A Tale That Never Was

Cindy warmed her hands as she sat in front of the iron fireplace belowdecks, smiling comfortably. Red and Selvina sat beside her, sharing the pieces of bread and cheese Red’s few copper coins could purchase. The bread was rather bland but it was filling and the cheese was good.

Sinbad poked his head through the hatch from above and narrowed his eyes at the youngest of the three girls. “Another passenger I see…”

Selvina gave him a frown. “She won’t be a bother, Sinbad. Captain Hook said she could come along so don’t start anything.”

Sinbad gave her a wink and smirk. “I do admire that blue fire within you, Selvina.” His face quickly hardened and he added, “You had best be right about her. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been on a ship with an innocent-looking thief.”

“She isn’t a thief!”

Sinbad said nothing and disappeared, closing the hatch behind him.

Selvina shook her head in frustration. “What is with those guys?! Seriously.” She looked at Cindy, who was slowly munching on a piece of bread, looking nervous and uncertain. “Don’t mind them, Cindy. You just need a good bath and maybe a change of clothes and then they’ll see you as the lady that you really are!”

The young teen smiled and eyed Selvina directly. “I haven’t had a nice dress in a long time. My mother would make me dresses whenever she had the time and I always loved to swirl around them and pretend a prince was watching…”

“I was never one for dresses,” Red commented. “I wore one once and when I was sleeping my brother stole it. He dressed up one of his archery targets and filled it full of holes. My mother was so mad at him, as was I…”

“So you do like dresses?” Selvina asked with a small smile.

Red shrugged. “My red cloak is good enough.”

“Yeah but the rest of your clothes are rags, Red.”

“They serve me just fine.”

“I think you’d look pretty in a dress,” Cindy piped up.

Red furrowed her brow and looked at her curiously. “Me? No. I don’t think so.”

“She’s right, you would!” Selvina exclaimed. “We should totally dress you up!”

“Don’t even think about it,” Red said through clenched teeth. “You’ve tried doing that to me on the way here and I hated every minute of it.”

There were thuds and heavy pounding on the boards over their heads and then the entire ship tilted to the side, forcing the girls to grab on to something and hold on. Selvina and Cindy grabbed on to a nearby post while Red dug her dagger into the floorboards and gripped it tightly. The ship straightened out and then began to bob up and down.

“Looks like we’re back into the storm,” Red noted.

“At least now I know to stay down here,” Selvina said. She glanced around with steadily increasing quickness and added in a panicked voice, “Red, where’s Bigbad?!”

Red, appearing completely unconcerned, pointed to a dark corner behind some large crates. “He’s sleeping there. I can hear him snoring.”

“What’s a big bad?” Cindy asked.

“My big wolf,” Red answered nonchalantly.

“A wolf?” Cindy’s eyes widened and her already pale face whitened even more. “There’s a wolf here?”

“He’s a nice one,” Selvina reassured. “You don’t have to worry about him.”

As if the mention of his name had stirred him from his slumber, Bigbad slowly padded toward the group of girls, emerging from the dark corner as if he had been a part of the blackness. Cindy let out a small scream but Selvina held her hand comfortingly and kept her there. The young woman trembled and whined lightly.

Bigbad soon reached them and set his gaze on the newcomer. He moved his snout closer to her and sniffed her for a few seconds. Cindy had her eyes closed and was trying to pull her away but Red and Selvina didn’t let her leave. She had nothing to fear and if she wanted to remain on the ship she would have to get used to Bigbad’s presence.

Bigbad gave her lick on the face before returning to his shadowy spot and going back to sleep with a loud yawn. Cindy wiped the drool from her face and breathed quickly.

“What happened?” she asked, still quite terrified.

“He just needed to get your scent,” Red explained. “Now that he has it he knows you’re a friend so he won’t hurt you. You have nothing to be afraid of when it comes to Bigbad.”

