Chapter 3
After a hectic night that involved little to no sleep I gave Baelfire some clothes that I attained before I realised that they were boys. I left him to dress. I walked up on deck and over to my father who was at the helm. Minutes passed before Baelfire appeared on deck and walked over to us, and I must say the clothes suited him.
"Your sea legs aren't bad for a landlubber." father comments.
"Yeah, but I still get queasy." Baelfire states.
"Oh, it'll pass." I add.
"Just think of yourself as an extension of the ship. Do you care to try a hand at the helm?" father offers.
"I know nothing of sailing." Baelfire responds but doesn't decline, so father pulls him over to the helm by the hook. I smile at them both.
"Oh, once you get your bearings, it's as easy as pie. Now. . .the left side is called 'port' and the right side is called 'starboard'. Go two notches to the port." father instructs and Baelfire actually does well but before I could say anything, I see Monroe run at me with his sword drawn. I quickly draw my sword and deflect his hit and enter a sword dance. I could hear some of the conversation between father and Baelfire, but not much. Then I hear something I've never heard before.
"When I was a boy, my father and I boarded a ship with plans to travel the realms. One morning, I awoke, and he was gone. Turned out he was a fugitive. He had fled in the middle of a the night to avoid capture." father explains.
"He abandoned you?" Baelfire states more than ask.
"Aye. That he did." father replies confirming what Baelfire said.
I never knew that. Father never told me that. I wasn't paying to much attention to my fight with Monroe that I didn't properly blocked an attack, and got slash on my arm. That got me to focus on the fight. After 20 minutes of sword fighting we stop at a stand still. My arm must have been bleeding more than I thought because Baelfire came over and asked if I was okay. I tell him I was fine, but he told me he would help me clean it so I take us to my father's quarters where some of the wraps were. Baelfire was wrapping my arm when I thought of something.
"You said before that a Pirate killed your mother." I say with question in my voice.
"Yeah, my papa told me before he left me. What about your mother, what happened to her?" Baelfire asked me.
"She died a long time ago." I say as I remember my mother. I look over to see Baelfire looking over at my father's desk with a furious look in his eyes. Before I could see what Bael was looking at his stood up grabbed a piece of paper off of the desk and a cutlass, before he runs out of the room. I follow after him to see him swing the sword at father.
"Face me villain!" Bael yell! Some of the crew go for their sword but I shake my head at them.
"What's this about, Bae?" father asks in a calm voice. Bael lifts a paper with Milah on it up.
"I found this. . .on your desk. It's. . .it's my mother. How'd you get it?! How?!" Bael asks as he swings the sword again and father ducks. "You're the Pirate that killed her!" Bael swings the sword and father stops it with his hook and twist it out of Bael's grip.
"I didn't kill your mother. We fell in love. And we ran off together. Your father lied to you. He was to much of a coward to tell you the truth. He tore her heart out and crushed it in front of me. And I've spent every moment since then wanting revenge." father explains to Bael.
"She abandoned me?" Bael says.
"Not a single day went past when your mother didn't regret leaving you, Baelfire. We talked about going back for you when you were old enough. Perhaps fate brought us together so that I can make good on those plans. We can live the life that Milah wanted for us, as a family." father says as he tried to touch Bael, but he pulled away.
"No! Stay back. You used me. You wanted to kill my father!" Bael shouted at father.
"Yes. I did." father confirms.
"You tore apart my family, as sure as if you'd ripped her heart out yourself. Take me back to my real family, the Darlings." Bael demanded with tears streaming down his face. And I had a tear rolling down mine as well.
"I can't. It's not possible to leave Neverland. But you can stay here under my protection." father offers him.
"I'd rather fend for myself than be with you. I want off this ship...Pirate." Bael turned around and saw me with tears running down my cheeks.
"Bael, don't." I tried to beg him. He turned back to my father and asked something that possibly shocked the entire crew.
"Did you fall in love and kill her mother, too?" Bael asked and everyone stopped and my father stayed silent. I knew he never loved my mother.
"Bael, he didn't kill my mother. I did." I say and everyone turned to me in shock especially father and Bael.
"What? What do you mean?" Bael asks with a horrified look on his face.
"When my mother gave birth to me, something went wrong and it caused her to get sick. If mother didn't give birth to me then she would still be alive. If mother didn't give birth to me here in Neverland then she might not have gotten sick. It's my fault that mother died." I cried and looked over to father. "I know you tried to hide it from me when I was younger but I heard some of the other mermaids talking about it." I looked back over to Bael and he didn't look horrified anymore but sad. He walked over to me and hugged me before we both walked down to the hold. I tried to convince him not to leave but he said he had to. I went to the kitchens to grab some food for him but when I returned to the hold he wasn't there. Then I heard some yelling on the deck. I reach the deck just in time to hear Bael yell at my father and see him get grabbed by some boys.
"Bael!" I yell as I drop the food and run to him and grab his hand before he was put on a longboat. I turn around to see my father and a boy with a scar looking at me in shock before I pulled out my sword.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here. It seems you were hiding more than just the boy. Grab her!" the boy says before I felt arms grab me and pull me off the boat. I land beside Bael and hear my father start to yell.
"She's not part of the deal!" my father yells at the boy with the club and scar.
"I think he will want to see her. Good-bye, Captain." the boy jumps into the boat and immediately starts to tie our hands and throw a sack over Bael's head. I was too busy struggling when they were tying my hands that I didn't notice that the ship was now off in the distance and the island was closer than before. I was slowly inching my way to the edge of the longboat to try and tip the boat so I could grab Bael and swim away from them, but apparently one of the boys notice what I was trying to do because he threw a sack over my head as well.
We reached the island and the boys roughly grabbed me and Bael by the arms and dragged us off the boat and over to a fire, which I could hear the crackle, smell the burning wood and feel the heat. I heard a thump beside me followed by a low small groan, which I suspected was from Bael. I was pushed to the ground, hard, and a sharp rock cut my palm. I quickly grabbed the rock between my hands before I was dragged up again and the sack torn from my head. I was blinded for a few seconds before my eyes adjusted, I looked to the left and saw Bael's sack was torn from his head.
"Is it the boy? The one he wants?" the boy with the scar asks two others.
"No, it's not." the boy with the scroll said as he looked back up at Bael.
"It's your lucky day, boy. You get to live. Put him with the rest." the boy with the scar said as he pushed him towards the other two boys. As the boys lead Bael away two more boys approached the scarboy.
"What should we do with her Felix?" one boy whispered to scarboy, Felix, but I heard him.
"I think Pan will be interested to know about the girl Hook has been hiding from us." Felix said as the two boys started to drag me into the jungle.