1 1/2 Years Later…..

Kaden’s POV:

I was talking with Cutler Smith, he was the navigator for the Shark’s Fin, Sophia’s ship. We were sitting on the benches on the deck when Finn Anderson hollered to us from the crow’s nest.

“ Sail,ho! “ I looked portside and recognized the flag whipping in the wind, my blood turned to ice. It was my dad, my legs started shaking and I felt like I couldn't move. Sophia and Isabella were walking shoulder to shoulder over to the starboard side and I could see many figures on the deck. None of them looked like the dad I remembered from 5 years ago. The whole crew was assembled on the deck, all 25 of us. a tall man approached the rail,

“ Ahoy, my name is Alek James, I'm looking for my younger brother, a boy named Kaden. Do you know him?” I bit my tongue, I felt bile rise up to my mouth. Sophia gave me a fleeting gaze, I shook my head, no don’t tell him.

“ Our dad is sick, it’s a life threatening disease, were not sure if he’s going to make it. Do you know Kaden? It's very important.” I elbowed past everyone to the front, standing by Sophia.

“ My name is Kaden, why’s dad want to see me now. I don't remember him wanting me when I was 6.” I said defensively, Alek looked hurt, why? I don't remember him stopping dad from tossing me on Benno’s ship.

“He’s sorry for that, please Kaden, its important.”  he pleaded

“ Give me a few minutes” I said, he obliged, I stepped back to talk with Sophia.

“ I want to go, my dad didn't want me but..” I shrugged “his family”

“ Kaden…” Sophia trailed off “I'm giving you permission, but I don’t know about Isabella.” she said, I smiled ruefully, walking over to Isabella, I took a deep breath.

“ Is, I'm going, I need to see my dad again. I don't care if he didn't want me as a kid, he’s family.” she looked like she was going to cry, but then she nodded.

“I understand Kade, I just..” she cut herself of and threw her arms around me,

“I'm going to miss you” I whispered into her ear

“I'll miss you” she said, I pulled away to go say by to my friends. I hugged Cutler, Finn, William, Peter, Annie and Teegan.I was going to miss them

“Sophia” I said, shook her hand “Godspeed”

“And to you” she said, I walked over to the railing and my older brother helped me over onto his ship.

“Where we going?” I asked

“Farm in Northern Ireland”

“Isn't that right by the queen’s place, aren't we just, what's the saying; walking right into the lion's mouth, or something”

“That’s a risk we’ll have to take, Greg Turnbull might the only guy with land who trusts us in the whole world.” Alek said grimly, oh right, because apparently the James family are a bunch of bloodthirsty cannibals.

“How you been?” he asked

“Alright, considering i've been on my own since age 6” I said accusingly, I mean he did leave me on my own, I'm allowed to make Alek feel guilty.

“ Sorry bout that bro, I was to scared to say something” I looked at my shoes, okay, so maybe I shouldn't be that hard on him.  Maybe, he really had cared, and I was hurting him.

“It’s okay, the past is the past what matters right now is the future.”

“Your right, let's go down below”

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Isabella’s Pov:

I still can’t believe Kaden’s gone, it's only been a few weeks, but still. It feels so much longer. Sophia says the next soldier ship we see, were raiding. I'm usually excited for them but I'm still worried about Kaden.

As I stat to head below decks to my cabin, I hear Finn’s boyish voice holler from the crow’s nest.

“Sail, ho!” he says, indicating a ship was in view. We prepared for battle. They were british soldiers, usually carrying gold, food, medicine and other essentials. Also, it was usually an easy battle. Swinging across to their ship, I felt adrenaline take over my body, in battle it felt amazing. I was lighting quick, and vicious. No One could kill me. I took down soldier after soldier, beside me, I could see Cutler Smith dueling a tall buff soldier. He missed Kaden too, though there was a 2 year age gap between the two, they'd become great friends, and Kaden being gone, well it was getting to him. I focussed on the man I was dueling, outsmarting him  would be my only opinion as he was a good swordsman, he was strong and quick. No way could I beat him on skills alone. I feinted to the right, ducked through his legs and slashed at his head, but he was too quick, he easily blocked my swing. And countered that with one of his own, right away I knew I couldn't block it, and it was going ring right into my heart, I prepared myself to die. When a blur of purple jumped in front of me and blocked his thrust, Sophia. I screamed in horror, sobbing I fell to my knees, someone grabbed my arm. Cutler Smith.

