Author's Note: Melody's plan continues... and Harry seems... confused.
Hope you all have a great week! Let me know what you all think :)
The sway of the ship lulled Melody into a fitful sleep in a small space she guessed was a cargo hold of some kind. Growly had practically thrown her into the room and locked the door from the outside. There was no bed, no blankets, no anything. Just a cold, empty, pitch black space that smelled sharp, like something had burned and she recognized that bite was the scent of gunpowder.
But as she searched in the dark, she felt nothing to use to make an escape. Nothing that could be used as a weapon. Just splintered floorboards and impenetrable walls.
It wasn't like there was a point in escaping anyway, without her locket or weapons, she was useless until they reached Neverland.
Hours passed and she shivered in and out of sleep, curled into fetal position on the floor in her wet ballgown trying to figure out whether she had just made the worst mistake of her life. Finally, the door creaked open and Rotten Meat appeared, the saggy skin of his face lit from the faint light filtering down from the corridor.
Great, her second most hated undead sailor.
She'd hardly cracked open her eyes fully when he was pulling her by the arm up toward the deck. He gripped her much tighter than was necessary until they emerged from the bowels of the Pearl and into the daylight.
The sun was high in the sky, and it burned her vision into a white haze as she tried to navigate the stairs. She must have been down there in the dark longer than she thought.
"Hungry?" Sparrow's voice came from somewhere on the main deck, but her eyes still hadn't adjusted well enough to see him.
It was difficult to muster a flirtatious eyebrow when she was completely blind and had suffered a night as rough as she had, but she thought she pulled it off. "Famished."
"Good," he said, turning his voice toward Rotten Meat. "Leave us."
Sparrow slowly came into focus as her vision adjusted and he gestured for her to hold out her hands. He untied her ropes, quickly, but surprisingly gently.
Her wrists stung and she rubbed at the angry red burns. He glanced down, the lines next to his eyes softening barely perceptibly before he darted his gaze up again.
Melody immediately began taking inventory of her surroundings. Rotten Meat and two other crewman lingered nearby, close enough to help if Sparrow needed it. It was clear he wasn't ready to trust her completely.
He turned, striding toward the port side of the ship. She followed him, looking out toward the horizon as the afternoon sun reflected across the wave tips in the distance. The white sails of the Lost Revenge flew like a beacon of hope off the port bow, cutting through those waves with an unnatural ease. The wind was pushing perfectly into her sails and she saw no crew aboard the ship.
Come to think of it, the deck of the Black Pearl was similarly deserted. She'd seen crewmen below deck, and a handful on deck sitting around, but not as many as there should be to sail a ship.
And she remembered the words about Triton's sword from the book they'd read. The sword gave the wielder, "the power to move a ship at their will."
She glanced at the sword strapped to Sparrow's side and crossed to where he was standing. She didn't think she could slide the sword easily from that sheath, he'd secured the hilt with a leather strap to avoid being disarmed quickly. That would complicate things.
Even if she could disarm him, the crew always had their eye on her and it would take a while before whatever magic was tied to the sword could be transferred to her. And by that time the crew would have overpowered her.
And he would still have the locket and the trident.
Sparrow pulled a small tray from on top of a crate at his side, offering her a bread roll and a wedge of cheese. Her stomach turned sour. Those cocktail sausages at the ball were the last thing she ate, so she should be hungry. But nerves had shriveled her appetite.
"With your grandfather's sword and trident, I control the wind and my sails. The sea and the ship. We'll be in Neverland by tomorrow afternoon."
That was a whole day sooner than Harry had estimated the voyage would take.
Not good. That left her very little time to somehow steal back two of the three sapphires.
She studied him, wondering where he was keeping her locket. She figured he would hold it on him somewhere. He'd changed into a red short coat with a vest underneath. And in a vest pocket…
She turned her eyes away before he caught her staring. But the glance had been enough to spot a thin gold chain, one she'd seen countless times. Not her own chain, but Uma's.
Of course he'd have taken her friend's magic, too. He may not be able to use it, but he wasn't risking leaving a sea witch with her nautilus necklace. And if he kept Uma's necklace in that pocket, there was a good chance Melody's locket could be in that pocket, too.
Sparrow was gazing into the distance, thankfully oblivious to the nervous flutter of her heart. "I'm going to raise The Jolly Roger first. For notoriety's sake, it's an obvious first choice to add to my little fleet."
Then he was staring down at her. "And you're going to help me do it."
"Won't we need Uma?" she asked.
