The "Magic" Kingdom story - ch. 21 posted (Apr 22)

no! You can’t stop like this! I need more.

Agree ch 7 needs to come quick! Trying to guess what the water is…

Sorry. I post each as soon as I have time to write some more! I probably won’t get another chapter up until Monday.

No apologies necessary!! I know it takes time—. I’m enjoying the read

Good read! I am really enjoying this.

CHAPTER SEVEN - Hug

Oomph!

The impact came like a punch in the gut and to the face. Not what was expected! I continued to descend, coughing and sputtering from…dust? I could tell I was slowing, my nose pressed against something bordering between soft and scratchy, but the air was no longer pummelling my face. Instead, I smelled the acrid scent of something that had spent too long sitting outside in the garage or something.

Finally, I came to a full stop, but rather than being dead, and also not feeling like I was actually in water nor on the ground, I drew up enough courage to lift my head, eyes squinted just enough to see. I was lying on…carpet. And, judging from the swaying motion of the ocean’s horizon in the distance, I was on a flying carpet!

Pushing myself to my hands, sure enough, the carpet appeared to be something out of a cartoon, like the one from Aladdin! Tassels dangled from each of the corners, and the pattern was an elaborate pattern of blues, yellows, and reds. As I carefully maneuvered myself around, it felt like I was shifting on a trampoline, or an inflatable raft floating in a pool. Around me, the vast ocean spread out in all directions less than 20 feet above the service.

“That was close,” I said, taking in a deep breath and waiting to cry in joyous relief. I wasn’t dead. But how? That’s when I noticed. Along one of the edges hung the severed remains of the pull cord. “It wasn’t a parachute!” I exclaimed to no one.

I sat there in silence for a few minutes, trying to make sense of it all. Space Mountain, Sonny and Cosmic Ray’s, the Astro Orbiter. These were all places in Tomorrowland. But they were just rides. Places to eat. They weren’t real! Or, at least, they hadn’t been. Not until I went through that mirror! And now, Aladdin’s magic carpet? That was in Adventureland. I’d been spit upon by the giant plastic camel hours earlier, Sarah squealing in delight as we tilted backwards and forwards, going up and down, round and round.

But there was no plastic seat, no buttons, no levers. Just a carpet that had saved my life! But, now what? Even if this all was real, where do I go from here? How do I get from Adventureland to Sarah? Where was she? I wasn’t sure. Then again, I knew where Ursula was taking her. The Grotto. That was in Fantasyland. That’s where I had to get.

Earlier in the day, I had stuffed a map into my pocket of the Magic Kingdom park. Now, I pulled it out, carefully unfolding and smoothing it out on the surface of the carpet. Suddenly, a soft, calm purring sound came. Was that the carpet? I brushed my hand across the surface again, and again, the carpet purred. I smiled. It was…alive!

“Good carpet. Thank you for saving my life!”

The carpet pulsed, slightly, as though sitting up a little more proudly than before.

I returned to the map. There we were. The Magic Carpets of Alladin. And nearby? A tree house, a Tiki Room, and the Pirates of the Caribbean. There seemed to be a few options. Going back toward Tomorrowland, cutting through the castle, or going around to Frontierland. Tomorrowland was definitely out! No more rockets, for sure! The castle was a possibility, though. Seemed most direct.

But as I looked up, I realized there was no way of knowing which way was the right way. So, I decided to ask.

“Um. Carpet?”

The carpet swayed up and down as if to say it was listening.

“Do you know where the castle is?”

Again, we swayed up and down in a gentle nod.

“Can you take me?”

And without warning, the carpet zoomed forward, knocking be flat on my back. I thought I’d fall off, but the tassels on the back seemed to grab hold of me as we soared upwards, did a triple helix, and then sped toward away from the direction of the sun. The ride was exhilarating! Carpet, or Carp, as I decided to call it, didn’t just fly straight, but dove down close to the surface of the water in time to catch view of a breaching whale and a family of dolphins slicing through the water below. Then we’d soar upwards into the mist of the clouds, sending chills through my body. We’d go over, sideways, and under through the endless daylit sky.

After what seemed like hours, I could start to make out something in the distance. It was…land. An island, maybe? Was this it? Was this the location of the castle? If so, once we passed through, we could continue on to the Grotto.

But then…

BOOM!

An explosion rang through my ears. Then another, the second even louder. I felt something hot shoot past us. I leaned out over Carp’s edge to see two ships below.

