Hali narrowed her eyes and glared over her shoulder at the boy in question, still sitting at his table smiling pleasantly at her. She scowled at him and was pleased when Gil seemed physically taken aback. He quickly averted his eyes and wilted.

"Don't worry little brother, I'll handle this."

"Be my guest," Hadie muttered before slinking into the kitchen.

Hali pushed off from the counter and sauntered towards Gil's table. The boy appeared less confident the closer she got as he squirmed in his chair. Good, she thought.

His eyes flickered nervously between her and the grimy table. Yes he was nervous, but was also determined to do what, Hali wasn't certain. She sat down on the table's top, crossing her legs under her long black maxi-skirt. Tilting her head, she stared at him balefully.

"If you're here to shake down my brother for cash, you can forget it," she warned.

At that, Gil's eyes widened. He shook his head furiously and held his hands up in surrender. "No, no, that is not why I'm here. I come in peace, I swear."

Hali blinked at him. Despite not knowing Gil personally, she sensed that his response seemed genuine enough. And that was seriously throwing her off. He offered her a sheepish grin.

"Well, you're not here for the food," she retorted.

Gil lowered his hands to the table where he started to twiddle his thumbs. "Actually I, uh, wanted to invite you to a party."

Now it was Hali who was taken aback. "A…party?

He beamed at her. "Yup. It's tonight on the Lost Revenge," he added.

Something was truly wrong here. She didn't get invited to parties. People didn't talk to her if they could avoid it. And she certainly didn't run in the same circles as Uma's crew.

Gil was watching her hopefully. "Will you come? It's at nine."

She studied him closely trying to glean a darker intention behind his puppy dog eyes. She struggled. The very sight of this boy was completely disarming. Had her brother really heard that he was scaring money out of people. Or maybe Gil just smiled at them the way he was smiling at her and they floated the paper bills his way only too willingly.

"Why would you invite me of all people?" she asked curiously.

Gil rested his strong jaw on a fist and continued to beam at her. "Harry Hook wanted me to invite you."

Hali stiffened.

There was no way she had heard him correctly. A bright red blush crept up her neck and stained her cheeks. Flustered, she looked away from Gil's cheerful expression, fixing her gaze on the kitchen doors where she spotted Hadie through the window mouthing something that she guessed was "what the hell". She tossed her long auburn ponytail over her shoulder and ignored her brother's frantic gestures.

Collecting herself, she willed her blush to fade. Dear gods, her heart was beating so fast!

"He did, did he?" She glanced at Gil out of the corner of her eye. "Is there a reason he didn't he ask me himself, then?"

Gil was ready for this question, however. Harry had meticulously rehearsed his answer for what felt like hours until he had it completely memorized by heart. "He wanted to give you the chance to let him down easy in case you say no."

Damnation, that's a good answer, Hali thought.

Suddenly, she hopped off the table and clasped her hands behind her back. Gil watched her hopefully as she considered him thoughtfully. She was proud of herself for not jumping the gun and blurting out that YES she would very much love to go to a party with Harry Hook! But she still had a reputation to uphold.

"Tell Harry," A thrill ran through her just from saying his name aloud, "that I will think about it."

When Gil relayed her cryptic reply to Harry, the first mate would laugh hysterically and simultaneously feel like he was having a heart attack from the sheer stress of the situation. Gil would chuckle along with him, though he wasn't quite sure why they were laughing to begin with.

Hali was arguing with herself ever since Gil left the shop. She weighed her choices carefully. Yes she wanted nothing more than to go to a party with Harry Hook whose devil-may-care good looks sent her heart racing. But she wasn't Cinderella. And he was no Prince Charming. The invitation could be a trick. Weren't they always? She wasn't so naive to believe otherwise.

What are you doing? This is a bad idea and you know it, a voice sounding suspiciously like her brother scolded her in her mind.

"Shut up Hadie. Whatever happens, I can handle it," she mumbled under her breath.

