Author's Note - I'm posting a day earlier than usual since I won't be able to do it tomorrow. Yay Cinco de Mayo - do I really need an excuse for tacos and margaritas? Next update this weekend.

As always, your comments are treasured. Let me know what you think!


The next night, Melody and Harry did end up shopping for the masquerade ball. The girls ordered their dresses at Cinderella's Closet, while the guys headed to the Dapper Gentleman. Melody had to laugh, thinking there was no way Harry could find anything to wear in a place by that name, but he insisted he'd found a rental that suited him at a decent price.

The girls visited a few more shops while they were in town, with Melody making a stop at Diablo's Dirks and Daggers. Her friends all stared at her as though she'd lost her mind when she said she had business with the shadiest weapons vendor in Auradon. But the gift she'd decided to give Harry had to be the best, and Diablo was renowned for his craftsmanship, especially when it came to more unique requests.

She'd asked Jane to call in a favor with Mal the day before, and since Mal knew the owner, the shop would be able to get Melody's special order filled in record speed. Melody went into Diablo's alone to finalize all of the details of Harry's gift and the owner said he could have it delivered to her room in just a few days.

One more stop at the jeweler to pick up the replica of her locket and they were all ready to meet the guys for dinner. They had a great time and for a few glorious minutes, she forgot about Zach Sparrow.

But as night fell, and the mountain mists crept into the small cobblestone streets of the village, the threat seemed to weigh on them again. She noticed even Jane kept looking over her shoulder. And Harry was particularly short-tempered, nearly exploding when he'd dropped his dinner roll. A sure sign he was pre-occupied with something else, as he normally would have just picked it up, dusted it off, and eaten it anyway.

Days passed and despite all of their digging for information, they learned very little about the theft of the Trident, because there was just nothing to learn. No one had seen a thing.

Some traders had thought they'd seen a ship with black sails come into port near Auradon City, but the sightings were inconsistent. Some witnesses spotted the ship more North, others more South. Florian the blue shark and Sid the sea bass had also taken to being her eyes in the ocean and their consensus was that Sparrow was lurking. They were certain of that. But Sparrow never actually entered the bay and never stayed in one place for long enough to be caught.

All Melody and her friends could do was prepare themselves.

So, Melody worked on their oceanography project, putting in way more than just her share of work to make up for Harry, who was practically living at the pub to earn enough tips to finally hire their crew and buy supplies. Since he was working so much, she'd even started helping him with some of his other classes, just so he could hang on to his grades.

She sometimes brought her homework down to the pub, just to watch Harry as he worked. His lighthearted jokes and flirtations with the clientele meant he raked in a very good living. Melody found she didn't mind his flirting anymore, because he always saved his biggest smiles for her. At the end of every shift he was thrilled when he dumped his tips out for her to see, counting out what he'd need to buy food and other necessities and separating the extra that he would put towards his crew.

Finally, all caught up on homework and with Harry just about to get off from his shift, she waited at a booth in the pub, watching the remaining daylight fade into darkness out the window.

Tonight was the night. Harry had instructed her to wear her most pirate-friendly outfit. She'd chosen a long blue jacket over a form-fitting white button up shirt and a layered blue and black lace knee-high skirt. Uma had let her keep the boots she'd borrowed, saying she had too many anyway which Melody suspected was not true, but it made her appreciate the gift even more. With her pirate hat on and a belt sheath for a sword she actually knew how to use, she felt like she wasn't even pretending anymore.

She had her replica locket in one coat pocket, just in case, and her pixie dust stowed in the other, ready for their second flight. This time, to Neverland to check out the Jolly Roger.

Harry swaggered toward her from across the pub, wearing a newer jacket he'd ordered at the beginning of the school year from Evie, his friend from Auradon Prep. It was a mashup of styles – tailcoat meets pirate. Dark brown, short in the front and long in the back with brass buttons and criss crossing leather straps between them. The back was decorated in arrow-shaped leather accents. She'd seen before and it was definitely her new favorite.

