We Ride With the Tide

CHAPTER ONE - RISE OF THE ISLE OF THE LOST

Lizzie's POV

One hot June day not long after my tenth birthday I found myself with my best friends, Uma and Mal by the docks where we were engaging in a little mischief by pranking Hooks crew by making Tick-Tock noises to scare the pirate captain himself sniggering to ourselves from our hiding place when he he frantically searched for the sounds before my eyes found that of a ten year old boy following closely behind the pirate captain.

He had floppy brown hair that hung in his face shrouding his ocean blue eyes and couldn't help the smile and blush that crept up on my face at the sight, the boy's name was Harry and he was the son of Captain Hook and I mighta...sorta have a tiny crush on him since forever.

We continued to giggle as we watched yet another one of our pranks go off without a hitch as pirate after pirate tripped and fell over the slippery wooden planks which we had covered with near invisible slime being one of Mal's greater ideas to coat the decks with bilge and oily, murky scum.

"Here comes Cruella De Vil" Mal pointed out and we turned to see the telltale black-and-white bouffant rising from the crowd of pirates. "Let's get her!" she laughed mischievously making both Uma and I smirk in agreeance since Cruella was a nemesis of ours as one of the only citizens on the Isle who wasn't afraid of Maleficent, Ursula or my mother the Queen of Hearts and the Dalmatian obsessed lady never hesitated to pinch our ears when we tried to make her our victim which meant we were determined to get her back one of these days but to do it we'd have to be crafty about it.

"What's she doing here, anyway?" Uma asked as we watched Cruella sauntering down the docks with a ratty spotted fur coat on her shoulders, glaring at everyone she met.

"Goblin barge is arriving soon and she likes to have first dibs" I shrugged holding my breath as Cruella sashayed closer and closer to where we were hiding.

"She's always hoping someone's thrown away an old fur coat" Mal added before we all looked at each other, our eyes sparkling with mischief and Mal raced to pour another batch of the concoction in Cruella's path but the giant bucket was too heavy for just her.

"Hurry!" Uma pressed running to grab the buckets other handle.

"I've got it!" Mal demanded.

"Let me!" Uma tugged at it. "You did Gaston!"

"Come on guys, let's not fight" I cut in to stop their bickering but Mal chuckled clearly thinking about earlier when we watched the big man go bottoms-up on the dock and finally crashing over the railing with a loud splash, his sons slack jawed at the sight...it was satisfying but my attention went back seeing Uma and Mal still fighting over the bucket tugging it back and forth.

"Stop it, let go!" Mal demanded.

"You let go, your splashing it on me!" Uma whined back.

"Guys stop it!" I cut in reaching for the bucket but Uma wrenched it away and Mal lost her grip on the handle which overturned the pail and its contents onto the dock causing her fall on our own slippery puddle. "Mal!" I yelled as she skittered down the length of the deck flailing all the way to towards the edge.

"Help...help me!" Mal screamed as she attempted to grab the wooden rails while she sped towards the sea. "I can't swim!" she continued to scream but the irony that the mastermind had been caught in her own naughty little prank and the sight of our purple haired friend flailing like a flopping fish was actually hilarious and Uma and I couldn't help doubling over in laughter instead of running to help her...until we saw her disappear over the edge which shocked Uma and I out of our laughter.

"MAL!" we screamed and ran to the edge and looked down at the calm waves below.

"Mal, where are you, are you okay?" I called craning my neck searching the waters for a sign of our friend with my heart stopping when I couldn't catch sight of Mal's purple head anywhere in the waves and while Maleficent might find it amusing that her daughter had landed in the drink I doubt she'd take too kindly to the news that her one and only spawn was gone forever.

"Mal, where are you?!" Uma continued to yell as we shared desperate looks before we felt a tap on our shoulders and looked up to see Mal standing there totally dry and I breathed out a sigh of relief.

"You didn't fall in!" I cried out.

"I caught a wooden rung right before I fell" Mal replied a little too sweetly.

"Your all right" Uma said just as relieved as I was that she was okay.

"Yes I'm okay" Mal said with a sugary smile which was unlike Mal and I found myself slowly backing away knowing something was off. "But you're not!" she quickly yelled and before Uma and I could blink Mal had reached behind her back and dumped a huge bucket of smelly and disgusting baby shrimps all over Uma's head and my eyes widened in shock.

"Mal!" I exclaimed before glaring at her since that was so unnecessary as Uma started screaming...

I snapped myself out of that memory hearing my mother's screaming from the couch as she threw stuff at the TV which was showing the young princes coronation which is what had brought on the memory of Mal as that was the last time Uma, Mal and I hung out with each other and the reason behind Mal and Uma's rivalry which I of course refused to take a side but given that I went to Serpent Prep instead of Dragon Hall Mal and I drifted apart as if I had taken Uma's side but much worse than that was that from that day onward everyone called Uma 'Shrimpy' and the name stuck.

I turned my eyes back onto the screen seeing Fairy Godmother holding her wand standing in front of the kneeling prince ready to dub him the King when in the blink of an eye someone else had taken it straight out of the old bats hand and then a huge explosion rocked the whole island like an earthquake and my eyes widened racing outside and towards the docks like the rest of the islands inhabitants which is where I found Uma and our eyes locked with the same idea shining in our eyes...this was our chance to get off the Isle.

It was our time to leave the Isle of the Lost but without the bridge there was only one way to get to the mainland and that was by boat which I wasn't practically fond of since I couldn't swim either but that didn't stop Uma and I racing towards the shoreline rushing down the docks to find a ship, a boat...a way out and just as we clambered into the last goblin rowboat and started rowing each of us with an oar.

We made it a few miles away from shore but ran smack into the invisible barrier and my whole posture sank in disappointment as Uma pressed her nose against the unseen barrier.

We were stuck...still stuck on this godforsaken island and a few hours later we were forced to watch Mal and her friends, Evie the daughter of the Evil Queen, Jay the son of Jafar and Carlos the son of Cruella De Vil celebrate with those Auradornians celebrating their victory over Maleficent who'd been the only one of us to escape but Mal had turned her into a lizard meaning we were forced to remain here while they danced and enjoyed their own freedom not caring one bit about the rest of us which were left behind and that made me mad...madder than I ever thought I could be.

"That's it!" Uma suddenly exclaimed making me jerk out of my thoughts and jump in my seat at the main table in Ursula's Fish & Chip Shoppe where I currently avoiding going home and having a bite to eat knowing my mother wouldn't remember to supply her only child food and despite how bad the food here really was it was better than the other options on this godforsaken Isle.

"What's 'it'?" I asked confused.

"We need a crew, that's why she always wins" she smirked evilly and I raised an eyebrow.

"A crew?" I replied than scoffed. "Cause that'll work, do you honestly think that anyone is gonna want to crew up with us"

"We'll make them, this island is ours Liz and only together are we gonna get ourselves off this rock" she smirked and I couldn't help smile back.

"Well then we better get recruiting" I replied since I guess she was right, Mal had abandoned us...abandoned everyone and friends don't let friends stay on the Isle of the Lost.