Once Upon a Time: Ever After High (Book 10)

Ch.54 Water heroes

(Flashback) Knowing that they had ran into a trap, Chris and Marissa didn't have a chance to escape as their hands were tied behind their backs as the pirates brought out a large trunk.

"I hope neither of ye are claustrophobic" Blackbeard grinned as the trunk opened and Chris and Marissa were pulled towards it.

"Ye really are a sick landlubber" Marissa growled.

"Well ye shouldn't of taken me things in thee first place" he smirked as she kicked him hard in his shin as he yelped in pain.

"Put them in" he ordered as Marissa and Chris were shoved into the trunk and pushed against each other like sardines "Say hi to Davy Jones would ye?"

But before they could say anything else, the trunk was closed and locked. Now in total darkness, the two could feel their hearts racing with fear, knowing that their deaths were close as they felt themselves being lifted up. And soon their worse nightmare came true as they felt themselves falling off the ship and into the water, but what made it worse was that water soon began to fill into the trunk. Soon if they couldn't get out, the trunk would be full of water, leaving them to drown.

Back at the Lost Boys campsite, when Aidan and Terrence haven't returned, everyone started to wonder where they were.

"What's taking them so long?" Darling asked.

"Does it take that long to gather coconuts?" Lauren wondered.

"Not really-" Tootles replied "It shouldn't take them that long."

"Then why aren't they back?"

"I'll go look for them" Jane offered.

"Try to find Piper if you can" Peter added.

"Will do" she promised as they headed off into the Neverwoods.

As she hiked through the woods, she kept her eyes and ears out for any danger that may be lurking when she soon came upon a little campsite. No one was around, but the fire was still lit. Wondering who it belonged to, she began to investigate, but she couldn't find any clues on who set up the camp.

"Who are you?" she suddenly heard a voice ask behind her as she turned around to see 2 familiar faces.

"Marissa?" she gasped "Chris?"

"Jane?" they both gasped.

Jane couldn't believe it, not remembering how long it had been, she was finally seeing her old friends after so long.

"What are ye two doing here?" she asked still surprised.

"We came here to help our new friends stop Blackbeard" Chris explained "We heard he was here."

"Blackbeard? What for?"

"It's a long story-" Marissa sighed "But our mateys and I just want to get back at him."

"Well you're in luck, so our me and my mateys, well specifically who he's helping. But, where are yer mateys?"

But before they could answer, footsteps were heard followed by voices as Piper and the musketeers appeared.

"That would be them" Marissa pointed to the musketeers.

"Well there ye are Piper-" Jane said as she crossed her arms "Just when I needed to talk to ye ye run off."

"Can we not talk about that?" he frowned as he turned to Marissa and Chris "Who are they?"

"Me old friends from the west English coast, the ones I told ye about. Marissa Silver, and Christopher Hawkins."

"Oh yeah-" he smiled as he turned to them "I've heard about you to, nice to meet you both. I'm Piper."

After exchanging handshakes, Piper turned to the musketeers.

"Jane these are the musketeers who helped me escape Blackbeard" he said as he introduced them.

"Nice to meet ye all" Jane smiled.

"Jane, we have to get back to camp, they want to help us stop Blackbeard, I already sent Aidan and Terrence back to tell them about it."

"I know, but if they're gonna help us stop Blackbeard, then they have to help us stop Pan."

"Pan?" Marissa questioned a bit confused "Ye mean Peter Pan?"

"No-" Piper replied "This Pan is far worse, and we're gonna need all the help we can get to stop him before he kills our friends. You in?"

"Well if he's working with Blackbeard-" Chris smirked "Of course we're in."

(Flashback) Still trapped in the trunk and sinking to the bottom, Chris and Marissa struggled against their bonds as more water started to fill in.

"Almost got it" Marissa winched as she manged to undo her bonds from a nail in the trunk "Got it!"

With her hands no free, she began to undo Chris's bond as they coughed out the incoming water.

"Marissa it's no use!" Chris exclaimed with a worried look "Even if we're free we still can't get out of here!"

"There has to be a way!"

They frantically tried to look for something to get them free, but it was no use, they found nothing and the water had gotten to their chins. And as they sank deeper with still no sign of hope, they took deep breaths as the water rose above their heads.

But just when they thought they were done for, they suddenly felt something grab onto the trunk as they felt themselves being lifted up. Not knowing what was going on, the trunk rose up to the surface as multiple pairs of wet hands pushed the trunk onto a small rock island were a pair of hands used an abalone shell to pick open the lock and opened the trunk as the captives and water splashed out and onto the shore.

Now free from death, Marissa and Chris began to cough out water as they gasped for air.

"You okay?" Chris managed to spat out the words as he continued gasping for air.

"I think" she breathed heavily "But what happened? How did we get here?"

"You two okay?" a voice suddenly asked as they turned around to see Meeshell Mermaid poking her head out from the water along with other mermaids behind her.

"Bloody hell" Marissa gasped when she saw them "Mermaids!"

"Wait what?" Chris gasped.

"Hi" Meeshell smiled a bit shyly as she showed them her tail as they gasped.

"They are real" he gasped again "Did you save us?"

"We did, are you two okay?"

"We're fine, thank you."

"We'll take you back to shore. But before I forget, there's something I need to tell you both. If you're still looking for an adventure, would you consider going on a rescue mission?"

"Rescue mission?" Marissa question "For what?"

"There's some people stranded on Skeleton Island, I'm sure you've heard of it."

"We have."

"Well they have no way off the island, so would you two be willing to save them?"

Chris and Marissa turned to each other.

"Ye in?" she asked.

He smiled as he turned to the mermaids "We'll do it."