Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading! I should have the next chapter to you in a week or so. I can now see the finish line in sight!


Melody wished she could magic this all away for Harry somehow. Now that she knew he was okay, she wished she could just ask Sparrow to send him back down below deck. She knew how this must look to him, like she was a traitor. A vindictive traitor who had changed sides because of a broken heart. And Melody hated not being able to explain everything.

But she couldn't ask Sparrow to put Harry back below deck. Not only did she know Sparrow intended to make him watch this, to humiliate him, but Melody needed Harry nearby to help her with the rest of her plan. This part would be painful, but there was no avoiding it.

As she stood, hoping Harry could read the apology in her eyes, it all got much, much worse as the rest of her friends were dragged one by one up onto the deck of the Lost Revenge. Jay first, then Gil. Uma, and her crew, and Jane.

Jane, bound and gagged, stumbled her way behind a crewman who towered over her. When she reached the deck, her blue eyes searched the Pearl until they rested on Melody.

Her throat burned with tension as she tried to keep her emotions from strangling her, but she forced herself to breathe, to put on her armor and continue with the plan.

"You see, darling? I promised you they'd be fine," Sparrow said. "And I'll even deliver them back to school in time for their classes. If you keep your end of the bargain."

Sparrow's eyes darted to hers expectantly, waiting for her response.

"My word is my vow," she said, staring stone-faced across at her friends, still leaning into Sparrow whose arm was wrapped tight around her.

Uma yelled something unintelligible through her gag and was joined soon after by the chorus of her friends. They struggled against their captors, tugging at their bindings as their eyes held expressions varying from disbelief to anger. She didn't need to understand their words to know they were begging her not to do what she was about to do. They all seemed frantic. All except Harry, who stood closest to the railing facing the Pearl, staring back at her in silence. He was close enough now that she could see those creases between his brow and the blotchy bruising on his cheek, and she had to look away.

She couldn't make her move yet. She needed some kind of opening and she hadn't found it. Besides that, there had still been no indication that Florian and Sid had successfully shipped her supplies to her or gathered enough finned friends to help with her plan.

Melody had to be patient or this whole scheme would fall apart.

"Alright, I've heard enough from them. Take them back down." Sparrow waved an irritated hand at her noisy friends and her heart sank. So much for trying to get their help somehow. "Just leave Hooky where he is so he can watch this. At least he finally found the sense to keep his mouth shut."

The crew led her friends back down below deck, and it took two men to keep Uma under control as she fought every step of the way.

"What should we do with him after we raise his father's ship?" Sparrow asked her, tipping his chin in Harry's direction. "Feed him to the sharks?"

And here was the test. The real test. Because if she went too soft, Sparrow would know she still cared about him. She had to be cold. Unfeeling. Just as Sparrow was.

"Sharks would be too quick," she said. "I say we ship him back to his father. Captain Hook would do worse than we could ever dream of."

A cruel gleam shone in those dark eyes. "Now you're thinking darling."

Harry only continued to stare back at her with that broken expression. She swallowed hard, trying to find some relief from the emotion clamping down on her throat.

Sparrow was vibrating with excitement now. She could feel it in the tightness of his arm and in the way his breath had quickened. He was so looking forward to this. His eyes darkened to onyx, sharp and glinting with wicked delight as he placed the locket in her hand.

"You know the words, I assume?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Then you will do the honors and teach them to me."

She looked up at him and spoke the words Uma had taught her. "By the power of both sea and storm, return this ship to its proper form."

He wrapped his fingers tight around the hilt of his sword to harness the power of the sapphire and nodded, indicating for her to open the locket. She followed his command, and instantly, its magic began to wrap around her, looking for an outlet. She focused her thoughts on the shipwreck under the sea. With an outstretched hand, she directed the magic and Sparrow mirrored the action, focusing the magic of his sword. And in perfect unison with Captain Zach Sparrow, she spoke the words to raise the Jolly Roger.

"By the power of both sea and storm, return this ship to its proper form."

The first hint that anything at all was happening was a gentle bubbling, just a light fizzy sound off the bow.

Then, the sea itself seemed to expand. The water pushed back against the Pearl, dragging the ship backwards anchor and all. The deck lurched and Sparrow caught her waist, grabbing hold of her until they both had hands on the railing to steady themselves.

