Author's Note:

Thanks for the awesome reviews (to my dear readers), thanks for the lovely betaing (to my amazing beta: Whisperwings), and on with the show!

Rebecca blinked awake once the Siren's Sonnet had lurched to life. Starlight glared through the cabin's window and gently warmed her face. The young woman shook herself awake and rubbed the sleep out of her pale green eyes.

At this time, Rebecca recollected what had past the previous evening, and stifled a gasp through her fingers. She ran a thumb over her bottom lip, thinking about what she had done, and groaned.

Rebecca flopped back against the covers of her bed; she wanted nothing more than to sleep the entire day away. But a growl in her stomach and the glaring starlight forced her out of her bed to get dressed for the day.

The young woman pulled out the key she had been given for her quarters, which included a small bathroom for herself.

Once Rebecca had dress herself for the day in a burgundy skirt, an ivory blouse and a burgundy jacket, she left her quarters and set out towards the galley

Halfway to the main deck, while walking through the lower decks, Rebecca heard the jeering of a few voices. She turned towards them and recognized a few of the crewmembers, though she knew none of them by name.

The group of crewmembers were standing in a small cargo hold, deeply enshrouded in shadows. Each man was taller than Rebecca, and looked considerably stronger than her.

"Why Miss Clarke…" One of the crewmembers advanced towards Rebecca, feigning politeness. "Isn't it a little odd for a lady to be here?" He was a feline humanoid with the appearance of a tiger, but was wearing a dark pair of baggy trousers held up by a crudely tied twine belt and he had bright green eyes that seemed to bore into Rebecca's own.

Rebecca nervously backed away from the advancing man, only to notice that the other crewmembers had begun to form a circle around her. The young woman recognized the feline's voice as one among the many who enjoyed objectifying her.

"The dark is a dangerous place." The feline growled, his green eyes flashing sinisterly.

Just as Rebecca took a deep breath to scream, one of the crewmembers behind her clapped their hand over her mouth and wrapped their arms around her torso.

The young woman tried to scream as loudly as she could through her captor's massive hand, flailing her arms and legs around to try and disarm the man.

The feline chuckled maliciously as he watched Rebecca's feeble attempts at self-defence while slowly advancing towards her.

Rebecca wouldn't give in, her fingernails clawed at her captor's hand and she kicked at the surrounding crewmembers. Finally, the young woman resorted to biting her captor's hand, which caused the man to release his grip on her from pain.

The moment she was freed, Rebecca screamed at the top of her lungs and hurried away from the group. The feline humanoid quickly sprinted after the young lady on all fours.

Rebecca risked a backwards glance, only to be tackled by the feline man. She landed back first against the ground with the feline on top of her and, as a result, got the wind knocked out of her.

The humanoid pinned her torso with his body weight and held her hands above her head with one paw. The young woman screamed at the top of her lungs while the feline made no move to stop her as he undid the brass buttons of her jacket with his free paw.

When his claw snagged against the fabric of Rebecca's jacket, the feline humanoid simply sliced the material and looked down at the young woman angrily.

"I broke a nail." He chortled, in a fake female voice, his eyes narrowed. The feline then quickly swiped at Rebecca's cheek and continued to undress the young woman.

Rebecca cried out in pain as the feline's claws cut into her flesh. She held back tears and continued to struggle against the feline's tight grip.

There were footfalls just down the corridor and the feline looked up from Rebecca for a split second. He had only enough time for his bright green eyes to widen in surprise before he was hit across the face with a frying pan.

The feline tumbled off of Rebecca's body from the force of the attack and he crashed against one of the corridor walls.

Rebecca panted from shock and sat up. She grasped the torn material against her torso and turned around to look at the person wielding the frying pan.

"Simon…" Rebecca sighed with relief. She was pleasantly surprised by the young cabin boy's actions and quickly buttoned-up her jacket.

The young cabin boy looked at Rebecca with his kind chocolate-brown eyes and offered his hand to her.

Three men came sprinting to the scene once Rebecca was back on her feet. They were Captain Darcy Mantra, Tristan Mantra, and John Silver.

"What in t'underin' hell were yeh thinkin', Si?" John exclaimed.

"Hey." Simon retorted sharply, his voice unusually high-pitched from distress. "I needed something just in case there was fighting, and the frying pan was the closest thing!"

John sighed in exasperation. "Yeh are raving mad, yeh know that?"

Simon cleared his throat loudly. "If I didn't do so," the young cabin boy continued, his voice returned to its normal pitch. "Then I probably wouldn't have been able to stop Adrian by myself."

"Yes… Well done, Master Campbell…" The captain acknowledged the young cabin boy with a curt nod. "Please escort Miss Clarke back to her quarters, for the time being…"

"Aye, Captain." Simon nodded, waiting on Rebecca.

"As for you lot." The captain's rust-red eyes flared intensely as he looked at the remaining crewmembers in the cargo hold. "It would be wise for you to heed this as a warning."

"Aye, Captain." The crewmembers quickly made themselves scarce.

"Tristan, Mister Silver…" Captain Mantra cleared his throat. "Escort Mister Marx to the brig." He waved at the heap of feline collapsed against the wall.

"Aye, Captain." The two men responded.

"Coming, Miss Clarke?" Simon cleared his voice and nodded to Rebecca.

The young woman silently nodded in agreement and followed the young cabin boy back to her quarters. Her cheek stung from the slice in it and her body ached from being constrained against her will.

"What happened, Miss Clarke?" Simon enquired, sitting on the stool by Rebecca's writing desk and looked at the young lady in question.

Rebecca gently held a pack of ice against her bandaged-up cheek and sighed. "I'm afraid my curiosity got the best of me…" She admitted.

Simon shrugged. "Well… curiosity killed the cat, right?"

Rebecca chuckled warmly. "I think the cabin boy wielding a frying pan did more damage to the cat than curiosity…"

Simon giggled in agreement, and Rebecca noticed that the boy's behaviour was a little off for the average male. The young lady looked over the cabin boy once more and noted that his features weren't very boyish. They looked almost, feminine.

Rebecca furrowed her brow. "Simon…" She started. "I apologize for this accusation, but I'm getting the feeling that you're keeping something from me…"

Simon sighed and blushed. "Yeah." His voice was unnaturally high-pitched once again, but this didn't seem to be the tone of voice of someone in distress. "I am keeping a secret, from everyone…" The young cabin boy cleared his throat. "I'm…not a boy."

Author's Note:

Hmm… action scenes, me like!

MG#6