Twice Upon a Time

by James Riley

And then the merman pulled out a glowing sword.

  “Now, where did that fish get yer sword?” Bluebeard roared, bringing his own sword up and leaping down off the stone platform, pulling Jack along behind him.

  “He probably took it when they decided to have me eaten,” Jack said, watching the sword’s light run in trails as the merman whipped it around much too fast for the pirates to keep up with.

  “Well, holdin’ on to yer sword will be a topic for later, then, you can count on that,” Bluebeard said with a wide smile. “Still, since it be yers and all, why don’t you go grab it?”

  With that, the pirate hurled the still recovering Jack right at the merman.

  Fortunately, the water’s flotation magic slowed Jack down so that he landed on the ground just short of the merman, who, unfortunately, watched him land with a much too satisfied look on his face. “One way or another, you will die, human!” the merman roared, then leapt forward.

  As Jack’s sword came down, he focused inwardly, trying to slow time down, but his head was too fuzzy. He couldn’t concentrate, and the sword kept coming…

  Only to abruptly stop as Bluebeard neatly skewered the merman with the pirate’s curved sword. The merman’s eyes went wide beneath the shark hood, but he kept falling forward, straight at Jack. Moving as quickly as possible, Jack could still barely get his legs working enough to roll out from under the merman, stopping just inches out of range.

  Finally having a moment to breathe, Jack dropped his hands to either side and let out an enormous sigh, just as his sword dropped from the merman’s limp hands into his own. Well. That was convenient.

  Bluebeard again offered his hand, the wide grin still in place. “See?” he said, a dangerous look in his eye. “Nothing to worry about.”

  “Cap’n!” said Skinny as he came hobbling up to Jack and Bluebeard. “Cap’n! We need to be on the move! The fish armies, Cap’n! Lookout says they’re preparin’ to march this way!”

  “Hear that, boy?!” Bluebeard roared. “There’s no time fer yer lollygaggin’, not unless ye want an army of fish on yer feet!”

  “Uh?” Jack said.

  Bluebeard shook his head sadly, then grabbed Jack by his shirt, dragging him as he raced back toward the boat. “Land-lubbers. Always stupidin’ up the place!”

  CHAPTER 33

  The sun had been up for hours now, as Meghan studied the Sea Witch’s songbooks for the right spell to take them back to the Fairy Homelands. Time was quickly running out, but Jack had a hard time worrying about that. No, something else was much easier to worry about.

  “You promised what?!” he said for the fifth time.

  “JACK!” May said, snapping her fingers in front of his face. “I need you to focus here.”

  “You’d give him anything?” Jack said again. It might have been the seventh time, actually. He wasn’t really counting. “I mean, did you even think about what that could mean?!”

  May sighed, grabbed his head with both hands, and pushed her forehead against his, looking him right in the eye. “JACK,” she said. “Seriously! Who says we even need to follow through?”

  Jack stared right back at her. “You know that’s not how things work.”

  May crinkled her nose, pulling away. “Ugh. I hate this place. Why couldn’t I be from Greek mythology or something?”

  “Why would you make the deal, May?” Jack asked, his voice soft.

  She looked at him, then down at the floor. “Seriously? You have to ask?”

  A pang of happiness twinged inside him, despite the situation. “I would have been okay.”

  She looked back up. “No, you wouldn’t have. It sounds like you… you were about to… no. And even if you had been okay, I wasn’t going to take the risk. Not on you. You and Phillip… you’re… you know.”

  He smiled at her. “I can’t even begin to tell you how stupid that was.”

  She glared back, then smacked him in the shoulder. “You’ve got a lot of work to do on your cheering-up skills.”

  “Maybe I can make a deal with a pirate to give him anything in the world if he makes you laugh till you snort by accident? Seems like a fair trade.”

  She smashed him with a pillow from the bunk they’d been sitting on, then pushed him over and stuffed it into his face as he laughed. “I’ll give you a pillow in the face!” May yelled right as Meghan pushed the door open.

  The mermaid princess paused, staring at May, the pillow, and Jack’s face, then raised an eyebrow. “Well, I can’t say I expected this,” she said.

