Meg swung her sword and made contact with her captor's arm. He winced and momentarily let down his guard. Meg head-butted him in the face. He let go with a cry of pain. She spun to face him, her sword ready to strike again. He was a young man with ragged clothes clinging tightly to his muscles. His rust-colored hair fell over his shoulders and face as he bent over to see if his nose was bleeding. It was. This gave Meg a small amount of satisfaction.

"Who are you?" Meg demanded.

"I think you broke my nose," he muttered.

"I did not. Now tell me your name and why you grabbed me."

The man straightened up and faced Meg. His eyes were completely gray and wandered over her head. Meg had only ever seen one other person with all gray eyes before; an old blind man that lived in her village when she was young. She slowly raised her hand up in front of his face and waved it back and forth. He didn't even so much as blink. She lowered her sword.

"My name is Garrett," he finally said. "And I grabbed you because-"

"Because I told him to," a familiar female voice said.

Meg glanced to her side and her breath caught as her sister, Kayley, emerged from behind a nearby tree. Meg dropped her sword and without thinking wrapped her sister in a tight hug.

"Oh, my God," Meg whispered. "I thought you were dead." She held her sister at arm's length. "Katrina told me you all died in the fire. What happened?"

"I got away," Kayley said simply and airy as if it were no big deal.

"What about mom? And how did the house catch fire?" Meg asked. "And whatever happened to dad?"

Kayley took her sister's hand and led her to a log. They sat down and Kayley looked at her. "Dad died in the war. Not long after that, mom married an awful, abusive man named Ruber. For his money, mostly. She never really liked him. But, with dad gone we were desperate to keep the farm afloat and survive." Kayley looked away and stared into the distance. "One night they had a fight. I don't know what it was about; I wasn't home at the time. But, when I got home, I found mom lying dead on the floor. Ruber had poisoned her. He hadn't heard me come home and came in from out back with a torch. His plan was to burn the house down with mom in it so no one ever found out what he did. He was going to tell me it was an accident, but thought it would be better for me to perish alongside her so I couldn't tell anyone. Right after he threw the torch in the corner of the house, I knocked him unconscious and left him to burn. Later I learned that he had survived. I knew he'd come after me for trying to kill him, so I ran. I took the first ship sailing out and eventually ended up here, where I met Garrett." She looked back at Meg. "Garrett is the original lost boy. He lived on this island alone when I arrived. Pan and the other boys eventually found their way here. Pan likes to act like he's in charge, but nothing happens without Garrett's consent."

Meg frowned. This was all too much to take in. She decided to tackle the less taxing problem first. "If Garrett is in charge, why didn't you stop the fight just now? We have injured men because of this. One your lost boys is dead. You could have prevented that."

"I'm so sorry, Meg. We get pirates here more often than we'd like who try to kill us. We were just trying to protect ourselves. They were ordered not to kill any of you. But, I- I just didn't know what your intent was."

"Wait. You knew it was me and you still ordered the attack?"

"Yes. I'm sorry."

Meg got to her feet. "Jasmine was stabbed in the chest and may die. If she does, her blood is on your hands."

X X X

Aladdin gently cleaned Jasmine's wound. Though it stung, she was too weak to react. "You'll be all right," he said quietly, not looking her in the eye.

"Jane, sterilize this," Jasmine heard Anastasia say.

Jasmine looked over at Jane who was now sterilizing a needle with a candle's flame. Her stomach sank, knowing that needle would soon be threading through her skin.

"You've lost a lot of blood," Anastasia told her. "The stitches should stop the blood-flow and you'll be all right."

Jasmine tried to nod, but felt herself fading fast.

Aladdin took her hand. "If it hurts, just squeeze my hand."

When Anastasia took the needle from Jane, Jasmine closed her eyes and slowly passed out.

X X X

When Jasmine woke up, Aladdin was still beside her and holding her hand. She looked up at him and he smiled at her.

"Anastasia got you all stitched up. After some rest, you'll be just fine." He reached over and picked up a cup from the table nearby. "Here, I got you some water."

Aladdin held the cup to her lips and she weakly drank from it. "Thank you," she whispered. "How long was I out?"

"Only an hour or so." He offered her the cup again and she drank some more, realizing just how dry her throat was and also detecting the strange after taste of blood. She frowned when she remembered coughing up blood earlier on the deck. She wondered if she was cleaned up or if there was dry blood on her mouth and chin, making her look like an undead creature of the night.

"There was so much blood," Jasmine said quietly.

Aladdin nodded. "But it's over now."

"No," she choked out. "Kida, Gaston, Ursula, Davy Jones and the kraken are still coming after us. We can't win against them, Aladdin. I just know we can't. Even with the Black Pearl's help. I mean what are we? Just a bunch of soft, so-called pirates, a princess and a mute, illiterate mermaid." Jasmine shook her head. "No. There's going to be more blood. So much more."