Hey, hey, hey! My school play is finally over (the reason I couldn't post yesterday, I was at the cast party), and I'm almost done with my English term paper, so I found time to finish this chapter. Now, like I said, next week there won't be an update- I'll be on a crazy field trip with my school orchestra- and I won't have access to a computer until Monday. And oh yeah, I didn't write the next chapter yet (I'm so behind, argh!). But I promise you'll get a nice long action-filled chapter in two weeks, think of it as a temporary hiatus, a vacation if you will, for the author. I'm gonna make the review responses short this week, don't be insulted. Here we go:
Lone Wolfdog: Thanks. :-)
Clever Fox Child: Thanks for your review, and welcome to my reviewer club! Hope you continue to follow!
Dreaming: I LOVED the book Les Mis. No joke. But I don't think I'm licensed to teach it, lol.
Angel: yes. That's what "parental condolences" is. And there's gonna be some subtle mush. More like sweet "aww" type mush. Maybe I'll write a special mushy chapter just for you and email it to you. It'll be like the deleted scenes portion, eh?
Tallemera: Famous, huh? "I'd like to thank all me fanfiction.net reviewers who saw this coming those many years ago…" lol, thanks for the compliment!
SB1007: Good thing about the no questions, b/c I have no annoying responses right now, lol. I'm dead tired.
Mermaid Ninja: I'm glad we're on good terms now. So…what do you think so far? Good?
PippinPirate: Now I could get all technical on you about black holes (I did some reading about black holes for fun b/c I am a dork), but I'll let you enjoy it on your own, eh? And I like how you're thinking ahead to later in the story. I was thinking of adding some aspects that they cut out of the movie about Treasure Planet, the whole map and portal thing, to give Skye something to do. We'll see.
Abby/Angie: *sees your $10 and raises you $20…ha! blackjack!* Sorry, I never saw that movie. Is it a good thing for Skye to be like that?
Kim: Thanks again.
This chapter was a little funky- it was one that I really looked forward to writing, and it was one of the scenes that really made me want to add a new character, but I delayed writing it all week. Oh well. Enjoy!
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Early the next morning, the first rays of a new star's sunlight were lost on several of the crew, mainly because they were sleeping. Jim also still slept, but the unfortunate position of his hammock led to his untimely arousal. He was directly under the flatulent Mr. Snuff.
The "snoring" as it may be called caused Jim to toss and turn- and fall out of the hammock. Moaning and sleepily pulling on his left boot, his reach for the right one was thwarted when it hopped away.
A month ago he would have snapped awake at this unusual sight as his right boot rose into the air and dropped out of view behind a trunk. However, he had come to expect it.
"Morph?" Jim said drowsily, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He stood up, tucked in his shirt, and staggered over to where the boot had disappeared to. Dropping to his knees, he leaned over to examine the corner.
"Morph, knock it off, it's too early for this."
The boot snuck up around behind Jim, wound itself up, and let fly a swift kick.
THWACK!
"Ow! Hey, Morph!" Jim yelled, jolting at this second rude awakening. The boot blew a raspberry quite similar to those that had woken Jim up, and swirled to reveal it was indeed Morph. Floating to where the real boot was hidden, Morph seized it and carried across the room.
"Hey! Come back here!"
"Come back here!" Morph repeated. He led Jim on a twisting chase through the room, weaving between, over, and under the hammocks. Jim laughed as Morph soared up the stairs and across the deck. Jim leapt over a short flight of stairs and fell at a grating just in time to grab the boot back- but Morph was gone. For the moment.
Jim sighed in relief, and Morph zipped in front of Jim's face. Inflating to the size of a basketball (and roughly the same color- they do have orange basketballs on Montressor, you know), and appearing as a spiny blowfish with a little flower sprouting from its forehead, Morph squirted Jim's face with water. If Jim wasn't awake before, he was now.
"That's it, you little squid!" Jim said, wiping his face and grabbing for Morph, who dodged nimbly. Taking the appearance of Jim's head, Morph replicated himself first once, twice, thrice, then almost a dozen small Jims were popping out of the grate, each one repeating in the high voice, "you little squid!" Jim, grinning, banged the boot down in an attempt to retaliate, but only succeeded in making a loud thumping noise on the grate. Morph stopped popping up, but Jim hit a few more times for good measure.
It was then the voice below called up, irritated, "Hey! Cut it out up there, some of us are trying to sleep!"
Jim stopped in confusion. Peering down through the checkerboard holes, he could only see shadow beneath. He thought he'd recognized the voice...
"...Skye? That you?"
No answer.
Hmm.
* * *
Jim plopped down the stairs pulling on his boot. He was looking for the source of the voice, as well as for Morph. A quick glance around the galley showed that there was no one here.
Unless...
