Warnings;
. Swearing (Again.)
. Is interrogation a warning? I don't know. But it's in here.
Anyway, enjoy the chapter!
The first thing Cassie felt was an immense and constant throb that radiated through her head. The sudden and overwhelming pain made it hard for her to think and fully comprehend just where the pirate had taken her. She blinked furiously as her hazy vision slowly came back into focus, her dark eyes squinting up at the dark and dirty ceiling. Wherever she was, it wasn't a place she was familiar with, that much she knew.
The small girl winced and bit down on her bottom lip, her bones cracking and aching as she attempted to sit up. She inhaled a deep breath and grimaced, an unwelcome scent of fish and salt flowing through her nostrils.
'Damn it,' she thought, her right hand moving to press lightly against her forehead. She was still in pirate territory, but if that was the case then where the hell were the pirates?
Cassie gasped as she gently probed at her head, her fingers soon making contact with a rather sore area on the left side of her face. She couldn't remember much before waking up in this odd place, only bits and pieces. One moment she was unnervingly close to the red pirate and the next... well, nothing. She didn't remember him dragging her back to the ship, or wherever he came from, and despite how frail and fatigued she'd been when they caught her she surely would have been able to recount the pirates bringing her to this strange room.
"Motherfucker!" she yelped in sudden realisation. The pain in her head, plus her inability to remember exactly how she got to the room she was currently sitting in, gave her the answer loud and clear.
He'd knocked her out. Whether it was to keep her quiet and somewhat submissive enough for them to get her back to their place, or just for the sake of mere amusement and retaliation for the scratches she gave him, Cassie wasn't sure. Either way, she felt like she'd run straight into a wall, head first, and now she was sitting in some shitty little dark room.
Cassie grunted and reached out her hand, feeling for some kind of unmovable surface in the darkness she was currently engulfed in. When she found it, she used it to help herself get up and onto her feet.
The moment the small girl managed to stand straight, however, her sight became fuzzy once again. Her knees buckled for a second and she struggled to keep herself from falling to the floor, her upper body pushed firmly against the wall behind her as she tried to stand once more.
"I'm gonna kill him," she muttered to herself, keeping one hand against the side of her head as she stumbled her way forward, her feet a little less than enthusiastic about following her demands.
"Good luck with that."
Cassie jumped and yelped at the unfamiliar female voice. She took a quick step back and turned her head to the direction it had come from, only for a groan to pass through her lips as her head greatly protested the rapid movement.
"Damn," she hissed, clenching her eyes shut for a small second before she even attempted to look again. She tilted her head to the side and saw a rather short figure standing in the doorway, barely illuminated by the lanterns in the hallway behind them.
"Who the fuck are you?" demanded Cassie, slowly taking a few steps forward.
The unknown girl didn't reply, and when Cassie saw her turn to leave she almost spoke up. Almost.
The little cat inwardly scolded herself for being so rude to the nosy girl, but it wasn't all her fault. After all, she had just woken up from being knocked out by a psychotic pirate, it was only reasonable for her to be a little snappy with whoever decided to speak to her. But she was also alone in dangerous territory, and despite her fondness for staying away from other humans she also yearned to know what the hell was going on. The red pirate hadn't killed her and she deserved to know why.
It came as quite a surprise to Cassie when - instead of leaving as the little cat originally thought - the pirate girl instead took hold of one of the lanterns from the hallway and then turned to come further into the room.
As the girl moved, and brought the light with her, Cassie was finally able to see a little more of where she was. But when her mind fully came to an accurate conclusion about where the red pirate had taken her, she was not happy.
"He put me in a fucking cage?!" she yelled, quickly rushing forward to grip two thick, steel bars with her small hands. Her face flushed with absolute outrage, her dark eyes glaring hard at the calm girl on the other side.
"A cell, actually," the girl corrected Cassie with a small chuckle, leaning back against another set of bars.
Cassie frowned and rolled her eyes, taking this moment to fully scrutinize the pirate girl in front of her. Truthfully, she didn't seem like much of a threat, what with her short height and thin frame. But Cassie was rather good at sussing out the dangerous ones, and the confidence radiating from the other girl was a clear red flag all on its own.
"So you're Cassie, huh?" the other girl spoke, her own eyes raking over Cassie just as the little cat had done with her only seconds ago. "You don't seem like much."
Cassie growled in response to the insult, causing the unknown girl to chuckle in amusement.
"But I could be wrong, you certainly gave Harry a good chase," she admitted, seemingly rather impressed with the little cat.
'So,' the little cat thought, a small breath of air leaving her as she finally learned her attacker's name.
Harry Hook. It fit him rather well.
"Is there a reason your boyfriend threw me in here instead of killing me? I mean, I know people like to play around with their food, but this is taking it a bit far don't you think?" wondered Cassie.
The other girl gave a loud laugh, and Cassie furrowed her brows in confusion and annoyance. What was so funny?
"He's not my boyfriend. I mean, don't get me wrong, he's nice to look at but...nah."
Cassie gave a small nod and leaned forward. "So what are you then? Let me guess," she said with a long-winded sigh, her eyes roaming about the room to give the impression she was thinking long and hard about what this girl was to Harry. "You're his side-chick, huh?" The other girl scowled at the assumption, straightening herself as she crossed her arms. "Or, you're just another mangy pirate that no one gives a shit about. I mean there seems to be a lot of you around these parts, too many for me to count. You'd think the villains would be smart enough to not open their legs for every man that showed an interest."
