Lizzie's POV

We pretty much decided to skip the rest of the school day with Uma and I going to the chip shoppe to build a raft from one of the old tables, a broom handle and a bedsheet but the important thing was that it was seaworthy enough to sail on the bay for a small race but clearly would not be able to handle more than that since the docks were full of sloops and schooners, brigs and clippers, vessels of all kinds and shapes with some driven by sail, others by paddle all crammed into the bay with anchor lines stretching in every directions and the boats rocking back and forth as the wind caught their sails.

A great cutter sailed past our raft and its wake nearly sent us both tumbling overboard and next to us Harry was bobbing up and down in a bathtub using a shower curtain for a sail and the wake half-filled his tub and he immediately had to bail furiously to keep the thing afloat especially since even empty the tub barely floated and hung at water level, so far he's done more bailing than sailing.

"Let's go over there" I told them steering us through the assortment of ships passing a few goblins on an old junk, an old ancient boats from Northern Wei sporting a red sail like the fin of some exotic fish.

"Check that out" Uma said as the junk sailed out of our path to reveal a pair of witches sitting in great buckets rowing with giant spoons.

"Where do you suppose you get a spoon that size?" Harry asked. "And what's it for?"

"Well it's for eating little boys" Uma replied coughing up her best attempt at a witches cackle. "I think your head would fit nicely on that spoon"

"I see your point, let's steer clear" Harry said and I smiled a little at it.

"Already ahead of you" I pointed out steering us the other way, neither of us wanted to get any closer to the witches or goblins. "Looks like everyone's after the prize" I pointed out and I didn't mean the pirate ship since the water was full of goblins all clad in snorkel gear and thugs flailing around in old fins and rusty scuba apparatuses clearly all looking for the trident combing every inch of the ocean floor.

"So many" Uma added looking at them with a sinking heart at the news of King Triton's trident had gone out and it seemed that half the island was looking for it and Uma was watching them with a nervous look on her face before Harry suddenly whistled to the goblin closest to us.

"Ahoy, what sort of junk are you looking to find?" he asked it with a grin clearly hoping the goblin would take him up on the joke.

"A trident, haven't you heard" it replied honestly.

"That golden thing, I heard the mermen saw it on the other side of the Isle" Harry said then winked at us. "Thought I'd throw them off the scent" he whispered towards us.

"Wonderful" Uma replied rolling her eyes. "There are hundreds looking for the trident, maybe more and you've thrown one off course"

"It's a start" Harry shrugged just as Captain Hook finally made his appearance sauntering down the one of the larger docks, the planks creaking beneath his weight as he wore his signature red jacket and an enormous red hat with an even larger white plume dangling over the brim swaying this way and that way as he walked. "Dad really knows how to make an entrance" Harry said as his Dad stopped at the end of the dock and stepped up onto an old soapbox so everyone could see him as the competition around us readied itself, a great buzz of excitement and preparation. "How are we even going to get out of the harbor?" Harry asked looking around at the mass of boat, ships and vessels that was already blocking our way. "This place is so chocked with boats that it'll be an hour before we sail past any of them"

"Mmm" Uma murmured just as all the oars were in the air and everyone's eyes darted towards the docks as Captain Hook had raised his hooked hand high in the air to indicate that the race was about to begin before he lowered his hand and Smee fired the starting pistol. The race was on!

A fury of sails and splashing oars overwhelmed the bay, sailors were yelling, goblins were giggling, witches were gaggling...all in all it was a terrible ruckus and the water churned once more filling Harry's tub and threatening to drag him down if he didn't bail fast enough.

"We'll never be able to sail faster that those ships on these things" Harry pointed out the obvious.

"Oh, you just figured this out?" I replied as Uma and I shared a look, since that had been obvious the moment we saw the competition.

"And you knew that?" Harry asked seemingly surprised that we had.

"Yeah and that's why we're gonna beat you" Uma added coiling a rope in her arms and quickly fixed the noose at the end checking it to make sure it would work then threw the rope high into the air, it arched over a driver, past a rowboat full of pirates and landed soundly on a cleat attached to a small motorboat giving it a little tug to cinch the knot around the cleat but there was no need as the boat's engine roared to life and immediately the rope tightened jerking our little craft forward making me stubble a bit but luckily kept my balance.

If she hadn't of moored the rope to the deck of our raft it would have been yanked right out of her hands and even now threatened to tear our raft apart as the boards moaned and creaked but it was holding and soon we were skipping across the waves bounding up and down like a magic carpet which was tethered to a rocket and before we knew it we were out of the bay.

But at the rate the goblins driving the boat would still win, I chanced a look behind us to see Harry still paddling furiously still trying to make his way out of the boast-swamped harbor and had smashed right into one of the great galleys having to wait as more and more ships passed in front of him that by the time I caught sight of him again half the bay was empty given his shower curtain sail caught the wind too late.

We didn't celebrate Harry's luck for long though as his bathtub crashed into the nearest sailing ship and he abandoned it jumping onto the catamaran since the ships all crowded together he was able to play hopscotch from ship to ship all the way to the front, I turned to Uma who was watching Harry's progress with narrowed eyes before we remembered our own problems as there was a tug on the rope and I swung the sail around just in time to see a pair of goblins gnawing furiously at the rope Uma had attached to their speedboat.

