The Mermaid-Cursed Pirate

Chapter 32

Recap:

"Hey, lass. Calm down. We have a solid plan and you know it by heart. You've practiced what to say and you are ready for this. The whole crew trusts you and I know you will be brilliant."

"But this whole plan depends on me doing my part perfectly-"

"And I know you will. But if something happens, we will figure it out as we go. Now, are you ready to show the Crocodile who's boss?" Sirena thinks for a while, but finally nods and follows the captain out to the deck where the crew is waiting. When they see her, they all give a cheer.

"Alright, Sirena's here. Who's ready to skin a Crocodile?" one of the crew members shouts and the rest reply with a hearty yell.

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Sirena was beyond nervous. But she never was one to give up a chance of happiness, so she was going to walk right in, afraid or not. She stood at the door to the Dark One's palace and took a deep breath before knocking on the wooden door. The loud knock echoed for a moment, and then the door opened to reveal a woman about Sirena's apparent age in a simple blue dress. Sirena's face scrunched up in confusion.

"Who are you? I thought this was the Dark One's palace."

"It is," she replied. "I am his... servant, I guess you could say. Follow me if you wish to see him." Then she mutters under her breath, "Though I can't imagine why you would." She walks away without another word and Sirena doesn't hesitate to follow her. They enter what appears to be a dining room. A man sits in the chair closest to the door they came through, his back facing them as he giggles while eating his breakfast.

"Excuse me." The servant says.

"What is it now, girl? Can't you see I'm busy? Go clean something!" he answers with annoyance.

"You have a visitor," she answers flatly, then leaves the room in a huff.

There is a thick moment of silence before the man stands and turns to her. He gives another strange giggle and smiles at her in a way that makes her shift on her feet. "Now, who are you?"

"My name is Sirena. I've come to make a deal."

His smile somehow grows even wider as he walks towards her, then circles around her, looking the woman up and down. "And what kind of deal would that be, dearie?"

"I'm cursed. I want you to take my magic away so I can remain a mermaid. I think that would be a win-win situation for both of us."

"So let me get this right: you want me to take your magic from you. That's it. You don't want riches or a handsome prince in exchange? You just want me to take something from you. What an interesting deal."

"If you don't take my magic, I will lose it anyway. But I'll also become human. If you take my magic, I might be able to stay a mermaid. I'm willing to do anything. You just have to promise me that you won't take the magic that makes me a mermaid."

He giggles again, then spins around. "I'll have to consider this. Taking your magic while leaving just enough to let you be a mermaid is tricky business. It's not easy, dearie." He pauses, then turns back to her and makes some gestures with his hands. "But alright, you've convinced me. You have a deal."

Sirena breathes out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank you, sir! But I have to be sure you keep your word, so I drew up this contract. All it says is that you take my magic, but if I am no longer a mermaid after you do so, I will get my magic back. You can read it over if you want." She pulls out the parchment and holds it out to him.

He reaches for the parchment but stops himself. "Oh, you're a clever girl, I'll give you that. But I know squid ink when I see it. Of course, it didn't help that you mentioned you're a mermaid and you seem to know a lot about how I conduct my business."

He turned away in order to gloat some more. Before he could say anything else, Sirena shoved the parchment and quill into his hands, catching him by surprise. She saw the wave of magic rush over him and grinned. "You were right, sir. I am clever. And it seems that I'm clever enough to catch myself a crocodile." With that, the men popped out of their hiding places and began searching. Killian walked up to Sirena and spun her around.

"You did it, lass! I knew you could! Now let's go find this necklace so you can break this curse."

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A few minutes later, Killian and Sirena were searching in a room when Sirena bumped a light fixture. There was a loud rumbling from below and a staircase appeared as the floor in front of the fireplace moved out of the way.

"Awesome, a secret passage! The necklace has to be down there. Let's go find it!" Sirena shouts before she pulls Killian down the stairs with her.

"Sirena, wait!" She stops for a moment and turns to him, her eyes wide in confusion. "I'm not sure we should go down there. This is the Dark One's place. We can't know what's down there."

Sirena brings her hand up and waves it. A fireball appears in her palm and a dark look appears in her eyes. "I have come this close to a cure, captain. Whatever is in my way down there, it has lived its last day."

Killian gives her a doubtful look, but nods and moves to follow her down the stairs. He unsheathes his sword and mumbles under his breath, "This bloody woman is going to get me killed."

"What was that?" she turns and asks with a fake sweet smile, the flames still dancing in her hand.

"Oh, nothing, love," he returns with an equally fake smile. "Let's go get that necklace."

They travel down the stairs and into a chamber with shelves surrounding the perimeter. Sirena starts to look through the items in the chamber desperately. Killian goes to the other side and starts searching through a chest on the ground. Sirena starts to grow more frantic as she worries about how much time has passed.

"Killian, we're running out of time. That squid ink won't hold him forever."

"That's why we have someone standing guard and applying more to keep him frozen as long as we need, love," Killian reminds her. He spots a red pouch at the bottom of the chest and grabs it. He pulls out what is inside using his hook. "Luckily, lass, you don't have to worry about anything any longer. Look,"

She turns towards him and spots the necklace, the one thing she has been searching for, hanging from his hook. "Killian," she breathes. "You found it!" She runs to him and crushes him into a hug. "Let's get out of here and tell the men the good news!"