(Arabella's POV)
We gasp in surprise, as Luna came up from under the water, for she flicked a tail, where her legs normally would be. A long, beautiful tail, from her waist down to where her feet would be. She had gills on her neck, and she eyed us as nervously, as her fingers played with her necklace once more.
"I just found out on our way here. When we stopped at port, I fell in the water, and the necklace glowed... Next thing I knew...." She trailed off shrugging. "Anyway.. I sent a letter to Talon. He wrote back. He explained, that our whole family were mer people, mermaids... They usually have a time period where they try living on land. I was born during that time period, so I never knew. He said the necklace helps control the transformation. He stayed on land, and our parents went back to the ocean, when they abandoned me all those years ago..." She explains, her brown eyes meeting our gazes.
"Well hell. Ladies we've got a mermaid aboard our crew." Penelope says, smiling at Luna.
Luna looked relieved at her words, returning Penelope's smile.
"So you can control it?" Cecilia asks,curious, gesturing to Luna's necklace.
"I can. With the necklace. It seems to be activated by touch, and water." She added, nodding.
"That's amazing Luna!" Allison exclaimed excitedly, smiling at Luna.
Everyone finished asking Luna questions, and I opened the bottle of vodka, passing the wine on to Cecilia, as I took a swig of the vodka. "Well since the pattern seems to be the person who shares picks the next person...." Luna trails off, looking at everyone, her eyes settling on Penelope. "Penelope?" She asks, meeting the emerald eyed girl's gaze.
"Well. Hmm. My turn for my story then huh?" She asks, laughing slightly. She stared off for minute, sadness touching her normally fierce emerald green eyes. "I come from a family of five." She starts, running a hand back through her hair. "My moms name was Stephanie, my dad was Ethan. Two brothers, the oldest is Jax, the youngest Zac, short for Zachary. I'm the middle child, and the only girl. When I was sixteen, we lost mom and dad." She stops, pausing, water in her green eyes, threatening to spill over. "It was their anniversary, and I encouraged them to go on vacation, so they went on a ship, since I never asked them for anything much growing up. Anyway... It was a few days after they were supposed to be back, Jax started to worry, though me and Zac waved it off, thinking they were still on vacation..." She paused, the brimming tears finally falling down her cheeks, and Cecilia went over, wiping her tears, drawing her into a hug. We all went over, taking turns hugging her.
She took a deep breath, before continuing her story once more. "We went on as normal, going to school, eating breakfast. It was about a week later, when Zac went to go grab the morning paper, and there was a big article. A group of kids found a big shipwreck, and it was the same ship our parents were on. There were no known survivors. At the time, we still hadn't made that connection, and it wasn't until we got a letter addressed to Jax, that we found out. They had both drowned, and Jax took over as our legal guardian...." She trailed off, a far off look in her eyes.
She blinked a few times, blinking back more tears, as she continued. My heart ached for all the girls, all seeming to come from a sad past, in one way or another. Though I suppose it's not a normal life that leads you to become a pirate.
"I broke down sobbing first, I felt like it was my fault.. I was the one that told them to go anyway." She adds, clearly starting to get upset once again.
"It's not your fault. You couldn't have known. It was an accident, one that was nowhere near your fault." I say suddenly, looking at Penelope.
"Thanks Arabella. At the time though, I felt like it was. I was originally more quiet, reserved, loved to draw, absorbed in my studies. I was shy, the smart kid at school. I ended up locking myself in my room, crying everyday to myself up until their funeral. That was the last day I cried... Well, until today." She adds, chuckling wryly at the realization.
"About a month later, I started to... Act different, live different... Hang with different people. At the time, I called it living life to its fullest, but in reality, I was acting out in my grief. I drank, cussed, made out with strangers, got a few piercings, and came home later and later. Jax was worried, and he tried to keep me in more, he got more strict, trying to hold us all together. He made sure me and Zac ate and got to school. This went on for about two years. Me and Jax slowly but surely grew apart, instead of closer. We fought a lot, usually the fight starting over something simple..." She trails off, running a hand through her hair once more.