Truthfully, Cassie wasn't ever this nasty or cruel. She never had a reason to be. She kept to herself and no one bothered with her during the evening, and there wasn't much she could do in her feline form. But there was something about being locked in a cage that stirred a small viciousness in Cassie. After all, she'd been born and raised on the Isle just like all the others, and for four years straight she'd had no one to rely on but herself. So even though she was quiet and rather reclusive, she was still a V.K., and she could push just as hard as they did.
The pirate girl slowly stalked forward, her lips pressed together and her brows furrowed. She wasn't happy, that much was true. Her eyes blackened, her fists clenched, and there was even a slight notch in her breathing pattern. The teal-haired pirate girl held every physical tell of someone rather close to falling from the edge. And even though Cassie should have felt scared, she didn't. For whatever reason, Harry seemed rather intent on keeping her alive if just to kill her or punish her himself, and that gave her some kind of immunity from the violent intents of other pirates.
"You think you're clever, don't you?" the pirate girl said, her voice but a whisper as she put her face to the bars between them. "I'm not his side-chick, and I'm not just another 'mangy pirate'." Her voice was eerily calm, but Cassie could still sense the underlying fury in her tone. Harry had been easy to push: A few harsh comments about his father and he was swinging. But this pirate was different. Better, even.
"Then what are you?" the little cat asked with uncertainty. She wasn't feeling very pleased with herself right now. If anything, her formerly satisfied expression of having insulted this pirate girl had completely diminished the moment the other girl spoke to her. She didn't know why, but she had a strong feeling she'd completely fucked things up for herself in some way.
The pirate girl kept quiet about her identity, though her brows raised slightly with amusement. She seemed to be rather intent on dragging this out for Cassie, and it truly wound up the little cat. If this girl wasn't Harry's 'girlfriend', or anything else closely associated with the term, and she wasn't 'just another pirate', then what was she?
"I'll let you figure it out yourself, but here's a big clue for you," the teal-haired pirate said, moving her arm to rest above her head against the bars. "I'm higher than Harry."
Cassie repeated the rather cryptic clue in her mind, her lips tilting downward into a thoughtful frown. How in the name of Hades was she supposed to guess who this girl was when she didn't even know what rank Harry was in the pirate food chain? From what she'd seen of the red pirate so far, he was - in no way - just the guy who scrubbed the deck. His arrogance and complete confidence in himself were enough for her to at least guess he was a little higher up on the ladder. But her 'talk' with him in his quarters reminded her that while he might have some kind of status going for him, he wasn't Captain.
The small girl winced, her eyes widening a fraction as she fully recounted the conversation between herself and the hook-wielding pirate. He wasn't Captain: He'd told her as much. But he had mentioned that his Captain was a girl.
"U-Uma?" the little cat stuttered with slight hesitance, repeatedly praying in her mind that her guess was wrong and that the girl in front of her would tell her otherwise.
"Oh!" the pirate girl exclaimed with feigned delight. "So he told you my name, huh?" Her expression shifted into one of satisfaction and overwhelming amusement, Cassie's mortified features only spurring her on further. "You should be real flattered, he never lets me meet his girlfriends."
Cassie ignored the Captain's teasing words and clamped her eyes shut, her fingers hastily moving through her long strands of hair as she mentally cursed herself out for being so damn stupid. Although, in her own defence, her mind was rather muddled and not in perfect working condition. How was she to know anything about anyone on this side of the Isle? She hadn't even realised Harry's bloodline when the evidence was right there on his left hand, practically screaming at her to get away from him as soon as possible. So, it was no surprise that Cassie didn't recognize the Captain of the ship. After all, this pirate girl looked the same as the others.
Cassie couldn't help but grimace. Not only had she stolen from, and insulted, the son of Captain Hook himself. She'd thoughtlessly gone one higher and went as far as to verbally taunt the only person capable of controlling the red pirate, and if Cassie was lucky - which she highly doubted at this point - the only other person on this side of the Isle with the power to release her from this cell.
"Having a bad night, are we?" said Uma with a falsely considerate voice, a wide grin stretching across her face.
Cassie glowered and pouted her lips, her head dipped down in a rather childish manner. She couldn't even look the Captain in the face. However, the moment Cassie lowered her eyes, her inner demon sang loud and clear in the back of her mind the moment she saw a golden, shiny object around the Captain's neck.
The small girl analysed the object to the best of her ability. The darkness in the room wasn't helping in the slightest, and the faint glow of the lantern only showed enough to have her interest piqued. Much to her dismay, she couldn't fully make a decision on the chain holding the charm in place. The charm itself, though, was rather large, and thus Cassie could make out just how 'special' it was.
"So it's true, huh?" the Captain piped up, distracting Cassie from her former thoughts.
"Huh?"
"You like to take pretty things. Harry told me, and I've heard a few things from others," she explained with a small shrug. She took hold of the shell-shaped charm around her neck, raising it just enough for Cassie to see it better. "You like this?" she inquired curiously, and Cassie gave a small and sharp nod. "You can't have it."
'Bad move.'
This time, Cassie agreed with her inner voice wholeheartedly. Yes, she had a rather unique fascination with beautiful objects, but more often than not she tried her best to sway herself from taking things if the challenge seemed too great. However, telling someone of her nature that they couldn't have something was a very, very risky game to play. In truth, if the Captain hadn't told her she couldn't have it, Cassie would've eventually forced herself to leave this one alone. But she was rather certain Harry had long since made sure his pocket watch was well hidden, which meant all of this trouble had been for nothing. If she was fortunate enough to leave this place, then she'd be going home empty-handed. And that just wasn't an option.