“Hold up, Carp,” I said, and it obeyed, leaving us hovering above. The ship to my left fired. I could see the burst of fire light coming from one of the ports on the side, the cannonball flying over the the ship on the right. “Pirates!” I exclaimed.

And, as if on cue, the pirate ship fired again, this time aiming straight for us!

“Move!” I shouted, unsure exactly how to control Carp.

It didn’t matter. Carp scooted out of the way in just the nick of time.

“We’ve gotta get out of here!” I said, and Carp started forward again, taking us directly over the water spanning between the ships. I watched. Something peculiar caught my eye. Not on the pirate ship, but on the other ship, the one being fired upon. There was a bright, neon-shirt wearing girl standing on the deck! It was…Sarah!

We flew by, picking up speed. What was Sarah doing there? Was she being held captive on that ship? And why were the pirates firing? If they hit the ship, they’d go down, Sarah with them!

“Carp! Go back! We have to go back! I see my sister!”

Carp eased up at first, as although struggling with fear at the idea of obeying my command.

“You have to turn around! My sister!”

In almost a sigh, Carp twisted around and shot back toward the ship carrying Sarah. I heard another BOOM and then with a sudden shift to the left, Carp went one way and I went the other. Moments later, I was in the water, struggling to say up. Carp sped around and lowered a tassel to me. I grabbed hold, Carp tugging me through the water to the ship.

“Ian!” I heard Sarah shout as I rose up, dangling, dripping wet, from Carp’s tassel. The carpet lowered me to the desk, where, as another BOOM reverberated around us, Sarah gave me a gigantic hug.

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CHAPTER EIGHT - Boat

“Sarah! Are you okay?” I grabbed hold of her, tightly, as if she might otherwise disappear. “Did she do anything to you?”

Water rained down as the cannonball splashed into the water next to the ship.

Sarah gave a look of confusion. “Of course I’m okay,” she said. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Ursula! She…captured you! Mom and Dad are besides themselves. I thought you might be dead!”

“What are you talking about?”

And now I’m sure I was the one who looked confused. “How did you get here?” There was another BOOM, and beside me, Carp jerked backwards as though startled and scared. “I think we have to get you out of here!”

I loosened my grip and glanced over the railing to the pirate ship just a few hundred feet away. Several filthy looking men were scrambling around, apparently loading up another cannon as their boat swayed gently in the ocean waves.

“Ian. It’s okay. They can’t hurt us! We’re…protected!”

“What do you mean?”

Sarah pointed, and I glanced over my shoulder. There she was. Ursula. The sea witch in her human form. She just stood there, peering down at the two of us, a sickening grin across her face.

“Stay away from her!” I shouted, shoving Sarah behind me, as though somehow I could keep her safe from what I knew to be a monster before us. But who was I kidding? She was twice my size, and could do magic.

Ursula pursed her lips. “How sweet. Big brother’s here to save the day. Only, big brother doesn’t even know who the enemy is!”

“I know who you are,” I said, trying to dig deep to keep up my courage. Carp, by comparison, had retreated, shivering, behind a railing. “You’re Ursula!”

Ursula tented her fingers, tapping her forefingers together, thoughtfully. “Of course, I am.”

“You’re…evil!”

“Tsk, tsk,” she said, taking a step closer. “You should know better than to trust what you’ve seen in movies. Always making the bad guys seem so…well…bad. But really, now? Who do you think tells those stories? The good guys?”

“Yes!” I said, more confidently.

“Ian,” Sarah said, trying to wrench free from my grip. “Please. She’s nice!”

“Listen to your sister, Ian. Stories aren’t told by good guys. They’re told by the winners. Always setting out to make the losers look pathetic. But then, they always seem so bent on leaving out their misdeeds, don’t they? That just wouldn’t do, telling a story about a hero who is just as nasty as the villain! And, so, I’m afraid, I fell on the losing side of the story. But that didn’t make what I did wrong.”

There came another loud burst. But this time, as the cannonball flew overhead, Ursula snapped her fingers, the projectile bursting into a shower of red sparks falling harmlessly over us like an exploded fireworks display.

“See? If it wasn’t for me, this ship would be on the bottom of the sea by now, or your little sister, here, would have been taken by those horrible pirates for themselves and make you to walk the plank! But because of me, we’re perfectly safe.”

“That doesn’t change what you did! You kidnapped my sister!”