He lifted his hat when he spotted her and pressed it to his heart. "I've been lookin' forward to this moment all day," he said, scooting in next to her in the booth and burying his nose in her neck like he had taken to doing in greeting. "Yeh look good enough to eat."

He found the spot that always made her shiver and she batted his arm playfully. "How'd you do tonight?"

He opened his coat to reveal his jacket pocket overstuffed with bills. "We'll be ready to go by Saturday for sure," he said. "With a wee bit leftover to take yeh out tonight."

"Aren't we flying to Neverland?" she asked.

"Aye, but there's plenty to do after we find the Jolly Roger. And no class 'til when tomorrow? Eleven for yeh?"

"Yep," she said.

"Then we're gonna make an evenin' of it." And there was something in that ocean blue gaze that promised her she was not going to forget this night. Something about the way his eyes flicked across her body, leaving her mouth dry, her chest tight.

And she was suddenly very aware of his hand on her waist.

"Just need to go drop this off with Gil." He gestured to his full pockets, "And grab me sword, then we'll shove off."

Ten minutes later they were in the air. They'd sprinkled each other with the pixie dust this time, stared into each others' eyes, and were off the ground in seconds. It seemed they'd both had some practice thinking about their happy thought over the last several days which meant the flying part was much easier.

It was cooler out, the fall chill had definitely made itself known and the wind lashed at her face as she barreled through the night, trying to keep up with Harry.

Arms spread like a bird, he turned back to her, that wide grin flashing white under the stars.

"If yeh can catch me this time, lass. I promise yeh a good canoodlin'."

She wasn't a hundred percent sure what a 'canoodlin' was, but from the way his tongue twisted around the word, she guessed she wanted some part in whatever it was.

He flipped and looped and she followed him maneuver for maneuver. When he got a little too fancy for his own good and went for a double spin, she caught onto his boot. Then the canoodling began.

They were both breathless and Harry's lips were adorably smudged with lipstick when he finally pulled away. She let him wear it for a while, enjoying the way it accentuated that wild look in his eyes.

With such a knowledge of the stars and the ocean, Harry was an excellent navigator and she hung onto his arm for direction. After a while, he slid his arm around her waist and she was grateful for his extra warmth. He pointed out every landmark along the shore as they flew and it was clear those maps in his room had not just been for decoration.

They flew for an hour, maybe two. It was hard to keep track of time in flight, maybe because the world seemed so far away. Time didn't matter when you had nowhere else to be. Her eyes stung and her face was tingly, cheeks raw from the wind as he finally steered her toward an island in the distance jutting out from the sea.

His hand tightened around her waist as they continued their descent toward the island. She could feel his excitement slowly ratcheting up, a pulsing electricity passing through him and kickstarting her own heart with this touch.

Neverland lay directly below now, a lush, verdant island lit by a moon that seemed much closer and more intense than the moon she thought she knew. It was so bright it could almost pass for daylight. The island was a patchwork in shades of green. Her eyes swept over tall peaks, grassy hills and valleys, and waterfalls spilling over cliffs to feed winding streams leading to the ocean. Hook's bay reef was a jagged slash of rock before them, poking up from the surf, with Mermaid Lagoon directly behind it.

Harry wore an expression that reminded her of a kid on the morning of winter solstice, wide eyes and the promise of a shiny new gift waiting to be unwrapped. She couldn't take her eyes off him as they flew the rest of the way hand in hand.

"Have you ever been here?" she asked.

His response was a whisper on the breeze. "Only in dreams."

Then he was racing ahead, towing her along as he swooped down low over the waves. He let his fingers drag across the surface of the water, carving long ripples in his wake as they flew on, toward the glassy water of the cove.

Mermaid Lagoon was a perfect semi-circle as though someone had punched out a chunk of the island with a round, cookie cutter. Past the inlet, the water was shallow, a lighter sea green, glowing under the moon. Even the air here was different, salty sea tinged with a sweetness from the flowering trees and vines of the jungle framing the coast.

There was no evidence of a shipwreck in the lagoon, no masts poking up from the waves or debris to be seen. But there were many shadows under the surface that could either be coral reefs or ships. There was no way to know unless she went under to search.

