Episode Five
'A Pirate's Life'
“Um…Vanessa?” Skandar said, her voice catching in her throat. “Would you mind explaining to me how the heck you did that? That’s, like, not even possible!” Her heart beating wildly with excitement - and partial terror - Skandar slid off her bed and stood silently beside it, eyeing her friend suspiciously.
Vanessa looked uncomfortable. She shifted a few times, looking reluctant to answer, but she eventually shrugged and said, “I snapped.”
Confused, Skandar echoed, “You…snapped?”
“I snapped.”
“Like this…?” Skandar snapped her fingers together a few times, and Vanessa flinched as if expecting something to happen. Skandar eyed her strangely. “Yeah, like that,” Vanessa agreed. “I snap, and stuff…happens. It’s weird.”
Skandar hesitated, and then she burst out laughing. She didn’t really find it very funny, since Vanessa had, in fact, poofed into her room magically, but she was nervous and didn’t know what else to do, so she laughed. Vanessa scowled at her, crossing her arms impertinently. “Are you laughing at me, Skandar?” she demanded.
“Yes,” Skandar giggled.
Vanessa raised an eyebrow.
“Sorry,” Skandar apologised, still trying to control her laughter. “It’s just so absurd, Vanessa! I mean, you snap and you can suddenly teleport into my room? It’s a little bit far-fetched, you have to admit…” She sat back down on her bed, curious to see what Vanessa would say.
Vanessa rubbed her forehead tiredly and said with a sigh, “Yeah…I know. But it’s not really real, and neither are you, and I’m not really here - I’m just imagining it - and I’m talking to myself again…so! Since all of this-” - she flung out her arms to gesture to Skandar’s room - “-isn’t real, then neither are my snapping powers, so it’s all good. It’s just all in my head. See, I think I must’ve hit my head pretty hard when I-”
Skandar interrupted, alarmed, “What do you mean I’m not real, Vanessa? I feel pretty real to me!” She pinched herself a few times to demonstrate her point. “And my room is real.” Skandar whacked her bedspread. “And you’re real.” She went over and poked Vanessa’s shoulder. “And both Samantha and I saw you poof into my room. And unless all three of us are all having the same dream - like Inception, or something - then I think everything here’s real.”
Vanessa blinked, looking confused. “But…” she protested. “I fell down the cliff after grabbing that darn purple rock, and I must have hit my head. I’m, like, brain damaged now! This is all just a figment of my imagination; I mean, it must be. Teleportation and magical, glowing, purple rocks aren’t real, Skandar.”
“What cliff was this, Vanessa?” Skandar asked, wondering if maybe her friend really was crazy, like she said.
“The one I discovered behind my house,” Vanessa explained. “I went down a different path in the woods and I found this cliff. It was pretty steep, but I decided to climb it anyway-”
“That was stupid.”
Vanessa glared at her. “Anyway,” she said irritably, “I climbed down and then I saw this shiny purple rock.” She made a shape in the air with her hands. “And I reached over to get it, but the root I was holding onto snapped, so I fell. I think I hit my head, but I’m not sure. And then the rock started glowing, and it made these cuts on my hand-” She held out her left hand to show Skandar some thin, glittery, purple cuts that lay on the skin and looked recent. “-and then my watch started showing the wrong time.”
“The rock made these cuts?” Skandar asked.
“Yeah. It was weird. It tingled,” Vanessa said, looking a little disturbed at the memory. “So then I started home. I was bored, so I began singing to myself, and I snapped. Then all of a sudden it was sunrise.”
Skandar laughed again. “You snapped and it became sunset? What time was it before you snapped?”
“It should have been about 7 on the sixteenth.” Vanessa eyed Skandar closely, as if waiting for her response.
Skandar blinked in confusion. “But…it’s the fifteenth, Vanessa…”
“I know. This happened tomorrow.”
Skandar giggled. “Uh huh. Sure.”
“It did!” Vanessa exclaimed in frustration. “When I snapped again, I was back home and Mum was flipping pancakes! Before I left, she and Dad were on their way to Open House at school! Arg! It’s true; I promise.” She looked desperate.
