“Yes…green eyes,” I said. “She was at the…dance.”
I couldn’t keep my head from collapsing on Eddy’s chest. His heart beat kept a steady pat against my cheek as things went dark.
“Which direction did she go, Snow?” Maddox asked with intensity. “If we follow her, she’ll lead us to Rapunzel.”
I was barely able to lift my finger to point to the forest, before my body finally succumbed to the darkness.
Chapter 22
John and Michael (from Peter Pan)
John [Wendy Darling’s brother in Disney’s 1953 film Peter Pan] is shown to be extremely sophisticated (despite his age). He often speaks in a sophisticated way, which his younger brother Michael usually mimics and repeats (albeit in a more simplistic way (i.e. John: “Oh, I should like very much to cross swords with some real buccaneers.” Michael: “Yeah, and fight pirates, too!”). He also shows interest in piracy, which may explain why he plays the part Captain Hook in his nursery games with his younger sibling. John is also shown that he is brave and clever, cause when he and Micheal were playing with the Lost Boys, he was the leader. John is, as well, very mature, but loves his time being very adventurous and playful.
Michael is a supporting character in the film. It is explained that he and his older brother Johnbelieve that Peter Pan, whom they have learned about from Wendy’s stories, is a real person. Thus, they often make-believe that they are Captain Hook and Peter Pan in their nursery games. —disney.wikia.com
Still on the Pirate Ship
}Rapunzel}
After the captain revealed his relationship to my father, he left me alone to mull over the awful discovery.
Crew members took turns watching over me throughout the day. With their constant, watchful stare, I never had the chance to make my frightful dive out the open window in an attempt to escape before they boarded it up with wood and nails.
That day, the hours passed by slowly at a snail’s pace because none of the pirates would talk to me. The captain obviously gave orders to not speak to me. They either rewarded me with a snarl or an evil, lustful stare when I asked them a question.
So, instead, I tried to take pleasure in the quiet reverie that surrounded me in my private cell. It’s what I had done for ten years in my tower. I decided to use my imposed solitude to work on my exercises, just like I did all those years alone in my tower. There wasn’t much room, but I had developed exercises to do when I couldn’t go out in the garden. It felt so surreal to be thrust back into that old tower life, and I’d never admit it made me feel a little dead inside.
I had soaked through my dress with sweat when I finally finished my drills. Being in the small, cramped room and in the muggy hold of a pirate ship felt so crushing. I couldn’t catch a deep breath because it felt like the ceiling and walls would fall on me.
The boy named Michael, who had helped kidnap me, had to sit there most of the day and watch me.
He didn’t pay me much attention as I exercised. He probably thought I was just going crazy or something. So, it surprised me when he asked, “Why are you even trying?”
“Excuse me?” I said, not understanding what he meant or if he was even really talking to me.
“Why don’t you just give up?” he asked again. “The captain has waited a long time to capture you. He won’t let you escape.”
I didn’t respond. I wondered if he was trying to pry something out of me.
“You don’t seem like a princess,” he said, standing up and stepping forward.
I tilted my head in question. “What do you mean?”
“You’re tough and you know how to fight.” He leaned against the doorframe of my cell. “I’ve never met a princess like you.”
“How many princesses have you met?” I asked.
“Well, I’ve never actually met one, but I know all about them,” he said, surveying his nails.
“How can you know all about princesses if you’ve never met one?” I asked, hating that some little pirate thought he knew me.
“Everybody knows princesses are indolent and incompetent.”
“And who is this ‘everybody’? I am not indolent and incompetent!” I exclaimed, my blood boiling in rage. I was not going to let anyone classify me as lazy or useless.
He had the nerve to smile. “I know you’re not, Princess.”
“Then why did you say it?” I asked, still reeling.
“To prove my point. Have you met many other princesses?”
I wasn’t sure how to respond. Besides my cousin, Snow, I didn’t think I had met any other daughters of a royal crown.
Taking my silence as his answer, he said, “You’re not a typical princess, and it’s a good thing.”
“Um…thanks.” His complement confused me. “Why are you being so nice?” I asked. It had been less than twenty four hours since he assaulted and helped capture me to bring me to this awful pirate ship.