“Get up!” he said “we're still fighting” I tried to stop the tears but it just wouldn't work

“Tell Finn…” I made a sign with my hand, his eyes widened, “We can't beat him” I said, gesturing to the tall man, he had just killed Paul Jackson and was currently dueling Julia Feingold.

“Your right” he admitted, grimacing he ran off to find finn and I got up. I heard the whistle blow and everyone started running for our ship. I'd called for a retreat. When we finally got away, I could see that we’d lost more than I'd thought. At least 6 of our crew were dead, and from the way William was working, a ton more were injured. This was not good.

Alek’s Pov:

My younger brother had grown up. He was mature for his age, he understood about sacrifice, hard work and all the other things a normal 11 year old wouldn't know at this time. I felt sorry for him, dad had made the decision to leave him when I was 7, I hadn't really understood what was going on then. When he didn't come back, I had asked my dad where he’d whent and he said he was gone, forever. Just like that. My dad wasn’t the person everyone imagined, the evil, bloodthirsty, vicious pirate who’d kill anyone. But, he wasn't the world's greatest dad, he couldn't have empathy for anyone, he couldn't understand what other people were thinking, what they were feeling. Now, my dad was sick, he might not survive, and for some reason, he wanted the son he’d abandoned 5 years to see him. I couldn't understand it, if he hadn't wanted back then why now. I honoured y dads wishes so on their ship, I'd lied to Kaden about dad. He hasn't said any of that, not even that he was sorry. I regretted some of the decisions I'd made in the past. Everyone did, but, I wasn't sure if anyone had as much regrets as me. I was more of a follower than a leader, and sometimes, I followed with no questions asked. And even though I knew that, I still did it. Weeks passed and slowly, we made our way to Northern Ireland. Almost a month after we had left, I heard the words I had anticipated most.

“Sir, we are 10km off Turnbull's farm” said Joshua Young, my second mate

“Got it” I said “send me Kaden”

a little while later, Kaden stood beside me on deck,

“So,” he said “how much longer do we have to ride on this so called “Sea Devil” he said, I elbowed him and he grinned “sorry”

“S’okay” I said

Later, when we disembarked the ship we were laughing as if we lived together our whole lives, but we hadn’t. We entered John Turnbull’s home and headed to the back room. Before entering, I locked eyes with Kaden,

    “You ready?” I asked, he took a deep breath

    “As ready as i'll ever be” he said

Lying on the bed on the far corner of the room was the famed pirate Theo James. He was weak and pale, unable to move. Not threatening at all. Those legend tellers and rumor spreaders would be in shock. Those thoughts of him being murderous, bloodthirsty, vicious, unmerciful and evil would disappear, with this vision. I doubt you’d think he could hurt a fly, and with his sickness, he probably couldn't.

Kaden was pale as a sheet, his mouth was half open and his eyes were filling with tears.

    “Dad?” he whispered “is that you?” he seemed confused, like he couldn't comprehend this man was his father. Dad sat up, well tried to at least.

    “Kaden?” he said “Hey bud” he said, his face lighting up with a grin, this action got the unwanted result. Kaden’s sad face turned to repulsed, he backed away scowling

    “You” he said filthily, “why’d you want me to come back, huh? So you could laugh and joke about how worthless I am, eh? You don't know how it was all those years, no one wanting me cause I was your son and you not wanting me either. And then, when I finally make a friend, you call sending me to come and visit you while you lie on your “deathbed”” he made air quotes “yeah right, don't try and contact me again, I'm done” he said before storming out.

    “Gee” I said “that didn't work out to well did it Dad” I said, he gave me a death glare

    “No Alek, it sure didn't” his voice dripping with sarcasm, I turned and left. I didn't want to hear any more.

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Kaden Pov:

My fists curled in anger, I ran out of the room, faintly, I could hear Alek saying something to dad, hopefully, it wasnt something nice. I was so angry, all my life, id never fit in anywhere because of my dad. And the whole time he'd never wanted me. When alek showed up asking for me, I came just so I could yell at my dad. I boarded Alek’s ship once again and hurried into the quarters i’d been staying in these past few days. I was sobbing on the bed when Alek entered.