Uma stared back at Cassie with a haughty expression, and the little cat forced herself down. If she was going to get out with anything then she had to play it safe. She had to make herself seem like she wasn't a threat.
"Why am I here?" she managed to say, pushing the nagging voice in her head toward the back of her mind, and asking the one question that'd been plaguing her thoughts since she woke up.
"Nu-uh kitty cat." Uma tutted, lightly wiggling her index finger in Cassie's direction. "I'll be asking the questions today."
"Yeah, that's not gonna happen," the little cat objected lightly, shaking her head back and forth. "I'm not answering any of your questions until you answer mine. M'kay?" Cassie thought this entire situation was absolutely ridiculous. What was the point in asking her any questions if Harry was just going to kill her in the end? And why would she even want to answer any inquires of theirs when they'd treated her so horribly? The pirates were certainly a finicky bunch, but they hadn't quite thought this one all the way through.
Much to Cassie's surprise, she received no death threats or snarky comments from the Captain. Instead, Uma averted her eyes, poking her tongue against the inside of her cheek as she thought over Cassie's words, and eventually gave the little cat a nod.
"Okay. Twenty questions, then."
Cassie tilted her head. "Twenty questions?"
"Yup. I ask something, and you answer. Then you ask and I answer. Get it?" the Captain explained, and Cassie nodded. "Good. Me first."
While the Captain racked her brain for whatever question she wanted the answer to, Cassie's eyes subtly flickered back down towards the beautiful pendant around the other girl's neck. Uma was stupidly close to the bars keeping them separate, and with a few sneaky, and possibly brutal, movements Cassie could easily have it in her hands. But now wasn't the time. If she took it now then Uma would notice right away, and the Captain would have the rest of the pirates, with Harry included, down in the cells in a heartbeat. They'd open up the cage, hold her down for Uma to reclaim her object, and Cassie would - most likely - be beaten down by the whole group. And even though her fingers twitched, the urge to take it right here and now possessing her small body, the little cat fought it off. It wasn't the right time.
"Ooh, I know!" the Captain exclaimed suddenly, causing Cassie to flinch and remove her gaze from the necklace. "How do you change into a cat?"
Cassie pursed her lips, a small flutter of anxiety swirling around in her stomach. They knew she could turn into a cat... but how? No one on the Isle knew about her 'little' curse; No one except her father. Although, she hadn't exactly been subtle earlier on. Surely the sight of a cat loitering around the marketplace had raised a few questions amongst the pirates living there, and one of them had run straight to Harry or Uma. It would certainly explain how Harry managed to find her so soon.
Cassie knew full well she couldn't tell Uma about the curse itself. It was her biggest weakness: Aside from her constant and nagging desire to take beautiful things home, and her ever-growing curiosity for things she should stay well away from. If she told Uma that she turned into a girl when the sun went down, and a fluffy black cat when the sun came up, then the pirates would somehow use it to their advantage. She wasn't quite sure how her curse would benefit them in any way, but a few of them were clever, and there was a good chance they'd find some way to use it.
"Magic," she whispered simply, and when the Captain opened her mouth to say something else, the little cat quickly cut her off. "My turn."
Uma made a strange noise, similar to that of a grunt, in the back of her throat, clearly irritated that Cassie was getting her own question while also sticking to the rules of the 'game'. After all, it was a 'question-answer' game, and the Captain hadn't mentioned anything about Cassie detailing her answers.
"Why am I here?" the little cat asked once more.
"I actually don't know," said Uma, and Cassie rolled her eyes. "Truly. I thought he'd kill you as soon as he found you, guess I was wrong." The Captain shuffled against the bars, switching to lean on her left arm instead. "How do you have magic on the Isle?"
Cassie thought frantically, pressing her mind for an answer that wouldn't put her life on the line. Unfortunately, she couldn't find one.
"It's not my magic. My turn. Is there any way for me to get out of this cell?"
"Not unless Harry says so," the Captain said shortly, eager to get Cassie's turn over and done with so that she could ask her question. "If it's not your magic, then whose is it?"
Cassie fidgeted and chewed her bottom lip. "I don't know." Uma rolled her eyes and went to step back, and Cassie raced to explain further in a bid to keep the girl with her. "My dad wouldn't tell me. Please, I'm telling the truth."
Uma sighed and returned to her former position, apparently confident that Cassie was telling the truth with that one, and the little cat released a small breath of relief.
"How do I get Harry to let me out?" wondered Cassie.
"You any good on your knees?" remarked Uma. It wasn't her deflecting Cassie's question with one of her own, she was pointedly, and rather crudely, giving Cassie the exact means to get out of this tricky situation. But it was not a level of pathetic Cassie had drifted into... yet.
"Ew," the little cat said with a grimace. "Hell no."
"Then he's not letting you out," the Captain muttered with a shrug, and Cassie huffed in response. "My turn. What does your dad have to do with you turning into a cat?"
"I got it from him," the little cat explained with the least amount of detail she could. After all, she wasn't lying, per se. It was more of an omission. "Is there any chance of you letting me leave?" Her question was bold and she knew it, and from the astounded expression on Uma's face, it was apparent the Captain knew it too. But Cassie was running out of lives, so to speak, and she had to cover all bases.
"Maybe," the teal-haired girl replied rather mysteriously, and Cassie was furious to realise the Captain was going to leave it at that. "Where's your dad?"