Skandar crossed her arms, completely unconvinced. “All right then,” she said. “Show me. Take me to this cliff and show me this magical glittery rock, and then I might believe you.”
Vanessa sighed. “But I’ve never done it with two people before; I don’t even know if it’ll work.”
“Only one way to find out,” Skandar reminded her, eager to see if Vanessa really could get both of them to poof out, the way Samantha had claimed she had earlier. Vanessa shrugged and held out her hand. “It’ll probably only work if I’m touching you,” she said, so Skandar took Vanessa’s hand, laughing silently inside.
Vanessa took a deep breath and said softly, “I want to go back to the cliff where I found the rock tomorrow.”
And she snapped.
They were standing at the bottom of a gulch, a high cliff rising up before them. Trees grew sparsely along the various ridges of the cliff and around the two girls. The sky was a darker blue, signalling that it was nearly dark. A shiny purple rock lay not far away, sitting atop the dry leaves that coated the floor.
Skandar gaped up at the forest, thunderstruck. Vanessa walked over to where the purple rock lay, and she kicked at it lamely, like she wasn’t sure what to do with it. Skandar came over and reached down to pick it up, curious. Vanessa noticed what she was doing too late. “No!” Vanessa exclaimed angrily. “Skandar! What are you doing?”
Enraptured, Skandar straightened and held on to the rock, turning it this way and that, examining the stone with a fascinated expression. Vanessa tried to snatch it away, but when her friend grabbed the rock, Skandar realised it was stuck to her skin. She yelped in fright as she tried to shake it off, but it wouldn’t come off her palm. “See, I told you!” Vanessa cried. “It’s evil!”
Skandar tried to pry the purple stone away from her skin, but she couldn’t. She also was beginning to feel this weird tingling in her arm, like what Vanessa had described to her earlier. Desperate to get the rock off, she shook her arm hard, but it still would not budge. “Vanessa,” she whimpered.
“I warned you.”
Skandar stuck her tongue out at her. The tingle spread up to her shoulder and over to her heart. The rock began to glow, which made Skandar even more hysteric. “It’s glowing!” she shrieked, and Vanessa must’ve found her expression funny, because she laughed. “I told you it glowed, Skandar.”
“But it’s glowing!”
Warmth began to spread throughout Skandar’s body, making her pause. What was this? She felt a particularly itchy heat gather in her back, which made her both curious and fearful. She tried to twist around and see what was happening, but she couldn’t; she could only feel the itchy warmth proliferating. She rolled her shoulders, feeling sore all of a sudden.
Then she noticed Vanessa staring, her mouth open with shock. “What?” Skandar demanded. “What is it?”
Vanessa pointed.
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Elizabeth Swann sat on the beach of Port Royal, far away from the loading docks and the hustling crowds and merchant of the harbours. Her hair was loose about her shoulders, and her knees where pulled up to her chest, her arms resting on top of them. Elizabeth came here often when she needed a break from her prim and proper life, as it was the only place where she wasn’t plagued constantly by servants, her father, or her friend Will Turner, who - whilst he was pleasant enough - grated on her nerves after a while. Her maid Estrella had tried to convince the nineteen-year-old daughter of the governor that the blacksmith was in love with her and that that was the reason he was about so much, but Elizabeth didn’t buy it. Will Turner? In love with her? Why, they had been friends since they were ten years old, and there was no way Will would ever fall in love with Elizabeth Swann! So she came here to escape Estrella’s insistent reminders as well, knowing that they were nothing more than fanciful wishes.
The ocean was soothing to Elizabeth. It always had been. Something about the rhythmic pulsing of the grey tides, or the warmth of the balmy sun, or the far-off screeching of the gulls. Either way, it relaxed her. She tilted her head back, eyes closed, and sighed deeply in contentment, glad to be alone at last.