Ursula gave a shocked expression of fake disbelief. “Moi? Kidnap your precious Sarah? Now, why on earth would I ever do that?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but…well, the truth was, I had no answer to give. At least, none that made any sense. Why would Ursula kidnap Sarah? There was nothing special about her, was there? Not like Ariel, daughter of Triton. We weren’t royalty. We were no one important at all, for that matter. Just a family on a vacation.

“She didn’t…err…kidnap…ugh…me,” Sarah said, finally detaching herself from me with a lurch. “She’s been helping me!”

“Helping you?” I said, flabberghasted as the thought.

“Yes. I mean, she’s helping me get back home. To you, and to Mom, and to Dad!”

I looked to Sarah, then back to Ursula, then back to Sarah. “But, you vanished after she went into the restroom.”

“Ah, yes,” Ursula said, with a wave of her hand. “”Tis true, tis true. But you seem to have things backwards. Because it was your little sister who went through the mirror, and, well, if I hadn’t been there right at that moment, she would have fallen into this Magic Kingdom with no hope of ever escaping. So, you see, it is fortunate that I came along, really. I followed after her, only me around knowing the kind of magic it would take to return to your world. And, believe me, it wasn’t for my benefit. No. I have better things to be doing, believe me!”

This…this couldn’t be true. It didn’t make sense. I looked around, for any sign that Sarah might be lying to protect herself. I didn’t know what. But how could Ursula possibly be…good? Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the pirate ship had changed course. Instead of sailing beside us, its bow had turned toward us, as though preparing to ram us. Ursula, too, seemed to notice this and waved her hand around, breezily. As she did, our ship began to change course as well.

“See what I mean?” Ursula said. “Here I am, trying to save your sister from those bad guys over there so that we can go along on our merry way. And you keep looking at me like I’m the evil one? What does that even mean, anyway? Evil?”

I found myself unable to answer.

“Nothing!” she shouted. “It means nothing! Its merely the word given anyone who is on the opposing side. Right now? Those pirates are evil. And to the pirates? We’re evil! You, just as much as me!”

Now, our ship started directly toward the pirate ship, which was quickly approaching. We were going to ram, and I wondered what it meant when both sides were evil. Where was the good in both of our ships being smashed to bits? Who was I to trust? Pirates? Pirates weren’t good guys. But neither was Ursula. And yet Sarah said….

Another boom came from the ship bearing down on us, their enemy fire, this time, making impact with our ship, piercing a hole the main sail like it was swiss cheese.

“Make your decision, little Mr. Hero. Who will you trust? Me? Or them? It makes no difference to me. I mean, I know how to swim!”

And then, her legs began to transform, each splitting into four separate tentacles, her slender body widening, her fact transforming, becoming the sea which as I had always known her to be.

“Make your decision. Stick with me, and I’ll keep them from smashing this boat into bits. Stick with them, and, well…sayonara to sissy!”

Sarah, this time, grabbed my arm. “Please, Ian. She’s my friend!”

But I just couldn’t bring myself to believe that. Ursula was evil. And so, in one last attempt to save ourselves, I clutched tightly to Sarah and threw us both off the side of the boat.

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CHAPTER NINE - Hook

We hit the water below, for me the second time in under an hour. As we came up, Sarah was coughing and sputtering, and I tried desperately to pull her further away from the ship. From both ships, expecting at any moment the sound of the impact. Sarah was never a good swimmer, still relying on her floaties in the hotel pools. I should have thought of that before I shoved us both in.

“Ian,” she managed before screaming as she struggled to keep her head above water.

“Hang on.” I tried to reassure her. “I’ve got you!”

I glanced back. The two ships were now just a few yards apart. Then a few feet. Then…

Nothing. No crash. Because the ship we had just jumped from was gone, having faded away like a shimmering mirage. But the pirate ship was still coming. I searched around for Carp, hoping for another heroic rescue. Only, Carp was nowhere to be found. Vanished, along with the ship. This was magic I didn’t even know Ursula was capable of.

I spun around, dragging Sarah with me, hoping for some distance view of land. But there was nothing, our only option left was being captured by the pirates. What had I done? This was all my fault. Ursula may be evil, but at least we had been, for the moment, safe on the ship. But then, how was I supposed to know that? And what if we had stayed? Would we have disappeared along with the ship? Where was it now? A ghost ship? Was it still there, perhaps, just invisible, just out of reach?

“Help!” I cried out, resigning myself to our capture.

Within minutes, both Sarah and I had been hoisted up onto the pirate ship by two greedy-eyed pirates.

“Looksy what we have here!” one of them said once I had been dragged over the railing and tossed beside Sarah, who was now crying.