"I don't know," the little cat snapped rather abruptly, her overwhelming displeasure at being stuck in a cage, and the lingering anxiety of not being able to escape, forming a dangerous and uncomfortable mix. She could only spend a small amount of time stuck behind four walls before eventually going crazy. Her need to go out and explore and find something new always drove her to the brink of insanity, and this time was no different.
"He left when I was fourteen and I haven't seen him since," she added with a much gentler voice, knowing that biting off the hand of the Captain wasn't going to get her out of her predicament any sooner. "What time is it?"
Uma raised a brow in slight bewilderment, her facial features translating to Cassie that her question was a rather odd one. But the pirate answered nonetheless. "Around eleven-ish."
Cassie gave a slow nod in response. She hadn't been out long: Only two hours at the most. It meant she had quite a few hours before the sun came up, and it gave her some time to come up with a plan to get out before then.
"Why did you want to know what time it was?" the Captain asked curiously, her own dark eyes narrowing as she thought over the question.
"I wanted to know how long I'd been in here," the little cat replied smoothly, inwardly praying that the Captain wouldn't ask for more details. She knew she should have been a little smarter about that question in particular, but she hadn't thought Uma would pay special attention to it. A stupid mistake on Cassie's part.
"How do I get you to let me out?" she asked.
Uma shrugged and lifted her left hand, her fingers lightly toying with the pendant around her neck. "You prove you can be useful to me. Anyway... you got someone waiting on you out there?" She nodded her head toward the exit pointedly, and Cassie frowned.
"No. I'm on my own," she replied quietly, releasing the cold bars to wrap her arms across her stomach. "How do I prove myself useful to you?"
"If there's something you can do that no one else in my crew can, and you prove it, then you're kinda useful. But keep in my mind my pirates are good thieves, sword fighters, and they're loyal."
It wasn't hard for Cassie to tell that Uma was rather proud of her raggedy group of pirates. The little cat had to wonder what it felt like to have that much power over people. She ran by herself and only looked out for herself, and she could barely comprehend the idea of having to look after more than one person. Truthfully, it sounded like a very stressful and difficult leadership. One Cassie would never understand or experience.
"If you don't have anyone out there waiting, then why does it matter how long you've been here?"
Cassie blanched, a sudden nausea bubbling up in the back of her throat. Why did Uma care why she wanted to leave? Asking how long she'd been asleep wasn't a weird or surprising question, especially since she'd been taken by people she didn't know or like. All of a sudden, Cassie felt unbearably uncomfortable, Uma's prying driving the little cat into a state of utter anxiety.
"It doesn't," she eventually managed to say, a forced and nervous giggle leaving her mouth. She could tell the Captain didn't believe her, and that fuelled her apprehension. "Is Harry gonna kill me?"
"Probably," the Captain said honestly. "Why did you want to know the time?"
The little cat frowned. "You already asked me that."
"And you lied. Now answer."
"I didn't lie!"
The air in the room became overwhelmingly thick with tension: Cassie's suffocating dread and anger fighting back against Uma's calm and careless demeanour.
It wasn't hard for Uma to tell the little 'thief' was increasingly uncomfortable with this line of questioning, but she didn't care. Her interest had been piqued the moment Cassie asked for the time since many of the prisoners they'd had down in the cells had never even thought to ask that question. It would have made more sense if Cassie had friends or someone on the outside waiting around for her, but she didn't. Cassie had all the time in the world to spend with them, and her rush to leave was what made Uma keep pushing.
Meanwhile, Cassie stepped away from the bars between her and the Captain, her hands moving to her forehead as her vision became worryingly blurry. She could practically feel her heart racing, a repetitive thud echoing in her ears. She needed to calm down. Her freedom rested solely on whether or not she kept her cool, but it was a task easier said than done. The thought of laying herself bare for the teal-haired Captain scared her more than anything else: Especially with the thought of what this girl could do with that information running through her brain.
"Cassie, answer the question," the Captain said softly, though the demanding edge she took wasn't lost on either girl.
"No!" yelled Cassie, hastily rubbing her clammy palms against her dress. She felt intolerably warm like she was wrapped up in twenty blankets and unable to twist herself out.
"Fine," the Captain stated plainly, moving away from the cell. "I guess I'll just send Harry down here then," she said loudly, and Cassie froze.
"W-what?"
"I told him to wait, said I wanted to ask a few questions. Well, I got my answers, and technically you're Harry's prisoner. It's his turn now."
~...~...~
Harry yawned and lightly tapped his hook against the side of the ship, clucking his tongue repeatedly into a rhythmic tune. He turned away from the ocean and looked back at the entrance of the ship, a loud groan of annoyance and boredom coming from his throat when he saw no sign of his Captain. The impatient side of him pushed for him to go down there and hover near the door to the cells, and try and listen in on whatever conversation Uma was having with his little thief. But the loyal first mate he had inside of him won in the end, reminding him that Uma knew what she was doing and that he had to stay where he was.
He shuffled around again, twisting his body so that his arms crossed above the railing. He mindlessly raised his hook and scratched his left cheek, only to grunt and flinch in pain when he remembered exactly why it was itching in the first place.
'That bloody cat,' he thought, reaching up with his other hand to touch the spot she'd marked earlier. He looked down at his fingers and rolled his eyes once he saw the red stain on his skin, his patience quickly running thin as his anger toward the little kitty increased.