“Hey” Alek said kindly

“ Just go away” I said

“Bro” Alek said “I'm just trying to help”

“Go away” I said firmly “I don't need your help” he sighed and left, but not before tossing me something, I had no idea what it was but didn't touch until Alek had left. When I sat up, I saw he had tossed me a bundle of clothes. Brown pants, black boots, a white shirt, brown vest, a blue and red scarf and an eye patch. I put it on and tied the scarf around my waist, I saw, with disgust that the eye patch had the pirate king symbol on it. I shoved it in my pocket. When I got on deck, I saw with horror that we were surrounded by three ships full of british soldiers. I inwardly groaned, I knew that Queen Kayleah would get us as soon as she knew we were in the area. When I spotted Alek I ran up to him.

“So, how we gonna get out of this one?” I asked

“We’re not” He sighed “they want dad, but we don't have him. Apparently if we give the “Mr. James” we get to all go free”

“But Mr. James means dad” I said

“Yes” I thought for a while “we have about 5 more minutes” Alek said, as if that had just crossed his mind that that was important.

“I got it” I said suddenly

“What?” Alek asked eagerly, but when I told him, his face changed “She'll never let you get away with that” he said “besides, I can't let you”

“Al, itl work, cause one, she didn't specify which Mr. James and two, if dad gets mad, you just tell him she asked for me. Trust me on this one, anyhow, if you don't let me, i'll just go anyways.” grudgingly he agreed, and then, all dressed up in my new clothes, with my eyepatch, I was marched over to the other ship (Called King Thunder) and watched as my brother stood helplessly on the Sea Devil. It wasn't till we had arrived on the shore that I realized that I probably wouldn't ever see Isabella again.

4 weeks later, Kaden has been transferred between many ships and has finally arrived at  Queen Hera secret dungeon for dangerous criminals.

Luke’s Pov:

Sitting on the cement of my cold cell, I wondered how much longer I would be stuck here for. Two years ago, when I was 13, I had tried to help Thalia escape from the castle. She was the queen’s daughter and my father was a duke, we saw each other often and soon, realized we didn't want the pampered life of royalty, just a normal life. Along with my best friends, Colin and Teddy, we ran away, but, being four thirteen year olds who, their whole life had been looked after by servants. Were easily caught by a squad of ordinary guards. Colin, Teddy and I were stuck in the dungeon, and Thalia, well she had four guards looking after her every minute of the day. Although she visited me, we had no idea how to escape. Suddenly, I heard a commotion in the far end of the cell block. Colin jumped up and pressed his face to the door of his cell as well. Two guards were struggling to keep a small boy under control. He was dressed funny, unlike my clothes. He had black trousers that were tucked into knee high boots, his white shirt had a dark blue vest over top and a scarf type thing was around his waist. He was young, about 11 or 12 and had the look of a street kid, but when I looked at his face, I realized what he was. a pirate. His left eye was covered by an eye patch, and when I looked closer, I saw it bore the mark of the pirate king. I stared at him, and when he met my eyes, I didn't see a young boy, I saw the face of someone who had faced terrible things. The lead guard took out is ring of keys and unlocked my cell door, my heart leaped, maybe, I would be let out. But instead, they shoved the pirate boy into my cell. He collapsed on the ground, groaning in pain. When the guards left the boy dragged himself to his feet, I saw that his ankle was at a weird angle, he had probably broken it.    

    “Are you okay?”I asked anxiously “My name’s Luke”

    “ I'm good” he said “My name’s Kaden James” I gasped

    “ Your dad’s the..”

    “Pirate king yes” Kaden interrupted  “evil, bloodthirsty, terrible blah, blah, blah, I know. I'm not like my dad, I assure you.”

“ Sorry” I said, inwardly wincing, I always spoke before I thought

“S’okay” said Kaden “what is this place anyhow?”

“ It's the Queen’s personal dungeon, dangerous criminals come here.” Kaden snorted

“ How are you a dangerous criminal?” he asked

“ Uh, it's kinda embarrassing” I said, not wanting to tell him. Kaden gave me a pointed look

“Okay fine” I said “ I'm in love with the Queen's daughter Thalia” Kaden’s eyes widened

“ And, uhh, I tried to run away with her”

“Geez Luke, that’s..”

“I know right” I said shamefully, I guess that Kaden noticed that because he limped over to where I was standing and put his skinny arm around me.”