Cindy didn’t appear completely convinced so she returned to the fireplace and turned her back to Bigbad. “He’s just so big…”

“Cindy,” Selvina started, wanting to take the conversation elsewhere, “tell us a bit about yourself. We know you lost your mother years ago but have you been selling matches until then?”

Cindy shook her head slowly. “No…”

“So you did have a home?”

“It had a building I slept in. It wasn’t a home.”

The ship bucked violently and it threw the three young women forward. Selvina and Red rolled past the iron stove but Cindy slid directly into it. She placed her hands in front of her and they slammed into the side of the hot fireplace. When the ship leveled again she pulled them away and moved back a few feet.

Selvina scurried back to her side and with bulging eyes full of worry looked down at her hands.

There wasn’t a mark on them.

“I saw you touching the stove!” she said to Cindy. “How are your hands not burned to the bone?”

Cindy looked as shocked as she was. “I don’t know…” She stared at her hands and looked ahead at the stove and then back down at them. With a gulp she slowly reached for the stove again. Red and Selvina watched.

“Don’t!” Selvina finally cried out before she touched the fireplace. “You don’t have to.”

Cindy ignored her and placed her hand on the stove’s side again. She winced but didn’t remove it. “It’s very hot but it doesn’t burn. I can tolerate it.” She removed her hand, examined it, and smiled. “See? No burns!” She shoved it in Selvina’s face and the blonde shook her head in bewilderment.

“That’s a neat trick you can do, Cindy,” Red said with narrowed eyes. “What other powers do you have?”

“Powers?” she asked innocently. “I didn’t even know I could do this. I’ve never shoved my hand into a fire before.”

The ship heaved and tossed about for many long minutes after that and the girls held on to posts and objects that were firmly secured to the floorboards. Wood creaked loudly and items like hooks, harpoons, weapons, and tools of all sorts rattled and clattered about from wherever they were secured. A few empty bottles and jugs of rum rolled up and down the length of the ship as it dipped and rose in the stormy seas. After a particularly violent heave several things crashed to the ground and improperly secured crates snapped the ropes holding them down and tumbled to the floor. Water began dripping down from the crevices around the closed hatch and splattered on the floor, rapidly forming pools.

“Red!” Selvina cried out over the sound of the crashing waves outside. “Are we going to be okay?”

Red Riding Hood, wrapped around a wooden pole, eyed Selvina’s fear-stricken face and nodded. “We’ll get through! Just keep holding on.”

Selvina nodded, hoping she was right. The bread and cheese she had recently eaten threatened to make another appearance. She looked at Cindy who clung to the same pole she did and grabbed her hand. She squeezed it and gave her as comforting a smile as she could manage but it failed to calm the young teen.

“I’m scared!” Cindy cried out with tears in her eyes. “I should have stayed in the street!”

“NO!” Selvina objected. “This won’t last forever. We’ve gone through this before and we’ll do it again. Trust me! Coming with us was a good idea, you’ll see!”

A few more minutes of treacherous and frightening tossing about continued until eventually the ship dipped and bobbed only slightly more than it normally did on calm waters. The girls waited a while before releasing their iron grips on the poles.

“Is it over?” Cindy asked, her eyes huge.

“Yes,” Red answered as she climbed up the wet ladder to the hatch. She pushed it open and gestured for the other girls to follow. “Let’s see how Captain Hook and his crew fared.”

“Time to meet the crew!” Selvina said to Cindy as she walked to the ladder.

The younger girl appeared less than pleased.

They came out to a bright afternoon sun and steadily warming air. Selvina gave Cindy her hand when she reached the top of the ladder and helped her step onto the deck. Shielding her eyes from the sun she looked up at it with a beaming smile on her face.

“It’s so bright!” she exclaimed. “It’s so warm!”

“Aye,” said Captain Hook from the wheel. “It gets warmer still, little lass.”