She didn’t notice that Will Turner was walking along the sandy dunes not far away. He had been there before her and had just now seen her. He stopped, stock-still, and watched her for a long time , breathless. But should he say anything to her? Will had never been very brave when it came to speaking to Miss Swann. Might she think it odd that he had happened to be on the beach at the same time as herself? Will sighed, his heart aching. Ever since he had opened his eyes and looked into hers that day he had been rescued, he had been in love with Elizabeth Swann. He knew that she didn’t believe that to be true, but how he longed to tell her it was! But he was too cowardly. He smiled ruefully to himself; Will Turner the blacksmith didn’t even have enough pluck to speak to the one woman he loved. How disappointed his father would be in him…
He turned and walked back the way he had come, silently ashamed of himself.
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It was almost two weeks before Caine was strong enough to get out of the hammock and walk around, and the only way he could do so was by leaning heavily on Lucy, which embarrassed him greatly. Caine had always hated having to rely on others and appearing weak, but this was worse than usual - having to have a girl help him do something as simple as walking. He was very glad Diana wasn’t there to see him.
But then, Caine didn’t really mind having Lucy help him. It gave him a chance to get close to her, though he was pretty sure Lucy thought of him in any way other than that of an injured boy who needed her help. She was too busy thinking about Sam. Caine’s blood boiled just thinking about it. Sam seemed to be oblivious to the fact that Lucy admired him and hung on his every word and looked at him with shining eyes like he was some great hero. The way Caine reacted around Lucy.
He had absolutely no idea why he was so attracted to this gentle, beautiful girl, but she drew his attention constantly; he never wanted to blink when he was around her, because he was terrified he would miss even a second of her loveliness. He never even thought of Diana anymore; Lucy Pevensie was the one that occupied Caine’s thoughts now. But the worse thing was that she seemed totally ignorant of his admiration. It peeved Caine to no end. He was used to girls falling all over themselves to earn even a look from Caine Soren and making complete fools of themselves in order to get his attention, but this girl…she was so different. She was always so sincere and kind, even when Caine probably deserved a few curse words for how he acted, and she always treated him like his and Sam’s health were far more important to her than her own; he had even seen her give away some of her supper to Sam when he was still hungry! Lucy Pevensie was the greatest mystery Caine had ever encountered, and he was determined to unravel every aspect of that mystery, one way or the other.
Caine knew he didn’t know the first thing about love, but he imagined that if there was any girl he could come close to loving – whatever that meant – it would be Lucy Pevensie. It would be impossible for someone not to love Lucy; she made everyone, even Caine, feel good and like they were worth something, which was a new feeling for Caine Soren. He had grown up feeling like everyone was his enemy and that the only way to get anywhere in the world was to crush his enemies and make them fear him. And he had been good at it. But he didn’t feel like Lucy was – or ever could be – his enemy. How could she? All she ever did was be kind to him, smile, and help him in any way she could. Lucy always had a kind, gentle word for him even when he was less-than-courteous to her, when old habits came up to the surface. Caine couldn’t understand it; how could she never get irritated with him? How could she always stay so calm and cheerful and beautiful? The elusive answer to his questions plagued him every time he saw her, but he didn’t want to ask her, didn’t want to show how interested in her he was. That wasn’t the way Caine got girls; he let them come to him. And Caine was confident that Lucy would, given some time. When she got over Sam.
Even now as he stood at the railing of the ship, gripping tight to the iron rail so he wouldn’t collapse and watching Sam and Lucy swimming and laughing in the water, Caine felt the old jealousy monster rising up in him. He didn’t know why he already felt so protective of Lucy Pevensie – he had only known her for two and a half weeks – but seeing her having such a good time with Sam, his mortal enemy, and knowing that she practically adored Sam made Caine extremely angry and jealous. He really wanted to hit Sam with a good telepathic punch, but after what had happened last time Caine had used his powers, he was reluctant to use them again. He didn’t fancy spending another three weeks in bed after nearly drowning.
Caine couldn’t figure out what had made his powers backfire like that; they’d never done that back in Perdido Beach, and Sam hadn’t had any problems – that Caine knew of – with his powers…Perhaps it was that they were in this new, weird world. Maybe there was something about this place that caused his powers to go wacky; Caine really had no idea.