"Your necklace is the real power." He stepped closer, now standing so close she felt the heat of him against her chest. "Ursula's necklace magnifies the power of other magic. But with three sapphires, we won't need anything but you and I."
He did need her then.
"So, you'll either torture me until I cooperate, or I can choose to help you," she asked, looking up at him with an insolent quirk of her eyebrow.
"Seems those sharp blue eyes of yours cut to the heart of your situation already," he said. "Those are your choices."
Turning from him, she reached for the food he'd laid out. Even with no appetite, eating would show that she trusted him. Sparrow needed to think she was relaxed. She sensed that if she let him take care of her in this way, he might let his guard down.
The soft cheese had a peppery bite and was surprisingly delicious, maybe because she was half starved.
Then she spoke the words she thought he might like to hear. "I could think of far worse fates than an adventure at sea. And I've got nothing else to do over fall break. If you promise to return my friends to school, I'll help you."
He extended his hand. "Deal."
But she knew pirates. Even her favorite pirate had trouble with bending the truth.
There was no way Melody was trusting the word of Zach Sparrow.
But she took his hand anyway and shook it.
After their agreement, Sparrow didn't bind her wrists again that day.
But he wasn't stupid. The crew watched her every step and anything that could possibly be used as a weapon had been cleared from the deck. The crew kept their hands on their swords at all times and she never had an opening to make a try at any of Triton's sapphires. She still hadn't even seen the Trident at all.
When the warmth of the sun began to fade to evening, she shivered. Her dress and jacket had long since dried, but out here on the open sea, the winds were stronger, nipping at the exposed skin of her legs.
Sparrow brought out dinner… dried fish which she wrinkled her nose at.
He actually laughed at that when he realized why she wouldn't touch it and brought out more bread and cheese instead, along with a cup of water and a bottle of rum.
She took the rum, pretending to drink, but only allowing a very small amount to trickle past her lips. He, of course, tipped his head back and drank his fill. They sat together as the sun melted into the sea and twilight spilled over in every direction.
"You know what I don't understand, mermaid?" He had turned to her, brows screwed up in confusion. "How is it you went from fighting me like a cornered wildcat at Skull Rock, to cuddling up to me like a harmless house tabby?"
He studied her then, and she wondered what he saw. Besides last night's smudged make-up and wrinkled ball gown. "What are you playing at?" he asked.
She didn't answer, but emptied the cup of water he'd brought for her.
Thoughts continued to flicker over his expression and she could see him putting something together. "There's only one thing that could douse your fire like that," he said.
He tipped his head back and gulped down more of that rum. The Black Pearl rocked gently as it crested swell after swell at a steady pace.
When he finally spoke again, she noticed a slight thickness to his speech that wasn't there before. "I had eyes all over that school. You were in love with Hooky, weren't you? That's why you fought so hard to save him?"
She didn't respond, but his dark eyes bored into her, searching. "He broke your heart didn't he?"
And the observation took her so off guard, the hurt look she gave in response came completely naturally. The pain Harry had caused was still so raw, that even though she'd chosen to forgive him, it was still easy to dredge up.
His jaw slackened as he watched the pain flit over her features. "You thought you loved him and found out it was all a lie." Sparrow suddenly seemed very uncomfortable, shifting back and forth on his feet, lost in his own thoughts. "I almost feel bad for being the one to tell you."
She'd recovered enough to piece together a believable performance for him now. Let him think she was lost and heartbroken, it would only play into him trusting her more.
"It was better to find out when I did," she said, softening her voice to a pathetic whisper.
"Well, don't you worry," he said, taking a long draught off his bottle, "that little heart of yours will harden up in time. Mine did."
She swallowed, wondering why Sparrow was telling her all of this and she found herself curious about what had happened to him, what thoughts he'd been projecting from himself onto her just then.
She reached out for the rum bottle, pressing it to her lips and pretending to drink deeply. She turned to lean her back against the railing, focusing intently on making her most vengeful, brokenhearted frown.
"I guess that's part of the reason I don't mind helping you," she said. "Harry doesn't deserve a ship or a fleet of his own. And what do I care who controls the shipping lanes? My family keeps to Seaside and most of my friends are under the sea, anyway."
Sparrow settled next to her, his back against the railing, too. "If you want, I can punish him for you." Then he poured some of the rum into her empty water cup and handed it off to her before lifting the bottle of rum into the air.
"A toast," he offered.
"To what?" she asked.
"To revenge. She can be a sweet medicine for heartache."
She clinked her cup against his bottle and it hit her then - the empty look of his eyes as he gazed out over the ocean, some of the things he'd said at Skull Rock, the way he projected the pain of loss onto her so easily. He had lost someone. And what Sparrow said next solidified her thoughts about why Zach Sparrow was the way he was.