Cindy giggled and ran to the nearest balustrade. She looked down at the sparkling, blue water tried to peer into the ocean’s depths with no luck. It did nothing to lessen her smile, however. She gazed at the sun once more and spread her arms, letting its heat envelop her completely.

Selvina and Red exchanged glances, both of them smiling at the young girl’s joy.

“I’m not shivering,” she said with a laugh. “I’m not shivering! I don’t remember the last time I didn’t shiver.” She turned around and ran to Selvina. She leapt into her and wrapped her in a tight hug. “Thank you so much, Selvina! You’re a gift from the gods! Forget everything I said about wanting to stay on the streets. My place is here, off the island and with you!”

Selvina couldn’t stop herself from smiling and hugged Cindy back. “Seeing you so happy made it all worth it. Just wait until we find a good family for you. They’ll show you the world and keep you happy like this forever!”

Cindy pulled away and looked at Selvina with a furrowed brow full of curiosity. “Why are you doing this? What do you get out of this?”

“I get to know that I made someone’s life better. That’s reward enough for me.”

Sinbad walked by, carrying a damaged crate, and muttered to Cindy, “You wouldn’t happen to know an island full of stolen treasure chests, would you, thiefy? I’ll take that as payment for transporting you.”

Selvina clenched her fists and groaned. “Sinbad! She is not a thief! Leave her be!”

Cindy giggled. “It’s ok, Selvina. He’s not completely wrong. I have stolen before… When you live on the streets you have to do whatever you can to live. I got caught a few times but after a while I got pretty good at it.”

Sinbad returned from disposing of the damaged crate and gave Selvina a wink. “I told you she was a thief. I can smell one from miles away.” He chuckled at how red the young woman’s face became. “I never said she’d steal from us.”

“Yeah, right,” Selvina grumbled, annoyed at how people were treating Cindy. “You sure are insinuating it, though!”

Sinbad shrugged and returned to his chores.

Selvina felt a sudden weight on her upper back and shoulders and smelled the familiar salty smell of Jack. She gazed to the right where his face was as he draped his left arm over her. “So this is our newest crew member, eh?” he asked her with that smirk of his. He looked Cindy up and down and shrugged his right shoulder. “She might be able to loosen up jammed cannons or get in places no one else can, other than the mice and rats. Rodents don’t affect you, do they?”

Cindy shook her head. “I had a pet mouse once. I’d feed him whatever I could get and he always ate all of it. He was always so hungry. I named him Gus.”

“Don’t befriend any mice here,” Jack warned with a raised finger. “Old cranky up there by the wheel won’t like that. He can’t stand the little buggers.”

“What happened to Gus?” Selvina asked after shrugging Jack’s arm off of her.

Cindy looked down at the ground. “It was only a few days ago when a stray cat found him when he was eating and he was too fat and slow to get away from it. I tried to stop it and I did end up chasing it away but it was too late…”

Selvina arched her eyebrows in an expression of sadness. Gemma, her friend from back home, had a brother that had a rat as a pet and though she found it disgusting she did find it cute sometimes how it would snuggle up on his chest when he lay on his bed. Living alone on the streets, she couldn’t imagine how devastating it must have been for Cindy to see her only friend killed in front of her. She gave Cindy another hug. “You have us now.”

Red, who had said little, finally spoke. “We’re a little tougher and faster than mice, too. We’ll be with you the whole way.”

“I don’t know how to repay any of you,” Cindy said, wiping a few tears from her eyes and sniffing back more. “You are being kinder to me than anyone else has ever been, since my mother anyway…”

“What happened after your mother left?” Selvina asked.

“Pfft, she didn’t leave, Selvina,” Jack said with a shake of his shaggy head. “She—”

Selvina elbowed him in the side and glared at him, her green eyes flaring. “You idiot, Jack! Just shut up! I know damn well she didn’t leave!”

“I love it when you play rough,” Jack said with a wink as he rubbed his aching side.

