I woke up to William shaking my hammock furiously. I frowned at him, but he was grinning, “Is it true?” He asked.

“Is what true?” I mumbled, pulling my thin blanket up.

“That you hooked up with the captain?”

I stared at him in horror, “Hooked up? Who do you think I am?”

“Okay, sorry. Did you kiss her?”

“Maybe.”

“Really??” Leo demanded, lifting his head from his hammock.

“I heard Colten and Henry talking as they walked past the room.” William said, “Henry was laughing and said that the captain’s going to steal your crown eventually and rule the kingdom.”

“I doubt it.” I muttered.

“Anyway, Tanner stormed in here yelling at us that we’ll be at the Forgotten Isle in an hour or so, so we have to figure out our boarding situation.”

“Boarding situation?” I asked.

“Yeah. Because the Forgotten Isle is where they live, plus they want to get rid of Cedrick, so we’re staying for a few weeks.”

“A few weeks!?” Philip demanded from his hammock, “I thought we were only staying for a few days.”

William ignored him and continued, “Tanner says him and Lydia share a house, but usually Lydia goes over to Elizabeth, who lives with Scarlett and Kat, and stays there when she gets bored of him. Serah and Henry also both have their own homes apparently. Henry says his is pretty big because his dad died a while ago and since he was his only child, he left Henry the house. So Henry’s basically got a mansion.” He was talking very quickly and I had to take a second to process everything that he had said.

The door suddenly flew open and Amber stood in the doorway. Then I noticed that we were the only ones still belowdecks, so it wasn’t weird in any way for Amber to stalk in like that.

“The girls decided we’re going to go stay at Serah’s.” She announced as Kate and Rachel appeared behind her, “That leaves space for you guys at either Tanner or Henry’s house.”

“Wait.” I said suddenly, “Where does Colt live?”

“At Henry’s.” William replied.

“How do you guys know all this?” I demanded.

Amber grinned, “While you were asleep, we talked with Lydia. You slept for forever by the way.”

“I don’t think you remember, but I usually stay up all night with the captain working me to death.”

“At least you get to work and train when it’s cool. We have to do it in the middle of the afternoon.” Leo grumbled.

“That’s true.” I replied, “I think we should stay with Henry because he lives in a mansion.”

“And Tanner will probably kill us all in our sleep.” Robin added.

Amber shrugged, “Rachel’s afraid that the captain will lock us in a basement and starve us.”

“She will!” Rachel protested, “She’s scary.”

“I feel like Elizabeth would do that just for the fun of it.” Kate said, shrugging, “And the captain loves me by the way, just in case you forgot. I’m like, her favorite.”

“Wrong!” Came a sudden shout from in the hallway somewhere as I finally pulled myself to my feet, “Lydia is obviously her favorite.” It was Lydia talking.

“Why do you talk about yourself like that?” Kate asked, laughing as we all filed out of our room. Lydia and Tanner were heading in our direction, their arms full of different supplies, Lydia carried long swords in her arms and Tanner balanced a bunch of bows in his arms.

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“Just know,” Lydia said, “the captain doesn’t like it when you eat her sweets, or any of her food for that manner.” She laughed, “And definitely don’t touch her alcohol collection.”

“She has an alcohol collection?” Rachel asked.

Lydia nodded, grinning, “Come on then! We only have a few minutes!”

When we scrambled above deck, the Forgotten Isle was in view. It was a large island, spotted with large and small houses. Directly in front of us was a large shipping port, where other large ships loomed.

“Remember,” Henry said as he approached us, “You’re not royalty on this island. You’re just a few innocent people who washed up against our ship as we were coming home and you’re good use to us, so we’re keeping you.”

“Aren’t we that, in anyway?” Leo asked.

“Yes. But forget the royalty part. If anyone on this island finds out you’re royalty, your lives are over.”

“I’ll be sure to yell that out as soon as we set foot on that island.” Cedrick said smugly.

“Then we’ll be sure to sell you to a cruel and heartless master, we know a few. And then Elizabeth will spread rumors around town about how you are a madman.” Lydia replied cheerfully.

“Why Elizabeth? Why not you? Like, why Elizabeth specifically?” Amber asked.

