Daydreamer747 – Yes! I'm so glad it was a surprise! I wasn't sure if I made it too obvious or not. I hadn't thought about Anastasia until I saw your review. I've been coming up with this story for such a long time now, I've already gotten used to making her a hero in my head. Thank you so much for the review!
ARTtastic – That's good! It's a fun surprise that way! I almost wish someone else were writing this so I could read what happens next. I'd fangirl for sure. Gah, I'm so happy you'll check out the book! I try to get everybody to read it. Also, you have reviewed every chapter I've posted, and I so appreciate that! It's awesome!
Author's Note: Ahaha, wow, did this chapter ever end up being freakishly long. Sorry about that if it is an uncomfortable amount of reading. Let me know how it went or if it was too long or just right.
Also, this will probably be the format for the rest of the chapters: a little bit of one or two character's side and then a little bit of Jaimie. We'll get around to all the side stories eventually, and they'll tie into the main one.
Definitely more Jaimie in the next one – we'll find out how she and James do when they see each other again. And now, enough of my ramblings – ENJOY!
"I've never fooled anyone. somebody I wasn't."
I've let people fool themselves.
They didn't bother to find out who and what I was.
Instead they would invent a character for me.
I wouldn't argue with them.
They were obviously loving
-Marilyn Monroe
"Just…say it."
"You're Captain Hook," she said at last, then again, softly, "Captain Hook."
Jaimie walked home alone that night, just like she did every night.
Her parents were away on a business trip again – a long one this time. They had told her they wouldn't be home until March, and only then if everything went smoothly.
"Around the time of spring break, Jaimie," her mother had promised at the airport, "We'll do something fun, then."
'Something fun.'
As if she were still a little girl who only needed a trip to a theme park or a cone from the ice cream truck to be happy.
Really, she just didn't want to be alone anymore.
But it wasn't unusual for the students at Riverdale to not see their parents often. Many of them were the sons and daughters of doctors, lawyers, stock-brokers, and even celebrities, showing up to school in sports cars or driven by their chauffeurs.
As for Jaimie's parents, they were lobbyists for a pharmaceutical company – a company they hoped Jaimie would work for someday.
There were so many things Jaimie would rather be…
Sighing, she stood in the doorway of her house, plopping her backpack into the entryway and slipping out of her shoes.
"And on top of all of that," she said to herself quietly, "…He hates me."
She was, of course, talking about James – Captain Hook – the boy with the blue eyes who she only just recognized as her chemistry class was letting out.
How didn't I realize it sooner?
Jaimie climbed the stairs to her room, flicking a button on the remote to turn on the television. She turned it on every night, but never watched it. She didn't like how quiet the house was without it – so very quiet and empty.
If I only I had realized…
She still had homework to do yet, too – literature – but Jaimie just couldn't get her mind off of everything.
I wouldn't have reacted that way.
Going to her bookshelf, she ran a finger down the spines, lined up neatly in a row, until she stopped on a well-worn, well-loved, blue bound book with gold lettering.
It was a book she had read many times, underlining her favorite parts, memorizing others.
She opened it to the first page:
"It was his eyes. The color of blue forget-me-nots, piercing, like two novas in a sky of dying stars. Profoundly melancholy, yes. Except when James was angry, at which time two red spots appeared in them and lit them up horribly."
'How well it describes him', she thought, settling onto her bed.
All else was forgotten as she curled up into her covers, the soft glow of her bedside lamp keeping the darkness away, and read the book she knew so very well into the wee hours of the morning.
Jaimie woke to the sunlight streaming in through her window.
Confused, she blinked her eyes and looked down at the book in her hands – the book she had fallen asleep reading that night.
Setting it down on her bedside table, it fell open to the passage she had read last:
"If his father was connected to nobles and nobility, as James had been raised to believe was true, then all he had experienced of this nobility was neglect and an allowance."
Jaimie stood and looked down at herself. She had fallen asleep in her uniform, and now it was wrinkled and creased beyond repair.
Then her eyes flickered to her alarm clock, and she gasped.
9:37 A.M.
Nearly tripping herself on the stairs, Jaimie raced through her house, stopping only to grab her backpack and put on her shoes on her way out the door.