  “Can I ask what you did expect?” Jack asked, then shook his head when she started to answer. “It can wait. Have you spoken to Bluebeard?”

  She sighed. “Maarten? No. I… don’t know what to say to him. He… he’s been gone for so long, but to him it’s only been a few years since he last saw me. The rest of us have moved on, however, and realized… What I did, it was a youthful mistake.”

  “Speaking from the youthful side, not everything we do is a mistake,” Jack said.

  “Just most things,” May said quietly.

  Meghan smiled. “I’ve never forgotten anything. That year… I used to sit on the side of his ship and sing as he’d play a flute. This was back when he didn’t hide his royalty, back before he became a pirate and had to associate with such… ill-bred men.”

  “The flute, huh?” May said with a snort.

  “Maarten was the most dignified of princes,” Meghan said, sitting down on the bed.” But after… after my father came to retrieve me, Maarten would sail out again and again looking for me, and each time my father would sink his ship. He lost several crews that way, until none of his men would sail with him, prince or no. Eventually he had to pay huge sums to anyone who’d willingly join him on the open water as he searched for me. That meant pirates.” She shook her head. “That’s when he took on his disguise, or else he never would have been able to lead those men. You see what he’s become now, after so many years. I wish he’d just given up and moved on with his life, as I have.”

  “Speaking of moving on, Captain Mako’s okay,” Jack said.

  “Excuse me?” Meghan said.

  “Captain Mako,” Jack said. “The merman who sacrificed himself to give us time to get away? He’s fine. The Eye didn’t hurt him or anything.”

  “Oh, Mako!” Meghan said. “Thank the Sea King. I’m relieved he’s fine!”

  “Yeah, so relieved that you hadn’t even thought about him,” Jack said with a grin.

  “It must be hard to remember your merman boyfriend when you’ve got pirates on the mind,” May pointed out.

  “Shush,” Meghan told them, but she was smiling.

  “Yeah, shush, Jack,” May said. “Let her think about her pirate in peace.”

  “I’m not thinking about Maarten!”

  “What did you used to sing to him?” Jack asked her.

  She glared at him, but with a smile. “I… I haven’t sung it since.”

  “There’s really no need—,” May said, but the mermaid didn’t seem to hear.

  Instead Meghan looked down and began to sing a song with no words. It started softly, then swelled, much like the sea. Jack glanced at May, who was staring off into space with a smile, which made Jack smile as well.

  After a moment he closed his eyes, letting the mermaid’s melody wash over him like a wave….

  Only to be hit by actual water. His eyes flew open. “I had no idea music could literally wash over you!” he said, then realized the other two were staring at the round window in the ship, where water had sprayed in.

  Phillip rushed into the cabin looking panicked. “We have a problem,” he said, then ran out just as quickly. The three looked at one another, then followed quickly after the prince.

  Back on the deck of the ship, water was raining down all over, as if a storm had appeared out of nowhere in the middle of a sunny morning. The ship was slowing down as well, despite the sails still billowing with wind.

  “What’s happenin
g?” Jack yelled to anyone, but the pirates were running around, too busy to say anything.

  The boat finally shuddered to a complete stop, then began sliding backward as an enormous roaring filled the air. Jack threw a look behind them, and nearly lost what little remained in his stomach.

  Directly behind Bluebeard’s ship was a wall of water at least three hundred feet high rising out of the ocean, heading right for them.

  And riding that wall was the Sea King, his golden trident lighting up the sky brighter than the sun.

  The trident was pointed directly at the ship.

  “Oh good,” Jack said to Meghan. “Your father’s here.”

  “Don’t worry,” she said. “He’s trying to sink the ship, but we’ll all be far gone. I’ve been studying the Sea Witch’s songbooks, and I believe I know how to get us to the Fairy Homelands. I’ll begin the magic now.” With that, she closed her eyes, and began to sing.

  Again, it was beautiful. And again, just like the last song, this one took them nowhere.

  “What?” Meghan said, stopping her singing. “Why isn’t it working? It always worked when I was… below the waves.” She stopped, watching the water. “Perhaps the Sea Witch modified her songs so they’d work below the water?” She cringed. “And only below the water.”

