Lizzie's POV
None of us were in the mood for a bit of jewelry repair given we'd just fought a band of skeletons, dodged arrows and escaped a disintegrating cave but there was no time to waste, so we set ourselves about the task clearing a great table and making certain it was clean before Uma placed the envelope's contents upon it and we all got to work trying to figure out each piece fit.
We quickly found that fitting each of the pieces of the broken seashell together was like trying to put together a puzzle without any reference as to what it should look like, we knew it was a shell but had no idea where this ridge or that one should fit, it took patience and attention to detail.
"How do we know we even have all the pieces to this thing?" Uma said frustrated after we'd been at for the past hour.
"We don't" Harry agreed. "But if we give up now, we'll never find out"
"Shush" Gil cut him off as he was placing each piece back together with a delicacy we hadn't known he was capable of.
We had to trace the edges of each piece, looking for ridges and bumps that matched another piece or a streak of color that ran from one fragment to the next, it was subtle work almost impossible, Harry threw up his hands more than once, Uma had to take a walk out on the deck twice to let loose a bit of frustration and I gave up a long time ago since I could find my way through a maze but puzzles weren't ever my thing.
We all took turns at the task though but in the end it was Gil oddly enough, who stuck with it and supervised the whole thing, the work was painstaking until Gil finally made an announcement.
"Okay, we're missing one piece" Gil spoke and just like that all our hope and work proved to be for nothing.
"Honestly?" Uma muttered.
"It might have fallen under the table" Harry suggested. "Everyone look!" he told us standing up and knelt on the floor to see if he could find a tiny gold piece and the rest of the crew did the same, we ended up looking everywhere and I even sent some of the crew back to the beach to see if one of the pieces had fallen out when Uma first opened the envelope but they found nothing and we had no idea if the piece had even been found since we all knew the story of Ursula's battle with the little mermaid and her prince.
Prince Eric had taken the wheel of his ship and rammed his ship right into her heart, right into her necklace scattering its pieces all over the ocean but Ursula had survived the battle and here was the necklace, so there was hope and a way out of this island prison, a way out of stagnation and broken dreams, endless routine and a future that went nowhere.
"It's not here" Harry exclaimed shaking his head and slammed his fist against the nearest table, sending the plates and cups jumping, he'd clearly given up and Uma's face fell, it just wasn't fair to come this close only to be missing one miniscule little piece.
"Maybe we don't need the missing piece" Uma said as she took the seashell in hand and looked at it carefully, it was a chip barely larger than a hairline crack that was all but even the littlest imperfection could hamper it's magical qualities especially on the Isle of the Lost where there was no magic to begin with.
"I don't know" Harry argued. "It looks incomplete" I frowned watching as Uma subconsciously played with the locket around her neck, a habit she had when she was thinking and plotting and I remembered something she always said...it rattled like there was something inside it so maybe...
"What about your locket?" I asked her. "Didn't you say there was something in there?" Uma gasped as if she'd almost forgotten about the locket she always wore and quickly Uma swung the chain over her head and held it out so everyone could see it and carefully pried open the top with her fingernail, it flipped up with a snap revealing a sliver of gold.
"That's it!" Harry announced stating the obvious.
"I think it just might be the last piece" Uma smiled since it looked to be the right shape but we wouldn't be sure until it fit it into place, everything was silent as Uma lowered it into the opening before a collected gasp went through the room when it fit perfectly. "Gil, sludge me" Gil handed her the bucket of sludge and we all watched, holding our breaths as Uma glued the final piece onto the shell and I could have sworn there was even a flash of light but it could've just been the gold reflecting off the moonlight through the window, it was done the shell was complete. "There" Uma stated with satisfaction. "I think that's it" she studied the handiwork as the shell glittered in her palm, her history, her legacy and a tragedy in each curve of its shape as she held it up for everyone to see. "Ursula's necklace!" she cried.
"Put it on" I told her and she nodded undoing the clasp draping the necklace over her collarbone, a smirk falling upon her face.
"All right?" Harry asked her and Uma nodded.
"I can feel it" she said holding the gold seashell between her pointer finger and thumb. "It's almost like it's alive"
"Excellent" Harry nodded. "Where to, Captains?" he asked, a hand on the wheel.
"Find me the trident" Uma whispered to the seashell. "West, it's due west of us" she told him.