Knocking Cassie out with his hook was - at the moment - one of the highlights of his life. She'd been so scared, her small body trembling when he brought her in closer, and he'd left her with - in his mind at least - the worst threat anyone could give. Of course, he was going to kill her eventually, that much was inevitable. But he wanted to fuck with her first.
"Harry."
The first mate turned his head quickly, ignoring the small pain in the back of his neck as he did so, and found his Captain standing a few paces away from the entrance to the ship.
"I found out a few things, but not enough," she began, crossing her arms across her chest as she approached him. "I don't think she has magic, though."
"How can ya be sure?" he inquired, looking down at his Captain when she finally stood in front of him. "She 'as ta turn into a cat somehow, don't she?"
"Yeah, but we played a little game of twenty questions. The magic that helps her turn doesn't belong to her."
Harry frowned at that. "That don't make much sense."
"It makes perfect sense, actually," his Captain stated firmly. "If it isn't her magic that makes her turn, then she doesn't decide when it happens. Which means..." Uma trailed off hopefully, signalling for Harry to finish the sentence for her and signify that he understood exactly what she was saying.
"It means someone else is makin' 'er turn," he muttered thoughtfully, and Uma nodded in agreement.
"Exactly."
Harry tilted his head. "Ya find out who?"
"No," she spat with annoyance, her eyes rolling as she thought back on her conversation with Cassie. "She wouldn't tell me. All I know is that she gets the magic from her dad."
"An' where's he?"
Uma pursed her lips, her brows raised as she stared at him blankly. "If I knew the answer to that, d'you think I'd be stood here talking to you?"
"Alright," he muttered, "No need ta get testy with me. What else did ya find out?"
"Nothing interesting," the Captain sighed with a small shrug. "She's worried about you though," she commented, and Harry chuckled in response. "She thinks you're gonna kill her."
"Oh I am," he assured.
"No, you're not. If you were gonna kill her you would've done it already," she pointed out, a small smirk tugging away at her lips as Harry scowled in her direction. "I'm right, aren't I?"
"Does it matter?" he said with a huff of annoyance.
Uma laughed at his growing frustration at her teasing, but her mood swiftly turned sombre when she thought harder about her statement. "What are you gonna do, Harry?" She wasn't worried for the little cat, not in the slightest. In the end, Cassie was a thief, and whatever Harry had planned she probably deserved. But the little cat had someone's magic running through her veins, and Uma had to know whose.
"Aww Uma," the first mate cooed, craning himself awkwardly to get his face closer to hers. "Are ya feelin' sorry for tha little kitty?"
"Don't fuck around, Harry. She has magic and if it's not hers then it's someone else's."
"Ya're losin' it, Cap'. The barrier keeps all magic out, not even Maleficent could break the bloody thing. What makes ya think someone else can?"
"I'm serious!" she exclaimed.
"So am I!" he countered. "Why didn' ya jus' ask 'er yourself?" He wildly gestured towards the entrance of the ship with his hook, and Uma shook her head quickly.
"I tried, but she wouldn't tell me," she growled, slowly pacing back and forth. "She asked me what the time was."
"Come again?" he wondered.
"She asked me what the time was," repeated Uma, continuing her annoying movements as she spoke. "She said she wanted to know how long she'd been asleep. But I asked her if she had someone waiting, and she said no. My guess is she lied."
"Aye, would make sense I s'pose."
"I know I'm right. She got defensive when I pushed, wouldn't answer my question after that."
The first mate nodded in understanding. "Ya wan' me to go down there?" It wasn't an offer. He was going down to see Cassie anyway, and he knew Uma's mind just as well as he knew his own. If the little kitty wouldn't respond to Uma, then the Captain had no choice but to ask him to go and get some much-needed answers.
Uma stopped pacing and turned to fully face Harry, her tongue pushed against the inside of her cheek once again. "Don't hurt her too bad," she told him. "I want to know who's waiting for her, and we can't find that out if you rip her tongue out."
"One time, Uma," he groaned, thinking back on that rather eventful day when some outsider had made the mistake of speaking badly about his father. He hadn't killed the guy, but he made damn sure the stupid idiot wouldn't be slating any more villains.
"You know what I mean, Harry," she sighed. "No hooking, no tongue cutting, and no flirting." She muttered the last word with a disapproving grimace, and Harry grinned.
"Now that's not very fair, is it?" he teased, earning himself a hard glare from the Captain. "Fine. I'll go easy on 'er, happy?" It was a full-blown lie and they both knew it. 'Easy' wasn't a part of him and it never had been. If he was going to get an answer from Cassie he'd go all in, and he had no doubts in his mind that she'd cave.
They always did.
~...~...~
After Uma's departure, Cassie quickly retreated into herself, mentally preparing her frazzled mind to deal with the red pirate.
It hadn't taken long for her formerly panicked state to disappear. In a few seconds, after the Captain had gone up top, Cassie's heart had returned to its normal rhythm. Her body had cooled down immensely, and she no longer felt the urge to throw up. But Cassie knew full well the only reason she'd even felt any of it was because of the question Uma had thrown her way, and she mentally berated herself for not dealing with it in a much calmer fashion. Surely she'd have been able to come up with a believable lie, but instead, she'd let her emotions get the best of her, and now she was going to have to deal with the consequences.
The small girl shivered and pulled her knees to her chest, her small form curled up in the corner of the small cell. The air was freezing, and with no fur and barely any clothes to keep her warm, Cassie had a small feeling she'd be getting sick sometime soon.
An echoing creak sounded from the doorway, and Cassie flinched, wrapping her arms around her legs as she waited anxiously for the hooked pirate to come into view.
