Sorry for this chapter being so very short.

Chapter 3: Taken

The days afterwards were long and boring. They were filled with chores, sword lessons and strange conversations with Deirdre. Norton spent his time mostly in Skull Island and Marleybone. The most exciting thing that would occur would be when a sky shark or some type of sky fish would come aboard. That was when we had free meat or food. It's easy to tire of yum and stale biscuits. That would be until we headed to a port; the most common being Scrimshaw.

It was dark outside, the moon shining overhead. I was standing on my usual side of the deck. The clouds were covering the stars. Deirdre had already given up on my late night antics. It was well past midnight. She never liked to stay up past that point. She always said something like "some of us need sleep." It was true, some of do, and some of us don't, as much.

It was that night when I noticed something off. There was a ship moving closer to The Dark Stallion. I hoped that it wasn't going after any of us, but as we were all pirates it was hard to know. I saw the ship moving closer in the distance. I looked up to see the scout had fallen asleep. I climbed the ropes up to the lookout.

"Billy wake up!" I whispered loudly into his ear. He wasn't stirring. That was when I remembered how much he drank that night. Yum could have very well put him into a stupor and I couldn't alert them without him awake. So I swiftly moved down the ropes. I needed to see what was going on.

Cannon fire pierced the air. I knew what was coming. Deirdre came running out and soon came everyone else. We all had our weapons handy if some of them intruded upon our deck. We loaded the canons and let them fire. It wasn't enough though. We were soon about to sink when the enemy came aboard. There was no way for us to win as they took out about half of our people. How could I escape this? It all happened so incredibly fast. It wasn't standard for another pirate to attack a pirate ship unless we had something they wanted. What could be so valuable on this ship?

The captain of the other ship stepped on board ours. She made her way across the deck. None of us dared to attack her for it would be our death. She could at anytime tell her crew to attack and that would be the end of us. All of this because Billy had drank too much yum.

"Which one of ye is the captain?" She asked calmly. Norton stepped forward with his head held down. It was embarrassment for him to be defeated in such a way. He didn't bother to even look up, for he knew his death was nigh. She brought out her gun and shot him in the head. He collapsed to the ground dead. Even though spiral guns use sparks they can be as deadly as any sword or dagger. She then pointed her weapon at us. She had a dark glare in her eyes. That was how I knew who she was. She was called "Crazy" Rashida for her actions against well... pretty much everybody.

"Now do ye know where the Hawkins boy is?" She asked calmly. I gulped. Why would she want me? I was pushed forward by other crew members. Deirdre surprisingly stood with me. She looked worried; an emotion that I didn't think possible on her. "Captain Avery wants ye." Rashida told me as she grabbed my hand.

"Wait!" Deirdre called. Rashida looked stunned. "Can I come with?" Deirdre continued to say. Rashida blinked; her grip still tight. Why would Deirdre ever want to go with me. "Fine little girl." Rashida told Deirdre. Deirdre came up to her and aloud her to get a grip on her wrist. Dragging us both; all of us appeared on the deck of her ship, The Admiral Tiger. Her crew didn't even look at us when we passed by. Was this type of thing normal for this crew?

She brought Deirdre and I into a room below deck and locked both of us inside. It was dark and cramped. The ceiling was low, it was barely big enough for one person, not to mention two.

"Deirdre why did you decide to come with me?" I asked. I didn't get it. "I didn't want to be abandoned again, plus without Norton I have no family." She answered. "Oh." Was my unintelligent response. I didn't realize that she also was an orphan. I had assumed that her parents had sent her away or something like that.

"Um... What happened to your parents?" I asked. My curiosity getting the best of me. If I was going to be stuck in a small, dark room with her for who knows how long with her then I would use it to my advantage. "Oh... they died in the search for some treasure while I was left at Skull Island." She replied calmly. She didn't even sound sorrow. It's weird, if it has to do with something emotional she's detached, but if it has to do with anything else then she's a normal human. She's very insincere and I probably don't want to know why.

"How can you keep your attitude so... I don't know... calm?" She asked. "You aren't being calm?" I exclaimed surprised. She just looked at me as if I were crazy, which I'm not, or at least I don't think I am. Sometimes though sanity and insanity are similar.