"West it is, to the trident!" Harry cried. "Avast, me hearties...flip up the jib...haul anchor...let's go!" he ordered, rushing around and I smiled watching him in his element, he honestly suited being in charge of the crew and probably would've been a much better captain then me or Uma but there was no way either of us were gonna tell him that.
"To the trident!" Gil cried. "Um, what's a trident?" he quickly asked and I chuckled under my breath shaking my head at him.
Uma took the scope and scanned the horizon, countless waves dotted the sea crashing higher and higher, curling into whitecaps, the wind catching the water and throwing it into the air, the sky was dark with clouds.
"Do you see something over there?" Uma suddenly asked so I turned my head focusing on a in that direction but I couldn't see anything.
"Yeah, I see it" Harry replied looking through a telescope as well. "It's on the other side of the barrier and it's heading toward us" I frowned confused looking to Harry and he smiled before handing me his telescope allowing me to have a look and I saw a small shape heading towards us, well this is an unexpected arrival from an unknown party.
"What does it look like?" Uma asked us.
"No idea, we'll need to get closer but it must be some sort of boat" I pointed out lowering the telescope handing it back to Harry.
"They're moving against the wind, which means they've got a powerful speedboat of some kind" Uma added and I nodded which meant it had to be Auradornians looking for the trident.
"But why are they here and why now, fishing?" Harry asked but I shook my head.
"No one ever comes this close to the Isle of the Lost" I pointed out, god forbid those Auradon prats would come anywhere near us.
"All the Auradon folks like to stay on their side of the channel" Harry added with a smirk my way. "They know what's good for them"
"I don't think they're out here to fish" Uma argued. "It's not exactly fishing weather" I nodded since the waves were taller now and each time they struck the ship was cast upward, then quickly set down again, loudly thumping into the gap between the waves before the next one hit and sprayed the deck with water.
All in all, it was miserable progress but at least we were moving quickly just not quickly enough for comfort, I watched Uma take to the telescope to monitor the progress of the boat she'd spotted and I had a bad feeling about this which got even worse as it began to pour with the skies cracked with thunder and all around them the air darkened as raindrops pelted the ship.
"Harry, can't you make us go faster?" Uma ordered and I looked over watching the necklace was tugging toward the right in her hands so it appeared the trident was somewhere close by but Goblin Beach was almost endlessly long.
"Aye, aye, Captain" Harry replied looking over at her. "I believe we've done all we can, short of throwing over any excess cargo, a light ship is a fast ship so if either of you would care to jump over the side or maybe I can make the wind blow a bit harder?" I rolled my eyes at his sarcastic reply.
"Well if anyone can do it, you can" I shot back at him with a smirk.
"I'm on it" Harry replied raising his chin and mockingly blowing toward the sails. "There" he said. "Now I've done everything" I saw Uma ball her fists in annoyance at our banter but in truth, she knew Harry had done everything possible to get us moving as quickly as the sails would allow, we were cruising at a considerable clip to the other side of the island but so was the other ship and there was no doubt now that we're both headed to the same place and we didn't need the telescope to know it was moving faster than we were.
"It's below there" Uma pointed out. "I can feel it, we're at the right place, can you get us closer?" she asked and I watched as Harry squinted, measuring the distance.
"Too many rocks for this big a ship and with all the sails unfurled we're moving too fast to navigate those waters, we'll have to anchor and take out the rowboat" Harry told us before he stowed the sails as quickly as possible, while Gil tossed out the anchor fiddling with it a bit waiting until the great hook caught hold of the sea bottom and he rope snapped tight meaning we were moored, Harry indicated a small boat with only a pair of paddles. "That's our ride, if you want your trident, it's the only way into those rocks"
It didn't look promising but it was all we had, so Uma, Harry, Gil and I clambered into the rickety boat with and Harry and Gil rowing closer to the edge of the beach, the rocks made it difficult to navigate and since both of the boys were facing the wrong direction, they had to rely on Uma and I to tell them which way to go.
"Right!" I exclaimed but the boat went left.
"Our right, you idiots" Uma quickly said, correcting them. "Left now, just a bit"
"Now right again" I told them as Uma and I were standing at the bow to push off the rocks to keep us from colliding with them.
It was a veritable maze and we were forced to go this way and that, back and forth and at points the rocks were so dense the boys had to stop paddling altogether and all Harry and Gil could do then was push off manually against the stones.