“Caine!” Lucy called up to him. “Are you sure you don’t want to swim with us?” Sam splashed her and Lucy shrieked with surprised laughter, making Caine stiffen as he watched them having such a good time. He probably was strong enough to swim around with them for a little while, but he wanted absolutely nothing more to do with water, not now and probably not any time soon. And while he was reluctant to admit his weakness to her – especially when Sam was in hearing range – it made a for a good reason for him to stay out of the water, and he knew that Lucy would understand. Caine also didn’t want to be around Sam unless he absolutely had to, and this provided the perfect excuse.
“I’m good,” he said, partially wishing that he could be the one splashing Lucy and making her laugh, not Sam. But Caine would never dare admit that aloud.
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Vanessa reached out and grabbed something behind Skandar, and to her shock, it felt like Vanessa had taken hold of her arm, even though she knew she hadn’t. Vanessa pulled gently, and Skandar saw something white appear by her side. Gasping in reaction, Skandar jerked back. The white thing smacked Vanessa in the shoulder, making her friend fall to the ground and land on her bum, looking very annoyed with Skandar. “Calm down, Skandar, for Ferdinand’s sake!” she snapped, and then Vanessa got to her feet and brushed off her palms on her pants.
Skandar, meanwhile, was spinning in a slow circle, trying to catch a full glimpse of what was on her back. She now had a very good idea of what it was – if this wasn’t a dream or something – but she was unsure; Skandar wanted to see them for herself before she confirmed that she now had wings. She saw the full length of one of them a moment later, and Skandar gasped again. “No way…” she said softly, reaching behind her to touch the wing. Her hand trembled as it brushed over the large feathers, and she could feel her pulse drumming softly through the big, white wings.
Vanessa came over to her and took hold of Skandar’s wing again, studying it closely. “Interesting,” she commented, moving the wing this way and that, which annoyed Skandar. She moved her wing out of Vanessa’s grasp and snapped protectively, “They’re my wings, not yours. Hands off.”
Her friend raised her eyebrows at her. “I was the one who discovered the rock,” she pointed out, though Skandar could tell that Vanessa wasn’t trying to be challenging; her friend was just curious. “I wonder…Can you actually fly with these?”
Skandar snorted. “Why would I have wings that I couldn’t fly with?”
Vanessa shrugged. “You never know.” Then she walked around to stand in front of Skandar and gestured with her hand. “Well? Are you gonna try them out?”
Skandar blinked. Try them out? How was she gonna do that? Skandar didn’t know the first thing about birds or airplanes, much less how to fly like one. “Uh…” she said lamely. But she figured that she’d have to try sooner or later, so she might as well try them now. Skandar backed up from Vanessa, hoping she wouldn’t hit her friend again, and then started to pump her wings, though slowly and jerkily at first. She moved her arms with her wings to get the motion down, and once she had, Skandar started pumping harder.
And she felt herself lift off the ground.
Skandar shrieked in delight as she hovered a few inches off the ground, but she abruptly realised that she wasn’t strong enough to hold herself up anymore, so she had to touch back down. But she had just used wings – her own, beautiful wings – to fly! Kind of. But anyway, Skandar was ecstatic: how many girls her age got their own pair of angel wings? None! “Best. Day. Ever!” she declared happily, and she rushed over to hug Vanessa, who hated hugs, but Skandar was so happy she didn’t care.
“I have wings!” she told Vanessa excitedly.
“Yes, I know,” Vanessa said tiredly.
Skandar backed up and then asked her friend, “Hey, can you show me the snapping thing again?”
Vanessa frowned, looking unsure. “Well…the only place we can go is back to your house or mine, I think; when I tried to get myself into a book or get the characters out, nothing happened…”
“Well, it never hurts to try again,” Skandar pointed out, eager to see more of Vanessa’s cool snapping/teleporting powers. This day was so awesome! If Skandar had been told a few hours ago that Vanessa would magically pop into her room and that she, Skandar Keynes, would get wings, she would have laughed in their face, but now that it had actually happened…Skandar was really jazzed.
“I’ve got the Pirates of the Caribbean book back at my house,” Skandar said eagerly. “You could see if the snapping works with that.”