"What do we do?" I asked turning to Uma since she was better at coming up with ideas under pressure especially when the craftly little goblins suddenly had a screwdriver and was trying to undo the cleat since their gnawing was taking too long for them, both of them in race to cut us loose and sooner rather than later one of them would succeed.

Uma suddenly grabbed the rope and gave it a tug making one goblin fall straight into the water, both of us smiled at the slight of the little green fellow as we sped past him before Uma yanked again this time harder pulling our raft closer to the goblin craft before we noticed that when she gave it a good pull the goblins boat jerked wildly to one side so she pulled again as the remaining goblin worked furiously at the screws, the three of us locked in a race of our own now especially since the cleat was hanging halfway off the back of the boat as he'd gotten two screws loose already.

"We gotta do something fast!" I yelled over the hollering reaching for the rope as both of us gave it a strong tug coiling it as much as we could so that it was as tight as it we could make it before we let it go and the rope whipped wildly back into the air snapping the goblin in the face sending him too into the water before we laughed as we passed him before realizing there was no one left on the motorboat, the goblins had tied the steering wheel in place and jammed the throttle into gear while they tended to our rope which is probably why the boat had veered to and fro when she pulled at the rope.

The cleat rattling suddenly caught our attention as one of the screws flew off, it crumbled through the air and landed with a plunk as it struck the water that meant only one screw was holding the cleat in place and it was already halfway out of its socket, Uma tugged curiously at the rope if she pulled too hard she might yank that last screw loose but if we waited too long the last screw would come loose anyway and the boat would be gone and the motorboat was not the only fast boat on the water since all this tugging and swerving had slowed it down and we saw that two or three of the larger sailing ships had caught up to the goblin boat even the galley was closing in, it's oars beating the water with the oarsman chanting.

"Yoo-hoo" Harry called with a broad grin from the top of the sailing ship barreling towards the lead, Uma and I shared a determined look since there was no way we could ever fall behind Harry with him in charge even if the ship was rightfully his.

We quickly grabbed the rope once again and started tugging, pulling and pulling with the cleat barely holding since fortunately for us all the tugging had bent the screw preventing it from twisting free but now looked like it might snap in two although it had gave us the time we needed to get closer.

We continued to pull at the rope until we were close enough just before the cleat bent and the last screw flew loose right as we gave one last tug before leaping just barely being able to grasp the stern of the boat hanging on as Uma began to pull herself up but my hand was slipping.

"Uma!" I called feeling my fingers losing their grip as I watched Uma look back and forth between me and the wheel, all the fussing around meant we were no longer winning the race and had allowed three...no four ships to sail ahead of the goblin boat including Harry's which was now in the lead.

"Sorry Liz" she replied and my eyes widened as she hurried to the helm, tore free of the ropes holding the wheel in place and jammed the throttle in place which jerked the boat forward lurching me up allowing me to grab onto the boat more securely and I was able to drag myself into it landing clumsily onto the bottom of the boat breathing heavily before glaring towards Uma.

"Thanks for nothing" I spat at her.

"You lived" she smirked back before I stood up.

"You're lucky, I can't swim remember" I reminded her and yeah I knew it was stupid coming into this race not knowing how to swim but I couldn't let her have all the glory and bragging rights when we've been a team since we were kids.

"Well you better change that cause we're about to win a pirate ship!" she laughed as we were once again pulling into the lead seeing the shocked look on Harry's face before we crossed the finish line and held our hands up in victory as all the onlookers from the docks started chanting our names as we docked the boat and stepped up to the platform. "Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone" Uma said into the microphone. "And I'd like to announce Lizzie as my Co-Captain and introduce Harry Hook, our first mate!" Harry came up to stand next to us. "Just like I promised, here's you hook back" she handed it to him as he looked glum and defeated before his eyes lit up with a huge grin.

"My hook!" he cheered happily waving it in the air as Smee handed us the keys to the pirate ship that was docked right behind us and we climbed aboard, all three of us...the start of what was hopefully a full crew as we waved down from the the top deck of our brand new ship...well old, shabby and holey pirate ship but I had a feeling Harry could fix it up.

It wasn't long before we had people asking Uma and I to board the ship and join our crew as Uma and I happily agreed finally putting together the crew we wanted and with Harry knowing how to sail, that trident was ours for the taking as soon as we had this vessel seaworthy.

"Heard you're looking for muscle?" we heard and all spun around to see Gil standing behind us, he was the youngest son of Gaston, he had two older brothers who were twins, Gaston Jr and Gaston the 3rd , he had been our friend once too but like all things nothing lasts and we drifted apart and we watched him pull up his shirtsleeves. "You're in luck as I've got some to spare" I smiled at him since just like his father he had rugged good looks, a cleft chin and muscles upon muscles and to top it off his blonde hair and brown eyes could make girls swoon just as easy as Harry if it wasn't for him being not that bright.

"Yes we are" Harry replied with a grin. "Welcome to me crew" Harry added and both Uma and I turned to him with a glare.

"Our crew" Uma and I spoke before patting Gil on the back.

"Now get with the others" Uma added and Gil climbed aboard the pirate ship looking excited as he saw our deck was already filled with villains, pirates, ruffians, rouges who were all seeking adventures.