Ariel awoke to the sound of shouts and cries from the docks! She grabbed her robe and tried to find her shoes. Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door. "You're Majesty? Are you awake?" Ariel recognized the voice instantly. "Come in Grimsby! What's going on?" She replied. The old man entered with a frightened lo0ok upon his face. ""You're majesty, while making rounds this morning some of the shipyards guards noticed that the ship the Scurvy Serpent had disappeared. When they informed the prison guards they told them that they had just discovered that the pirates were gone! But that's not the worst part!" "There's more?" Ariel asked shocked. "You're Majesty, Grimsby replied, the Princess Leah and her friend have disappeared as well!" Ariel just stood there for a moment trying to take it all in. "So not only did the pirates escape and steal their boat but they've taken Leah and Terence as hostages?!?" "As far as anyone can tell, that's what happened." Grimsby replied sadly. "Gather everyone responsible together at the docks, Ariel commanded, I will meet you there!"

Captain William was having possibly the worst few days of his life! His ship was badly damaged during the sea monster attack, his crew was doing the best they could to sail it but it was only going to hold long enough to get to Tortuga, on top of all that the king was severely wounded and needed a healer right away! It was going to be a challenge to find a good healer in Tortuga whose sole medicinal remedy wasn't rum, but it had to be done. He looked at his ship sadly. They had to dock very soon; the ship couldn't take much more!

Lily hurried onto the deck, she thought she had heard someone calling for help! She looked around the deck but she couldn't see anyone in danger, only her cousin looking over the side of the ship. He looked like he was sick! She hurried over to him to see if he was okay. "What's wrong Justin?" She asked. "Something's wrong with grandfather!" Justin said still visibly shaken. "What's wrong with grandfather?!?" Lily gasped. "I don't know!" Justin barked. "We were talking and all of the sudden he collapsed! The guards got him and the bubble burst!" "We have to do something!" Lily said obviously shaken. "What if he's really hurt?" "What can we do?" Justin replied sadly. "We have no way of getting home and we have no way of contacting anyone now that grandfather is hurt! Until he recovers we have to focus on finding Melody!" "And Leah, Lily replied, we should be looking for Leah as well." "Leah, Justin said almost sounding confused, Leah's missing…. Right." It sounded like he was reminding himself. Lily searched his face, she thought he might have just not thought about it in all the chaos. But he looked like he had really forgotten! Lily decided not to say anything about it until she was sure of what was going on. Something was not right.

Ariel hurried out to the docks where the crime had taken place, good old Grimsby had carried out her orders to the letter! There, waiting for her, were the prison guards, the dock workers, and the castles night guards. Ariel looked over the group before beginning her questioning. "Can anyone explain what happened last night and why the pirates, their ship AND my niece and her friend are missing?" The group of guards and fishermen looked to each other hoping one of them had an explanation, but no one said anything. The Queen looked over the group again. "You, she said pointing to one of the night guards, what happened? Did you see anything when they escaped?" The prison guard, a big burly man called sledge shook his head. "No your Majesty, he replied, everything was fine we didn't notice the prisoners were gone until we switched guards this morning! But by the time we alerted the castle guards they had already discovered that the ship was missing along with the little princess and her friend! We didn't hear anything in the prison all night! There was no sign of damage to the prison door. It's like they just got up and walked out!" The other guards confirmed his story and the docks workers story was much the same. No one heard anything! Ariel thanked them for their efforts and for trying to help her sort things out. Something wasn't right. She needed to speak with her father right away!

Melody stood in her room looking at her dress. It was nearly destroyed and terribly impractical. She decided that it was time for some major changes to her wardrobe! The silk dress would be the first thing to go! She examined the dress to see what could be done. She noticed that under the ruined silk there was another layer of blue cloth. It looked like it would do for a dress. So she ripped the silk off and exposed the under dress. It was thinner than the heavy dress and much more practical. However if this dress got ruined she didn't know what she was going to do! She used the corset from the blue dress and covered it with a vest she had found lying about the ship. She hitched up her skirts so they didn't drag the ground, exposing her lower legs wouldn't her mother just have a conniption! Her boots covered most of her lower legs so she didn't have to worry too much about it. Finally she tied her hair back in a high ponytail to finish the look. She examined herself in the mirror, she looked completely different. It looked like she had been at sea for weeks! She wondered what James would think of her new look.

The king lay in a deep sleep on the bed. His daughters and sons in law all stood close by waiting to find out what happened. Princess Attina spoke with the healer who had been summoned to help the king. She swam over to her sisters and family to give them the news. "What happened?" Arista asked holing her husband's hand tightly. "Father suffered from some sort of shock, Attina replied sadly, whatever it was it caused damage to his heart, almost like he was scared to death!" Everyone stared sadly at the Princess. What could they do? "Is there anything to be done?" Aquata asked. "Nothing, the healer called from across the room, he needs lost of rest and no more shocks. If he makes it through the night and wakes up he will pull through." Everyone felt sick to their stomach at the word "if" but they knew he was strong. He would make it. He had to make it.