I have been sick for the last week so I apologize in advance for any typos I might have missed. I gave it as thorough a read-through as I can with my head in its current condition. If you see a typo, let me know and I will fix it.

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Chapter 6: Looking for me?

Cassie removed the bandages from her hands, frowning down at the fresh red tissue on her palms. The wound had tightened the skin on her palms uncomfortably. Without the proper use of her hands Cassie had kept indoors for the past week.

Tonight would be her first night back out with her newest wounds mostly healed. She would have to take it slow but she should be fine.

Cassie stepped out onto the balcony and mentally picked a direction for tonight's walk.

The little cat was eager to get out of her self-imposed prison. Without the luxury of her night walks the little cat had spent too long with her own thoughts. She had spent considerable time coming to terms with the fact that she had met her soulmate. She had also been trying to grapple with the mix of scary and alluring that he was. The fact that someone that crazy was that charming was just not fair. She hated herself for those moments when she had allowed herself to be distracted by him despite how dangerous her situation had been. Harry Hook was her personal brand of catnip and because of that he was even scarier.

Cassie maneuvered herself off the balcony and towards the ledge leading to the board she used to cross to the nearby rooftop. She felt the cool night air caress the uncovered parts of her skin. With the night air came a welcome prickle to her exposed skin. The moon was in the third quarter phase, which meant there would be enough light for her but also extra shadows for herself, as well as others, to hide in. A scary thought after last week, but hardly enough to deter her from her first taste of freedom in a week.

Over the past week she had kept her ears to the chatter outside of the castle and she knew the pirates were asking about her. What she didn't know was why.

The thought crossed Cassie's mind that he could have realized she was his soulmate. The idea caused a shiver to run down her spine that had nothing to do with the cool night air. If he realized, if he somehow got a SoulMark since they last met, then he would never leave her alone. He would hunt her down and capture her. Beyond that though, Cassie knew that his asking around was dangerous for a different reason.

There was a reason she only came out at night. A good reason.

Though everything she had been hiding from, all of her father's warnings, would not matter if she was captured and turned into her soulmate's personal caged pet.

No. Tonight would be her night.

With a renewed courage Cassie took her first steps and crossed the narrow board, beginning her night walk.

'This would be like it used to,' Cassie determined, shoving down all the doubts and anxiety attempting to dishearten her. 'No running, no Hook, just the night air.'

Cassie always did love night walks, there was something inexplicably calming about being out in the open and yet still concealed. Her father had told her of the old mischief and tricks he had pulled before being thrown on the Isle. When she was young she used to dream of being able to disappear like he had described. He had always made it sound so freeing. Cassie did not have to wonder why night walks were her favorite. Though she could not do real magic on the Isle, at night, hidden in plain sight, she could pretend for a little while. Cassie knew it was the closest she would ever get to the magic her father had done and although that brought a tinge of sadness she knew that it was unavoidable.

Cassie stopped at the end of the rooftop she was currently on. Her eyes scanned the blackness peacefully as she listened for the typical sounds of nighttime on the isle. She could hear the off-tune singing of drunkards from what she knew was a tavern below her. A few slightly-inebriated customers staggered out while she watched, listening to the conversation they held.

Of course her father had told her other stories too...

Stories of a foul-tempered monarch who he had described as 'a blind and aimless fury.' He had told her of how the tyrant was quick to give death sentences at the slightest offense. Oh, and how she had wished him dead more than anything. The queen had ordered him executed numerous times, however her father had always outsmarted the queen and her executioner. Even now Cassie could recall her late-father's laughter at recounting how he had baffled them by making his body disappear. The executioner simply could not figure out how to behead a bodiless cat—and when he disappeared, oh how the queen fumed venom.

A small smile crept onto Cassie's lips.

She missed him.

Maybe if he were still here he could tell her what to do.

If he were still here he could tell her how to protect herself.

As it was, Cassie only had herself to depend on.

She hoped she was up to the job.

