The Mermaid-Cursed Pirate

Chapter 8

Recap:

She turns to him with arms full of texts. Her expression serious, "We may not find anything useful, but these will have to be a start, Killian."

His mouth curled into a genuine smile as he crossed the room and took the books from her, "Then have some faith, lass. We will find a way."

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After several hours of searching, the captain reclined, sighing to himself. Meanwhile, the mermaid continues to read at full speed.

"Take a break, lass. You'll run out of steam if you keep going at this pace!" he persuaded the girl. Well, he attempted to persuade her, Sirena kept reading the book she held, not hearing his words. "Lass... Lass... Sirena!" he shouted, annoyed.

She jumped at the sound, "Sorry. But I can't stop. You can stop if you want, but I can't."

"Why not? We can get some food, maybe have a little rum. You look like you could use something to take the edge off," he suggests, raising an eyebrow as he leans toward her.

She pauses for a minute, considering his offer. "I suppose it would be a good idea to eat something. I probably would feel better after the brain break." Hook smiles and stands, offering a hand to her, then pulling her up when she accepts. They walk to the door, then she blurts, "But no rum!"

He freezes in the doorway. "Fine, lass. More for me!" He continues walking out the door with her following behind, a smirk on her face as she shakes her head.

The pair was so absorbed in their little quest for sustenance, that they forgot about the crew on board. They also forgot the fact that the crew didn't know that Sirena was allowed on the ship by the captain. In a flash, a pirate with a glass eye snuck up behind the girl and wraps his arms her around the waist, lifting her off the ground.

"What have we here? A stowaway?" he bellows, his tone hostile.

"Put her down this instance, Rowland!" Hook screams. The man in question obliged his captain. "I suppose I owe you all an explanation. This is Sirena. She is a mermaid."

"Then where's her tail? Mermaids have tails, don't they?" a crew member asks from the lower deck.

"I have legs on lad, you bilge rat!" Sirena answers him, the captain grabbing her arm and pulling her away from the angry men.

"Now, now, lass," he murmurs to her. "That's not the way to make a good first impression. I'll handle the talking from here on." Hook clears his throat and turned to his crew, speaking in a louder voice, "It's a long and confusing story, so I'll spare you the details. Essentially, Sirena will be our guest for a while, a year or so. We have both were cursed on accident, and we are trying to find a cure." Seeing the men's anger grow towards the girl, he continued. "She is not the threat here and it will not harm me, but I am helping her because I am the one that put us in this mess. You are to treat her kindly, meaning no insults from any of you," he looks pointedly at the mermaid. She nods instead of replying, looking very unhappy with that rule. "Everyone, back to your posts!"

Hook takes hold of her hand and leads her to the mess hall. "Sorry about that, I'm sick of that question every time I tell people what I am."

"You didn't react that way when I asked," he replies with a smirk.

"It's the bond. It keeps us from harming each other, which means less temper and less sass. Well, not that much of a difference in sass for me," she says, returning his smirk. "Now, captain, when are we going to eat?"

They stop at the door to the galley. "Right now," he answers as he pushes it open and steps in. Sirena was instantly overpowered by the smell of sweaty men, rum, and something else she'd prefer not to identify. "Welcome to the best restaurant Neverland has to offer, princess!"

"I'm a mermaid, not a princess," she retorts, crossing her arms as she follows the man.

"Really? My bad," he returns with a mischievous smile. "Cook! What's on the menu today?"

"Fish," was the only reply they got from the man behind the counter. He slapped some fried fish on a couple plates, along with some beans and a couple hard biscuits.

The captain took their plates while Sirena tried to hide the disgusted look on her face. "Thanks, Cook, a pleasure as always!" He turned to the girl, handing her one of the plates, "Your food, milady."

Sirena said nothing as she took the plate, looking at the other men with an uneasy gaze. Once she snapped out of it, she gave him a small smile as she replies, "Thank you, captain. Now, where to?"

"Right this way," he led her to the edge of a table on the side of the room with the door, one of the few empty seats. "I'm going to get a drink. Want any?" he asks with a raised eyebrow, daring her to say no.

"As long as it's not rum, sure," she returns with an equally daring smile.

"You gotta let yourself have fun every once in a while, lass!" he shouted as he walked away.

She started to eat her food while she waited, trying to avoid the stares of the curious crew members. "Can I help you, gentlemen?" she finally sighs, annoyed.

The men exchange glances, then one pipes up, "We were just wondering what the capn' did to curse ye an' 'im. If that's even true." All the men turn to hear her reply.

"As the captain said, it's a long story. If you want to know, you'll have to ask him yourself," she deadpans, trying to avoid a fight. If the men knew it was really her fault, they'd throw her overboard. Not like that would hurt her, but it would royally piss her off.

"We're askin' you, though! You best give us an answer, wench!" yells another man, grabbing her arm roughly.

"That's it!" she screamed in anger. She pushes him off her and waves her hands, removing her skirt and revealing a pair of breeches that flip down and button themselves at her ankles. Then she stretches out a hand and a sword from one of the men flies into her hand. "You best leave me alone if you know what's good for you," she says with pure malice in her eyes, ready to knock these men down a peg.