"Here kitty, kitty," the familiar voice taunted with a chuckle.
Cassie rolled her eyes at his words, and after a quick moment of reassurance, she got to her feet.
Despite the ever-present apprehension in her stomach, Cassie forced herself to remain as calm and collected as she possibly could. She already knew he was going to ask the same thing Uma had tried to force her to answer, and she'd already prepared herself for it. But what Cassie couldn't count on was exactly how Harry planned on getting the answer from her. After all, it seemed that - between the Captain and first mate - Uma was the calm approach, and Harry was the violent one. And since Uma's technique hadn't worked on the little cat, the Captain probably assumed Harry's way would. But if that was the case then Cassie would take it, and hopefully, she'd be able to give as good as she got.
"Harry," the little cat greeted, his name rolling off her tongue in the most resentful tone she could muster.
"Hmm, I like the way ya say my name, love," he teased, slowly traipsing into the room with a lantern in his right hand.
The little cat grimaced. "You always flirt with the people you're gonna kill?"
"Only the pretty ones," he told her, coming to stand directly in front of the cell she was stuck in. He lowered the lantern to the floor and placed it beside his right foot, his eyes meticulously roaming over every inch of her body as he stood to full height. "And ya're quite the pretty one, little kitty."
Cassie rolled her eyes again, her gaze narrowing into a glare as the smirk on his face widened. She wasn't used to such means of interrogation. She hadn't ever been interrogated before, but this wasn't quite what she expected.
When the little cat thought of being trapped by someone else, she thought of violence and nasty words. Knives cutting into her skin, bruises marking her legs, arms, and face. Uma's approach to this situation had been exactly what she imagined. And though the 'twenty questions' idea had thrown her a bit, it still made sense. But Harry's flirtatious nature was something Cassie wasn't familiar with, and since she didn't know how to properly deal with his antics, she decided not to play.
"Just do what you've gotta do, Harry. I don't have time for this shit," she said irritably.
"Actually, from what I've 'eard, ya've got all the time in the bloody world." Harry slowly moved from the left side of the cell, running his index finger along the bars as Cassie followed his motions. She took great caution and kept herself a good foot away from the bars themselves, making sure he couldn't lay a hand on her.
"You're right," she agreed with a small shrug. "I guess I do."
Harry raised a single brow at her words, and Cassie forced herself down. It was obvious he didn't believe her, but she'd already made the careless mistake of fighting back at Uma, and she wasn't going to do the same with him.
"Tell me somethin' about ya then, Cassie," he said, leaning his right side against the cell.
"W-what do you wanna know?" she stuttered, a small frown working its way onto her features. She was surprised, and just a little wary, that he wasn't going to ask her the same question Uma had. He was skirting around the subject completely, and she had to make sure she didn't fall into whatever trap he was laying out for her.
"Hmm, I dunno… what do ya do in yar spare time?"
"C'mon now Harry," she tutted, hoping he wouldn't see straight through her and sense the underlying fear she was trying so hard to keep at bay. "You should know the answer to that."
"That's right," he muttered thoughtfully. "Ya take things that don' belong ta ya, 'special things' if I remember right."
Cassie felt the growl bubbling in her throat, and she was unable to contain it fully. A little noise came from her mouth and he'd heard it clear as day.
"I'm not judgin' ya," the first mate assured, raising his hands in somewhat of a 'white-flag' motion. "But I mean when ya're not doin' that. Ya can't possibly be lookin' around all day an' night, so what d'ya do?"
"I-I go to the witch school," she managed to say. Cassie knew as long as she steered clear of mentioning her 'curse', then she was good to go, and all she had to do was keep him occupied. It seemed simple enough.
"Ah, so ya do have magic?" he exclaimed, and she shook her head.
"No. The witches just really, really love cats. They feed me, play with me, and give me everything I need."
Harry frowned for a moment. "So when ya're a kitty, what does it feel like?"
'Careful Cassie,' her mind warned her. He was moving into touchy territory, and she had to be careful.
"It's...weird," she muttered, attempting to find a way to fully explain to him just how it felt to be in her feline form. "It's just like being me. My body changes, and my sight gets different, but my head is still the same. I can move faster, hear everything, and sneak around into places I wouldn't be able to look like this." She gestured down to her human form, her eyes rolling skyward as Harry gladly looked her over once more. "It's like being a fly on the wall, I guess. No one thinks twice about the cats on the Isle."
"So ya can pretty much do what ya want then?" he assumed.
Cassie shook her head. "No. Flies don't bother people, but they still get swatted. People here aren't nice to animals, Harry."
"I can understand that. But ya had some fun with Gilly-boy didn' ya?"
"He was nice to me," the little cat said with a small smile, her spirits rising somewhat at the mention of the blonde-haired pirate. "He didn't try to hurt me," she said pointedly, raising her brows at the hooked pirated.
"Aww c'mon now," he huffed with a small pout. "You're not still bein' salty about that are ya?" His eyes surveyed the side of her face, where Cassie knew a bruise had probably formed.
"You knocked me out!" she exclaimed.
"An' ya clawed my face," he countered. "Ya can' expect me to play nice when ya hurt me, love."
Cassie couldn't withhold the small giggle of amusement, nor could she disagree with his argument. She had hit him first. But she wouldn't have had to if he hadn't been chasing her down in the alleyways.
"I guess you got me there."
"So," groaned Harry, switching to lean on his left side. "If ya can turn inta a kitty, why haven' ya done it already?"
