Harry slept the middle of the day, and when he woke up, he was alone in Uma's cabin. Daylight streamed through the bay window and Harry could hear voices coming from the upper deck. His body ached and he was groggy, but he felt better. He half sat up in bed, enjoying the sensation of the swaying of the sea.
He heard Uma's footsteps in the corridor (he would recognize her fierce and haughty gait anywhere) and a little later she got into the cabin, carrying a plate and a bottle, and smiled cheekily when she saw him awake.
"Did you get a good rest?" She asked, holding out the plate of fish and chips, Harry's favorite food, though he would never admit it. Harry's stomach rumbled and he began to eat before he remembered that he had to give Uma an answer.
"Aye," Harry replied, his mouth half full. The fish was fresh and still warm and crisp, melting in Harry's mouth. He took a sip from the bottle Uma had brought, disappointed when he realized it was just water.
"Fine, because I need you to work," Uma said, crossing her arms. Harry knew her well enough to know that she was only using her façade of the Isle. Sometimes, she still had a hard time saying openly that she cared about him just because she did. But she was in a good mood, almost happy and, anyway, she couldn't hide her true feelings from Harry. He knew her like the back of his hand, he knew how to read her in a second. Uma looked away, hiding a mocking smile. "You fainted."
Harry nearly choked.
"What?" He asked, taken by surprise.
"I was kissing you and the next thing I knew you were passed out," she informed him, laughing. Harry blushed.
"I was tired," he defended himself, but the red color on his cheeks gave him away and Uma only laughed louder. God, Harry loved the sound of Uma's laugh. It was such a rare sound on the Isle, and even there, he knew he had been one of the privileged few to hear it. It sounded like the tempest, strong, undoubtedly beautiful.
"Whatever you say, Hook," she conceded, giving him a playful shove that Harry returned. He couldn't help but laugh with her. Harry reached out to brush back some loose braids. He leaned closer, silently asking her permission to touch her. Uma leaned forward almost imperceptibly, which Harry took as a signal to brush her lips with his.
He reminded something he had want to tell her all the night.
"You are a magnificent captain," he whispered, very close to her mouth.
"I know," she replied proudly.
Impatient, Uma closed the little distance between them. Her mouth was warm and longing and a little desperate. Harry could drink her for the rest of his life, and whatever it was after that, without ever tiring of her, like a drunk who can never be satiated. Harry let her bite him, possessive and seductive, and the next thing he knew they were both half lying on the bed, Uma on top of him, and Harry was shaking with desire.
"Harry," he heard her call out to him. He gasped, trying to control himself. Uma was looking at him curiously. It was not the first time he had wanted her, but this time his need overwhelmed him. He didn't know if he would be enough for Uma, he didn't know if she wanted the same. She was a powerful queen born of the tempest, mistress of storms. Although it wasn't easy for Harry to admit it, he was afraid he wouldn't please her.
"Stop there," Uma ordered. "Don't follow that line of thought, Harry. I want you too."
Harry couldn't help but marvel at the way she knew him so well. She dispelled his insecurities with just a few words, and he could see clearly that it was true: she wanted him too. Her voice was hoarse, and her eyes were shining dangerously. He could see that she was nervous, like him, but she was not self-conscious. Uma was always painfully seductive, inviting like the dance of the waves before sinking ships. And in the human part of her, attractive in the same way it is the gleaming edge of a sword.
"You are so beautiful," he told her. Harry just couldn't help himself. He knew he sounded too soft, but he hoped she understood what he meant. Not beautiful like a princess, not beautiful like the fine and sweet things in the world. Beautiful because she was Uma, with her sharp edges, quick tongue, and stubbornness. Beautiful in her hardness, in her impatience. All of her drove him crazy.
Uma smiled and Harry knew, by the way she was looking at him (the way she had always looked at him, open, trusting him) that she knew what his words meant.
She always knew.
Uma would have liked to just delegate all the work and stay with Harry on the lower deck forever, but they couldn't ignore their obligations on the ship. She settled for the warm make-out session they had, and when they came up on deck, she realized that they had indeed been down there quite a long time, because afternoon was beginning to give way to night. Harry had replenished energy with the hours of sleep and looked very happy making sure everyone was following the captain's orders. They had checked the charts shortly before and Uma adjusted the course before leaving Gil at the rudder.
