Pirates: Lana and the Mystic World

Chapter 12.

I woke up to the sound of birds chirping and the familiar scent of candy. I sat up and looked around me, remembering the events of last night. A blush crept onto my face and I covered my cheeks with my hands to stop it. I turned to my side but Alistair was nowhere to be found.

I then got up from the floor and made my way down the stairs, into the treehouse. As I descended the stairs, I met a concentrated Alistair who was reading a book.

"What yer reading there greenie?" Alistair shook in surprise and immediately closed the book, standing up and walking to where I was.

"You're up." He said with a smirk.

"Why were yer so surprised? Were yer reading something dirty?" I placed my familiar smirk on my face just as Alistair dropped his.

I walked around him and picked up the book. "Wait." He tried getting it from me but I dodged and avoided him and tried to read the book.

He finally grabbed it from me and held it behind his back.

"Everything yer need to know about ships?" I said remembering the title I had briefly seen before he grabbed the book out of my hands.

"It's nothing." He said looking away from me which caused me to smirk even more and feel the need to tease him.

"Come on greenie. Spill, spill. What is it?" I poked his side with every sentence. He squirmed and shifted away from me.

"Fine. It's a book about ships."

"It's not like I just read the title or anything." I sarcastically remarked causing him to roll his eyes.

"I thought you might need a new ship sometime soon, so I was re-familiarizing myself with the parts and things required to build one. Didn't think you'd fancy two Captains on one ship. Lady Isola is mine only anyway."

I chuckled at the snarky way he said the last part. "As much as I admire Lady Isola, I'm well aware she's all yours." To think he wanted to use his recessive knowledge in building a ship to help me build a new one from scratch was quite commendable of him. But I don't think I was ready to let go of Lady Gilda right now.

Maybe after some time, I'd be able to resume my pirate-y activities. But for now, I just wanted to take a small vacation and tour this world properly. Though it was nice seeing how he was a little concerned about me.

We began to leave the treehouse but something felt odd. Birds were flying frantically through the forest and there was a calm breeze that blew in their wake. The air was quiet...too quiet.

"Alistair." I said, eyes darting at the trees and bushes.

"Something's off." He finished.

We were both on guard, hands on our swords in preparation for any incoming attack when we heard a piercing scream in the distance. Immediately, Alistair began to move, I followed beside him and we walked toward a direction that I remembered.

As I saw the sight before me, my eyes widened in panic. "Oh no."

Pearl lay on the ground, away from the water she usually dwelled in, hand on her side and groaning in pain. Alistair rushed to her side and held up her head against his knee. "Pearl. Stay with me. What's happening? Who did this to you?" He asked all at once.

She winced before responding. "Pirates. They must've figured out that we exist. I guess one of us must've swam too close to the surface. They were attacking Melody and Marina. I got hurt trying to stop them. They ended up capturing the twins and five more of us."

The blood was pouring out of her body and she groaned some more. "What can I do to help? Yer bleeding a lot." I said, anxious about the amount of blood that was being released from her side.