Cassie held her breath, clamping her bottom lip between her teeth as she thought of something to come back with. "I have my reasons," was all she managed to say.
"Oh c'mon now Cassie," he whined childishly, pressing his front against the cells between them. "Ya gotta give me more than that, love."
Cassie knew full well what he was up to, and she wasn't about to fall into this game. Harry could be as playful and as charming as he wanted, but there was no way in hell he was going to get a good enough answer from her. After all, Cassie had been unfortunate enough to see some of the darkness he held, and she knew that how he was now was just a façade, of sorts. Everything about him was a smokescreen. His unusual accent weaved webs of sweetness, the high-spirited grin on his face, even the way he carried himself about. His outer shell was appealing to many, but it was what was inside that Cassie worried about.
"I wanna know more about you," she declared suddenly, taking a careful step closer to the bars. "You wanna know so much about me, it's only fair I know a little about the pirate keeping me locked in here. Right?"
For a split second, Cassie saw the 'real' Harry; The one she'd spent the night running from. She saw him the moment she finished her sentence, revealing himself in a small twist in Harry's lips, his brows furrowing in annoyance as she attempted to deflect his aim. He was gone as soon as he appeared, hidden safely behind Harry's wonderfully-perfected mask of indifference. But she'd spotted it, and that was enough.
"What do ya wanna know, love?" he wondered, the little term of endearment sliding off of his tongue with something akin to irritation.
"You and Uma, you guys a thing?" she probed curiously. She didn't have a real reason to know. It didn't interest her in the slightest. But she had to get him off his game somehow, and this seemed to be the best way to do that.
"Why so curious little kitty?" he inquired quietly, inching his face closer to the gap in the bars. "I can make some time for ya, if ya want." His voice was low and his accent thick, the subtle innuendo churning Cassie's stomach in an oddly delightful way.
For the first thirteen years of her life, Cassie had spent every waking moment attached to her father. Where he went, she followed, and it stayed that way until he left. Afterward, she kept to herself, not speaking to anyone when she was human and staying far away from those who weren't witches when she was a cat. She knew how dark and evil the Isle was, how twisted people were, but at the end of it all she was still just a sixteen-year-old girl. And, like all the others, certain members of the opposite gender piqued her interest in a rather irritating manner. Cassie wasn't stupid, and she'd seen a lot: Probably more than people should. Subtlety wasn't exactly a big factor on the Isle, and she'd accidentally caught many on the Isle in rather... intimate positions. Cassie was taunted by loneliness, so it was only natural she'd occasionally wonder what it would be like.
But Harry wasn't it. He wasn't what she wanted, and he wasn't what she needed to fight against her demons. He was simply a ridiculously attractive teenager trying to play on her most basic human urges, and that was as far as it went.
"Are you then?" she finally asked him, clearly pushing aside his attempts.
"No," he admitted, a faint scowl on his face. "We're not. She's my Captain, an' my best mate. It's a line ya don' cross."
Cassie was slightly astounded by his confession. She'd half-expected another attempt on his part, but he hadn't given her one. He'd given her the truth.
"What about you then, little kitty? Ya got someone on the outside?"
"No," she replied, shaking the small expression of bewilderment from her face. "No one. Just me."
"C'mon now Cassie," he drawled, lifting his hook to hang onto one of the bars. "Ya can' possibly tell me a girl as gorgeous as yarself hasn' got a guy waitin' on 'er?"
"I can tell you that because it's true."
Harry nodded slowly, his expression turning serious for the time being. "Sounds a bit lonely, love. I mean I get we're prisoners an' all, but there's no fun in playin' by yourself."
"I'm a prisoner on an island full of villains, Harry. I'm not supposed to have fun. I'm supposed to survive," she told him with as much sincerity as she could, the sorrow that often plagued her nights making itself known in the tone of her voice.
"But ya don' wanna jus' 'survive', do ya? Ya wanna run aroun' an' play like the rest of us. Livin' in fear all the time won' help ya, ya have ta learn how ta rule as we do."
"My dad's been gone for four years, Harry," she said abruptly. "You had your dad to teach you how to live, and how to fight. And now you have a crew around you in case things get bad. He was a cat before he got cursed, all he taught me to do was run and hide. And that's all I know how to do."
The topic of conversation had certainly taken a downward turn, and Cassie's lingering wound of being abandoned by her own flesh and blood had engulfed her. What she told Harry was true. Her father hadn't ever been human before being thrown onto the Isle, and he didn't know how to be one. All her father had known was fight-or-flight, and he taught her the basics of the latter. He told her that, because of her shortness in size, there was no way for her to come out of a violent altercation in one piece. There was no chance for her to win against someone else, so she had to stick to the sidelines.
"Curse, eh?"
As soon as those two words passed through Harry's lips, Cassie froze completely. She hadn't noticed her slip-up during their conversation, and she was horrified to realise she'd done the one thing she'd specifically focussed on not doing.
'Oh. No.'
The little cat stared back at the hooked pirate, her nausea returning with a vengeance as she saw a smirk of satisfaction spread across his face. All this time she thought she'd been doing so well, keeping him well away from the truth she fought so hard to keep from him. But she'd somehow let herself fall in, and in doing so she'd revealed the one thing about herself that no one else knew.
"This whole 'cat' thing isn' by choice, is it?" he asked her, though they both knew full well it was just him voicing his thoughts as he rather cleverly put the pieces together. "That's why ya haven' gone yet. Why ya asked Uma what tha time was. Ya can' turn back on yar own, can ya?"