  “Don’t worry, then,” Jack said, watching the enormous wall of water coming straight at them. “Looks like we’ll all be there in a minute.”

  CHAPTER 34

  Oh, Fish King,” Bluebeard said, striding up to the rest of them, a smile playing over his face. “You don’t wanna be a’challengin’ me. No, sir.” He laughed loudly, then sprang to the wheel of the ship. “Get goin’, ya lazy cow-eaters!” he yelled. “Batten down the hatches! Tie down whatever ye can, ’cause we’re ridin’ this wave all the way in!”

  “We’re what?” Jack said.

  “Is ‘batten’ really a word?” May asked.

  Phillip silently grabbed ropes, then pulled May and Meghan toward the captain’s cabin, collecting their belongings from the ship’s deck as he went.

  Jack followed his lead, grabbing another rope and going after Phillip, who was busy tying the ropes to hooks on the boat’s deck.

  “Not inside?” Jack asked, tying one end of the rope to himself and handing another rope to Meghan for her to secure herself.

  “Glass windows,” Phillip said, pointing inside the cabin. “If they break, it might be a greater danger. I think we should just use the cabin’s outer wall as a shelter.” With that, he knotted the ropes, then tied one to his waist and handed the other to May, along with her bag.

  “This is going to be bad,” May said as she tied the rope around her waist. The roar of the tidal wave was getting louder, almost drowning out Bluebeard’s excited orders shouted at the pirates, none of whom seemed to be sharing his joy.

  “Little Eye!” Bluebeard yelled from above them. “Get yer sorry self up here before I make you walk the plank!”

  Jack looked at the other three, then quickly untied himself and took the stairs two at a time. He reached the upper deck and stopped in shock as he had to look up, then much, much more up to see to the top of the wave, a wave that was easily twice as high as it had been before.

  “The big fish up there might be a problem,” Bluebeard admitted, despite his wide grin. “I need you to be takin’ care o’ him while I guide my ship here into safety on that there wave.”

  “I… what?” Jack said.

  “Take care of him!” Bluebeard roared. “Distract him. Do whatever yer kind can do! I don’t care. I just don’t wanna be worryin’ about a trident through my chest while I be steerin’ her to shore!” He slipped a rope noose around Jack’s waist. “There. You’ll be secure now.”

  Jack glanced at the other end of the rope, and realized it was tied to Bluebeard’s waist. “Wait, I’m secured to you?!”

  “What could be safer?” Bluebeard shouted back. “Get ready, lads! Here she comes!”

  And here she did come as the pirate ship began rising backward up the enormous wave. Bluebeard looked over his shoulder, steering and laughing maniacally even louder than the roar of the wave.

  At the top the Sea King waited, his face contorted in rage as he stared down directly at Jack.

  Jack pulled his sword, Lian’s words echoing through his mind. Was this stupid, needless heroism again? It didn’t feel like it. After all, he’d most likely be killed whether he was hiding or facing the Sea King. That being the case, there had to be a way through it, had to be a way to survive, using what he had, just like Lian had said.

  Wait. Why was he taking her advice again?

  Anyway, there was no time to think about that. No, now was for facing down a hugely powerful King of the Seas that even the Wicked Queen was afraid of. And with what? The Sea King was powerful enough to completely shut down his sword, not to mention throw a tidal wave at them. There was no way to win, no way to beat the King.

  Except it wasn’t about winning. It was about surviving.

  And that changed things completely.

  Jack glanced down at the deck, then smiled. They just might live through this after all. But for that to happen, he’d need help, which is where Bluebeard came in.

  The pirate roared with crazed laughter after Jack shared his plan. “Aye, you’re insane, but I like it!” he shouted, then began barking orders at his pirates below. As Jack turned to face the wave again, he heard something heavy being dragged into the cabin below him.

  If this was going to work, though, it was going to take some very careful, very dangerous setup.

  “Ready, Little Eye?” Bluebeard said, smiling widely.