“I don’t know….” Vanessa said, sounding reluctant.
“What other books did you say you’ve tried it with?”
“GONE, and The Chronicles of Narnia,” she answered.
Skandar gasped. “The Chronicles of Narnia?” she demanded. “I love those books! Oh my goodness! That would be so amazing if we could meet the Pevensies! Vanessa, you have to try again! Maybe you have to do it a few times before it works or something. I want to meet Edmund so badly!”
Vanessa snickered. “What would you do if you did meet him, Skandar? Run up and hug him?”
“Maybe,” Skandar replied defensively, well aware of that fact that Vanessa thought her silly for being so obsessed with a fictional character. But hey, Skandar didn’t care what Vanessa thought; Edmund was amazing! It would be a dream come true to actually get to meet him!
Vanessa slapped her palm against her forehead in exasperation. “Oh my goodness…” she said with a sigh.
“What? He’s awesome!”
“Uh huh.” She took a hold of Skandar’s wings, causing her to jerk a little in reaction. “Ow!” Skandar protested. “What are you-“
But at that moment, Vanessa snapped, cutting off Skandar’s sentence. Skandar blinked and then she saw her room. “Wow…” she said blankly, and then Skandar dashed over to her bookshelf and pulled out her Pirates of the Caribbean book. She handed it to Vanessa eagerly. “Read away!” she said happily, excited to see what would happen.
Vanessa sighed. “I don’t think it’s gonna work, Skandar.”
“You never know till you try.”
“I have tried!”
“Well, try again! I wanna see,” Skandar protested, crossing her arms and glaring at her friend.
Vanessa glared back, but she finally opened up the book and began reading.
Will had made up his mind – he was going to go over there and speak to Elizabeth Swann.
After a few silent minutes of wrestling with himself, he had decided that he would have nothing to lose, and therefore he could be man enough to speak to the girl he loved. So he turned around and began walking back towards where he had seen her, his heart pounding and his blood racing.
But when Will rounded the corner of the beach, he found that Elizabeth was no longer there. He blinked in incomprehension a few times, and then realised that she was nowhere to be found. Had she gone back to her house in Port Royal?
Desperate, Will took off running towards where he had seen Elizabeth. Maybe she had just walked a little further down the beach. He had just gotten up the courage to talk to her; he didn’t want to have to wait any longer!
He kept running for a while, but he couldn’t seem to find Elizabeth. He had just seen her a few minutes ago…Where had she gone? He searched up and down the entire length of the beach, but still, there was no sign of Elizabeth Swann.
As Will paused to catch his breath, he was suddenly aware that he was no longer on the beach….
…He was on a ship.
A black ship, with a large dragon neck and head curving up from the hull. Puzzled, Will looked around, unsure what had just happened. Had he not been standing on a beach in Port Royal a few moments ago? What was this place?
“Will?” he heard Elizabeth say.
He spun around, shocked, but pleased that he had found her. But then…what was she doing here, too? Elizabeth looked surprised to see him, and after staring at each for a moment, she asked, “Where are we?”
“I don’t know,” he answered, stumbling a little because he was astonished that Elizabeth Swann was actually talking to him. “I just got here…”
Elizabeth looked annoyed. “That’s not very helpful, Will.”
Will said nothing. He continued to look around, extremely curious about this strange ship. It was of very fine make, elegant, and reminded him a little of the Black Pearl, but this ship was very different than the Pearl; for one thing, the Pearl didn’t have a large dragon head sprouting from the hull.
Will and Elizabeth started with surprise as they heard several voices – voices of children, or so it sounded to Will – coming from the water.
Then they heard another voice, one that Will was very, very familiar with, say, “Does anyone know whose ship this is? It’s very…pretty.”
Captain Jack Sparrow.
Will groaned in despair.
“See?” Vanessa demanded, shutting the book. “Nothing happens.”
Skandar frowned, disappointed. “Well….yeah. That was pretty lame.
