That night had been darker than most, the stars hidden behind clouds and the sea rolling and crashing against the Isle, rocking the pirate ship Revenge.
Harry had run away again and it had been the best month of his short life. Uma shared her food with him and snuck him into her bunk in the kitchen at night. They'd always known each other—running in the same circles—but now they were friends, even if they wouldn't say something like that. Uma liked the idea of them being pirates together and had even started calling the other kids hanging around the Chip Shop their crew.
"We could be captains!" she whispered one night when they were falling asleep while talking about their dreams.
"There can only be one captain," Harry explained. He knew it for a fact, having grown up on a ship. He'd done everything he could to be the pirate his father wanted him to be—cruel and merciless. He had been brutally serious as his father said childish things were for the weak and only fools smiled.
He'd forgotten all of that when he was with her. Uma thought a pirates life ought to be fun and that one should always smile when being wicked—how else would others know you enjoyed it?
It had been a good month.
And when it ended, he was sure he'd be killed.
One of his dad's goons had grabbed him up off the rocks near the docks and hauled him back to the ship. He'd taken the beating of his life that day and woke up below deck, cheek pressed to the floor and listening to the furious ocean through the ship. "You're my heir, boy. Ye'll not be running about with that sea witch," Hook snapped. "Don't forget that I can replace you."
The ship rocked, the storm building. It was so loud that Harry hadn't heard the footfalls of the crew until his door was thrown open. He couldn't gather the strength to get up on his own, hands taking his arms and hauling him to his feet—dragging him up through the ship and to the deck. Were they going to throw him overboard? Somehow he doubted he'd be that lucky.
He cringed against the wind, the salt water burning open wounds.
Lightning flashed, making a giant silhouette of his father just before Harry was shoved to the man's side. His legs gave out, landing him on his knees. One his shoulder's throbbed viciously where the pirate's cut had cut into him, the slash open down the side of his chest. He couldn't lift his left arm.
Someone was standing there on the gangplank between the dock and the ship straight ahead.
"I think the witch came for you, boy," Hook said in his gruff voice.
Harry blinked against the rain, heart pounding. No. No. It can't be.
Another flash of lightning and he saw Uma clearly. She took a step closer, half way to the ship now.
Joy and terror mixed in his chest, choking him. She had come for him? Why? She couldn't win. She couldn't save him.
"I will kill you if you board this ship, girl," Hook called, a little too much eagerness in his voice.
She took another step and flicked her sword at her side, spraying rain drop from metal. "You stole from me," Uma called.
Hook laughed darkly. "He is my son and I'll kill him before I let him leave."
"He's my first mate and I will have him back," Uma shouted and the waves slapped the boat. Was she doing that? Could she control a storm?
Harry wanted to shout for her to run but he couldn't, staring at her in shock and wonder. He had never even imagined this happening.
Hook bellowed a laugh that challenged the thunder. "You are no Captain, girl! You've no ship!"
Uma grinned, close enough now for Harry to see it clearly. She smiled, but it was full of fury and violent hunger. The lightning flashed and this time the dock behind her wasn't empty, but full of kids drenched in the rain and holding swords. "I mean to take yours. I came for my first mate and your ship tonight, but seeing what you've done to him…I think I'll take your hook too." She burst into motion, running at Hook—a man easily three times her size.
And the kids on the docks exploded into action, howling and hooting as they swung across the docks on ropes to jump aboard. The storm raged on, the ship hurling from side to side while the gangs fought the pirate crew. If the adults thought they fought dirty, they were in for a surprise.
Uma went straight for Hook, sword swinging. The Captain drew his and they clashed.
Harry could barely breathe. It was a nightmare and a dream tangled together. She grinned madly and suddenly Harry realized what a pirate life with her would look like—why she wanted to be one. She thought it was wild and free and that a crew was loyal. She had come for him because he was her first mate. He had grown up an heir to a pirate throne and never wanted to be a pirate before today.
Uma was faster than Hook, though not as strong. There was no way she could win—Harry was sure of it—but why did she believe that she could? What trick did she have up her sleeve? Who was she to defeat a villain?
Hook used his sword to push her blade hard to the side and slashed up at her with his hook. She twisted away but too late. He ripped her open from thigh to rib. She screamed when she fell, still clutching her sword and trying to crawl to her feet again.
Hook laughed loudly. "You're just a child!" he roared over the storm and stalked after her.
Uma laughed too, breathy and pained but full of amusement. "Wasn't it a child that beat you before, Hook?"
Hook growled, stomping on her sword arm. She screamed when a bone broke and finally let go of her weapon. "You're going to regret those words, witch…"
"Father…" Harry tried but he knew there was nothing he could say. Hook would kill her and there would be no more escape, no more dreams, no more hope—he would be alone. His father's son.
Hook grabbed Uma up from the deck, lifting her into the air with one hand around her neck. She clawed at his arm, trying to get air and when she did, she grinned and wheezed out, "You can't have him."
Hook squeezed, yelling in her face. "Who are you to take him?"
Who was she?
Harry stared. He'd picked up the sword she dropped and climbed to his feet.