Once she arrived at Riverdale, red in the face and breathing heavily, she tore through the hallways in a panic.
Jaimie had never been late to school before – not ever. Once when she was in elementary school, she had left her backpack in her father's car overnight. He carpooled the next morning with a co-worker, taking the keys with him, and she had nearly hyperventilated.
It was a line her parents forced her to walk – a terribly thin line. Perfect grades were a must in the Freeman household. Never be late to school. Never do poorly on a test. Never miss an assignment.
Always be perfect.
Now, already having missed literature class, Jaimie raced through the hallways towards the choir room, which was near the gym and the pool.
But just as she was turning the corner to the big double doors of the music classroom, an arm shot out, long and skinny, blocking her way in.
"Well, hello there, pretty lady…"
Jaimie stopped short abruptly, textbooks slipping out of her hand and onto the tile floor.
Stooping, she reached to pick one of them up before the person's foot came down, pinning it to the ground.
"Now, now…" a silky voice reached her ears, "Where ya'll headed to in such a hurry?"
Jaimie stood, facing the stranger cautiously.
He was a tall, black boy, lanky and thin with an incredibly messy shock of dark hair that stood up straight from his head in wavy tangles.
He grinned down at her, a gap between his front teeth, but the smile didn't reach his eyes, which were an enigmatic shade of purple – jewel-bright and malevolent.
Jaimie glanced down at her textbook – still beneath the stranger's foot – feeling a little flustered.
"Err…I'm late for class," she began hesitantly, looking over his shoulder at the hall clock, "So, if you'll excuse me…"
"Aw, come on, darlin'," the boy laughed, putting a friendly arm around her shoulders, "There's only a few more minutes of class left – no point in heading in there now, is there?"
"Well…I suppose not," Jaimie admitted reluctantly. The boy's arm slipped off of her as she stooped to pick up her books, tucking them neatly under her arm once again.
"Such a tricky thing, isn't it?" he said to her, following her gaze as it flickered back to the clock again, "Time?"
As he spoke, the hands of the clock began to spin backwards, out of control, first fast and then slow, like a thing possessed.
"H-how…how did you—?"
"Now, don't you worry yourself about that," the boy said dismissively, beckoning her to follow him, "But speaking of time…how would you like to have your fortune told?"
"My—"
"Aren't you curious?" he prodded, taking her hand and tugging her through the doors of the swimming pool, "Don't you want to see what your future holds?"
She followed him past the diving boards and behind the bleachers where he plopped down comfortably, cross-legged, shuffling his deck of brilliant purple and green cards.
Jaimie gasped as realization hit her.
"You're the—" she stopped abruptly, catching herself as she heard James's voice once again in her head.
"Say it."
The look on his face – it had been so angry and so…hurt.
But the boy in front of her just chuckled, tugging on her uniform until she sat across from him on the dirty, tile floor.
"Doctor Facilier," he offered, shaking her hand, "The Shadow Man. Yes, very good, Jaimie. You're quick."
He spread the cards out on the floor in between them, shooing a discarded candy wrapper out of the way as he did so as the sounds of the swim team's practice reached them through the spaces in the bleachers.
"Good, Ariel! Good!" Jaimie could hear the coach shouting over the sound of splashing, then, blowing the whistle, "Come on, Melody, pick it up! One more lap to go!"
Ignoring them, Facilier began to mumble something under his breath, running his hands over the cards. Jaimie inclined her head towards him, trying to hear what he was saying, but it didn't sound as if the words were in English.
He caught her listening in and smiled at her, pulling the deck back together with one swift movement.
He held them out to her and said, "Go on. Pick three."
Jaimie leant forward, regarding the cards with care. She reached for one slowly and then paused, indecisive.
Facilier winked at her, and she blushed, taking three from the middle.
"Here," she said quickly, handing them to him.
She watched, intrigued, as he flipped them over, perusing them mildly. He made a face at one of them, teasing her curiosity, before lying them face down on the floor one by one.
"Hmm…interesting," he said, turning the first one face-side up.
"What?" Jaimie asked breathlessly, excited in spite of herself, "What is it?"