Selvina rolled her eyes and sighed in frustration. “Just…be quiet.”

Cindy laughed at the two of them. “Your boyfriend is funny.”

Selvina blushed red. “He is NOT my boyfriend!”

Red pursed her lips and nodded. “Of course he isn’t, Selvina. What would make us think that?”

Jack rested his head against Selvina’s shoulder and rubbed her stomach with an exaggerated dreamy look on his face. “She is my little ice chunk, cold at first but eventually she melts in your hand.”

Selvina smacked his hand and pushed him away. “I am not a chunk!”

“Jack!” Captain Hook called.

Jack straightened immediately and turned toward his superior. “Yes, captain! What do you need?”

“Quit flirting with Selvina and get up on the mainmast. The topsail needs tightening and I’ve got a group of islands coming up so I’ll need you to help guide me through.”

“Aye aye, captain!” He turned back to Selvina, gave her sloppy kiss on the cheek, and then hurried to the mainmast.

Selvina wiped the drool from her cheek and growled. “That guy is so disgusting…”

Jolly Roger sailed into a sea full of spiked islands poking out of the water. Half the sails were furled to increase maneuverability, according to Captain Hook, and Jack called out when the ship got too close to some of the hidden spikes. It was slow going but they had yet to even graze against one of the islands.

“Captain Hook is good,” Cindy remarked as the ship passed by an island so close she could have reached over the side and touched it.

“Yeah,” Red agreed, “I wouldn’t worry when he’s at the wheel. He’ll get us out of anything.”

Selvina looked at Captain Hook and saw him conversing with Sinbad in a low voice. He had frown on his face and look of determination. I could have been from navigating through the tooth-like islands but she didn’t think that was the whole reason. As captain of the ship he had a reason for being here and she guessed she’d find out what it was soon enough.

Moments later, the sound of short bursts of thunder was heard. They came in rapid successions with a pause in between them. Selvina noticed the men on the deck were grabbing weapons of all sorts and getting into position near the cannons. She heard another rapid succession of booms and then walked up to the captain.

“What is happening, Captain?” she asked him. “Why are we heading towards that sound?”

Captain Hook didn’t even look at her as he focused on navigating through the sea of teeth. “We’re pirate hunters first, lass. Merchants come by this way and I’ll bet you my left hand that one of them is under attack by a pirate.”

“How can you tell?”

“I know the sound of those thirty-two pounders from anywhere. He always throws bits and pieces of shrapnel in with the ball to spill as much blood as he can. He’s obsessed it. I’ve seen him drink it from a severed hand...as the victim watched.”

Selvina wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Eww, who is this guy?”

Captain Hook gazed hard straight ahead and pursed his lips tightly, the hair from his moustache and beard hiding them from view. His knuckles were white as he clenched the wheel, turning it to the right as he guided the ship around a massive, mountain-like spike. He took a deep breath and Selvina followed his gaze to set her eyes on two ships, one larger than the other, exchanging volleys of cannon fire. The smaller ship was faster and was clearly winning the duel as the larger, slower ship struggled to survive. Great clouds of smoke exploded out of the sides of each ship with every blast of cannon shot, the thunderous crack of each exchange echoing for miles all around. Wood splintered and cracked and men cried out and died. The larger ship was listing heavily on one side as it took in water. Like a vulture creeping toward dying prey the smaller ship moved in closer.

“Get belowdecks, Selvina,” Captain Hook warned in a low, almost threatening tone. “This is no pirate you want seeing you. He has a sick liking to young maidens such as yourself. Take Red and Cindy with you. NOW!”

“Captain,” Selvina said as she backed away to the steps leading to main deck. “Who is he?”

Fire ignited in the captain’s eyes and his jaw set firmly. It was clear to Selvina that he did not like speaking of this certain pirate and she had a suspicion as to why. When he spoke, only two words, those suspicions were confirmed.

“Peter Pan!”