19:25 pm - Mal and Evie's room
Harry had recognised the alcohol in an instant. When Evie produced the glass bottle, a cork sealed with wax in its long neck, his heart skipped a few beats. It was a strong concoction, usually a hazy mix of several drinks and was a staple in most taverns on the Isle. The drink was simply known as'Cup o' Glory',it made Harry ache for his ship since there were barrels of the stuff below decks.
Harry clucked his tongue as Evie uncorked the bottle and he took a deep swallow, gulping the alcohol down as if it was water from the Fountain of Youth.
Doug watched the pirate drink, his tongue darting out to capture the droplet on his lower lip. Transfixed, he jumped slightly when the bottle was pushed under his nose by his girlfriend, a faux-innocent look on her face.
"Gonna break a few rules?" Evie asked quietly and Doug wrinkled his nose at the acidic smell, his eyes watering. His curiosity overruled his caution. The half-dwarf nodded and Evie tipped the neck of the bottle to his lips, her musical laugh loudly filling the room when Doug coughed and spluttered as soon as he had forced himself to swallow the alcohol.
"Gods above, that burns," Doug's voice was hoarse and Harry sniggered.
"Ya get used to it," he told Doug with a grin. Harry watched the thread embroider the cotton in his arms with interest, Mal's green magic seeping into the fibres.
Evie offered him another sip and this one went down smoother than the last, still burning however as it went down. Doug's face screwed up and he shook his head sharply, trying to dispel the hit of the drink. Evie smiled and downed the rest of the bottle in one long sip and Doug's eyebrows rose.
"How can you drink that like its water or something?" he asked in disbelief, looking at Evie and Harry.
"It's put into the bottle of the babes on the Isle. We have been drinking 'glory' for years," Evie giggled, replacing the bottle under Mal's bed. She ran a hand over the comforter, smoothing it with her back to the boys. "Or so they say anyway."
"Yer miss it?"
Evie turned to look at Harry with scrutiny. "I have never felt more relieved to have left. What about you?"
Harry took a few moments to contemplate and as he did, the alcohol began to take its effect. Glory was a drink that took quick effect and it hit hard for twenty minutes or so and then tapered off into a warm feeling. Harry and Evie, both slightly desensitised were still feeling the effects but it was Doug who was staring at Harry, giggling, staring at Evie and then repeating the motions.
It was the same reaction Gil he'd first tried the drink. It made Harry smile and he relaxed, feeling as though he was among his crew back aboard his ship.
"I miss my ship," he confessed, still watching the enchantment unfold in his arms, unable to meet either of the eyes of the others. "I miss pulling shifts at Ursula's and practising swordplay on the tabletops. I hate the fact that I miss going out on jobs, using the hook as a weapon."
"Harry..." Evie murmured gently but the pirate found he couldn't stop once he had started.
"I have always wanted to get off the Isle, but I wanted to do it on my own ship, not through the orders of the King. I hate seeing you four and the fact that you are settled. You have friends and relationships and know what to fucking do whereas Gil and I are outsiders cause Uma didn't know when to fuckin' stop! I hate seeing her and how she seems so happy with her perfect life!" Harry spat.
"She is miserable!" cried Evie. "Yeah, you and Gil are outsiders but not because of your role a few months ago. All of us from the Isle are outsiders!"
"She's miserable," Harry repeated slowly. "How can she be unhappy, she's a lady of the bloody court and practically engaged to the King!"
"They're not together anymore!"
Everybody's mouths dropped. Harry and Doug stood statuesquely whilst Evie whimpered and slapped a hand over her mouth.
"I didn't say that. You didn't hear that from me," she cried, pointing at the two boys with a worried frown.
"Ben never mentioned any problems," Doug was more confused about the pirate's reaction.
Harry's shocked expression slowly morphed into something else. He closed his mouth and the corners of his lips tugged at the sides, a light shining in his eyes. "So, no longer a princess huh," he was smirking in a wicked way.
"What's with the grin? I thought you two hated each other?"
"Owe her don't I. The 'heartless pirate' weren't a name I could have embodied without her," he replied. "Besides," he drawled, his accent thick around the words. "The threads of those from the Isle are always entangled."
"The comment had been a saying on the Isle of the Lost, uttered by the older generation. It was supposed to imply that everyone was just as responsible for their entrapment and that it takes only one to free the entire population.
Evie shuddered as it didn't bode well when Harry Hook was feeling mischievous.
21:56 pm - Gil and Harry's room
Mal and the boys had played six rounds of cards, Gil wiping the floor with his skills. They had been playing for odds and ends; random scraps of paper, pieces of lint and sweets. Gil had amassed a large collection of junk by the time the four of them had called it quits in favour of getting a good nights sleep for the first day of school.
Carlos had offered Mal his bed but she knew how hard he found it to sleep in an unfamiliar room so she politely declined, assuring both boys that she would be fine in the empty bed in Gil's room. She hadn't been allowed to leave until Jay had pushed some of his pyjamas into her arms since she hadn't been back to her room.
"Thanks," Mal had murmured as he placed a ball of socks in her arms, along with his hairbrush and a sweater.
"Gotta look after my sister," was all he had said.
Gil and Mal had crept across the hallway, on guard in case someone saw them and thought the worst. Inside the boys' room, Gil had unpacked and settled his few personal belongings amongst his side of the room, his textbooks already open and spread around the floor and desk space.
Gil's cheeks darkened when he realised Mal was staring at all of the schoolwork spread about. "Sorry," he apologised shyly, "I'm really nervous. I've never been to school and I don't want to look stupid."
Mal smiled. "I did the exact same thing on my first night whilst Evie was asleep. I can help you if you are stuck with anything," she offered.
Gil's face lit up. "Do you really mean that?"
"Of course," she promised.
"Well, I am confused about the chemistry chapters and I'm not sure I understand the math stuff," he told her quietly.
Mal placed a hand on his arm. "I will help you."
"Thanks, Mal," he beamed. "Oh, you can change in here and I will use the closet." He left her to change and told her he would only reappear when she knocked on the closet door so Mal took her time.
Harry's bed was still perfectly made, the sheet crisp and tucked into the mattress. His trunk at the foot of the bed seemed as though it hadn't been touched, only the books on his desk had been disturbed but unlike Gil, it looked as though Harry had flicked through them and then set them aside.
The only personal item Mal could see was the bottle on his bedside. Mal crouched next to the cabinet, her nose level with the glass so that her breath fogged the surface. She didn't dare touch it, she had a history of accidentally ruining Harry's things so she simply watched.
The Grace bobbed on the blue waves, clouds wrapping around her tallest mast. The ocean lapped at the belly of the ship, retreating to reveal small clusters of shells that took Mal a while to see. It was a beautiful ship in comparison to the ones that used to bob in the docks on the Isle.
She heard Gil crash into something in the closet and so she began to undress, eyes on the ship as she changed. She wanted to ask Harry about it; who had cast the charm? When had he become his own captain? How is it to be released? Why The Grace?
Mal knocked on the closet door and Gil re-entered the room, climbing straight into his bed as Mal hovered near Harry's.
"It's alright you know. He's still Harry," he told her as he turned down the lamp on his bedside with a yawn. The only light that was left in the dorm room was from the full moon, shining brightly through the open windows.
"That's what's so bad," Mal whispered but Gil's still form was breathing deeply and she knew she had only spoken to herself as she climbed into the cold bed and fell into a dreamless sleep.