It was a picture of a fair-haired youth, careless and unassuming. He carried a knapsack under a golden sun, picking his way cheerfully across a rocky path with only a dog as his companion.
Facilier waved his hand over the card, and suddenly it was Jaimie's own likeness there amongst the unbeaten trail.
"This, my dear," he said slyly, grinning his gap-toothed smile, "is the Fool."
Jaimie's mouth formed a perfect 'o' of astonishment before she caught herself, looking slightly offended. Tugging at her hair self-consciously, she frowned down at the upturned card with reproachful eyes.
Is he making fun of me?
"Now, hold on," Facilier assuaged her, patting her knee reassuringly at the sight of her chagrined face, "It isn't what you're thinking."
Running a long, thin finger through the dust on the floor, he drew a circle and a few lines of rays – a sun.
"The Fool is innocent," he explained expertly, "immune to the disapproval of others, and comfortable in his skin. He is light – he is the first step of a new journey. Influenced by no one, every path is open to him so long as he makes the move to take it."
Jaimie listened to him quietly, her large, brown eyes flickering between the card and its master as he spoke.
Facilier smirked. Naiveté – another characteristic of the Fool, and how naïve she was, indeed, sitting there under the bleachers with someone she knew to be a villain with trusting eyes and an open heart.
Flipping the next card over, he revealed a couple – a man and a woman – encompassed by the wings of an angel. The woman looked to the sky, straight into the eyes of the angel, while the man had eyes only for her.
"Ah," Facilier said softly as Jaimie slid the card closer to her for a better look, "The Lovers."
Jaimie looked positively floored, and – could it be? – bless her, the child was actually blushing. Biting back a laugh, Facilier stroked the card and it became animated, playing the scene out before them.
"The man cannot see the angel for himself," he narrated as they watched it, the little characters following the words like well-rehearsed parts, "But the woman, see, she is looking at it, and so he knows it is there. She teaches him things he might not otherwise know."
Jaimie picked up the card and watched it with interest.
"So which one am I?" she asked curiously, looking from the man to the woman.
"Hmm, an excellent question," Facilier remarked, watching her thoughtfully, "But, you know, duality is a strong theme of The Lovers card. It is a mutual relationship, though not, might I just add, necessarily romantic, but beneficial for both parties. No doubt you will both give and receive in your turn…"
He trailed off when he saw the look on her face as she looked at the little card. It was wistful almost…and a little sad.
"Oh my," he said quietly, tugging the card out of her hands gently, "You're already thinking of someone…aren't you?"
Jaimie flushed a brilliant shade of scarlet as her hands dropped listlessly to her side.
She opened her mouth to protest, but, at that very moment, the bell started to ring.
Leaping to her feet as if a snake had bitten her, Jaimie scrambled to get her books together, sliding a little on the dirty floor. Facilier just blinked at her, bemused, as she made a mad dash for her things, leaving her third card on the floor – untouched and forgotten.
Grabbing her by the hand, he halted her progress abruptly.
"Wait," he said, waving his other hand through the air and producing a card – a business card this time. The girl's look of surprise honestly never got old.
"My card," he explained, placing it in her palm and closing her fingers around it before standing up himself. He reached into his pocket and dug out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter.
"Don't be a stranger, ya'll," he said, popping a cigarette between his lips as he walked off, leaving Jaimie under the bleachers, looking down at the card he had just given her.
The sound of the swim coach's whistle snapped Jaimie out of her reverie and she turned tail and raced off, through the double doors and into the teeming hallway, Facilier's business card tucked safely into her pocket.
As for the Shadow Man, he had a card of his own to look at – Jaimie's final card – which he had slipped into his breast pocket. Watching her retreating back, he slipped out from behind the bleachers and climbed up the stairs, taking a seat in the third row.
It was the best place to skip class, the pool. Now that swim practice was over, no one else would be in for the rest of the day. The gym classes didn't start using it until it was snowing outside, and that was months away.
Flipping Jaimie's final card around, he regarded it thoughtfully. The High Priestess – the card that told him everything he needed to know about the girl.