As captain, she was supposed to be excused from doing cabin boy duties; but Uma loved feeling her back ache and her body full of sweat after hard work. It wasn't the same feeling she had when she worked in her mother's fish and chip shop, because that felt unworthy and purposeless. Working on the ship was caring for something she loved, the only place where she had ever felt free.
"Captain!" Desiree yelled from the crow's nest. "Ships aft!"
They all rushed the stern to see what Desiree was announcing. Indeed, on the horizon were not just one, but four ships of different sizes, following the course of the Lost Revenge.
Harry, next to her, frowned.
"I thought Harriet said that our father had sold only two of his ships," he said.
Uma raised an eyebrow. Her fingers were sore from tying the string, but she drummed them impatiently on the railing.
"I believed that they had not survived yesterday's storm. It seemed impossible. How soon do you think they can reach us?"
Harry ran to the lower deck to get the navigation charts and a few other things; They spread them out on a small wooden table. Then he gave Uma a wooden slat with a long rope. She moaned.
"It's the only way to know," said Harry, knowing that Uma was very impatient, and to use the slide and bulb you had to be patient. "First, we need to know how many knots we are going to, to roughly calculate where we will be at sunrise. Assuming that there are two that are faster than the others, since they reached them without us seeing them peeking over the horizon before, those are the ones that should concern us. Come on, let's do this."
They approached the stern and Uma threw the rope into the water. She let it run to steady in the water, and then she screamed "mark" every time a knot passed her hand. Harry did the same with the bulb, which was a kind of hourglass. When an hour passed, Uma stopped the rope.
"Seventeen knots exactly!" she announced. Harry marked the nautical charts and did the appropriate calculations.
"All the sails have to be lower, or they'll catch up with us before midnight. We can also change course and take this shortcut, although that will take us away from the nearest islet and we need to have the hull cared soon, or we could get stuck." Harry reported.
As they sailed south to the Isle of the Lost, the temperature rose and he had removed his jacket, and now he was dressed only with white shirt and pants. He wasn't even wearing boots, and Uma found him as handsome as a god. She forced herself to focus; looked at the nautical charts and tried to think of another plan.
"There is stern wind, so we will lower all the sails, as you said. We'll stop quickly to maintain the boat. It is a risk, but there are no options." Uma decided, and he looked at her with eyes bright with pride and nodded.
"Aye, captain."
Uma looked over the stern to the horizon again as Harry put the crew to work. She took out the spyglass and looked through the lens, hoping to find something useful. The two new ships had already outstripped the others, and although Uma could see black flags fluttering in the wind, she couldn't make out anything else that would give her any clue as to who the crew of those ships might be. It was a mystery how they got there. Two days ago, the only pirate crews on the Island were the ones of Harriet, Captain Hook, and Uma.
She put the spyglass away and turned to the crew. The sails were half lowered, the ropes were tied tightly, and her people seemed happy. They must feel the same feeling of freedom that Uma felt, or something similar, because they gave twice as much effort as necessary for a still unknown reward. Uma almost wished they were lazy, so she could have called them "filthy cockroaches" and all those things Harriet loved to yell at her own crew.
Harry had leaned out to starboard to yell at Harriet from ship to ship, and all the sails were already being lowered on the Red Tempest. They picked up speed, and Uma smirked.
"You can go rest now," she told the crew. Her sailors stretched their muscles and thanked her before descending to the lower deck. Gil and Harry were still talking, and Uma looked up again at the sky, which was once again full of stars. She was so immersed in navigating the ship that she had almost forgotten what the purpose of the voyage was, because she felt happy aboard the Lost Revenge.
However, the reflection of the moon in the calm waters reminded Uma of the song, but she did not dare to sing it. Instead, she just hummed the tune. She wondered what mystery the words were hiding, and if there was anything in the letters she gave Harry that she could help them understand. Understand why she could do magic inside the Isle. Understand what the curse was about, and why Captain Hook had said that she and Harry were in danger. Inside herself, in her heart, she was beginning to suspect reason. But for the first time in her life, she was happy, for the first time she had hope, and she just refused to let it go.
The ship's little kitchen was filled with laughter and chatter. Although under normal circumstances Gil was in charge of the kitchen (a decision Uma regretted after seeing all those eggs but couldn't back down because he seemed so excited), that night Uma pampered her crew, although she did it with an undaunted gesture so they wouldn't think she was getting too soft as a captain, and she cooked dinner. Uma liked to feed them. She didn't know why, but she knew it was instinctive. She did the best she could with the ingredients they had on hand, and she ended up making a decent ceviche.