“What are gonna do with them, Mickey?” the other pirate said through blackened, rotting teeth.

“Their kids,” Mickey said. “Useless. Might as well toss ‘em overboard and turn them into fish food!”

“But…what about their magic?”

Magic?

“Hmm.” Mickey squatted down between us and grabbed Sarah by the face. Immediately, she stopped crying and tried pulling away. “Let’s bring ‘em to the Cap’n.”

“Let go of her!” I shouted, swatting his hand away. “Don’t touch my sister!”

“Your sister?” Mickey laughed, shoving Sarah’s face away and turning to me. “So, you two are brother and sister, eh?” He then grabbed my jaw instead, crushing it so hard I thought it might break, causing me to cry out in pain. “Perfect. Shorty, grab that sack.”

Next thing I knew, they shoved a burlap bag over my head and down over arms, making it impossible to see anything other than shadow and light. One of them jerked me from the deck, and from the cries of pain coming from Sarah, they did the same to her.

“Now then,” came the voice of Mickey. “You try anything, anything at all, magic or not, and your little sister will be back swimming with the sharks, you got me?”

I nodded, still confused why the mention of magic again. “But, I don’t know any…” I started to say.

“Shut it!” Shorty yelled, then shoved me forward.

They led us down a passageway with stairs, descending into the belly of the ship. Going to meet the captain.

Three loud pounds on the door, then a higher pitched voice than I had expected came. Still a man’s voice, but, I don’t know why, I was expecting something low and gruff.

“What is it?” the voice came, short with annoyance.

“We have prisoners, Cap’n! From the ship.”

Door creaks open and we’re shoved inside.

“Children? You bought me children? Where’s the witch?”

“There was no witch, Cap’n,” said Mickey. “Only these two.”

“I wanted the witch!” the captain bellowed. I heard the sound of scraping, then the BANG of a gun, followed by footsteps running off. Must have been Mickey, since Shorty’s grasp only seemed to tighten more.

Sarah’s sobs worsened.

“I’m sorry, Sarah,” I whispered to her. “I should have listened to you.”

But Sarah didn’t respond.

“Cap’n,” Shorty said in almost a whimper. “These kids. They can do magic.”

A long pause, then, “Oh, really? Magic. What kind of magic?”

“Not sure, Cap’n. But they made their ship vanish.”

Ah. That explained it. They thought we had done that. And suddenly I wondered if it was wise to tell them the truth, or if it would be better to keep them believing we could do magic. I mean, Shorty and Mickey decided to bring us to see the captain because they thought we could do magic. We were alive because they didn’t know any better.

But then Sarah started to speak. “We…we didn’t….”

Oh, no. Not now. I tried to will Sarah from speaking, but it didn’t seem to work.

“…We didn’t make the ship vanish.”

“Really?”

“What she means, sir,” I said, interrupting Sarah before she could say anything, “is that it wasn’t we, it was her. I mean, she did it. She’s…a witch.”

“But, Ian…” Sarah protested.

“Sarah. It’s okay. They already figured it out. They might as know the truth. You’re a witch, and, well, I’m a wizard. Only, her magic is more powerful than mine.”

I was praying, inside, this would be enough to keep them from harming Sarah…and if it came between her and me, they’d hurt me instead.

“Take off the sack,” the captain ordered. And a moment later, the sack slid off my face, the burlap scraping my skin like sandpaper.

I stared at the captain. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Because it was none other than Captain Hook!

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Note: Apologies for the delay. Been exceptionally busy. But finally, here’s the next chapter!

CHAPTER TEN - Plank

We spent the next several hours locked in the belly of the ship. Hook decided not to make us walk the plank, figuring whatever magic we may or may not possess will come in handy if they come upon the sea witch again.

“You were obviously able to escape from her unscathed,” he had said, scratching his mustache with the silver hook that served as his hand, “which means you have extraordinary power!”

Sarah had tried to argue, but I grabbed her arm to stop her from talking.

Now, Sarah seemed to be sleeping, resting on a stack of more burlap sacks, as I tried to figure out how we were going to get out of here…and then back home. The gentle swaying motion as the shipped headed who-knew-where started to make my stomach sick, though, and I tried to lay back, concentrating on not throwing up.

As my head landed on one of the sacks, I heard a distinctive, “Ooomph!” I bolted upright, then jabbed at the burlap bag. It gave a jump.

“Who are you?” I said, demandingly.

No answer, so I poked again, harder this time.

“Ouch!” a voice said, so I pulled the sack away.