One side black and the other side white, the High Priestess card showed a woman in robes, a cross emblazoned on her front.
She, too, represented duality – an ability to keep the balance between all things, but the strongest meaning of the card was what interested Facilier:
Pure, unbridled potential.
He had felt it in her, too. That had been the whole idea of reading her fortune, after all – to get a feel for her and her power.
It was there, just below the surface, but dormant. Facilier had slipped in a trick here and there – the spinning clock hands, the magic tarot cards, pulling his business card from thin air – in the hopes that it might induce a spark in her, stir the gumbo pot a little.
'If I keep at it long enough…'
Facilier glanced down at her cards again, grinning wickedly. Uninhibited trust, the chance of a partnership in her future, and the quite literal reading of an immense, raw power…
Yes, it seemed as if the odds were in his favor.
If he could wake Jaimie's power without making her aware of it, he could use it at his will, and then…
Perhaps, he'd finally settle his debt.
As if in reminder, his shadow slipped out beside him on the bleachers, smiling nastily at him – the companion he would never be rid of.
'Not without a little help.'
A splash interrupted his thoughts just then, and Facilier's gaze was drawn to the pool.
One of the swimmers must have hung back.
A girl surfaced near the deep end of the pool, black hair tangled and wet.
Casually, Facilier made his way down the steps of the bleachers, stopping at the edge of the pool. He might as well start getting to work if he was going to find enough souls to pay the nasties back.
After all, who knew how long it would take for Jaimie to come around?
He took a drag of his cigarette, exhaling slowly. The stress was beginning to get to him.
Every day the heathens sent him a different reminder – a different shadow to haunt him in the night…
"Hey!" a voice said suddenly, causing him to pause.
Facilier looked up as the girl swam over to him and stopped at the side of the pool, propping herself up on the edge with her skinny elbows.
"You can't smoke in here," she stated, frowning. Her stormy, ocean blue eyes watched him carefully as she pushed a dripping strand of hair out of her way.
Regarding her quietly, Facilier remembered, vaguely, a conversation he had overheard the day before between two swimmers. Finished with practice, the two had swapped their usual gossip for the day, towels draped over their shoulders.
Something snippy about 'that freshman' who would 'never be as good as Ariel' no matter how much she practiced because, well, 'no one's as good as Ariel', apparently.
All the girl did was practice.
'She has no life,' he believed was the actual comment.
"My apologizes," Facilier said smoothly. He looked down at her with his malevolent purple eyes, slightly irritated at having his first smoke of the day interrupted.
With a blank face, he flicked the cigarette into the pool and reveled at the little hiss it made as it hit the water, effectively snuffing out its short-lived existence.
Facilier watched, amused, as the girl rushed forward with a splash, scooping the little stub up out of the water.
Turning angrily, her wet hair whipped around and stuck to the front of her face. She wiped it away impatiently and then threw the cigarette at the boy, earning an obnoxious laugh from him.
"What is your problem?" she snapped, blue eyes ablaze.
Calmly, Facilier shook the discarded stub off of his uniform, leaving a wet spot on the fabric.
"Shouldn't you be in class, little girl?" he asked derisively, stooping down on scrawny legs so he was closer to her level.
"Shouldn't you?" she mocked back.
When he started laughing at her, she turned a bright shade of red, embarrassed at being caught acting so childish.
"For your information," she continued haughtily, straining to be heard over the sound of his laughter, "I have permission from my study hall supervisor to be here."
Shuffling his saddle shoes on the tile floor, he humored her with an 'Of course'.
"And what," he continued suavely, "may I ask is your name, sweetheart?"
The girl glared at him with steely eyes. How easily terms of endearment fell from his sugar-coated mouth! She didn't trust him one bit.
"Melody," she snapped peevishly, before diving back under the water, "And don't call me sweetheart."
She gasped when she resurfaced near the diving board, and there he was – dangling a shoe over the edge lazily.
"So what's the point of all of this, Melody, dear?"
"How did you do that?" she demanded, astonished.
Ignoring her, he trailed a hand in the water, saying, "Why do you practice so hard day in and day out when you know, don't you, that you'll never be as good as that senior?"
