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

Ch.23 Plan of escape

(Flashback) Still down in the storage room of Blackbeard's ship, Piper who now had his wrists chained to the wall as he played a soft tune on his panpipes, wondering what was going to happen to him if he wasn't able to escape. He then started to think about his family and friends, knowing that they were scared to death worried about him, but he didn't know if he could do anything about it, all he could do right now is think and worry.

But his thoughts came to a stop when the door opened and he saw Blade along with 3 more young people coming down the wooden stairs and towards him. He saw that there were two guys and a girl, the older one looked to be about 20 and the other guy and girl looked to be about his age.

"How you doing Piper?" Blade asked.

"When is Blackbeard going to kill me?" Piper asked with a sigh "Because I'm ready for it."

"I don't think now" the girl replied as she used a key to unlock the shackles around his wrists.

Just like Blade, she had a slight French accent, and he assumed that the other guys also had accents.

"Piper-" Blade said "These are my friends, Antony, Porter, and Arial."

The older guy was Antony as he and Porter gave small smiles and waves.

"Nice to meet you all" Piper smiled "So how exactly did you all get abducted by Blackbeard?"

"It was his fault" Arial pointed to Blade "He tried to get this ring for his stupid crush, and when we tried to get him away, Blackbeard caught us."

"I said I was sorry" Blade put in "And for the last time, Connie is not stupid."

"Says the guy who got us abducted" she frowned as he gave a groan.

"Emerson!" they suddenly heard Blackbeard call "Get yer bloody ass up here!"

"Oh boy" Blade sighed "I gotta go."

"Is that's your real name?" Piper asked.

"Yeah, Emerson d'Artagnan."

"d'Artagnan?" Piper said surprised.

"Emerson!" Blackbeard yelled again.

"I gotta go" Blade said as he headed up the stairs.

"No way" Piper smiled as he turned to the others "You guys are the children of the Three Musketeers aren't you?"

They all smiled as they nodded.

"Let me guess-" he added as he pointed "Antony de la Fere. Porter du Vallon. And Arial d'Herblay."

"Correct" Antony smiled.

"Wow" Piper chuckled "It's an honor to meet you guys, I've always admired your story."

"Thanks" Porter smiled "And we've always enjoyed yours."

"I always knew your parents were meant for each other" Arial put in with a smile.

At that point Piper's smile went away as he thought about his parents, wondering if he was ever gonna see them again. Arial then reached out and rubbed his shoulder.

"We're gonna get you out of here" she assured.

"How?" he doubted "If Blackbeard catches me escaping, not only will I be dead, but so will all of you."

"We'll think of something" Antony put in "What I would do if I was trying to escape, I search myself to see if I have anything that could help me escape."

"Okay let's see here-" Piper said as he started to search himself "They took my dagger so all I have are my compass, my panpipes, and-".

When he reached into his pocket, he pulled out the enchanted ring his father gave him.

"No way" he gasped "I can't believe I forgot about this."

"A ring?" Porter questioned.

"Not just any ring, this ring can open a portal to wherever I want."

"Are you serious?" Arial gasped.

"Well I've never tried it before, but this has to help me escape."

"So we'll keep the pirates at bay while you'll be able to escape" Porter offered.

"Why just me?" Piper asked "Don't you guys wanna come?"

"We'd love to but-" Antony started to explain "Our home is in France, and we heard Blackbeard saying that they're planning on going to France for a bit, and that's our only chance home."

"Are you sure?"

"Don't worry about us" Arial assured "We can handle it."

"Well then-" Piper sighed as he held up the ring "Let's see if this works."

The next morning, Elena told everyone about her encounter with Piper's clone the other night as they packed up their things.

"That was his advice?" Mira questioned with doubt "Listen to the pirate girl and hurry?"

"That's what he told me" Elena replied "And that our friends are alive, but I have a feeling that it's not gonna be long."

"Perhaps that's why he told us to hurry" Olivia put in "And I say we should go find them now before he does."

"So we're not gonna do anything about Darling and Chase?" Terrence spoke up.

"I think they're okay" Elena assured "I'm just trying to focus on finding Lauren and the others."

"Well we'll get on it if Jane could come back" Courtly put in with a grunt.

"Where is she by the way?"

"She went to get water" David replied.

Meanwhile, after gathering water into her canteen from a river, Jane was about to head back when she heard a voice behind her.

"I can see you're not drinking rum this time" she turned around to see Pan with a small grin on his face.

"Some advice ye gave Elena" Jane frowned "Listen to the pirate girl and hurry? What are ye up to Pan? And what do ye want with thee Wonderlandians?"

He gave a small chuckle "That's the question everyone's asking huh? All I can say is that the Wonderlandians are very special, and even if you all find them, they're gonna be dead before you all could go back to the other realm. So there isn't really a point on looking for them."

"I don't give a damn at what you say" she said sternly "You're not gonna stop me from finding me friends."

"You know you've changed a lot Jane, you're not the same pirate I remembered back then."

"Well get used to it" she frowned as she started to walk away.

"You know what I realized Jane" he suddenly said as she stopped "You and Piper may have become friends since the incident, but he never forgave you for what you did that same day."

At that point Jane felt her stomach dropped.

"Just like how you never forgave yourself" he grinned.

Jane tried to ignore him as she stormed off, but now that he put the memory in her head, she couldn't stop thinking about it.