"If you get too lonely, you're welcome to warm my bed, darling," he said, letting those dark eyes settle on her lips as she took a bite of bread. "It's probably better than the hard floor in that holding cell."
Then he was turning away and Melody was left thinking that she couldn't have planned this better if she tried. Zach Sparrow was lonely. So lonely that, the instant she'd removed herself as a threat, he was already letting his guard down.
The crew supervised the last of her dinner as Melody thought over what he'd said. Sparrow thought she had given up, that she was hopeless because of a broken heart.
And she thought about his last words. The offer to warm his bed. That was definitely out. Though she thought of what she could do to him if he was distracted enough. She might be able to stab him before he knew what hit him. Then again, she could just as easily be killed if she tried.
Or worse…
She heard Harry's voice in her head. 'Over me dead body', he'd say to any plan involving Sparrow's bed.
So, she stuck with the original idea she'd had, surviving until Neverland and softening Sparrow to her as much as possible. Then, when the time was right and she could get the help of her friends, of the sea creatures she'd enlisted for help, she would strike.
When Rotten Meat bound her hands and led her down into the hold where she was to spend the night again, she found blankets and a few pillows scattered around, barely visible by the dim lantern in the corridor outside.
She smiled to herself as she heard the door lock behind her.
Softening indeed.
Most of the next day passed uneventfully. She had meals with Sparrow and avoided the stares of the ghostly crew as they passed. There were times when the Pearl got close enough to the Lost Revenge that Melody found herself staring off at her sails, trying to make out the shapes of passing figures on the deck and hoping one of them would look like Harry. She couldn't imagine Sparrow would let her friends roam free, but she couldn't help looking.
A stifling heaviness was growing in her chest with each passing hour. She missed her friends, just wanting desperately to know they were alright.
Most of all, she missed Harry.
So now, as she looked out over the afternoon sun, she sent a silent prayer to whatever gods were out there listening.
Please return them to me.
My friends.
Harry.
Please let them be okay.
Her only answer was the breeze lashing her sunburned cheeks as she looked out across the sea, glittering in the afternoon sun.
"I know it doesn't mean much to you," Sparrow's voice startled her as he approached from behind. "But I give you my word your friends won't be harmed."
She turned to him, deciding how best to soothe him into trusting her further. What would Harry do? How would a siren lure a man into a false sense of trust?
She thought back to how Harry had gotten her to trust him that night at the beach. It all had come down to just a simple touch of his hand.
Sparrow leaned onto the rail and looked out at the Revenge, her sails gilded by the golden afternoon sun. And Melody placed her hand over the back of his as he gripped the railing. "It does mean something."
She dragged that light contact across his fingers before she moved her hand away slowly. Then she pretended to gaze ahead at the Revenge, even as she studied the pirate from her peripheral vision. He was watching her. His hand was now gripped so tight around the railing that his knuckles were white.
And Melody didn't have a siren song, herself, but she had certainly learned something from Harry.
A simple touch was powerful.
She only hoped it was more powerful than three of Triton's sapphires, because it was all she had.
Just at that moment, a crewman called out from the crow's nest. "Land ho, Captain!"
Sparrow rushed toward a chest at the center of the deck and pulled a spyglass from inside. He crossed back to the railing and held it to one eye, scanning the horizon.
His teeth flashed in a smile and he breathed his announcement to her, and her alone. "Welcome back to Neverland, darling." He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, and she repressed the flinch that would have followed that action, instead pretending to lean into his hand. "Lets see what we can do about that poor old Jolly Roger, huh?"
With that, Captain Zach Sparrow rushed to the helm of the Black Pearl. He steered with one hand and kept the other on Triton's Sword as they approached Mermaid Lagoon. The Lost Revenge was following at a short distance and Melody could see its crew out on the deck now.
There was no sign of her friends, though. Only the undead sailors wearing their dark, ragged coats and blank expressions as they adjusted the sails.
Melody crossed to the where Sparrow stood, joining him at the helm. With his hand wrapped tight around the hilt of the sword and his eyes closed, she saw him whisper something under his breath and the wind stilled in answer.
A shiver crawled up her arms when he met her eyes.
"Where is the wreckage? You and Hooky came scouting, did you not?" he asked.
"It's just there." She pointed toward where the craggy outcropping extended, tracing the angle toward the middle of the lagoon. "Where the ledge would intersect the lagoon there."
"Heave to and edge forward boys!" he yelled to the crewman. "Square up to starboard!"