Melody's face softened, a longing expression on her face as a melancholy quiet fell over her, sad and a little unsure.
That senior – Ariel – who moved through the water as if she had been doing it all of her life. It was beautiful – so, so beautiful – and Melody couldn't help but wish for it with all her heart.
'Like a mermaid,' she had always thought, watching the red-headed swim captain dive in and out of the water.
But she would never share those childhood fantasies with the other girls on the team.
"That's none of your business," Melody said finally into the silence of the pool, clasping her hand around her locket unconsciously.
"True," Facilier agreed cheekily, stretching out on his stomach and propping his chin in his hand, "but what if I told you…I could help you?"
Melody stopped short. She had expected more mocking, maybe, but certainly not this.
What is he playing at?
"Help me?" she repeated, watching him carefully, "What could you do?"
"Oh, Melody," Facilier said, winking, "The question you should be asking yourself is, what couldn't I do for you?"
He pulled out another cigarette and lit it nonchalantly, and this time the girl didn't try to stop him.
"I could make you everything you ever wanted to be, darling…" he continued, pausing to take a drag.
A mermaid?
"…the swimmer you always wanted to be."
"Like Ariel?" she asked, though she instantly felt a little disappointed in herself for doing so.
"Better," Facilier assured her airily, as if transforming girls into swimming stars was small potatoes compared to the other things he'd done.
"How?"
Pausing, cigarette in hand, Facilier grinned. His shadow flew out, joining Melody across the surface of the water.
"Voodoo," he said simply.
Melody backed away from the shadow, staring at it mistrustfully as it grinned a wicked smile at her.
She wasn't sure why…but this was oddly familiar to her…and she had a terribly bad feeling about it.
"…That's cheating," she said finally, looking offended by the very idea of it.
"Why?" Facilier challenged, beckoning his shadow back to him with a crooked finger, "You want it, don't you?"
"Of course I do!" she said quickly, frowning, "But—"
"But…?" the boy repeated impatiently, motioning for her to elaborate.
"It won't mean anything," Melody insisted, unable to take her eyes from the creepy, little black shadow cackling at his side, "It won't really be…me."
"Oh? And who exactly are you, Melody?"
When she didn't respond, he gave an exasperated sigh and turned sideways, putting out his cigarette on the damp tiles.
"There are so many people with the potential to be great – who have the power to make it," he murmured quietly, "but how can they if they never get their chance – if they're denied it?"
"That's not what I—"
"Are you saying you don't have the potential?"
"No, of course not!"
"Then what are you saying, Melody, dear, because I'm a voodoo doctor, not a mind reader."
Melody just sat there, stunned, floating in the water, trying to figure out how the boy had managed to completely turn their conversation around.
Of course I have the potential…Don't I?
Suddenly, the boy's face darkened, and his eyes narrowed at something just behind her shoulder. His shadow mimicked a shriek as he reached down, quick as a rattlesnake, and yanked her out of the water by her arms.
"Hey! What are you—?"
They wobbled on the diving board dangerously, but Facilier grabbed onto the top bar of the ladder, which slipped in his now-wet grasp.
The two of them fell onto the tile floor in a heap, Melody on top of his lanky frame. Pushing herself up on an elbow, ignoring a stabbing pain in her head from where it had hit the ground, she looked back toward the pool just in time to see a pair of scaly backs disappear into the water.
She made to get up, but Facilier put a hand on her shoulder, pushing her back down before approaching the edge of the pool himself.
He made a sweeping bow as the ugly creatures resurfaced, showing their toothy grins and mismatched eyes.
Moray eels.
"Flotsam, Jetsam," the boy acknowledged, nodding to each in turn, "Always a…pleasure."
He said the last part hesitantly, causing the fish twins to snicker and slither closer to his feet.
"Ursula isn't very pleased with you," one of them – Flotsam – hissed, rearing his head back and looking at Melody, who was watching the scene with a stunned expression.
"So…so Jaimie was right?" she asked weakly, bewildered. She never would have known that the people in front of her were Disney characters – but, really, what else could they be?
Voodoo magic, talking eels…
This can't be real.
And – wait a second – did that make her a Disney character? And Ariel, too?