That was when she heard the singing.

A chorus of haunting female voices wrapped around her consciousness. It began slow and sweet, but transformed into something more powerful, building, beckoning her to listen and she had no choice but to obey. The voices twined together to the rhythm of the surf, creating a beautiful overlapping harmony calling her closer. It penetrated every thought, every feeling, washing over her, surrounding her until she couldn't breathe, couldn't think of anything else.

Slip into the sea

Smooth as silk

Come to me

Scales on skin

Let me in

And she didn't realize she'd been drifting toward the sound until she felt Harry pulling her back.

His voice was sharp and insistent behind her. "I think yeh'd best use yer locket now, get a look underneath and see if yeh can find the ship."

She ripped her arm out of his grasp. "Let me go," she said, not understanding why he was keeping her from that glorious sound. She needed to hear more of that song and why was he now putting his body in the way?

Growling in irritation, she flew around him, blowing by like a gust of wind until she caught more of the mysterious singing, a murmur of melody that buried itself inside of her, blooming into a burning want, a need to get closer.

Dream your dream with me

I'll take you there

Into the sea

Forget the land above

Kiss me, my love

And she did float nearer, close enough now to spot the mermaids soaking up the moonlight along the rocks and sand near the shore. They hardly looked up at her when she coasted closer, unphased by her magical flight.

She could tell right away that these mermaids were different. Their tails were longer than hers in mermaid form, their fins barbed, the edges long and flowing, like they'd been painted by an artist's wispy brushstroke. Their skin was white as bone, hair dark and flowing like the night itself. And those eyes. Gods, those eyes were vast and infinite as the ocean.

The mermaid closest to her looked up and Melody's blood sang along to that evocative refrain, crashing through her veins in a harmonizing rhythm as she drew closer.

"Neverland mermaids are dangerous, lass," Harry's tense voice was in her ear. "That song'll suck yeh right in. They'll rob yeh blind and leave yeh stranded."

His words were crowded out in her brain by the deliciousness of that song. It wasn't even a tune she knew, or had ever heard, but it didn't matter. She needed to be closer.

"Come on. Yeh'll have more resistance if you shift," he said, grabbing onto her coat this time.

He was pulling hard on her, but why? Why couldn't she listen for a bit longer?

Into my arms

Deep in the sea

There'd be no harm

In just one song

It won't take long.

The mermaid song wound tight around her insides, coiling, drawing her closer, closer until she could see the definition of their scales shimmering below the surface of the water. She was entranced by their lithe fingers drumming delicately on their stone perches, fingernails like daggers.

"Melody, stop!"

She thought she heard Harry yelling somewhere nearby, but it was hard to know when all she could focus on was…

The mermaid closest to her lunged forward, raking those talons down Melody's exposed calf, leaving angry raised welts dotted with blood. The mermaid's other hand shot out to grab her wrist, but at that moment, she was dragged backward with a jolting tug around her waist.

But the voices returned, reverberating throughout her entire body now and whoever had a hold on her was becoming a very inconvenient interruption, because what was most important was getting close again, being completely immersed in that song. She needed to experience the touch of that mermaid's fingers, the way it would feel when she grasped her wrist, because she knew the sensation of that skin against hers would be otherworldly. And if she could only get closer again, she could find out.

Harry put himself in front of her then, with his back to her, and she was about to scream at him to move, she would fight him if she had to, but…

The mermaid song changed. A deeper voice had layered itself in with the higher notes, adding a familiar richness, and her chest seemed to expand, making room for an overwhelming yearning to have more of that sound. Only the hint of a tune and Melody was reaching for Harry. Her fingers were drawn to him, pulling at his coat, trying to find purchase, needing to be near him.

And he tucked her under his arm and flew toward the opening of the lagoon, away from the distraction of those other voices. Her head felt heavy when he finally stopped flying. He turned, his eyes flicked to her and back to the water and there was a tightness in the way his lips pressed together. She reached out to touch his face, unable to determine what made her do it besides that her fingers ached to feel his skin.