“ It's nothing to be embarrassed of, my story’s worse” he walked me over to the bed and as he wrapped his ankle with his scarf thing he started talking.

“ When I  was born, my older brother was 7, my dad trained us both. We learned how to swordfight, how to sail, everything a pirate would need to know. But when I was 6, I was tossed upon Benno Anderson’s ship, it was scary, alone on that ship. No one liked me, they had all heard the terrifying tales of my dad. Every night, i’d lie awake and listen to the water splash against the hull. I wondered, when I would get back to my dad. 3 years later, I changed ships to Jon Green’s, the same thing, no one wanted me.  I spent nights crying, one day, soldiers took our ship and I got stuck with Octavian Boylov, a capitan in the queen’s navy. That ship was captured by a crew of pirates and I joined them. They were different.” Kaden paused “ the thing was, the captain was a woman and no one wanted to join them. They accepted anyone, even me. a year later, my brother shows up out of the blue and says that dad’s dying and he wants me to see him” he looked at the floor, like he regretted the decision he made

“But why?” I asked “he didn't want you before, then why….” my voice trailed off

“ I'm not sure, at that moment, I felt confused, I mean, I wanted to stay with my new friends, but at the same time..”

“He is your dad”

“Exactly, although I wasn't sure it was the right decision at the time, I went with my brother.” Kaden sighed “I wish I hadn't”

“ Kaden, I don’t know why God choose your life to mess up, but you made the decisions you did. You got to live with it, I know its hard, but together, we can get through.” he raised his eyes to mine and smiled

Isabella’s Pov:

Being captain of a ship is hard work. Especially when your a 15 year old girl from Spain. Especially when your older sister died 3 weeks ago. Especially when your best friend (and only friend) left you 2 months ago. Especially when your name is Isabella Cabrera. Especially when you're me.   

Because that's what happened, i’m the captain of the Shark’s Fin, for now. At the moment, i’m relaxing below decks with several other mourning sailors getting drunk on homemade rum. William Solace, Teegan Jackson, Cutler Smith, Harold Jones and I are all gulping back cups and cups of the stuff. In the last raid, we’d all lost people close to us, and although we were supposed to be working. We don’t want to. So instead, we spent the last few hours doing what we're doing right now.  

    In the morning, all of us were puking our guts up when we ran into some trouble, our helmsman was currently hungover. So Finn Anderson had took over, unfortunately,  he wasn't the best at it. He’d accidentally run us in to some rocks and now there was a leak in the hull. Slowly, we were sinking, luckily, there was a small island near and Finn managed to get us there. We stayed the night there and in the morning, Teegan and Finn fixed up the hole while Harold and his friends went out hunting. William continued helping around where he could and me and Cutler puzzled over maps and tried to figure out our location. Finding Kaden would be hopeless if we didn't know where we were, let alone where he was. The five of us had almost gotten over the loss of our friends. That night, to make us feel better I guessed. Several crewmates built a huge bonfire and took turns tossing sacs full of alcohol on the flames. It was hilarious. Before the flames died out completely, we sang shanties and fenced with flaming swords. I only wished Kaden was there.

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Kaden’s Pov:

Dungeons are cold. If there’s one thing i’m gonna remember about my experience in one, is that they are cold. I woke up on the cot in the prison cell I shared with Luke. over the weeks, or months that we’d shared together we’d become great friends. Together, along with the two boys in the cell next to us Colin and Teddy, we’d been trying to come up with an escape plan. Currently, I was explaining my newest idea to the boys.

“First, we need to get Thalia to visit us, then, she can get us some berries. We can use them to make a type of paste. With that, we can pretend we have the plague and then they'll put us in quarantine.once were there, we'll find a way out and we can hightail it to the shipyard. Steal a ship and then we can leave this godforsaken place.” please like it, I prayed under my breath. They had rejected every single one of my ideas so far. I could see them thinking, I wasn't sure if they liked it yet, but I really hoped they did. Luke nodded

“I like it” he said “ when do we start?”

“ Colin, Teddy?” I asked

“Good enough for me” Colin stated

“Me too” Teddy replied

The next day, when Thalia visited Luke, we handed her a note written in blood on a piece of the thin sheet we had. She left quickly with it tucked in her dress,we were helpless until she got us the berries, it all depended on Thalia….