“Because everyone thinks that Elizabeth is the innocent one, so they all listen to her.” Lydia replied.

Elizabeth jumped down from the rigging, grinning at us, “Yeah but, you have to admit Lydia. Neither one of us is innocent. If anyone was to be the most innocent on this ship, it would be Henry and that’s just because he grew up in a rich household and happens to have better manners than the rest of us.”

Henry shrugged, “I mean, Serah has pretty good manners too.”

“When have you ever seen me practice my good manners?” Serah demanded, appearing at his shoulder.

“Just in general!” He protested, laughing.

All the pirates seemed lighthearted as we approached their hometown. Neither Serah nor I glanced at each other on our way to the island. It was as if last night had never happened.

* * *

When we reached port, I was surprised to see the town was actually very busy. Crowds of people swept through the market. Pirates and sailors alike were unloading goods from their ships and small children ran around the streets, laughing and playing. It didn’t seem like the main port for pirates.

We helped the pirates attach the ship to the port with long ropes and then we climbed off.

We set our plan into action: The boys would go live with Henry, while Tanner and Serah took Cedrick to the traders, and would then get rid of him. Tanner would then come to live with the us and Henry. The girls would go live with Serah, but stayed with us until Serah came to get them that night.

We followed Henry through the streets of the Forgotten Isle to his home. Homes were built upon one another, stacked high almost like building blocks. Everyone scrambled out of our way as we walked through the street. I wondered if seeing new people freaked them out, or if these pirate friends of ours had a reputation on this island.

Suddenly, when the captain, Cedrick and Tanner were about to split from us, a yell echoed through the streets. Everyone around us froze and looked around, trying to see where the yell had come from. Then everyone slowly moved away from us, creating a circle of emptiness in the street where we stood together. Out of the crowd, a woman stepped. She was a dark, tall and beautiful. A cutlass hung by her side and her long, dark brown hair was pulled into tiny braids on her head. She wore an elaborate captain’s hat, decorated with feathers and shells. I recognized her from my dream instantly: Uthera. She smirked at our reactions before stepping towards our captain threateningly.

Compared to Uthera, Serah looked much smaller. She was shorter than Uthera, and even though they were both beautiful, they were very different. Serah was fair-headed and had a sort of icy, ruthless beauty to her. She was like a wild mustang, crazy and fearless, but beautiful in her recklessness.

Uthera had the type of model queen look. She didn’t look like she liked to get her hands dirty, but from what I’d heard, she got them dirty quite often. She was the girl who would lay in the sun on a beach while everyone else was swimming and getting wet. Her eyes were deep and enchanting. But she reminded me too much of those stories my father had told me: about the cold and ruthless pirates and about the sirens, who would lure one into their charms and then kill you. I decided I would stay away from Uthera.

“Where are you running off to Serafina?” Uthera asked.

“Just came back into port.” The captain said calmly, “Heading home right now. Why? Are you following us?”

“Just wondering who these new people are. You now, Serah, we don’t accept newcomers that easily.” Uthera smirked again.

“I am not a fool. I know very well the habits of this town and her inhabitants.” Serah replied coldly, not appreciating Uthera’s use of her nickname.

“Good. Then you know they must go through inspection?” Uthera asked innocently.

“No they mustn’t.” Serah replied, “That isn’t a rule.”

“It is now.” Uthera said, “They look just slightly soft for me. Not really like anyone on this island, hmm?”

It was true what she said. We didn’t fit in at all. The men around us were all buff, strong and heavily built, like Henry. The women’s hands were calloused from hard work and tough.

“You don’t make the rules on this island, Uthera. They’re merely a load of fish bait that we picked up on our way home. No use to you.” Serah’s voice had turned cold.

“Sometimes…” Uthera mused, “Sometimes fish bait can be worth…quite…a lot…”

Serah snarled, “Whether they’re worth something or not, they’re mine.”

Next to me, Amber grunted silently, her meaning was clear: We don’t belong to anyone.

But Lydia sharply nudged Amber and we all knew what she meant: The captain was protecting us. Keeping us away from Uthera. Sure, we were royals. And yes, we had caused a bit of trouble so far, but she wouldn’t leave us. None of them would.