Gonzo had been attacked by a flying crab that had pinched his finger and now was proudly displaying his swollen red index finger, while Desiree and Bonny laughed at his antics. Jonas had stayed on deck, keeping watch, and Gil and Harry were laughing at a joke. Uma looked at them and felt pride. Maybe they were a small crew, but Harry was right: she had chosen them well.
She set the plate of ceviche in the center of the table with a thunderous bang everyone was used to.
"Gil, bring the keg of beer that's in the warehouse," she ordered. Her guys' eyes lit up at the mention of beer and Harry smirked at her.
"You're in a good mood, Captain."
God, God. At what point had he become so painfully handsome? He was always attractive, but to Uma he was so familiar that he was just Harry. Now, after all those gentle caresses and kisses, she couldn't help but feel her heart pound with force when she saw him.
"It's the effect of the Lost Revenge," Uma admitted, shrugging her shoulders to dismiss the matter.
Desiree nodded, throwing her arms behind her head to lean back and close her eyes. She also seemed happier, less worried, and slightly heavier, even though the meals weren't abundant.
"I could live on this ship forever," she sighed. "Even if that means enduring the stench of Gonzo."
Bonny laughed at the offended look from her mate.
"I took a shower yesterday!" He defended himself, and Desiree and Bonny high-five. They liked to mess with the boy and Uma couldn't help but think she liked these girls: they were strong, they weren't afraid of heavy work, and they drank better than many sailors who frequented Fish and Chips.
Gonzo quickly forgot the offense and his gaze lit up. Uma frowned as she suddenly realized something: her sailors had that expression that had been unknown to Uma before she saw it in her own eyes, they had that glow that was only seen on television, but never on the isle. Hope.
"Yes... it would be nice to live in this place, Captain," he admitted. And Uma knew that they were making a silent plea, something that unnerved her. They were asking her, if they ever managed to get out of the barrier, to take them with her aboard the Lost Revenge. If they couldn't, they asked her to at least sail around the isle. They didn't want to go back to the docks.
"Mollusks will grow on your face," Uma scoffed, mostly to hide her surprise and how… moved she was. Uma took out some candles from one of the drawers and lit them with the lighter, then she put them inside a couple of glass lamps and left them on the table to illuminate the room well. Gil had just arrived with the keg of beer and Harry was helping him pour the jars.
"Yeah, just like Davy Jones," laughed Bonny. Desiree, who was still new in many ways, looked at her blankly. "Oh, come on Desi! Don't tell me you haven't heard the old Jones story. "
"You know I didn't grow up on the docks," Desiree defended herself.
"But you are a pirate! It's mandatory, Desiree," Gonzo complained, taking an extralong sip from his jar. "Bonny, tell her."
Bonny shook her head dramatically, saying a lot of things about how she was disappointed in Desiree and having no honor as a pirate, and as her girls got into an argument, Uma looked out the window towards the sea. She knew the story well, like all the children who had grown up on the docks. When she was a little girl, someone had once said that the Flying Dutchman, Captain Jones's cursed ship, had been seen cross the barrier and get lost on the horizon. It was never known if it was true, but the captain's story began to circulate anyway. Harry handed her a jar of beer and she took a sip, trying to ignore the sailors' talk. However, she couldn't. Something caught her and Harry's attention because the two of them, who were reclining on one of the cupboard furniture, froze very still.
"The story says that Davy Jones, a pirate, fell in love with the sea," Bonny began, adding a touch of drama to the story. "Or a personification of the sea, at least. The goddess Calypso. She ordered him to fulfill one of her obligations, to guide the souls that were lost at sea to the other world, which implied he could only touch port once every ten years. At the end of those ten years, she would be waiting for him. But Calypso was restless and not very docile, so she didn't keep her promise." Desiree seemed genuinely wrapped up in the story, and Uma swallowed hard, not knowing why she felt so uncomfortable suddenly.
"Davy Jones, wounded, tore his heart out to feel no more. He hid it in a chest where the goddess could never reach it and disobeyed his work of guiding souls. His ship and his crew became more and more part of the sea, cursed for eternity." Gonzo finished, in the same dramatic voice with which Bonny had begun to tell the story. Desiree looked shocked and she looked away from where her captain was.