“What are you doing?” I said, more perplexed than anything else, because it was one of the pirates who had pulled us from the sea. Mickey!

“Shhh!” Mickey said, pulling the sack back over himself. “I’m hiding!”

“Hiding? Why?”

His eyes peeked out, barely visible. “Because I value me life!”

I took in a deep breath, stemming the nausea as best I could. “The Captain wouldn’t really shoot you, would he?”

“Course he would. Eventually. I just have to stay hidden long enough until he’s no longer mad at me.”

“Well, how long will that be?” I said.

“Until I we find the sea witch again and, this time, capture her!”

Sarah stirred for a moment, shifting until she found herself in a more comfortable position, which wasn’t saying much, since the sacks were lumpy and hard.

“But now we have a chance!” he added.

Mickey pulled down the sack further, risking being seen by, well, me, since no one else was in this compartment.

“What do you mean, you have a chance? She just made her ship vanish into thin air!”

“True, true. But we gots her!” He pointed at my sister.

I sighed. “Mickey. That’s my sister. And she’s not magical. Neither am I. We’re…not from around here.”

“Oh, I know that. ‘Cause if you were magic, you’d have found a way out of here by now. No, I can see you’re not magic. But it don’t matter. Because the sea witch isn’t gone, I’m sure of it.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because, the sea witch had you two for a reason. The fact we have you now only means we have to wait long enough and she’ll be back for yous!”

“Back for us? But why? What does she want with us?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care. But once she’s back, the Cap’n will be happy again because we can catch her this time. Set a trap!”

“What kind of trap?”

If you want to catch a fish, you gots to have a lure.” Mickey eyed Sarah. “And we have two of ‘em right here!”

I shifted, positioning myself between Mickey and Sarah, defensively. “You can’t do that. We aren’t even supposed to be here! My parents are worried sick, and we have to get back home!”

“Don’t care,” Mickey said, flatly. “When the sea witch returns, you’re my ticket to staying alive.”

“Listen,” I said, hushed. “I can help you get out of here alive if you help us!”

“You trying to make a deal? Not gonna work! You’ve got nothing to offer me!”

My brain began racing.

“Where are we heading?” I asked.

“Mermaid’s Lagoon.”

“You mean, in Neverland?”

“Neverland? What’s Neverland?”

“You know. Second star to the right, and straight on til morning!”

Mickey stared at me blankly. “Never heard of it.”

“It’s where Peter Pan lives!”

“You know Peter Pan?” Mickey said, incredulously. “Who are you again?”

“My name’s Ian. I’m…uh…one of the lost boys.” I decided that this wasn’t technically a lie, since I was a boy and I was most definitely lost. But for some reason, I got the impression from Mickey that being associated with Peter Pan might help me, somehow.

Mickey’s eyes widened, and he tossed the sack he’d been partially behind still aside. “You mean, you can bring us to Peter Pan?”

“Maybe,” I said. “What’s it worth to you?”

“The only thing that might make Hook happier than capturing the sea witch right now is capturing Pan.” Mickey rubbed his hands together, greedily. “Oh! You are going to save my hide for sure!”

“So, does this mean you’re going to help us escape?”

“Escape? No, my dear boy. Quite the contrary. You’re going to give me Pan.”

“Or what?”

There was a glint in his eye as he turned to look at Sarah again. “Or else your precious little sissy will end up walking the plank.”

ETA: (BTW, since we only get to post 6 times in a row in any given thread, I will soon hit the upper limit. So someone will need to eventually respond to this thread so that I can continue the story. I don’t care what the response says, even if it says, “Story stinks. Start over.” I’ll dutifully ignore you and continue on from there. Thanks)

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Just read all of this for the first time. So fun!

I’m enjoying it! Thanks for continuing!

It is bad enough that my free year of HBO ended after I watched all but one season of GoT. I need you to continue this story PLEASE :pleading_face:

:pleading_face: Please Sir, I’d like some more. :pleading_face:

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CHAPTER ELEVEN - Lagoon

It took what felt like an eternity in the belly of the ship before we felt a change. Overhead, footsteps pounded, and I could hear the sounds of what I supposed was the rigging. We must have arrived.

Neverland.

Or whatever these guys called it. Sarah slept through it all, and I had dozed off a few times as Mickey eyed us. Each time I darted awake, I had hoped to find Mickey out as well so that I could sneak Sarah out. He never slept. Not that it mattered. Even if he hadn’t been there at all, we had no way of getting out on our own. We were locked in.