"Do it Melody," he demanded. "Use the locket."

And she could not disobey. Her body followed his command before her brain even had a chance to process it. The locket pulsed with magic and she was a mermaid.

She was still floating in the air, Harry's arm around her, but now she was looking down at her tail instead of legs. Her head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, her thoughts muddled as she tried to remember what it was they were even doing here, what had just happened.

Slowly, her brain sharpened, coming out of the fog and she remembered the whole point of this excursion. "The ship…" her voice creaked like a rusted hinge. "Where do you think the Jolly Roger is?" she asked Harry.

She watched his entire body loosen with that question, as though his muscles had been coiled tense, ready for a fight.

Then the song of the mermaids drifted toward her again. It was faint from this distance, but it was enough to trigger a vague memory of what had happened. Strangely, she no longer had the urge to fly closer to hear that song.

Blinking, she cocked her head as she asked her next question. "Those mermaids," she began. "They're sirens aren't they?"

"Aye," he said, "And yeh nearly got yerself killed. It was meh fault, I thought maybe yeh could resist from such a distance, bein' that yer half mer, but it seems Atlantica mermaids are a wee bit different from the Neverland type."

But something struck her in that moment, something about the whole situation. "Why didn't their song affect you?"

His gaze shifted toward the mermaids lounging near the shore, his throat working in a swallow. Then those intense blue eyes locked onto her and he opened his mouth to speak – "I –"

She slanted her head, waiting for him to finish.

He exhaled a long breath. "I dinnae know. Maybe me own charms are too thick for a siren's song to break through, eh?"

She rolled her eyes, such a typical Harry answer.

"All right then Mr. Charming," she said. "Here I go."

And Melody flipped once, just for show, and dove gracefully into the still water of the lagoon.

The sea floor spread out before her like a beautiful tapestry of color and texture. Moonbeams split through the shallow water, illuminating the coral beds in oranges, reds, and purples. Schools of glittering fish darted in and out of the reef, starfish clung to rocks and pebbles along the floor, and ropes of gently swaying kelp rose to tickle her fins from the sea bottom.

She kicked out with her tail, swimming beyond the ridge of coral and skirting the edge until she came around and saw it.

The Jolly Roger.

It lay at an awkward angle on its side, a gaping hole through the hull evidence enough of the enormity of the octopus that had cracked the ship all those years ago. The sea floor had begun its slow consumption of the wood and its masts lay broken, half buried in the sand. The massive anchor, tinged coppery with rust, was wedged in a rock bed that was now claimed by the waving feathery crowns of a group of fan worms. Barnacles and mussels dotted the ship's outer shell giving Melody the sense that this wreckage had become a part of the reef itself.

Melody darted in and around the ship for a minute or two, scanning and memorizing the details for Harry before she headed back up towards the moonlight.

She surfaced, flipping her hair out of her face and found Harry still floating above. "Harry, it's beautiful. You should see it, come in and – "

"Lass, it's dark out here and I cannae see a thing as it is, let alone 'neath the water."

She'd forgotten he didn't have the same vision underwater that she had.

"Right," she said. "Well, the ship's here, but it looks like the sea has pretty much claimed it for itself. It's amazing, I wish you could see it. There's lots of damage but the frame looks mostly intact. There's a giant hole in the hull and the masts are all split apart though."

He smiled down at her, a wistful expression that reminded her of what this meant to him. If this worked, if they could somehow raise the Jolly Roger and fight off Sparrow, Harry would have his own ship. He would be a captain.

"A broken shell of a ship is all we'll need," he said. "The Revenge was pretty bad off too. Uma said the magic would work on scraps if that's all we had."

"Well, I'd say that's a pretty accurate description of what we're working with," she answered.

Melody scanned the lagoon, memorizing the landmarks that would help them find the ship quickly when they returned with the crew. The wreckage lay just along the opening to the shallows, where the waves still broke against the craggy outcroppings. She could trace the angle of that rocky ledge right to the ship.

"Alright, I'm headed to shore," she said.