Isabella’s pov

Several days later, we were sailing along when Alek James’ ship appeared on the horizon.  When he approached the side he had a grim look on his face and I could tell something was wrong. I stepped forward and addressed him solemnly.

    “ Mr. James” I began “how nice to see you again, how is it going?”

    “Not well I fear” his voice cracked, and then I noticed something

    “Where’s Kaden” I demanded

    “ Well” Alek sighed and kicked at the ground “he’s gone” he said finally, looking at the ground, there was a loud intake of breath from my crew

    “What the hell do you mean he’s gone?” I felt my eyes filling with tears

    “ The queen’s got him” Alek said “When we were coming back, we were surrounded and then,” he choked back a sob “:they took him” Alek half whispered “we were getting along so well..” he turned and walked away, but before he was out of sight. He turned around and tossed me a sack, then he was gone. I opened the bag and found a folded map. When I opened it, I found it was marked with several things including the prison for regular criminals, Greg Turnbull's farm, the last place Alek saw Kaden, the palace and one more that was unnamed. I gasped in shock, this was everything we needed to find Kaden. The only problem was, we were about five weeks of sailing away from any of those places.

The first spark of hope i’d had was gone as fast as it had appeared. I was sitting in my cabin soon after when William, Cutler and Teegan knocked on my door.

“ What was in that bag” Cutler asked

“Does it matter?” I sighed, I was exhausted and did not want to go through another one of their lengthy investigations.

    “Yes” Teegan said, she was very direct, with everything. I tossed it to her,

    “Take it, look, whatever you want, just give it back.” I sighed, they left, but for some reason I wanted them to come back. Maybe, I just wanted company, I couldn't be sure, I just hoped, that Kaden was okay. Wherever he was…

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Thalia’s Pov:

I was worried, yesterday, Luke gave me a note written on a sheet in something that looked like blood. It was disgusting. Apparently, the little boy, Kaden something, had thought up this insane plan for them to escape. It contained many complicated parts and was full of what if’s among other things. I had a huge role in it as well, I had to acquire some red berries so they could make a paste. They were going to pretend they had the plague, and escape from quarantine, which I thought was ridiculous. How they would do that, I had no clue. The good thing was, they were going to take me with them so I could be with Luke. Currently, I was in the kitchen, and Marie, the cook was fetching the berries. Tomorrow I would bring them to the prison, and at 11pm, we would be out of here. Hopefully. We couldn't be sure that the fact they had the “plague” would be discovered in time for them to ensure their escape. When I got the berries, I stuffed them in my bodice and headed to my lessons with my younger brother, Jason and my cousins Nicolas and Beatrice. Mr. Veltom was not happy with my late arrival, and took it out on everyone in arithmetic. That night, I didn't sleep well, I tossed and turned the entire night and finally gave up on sleep, and headed to the prison. It was a long walk and I was freezing, but I made it. When I got inside, the guards questioned me, but I easily evaded them with a bribe. I arrived at their cell and passed the berries through the bars, to my disappointment, Luke was asleep and it was Kaden who greeted me.

“Thalia” he said

“Kaden” I said

“Thank you” He said, but then met my eyes and I was shocked, in his eyes, I didn't see the innocence that was normal for a child of that age. I saw pain of someone who had seen horrors that no one should see. It was as though he had been broken down over and over but had finally risen up past it. I nodded, and turned to leave.

“Remember, 11pm, tomorrow, find your way outside to the gates” Kaden said

“Got it” I said “Goodbye”

“Good luck” he said, at the moment, I wasn't really sure if I liked him or not, if I trusted him. All I knew was that he was my ticket out of here, even though he was little, he was clever. Well, I hoped, if not, our plan was doomed, and I was stuck in the castle for the rest of my life. When I got back to my room, I layed down until I fell asleep. The only thing I could do was hope.

Kaden’s POV:

I hadn’t slept at all last night, me and Luke had been taking turns crushing those berries, and when we finally finished, we had to find a way to make it look like the plague, and guide Colin and Teddy through the process. In the end, it had taken us till 3am and we were covered in spots that looked slightly believable. Personally, I had never come into contact with the plague, Colin and Teddy said an outbreak had started in their town when they were very young, they had moved away, but thought we could pass. Luke wasn’t sure, but it was our only chance. When the guards made their morning rounds, we pretended to be asleep and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing when one of them cried out, his voice was weirdly high, and it was hilarious. I heard some scrambling around and a key in the lock.