"One night, Zac got worried about me. He went looking for me, all the places I usually hung out at. The next part was a little fuzzy, though I know he found me at a bar, drunk. We headed home, taking shortcuts down some back alley's, and a kid came up, pointing a gun on us, basically asking for any valuable possessions. He tried to rob us at gun point, but his hands were shaking, as well as his voice. I remember vaguely, Zac tensing up, and trying to be the voice of reason, asking him to put the gun down. I was still kinda drunk, telling the kid to go home, he obviously didn't know how to use a gun. That set him off, and he aimed at me." Her voice cracked, as she continued.
"Zac jumped in front of me." She states, and everyone's hands fly to their mouths in surprise, eyes widening at what happened. "The kid dropped the gun, and ran off. Reality kinda set in for me at that point, when the gun went off... I remember there was so much blood.. Blood everywhere...I yelled for help, screaming... Help arrived, they took him away to the doctor. The navy took one look at me, covered in blood, with the gun sitting by me on the ground, and arrested me." She adds, fire in her eyes once more.
"Those fucking idiots." Kris snarls, pissed that they arrested the wrong person.
Penelope nods at her, before continuing. "Jax came to see me the next day, let me know Zac was okay, and had gotten help. He was still unconscious, but the bullet had missed all major arteries, thankfully. He told me he was going to try everything he could to get me out of jail, but he was disappointed with how I had been living the past two years. Later, I heard guards talking about pirates being in town, so I decided to use what I had learned to escape, to go find them. I figured Jax wouldn't care, and he needed to focus on taking care of Zac anyway." She pauses second, taking a swig of wine, before continuing. "Before I escaped, I wrote a letter to Jax, apologizing for the past two years. The next night, I made my escape. I went home, dropping the letter off, and grabbing a some of my things. The crew took me in, and I left with them. I found out later Jax didn't know until after I left, thinking the letter was just to apologize. Come to find out, a guard told him later I escaped. I learned from my first crew, giving up some things I had started doing the past two years. I still like to draw, and read. Eventually the crew ditched me at a port. I bounced around a few more times, before meeting you all." Penelope finishes her story, looking at all of us.
" I'm sorry about your parents. Thanks for sharing Penelope." Cecilia says gently, looking at Penelope, who smiles at her words.
"Kris? You wanna go next?" Penelope asks, glancing at the hazel eyed girl. Kris nodded, standing up.
She looked slightly nervous, fidgeting, twirling her hair with her finger. "Well, I have a confession of sorts..I'm flat... Like too flat..my proportions don't seem well.. Desirable ya know?" She asks, gesturing to her chest, and her body.
I looked at her shocked. Kris had always seemed so confident, it was something I had admired about her.
"We're all a little insecure about that Kris. Seriously, I think every woman feels like that sometimes. And you're certainly not too flat." Penelope speaks up first, trying to convince Kris that she was fine as is.
"Penelope is right, we all feel like that. And you're not flat, you're fit. There's a difference. You're toned, but not like overtly so. No, your fit, and fine just as is." I say, meeting her gaze, before offering her the bottle of vodka. She smiles, taking it, before taking a swig. Then,offering it to Allison, who sniffs the bottle, eyeing it warily.
"Seriously, you're fine as is. Plus I'm sure if we asked Russ, I bet he would agree." Cecilia chimes in next.
"Hell, that's something we all feel, kinda insecure about our bodies." Luna chimes in, giving Kris an encouraging smile. Kris returns it, before turning around, and lifting up her hair, revealing at tattoo on her neck.
"This is the other secret. Yes, there's a story." Kris says, before dropping her hair over it.
Allison coughs slightly, passing the bottle to Penelope next, who takes it.
The tattoo was of two koi fish, on the lower part of her neck, one fish swimming up, the other swimming down. They had black swirls on their tails. "My mom, died when I was eighteen, from a heart attack. My mom was like my best friend. We had a small pond in our backyard, with koi fish in it. Mom took care of them, she really liked koi fish...." He voice cracked slightly, and we all swarmed her, and I hugged her. She took a deep breath, before speaking once more. "Anyway.. I like to think the one swimming up is her, and the one swimming down is me." She finishes, looking at everyone.