Unless they were hidden somewhere. The first place Jim looked towards was the purp barrel. Perfect.
He walked to it, and peered over the rim. There, sitting with her head buried in her arms and knees drawn up tight, was Skye.
"What're you doing in there?" Jim asked. His good mood hadn't blocked his unpleasant memory of the night before, but he did decide right then to apologize and hopefully get back on good terms with Skye.
"Leave me alone, James," she muttered into her arm. Jim was not deterred by this. He did some quick thinking, and acted just as swiftly.
"Got room in there for one more?" he asked, and promptly slid into the barrel headfirst, catching her by surprise.
"James!" Skye shrieked as he rolled to face her. Morph, who had been disguised as a purp, floated upward, giggling, unaware that Jim was the only one laughing. Skye tried incredibly hard to remain angry, but the two of them giggling like idiots lightened her mood. A little.
Then Jim apologized.
"Look," he said, still grinning, "I'm sorry I haven't been there much lately. I really am. But I'm gonna make it up to you, okay?"
Skye eyed him cynically. "I doubt that," she mumbled. Jim's foolish smirk left his face, though a twinkle remained in his eyes. He grabbed her hand, and held it in reassurance.
"No, I promise. Have I ever promised something I didn't follow through on?"
"Do you really want me to answer that?" Skye arched an eyebrow sarcastically, but the faint smile playing about her lips suggested she wasn't as mad as she seemed.
"No, now that you mention it, I-"
Skye clamped her free hand over Jim's mouth as she cocked an ear towards something outside the barrel. Jim cupped Morph in his other palm and strained to listen. She always had better hearing, he thought. But a moment later, he wished he couldn't hear anything at all, he wished he was deaf.
"What we're saying is we're sick of all this waiting!"
"There's only four of them left."
"We are wanting to move!"
Jim looked out of the knothole in the barrel, and he heard the voice he feared, one he knew all too well-
"We don't move 'till we got the treasure in hand!" A clenched metallic arm passed into view.
Silver.
Another familiar voice growled sinisterly, "I say we kill them all now."
Scroop.
Skye flinched at the threat, and Jim's mouth opened slightly in surprise. Silver grabbed Scroop's throat shouting, "I say what's to say!"
Skye felt a strong pressure on her wrist. Tearing her eyes away from the terrifying scene, she saw Jim still had a hold on her and he was squeezing her wrist, unaware of what he was doing. He was just as scared as she was.
A much more powerful grip than Jim's was holding Scroop. Silver held the massive creature up in the air with his mechanical arm, and yelled harshly, "Disobey my orders again like that stunt you pulled with Mr. Arrow, and so help me, you'll be joinin' him!" With a mighty heave, Silver tossed the spidery body straight at the barrel.
The impact from Scroop's body shook the container, and Jim finally released Skye's wrist to stifle Morph once more, who had been knocked free on impact. If they found out anyone was in here...
"Strong talk...but I know otherwise," Scroop muttered cryptically. He reached a clawed hand into the barrel for a purp, and Jim and Skye froze.
As the claw rummaged around in the air, Skye reacted like quicksilver. She snatched up a purp and thrust the fruit under the claw, relieved as it lifted out of the barrel, while Silver said, "You got somethin' to say, Scroop?"
Scroop hissed menacingly, "It's that boy," and Silver's face showed astonishment.
"Methinks you have a soft..." Scroop squeezed the fruit till it punctured, "...spot fer him." Dark sweet juice ran down the side of the broken purp and Skye could see its shiny drops on the floor. It looked all too much like blood.
A murmur of agreement rippled around the group of pirates.
"Now mark me, the lot o' ya'!" Silver replied in angry defense, "I care about one thing and one thing only- Flint's trove! You think I'd risk it all for the sake of some nose-wiping little whelp?"
Jim's face fell in disbelief.
"What was it now?" Scroop taunted, "'Oh, you got the makin's of greatness in ya'!'"
Silver's cyborg eye flashed red, "Shut your yap! I cozied up to that kid to keep him off our scent! But I ain't gone soft."
A cry from above deck went up clearly, "Planet ho!"
The pirates cheered with joy. They raced up to see, all of them, leaving the kitchen empty.
* * *
Jim stared blankly, crestfallen. He couldn't believe it, but the truth was staring him right in the face. Skye had been right the whole time.
Silver. A pirate, a mutineer, a liar.
All of them.
Skye ignored Morph as he floated out of Jim's open palms to see the land in sight. She could only look at Jim. When he finally met her gaze, she said nothing aloud. But both she and Jim knew what her eyes were saying.
"You couldn't believe me before. Now you have no choice."
Although it was cruel, Jim now knew exactly how Skye had felt.
Alone.
Empty.
But worst of all- betrayed.