Sparrow's eyes were wide, ecstatic, as he grabbed the locket back and stuffed it in his vest pocket. This freed both of his hands to grip the Pearl's railing tight as he watched the magic unfold.

Water cascaded from the Jolly Roger's broken hull as it split the surface. An entire river spilled from the giant hole in the side as an immense, unseen hand lifted the ship from the ocean and held it there, unmoving.

Slowly, the barnacles and sea stars studding the rotten underside of the ship began to dissolve into nothing. The cracks and rotting planks were slowly filled in as the boards themselves seemed to grow, lengthening as each hole was repaired, and the decomposed wood was replaced with thick, sturdy planks. The broken masts grew from the deck as though someone had simply reached down to brush them onto this giant painting that was being created before her eyes.

Only it wasn't a painting. She knew full well that this was real.

Then, as if the magic was personally taunting Harry, it gave him one last painful reminder of what he was losing as the flag of the Jolly Roger was raised. That timeless skull and crossbones that had come to represent the pirate life itself, created by Captain Hook and his crew, a symbol that was practically Harry's entire family legacy, lifted into the late afternoon sky and caught the breeze, waving proudly at every upturned gaze.

And now, that symbol belonged to Zach Sparrow.

In that moment, Melody's opening came. And it came just as Sparrow's ego, his need to best another man, finally overwhelmed him. As the Jolly Roger's white sails unfurled in the afternoon sun, brand new as the day she'd been built, Sparrow turned to Melody. And to prove he had won, he buried one hand in the hair at the side of Melody's head and leaned in to kiss her.

He'd taken Harry's ship and now he was showing Harry he'd taken Melody, too.

Her gut reaction was to jerk away, but this was the distraction she'd been waiting for. This was her best opportunity.

So, instead, she leaned into him.

She tried not to think about the taste of his mouth, the rough way his lips twisted against hers. Instead, she imagined what he might enjoy, what might cause him the biggest distraction.

And she fisted her hand in his jacket and deepened the kiss, sliding her tongue across the seam of his lips to tempt him. He allowed her entrance and she kissed him like she'd learned from Harry. She let her lips do the distracting as her free hand began working on something else Harry had taught her.

Her quick fingers slid into his vest pocket, coming away with two chains with hardly a brush against him. And she plucked the necklaces from his vest, slipping them quickly into her own jacket, pulling away from Sparrow only when her prizes were safely tucked out of sight.

Sparrow licked his lips as he stared down at her. "My, my, my" he said. "Does your mother know you are so good with your tongue, Princess?"

"What my mother doesn't know can't hurt her."

Another life lesson, and Melody was pretty sure she'd learned that one from Jane.

"Indeed," he said, and it seemed that kiss had whet his appetite because he had a hungry look in his eye as he stepped closer.

Of course, since half of this was likely for show, Sparrow couldn't resist seeing how this would affect his audience. So, he turned back toward Harry, to see his reaction.

Melody's heart was beating erratically in her chest now. Seas, she did not want to look. She wasn't sure she'd be able to stand seeing Harry's face after what she'd just done. But she forced herself.

The crewman who held Harry's hands behind his back was wrestling to keep him still. Harry leaned into the railing and with brows hanging low over his eyes, his gaze bored into Sparrow.

Harry was livid.

She sent him another silent apology then and prayed he would take her meaning.

His expression didn't change.

Sparrow was now practically buzzing with giddiness. He had a brand new ship, had just humiliated Harry, and thought he had all three sapphires.

He was striding to where Growly Voice stood near the mizzen mast, and soon he was rattling off a string of orders to raise anchor, move both ships forward, lower the gangplanks, and transfer some of the crew to the Jolly Roger.

She was trying to listen to the plan in case it included any information she could use, when something unusual caught her eye.

A pelican had landed atop the crow's nest with a familiar dagger clenched tight in its beak. The golden scaled hilt glinted in the sun and the hooked blade looked ready to do some damage. Melody took that as her cue.

She had the necklaces back, and her weapons and pixie dust had arrived. Harry was on deck, her friends, both finned and footed, were close by, and Sparrow was distracted. But Triton's sword was still sheathed at Sparrow's side and she had no idea where the trident was. A tug-of-war had broken out in her mind. Stay and try for the sword and trident? Or do what she could now with the protective magic of the necklaces?