“Yeah…” Vanessa said, frowning. “It would have been really cool if Jack Sparrow and Will and Elizabeth had poofed out here, or if I had poofed in there. That would have been awesome. But…looks like it ain’t gonna happen.”
“That stinks,” Skandar said, taking the book from Vanessa and putting it back on the shelf sadly.
“Well…I could always poof to Australia or something.”
“Why would you want to go to Australia?”
Vanessa shrugged. “’Cause then I wouldn’t have to go to school.”
Skandar brightened at this. “Ooh! Can I go to Australia too?”
“Why would I take you? It’s my power,” Vanessa shot back.
“Well, then I’ll fly,” Skandar said, in too good a mood about the fact that she had wings to let Vanessa ruin her day.
Vanessa laughed. “You wouldn’t get very far; you couldn’t even get two feet off the ground!” She wandered over to Skandar’s bookshelf and began rifling through the books again, looking intently for something.
“Well, I’ve never flown before; what’d you expect?”
“A little better than that.” Vanessa flopped down on the bed, and Skandar stuck her tongue out at Vanessa. Skandar then wandered over to the window and stared out at her backyard, wondering why nothing seemed to be happening when Vanessa read out of the books. It would’ve made sense if her friend could read them into books or the characters out of the book, so why didn’t it work?
Lucy jogged up the stairs, anxious to get above deck. It was almost sunset, and she hated missing the glorious sunsets that this place featured ever evening. She hadn’t missed one in the nearly four weeks they had been on the ship, and she wasn’t about to now.
She wished Sam would come more often than he did – he only watched the sun set with her once or twice a week, instead of every day, like she wanted. Lucy knew boys didn’t care about sunsets and watching the waves and all of that, but since she had developed a crush on him in the past few weeks, she would have liked him to share the experience with her.
And then there was Caine. Lucy still didn’t know what to make of him. He was always very polite to her and he never gave her reason to dislike him, but around Sam, he could be vicious. The boys always had a cruel word for each other, no matter what Lucy did to try and dissuade them from being so harsh. It made her so sad, watching them: they were twin brothers! They shouldn’t be so unkind and angry towards each other; even Edmund and Peter – back when they had such a rivalry – were not so hostile. Lucy couldn’t understand what had made Sam and Caine so unfriendly, as Sam told her very little about their life back in America, and Caine never said anything about it. She had given up on trying to get anything out of him; Caine was more tight-lipped about his past than anyone she had ever met, and it made her suspicious and worried.
Lucy came to the top of the steps and looked up at the deck, excited to see what glorious sunset would be displayed that night. But she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw who was standing on the deck, and after staying frozen with surprise for a moment, she shouted, “Edmund! Peter! Susan!” and ran forward.
The three older Pevensies whirled around at the sound of Lucy’s voice, and Edmund saw her come running across the deck towards them. Unable to believe it, he exclaimed, “Lucy!” and caught her as she barreled into him. He spun his little sister around in a hug, intensely relieved to see her alive and well. “What are you doing here?” he asked with a laugh.
She pulled out of his embrace and, grinning hugely, said in reply, “What are you doing here? Oh, I’ve never been so glad to see you three in my life!” And she dashed over to Peter, hugged him, and then to Susan, laughing all the way.
“Goodness, Lu,” Peter said, watching her, “You act like you haven’t seen us in months! Is everything all right?” He looked around curiously at the strange ship as if searching for anything that could be dangerous to his sister.
Lucy pulled away from Susan and said a little shyly, “Well, it’s been almost four weeks, and with just Sam, Caine, Caspian, and me here, it’s gotten a little lonely at times.” Susan, with her arm around Lucy’s shoulders, exchanged a puzzled glance with Edmund and Peter. Edmund frowned. Had Lucy said it’d been almost four weeks? But she had only been gone for several hours…There was a silence, and then Peter said, “Well, perhaps time works differently here, because back in Narnia, it’s only been about three hours since you and Caspian disappeared. How is he, by the way? Is he here?”
