As soon as the words left Taylor's lips, several capes grabbed Emma's arms, dragging her even as she struggled to free herself. That only made them dig their fingers into her skin, most likely leaving an ugly bruise. This felt like a bad dream, like it belonged only in her worst nightmares.

"Unhand me!" Daddy shouted, four capes had grabbed him, with the Sharkman joining them as they pushed him through the crowd, all while cackling. Mother and Anne screamed, their voices all sound like a symphony of fear. The other stupid passengers just watched as Emma and her family were dragged out of the room, not a single person moving even just a centimeter.

Now Emma, she didn't scream, she couldn't, she couldn't even breathe properly. Everything seemed so blurry, even after the girl who should have been dead disappeared. The sea breeze assaulted Emma's skin as she was roughly led towards the cape ship that looked older than that old lady who liked to get a sun tan half naked by the pool.

The capes kept laughing and cackling as Emma stepped over a few lifeless bodies, their faces frozen in shock. Her eyes paused on one particular body. It was one of the PRT agents that was assigned to shadow them. What a weakling, he should have ensured Emma's safety, not the rest of the passengers. Why was he with her family? Why wasn't he strong? Wasn't he supposed to be one of the PRT's best and brightest?

"Keep moving." One of her captors said, hitting the butt of his rifle into her back. The pain sent her to the ground with a thud. Hissing softly, she was forced onto her feet.

"Don't touch her!" Emma could hear Daddy struggle against their captors. Mother was praying now, even though they hadn't been to church in years.

"Or what?" Sharkman held his wicked axe menacingly. Emma swore she saw blood on his teeth, as he flashed all of them a grin. Daddy stopped struggling, his concerned eyes scanning Emma's body. This was all his fault, she didn't want to be here.

Eventually they made their way around the cruise ship, until seagreen tattered sails caught Emma's attention. The ghost ship was scarier up close with a half broken skeleton armed with a scythe above its jaw, and it was full of more capes that jeered at them. Only one cape was silent, dressed in clothes that Emma had seen ABB gangsters wear whenever it was New Year, with a long pole with a blade at the end.

"Welcome aboard the Flying Dutchman." Sharkman croaked, pushing Emma onto the piece of wood that connected the two ships.

"I hope you enjoy your stay."

Emma had lost track of time by the time the cruise ship sailed away without them. She felt numb as the capes held them near the front of the ship. Her knees were starting to hurt from scraping against the driftwood deck.

"TAYLOR!" Daddy shouted again, his veins popping on his forehead. He started screaming when the cruise ship left, all while Mom kept mumbling prayers to herself. Surprisingly, Anne had decided to join her, despite being the first one to stop attending church. "TAYLOR-"

One of their guards slammed the butt of their axe onto his head, causing him to slump forward.

"ALAN!" Mom screamed. She tried scooting closer to him, but her chains didn't even let her move an inch.

"Emma." Anne said softly. Was she done with her prayers? This had better not be one of those 'everything is going to be alright' talks, not after everything she had done to Taylor.

"Hm?" Emma didn't even bother turning her head. She just needed to survive whatever was going on.

"Is it true that Taylor killed herself?" Anne sounded sad, but why? Emma was her sister, not Taylor who was so thin and ugly and weak.

"Yes." No.

The locker had been Emma's idea, with some help from Madison. Sophia had been the one who thought up the idea about throwing Taylor into a box, letting her stay in there for a few days until someone found her. She never expected the skinheads she flirted with to actually go and throw said box in the ocean.

"Then tell me that isn't Taylor, your best friend, kidnapping us." Anne's sad voice turned sarcastic.

"That's not Taylor kidnapping us." And she wasn't her best friend, not anymore. Emma didn't need someone like Taylor dragging her down.

"Emma." Anne emphasized both syllables this time. What did she want Emma to say? To admit? Daddy had made sure to cover everything up, she told him that it was a prank gone wrong, that she tried to stop it but the skinhead wannabes didn't want to listen.

Something hard crabbed her cheek, almost causing her heart to stop. Taylor's coral scarred face appeared next to her, and suddenly, they were surrounded by dozens of capes, including a American Revolution cosplayer with a sad expression on his face.H-How did she get here so fast? How did they appear out of nowhere?

"Go on Emma, tell her what really happened?" Taylor said, squeezing Emma's cheek so hard that it started to hurt. That sent a shiver of fear down her spine, forming goosebumps on her skin.

Mother finally seemed to snap from her stupor. "Taylor! Honey, why are you doing this? You're basically fam-"

Taylor stood up quickly and unsheathed the sword she had at her side in one motion, pressing the side of the blade against Mom's neck. "Finish that sentence and I'll take your neck off."

"No!" Anne and Emma screamed at the same time.

This wasn't the Taylor that Emma had thrown into the locker, this wasn't the Taylor who allowed Emma and her friends to do everything under the sun to her. Emma's eyes widened as she struggled with her chains.

"Why are you doing this?" Daddy stirred, opening a single eye as he forced himself into a sitting position. "Since when were you a cape?"

Taylor touched her cheek with the tip of one of her crab claws. "You already know Alan, since you decided to threaten Dad with a lawsuit to cover everything up."

"What is she talking about?" Mother's eyes were hysterical. Suddenly, Emma felt everyone's stares on her. Taylor started to laugh as she sheathed her blade.

"What's wrong Emma? You didn't tell your Mom or sister about your plan to murder me since I escaped that locker? How about the fact that your Daddy dearest, threatened to sue my Dad into staying silent, his own best friend!" Taylor growled as the capes started to boo. Mother and Anne turned their eyes away from Emma.

This was just a dream! A simple nightmare that she'll wake up from at any moment! A sob threatened to escape her lips, until the sharp tip of of Taylor's crab fingers touched her chin, drawing a few drops of blood.

"Emma, Emma, do you still like reading ghost stories? You always made fun of me for believing in them." Taylor whispered as she leaned in close, the smell of old water and death filling Emma's nostrils. It made her want to vomit.

"You'd best start believing in ghost stories Em…"

Daddy started shouting again as Taylor's smirk filled Emma's soul with dread.

"You're in one!"

A/N

It was supposed to be longer, but stuff came up in real life which delayed the chapter by a few hours so I decided to split it in half. This shall be an extra long arc by a few chapters!

And good news! More Tavy art is on the way, I have already received the first sketch and she looks terrifying, in a good way. I hope todays chapter was fun!