Cassie struggled to breathe as his words got louder, her instincts kicking into high gear with each correct conclusion he came to.
"Someone cursed yar dad, an' then you got it too. That's why he left ya."
Without giving much thought to her actions, Cassie brutally flung herself against the bars. "Let me out of this fucking cage!" she yelled, her utter outrage towards the hooked pirate doubling as he merely stepped back, a nasty chuckle sounding from his throat.
"Oh little kitty," he taunted eagerly, lightly shaking his head. "Ya fell right inta that one, didn' ya?"
"I'm going to get out of here, Harry," she told him, sucking in deep breaths as she lowered her voice. "And when I do, I'm going to rip your eyes out."
"Cassie, Cassie." Harry tutted, placing his right hand against his chest. "I do love it when ya fight back, gets the high goin' don' it?"
His amusement and delight at her suffering only made it worse, and she knew that the minute he was gone her anger would leave and she'd be left with nothing but a suffocating wave of humiliation and helplessness.
When he moved forward, and closer to the cell, Cassie foolishly shoved her hand through the gap in the cell bars, determined to scratch his pretty face once again. But he was ready for it this time. The second her hand almost caught him, he caught her wrist with his fingers, his grip painfully tightening.
"I tol' ya I was gonna ruin ya, Cassie, an' I meant it."
Cassie struggled for a moment until she realised he was much stronger than her and had the upper hand. A small gasp flew through her parted lips as her wrist began to throb, her left hand holding tight to the bars as if it was an anchor. She could barely feel the sting in her palm as she squeezed the cold steel tighter, the adrenaline pulsing through her body until she couldn't feel anything.
Harry kept his vice-like grip on her arm, and he kept his eyes securely locked with hers as he moved his left arm, a dark glint of something or other shining in his eyes.
"H-Harry," she pleaded with a whisper, her dark eyes frantically darting between his own and the sharp hook he now held above her wrist.
Cassie could feel the sting as he put more pressure on the weapon, the point digging uncomfortably into her skin. With a little more force he could have his hook straight in her arm, and she'd bleed out within minutes.
"Shush, kitty," he told her gently, his tone greatly conflicting with his actions. "Calm down."
Cassie didn't want to calm down. She wanted to rip apart the cell keeping her from him and tear him to shreds. She wanted to yell at him to let her go or - at the very least - let her arm go. But she couldn't, and she wouldn't. She had to do what he said.
It didn't come as much surprise to him when it took her a bit of time to calm herself, and even when she did it was obvious she was nothing short of absolutely terrified. Her wide and fearful eyes stayed on the hook, and her focus on said object somehow pushed away everything else she was feeling.
"Good girl," he praised, tormenting her further by dragging his hook up and down her forearm, crafting prickly little scratches on her perfect skin. "I'm gonna fuck yar world up, love. I jus' gave ya a little taste of it first."
The pirate removed his hook from her arm, but Cassie barely had enough time to bask in the relief of it. The moment he removed his dreaded weapon from its ministrations, he had something else of his firmly planted on the space between her wrist and forearm.
Cassie jolted the second he had his lips against her skin, her expression twisting from overwhelming terror to complete bewilderment. It wasn't painful, and it wasn't completely uncomfortable. If anything, there was something rather pleasing in Harry's odd movements. Whatever he was up to, it sparked a small fire in the pit of her stomach, and she hated it.
The kiss was short and simple, though the aftermath was far from either. Harry pulled back from her with a large grin on his face, apparently pleased with the reaction he'd forced out of the little cat. Meanwhile, Cassie stood still, her chest rising and falling erratically as she attempted to right her breathing patterns. She was confused, scared, and a mix of so many other emotions that she couldn't think straight. But that was exactly what Harry wanted.
"I'll see ya soon, kitty," he assured her, whistling an unrecognizable tune as he picked up the small lantern and headed back up top.
Cassie stared at the entrance long after he'd gone, her arm still hanging out through the gap in the bars. Her haphazard emotions soon fell back into their natural places, and as soon as the adrenaline wavered she felt an awful sting in the palm of her left hand.
A small frown came to her face as she pulled away from the bars and inspected her hand. The cut was deep and stretched across her palm, a continuous flow of red dripping down onto the wooden floor.
Cassie huffed and huddled back in the corner of her cell, a small cry of agony bouncing through the room as she pressed the cloth of her dress to the wound.
'Damn it, Cassie.'
AN;
Hello readers!
Okay, so, I know I said Cassie's curse would be cleared up a bit in this chapter. But things took a turn so I have to apologise, but it will be coming soon.
Review acknowledgement time!;
Lola Vegas; :D :D :D
Sasha2702; I'm glad you enjoyed that chapter! And yes, Harry is kind of messed up in this story. I think this chapter especially shows how tapped he is in the head. And there will be a lot more to come, so I hope you stick around for it. :)
mollichine; I'm glad you're enjoying the story, and I hope you like this chapter.
StrawberryNeko7; I'm so happy you like my writing! And yeah, my stories kind of take on the darker aspects of the Isle. But it is a prison filled with the worst Disney villains, so I wanted to show just how messed up it was/could be. And I agree, Harry and crazy goes together perfectly. And I'm glad you like how he is in this story so far.
X Blue Eyed Demon x; Thank you! :)
Anyway, please leave a review or PM to let me know what you thought about this chapter. And much love to everyone who've favourited, followed and reviewed so far!
Thanks!
(Any typos or misspells will be removed when I've had a proper read through.)