Then Uma understood the reason for her discomfort. Her heart pounded, wondering if that was what was going to happen to them. To Harry. Was she capable of betraying him? She would never do it on purpose, she would never hurt him, but the sea ran through her veins and it was in her nature. And was Harry capable of taking his heart out and giving it to Uma? The thought terrified her in a way that nothing had ever scared her before, because she knew the answer so well.
Yes. He could do that.
"I think I'll go up on deck to make sure everything is in order," she announced, trying to control her voice.
Harry didn't seem concerned at all. Only when he saw her restless, he wanted to follow her, but Uma ran onto the deck, desperate for fresh air. She didn't want to hurt him. She was so afraid of hurting him. It had never occurred to her that she was bad for Harry. Why did her heart hurt so bad?
"Uma," said Harry. He had followed her to the deck, and Uma hadn't realized that she had climbed the rope until she felt the sea breeze on her face, spraying her with playful fingers. It seemed to mock her.
Harry clambered nimbly to get to her. Uma looked away.
"You have to get away from me," she told him, surprised at how much the words hurt. At the time, she just couldn't think of what else to do. The only thing she cared about was Harry's safety. He wasn't surprised or hurt at the harshness in Uma's voice. He passed a hand behind the nape of her neck to draw her in a hug. She tried to push him away, but surprise and pain caused her muscles to fail, unable to find the strength to push him away. Uma gritted her teeth. "Harry. I'm serious. I'm going to hurt you if you don't get away. I'm not good for you. Get away."
You don't deserve that. You deserve happiness and freedom.
Harry didn't loosen his grip on her.
"No," he said simply. Uma choked on a suppressed cry. Hell, she needed to control herself. She needed to be strong, even though her heart was breaking into pieces. So it was the way it always had been, and Uma didn't know why she had expected otherwise. "I know what you are thinking. You think we're like them, you think you'll break my heart. You think you're going to betray me. But you'll not. I know."
"You can't know, Harry." Uma replied angrily. "I'm part of the sea. My kind... cecaelias are cruel. Look at my mother. It is who I am, and I cannot escape it."
Harry kissed her forehead with a tenderness Uma was unaware of. His heart sounded steady and calm in his chest, and she wanted to hide there forever.
"I know what you are, Uma. And I also know that you will not betray me. You are part sea, but you are also part human. You know how to love, even though no one taught us to do it. Even when we were born on the Isle of the Lost. I love every part of you: the madness, the fury, the calm, and the restlessness. You have always been like this and we have stayed together all these years, right?" He reassured her, his blue eyes staring at her transparent, hiding nothing from her. "You will not betray me because I belong to you, and you always protect what is yours. You are not going to betray me because it is not in your nature to do so. Mal betrayed you, and yet you have never done it."
Uma took a deep breath. Harry's scent gave her calm, his arms around her reassuring her. And she knew that, if she was sea, Harry was the wind that accompanied her, the moon that made the waves rush into the sky, the raging rain that would always manage to be by her side. Together they were a mighty storm, a tidal wave, the monsoon full of force.
She kissed him and oh, what sweet pain it was to kiss Harry. Feel his lips on hers, bite him, mark him, feel him in the darkest and most luminous ways possible. He tasted a thousand times better than any rum in the world. He groaned, brought on by the seductive way Uma was touching him. When they stopped kissing, their lips were swollen, and his body throbbed with aching need. Uma held tightly to the string, feeling something like a whirlpool pulling within her, making her feel a desire that she had never felt before. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself.
Harry didn't let go of her. He pulled her a little closer to him, leaving kisses that made her shiver on the skin of her neck. He brought his lips close to her ear, and when he spoke close to her, his voice low and whispering, Uma believed that she could just die there.
"Let's go to your cabin, Captain."
Uma nodded.
Ursula's fish and chips was empty when James Hook entered, looking for the owner. He wondered why his son was fascinated by spending the whole day there, always around Uma. The place was old, it smelled of beer and stale fish, and the food was inedible, although everything on the Isle was like that. Definitely, he thought with mockery and complacency, Ursula's glory days were behind her. Far behind.
The old sea witch was waiting for him in her cave, her body half submerged in the water and an evil smile on her face that could scare anyone. Not him. Not for nothing Hook had been one of the most feared pirates on the seven seas.
"Welcome, Captain Hook," Ursula said, giving herself airs. The pirate couldn't help rolling his eyes. They were villains, but very different. "To what do I owe the honor of your visit?"