"The last I checked," Facilier countered the eels smoothly, sparing Melody a brief glance as he did so, "no one was supposed to get hurt but the witch, so why are ya'll picking on little Melody, here, hmm?"
"I was only going to give her a little nibble," Jetsam responded sulkily, giving his tail a dismissive wave.
"No harm in dragging her to the bottom of the pool," Flotsam agreed consolingly.
"Ah, but Flotsam, that kills people."
"Oh…does it?"
"Regardless," Facilier interrupted them at the sight of Melody's stricken face – now pale as a sheet, "Is there a reason the two of you decided to grace us with your presence?"
"Ursula wishes to speak with you," Jetsam answered curtly.
"The cafeteria," Flotsam joined him, jerking his scaly head in the direction of the food court.
"Seven 'o' clock."
"Don't be late," they hissed together, retreating back into the water. Flotsam wriggled into the depths of the pool, disappearing from sight, but Jetsam paused, turning his crooked smile back on Melody.
"Give our regards to Ariel," he cackled with a wave of his tail. Then, he disappeared, and the two of them were gone as quickly as they had come.
Facilier watched the pool as the last ripple faded away, bringing the water back to its usual calm. Then, turning, he took Melody's hand and helped her to her feet.
"H-how do they know Ariel?" she asked, standing unsteadily on the slippery wet floor.
Facilier didn't even have the heart to tell her that they were from her own story – much less that Ariel was, in fact, her mother.
How odd that out of all the people in the school, Ariel had been the one Melody was drawn back to in the end.
Dodging the question as best he could, Facilier put a hand on either of her shoulders, steadying her.
"Are you okay?" he asked cautiously, studying her face. She was – and please excuse the fish pun – rather green around the gills.
Melody said nothing at first. She tottered a little, and then, leaning back slightly, she pitched forward and threw up all over his shoes.
'…'
Facilier looked down slowly, hands still on Melody's shoulders.
After a full morning of teasing, mocking, and conjuring up tricks at the expense of two high school girls, it was finally Facilier's turn to look surprised – unpleasantly so.
And was it just the chlorine filter making those bubbles in the corner of the pool, or was that Flotsam and Jetsam coming back to have a good laugh at him?
Facilier's head shot back up when he felt Melody's shoulders begin to shake under his palms.
"Heh."
The girl quickly pressed her hands to her mouth when he looked up.
"Heheheh."
Was she laughing?
"Heheheheheh, oh," she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stifle her giggles, "I—heheheh – I'm sorry. It's just…eheheheheh."
How awful. She really shouldn't be laughing. She had just thrown up on his shoes, after all, and after he had saved her from those eels, too.
Facilier spared her a look of irritation before glancing back down at his shoes warily.
"Thank you," Melody said, glancing up at him with her sea blue eyes.
Ignoring her, Facilier's hands fell from her shoulders as he stepped back and started towards the changing rooms. He needed napkins – badly.
But before he left, he hesitated, looking back to the girl.
"Here," he said suddenly, bringing another of his cards out with a quick flick of his wrist.
Melody took the card and eyed it, running a finger over the luminescent purple writing.
"Just in case," Facilier explained, "you change your mind about voodoo."
Clutching the card in her hand, soaking the little square through, she followed him in the direction of the changing rooms, swiping a towel from the bin as she went.
Facilier stopped just inside by the trash can, pulling a generous amount of paper towels from the dispenser. Making a face that Melody was sure she was meant to see, he began to clean his shoes off with great distaste.
"You'll need to go to the nurse's office," he said peevishly, discarding the soiled paper, "No doubt you have a concussion."
Melody just gave a little 'hmph' and wrapped her towel around her waist, suddenly feeling self-conscious about being in a swimsuit in front of him. She walked past the voodoo doctor, trying to avoid eye contact with the boy whose shoes she had thrown up on, but he gripped her arm suddenly.
"Oh, and Melody?" he said, looking her in the eye.
"What?"
"Don't swim in the pool alone anymore."
Disclaimer:
I do not own any of the Disney characters, including Captain Hook, Facilier, Melody, Flotsam, Jetsam, and Ursula.
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