Harry's words of advice echoed in her mind then. We should stick together, he'd said. He'd reminded her of how powerful Uma would be in a fight at sea. How important it was to stick with her friends.

She'd have to wait on the sword and trident. This was the best she could do on her own.

It was time.

Sparrow's hand rested on Triton's sword as he whispered to the winds to adjust the course of the Lost Revenge, sending it gliding closer until the crew was able to place a gangplank between ships to board the Jolly Roger.

Melody waited until Sparrow had his back turned to her, sending crewmen this way and that, pointing a finger and barking orders. When the crewman had all but forgotten their duty to guard her in their excitement, she headed toward the stern and ducked behind a crate, blocking Sparrow's view of her. Then, with the locket in hand, she dove into the lagoon.

The instant she became a mermaid, she saw that Sid and Florian had come through for her. Somehow, by air or by sea, fish by the thousands had been summoned to Mermaid Lagoon. And now it was Melody's turn to call out orders, to her own crew of what appeared to be every fish in the sea.

"I'm going to head to the Lost Revenge, the other ship next to us. When I surface, I need my pixie dust, my sword, and my silver dagger in my hand."

A dolphin floating at the front of the crowd signaled that he had understood. "We have everything, princess. I'll tell the birds to drop your items."

"Thank you," she said. "Then, I'm going to free Harry, he's the pirate that's gagged and bound. You need to drop that hooked dagger and a sword in his hands as soon as I free him."

A school of minnows gave a simultaneous "Aye aye," and scooted off to spread her orders to whatever bird or fish had the items in question.

"I'll need all of you to be watching," she announced to the rest of the creatures schooling around her. "Because if I can free my other friends on the Revenge, I'll need you to drop any extra swords or daggers into their hands to fight off Sparrow's crew. Then, I'd appreciate anyone who can do any damage to help with our attack."

There was a chorus of 'yes princess' and 'anything for you' and 'for the Queen!" The sea was positively teeming with glittering scales and flipping fins now, and Melody's spirits were instantly buoyed. Because looking at this abundance of life, the support of the entire marine community, she realized she wasn't alone. The undersea creatures believed in balance and they knew that no one person should hold the entire fate of the sea in their hands. Even the smallest guppy could agree with that.

Together, if they could use everyone's talents, they could stop Zach Sparrow. They might actually have a chance.

"Alright, here we go!" she called, flipping her tail fin as hard as she could, launching herself underneath the hull of the Pearl toward the Lost Revenge. The beauty of the lagoon contrasted starkly with her current situation. The colorful arms of coral and anemones waved languidly in the gentle current and the sun filtered down from above, carving the green water with beautiful lines of light.

But Melody had no time to admire it this time, because to avoid being seen, she was also diving under the Revenge, planning to surface on the opposite side. No one would be looking in that direction as Sparrow was focused on boarding the Jolly Roger at the moment.

She surfaced near the starboard side of the Revenge's stern and it wasn't long before a gull swooped low and dropped her pixie dust right into her hand. This was followed by a sword and dagger ferried her way by an orca.

She nodded her silent thanks to all of the help and sprinkled the pixie dust on her head and the exposed skin of her shoulders peeking out of the waves.

Her happy thought slid easily to the forefront of her mind. It was something she'd spent a lot of time thinking about over the last few days – the image of what it would feel like to finally forgive Harry Hook.

And Harry's reaction when she told him she loved him, too.

With that, she was floating, and as soon as her tail was out of the water, she used her locket to bring back her legs. She strapped the dagger to her thigh, stuffed the pixie dust into the bodice of her dress, and gripped her sword tight.

She floated up, slowly, and peeked through the railing. Each crewman was distracted with following orders to adjust the ship. One man with bowed legs and scraggly hair had a hold on Harry's hands, still bound behind him. They were facing away from her, toward the Pearl, watching Sparrow as he…

Sea spit.

He was already looking for her.

Sparrow rushed up to the forecastle, eyes sweeping over the deck. He called her name.

She needed to hurry.

Waiting only until the undead crew assigned to the Revenge were looking the other way, she flew straight for Bowed Legs and powered by her happy thought, she rammed the hilt of her sword into the back of his head.

He crumpled to the deck and as Harry turned around to see what had happened, she slashed her blade through the ties around his arms and legs. His eyes widened and she stretched out for the gag around his mouth. He bent down to help her reach behind his head and when the fabric slipped away, their eyes locked.