Hook took off his hat and played with it in a gesture that was far from nervous, hooking it with his hook, the edge of which gleamed when it caught the reflection of the water in Ursula's pond.
"You know well what I have come for, Ursula." He said. The sea witch giggled gutturally, and her tentacles helped her climb to the edge of the pond. She moved like a predator, with a certain malice in her body. Even with so many years of being trapped, the villains were what they were, and they couldn't change that. Captain Hook spoke in a polite and fine voice. "Don't drag this out any longer than is necessary. I come to make a deal and I will pay you well."
Ursula's eyes lit up greedily upon hearing that. The witch approached him, purring a laugh. All sea creatures were like that, seductive, and Hook could almost understand why his son had fallen for Uma's charms. He didn't mean that Ursula was attractive or anything like that. The old hag was disgusting, but Hook was still a pirate and knew the force with which the sea called sailors.
"And tell me, Captain James Hook. What do you want and what are you willing to pay for it?"
Hook walked impatiently around the pool, his haughty and cruel demeanor. This was difficult for him, who was used to thinking only of himself. There had been only one person he loved in his life, his death wife. For her, he would ever have paid the highest prices: the voice, the sanity, the memories. Valuable things to both sea witches and mortals. But she was gone, and all she had left him were their children. Children he could hardly bear when they looked so much like Peter Pan and his band of filthy brats; but now grown up and sailing, pirates like him, putting his name up again.
Hook couldn't say he loved them, but… somehow, if there was a way to ease his conscience before he died (and maybe, just maybe, meet his wife again), Hook knew he had to do this. Protect them. Even though the concept was so foreign to him. He hurt. He never protected. And yet he had this soft spot for Harry, his boy. Something that even he couldn't explain.
"You know well that our… children, are sailing right now, looking for the treasure that my late wife hid to prevent the curse from dragging us all to hell," he began, pacing leisurely in front of the witch.
Ursula gave a mocking laugh that sounded like if a typhoon had exploded inside the cavern.
"The curse we wouldn't have to worry about if you hadn't made your son a softie, Hook. You shouldn't have had so many considerations for the boy. If I had been you, I would have let Cruella starve him to death the time she caught him, when he stole her car. Although I must admit that your boy was very clever."
In one swift movement, Hook placed the tip of his sharp hook at the witch's throat, who giggled as if she was pleased. The pirate's eyes glowed scarlet.
"My boy is not weak. And what about you? If your daughter didn't have him hooked around her finger... always looking for a bit of the attention you never gave her, none of this would have happened. You let her go too far, Ursula."
The witch's tentacles leaped into the water, splashing the cavern. Hook didn't take a step back. With villains, it was always about measuring strength. It didn't matter if there were alliances involved, it didn't matter if there were no reasons to launch against the other. It was pure survival.
"My daughter was a mistake. Nothing more than that. When she was born, she was weak. I tried to take care of her, hoping that she would grow strong and follow in my footsteps, but looks at what she turned out. A dreadful disappointment." The witch complained, twisting her face dramatically. "Maleficent, filthy fairy, she unfortunately did well to remind us that affection and care make creatures under heaven week. We did what had to be done, we made them strong, cruel, ready to take revenge."
That was what everyone on the Isle of the Lost thought. That was why his wife was dead, why she had been killed, which not even his children knew about. Perhaps he had been too soft on them, consumed with guilt that he had led them to this world he had so often wanted to escape from. However, he also knew that they had forged a strong character on their own.
"Or maybe we just turned them against us. Look what happened to Maleficent: her spawn betrayed her. But the time has come, Ursula. The end of the Isle of the Lost is near. Because if your girl and my son manage to find that treasure, they will be able to free us all." Hook said with an evil smile. Because he still longed for freedom; because he wanted, at least, to die in the Neverland sea. Where he met her. His wife. Where she followed him to a fate worse than death.
Ursula snorted impatiently, clambering up the wall of the pond.
"So, speak now, what kind of deal have you come for? Come on, I don't have all day!"
But James was not intimidated. He stared at the edge of his hook and smiled. He never believed that he would be able to pay such a price for something, but he decided that, since he had nothing to lose, he would try to give Harry every advantage possible.
A/N: Hello! I leave the next chapter here. I really liked writing it and I hope you like reading it. I encourage you to leave me a comment telling me how you think. I'm very tired right now, but I wanted to upload it now, so I apologize for any mistakes in the translation. I will try to correct it so that everything is in order but there are always things that escape. Greetings and kisses!