Sarah stirred, causing Mickey to straighten slightly, defensively. As if Sarah could do anything do the man. I got up and plopped down beside her, swiping some of her stray hair from her face. She turned and glanced up at me.

“Are we there yet?” she asked.

I shrugged. Not sure where she thought “there” was, but it wouldn’t have mattered, since all I knew for sure was that there was activity going on above us.

“I gotta go to the bathroom,” she said. And once she mentioned it, I realized I did as well.

“Where’s the bathroom?” I asked Mickey.

He laughed. “Bathroom? What you think? This some kind of deluxe hotel or something? You gotta pee, you’re gonna have to do it over there.”

He pointed to a far corner.

After a several minutes of coaxing, and after first going myself, Sarah finally agreed and hid behind a stack of supplies long enough to go. Mickey ended up following suit, leaving us all relieved at least in one sense.

“So,” I said, “What’s the plan for getting out of here?”

Mickey glanced up, as though he could see what they were doing through the wooden ceiling above us. “Sounds like they are getting ready to dock. Mean’s we’re in the Lagoon. Once we’re anchored, a few of the men will row Cap’n Hook ashore. Once they do, we make our move.”

Assuming Mickey had a way out of this place, it sounded like we would be left in the Lagoon away from shore, meaning we’d have to swim for it. I wasn’t sure how far it was, but regardless, I wasn’t sure if Sarah could swim the distance. I started looking around. Clearly, this place was a store room of some kind, meaning there had to be something we could use.

When I started digging around, Sarah asked, “What are you doing?”

“Looking for something to help us swim to shore.”

“I can swim,” Sarah insisted.

“You can swim with floaties on your arms in a swimsuit. Not weighed down with clothes and nothing to keep your head above water.”

She looked hurt at this. “I don’t need floaties. It’s just Mom always makes me put them on.”

That might be true, but what if she was wrong? It would have been pointless of me to have ever come after Sarah at all only to have her drown as we tried to escape. I continued looking, and managed to find some rope and what looked to be huge bottle corks. Mickey said they used them for fishing when out to see. I managed to thread the rope through a couple and fashion a makeshift harness to fit Sarah.

The sounds up above seemed to lessen, and I started to get nervous. What if we got caught? What would they do to us? And even if we made it to shore…what then? Mickey was expecting me to take him to Peter Pan. As if I had any idea where Peter Pan was! To me, he was a kid in a movie. But, I’d have to cross that bridge when I came to it, I supposed. First we had to get out of here.

We waited in silence for several minutes before Mickey said, his left ear raised to the ceiling, “Okay. I think the coast is clear. Time to get out of here. Stay close to me. And if we run into anyone, just let me do the talking. As long as Hook’s off the ship, we’ll be fine.”

The ladder leading up to a hatch creaked as we climbed. Mickey pulled out a large skeleton key he had hidden beneath his shirt, using it in the keyhole. He popped his head up enough to see, looking in both directions before shoving the hatch all the open. It slammed into the wall with a bang. We all cringed then froze, expecting someone to come looking for the cause of the sound, but nobody came.

Soon, we were in a dark corridor that brought us to stairs leading up to the main deck. The light was fading, which could be helpful.

“Hold on,” Mickey whispered before we stepped out into the open air. “Stay put.”

He left us there, inching outside and out of sight, and then there were voices. I couldn’t make out what was being said, but it sounded a lot like joking, mixed with some angry shouts, and then laughing. Sarah looked scared now, so I put my hand on her arm to keep her calm. Then, a thought came to me. A crazy, dangerous thought. Mickey was clearly distracted, and the men he was talking to had no idea we were there. What if we made a run for it? Run and then jump off the edge into the water? Okay, it hadn’t worked with Ursula. But that was different.

I turned to Sarah. “Listen. I have an idea. But we have to move fast, okay?”

She didn’t move, and I could see the fear creeping into her expression.

“Sarah. Trust me, okay? I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“But…” She paused a moment, glancing over my shoulder. I did the same, afraid Mickey had returned, but it was still clear. She continued. “I was okay before you came. And now we’re stuck here.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “What do you mean? You weren’t fine. The Sea Witch had kidnapped you! You were her prisoner!”

“But that’s what I’m trying to tell you. She didn’t kidnap me. She’s been helping me find my way home!”

“I know it seemed like that. But it wasn’t true. She was just using you!”

Sarah frowned. “She was not!”

“Yes, she was.”

“For what?”