Melody swam toward the sandy beach, careful to avoid the mermaids along the northwestern coast. She pulled herself out of the waves as far as she could and gripped her locket.

"Would you like me to do the honors?" Harry asked, "So you don't have to get your pants wet, princess?"

He was holding up the vial of pixie dust, since hers had all been rinsed off when she'd gone under.

She nodded and he took a pinch of dust and sprinkled it over her.

Happy thoughts were easy to come by lately, and she floated into the air before opening her locket. Seconds later, her legs had returned, and she was hovering in nice, dry clothes above the waves.

"I could get used to that," she said. "Much better than always coming back with sopping wet shoes."

Harry laughed and tucked his vial into his pocket. "Well, lass, the night is young. And I've heard stories of Skull Rock since I learned to walk. Let's go have another adventure, eh?"

"Skull Rock?" she asked, her voice higher pitched than she intended. "Isn't that where all the pirates are?"

"Not all of 'em," he said, tracing his gaze up and down her very pirate-esque outfit. "We'll blend right in. Let's go have a wee bit o' fun."

And the way his tongue twisted the last words sent a shock of unexpected heat through her veins. Maybe she could convince him to stay right here and have their own fun first.

But he was already towing her along again, toward what was probably the source of every fantasy his little Harry brain had imagined since the time he was old enough to dream. He'd wanted to make his father proud, he'd listened to the stories from his father's crew, and he'd never been to Skull Rock.

Well, she'd make sure he had a good time one way or another.

They whizzed around the island's edge, until the lush forests of the coast broke into a more barren landscape with craggy rock formations, cliffs, and much choppier water.

A shape loomed from behind the fog up ahead. Nightmare made reality, carved from stone and towering hundreds of feet in the air.

Skull Rock.

It had two large, eye-shaped holes cut into the stone and a gaping mouth open to the waves forming a tunnel large enough for a triple-masted ship to pass through.

Skull Rock wasn't just a rock. It was a port.

"We cannae fly in for everyone to see," Harry said. "We'll have to cling to the rocks on the outside and climb in 'round the edge."

She nodded, still gawking at the enormous cavern as they advanced.

Following Harry's lead, they landed on a ledge near the skull's enormous mouth opening and, hugging the rock wall, they side-stepped all the way around until they were on the inside of the cavern. They kept climbing until they reached an overhang and were able to jump down onto the wooden landing below.

Melody couldn't help the look of awe she must have worn as she tried to take in everything all at once. The cavern behind Skull Rock was enormous, at least the size of the entire athletic complex back at the university. It was large enough to harbor three full-size ships, one anchored and two docked. And behind the dock, an entire village sprawled across the ocean front, all concealed in the shelter of this hidden port.

The air inside was moist and it smelled of salt and smoke and grilling meat. The sound of laughter and a hundred conversations echoed around the enormous space and back down to her ears. And the place had an energy, a throbbing sort of electricity that streaked the atmosphere with excitement.

And she knew Harry felt it too by the way his feet added a few extra steps, skipping and capering around like he'd had a few too many drinks at the pub. He trailed a hand around her waist and circled her, humming those excited little Harry sounds into her neck.

He didn't need to hold back, because half the current occupants of this little port seemed drunk anyway, so Harry fit right in.

They passed rows of little shanties lined up along the rear of the cavern. Lantern light flickered from inside many of them and the sounds of yelling, of laughter, of other… more lewd pursuits twined together to form the hearty, pirate chorus of Skull Rock.

As they neared what seemed to be the center of the small port, the construction seemed to improve, shacks evolving into larger wooden structures that resembled store fronts and shops. She noticed a little inn, with a sign crudely scratched into the wood that said 'vakency'. They walked on, hearing immediately where most of the sound was coming from. There were a dozen pirates outside, holding onto their tankards, or their women, or any combination of the two. The sign over the door read -

"Scrum and Chum," Harry breathed. "I've listened to a thousand tales that started here."

He'd frozen in place, eyes bright in the warm glow of the lanterns hanging from the bar front.

"And next time you'll be the one telling the stories," Melody said. "Let's go."