After many clandestine visits to the shipyard in hopes of catching a glimpse of mad Captain Hook's only son who possessed the most alluring eyes, she was fairly familiar with the area. She believed that right up until she stood in the shipyard, eyeing the gangway onto the Lost Revenge. At this point she had even got used to the stench of rotting fish that permeated the air around the wharf. The ship was deadly quiet, not a soul in sight. The only lanterns to be lit were not on the ship, but scattered around the shipyard.

Perhaps too late is when the warning bells started going off in her head. Of course the invitation was too good to be true. This was all a trick to get her hopes up and lure her out of her comfort zone just to be humiliated in front of all the villain kids.

She glared at the shipwrecked vessel waited for the pirates to jump out and laugh at her.

The worst part about this entire situation, though, is that she had known better than to trust a pirate.

This was why she didn't bother with other people; why she didn't trust them. Figures all she had to hear was Harry Hook's name and she lost all her common sense. This was why she was better off alone, where she was less likely to get hurt. She shook her head to dispel the condescending tones of her father telling her everyone was just going to leave her in the end. She didn't want to believe him, tried to forget the look in his eye like he knew something she didn't, but it was in times like these that she couldn't shake off the words.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she spun on her heel and began to walk away.

"Someone's here early. Were ye that eager to see me?" someone spoke up behind her from the dark gangway.

Hali's eyes went comically wide. She would know that voice anywhere, which would mean Harry Hook was actually talking to her for the first time ever. A manic smile threatened to tear her face in half and only when she was sure she exuded calm did she turn to face him.

He stepped forward from the shadows, lifting his head as he entered the lantern's lights. They appraised each other unabashedly. He was decked out in his usual black, red, and leather pirate regalia. She was in her usual ancient Grecian inspired maxi dress, gladiator sandals, and cropped leather jacket. All in black of course. Each kid was a pale homage to their respective parent.

"Early?" she questioned, flushing slightly pink. "Gil said the party started at nine?"

Harry tilted his head, smirking at her. He should have known. After attending the same school all these years and growing up on the Isle, he had never once seen her at anything resembling a party. Halimeda Hades was the solitary sort who would never be caught dead at a social gathering. Harry had always just assumed she was a snob. How wrong he was.

"Don't ye know? Anybody who is anybody shows up fashionably late to a party," he told her.

Hali scrambled for an excuse. Reaching for her ponytail, she casually ran her black painted nails through the auburn strands. The gesture was meant to distract from her obvious distress.

"Right. No, I knew that," she lied. "I was just, uh, in the neighborhood and figured that I'd just drop by now."

He tilted his head back and gave her a playful smile that almost made her swoon. There was something about the way Harry Hook could look at a person with those impossibly hooded pale blue eyes of his that could send them reeling. They were Hali's favorite feature of his.

"I almost didn't think ye'd show up at all from what ye told Gil."

He had actually been terrified she wouldn't come. Not to mention, there was the chance that he had actually driven her further away which was why he'd specifically sent Gil to invite her because who could say no to a puppydog like Gil?

She placed a hand on her hip returned his playful expression. "Hard to believe anyone is going to show up if no one arrives in time," Hali teased.

Harry chuckled at that. "So she does have a sense of humor. This'll be fun. Why don't ye come onto the ship?" He threw his arm out with a sweeping gesture, pointing his hook towards the Lost Revenge.

The tall girl seemed to hesitate as her eyes flickered to the dark ship. Clearly debating with herself, she bit her matte black lip. What if this was still a trick? If she boarded the ship would she come to regret it? Her reputation was the only thing keeping her safe, after all. Once that was blown away, the Isle would see her for what she really was. Fragile.

His silver blue eyes danced in the torchlight with anticipation and that was it. She decided to throw caution to the wind. Already she had spent the entire day in a surreal reality dwelling on Harry's invitation. Standing there at the beginning of the gangway onto Uma's ship and Harry Hook was inviting her into his life like a dream. If she had dreams.

When he held out his hand to lead her across the gangway onto the ship, she took it.