But now it was my turn to hesitate. Truth is, I had no idea. How could I be sure the Sea Witch was actually bad? This wasn’t the movies. This was real! And maybe everything I thought about her was wrong. At least, Sarah thought so.

“I don’t know,” I finally admitted. “But it doesn’t matter, now. We have to get away. If Hook doesn’t end up killing us, Mickey will unless I find Peter Pan!”

“You know Peter Pan?”

“No. That’s the problem. Mickey thinks I do.”

There was more bickering outside, and now I could hear Mickey’s voice shout at the others to listen to him. Time was short.

“We don’t have time to discuss this right now. We have to go. Right now. On the count of three, we are going to run outside, and jump right into the lagoon. Okay?”

Sarah breathed in some courage, then nodded.

“Okay then. Here we go. One. Two. Three!”

And together, hand in hand, we darted out into the open, slamming into the body of a massive pirate. Mickey was a few steps away still, and as we tried to shove past, he shouted, “Stop them!”

Mammoth hands grabbed us both, and for a moment I thought the pirate might break our arms off. Sarah gasped. No matter how hard we struggled, there was no way we would break free. He was just too strong.

“Where do you think you two are going?” Mickey said, pressing closer.

“Uh,” I stammered. “Nowhere. It’s just, we were, uh…”

Then Sarah started crying. Only, it wasn’t a real cry. I knew her real cry. This was the kind of cry she would do when she just wanted to get her way with Mom and Dad. What was she doing?

“I’m…so….scared!” she said, fake sobbing between each word. “I just…want…to go…home!”

“Hey,” Mickey said, looking at me. “Make her stop crying!”

I turned and crouched beside her, talking quietly next to her ear so that no one could hear, but acting as though I was trying to console her. “What are you up to?”

And, with a small flick of her gaze through the fingers covering her eyes, she pointed out a rope across the deck running from one of the masts directly under the pirate still holding us. I knelt down, placing one arm on Sarah’s back, hoping it would look like I was trying to make her feel better, moving closer and closer to the rope.

“Please, Sarah,” I said more loudly. “We’ll be home soon. I promise! We just have to stay with Mickey.”

And then, in one quick motion I grabbed the rope and hoisted it up as high and as quickly as I could. It rose up, catching the pirate in the crotch so hard he immediately released us and stumbled backward, wailing in pain. In that brief moment, we darted forward, Sarah’s cries instantly vanishing. Mickey darted, as well, and as we flung ourselves off the side of the ship, Mickey followed us with a great splash right into the lagoon.

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More? You want some more? Never before has a boy wanted more!

Er, um. Okay! :slight_smile:

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CHAPTER TWELVE - Agreement

Pandamonium. Before I even had a chance to break back through the surface of the water and catch my breath, I felt a hand shoving my head further into the depths. I flailed, lashing out with my arms in an attempt to break free. Fractured images of the light above swirled amidst the bubbles, and I could see the silhouette of a man’s body off to one side. It was Mickey, I was sure. He was trying to kill me.

My lungs began to ache for air, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could go before I would be forced to breath in water. I was going to drown. I was going to die.

And then, something grabbed my leg, pulled me deeper. No! I tried to kick free, but it was no use. I descended into the murky depths, the light above me fading to a dull hint of hopelessness. I couldn’t hold it any longer, and I gasped, sucking the salty water into my lungs, gagging me as my vision went black.

I was dead.

But then, I started coughing, water erupting from my lungs. I felt my body rolled to my side as I spewed liquid. I was no longer in the lagoon. At least, I didn’t think I was. Instead, I lay on something hardy and jagged. Rocky.

“There you go,” a tender voice said to me. Or, not really said. It was more like a song. Melodious. Heavenly. And I wondered if it was an angel. “That’s it. Get it all out.”

“Ian!” I heard another voice cry out. It was Sarah’s voice, panicked and scared.

I opened my eyes as I continued to struggle for breath, gasping in and out, coughing up more and more water as I did. I was on a rock, like the ledge of a cliff or something. And Sarah was there, her hands folded tightly against her mouth as if she couldn’t believe I was alive.

“Where…are…we?” I sputtered, my voice raspy.

“Everything is going to be okay,” the other voice sang out. “You’re safe now.”

“Mickey? Where is he?”

“Don’t worry about him,” Sarah said. “They’ve locked him up.”

“Who?” Then I glanced around, looking for the other person. We were along the edge of the water, my body strewn out with my feet still partially submerged, as though I had been dragged here. It was dark, difficult to see anything, but as my eyes adjusted and my brain seemed to regain the ability to think straight, I realized we were in what looked to be a cave, the only light coming from an opening a few hundred feet away. But there was no one else there.