“Yes!” I whispered, it had worked. I was shook “awake” by a burly guard and I could see Luke receiving the same treatment

“Get up lil’ runt, yer sick” the man huffed

“Wha?” I played dumb as they chained my hands together, we were matched to a tall building about 3 miles of. It was 2 floors so I could probably jump from the window no matter where they put us. That was good, already, I was forming an escape plan. When they locked us in our room, it was all white, with around 30 beds on each side, it was gigantic! I shrugged and layed down on the first one, my eyes closed, plotting.

“Kaden” Luke’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts “We need to get out of here, do you have ideas? Come on man, were depending on you for this!”

“ Okay” I said, annoyed “Relax, we need to get as many sheets as possible, but make sure the nurses don’t notice” I said

“Nurses?” Teddy said, confused “I don’t see any nurses around”

“Trust me” I said “you will”  he seemed to accept that, so I let it go.

We were busy stripping the second sheet of our beds and the first off all the others. From what Colin said, this way they wouldn't notice. Finally, after about 5 hours, 4 nurse alerts and 60 beds that had lost their sheets, we were ready for the grand escape. With all the sheets tied together, we had more than enough length of rope...ish to get us to the ground. The nurses were not nice, and one of them had almost discovered it was à trick! Thankfully, she had been called over to look at Teddy, who had pretended to faint. It was almost 11 and we were all super excited, we were finally getting out of here! We tied the sheet o à bedpost and tied the bed to several others so it would hold our weight. Luke went first, when he got to the ground, he called up to us, Colin went, and then Teddy. I had lowered myself out the window and had begun climbing down when a nurse came in, she had probably heard the noise we had made moving the beds around. I did the only thing I could think of,  I jumped. I landed badly, almost breaking my ankle again, Luke was beside me in a second.

“Kaden, what happened, why’d you jump?” he said

“Nurses” I gasped “They found out, we need to run” he nodded and we all took off, heading for the shipyard. There was à nightwatchman, but we easily evaded him, Thalia wanted à huge ship called Mary Brown, but I knew that à smaller ship was better for us.

“Over here” I called, spotting à small sailing ship on the far side, they were panting, completely wiped out. We all climbed aboard and left, The Lost, it was called, not à good name, but good enough for me. The only thing I wanted right now, was to find Isabella, she was my one true friend and I knew she missed me, I missed her too.

Isabella’s Pov:

I sighed and looked out at the ocean, this past year or so had been hectic, meeting Kaden, Him leaving, Sophia dying, Kaden captured, Stuck on the island. The list goes on forever, the two things I want most in life, that I’d give anything for, would be my sister and Kaden standing here beside me. Now, I know that having Sophia here would be impossible, having Kaden, unlikely, but I could hope. I wasn't the only one who felt that way, many of the crew were under 16 and had experienced many difficult things as well. It was about 2 am, but I couldn't sleep, Cutler and Taylor were up as well, Cutler still puzzling over maps and Taylor up in the crow’s nest. They were my best friends other than Kaden, and they missed him as well….

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw à ship through the mist, but I couldn't be sure. À ghost ship? Maybe, à long time ago, when I was à little girl, my father, Ivan, had told me stories about ghost ships and sailors lead astray. One I could clearly remember was The Bentos, à sailing ship that had sunk in the early 1900’s off the coast of Africa. Several weeks later, it was spotted by some locals, but it was never seen again. Then, in the 1940’s someone else spotted it, it looked like à wreck, torn sails, rotting wood, but the name was clearly visible. My father used to say that he had seen it before meeting my mom, back in 69’ but I never believed him. Sophia did, and he told her that he had seen the captain shouting orders on deck and members of the crew doing his bidding. I thought he was full of it, now, I wasn't so sure. I thought I saw it again, à small sailing ship, about half the size of The Shark’s Fin, with several people on deck. Deciding it was not à ghost ship, I climbed up the ratlines to see better, and chat with Taylor, but when I got there, she was asleep. Her brown hair in her face, leaning against the mast, I smiled. Grabbing the spyglass, I found the small ship, The Lost, it was called, there were 4 people on deck, milling around. To me, one of them looked kind of like Kaden, but I was probably just dreaming, it was late. One of them had spotted my ship, cause they moved towards us, I rushed down and grabbed Cutler’s arm, he looked startled.