"That's beautiful Kris. I'm sure your mom would be proud of you." Luna says gently, giving Kris's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
"Alright Allison, you're up next." Kris says, winking playfully at the lavender haired girl.
Allison takes a deep breath, before speaking. "This is something I've kept for a long time. I never even told my last crew." She says, before holding her hands over the water, palms face down. She looked at the water, before raising her hands. The water jumped up, into a thin water tendril, swirling as it goes higher and higher, circling.
We watch in awe as she controls the water, before she puts most of it back. She makes a small tendril once more, but this one freezes as soon as she touches it, forming a small ice sickle. "I've never showed anyone this, not even my last crew. But I saw Arabella use her gift so openly, I figured it was okay with you guys then." She adds, shrugging.
"Which one of your parents was gifted?" I ask, curious.
"My mother. Though her gift was different. I was also apart of a family of five, though this was something I didn't find out till later. I was young when my mother left, so young that I didn't recognize her at first when I came across a picture of her." She pauses, her silvery grey eyes glancing around at all of us.
"I found out their story later. Anyway. My mother's name is Genevieve, my father John. I have a brother three years older than me, Toby, who actually was my half brother, John's son from a previous marriage. Later, I found out about Nadia, who is my twin sister. I guess my parents met when dad was on a business trip. They both liked to explore, and we're both exploring the same area on the same island. She was able to control electricity, and could make storms, and able to predict when one was coming. John knew, but didn't care, for he loved her all the more for it." She smiled slightly before going on.
"I guess it was five years after me and Nadia were born, word got out that someone with abilities lived in town." Allison continues. "Each time people got close to finding out who it was, we would move. Eventually, mom had enough, uprooting all of us every time. So she left one night, taking Nadia with her. She left a note for dad, explaining why she left, and to take care of me and Toby." Her voice cracks as she pauses, taking a deep breath.
Cecilia quickly pulls the girl into a hug. "I'm sorry she left you. She was probably trying to protect you." She says gently, and Allison nods, not saying anything, before she continues.
"She left me a ring, and I've always worn it, ever since I could remember. I later found out Nadia has one as well, as least that's what dad told me, I haven't actually seen her or mom. Anyway, turns out hers is slightly different, adjusted for her abilities, because I guess she can control fire, from what I'm told. The first year after they left things were kinda slow, everyone getting used to Nadia and mom being gone. I don't remember much from that time, Toby remembers more." She pauses once more, running a hand back through her lavender hair.
"Things went back to normal, the memory of both of them fading, especially for me. When I was ten my abilities started showing, though at the time I didn't know what they were. Toby always complained that I was abnormally cold, and most said I was cold if they touched me. I didn't feel the difference in temperature, but others noticed. Next anything I held too long would get cold, almost like frost would form on the bottom of objects. My hearing got better, and I was lighter on my feet, able to move abnormally quiet. Dad claimed I was sick at the time, but that wasn't true. Toby tried to help me, even though he didn't understand himself. He tried to help me control it, and I practiced. I practiced here and there, learning some tricks. Though dad wanted me to focus on my studies so I did." She stops, pausing a minute before continuing her story.
"So me and Toby went to school,and played sports, where I picked up archery. We basically got a normal childhood. It was later, when me and Toby were cleaning out the attic, that I found an unmarked box. They all had the same woman in them, a beautiful woman with platinum blonde hair, that about halfway through her hair, turned into a lavender ombre, that flowed down her back. She had grey eyes, plump lips and a button like nose. She looked slightly familiar, and was holding dad's hand in some of the pictures." She stops, meeting everyone's gaze with her silvery grey eyes.
A/n: okay.. I'm so sorry.. I'm splitting it again... It's just reached the 3000 word limit again, and I haven't even finished Allison's story, let alone started Arabella's tidbit, plus there was a few more things I had planned.. So yea.. I'm sooo sorry I'm splitting it again. I'm pretty sure one more part should wrap this part up.. XD.. But I will post the next part today as well.. I'm really focused an know where it's going, I just didn't have enough room to write it all in one.. Working on part three right now.. XD
-Jinx