Chapter Three
(Song in this chapter is "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now" by Olivia Holt)
Danny had returned to the Benbow Inn the minute he had a chance and when he didn't find Aralyne in her room, he asked Mrs. Hawkins where she had gone.
"I don't know," she had confessed, "She didn't say anything when she left."
The guilt he had felt earlier grew along with a sense of unease. Something wasn't right. He left the inn and raced around town asking people if he had seen Aralyne. They all said yes, but no one had a clue as to where she went. Finally Snow White game him an answer.
"I saw her heading towards the beach about two hours ago. She may still be there."
"Thanks, Snow," he said before heading towards the beach. There he found Aralyne's footprints, as well as as dead body of some sort of slug creature.
"Oh, no. Aralyne, what did you get yourself into this time?" he muttered turning into his Phantom form. After studying the markings in the sand a bit longer, he came to the conclusion that she had been kidnapped... again. Jumping into the air, he flew off back into town to tell Grandpa.
Siren hadn't waited for very long when Jafar returned. One of the very few villains she had respect for, except he had his views set too low in trying to rule Agrabah in Aladdin. With his powers, he could have taken over the world!
"What is it?" she asked sounding bored as she twirled Triton's stolen trident in her fingers.
"Aralyne has vanished from Nesidy," said Jafar bowing towards the villainess, "And no one seems to know of her whereabouts."
"What?!" Siren snapped, her eyes blazing, "She can't have gone back to her world! She would never leave the place Tulio had once been a part of!" She suddenly gasped as she felt a sting on her left cheek. She touched her face and was astounded to find her fingers painted with blood. "What is this?!"
Jafar silently gaped at her. The slash on Siren's face had appeared out of nowhere!
The cut on my cheek had stopped bleeding; thankfully it was just a sallow scratch. Sick and tired of sitting around in Silver's cabin doing absolutely nothing, I stashed the map inside my pocket and hopped off my bed. I opened the door and poked my head outside to see the hallway completely empty. I wondered how much trouble I would be in for leaving the room? Leaving my temporary prison, I wandered through the corridor until I eventually found my way up on deck. Everyone was running around doing their job, and so far had paid me no mind. Silver was off on the opposite end of the ship making sure everything was fine. Looking about, I found we were out in the middle of the ocean with no sign of land anywhere. I could have jumped overboard right now, but I had no clue which direction we were heading, or which way Nesidy was!
Suddenly a large creature with a red face, long beard, and four arms shoved me out of the way so that I landed against the ship's rail.
"Watch it, twerp," it growled out turning to me and shaking one of its fists in my face. I scoffed at it. The creature narrowed its eyes at me and stomped off.
Looking around the ship, my gaze landed upon three other odd-looking pirate creatures huddled together and murmuring among each other. The fattest one saw me staring and motioned for the others to get quiet. They all eyed me.
"What are you looking at, weirdo?" growled out a head with eight tentacles for legs sitting on top of another pirate that was just a body without a head. The tentacled-head scuttled off onto a barrel.
"Yeah, weirdo," snickered the headless pirate, his face being on his torso and stomach. I shuddered involuntarily.
Hearing a loud hiss above me, I looked up to see the scorpion creature crawling down the shrouds towards me.
"Little girls should learn to mind their own business," he snarled, towering over me when he reached the deck.
"Why? You got something to hide, bright eyes?" I retorted with a smirk. After defeating the Horned King, not much scared me anymore.
With a scowl, the scorpion grasped me by my shirt front, lifted me up to his eye-level, and hissed into my face, "Maybe your ears don't work so well."
Turning my head to the side, I gagged. "Yeah. Ahem. Too bad my nose works just fine." His breath stank! It smelled like rotten fish mixed into a dung heap.
"Why, you impudent little -"
He suddenly lifted me higher, and slammed me into the main mast. I grimaced at the pain in my back, and my headache returned.
The crew began cheering and shouting out ideas as to what should be done to me.
"Go ahead! Slice him! Dice him!"
"Any last words, little girl?" the scorpion inquired pointing one pincer below my chin.
John Silver suddenly appeared and grasped the scorpion's pincer with his cyborg hand, while enjoying a plum.
"Mr. Scroop," bite, "you ever see what happens to a fresh plum when you squeeze real hard?" He squeezed the pincer in his grasp, and Scroop hissed in pain, releasing me. I tumbled to the deck, landing on my hands and knees. "Now, what's all this, then? You know the rules. There'll be no brawling on this ship."
"Aye, aye, sir," one pirate muttered.
"Any further offenders will be confined to the brig for the remainder of the voyage. Am l clear, Mr. Scroop?" Silver said glaring at the scorpion, his cyborg eye whirling and glowing red.
"Transparently," Scroop muttered.
When the crowd broke up, I slowly climbed back to my feet, and Silver rounded on me.
"What do you think you're doing, starting fights on my ship?"
"I didn't do anything!" I snapped, "It was that bug thing -"
"Belay that!" he yelled then grabbed a mop and bucket that was nearby, "You're on my ship, and I don't have time to constantly be saving your bum!" He shoved the items into my hands. "You will do exactly as I say if you don't want to be killed! Now, l want this deck swabbed spotless and heaven help you if l come back and it's not done. Morph?" The little pink blob appeared. "Keep an eye on this pup, and let me know if there be any more distractions."
When Silver stormed off, Morph's eyes grew and were trained on me.
I sighed. As much as I hated to admit it, Silver was right. If I wanted to survive, I had to follow his orders. I began mopping the deck.
Once everyone had left Aralyne alone, Silver had ordered the entire crew below decks so that he could speak to them in private.