He jogged to the starboard side, chains and belts jingling at his waist, and yelled over at the crew of the Revenge giving them similar orders first before adding another. "Bring up Hook's son. I'd like him to watch as we raise his father's ship."
Melody's heart tumbled over itself in her chest. Harry. He was bringing up Harry.
The crew were scurrying around, adjusting sails and rigging and Sparrow was back at the wheel, turning to starboard just as he whispered more commands, clutching the sword. There was no need to tack against the wind, hardly a need to turn at all when you controlled the sails and the wind itself.
When he finished the maneuver, he turned to her again. "Hooky broke your heart and we'll break his when I take his ship," Sparrow said. "That'll help some, won't it darling?"
And his lip curled into a smile, waiting for her reaction.
She stayed silent, nudging him gently with an elbow. When he wrapped one arm around her waist, she didn't have to pretend to smile back.
Though she was smiling for a very different reason than he was. Oh… Sparrow was going to be very sorry he'd messed with her pirate. She just needed the right opening, but with Harry on deck, maybe there was a way she could get his help. Maybe if her friends could be close, too…
"Can you have them bring all of my friends up? Just so I can see that they're ok?"
He narrowed his eyes, but kept his gaze ahead as he focused on passing through the channel into the lagoon, steering with one hand while the other still rested on her hip. Finally, when they'd reached the area Melody had indicated near the shipwreck, he called to the crew. "Avast! Drop anchor."
Then he turned to her, looking down. "Let this be a gesture of good will, to show you I mean to keep my word."
Then he was crossing to the railing again, sending another order over to the Revenge.
"Bring the prisoners up. Princess Melody wishes to see that her friends are unharmed."
She ran to the railing then, hooking an arm through Sparrow's and leaning into him. "Thank you," she said, looking across the narrow strip of ocean at the deck of the Revenge.
At that moment, a leathery skinned crewman led Harry up from below deck and she squeezed Sparrow's arm reflexively, only managing to hold the tears back that threatened at the sight of him.
He was alive.
Thank the seas.
His feet and hands were bound, mouth gagged, and one side of his face was colored a nasty shade of purple. Of course, he wouldn't have allowed himself to be captured without a fight. And from the look of him, it had been a rough one. He was still wearing the fancy burgundy jacket from the ball which somehow made her heart feel even heavier.
He squinted into the sun, it had probably been days since he'd seen the light. His gait was stiff and shuffling, like it had been so long since he'd used his legs, he'd forgotten how to lift them properly. Then, as if he already knew where Melody would be, his eyes found hers easily, pinning her down with that piercing siren's gaze from a hundred feet away.
Her blood iced over as she realized what he was seeing. What it looked like from Harry's perspective.
Melody was holding onto their enemy, leaning in close to Zach Sparrow, their arms intertwined. She was standing cozied up to the person who had ordered Harry beaten, bloodied, and jailed for days.
She'd never even had a chance to tell Harry how she felt. Seas. What if he thought she didn't forgive him? What if he thought she was willingly going along with Sparrow?
When a frown slowly carved a deep ridge between Harry's brows, she felt something inside of herself shatter. And it took everything she had to hold it together and keep those million little pieces from scattering everywhere, rendering she and her plan completely useless.
She just had to hold on. Her opening would come.
It had to.
"Well, Hooky. I have a surprise for you," Sparrow said, taking the arm Melody was holding onto and wrapping it snug around her waist, drawing her closer against him. "Melody here is going to help me raise your father's ship."
Sparrow locked eyes with Harry and pulled her necklace from his pocket. He held it out by the chain, letting it swing back and forth enticingly.
Her heart flip-flopped. Now she knew he kept her necklace in that front pocket, too. The same front pocket she'd seen Uma's necklace in. If she could just distract him long enough...
Sparrow looked down at Melody, interrupting her thoughts with a sickeningly sweet smile. "It's kind of poetic that the two of us take his father's ship isn't it Melody?"
Harry actually tottered on his feet and the crewman tightened his grip on his bindings to straighten him, pushing him roughly against the railing.
"Yes," Melody said, forcing the single word through a throat burning with emotion. "Yes, it is."
And Melody would have chosen any other method of torture - walking the plank, keelhauling, sweating – any of them would have been better than being to being forced to witness what her words did to Harry. His strong shoulders drooped in defeat and his sharp eyes grew lost and unfocused. And when he shook his head, the tiniest, most poignant gesture of grief she'd ever seen, Melody was sure Harry would never forgive her. And if that was true, she may never forgive herself.