Lucy started to answer, but Caspian, coming from the cabin at the opposite side of the deck, answered instead, “Yes, I’m here, and we’re all fine.” He came up to the Pevensies, looking a little more reserved and weary than usual, but Edmund was so very glad to see his friend that he barely noticed. Caspian caught his eye, smiled, and then came over to embrace Edmund. Grinning, Edmund said, “How’ve you been, Caspian?”
“Well enough. And you?”
Edmund chuckled. “Worried out of my wits, but I’m all right now.”
Caspian laughed. “I’m glad to hear it.” Then he turned to Peter and stuck out his hand. Peter hesitated, but finally took it, saying, “I must say, I’m glad to see you all right, Caspian.”
“I’m glad to see you here,” Caspian returned. Then he looked hesitantly at Susan, as if unsure as to how he should greet her. To Edmund’s surprise – and probably Caspian’s, too – Susan came forward confidently and threw her arms around Caspian, hugging him tight. Caspian looked dumbfounded for a moment, and then he quickly recovered and embraced her too. Edmund cast a glance at Peter, expecting to see irritation, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary in his brother’s face, only calm acceptance. That surprised Edmund, but he said nothing.
Then Lucy said, “I’d like you all to meet Sam and Caine. They got transported here as well, only they’re from America. They’re brothers, and we’re all good friends. Wait here.” She dashed off below deck, her excitement evident in every step. Edmund smiled as he watched her go; she was obviously very glad to see them all.
She returned a moment later with two boys, both of whom seemed about Edmund’s age, which was sixteen. One, the boy with darker hair, seemed wary and uncomfortable about the whole thing, but the blonde boy strode confidently alongside Lucy and struck Edmund as someone who was a natural leader, unafraid of challenges. He liked him immediately, though he was unsure about the dark-haired boy.
“This is Sam Temple,” Lucy announced, smiling up at the blonde boy. Sam smiled and extended his hand to Edmund, who shook it. “Hey, I’m Sam,” he said, and Edmund heard his American accent in those three words.
“I’m Edmund, Lucy’s brother,” Edmund said.
“Cool.” Sam moved over to Peter, and then to Susan, smiling as he went. Edmund saw him sneak an admiring glance at Susan as he retreated back to Lucy’s side once he had met everyone, and Edmund smirked to himself. Sam would have a fun time going after Susan; Caspian probably wouldn’t let the Temple kid anywhere near her.
“And this is Caine,” Lucy said, turning and gesturing to the dark-haired boy. He did not smile, come forward, or even say anything; he just glanced at each of the Pevensies in turn, and then returned his gaze to something in the distance, his hands in his pockets.
“So where are you two from, Sam?” Peter asked, taking the attention off of Caine.
“Perdido Beach, California,” Sam answered, “Though Lucy and I have figured out that Caine and I lived farther in the future than you; we lived in the year 2011 before we came here.”
Peter’s eyebrows lifted in interest. “Really? That’s fascinating. Time seems to work differently in every world we encounter.”
Sam nodded. “Yeah, Lucy’s told me about your travels to different worlds. Very cool. I never had much interest in sci-fi and all that junk, but this kind of world-hopping or whatever is pretty interesting to me. I’d like to know how it works and how we all got here.”
“Me too,” Caspian said grimly. “And I’d also like to know to get home. We’ve been here too long.”
Peter was quick to reply: “Not really; as I was telling Lucy, you’ve only been gone a few hours back in Narnia. Drinian and your advisors will keep things running smoothly until we figure out a way to get back.”
Caspian said nothing, but Edmund could tell he was displeased.
There was a few moments of silence, and Edmund promptly thought of a question: “Does anyone know where we are?”
Caspian sighed heavily and answered, “No. We’ve seen no land, no other ships, nothing but water in every direction for all four weeks we’ve been here. I found some maps in the captain’s quarters, but they’re all blank.”
“Do you think this could be a new world, then?” Susan asked, voicing Edmund’s own question.
“We’re not sure about anything,” Caspian said softly. “Lucy and I discussed the idea, but it doesn’t seem likely. We haven’t been able to come up with much else, however…”
“I wish we could find land,” Lucy said then, growing sombre. “I’m getting rather tired of being on this ship all the time…”
“Me too,” the boy called Caine said darkly, the look in his black eyes echoing his words. Edmund frowned instinctively; he didn’t like Caine.