~...~...~

The next night her walk carried her to the eastern edge of the inner isle, where she could sit on the ledge of a tall clock tower and watch the activities below. People-watching was one of Cassie's hobbies that she developed after her father passed. It kept her grounded.

She would usually be sitting there observing the speech, body language, expressions, clothes, and activities of the Isle residents below—looking for habits and trying to guess at their story. Tonight though her mind was too full of her own worries to indulge in her usual hobby of observing Isle residents and their interactions.

Cassie knew that she needed to figure out an alternative way of getting food. Now that her soulmate knew she frequented the Goblin's Wharf he could plan to ambush her there anytime there was a shipment.

The problem however was that the alternative routes were all risky and none of them would keep her in the shadows. If she wanted to avoid Hook however she would have to.

With a small frown Cassie considered her options. She had quickly crossed off trying to sneak into homes or lift food from people on the street. Night time was when most residents were assured to be in their homes and lifting food from those who were on the street at night was too dangerous and unreliable for her tastes.

That left the places where she knew food would accumulate. There were the obvious places such as the restaurants. The Slop Shop sold a variety of expired and used food from Auradon and was run by the goblins themselves. Unfortunately it was always occupied since it was run 24/7. Frollo's Creperie was the home of Claude and Claudine Frollo and where the two sold crepes for food. However it was too close to Bargain Castle. She got the sense that stealing from close to home would be a mistake. Shan Yu's Dim Sums was to the east, far from her home, but his home as well as his restaurant were vehemently protected by him and his seven loyal Huns. Cassie wasn't even going to consider Ursula's Fish and Chips, the known hangout of the Lost Revenge's crew.

Outside of restaurants there was three other places where food accumulated: all of them schools. Even on the Isle school lunches were offered, at an unreasonable price but offered regardless. The Isle's three schools were: the Witch School, Serpent Prep, and Dragon Hall.

Since Serpent Prep was where most pirates sent their children Cassie decided that it would be best to not choose that one. Dragon Hall was the biggest school and where most of the villains sent their children. Dragon Hall was an old tomb that had been re-purposed to act as a school. She had heard students talking about the lower levels that seemed to go on and on. It was located in the middle of a graveyard of course. Cassie's face pinched at the distaste of some villains. That left the Witch School, it was where the formerly magical parents sent their children. Cassie had never understood the purpose of a school that taught magic, since nothing they learned could be of any use thanks to the barrier. Witches without magic might not be too scary of a place.

With that decided Cassie let the matter go for the time being. She would case the place another night, for tonight though she had enough to eat and was in no hurry.

She wouldn't have to do any of this if it hadn't been for her soulmate bond. The little cat scowled down at where she knew her SoulMarks were below the black fabric. If he hadn't followed her to the wharf she would still be getting her supplies there. But he had followed her. Cassie had no doubt that he would be keeping a watchful eye on the wharf shipments in the future too. Well, he could wait all he wanted. She wouldn't be coming.

~...~...~

Harry sat at his captain's desk, hunched over his 'pet-project.' It was obvious to him now that asking around was not yielding any results. Whoever Cassie was, she was private.

'Or a ghost,' his mind taunted. Surely Harry wasn't the only one on the whole Isle to have seen the little kitty. In the face of results, or in this case lack-thereof, he couldn't deny that it would certainly seem that way.

The more days that passed without any word of Cassie the more Harry got strange looks from the crew. Odd looks that made the first mate scowl with disdain. They thought he was mad—and why wouldn't they? After all, it has long been said that Tick-Tock had driven his father insane. Here Harry was chasing a girl who no one else on the Isle had ever seen or even heard of. Even he would think he had gone off the deep end.

Gil might still believe Harry without evidence but Uma was too factual to blindly believe in something she could not see or feel herself. He wondered how long it would take until her concerned looks became less about how he felt and more like the looks he was already receiving from most of the crew.

He certainly hadn't thought it would be this difficult to find her...

His eyes scanned the map of the isle. A tangled mess of lines covered the Inner Isle. His eyes were drawn to the two lines to and from the Goblin's Wharf. The shipment day was nearing but not soon enough for him.