“Even though I do what I’m told, I don’t always agree with my orders,” he answered. Then, unexpectedly, he took a step into my cell and closed the door.
My heart pounded in my chest. His compliment could have been a way to break down my emotional walls so he could attack me when I was vulnerable.
Well, like he said, I’m not your normal princess.
I lifted my fisted hands in front of my face and prepared to defend against my attacker, even if the consequence would mean angering him further. I wasn’t going down without a fight.
“Calm down,” the young pirate whispered. He raised both hands in surrender. “I merely wanted to talk to you in private.”
Still keeping my hands up in defense, I asked, “How can I believe anything you say?”
“Why else would I risk being flogged by the cat o’ nine tails to talk to you?” I had read about the barbaric punishment pirates inflicted that sometimes proved fatal. The cat o’ nine tails was usually an unwound rope of nine strands, the ends varied from tarred knots, musketballs, or even fish hooks. After the beating, the flogger sometimes filled the cuts with salt and vinegar to inflict more pain.
I cringed at the thought of such a horrible punishment. I lowered my hands a little. “Your name is Michael, right?”
“Yes, Princess.” He bowed his head slightly. I wondered how he became a buccaneer. Why would a child join a group of people who stole and pillaged and burned?
“How old are you?” I asked.
“Eighteen.”
“Why do you do this?”
“Pirating pays well, I get three meals a day, and I have a place to sleep at night,” he answered. “Plus, I can watch out for my older brother.”
“Is he the one who helped you kidnap me?”
Michael looked at the ground and nodded.
“I’m not going to stop trying to escape.” I straightened my shoulders and put as much bluster into my voice as possible, although I didn’t feel any.
He looked at me. “Good, don’t ever give up.”
Hope exploded inside of me. “Can you help me escape?” I asked, assuming I could maybe sway him into giving me the support I needed to find a way off the pirate ship.
It was like his eyes clouded over. “I’m sorry, I can’t help you,” he said sadly. “It’s not just me the captain will punish. He’ll also whip my brother.”
I understood what it meant to sacrifice oneself for someone you loved, much as I had done when I willingly left the harvest dance to protect my cousin.
“It’s all right,” I said. “I’ll figure out a way to escape without you. But maybe you could at least look the other way and forget to lock the door.”
He smiled at my jesting. “I should probably tell you something that will stop your eagerness to escape,” he said, wincing as if hesitating in what he was going to tell me.
“Nothing will change my determination to leave,” I said.
“What if I told you the captain’s wife was looking for Princess Snow?”
“What?” I exclaimed.
No! Sn
ow could not be kidnapped!
“The captain’s wife, Lady Hannah, left after the captain came down here to talk to you. She made a fuss about the captain revealing too much information to you, and left without his permission, to find your cousin, Snow.”
“Will she bring her here to the pirate ship?” I asked.
“It’s not guaranteed she’ll bring her safely back.” His words sent chills down my back. “Lady Hannah left in a temper and has been known to do some vicious things when she’s angry.”
“Then, I have to go find my cousin,” I said, pacing the short eight steps in the cell.
“Your best bet is to stay here on the ship,” he said. “You have no idea where your cousin is, and even if we don’t know Lady Hannah’s full intention, she’ll most likely bring her back here.”
“But I can’t idly sit and wait.” I paced the room.
“I’m afraid that’s all you can do. There’s no way to escape.”
I stopped walking. “Is this a trick or something to keep me from trying to get away?”
“You can believe me or not. It doesn’t matter. But think about something for a minute: if the captain wasn’t waiting for Lady Hannah to return with your cousin, we would have already set sail. As you can tell, we are still anchored close to shore. How else would you explain that?”
I thought about his explanation, and it made sense but I held out for a little hope. “Maybe we’re taking on food and water?”
“No. That’s already on board. Look. Try to save your strength for when there’s an actual chance to escape,” Michael said before he opened my cell door.
I was so confused about this strange pirate’s motives. He discouraged me from escaping but in the same breath he admired me for my strength and encouraged me to never give up. However, I would do as he suggested and wait for the right time to break away. Hopefully, an opportunity would present itself soon.
