The Value of a Crew

Chapter Eleven

The world seemed to freeze as everyone stared at the Cove where Mal's body had submerged.

"Mal!" Hadie exclaimed, being the first to break the silence, and ran to dive into water after his sister. Only the arms of his mother were enough to hold him back from jumping in. "Mom, let me go! Mal needs us!"

Persephone bit her lip, knowing that was true. However, she couldn't in good conscious let her son get involved. Especially since he was supposed to be at home and not here at the docks, thank you!

Thankfully, Ben had no parents to hold him back from jumping into the water to rescue his girlfriend. Tugging off his beanie, he handed it to Jay and handed the fake wand to someone before diving in after Mal. In the back of his mind, he thought he heard another splash but thought nothing of it. It was likely just Jay or Carlos, or even Lonnie jumping in after him.

His eyes widened as he saw it wasn't of the aforementioned friends or even Evie though Ben wasn't sure if Evie could swim. But instead, the King of Auradon found himself looking at the pirate who'd not five minutes ago had been holding Mal hostage.

Don't worry about that, he thought as he focused back on Mal. Thankfully, she was still struggling which meant she was still alive. The question Ben had in the back of his mind was how much longer she was going to be alive.

Granted, she was the daughter of a God and a Fae—though water generally didn't care about someone's genetic lineage.

What is he doing? Ben thought as out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hook take a dagger out of his boot. The question soon answered itself as the raven haired pirate began to saw away at the ropes binding Mal's feet together.

Right, that makes sense. Even if Mal can't swim, she can at least kick herself to the surface and then Jay can get her out of here, Ben thought to himself with a nod as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

He was the stronger swimmer of the two of them, and even if Mal could kick to the surface, she'd been under too long. Or at least, Ben wasn't exactly interesting in seeing if she could stay under for much longer.

A tap on his leg with the cold hook brought his attention back and Ben saw Hook nod once; the fragments of rope floating down to the bottom of the cove. Ben didn't need any other explanation than that. Mal's feet were free; it was time to get her out of there.

"For Gods' sake, Mal!" Hades exclaimed as they broke the surface, the God reaching out to pull Mal out of the Cove. Jay quickly rushed to Ben's side to help him out of the water while Uma did the same with her First Mate. "I thought I told you to stay away from the docks years ago?"

Mal didn't answer right away, but could only cough as Jay knelt down next to her to cut the binds around her hands.

"I didn't exactly have a choice this time," she said when she got a moment, glaring over at Hades before switching her glare over to Uma. "Thanks to certain squidlings."

Hades also turned to glare at Uma, Persephone rushing over to kneel by Mal as well to make sure she hadn't gotten injured. Estelle even joined the party, licking Mal's cheek to comfort her.

"Steph, I'm fine," Mal muttered.

"Uh huh," Persephone said, clearly not believing her step-daughter. "You've been 'fine' for six months Mali, it's okay to not be fine."

"Not on the Isle it's not."

"Well something tells me that you won't be on the Isle for long."

"You know, I actually thought that you would be the last person to hurt her," Hades' low voice brought both Mal and Persephone's attention back to the confrontation that was going on.