"So, we're all here, then," said the Captain entering the dining area, "Now, if you pardon my plain speaking, gentlemen, are you all... stark-raving, totally blinking daft?!" He had turned his robotic arm into a sword and swung it around at the crew, which dodged each slash. "She's the only one that knows how to use the map! If she dies early, we lose that knowledge!"
"She's an impudent little snip," Mr. Scroop hissed out.
"You just stick to the plan, you bug-brained twit," Silver snapped, "As for the girl, l'll run her so ragged, she won't have time to think."
Night had fallen a long time ago, and I was still swabbing the deck. Morph and transformed into a mini mop and went around my feet and over my shoes, laughing. When I paused to wipe sweat from my brow, he floated up to my face and turned back into the bink blob, hiccuping some bubbles.
"Well, this has been a fun day, huh?" I sighed sarcastically to him, "Making new friends like that spider psycho."
"Spider psycho, spider psycho," Morph repeated morphing into Scroop.
"Heh. A little uglier," I smirked.
Morph took my suggestion and laughed in a sinister way.
"Pretty close," I chuckled.
"Well thank heavens for little miracles. Up here for a few hours and the deck's still in one piece," said Captain Silver coming back up on deck.
I thought of what happened earlier and lowered my gaze to the suds on deck. "Um, look, l, uh... What you did... Thanks."
"Didn't anyone ever teach you to pick your fights a bit more carefully?" he inquired. I looked back up at him for a moment, then turned away and continued mopping.
"No," I replied shortly, "When I was fourteen, I started sticking up for myself against bullies."
"Oh. Uh-huh," he said leaning against the railing beside me, "Sorry, lass."
"Hey, no big deal," I replied setting the mop aside and leaning against the rail, too, "I'm doin' just fine."
"Is that so?" he said intrigued, "Like it or not, l'll be pounding a few skills into that thick head of yours to keep you out of trouble."
"What?" I said turning to him, not believing what I heard.
"From now on l'm not letting you out of me sight."
"You can't do -"
"You won't so much as eat, sleep, or scratch your bum without my say-so."
"Don't do me any favors!" I snapped, not sure what he was up to.
"Oh, you can be sure of that, my lass. You can be sure of that."
For weeks, we sailed, and Silver had me doing all sorts of jobs on the ship. Back when I was on Captain Amelia's ship, I didn't have to do much, but I did learn a lot. Here, Silver had me doing nearly everything!
"Put some elbow into it," he yelled as I dangled over the side of the ship trying to scrape barnacles off the hull. Several times, I had nearly been washed away if it weren't for the life-line keeping me tied to the ship.
"Hey, look out world 'cause here I come
I'm burning brighter than the sun
You put up walls but I can break 'em, break 'em
Fear is not a roadblock in my way
Don't care what the haters say
They don't scare me, I'm not shakin', shakin'
And if you think I'm gonna quit
Go and cross it off your list"
Once that little chore was finished, he sent me to the kitchen to peel potatoes. Now this, I knew how to do, thanks to Tiana and the others working in the kitchen of the Benbow Inn.
"I just wanna scream out loud
Nothing's gonna stop me now
I'm never coming off this cloud
So move over, move over, move over
You don't wanna mess with me
I know who I'm meant to be
Never gonna slow me down
Nothing's gonna stop me
Nothing's gonna stop me now-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow
Nothing's gonna stop me now-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow
Nothing's gonna stop me now"
True to his word, Silver never left my side, and tried teaching me how to tie ropes properly. This was one of the skills I had learned on Amelia's ship, so when he was busy with his rope, I tied mine into a knot, and swung out of the look-out's nest, landing on the rail and walking away. Unfortunately, he caught up to me and had me scrub the deck with a small brush instead of using the mop.
"I'm moving faster than you think
You might miss me if you blink
Every day I'm getting stronger, stronger
But I was born to break the rules
So that's just what I'm gonna do"
On the rare occasions I had to myself, I would sit on the bowsprit and stare out into the horizon, wondering where exactly we were going, and if anyone from Nesidy was out looking for me.
"I just wanna scream out loud
Nothing's gonna stop me now
I'm never coming off this cloud
So move over, move over, move over
You don't wanna mess with me
I know who I'm meant to be
Never gonna slow me down
Nothing's gonna stop me
Nothing's gonna stop me now
And if you think I'm gonna quit
Just go and cross it off your list"
Once, I had gone down into the dining area to get a mug of cider and sat in a corner, watching Silver tell the crew a story of some sea monster he had encountered years ago. Seeing me, he paused his anecdote to order me to the kitchens to do the dishes.
With a sigh, I did as I was told. After a half hour, I thought I was finished, but then Silver arrived with a huge armful of dishes of every size covered in slime, and leftover food. I glared at him and furiously scrubbed at a pot.
"Hey, look out world 'cause here I come
I'm burning brighter than the sun
I just wanna scream out loud
(Out loud)
Nothing's gonna stop me now
(Nothing's gonna stop me now)
I'm never coming off this cloud
(No, no, no, no)
So move over, move over, move over
(Just move over)
You don't wanna mess with me
(Don't wanna mess with me)
I know who I meant to be
(Oh)
Never gonna slow me down
(Never gonna slow me down)
Nothing's gonna stop me
Nothing's gonna stop me now-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow
Nothing's gonna stop me now-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow
Nothing's gonna stop me now-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow
Nothing's gonna stop me now-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow
Nothing's gonna stop me now"
After a couple of hours, John Silver returned to the kitchens to see how Aralyne was doing. At first he was irritated to see her asleep sitting awkwardly, her head resting on a bowl she had finished cleaning. Looking around, he was impressed to find all of the dishes spotless and shimmering in the moonlight. He felt a bit bad about making her work so much, and took off his coat, throwing it over her shoulders before leaving.