Sarah placed one of her hands against my cheek. “The Mer people.”

Mer people? There were no Mer people here. It was just Sarah. Only, I had heard the voice. Hadn’t I? I began to doubt myself. Maybe it was just a hallucination, caused by lack of oxygen. But then, who saved me? Mickey had been pushing me under from up above. Something else had grabbed me from below. Could it be?

Mermaid Lagoon. That was where we had gone. That’s what Mickey had said. And it was coming back to me. Neverland. Mermaid Lagoon. The Lost Boys. It was just like the ride. Only, it wasn’t. The same, but different.

I glanced around again, this time looking more closely at the water’s edge. And then, I could see it. Just beneath the surface was movement, like someone swimming just below the surface, but never coming up.

“Thank you,” I said to whoever it was.

“No thanks from you, please,” the beautiful voice said again, as though spoken directly to my mind. “For we must thank you!”

“Thank me? But, I don’t understand.”

Sarah pulled back, concern crossing her expression. “It’ll be okay, Ian,” she said.

“But why are they thanking me? They saved me. I would have died.”

“They are Mermaids. Mermaids don’t do anything for others unless they get something out of it for themselves.”

“Your sister is right,” sang the voice in my head. “For it is no concern of ours if a land dweller lives or dies. But you two have something that we have longed for for ages. And so, we need you to help us.”

Now my brain was swirling again, my confusion only growing, and I thought maybe this was all a dream. Or maybe I was still drowning or something. I shook my head and then propped myself up, pulling myself into a sitting position. I felt momentarily dizzy, but it passed.

“What do we have? We don’t have anything except the clothes on our backs!” And I realized in that moment, even those weren’t looking so good. My shirt had been torn in the struggle to free myself from Mickey, and Sarah’s was lined with black where the ropes of the harness I had made her had been.

“What you have isn’t something you can hold in your hand or touch. What you have is much more intangible.”

Sarah looked at me. “What does that mean? Intangible?”

But I ignored her question, wanting to understand myself.

“We are just a brother and sister trying to get back home.”

“Yes. That’s true,” the mermaid agreed. “But you are here in this world because the sea witch needed something that you have. And so, the fact that she wants you means you can bring her to us. To King Triton. For she must face punishment for her crimes.”

And while I still didn’t fully understand, it was enough to see. The mermaids were no different than Captain Hook. No different than Mickey. No different than Ursula herself. They all wanted something from us, not caring at all about what we wanted. Mickey didn’t care about us, only that we would help to save his own life from the Captain. I didn’t know what Ursula wanted with Sarah, but not the mermaids only saved me…us…so that we could help them capture Ursula.

“What do we get out of it?” I said. “For helping you.”

There was a moment of hesitation, and then, “Is it not enough that we saved your life?”

“Well. No. Not really. I mean, you did that without asking. But now you want us to help you? And so I want something in exchange.”

A moment later, erupting from the water, the mermaid rose up, her gaze meeting mine with anger. The tone of her voice changed as she spoke with rage. “You will do what we need of you, or we shall destroy you and your sister!”

Sarah gasped, clutching onto my wrist.

But I wasn’t going to have it. Over and over, we had been threatened. And it was getting us nowhere. Not any longer. This had been going on long enough. I sat up straighter, leaning in to meet her gaze with even more ferocity.

“Oh, really? But you just said we had something important to you. We had a way to get to Ursula. You destroy us, and then what?”

The mermaid paused, then backed down slightly, her expression still sharp, but not quite so threatening.

“So, I’ll ask it again. What do we get out of helping you?”

“What is it that you want?”

“I want you to help us get back home. If we bring Ursula to Triton, we want to go back home.”

Then, the mermaid slipped back under the water. At first I thought she was just going to leave us there, making us fend for ourselves to find a way to our parents. But then, the voice returned in my head, once again tender and musical. “We agree. But only if you give us Ursula.”

And so, without knowing how it would even be possible, I had made our agreement.

Jump to chapter 13.

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Ok I’ve been reading this for 12 chapters so far and I have decided you need to send this to Disney so they can turn this into a movie or a video game (reminds me of Kingdom Hearts)

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Thank you for your kind words. :slight_smile:

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But what happens next?

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Sorry for the hiatus. I’ve been extremely busy with things revolving around my parents upcoming move. I’ll try to get more written soon!