"Come on, faster" Uma pressed them. "This is taking too long"
"You're welcome to get out and pull us" Harry huffed straining with exertion, Uma frowned, but she got up and pushed against the rocks as well until we were clear, finding ourselves in a circle of clear blue water not far from the beach, Uma stood and glanced down into the depths...I didn't stand but I leaned over the side spotting something gold glinting through the seaweed...King Triton's trident!
"This is it!" Uma exclaimed before she dived into the water for the trident, my eyes widened as Harry, Gil and I all stared over the side watched as she swam down to it, we saw her hand wrap around it...
"What the-" I shook my head looking around in confusion seeing Uma was back on the rowboat and Ursula's necklace was suddenly glowing in Uma's hands...magic, there was magic in the air.
"Bring me Triton's greatest treasure!" Uma called and held up her mother's necklace a bit higher and we felt the wind swirl, the sky darkened to a deeper shade of gray and the boat pitched back and forth, I quickly grabbed the edge to avoid falling overboard as water splashed into the boat.
There was a loud boom as thunder rolled, lightning lit the sky with streaks of white and blue and a cool wind swept the boat with the very air vibrating with power and the seashell around Uma's neck was glowing fiery through her clenched fist as light emanated from the shell, turning her face a pale shade of orange, making her fingers glow.
"What's happening?" Gil asked, as the orange glow of the seashell grew brighter and the power Uma sought drew nearer and pretty soon all of us were lit in shades of red and orange, the light pulsated washing over us in waves.
"I can feel it!" Uma called. "It's coming up!" all our eyes turned to the water as a vortex formed in the water, a churning, swirling funnel and there was something at the bottom of it.
"There!" Harry cried peering over the side of the boat into the dark depths, I looked down and could almost see it, the tip of the trident emerging from the bottom of the vortex, there it was twinkling gold…just out of our reaches….closer…closer…closer…the trident was rising now, flying out of the water and it was nearly within Uma's grasp.
The wind howled and the rain poured down soaking us to the bone, my jacket which had only just began to dry from Harry and I's fall was now soaked once again, the water below us spun in a furious circle threatening to draw us down into it just as the trident came near, the boys whooped in victory against the wind and the current and quickly paddled toward the trident but the boat pitched violently, side to side, dipping and leaning as the wind and waves cast them to and fro and I was starting to get a tad seasick from all the swaying and pitching.
"Grab it!" Harry cried. "I can't keep this up much longer, in a minute we'll capsize and then we'll be swimming" my eyes widened in fear clinging onto the side of the boat tighter.
"Or sucked down into that vortex" Gil added not helping my anxiety.
"Will you two shut up!" I exclaimed at them looking up seeing Uma ignoring their pessimism since the trident was all she cared about, the shell still glowed wildly and the trident continued to rise.
It was so close now, terribly close but as Harry warned, we were just as close to falling into the water as we were to catching hold of the trident and I knew Uma wouldn't celebrate until that golden staff was safely on board, none of us would.
"Do it!" Harry cried again, this time we were finally at the trident and the boys rowed as near as they dared, fighting the current trying to stay upright as the wind whirled and the water twisted around the mighty golden spear. "This is it"
"We're close enough" Uma spoke up but I peered through the dark fog and could make out the shape of a speedboat on the other side of the barrier and it was obvious that its occupants had come for the trident too but they were too late, Uma had reached it first.
There it was, rising, like a phoenix from the ashes King Triton's greatest treasure, it would be ours...Uma reached out it was only a few more feet away…inches…all she had to do was grasp it...
"Where did it go?" Uma yelled, as the trident disappeared right before our eyes and she was thrown backward onto the rowboat, falling hard on her back that her hat tumbled off her head and she scrambled to catch it before recovering her balance. "Where's the trident?" she screamed, looking for it on the floor of the boat but it was gone.
Lightning flashed overhead and waves crashed against the boat, dumping water all over us, the rain was relentless and the whirlwind doubled its speed, spinning us around in a dizzying spiral, obscuring our vision.
"Do you have it!?" Harry cried fighting the current with his side of the oars. "Uma, where's the trident?!" Uma scanned the waters frantically but saw nothing.
"It was mine!" she howled. "I almost had it, it was right there!"
"Where?" I yelled over the wind flipping my wet hair out of my eyes. "I don't see anything!"
"I don't know!" she yelled back.