  “Not even close,” Jack shouted back, then climbed the tilting deck up to the back railing. The ship was steadily approaching vertical, so the railing seemed to be the most stable thing to stand on. Jack grabbed it, then swung himself up and over as Bluebeard steered them backward up the tidal wave.

  Steering them right for the Sea King.

  Just to test it, Jack tried focusing in, slowing things down, but just like before in the Sea King’s presence, nothing happened. Even his sword’s glow flickered and died again. This time he held on to it, though, as the ship steadily approached the Sea King.

  “YOU WILL ALL DROWN!” the King of the Mermen roared, and a brilliant beam of light shot from his trident, straight at Jack. “THOSE TEARS MY DAUGHTERS CRIED WILL HELP YOU NO LONGER!”

  Jack leapt to the right, and the beam passed through the spot he’d just stood in, just inches from Bluebeard, then exploded right through the mainmast of the ship.

  “MY SHIP!” Bluebeard yelled as the mast crashed to the deck, narrowly missing about thirteen separate pirates. “I’m gonna kill that fish!”

  “Just aim us right at him!” Jack shouted over the roaring of the wave as the ship continued its backward trip up the wall of water.

  The Sea King roared, and light shot from the trident for a second time. This time Jack dodged to the left, and the light burst right past a wooden carving of a woman hanging off the front of the ship. Oddly, Jack thought he heard the carving yelp in surprise.

  “A little closer!” Jack yelled, standing back up, then positioning himself right in the middle of the railing. He glanced down below him and saw through the cabin window that everything was in place. Skinny even gave him a morbid bone thumbs-up. Creepy.

  “This is as close as I can get her!” Bluebeard yelled as the ship reached the wave’s peak, the back of the ship facing the Sea King perfectly.

  The Sea King smiled a horrible smile. “I WILL ENJOY THIS, HUMAN,” he roared, bringing his trident up for a third time, aiming it straight at Jack’s chest.

  “Not as much as I will,” Jack said quietly, returning the Sea King’s smile. “FIRE!” he shouted at Skinny.

  Directly below him Skinny struck a tinder, then lit a fuse on a cannon.

  A cannon aimed straight out the back of the ship, and right at the Sea King.

  The merman glanced
down, his eyes widening. “WHAT—,” he said, just in time for an iron cannonball to burst out the window of the captain’s cabin and catch the Sea King right in the chest. The ruler of the mermen shot backward hundreds of feet into the air, his trident flying from his grasp to land on the deck next to Bluebeard.

  The force of the cannon’s blast combined with the wet footing knocked Jack off his feet as well. Frantically he windmilled, only to fall backward, tumbling end over end down the boat and into the massive tidal wave.

  Only to stop abruptly, the rope around his middle almost cutting him in two. He heard Bluebeard shout in surprise, and then the rope sent Jack crashing into the deck, something fortunately breaking his fall.

  “Hold on!” Phillip yelled, his own rope straining to keep him from tumbling down the deck after catching Jack.

  Jack frantically sucked in air, smiling his thanks. Unfortunately, that’s all he had time for, as the Sea King’s magic controlling the wave abruptly stopped, and the wave crashed, throwing the pirate ship straight into shore… and straight at the walls of what looked to be a castle there.

  Someone tumbled past him, but he couldn’t see who. And then Phillip yelled out “MAY!” and Jack went cold with fear.

  And then something struck him in the head, and everything went dark.

  CHAPTER 35

  May lost all sense of direction as the wave slowly broke, bringing Bluebeard’s pirate ship almost vertical, then past almost vertical straight to vertical, and past even that. May hung out over nothing, and nothing held her back from that nothing except a very thin, very painful rope.

  And then Jack flew by her suddenly, slamming into Phillip who’d let go to catch him just below her. Whatever Jack had been doing apparently had either been extremely successful or extremely unsuccessful. Knowing Jack, she knew which she’d bet on.

  But what she didn’t bet on was them living through crashing a boat this size, or a boat any size, really, into a castle five hundred feet below them.

  “Hold on!” Phillip yelled from below, but holding on seemed like the least of their problems. You wouldn’t hold on if your airplane were crashing. You’d grab a parachute and jump.