Who was she?
He cocked his head to the side, staring past his father's shoulder at her. His mouth pulled into a smile to mirror hers—mad and full of pain, but unrelenting all the same. What had been her secret weapon? What did she have that made her so bold to challenge Captain Hook?
Her eyes met his, and he knew. He knew what she expected to happen—how she planned to win.
Who was she?
"Uma," he breathed her name, a prayer and a curse. His own personal Hallelujah.
He swung the sword, slashing at his father's back and bringing the man to his knees with a wail of surprise and pain. Pain. The adults didn't know pain the way the kids on this island did. They hadn't grown up with it. No, they had known a world outside with comfort and softness. Their kids could stand with broken bones and smile through busted lips.
Uma landed on her feet, body shaking with a horrible laugh that made his soul sing.
Lightning flashed.
She held up her hand and Harry tossed her the sword.
Hook growled and tried to stand but Harry kicked hard at the back of his knees to keep him down, one hand reaching out to fist his fingers in his father's hair. It would have been betrayal, if she weren't his world now—if every loyalty he had didn't belong to her and her alone.
Hook shouted fury and swung his hook back to slash at his son.
Uma cut down through the air with her sword, the blade close to his face but not touching him, instead catching the hook and pulling it away, all the way to the deck. She was impossibly fast, bending and twisting and when she came up in a twirl, she had removed the gleaming metal from Hook's wrist.
The ship had been taken—the old pirates driven off or made to walk the plank, and when the storm settled in the morning, a new crew wore old hats and set about playing pirates the right way.
"That can't be true…" Lonnie gasped, one of many surprised faces in the common room. It was pouring rain outside and a group of them had decided to eat lunch there.
Jay laughed from the couch beside Carlos. "No, that's exactly how it happened."
Mal nodded and Ben shifted his attention to her, eyes growing a little. "You were there?"
"Uma needed numbers. She offered to pay us 25% of whatever loot the pirates had on the ship when we took it," Mal explained.
"And if she didn't get the ship?" Ben asked.
Mal blinked at him, hesitating to say.
"If I didn't get the ship, I would have been killed and Mal would have had one less competitor on the streets," Uma explained with a shrug. Harry sat on the floor beside her chair, head leaned back against the side of her thigh.
Ben had noticed how she expertly pretended not to listen to Harry's story, attention on the book in her hand. But he'd caught her smirking once or twice as he flung himself around the room—reenacting all the parts himself. He had ended up on the floor, leaning against her chair. If the story were true, and Ben had no reason to doubt all his friends, he wasn't surprised Harry was so obsessed with Uma.
Both had seemed to be doing better this last week. He'd even caught a few almost sweet moments between the two. He'd asked Harry if they were dating. Harry had coyly pretended not to know what dating was but his happiness suggested they were.
"That's just horrifying," Jane finally burst.
Carlos turned toward her where she sat in the chair nearest his, leaning toward her. "It wasn't so bad," he lied.
"So, it didn't happen like that?" she pressed hopefully.
Carlos wavered.
Jay laughed. "It happened exactly like that but with more bloodshed. I still remember Evie having to sew up that gash in her like she was making one of her dresses…"
All the none villain kids in the room cringed. Evie noticed and cringed too. Mal laughed quietly at her friend.
"If it's true then show the scar," Audrey snapped from the corner of the room where she'd been sitting with a table of her own entourage. They'd gone quiet like the rest of the room to listen to the story.
Everyone froze.
Uma continued to read her book in her chair, but Harry was eyeing Audrey.
The princess hopped to her feet. "It's not hard to prove is it? An injury that bad would have to leave a scar…" She started across the room, straight for Uma.
"Audrey," both Ben and Mal said at once, though Mal's was more of a snap and Ben's more of a gentle warning.
Neither stopped her advance.
Harry shot to his feet just before she reached Uma, in that sinewy elegant way he always moved. Suddenly there in that little space in front of her chair, eyes crazy and fixed on Audrey like she were something particularly foolish.
Audrey jerked to a stop, nose wrinkling angrily at the pirate. "Get out of the way!"
Harry laughed.
Gil had left the table where he'd been playing cards and inched closer to the scene, now leaning over the back of Uma's chair. Somehow, she was still pretending not to notice.
Ben stood and came over, gently grabbing Audrey's arm. "You're being rude," he said quietly.
Carlos and Jay had both gotten up, nudging Jane away from the growingly tense scene. Carlos tossed an arm around her shoulders and walked her out of the parlor, saying something about how they needed to take Dude for a walk despite the storm.
"Uma…" Mal called in that strange tone of hers. Ben couldn't tell if she was somehow blaming Uma for what was happening or pleading with her to defuse the situation.
Uma snapped the book in her hand shut and tossed it on the floor angrily. "Harry, let's go." She grabbed his hand and that seemed to snap his attention from Audrey. For a handful of seconds he seemed to completely forget about the angry princess, smiling at the little gesture and lifting her from her seat. He even gave a flourished bow over her hand and kissed her knuckles.
She cracked a smile but rolled her eyes and led him toward the door.