Melody could have stood there staring back at him forever. With so many words heavy on her heart, it ached to leave them unsaid but luckily, her survival instincts weren't completely smothered by that ocean-blue gaze, and she managed to pull away, dropping into a crouch to avoid being seen by anyone on the Pearl. Harry mirrored the action, following her as she crawled for cover, frantically ducking behind a barrel. Once hidden, she exhaled, leaning her back against the smooth wood and grabbed for Harry's hand.

"You okay?" she asked, pulling his hand into her lap and tracing the bruises on the backs of his knuckles. "Hope the other guy looks worse than you do."

He blinked back at her, dazed.

Seas, his face was so swollen, all along the left side from above his eye to his cheek had bloomed into an unnaturally bright shade of purple. His lower lip had been split, and days-old blood had dried on his chin. Even so, the sight of him alive was enough to send her heart charging ahead at an unsustainable rhythm.

Harry's disbelieving gaze had dropped to her neck where her locket hung and slowly, his mouth formed words. "Yeh didn't – that kiss was – "

"All in a day's work," she said, raising her eyebrows and holding up her other pick pocketing prize. "Got Uma's necklace back too. I did learn from the master, after all."

And his smile, bloody and a little crooked, was the most gods-damned beautiful thing she had ever seen. "Yeh came for me, then? Yeh forgive me?"

"Of course, I came for you, you thoughtless, lying pirate," she said, using his exact words from the night of the ball.

Then she took his face gently between her two hands and gazed hard into those siren's eyes, speaking the feelings she'd tried so hard to deny. The emotion that burned so hot, that it had simply devoured every other obstacle that lay between them. "I love you, too, Harry. And if we get out of this alive, we really need to talk, but right now its -"

The pelican who'd been holding Harry's hooked dagger swooped low and landed on their barrel. He cocked his white feathered head and dropped the weapon with a metallic clink and Melody reached out to grab it.

Harry was staring at her. He swallowed. His eyes searched her face, slowly sweeping over it as though he was reading every detail. He swallowed again. "Yeh, love me?" he asked, blinking at her as if she were a dream that would evaporate upon his waking.

"Here," she said, shoving the dagger into his hands. "There is a story behind this gift, too. And I'm sure it will all be very romantic at some point, but it's going to have to wait."

He took the golden hilt in his hands and as soon as his fingers wrapped around it, she watched his lip quiver as he admired the craftsmanship.

Before he could speak, an albatross landed on the railing with a whoosh of heavy wingbeats, sending his sword clattering to the deck. He reached a shaky hand out to retrieve it.

Poor Harry looked a little like a fish drowning on dry land just then. His mouth was gulping, as though fumbling with words to say, but there was just no time to wait for him. She would have to apologize later for what was quite possibly the most rushed and least romantic profession of love ever uttered.

"You need to keep the crew up here busy while I try to free our friends. Sparrow won't risk killing me yet, not until he has his entire fleet raised by my locket, but that doesn't mean he won't send more undead to cut you all down. So, I need Uma's help to cast that protective spell. Where is she?"

"Cargo hold," he managed.

His eyes were still too-wide, his face was still frozen in disbelief as she combed her fingers through the hair at the sides of his head and pressed her lips against his, gently. This kiss was everything still unspoken between them, tinged with the coppery tang of his blood and magnified by the adrenaline of impending battle. It took Harry a second or two to kiss her back, as if still not believing what was happening. But when he finally did, he poured himself into her, and had she been standing, she knew her knees would have buckled.

When she pulled away, his eyes fell closed, just for a second as though savoring this moment before he would be forced to fight to earn another one just like it.

"Promise me another kiss like that and I'll have the entire deck cleared by the time yeh come back up with Uma," he said, beginning to regain some of that Harry-swagger she missed so much.

"I'll promise you more than that," she said, winking.

He offered her a feral, blood-stained grin in response as one hand wrapped around his new hooked dagger and the other gripped his sword. Then he launched himself at the undead crew.

The speed and strength of Harry's first slash to the back of the hunch-backed pirate hauling lines made her shiver.

She turned, making for the stairway to the cargo holds as something heavy thumped against the deck. There went Hunch-Back. Steel rang out behind her as Harry's blade met that of his next opponent and Melody dashed below deck.