“There’s à ship to portside,” I said, and his eyes lit up

“Do you want me to wake the rest of the crew?”  he asked

“Sure,” I said “Do it fast, and remember, Taylor’s up in the nest”

“Aye Aye Cap'n,” he said, stifling à laugh at my expression, I rolled my eyes. Boys, they could never be serious. Ever.

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Kaden’s Pov:

   “There it is again Luke” I called “ Starboard”

   “I see it” he yelled, we had spotted another ship, give or take 600 meters away. It was a Man of War, Spanish style. I was praying to god that it was Isabella, using the crappy spyglass that had come with this ship to try and find the name, but it was impossible from this angle, we were too far away. I called out to them, trying to get their attention, but I doubted it got to them until twenty or so people were on deck.

   “They've definitely seen us” Luke confirmed “I just don't know what they want, they seem to be gathering. Either they want to fight, or they want to talk.”

   “Let's hope the wanna talk,” Teddy said shivering

   “Yeah, no fights for me” Colin agreed, I braced that damn spyglass against the rail to steady it, and made out the second word; Shark’s, weird, I thought, Isabella’s ship was the Shark’s Fin. Could it be her’s? I hope so.

   As we drew closer, I spotted faces that looked faintly familiar, did I dare..? Nah. Luke called out to them, but they couldn't hear us, I could see their lips moving, saying something, shouting. What, I had no idea. All five of us were leaning against the rail, looking across to the other ship, Teddy holding à lamp so we could see. Thalia had her arm around Luke and I felt à twinge of jealousy, they had each other, why couldn't I have Isabella?

Isabella’s POV:

I squinted into the fog, the five people were all standing together by the rail, one of them holding a light. The ship was tiny, à sailing ship of some sort, the name was The Lost, but I didn't recognize that from anywhere.

“William!” I called, I didn't have the loudest voice, but William did. The ship was far enough away that if I yelled, they couldn't hear me, and I couldn't hear them. I was hoping that will would be able to scream loud enough so that they could hear. Come to think of it, we were actually getting further away, before, I would have said around 500m, now, it was close to a kilometre.

“Cap'n’?” William asked and I turned to him

“Do you think you can scream loud enough to communicate with them?” I asked. William gave me the weirdest look

“What?” he asked

“I said..” he interrupted

“Why don't we just row over there?” I hesitated, should I go with his plan, which was probably better, or mine?

“Spite or pride Isabella?” I asked myself

“Let's do that,” I said, William looked surprised, but he nodded. I bit my lip, was that the right decision? I would probably never know…

⚔  ⚓ ⚔  ⚓ ⚔ ⚓  ⚔ ⚓ ⚔ ⚓

Kaden’s Pov

Thoughts were racing through my head, my throat was closing up, I couldn't breathe. A few seconds ago, Colin had identified the ship we were slowly drifting away from; it was Isabella’s. I was in shock, I was scared and happy and angry. My emotions were running rampage, I could barely comprehend what was going on.

“Holy @*#$!” I said, grabbing the railing for support

“You okay?” Luke said, looking concerned,

“Fine” I gasped, I heard a shout,

“Look!” Teddy pointed, à small rowboat containing three people was heading for us. I recognized all three of them, William, Finn and Cutler.

“Hey” I called, they looked up, their expressions similar to mine a few minutes ago.

“Kaden?” Cutler said incredulously, Finn fell over, and we all burst out laughing.

   “Can I come over?” I said

   “Sure man!” William said “Hop in” then, stupidly, I climbed over the railing and jumped. Screaming the entire way, but, when I surfaced Luke was hurling himself over too! Thalia, Colin and Teddy followed soon after and the five of us swam over to the rowboat. When we reached the Shark's Finn, all that nervousness and confusion from earlier had returned. Although, when my feet hit the deck, I started crying, I hugged Isabella, and when I pulled back, everyone else was crying too.

   That moment was when I realized that, although my life wasn't perfect, I had made the best of it. And though I didn't know where I was going, I knew, I wouldn't be alone. I had the best friends anyone could ask for, new, and old. I, was the Prince of Pirates, and I was happy.

                                   THE END