They all jumped as they heard a new voice call out from the poop deck, and seven heads turned to look at where the voice was coming from. Edmund stared in shock at the strangest man he had ever seen, the man who had said, “Where am I? This doesn’t look like the Caribbean.” He wore a faded grey coat and a tricorn hat, and various trinkets and baubles were woven into his dreadlocked hair. Kohl lined his dark eyes, and he wore shabby brown boots. A sword and a pistol were at his waist.
Silence descended on those on deck as they gazed at the strange man, and then, finally, Peter demanded, “Who are you?” Edmund waited for the man’s answer, curious.
The man turned his gaze on Peter, squinted at him as if trying to remember if he had seen him before, and then responded, “I’m Captain Jack Sparrow, lad.” He pulled off his hat and bowed with a flourish that seem strangely wobbly. When he straightened and put his hat back on, he demanded in return, “And who are you? Where’s the captain of this-” he paused to glance about the ship, his hands twitching a little as he did so “-fine vessel?”
“Peter Pevensie,” Peter replied. “These are my brothers and sisters, as well as a few others. I…I don’t think there is a captain, sir; at least, I haven’t seen one.” Caspian nodded in affirmative. “There’s no captain,” he confirmed.
Jack scowled. “What are a bunch of children like yourselves doing on such a ship? And why is there no captain? A ship like this can’t row itself.”
“Actually….” Lucy piped up, looking a little nervous at speaking. “It does seem to move itself, sir; we haven’t had to row or anything, and it just keeps going at the speed it’s going at now, all the time. We haven’t seen any land or other ships, though.”
The captain narrowed his eyes at her. “No land? No other ships?” he repeated. “Well, where the blazes are we, then? There must be land somewhere.” He gestured vaguely with one hand.
“Not that we’ve seen, Captain,” Lucy said sadly.
“Not that we’ve seen, Captain,” Lucy said sadly.
Then, the seven of them heard yet another new voice speak, this one saying, “Jack Sparrow?! I don’t believe it!” It was the voice of a young woman, and she came into view a moment later. She was tall, thin, and very pretty, with long blonde hair that was braided elegantly. Edmund assumed she must have been previously familiar with the strange captain, from the way she had said his name, and he wondered if there were from the same world.
Jack turned around, and he exclaimed, “Ah! Miss Swann! Fancy seeing you here. Where’s that blacksmith of yours? Did you manage to leave him behind this time?” He grinned, letting Edmund catch a glimpse of a few gold teeth. He wrinkled his nose at the sight.
“No, she didn’t,” a young man’s voice said, and Edmund saw a dark-haired young man step up beside the blonde girl, seeming protective of her. “I’m still here, Jack.”
Jack scowled. “Pity. I was hoping to have her all to myself this time.” The girl looked upset at his words, and she lashed out at him, but Jack caught her arm and laughed, saying, “Good to see you again, too, Elizabeth.” Then he turned back to the confused Pevensies and said loudly, “Well, if we’re going to find land anytime soon, we’ll need to be going a bit faster than this, and as such, we need a crew. All you lads look…like you’ll do, under the circumstances.” He grimaced. “And as I’m the captain of this ship, I’m giving orders now.”
Edmund looked over at Peter, who called up to Jack, “And who elected you the captain of this ship, Mr. Sparrow? We were here first, as I recall.”
“Ah, but you see, sonny, as I’m the one who goes by Captain Jack Sparrow and seeing as I have far more nautical experience than yourself, I’ll be commanding this ship-” he pointed to himself “- not you.” He pointed at Peter.
“That’s not true,” Peter countered. “I commanded a fleet of eighteen ships when I was king of Narnia, and I’ve been on over two hundred sea voyages during my reign. I’m sure I know just as much about ship as you do, and I think ‘king’ trumps ‘captain’, does it not?”
Jack smiled pityingly at Peter. “A very nice story, sonny,” he said. “But I’m still Captain Jack Sparrow, and I’ll be running this ship.”