With a deep sigh the pirate ran his fingers through his mess of brown hair.

The Goblin's Wharf and Inner Isle were the only leads he had. The only two connections he had made. The more he thought about it the less he liked it. If she was smart, and Harry got the feeling that she was, then she wouldn't return so quickly to the Goblin's Wharf.

A thought occurred to him. Asking the goblins would be a waste of time, but maybe someone around the wharf had seen her. Though Harry mentally mapped plans for following that idea through, he also suspected it would be as fruitless as their earlier searches.

He may have been amused by this little cat and mouse game at first, but with each day he grew more anxious to know the answers he had not gotten. He was positively starving to unravel her mystery. Everything about her was as unknown as distant oceans to him and just as appealing.

Harry couldn't describe what he wanted from her with words if he tried. He had long since licked his wounds from their last encounter, though a small bit of his pride demanded retribution. It was odd, Harry's temper was notorious, but it was not revenge he wanted. What he desired was immaterial and more difficult to pin down. Trying to identify what he wanted from her was like trying to capture fog in a glass jar.

No, for now it was best to sum it up as Harry simply wanted to unravel her mysteries.

~...~...~

Though it was stupid, incredibly, unreasonably, stupid Cassie couldn't help but wonder if Hook's son would wait for her at the Wharf. The thought had started off innocently enough. She had enjoyed the thought of leaving her enemy and soulmate out in the cold waiting to spring a trap on someone who would never come. She thought he deserved to wait. Slowly she began to wonder how long he would wait before giving up. Maybe it was that she was lonely, maybe it was that he was the first person she'd talked to since her father had passed. She knew she needed to not care. Maybe it was because she knew he was her soulmate, but she found it difficult to not think about.

Cassie was all too familiar with the old proverb 'curiosity killed the cat' but that didn't change the fact that she was far too curious for her own good.

When the night of the shipment rolled around, Cassie's curiosity had not diminished. In fact, she had thought about that pirate being at the Wharf waiting for her so much that it felt like she would be missing an appointment, although there was no promise he was there. The thought that it was not a sure thing that he would be there was what she used to justify herself. After all, it would be a terrible waste to avoid the Goblin's Wharf if him being there the first time was a fluke. It didn't matter that she knew full-well that it was most definitely not a fluke.

Cassie didn't wander around or take a long drawn out evasive path to the wharf this time, which meant she didn't have long to second-guess herself before she was on the rooftops skirting the edge of the wharf.

The little cat stood still for a minute, wondering where would be the best place for someone to hide for an ambush, when something inside of her began drawing her thoughts to a certain direction. She turned her head to the left. It felt like there was an invisible force pulling her in that direction. With a certain clarity of mind, Cassie followed that wordless whisper until she was on top of a narrow triple story building. The tiles of the building were old and not firmly in place. It was obvious that no one lived in it, it was probably a storage building or abandoned for some reason she noted.

The feeling had pulled her to the right spot, she realized with bewilderment as she looked down into the alley below. At first she didn't see him, there was a fire escape in the way, blocking her view. It was only when he shuffled and cursed under his breath that she realized where he was. Standing there at the corner, eyes fixed towards the wharf was the pirate.

A cat's smile curled the corner of her lips.

"Looking for me?"

Review Recognition:

Historic Soldier: Human's can actually keep their sanity for surprisingly long even when completely isolated from others. Cassie is in the heart of a city/Isle and not isolated. She isn't having direct social interactions but she does get indirect social interactions when she people watches on her night walks. It's similar to how television stories are a form of indirect social interaction. You learn about social etiquette, relationships, etc just by watching even though you are not directly participating.

SARITA1998: Yeaaaaah, her luck will get worse before it gets better.

Lottielue1: I appreciate that you enjoy the depth that the characters' relationships adds to the story. Indeed Gil, along with a few others, will have their loyalties tested in this story.

GreatBigBookofEverything: I appreciate the continued support!

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