"Just admit, your crazy boyfriend is lying," Audrey pressed, turning to stare after them, twisting her arm from Ben's hold.
Uma jerked to a stop and the room held its breath. Finally, she swiveled around and stared at the princess with a raised brow and a funny expression. "What part of that was the insult?"
Audrey gawked.
Uma looked at Harry beside her thoughtfully. "We're all crazy and we all lie."
Audrey heaved a laugh like she'd won. "So, you admit it? The story was bullshit."
Harry ducked his head low, whispering something against her ear, but she shook her head slowly, staring at Audrey the whole time. Finally, she reached up and lifted her sweater. Ben thought he should have looked away, but it had happened so quickly. One long, thick, scar carved up from the hem of her low jeans all the way to her first rib. "We don't always lie."
Harry smiled, biting his bottom lip.
Uma rolled her eyes at Audrey and turned, leaving with Harry's hand still entwined with hers.
Audrey stormed off not long after, her friends following.
"She really does know how to ruin an afternoon…" Mal commented before jumping up and grabbing her bag and Uma's book off the floor.
"I don't think it was Uma's fault…" Ben said gently, offering her his arm to walk her back to her dorm.
Mal took it and they left the room for the long quiet halls. "I didn't mean Uma. She's actually doing pretty well. I was sure she'd punch someone the first week." Mal smiled, like maybe that would have been fun.
Ben smiled at her. She had a wickedness in her that somehow didn't counteract her kindness.
She squeezed his arm. "Okay, I'll admit that Harry seems more…stable, here. But I'm not convinced that's because of Auradon and not just his friendship with you."
"I think that's still a compliment to me either way," he grinned and then sighed, remembering that scar on Uma. "That was a pretty intense story…"
"That? That was a cool story. The one where Hook came back for his ship was way worse."
"What?" He stopped just outside her door, turning to look at her.
Mal blinked in that way she did sometimes when she took a second to backtrack and decide if she'd given away a secret. He was comfortable now with her secrets, because he realized she was giving them out to him a little at a time—mostly just shadows in her past she wasn't comfortable with or feelings she didn't know how to put into words. "I mean. We weren't there, but everyone heard about it," she said, looking serious and a little haunted. "Some things didn't seem as dark there as they do here…"
"What happened?" Obviously, they were okay.
She touched his arm and he realized he'd crossed them over his chest. "Ben, they're safe now. They're happy. I actually think they might be dating…"
"Right?" he smiled a little. "I mean, they were on the Isle, weren't they?"
She laughed. "No. I mean, I guess, but no."
"I saw them kiss."
She raised an eyebrow but then giggled. "Yeah, they did that but I mean, no one dated and it's not like they were having sex…" she stopped walking when she said it, the word dragging out of her before she could stop it. And then she was blushing bright pink.
Ben smiled at her curious reaction and even more curious knowledge. "How could you possibly know that?"
She chewed her bottom lip and then glanced around the hall before grabbing his hand and tugging him into her room. "Okay, but if I explain you can't say anything to any of them."
Ben stared at her before nodding. "Yes. Okay. I promise."
She heaved out a breath awkwardly and paced a little. "Okay, well, pretty much none of the villain kids have… you know…"
Ben blinked. "Had sex? What? But they do everything! They steal and get in sword fights over pirate ships and kidnap kings!" he added the last bit, pointing at himself for example.
"Yeah… But sex is…" she struggled to explain this in a way that an Auradonian might get. "Well, aside from not wanting to get caught with your pants literally down—it's just not something that we thought would be fun." She was still blushing, eyes pleading with him to understand.
Ben started to laugh before he choked on it, feeling stricken and taking an actual step back. "You mean… You were…"
She rushed forward, shaking her head. "No. No. No. I wasn't. I was the daughter of Maleficent and everyone was too afraid of her to touch me. But some of us were and so we were all pretty much afraid of it. There's a reason we were in gangs early on. Safety in numbers, you know?"
Ben's mind raced. He'd just thought with everything going on, that he and Mal had been taking things slow. He hadn't thought much of anything about why because being with her in any way was enough to make him happy. In Auradon, everyone loved love. Romances were often brightly burning things. He was far from a virgin himself and he'd never expected Mal to be.
"So… You're afraid to…" he tried to ask as softly as possible.
Mal blushed again. "No! I just… That wasn't the point…"
He caught her hand when she flailed it, running his thumb across the back of it. "Do we need to start a sex-ed class at Auradon for you guys?"
She swatted his chest. "Don't you dare! And anyway… We pretty much sent Jay out to investigate the whole situation and he says sex is great." She tried to sound smug.
Ben grinned, tugging her in close and hooking an arm around her back. "Great, huh?"
Her blush stayed, eyes big and staring at him. How could someone so powerful and commanding, look so surprised and tongue-tied? "You're in charge of this, Mal," he whispered. "You know that, right? I'm never going to push, so when you want me you're going to have to take me… Or tell me." He did love the idea of her saying exactly what she wanted from him.
Her blush grew, spreading down her neck. "Maybe you and Harry are a lot alike…" she mumbled, breathy.
