The Value of a Crew

Chapter Fifteen

Jay sighed as he drove back over the bridge, Lonnie at his side. There was a small part of him that wondered if he was out of his mind for doing this. After all, Uma had kidnapped Mal and Harry would have held her over the water had Estelle not planted himself between Mal and the plank.

But at the same time...his inner ten year old was shouting at him to finally make amends with Harry. After all, he'd dove in after Mal when she went into the water, and Mal knew the truth now; no one had to pretend to hate the other. Even if there was no way on the Gods' green Earth that Uma would believe him now after tricking her with the fake wand.

"You okay?" Lonnie asked, pulling Jay out of his thoughts.

"I just...yeah I'm fine," Jay said with another small sigh.

Lonnie shook her head. "Okay, you want to try that again? Maybe be a bit more convincing? For a VK, you're really bad at lying. In fact I think Ben could give a better lie than that."

"Hey!"

"It's true!" Lonnie chuckled as she rested a hand on Jay's shoulder. "If it makes you feel better, I don't think you're crazy for doing this."

"You...you don't?" Jay asked as he looked over at her.

"Okay so maybe you're a little crazy," Lonnie corrected herself. "But I mean, I'm used to that. Remember who Ben's best friends are after all?"

Jay snorted in amusement. "Someone might want to warn Akiho that there're some extra guests coming from the Isle. Otherwise we're getting a rant about getting the guards for the entirety of Cotillion."

"Eh not really," Lonnie shook her head. "Akiho knows Ben wants to continue the VK initiative. If he sees Uma, Hook Jr., and Gil, he'll probably just assume that Ben invited them off the Isle and just didn't have the time to do a welcoming ceremony. I just hope Evie can work her magic and get the dress and suits made in time."

Jay nodded as he parked the car, having arrived on the Isle. "Okay, so let me do the talking. I...I used to run with these guys with Mal so I know how to speak 'pirate'."

"Aye, avast!" Lonnie nodded with a small smirk as Jay shook his head in amusement. The two of them made their way through the pipe that led to Pirate Cove and Jay stared once more at the Lost Revenge.

His old stomping grounds. His and Mal's back when Uma and Harry made up the other half of their quartet. Sure Jay loved having Carlos around and he knew Mal loved Evie like a sister...but sometimes Jay longed to go off during a spar and knew he couldn't because it'd terrify Carlos.

Or Mal would get frustrated with Evie for not being on the same wavelength as her—case in point, Mal's reaction when Maleficent had told them about going to Auradon and Evie had practically melted into a puddle at the thought of all the Princes.

It'd been why Jay had brought up the uniforms. He'd been around Mal since she was five after all, he knew how to read her. And a frustrated Mal around Maleficent would not be a good idea.

Actually, anyone around Maleficent would not be a good idea.

Okay focus, Jay told himself, fighting the urge to shake his head in order to clear his thoughts. It won't be a good idea to just walk into Uma's territory after handing her what she saw as a defeat without paying attention. She's the Captain, and somewhere, there'll be her First Mate...

"Lost are we Jay?"

"Have to say Hook, took you more time to realize we were here than I thought," Jay said, looking over his shoulder as the sword dug into his back. He slowly raised his hands as if to show Harry that there were no weapons or smoke bombs about to go off. "Easy, okay? We're here on parley. I want an audience with Uma."