"Do you have it or not?" Harry screamed, as six-foot waves roared and crashed over the little dinghy as he had to fight to hold on to the oars and steer the boat back to the Lost Revenge but Uma was too dazed to answer she was still trying to get back up and resume her balance but the boat lurched upward and I screamed digging my nails into the side of the boat just to avoid going in but Gil wasn't so lucky and I watched in horror as he fell over the side into the dark waters.
"Gil!" Harry and I cried.
"Where's Gil?" Uma yelled barely heard above the whistle of the wind.
"I don't know, he fell over!" Harry cried lunging to grab the oar that had slipped from its hold, before it could be lost to the sea as well and I quickly moved to help him before Uma jumped off the boat without hesitation into the churning water to save Gil, I quickly scanned the raging waves to spot Gil and saw a brown hat bobbing up and down in the froth.
"He's over there!" I pointed holding Gil's abandoned oar steady to keep Harry and I in the boat.
"Help!" Gil screamed, scrambling in the waves. "Help!" his head suddenly went under and I feared the worst but suddenly Uma's turquoise head appeared by his side, slowly but surely she swam them back to safety and I let out a heavy breath of relief when they reached the dinghy and Harry leaned over helping to haul them both back aboard, Gil coughed and choked and spewed water all over the deck.
"Ew" Uma spat disgusted. "You're welcome" I shook my head since that was too close.
We needed to get back to the ship if we were going to survive, I quickly moved out of the way for the boys to start rowing, once again fighting against the thundering waves, the pouring rain and the howling winds but we finally reached the Lost Revenge, where the other pirates threw a rope ladder down the side.
"Captains first" Harry said, giving a hand to help Uma and I climb the rope, I smiled at him and hoisted myself up behind Uma before Gil followed me up next and Harry last seeing the crew was vainly trying to keep the ship upright as it lurched wildly from side to side, at the mercy of the roiling angry sea.
Uma, Harry, Gil and I quickly ran to the decks helping to hold the sail, while trying to stay away from the boom which was swinging wildly with the wind as well as all three masts, which were threatening to break and splinter all while the storm raged around us, pouring rain all over everyone and everything.
"Let's get out of here!" Harry yelled. "We need to go back, the storm's too strong!" he took the wheel of the ship and brought it around, making for the Isle of the Lost.
But as the Lost Revenge reached its destination, the waves pounded against the hull finally sending the mast crashing onto the deck and the sails tore as it slammed right against the dock, tearing up the deck plank by plank...Shipwrecked!.
When the storm had passed and the ship was still, the pirates groaned and assessed the wreckage but it was clear that the Lost Revenge would never sail again since the damage to the hull was too great.
All that was left of the storm was a fine, light rain which added to the gloom, I pulled my jacket from my shoulders and rung the water out of it and shook my head to rid myself of the excess water soaking through my hair before I turned seeing Uma standing in front of me and Harry with a confused and shocked look on her face.
"I had it, I saw it it was right there I almost held it in my hands, the necklace worked and there was this huge surge of magic for a moment almost as if something had opened a hole in the dome" I frowned since that was confusing and annoying.
"So what happened?" Harry asked.
"There was someone else there, some kind of magic" Uma replied. "That's the only explanation" she added and that's when I noticed she had something in her hand.
"You're holding something" I pointed out furrowing my brows. "In your hand"
"I am?" Uma said wonderingly and looked down, surprised to find that I was right.
"Yeah, what've you got?" Gil asked coming up to stand with us, Uma unfurled her fist and our confusion grew revealing she was holding a purple fingerless glove with a dragon symbol embroidered on the kidskin which could only belong to one person.
"MAL!" Uma raged realizing it had been none other than her fiercest rival who had been on that speedboat, we had no idea why or how Mal was there at the same time we were but there was no denying it Mal had Triton's golden trident now and we had nothing but a purple glove. "Mal, you don't always get to win!" Uma screamed in fury.
"I think she just did" Gil dimwittedly replied. "Didn't she?" I rolled my eyes at him, you'd think he'd know when to keep his mouth shut by now.
"Shut up, Gil" Harry told him with a sigh as he put his black tricorn hat back on his head.
Uma, Gil, Harry and I stood on the deck of the shipwrecked Lost Revenge, our clothes were almost dry from the storm and we were no worse for wear but the ship was another story altogether.
The mainmast was broken, there were holes in the hull and it was clear she would never sail again and would be a permanent addition to the dock from now on, the four of us leaned over the railing on the topmost deck, watching the colorful, messy lives of pirates and villains unfold in the rickety wooden tenements right across from the bridge.
I was still confused on what had happened out there since we'd all seen it, Uma had the trident in her grasp, she'd swam down and had grabbed it but then it was like that'd been a dream even though it didn't feel like a dream and if I had to guess that little traitor Mal was getting better with her magic and had made it seem like a dream, that trident had been rightfully ours but Mal had done something, used some horrible Auradon magic and cheated us out of our victory and our freedom
"So what now?" Gil asked.
"Rough up goblins?" Harry suggested with a wicked and devious smirk making me smile.
"Ooh, or taunt first-years and make them walk the plank!" Gil inputted and I shook my head .
"Uma, Ilizabeth?" Harry suddenly asked turning to Uma and me. "Captain's choice?" that shook Uma out of her reverie
"I've got a better idea" I smirked looking over to Uma who smiled seemingly reading my mind. "Come on!" I laughed taking off with Uma at my side and the boys not far behind us leading them out across the bridge and into the bazaar, the stalls were full of hawkers and so us and our pirates had a fun time swiping scarves, taking things that weren't ours and causing the usual chaos and mayhem.
"Look" Uma suddenly said, stopping in front of a puke-inducing poster of King Ben and Mal. "Spray paint" she ordered, holding out a palm and I smirked slapping a canister in her hand. "Let's give him a nice little mustache and horns, shall we?" she said, drawing them over Ben's head and face as the pirates snickered.
"There's more over there" Gil announced and we saw them covering most of the alleyways and so the crew vandalized every poster of King Ben that we could find, especially ones that depicted him and that Isle traitor Mal, it was a petty victory but it did make me feel better especially when I scrawled the pirates' motto all over their faces 'WE RIDE WITH THE TIDE'
I made my way back over to Uma and examined her current handiwork with a smile, I was pretty sure that there wasn't a poster of the king that wasn't defaced on the Isle of the Lost, so we headed back to the ship.
"Still, it's too bad we lost" Gil said leaning back on the railing with a frown, we side by side looking out into the ocean at Auradon in the distance.
"Lost, we didn't lose!" Uma argued. "We never lose!" I saw Harry's sly pirate's face burst into a grin.
"Exactly, we never really had a chance anyway!"
"Huh?" Gil looked confused but I had an inkling of what Harry was trying to say as his smile grew wider.
"Come on we're trapped here, look up there!" he said, pointing to the sky. "That invisible barrier, it's impossible to get off the Isle of the Lost" he added and I nodded with a smile.
"He's right the deck was stacked against us from the beginning" I put in and he smirked over at me as Uma raised her fist to the sky in annoyance.
Harry was right, we were playing long odds, betting against the house and the house always wins, I knew that since Harry, Uma and I ran a dice game at the fish shop every other Thursday just for fun.
"Listen, we might not have the trident and we might not have a way off this island" Harry spoke. "But we've got a serious crew here" I looked around at the pirates on the ship...Desiree, Jonas, Bonny, even Gonzo, they were ours, a real crew. "We've got a lot to do, so much trouble to start, eh?" he slung an arm around me and the other around Gil, I smiled and wrapped my arm around Uma.
"Ugh" Gil groaned. "You smell like shrimp"
"Um, that's me" Uma frowned.
"No, it's me" Harry said with a wiggle of his eyebrows. "I just had breakfast" we all laughed and stood there for a bit, with our arms over each other's shoulders, looking out to the ocean and to the distant skyline of Auradon because Harry was right, we might not have much but we were each part of a pirate crew and on the Isle of the Lost that was more than something, it was everything.
"One day, when those Bore-a-don snobs least expect it, we'll pounce" Harry promised. "They'll make a mistake, maybe even wander into the wrong neighborhood...fall into our net and you know what we'll do then!" he added then made a slashing motion across his neck with his hook.
"Um, what will we do?" Gil wondered.
"We'll have our revenge" Uma and I declared, eyes glittering with malice.
"Mark my words, this isn't the end of our story it's only the beginning" I added smirking mischievously.
A/N: That's the end of the origin story that was Rise of the Isle of the Lost by Melissa De La Cruz. Next up Descendants 2!