Once Michael and I weren’t enclosed alone together in my small room, he put his angry scowl of a pirate mask back into place. He slouched back to his lookout post and didn’t give me another worry or notice. It was as if he erased all proof of our relationship or even our conversation.
That night, the captain stationed two of his crew members at my open cell door. Unfortunately, Michael wasn’t one of them. Instead, perhaps the most horrid members of the crew slept next to the doorway. They took turns sleeping, one of them would snore loudly while the other one sneered and ogled in my direction. The rocking of the ship and the unwashed stench from the men both worked to make me sick all over again.
Not like I could have slept anyway. I worried about Snow and how we could escape. If Michael had given me the correct information, as soon as Lady Hannah returned, the ship would set sail. Once that happened, even if Snow was also onboard, it would be too late. If I escaped before the captain’s wife returned, I could hide, then rescue Snow, myself. But how would I get to shore past all those hungry sharks, when I couldn’t swim?
I spent the majority of the night thinking of ways I could sneak off, but none seemed plausible. After many hours, all I had left was a pounding headache. I drifted off to sleep a couple times, but the pirates’ loud snores kept waking me up.
A few candle lanterns on the wall outside my cell provided some light, but with the porthole in my room boarded up, I had no way to tell when the sun rose. Fortunately, a new pirate coming down the stairs to take over his comrades’ shift mentioned it was morning.
Why am I still fighting? I wondered, staring at the many bloody marks on my arm.
“What did they do to you?” I didn’t hear the pirate come into my room, so his voice caused me to jump.
My heart leapt as I looked up. “Maddox?” I whispered, not believing what I was seeing.
He wore pirate clothes from head to toe—and looked very handsome, I might say. He grabbed my hand and tenderly traced one of the marks on my wrist. “What happened?”
“I tried to get out of my bindings,” I said, reveling in his touch.
Maddox caressed my cheek with his other hand. “Let’s get you out of here.”
Trembling, I just stared at him.
“I’m not sure how much time we have,” he said.
“How did you get here?” I finally asked.
“Your friend Michael was walking near the shore last night and saw me hiding behind the trees. I didn’t know if I would have to kill my first pirate when he approached me. But then he raised his hands in surrender and said he wanted to help you escape. I swam to the ship and he helped me get onboard.”
“Really?” I asked, hesitant to believe a pirate would help us. Even though it seemed Michael and I had a moment of something yesterday, he was still a pirate, and fiercely dedicated to his brother, who was a devoted pirate.
“He got me a disguise so I could blend in.”
“Are you sure he didn’t walk you into a trap?” I asked, with a sinking feeling in my gut.
“I thought about that, which is why we’ll be escaping a different way than he suggested,” Maddox said with a sly grin.
I smiled in return, feeling the warmth in my heart at being near Maddox again. There was no denying the affection I felt for him, and maybe I should have been surprised at how quickly that had happened, but seeing him here, knowing he had come to rescue me, only made those feelings grow.
“Who else came with you? Where is everyone?”
“We can talk about that later.” He looked over his shoulder, as we both heard a creak on the stairs.
Although the noise was nothing, I still whispered, “Thank you for coming to rescue me.”
He pulled something from one of his pockets. It was a pink and orange honeysuckle flower, much like the ones that grew near the window of my tower.
“Where did you get this?” I asked, thinking about the many years I looked out my window at the beautiful flowering vines. I took the offered flower and held it gently in my hand.
“When we came through the magic door and got out of Sherwood Manor, there were these honeysuckle plants growing up the wall of the house. I remembered you mentioning the flowers that grew near the window in your tower. I figured these were the same flowers, so I picked one to give you when I found you.”
He remembered. “I can’t believe you came all this way to rescue me, and you brought the flower all this way. And look. It isn’t even wilted. Thank you! This means so much to me.”
“It’s not every day someone gets to dress up like a pirate and rescue a princess.” The warmth in his voice and the spark that raced through my body tipped me right over into happiness.
I smiled at his cheerfulness. He definitely wasn’t the same grumpy boy I first met in Idaho. This boy was fun, caring, and he made me happy. He was still the same confident boy I met, but now I saw he could also be humble. I doubted I would meet anyone else like him that made me feel the way he did.
“Are you ready?” he asked, sliding his hand down my arm and intertwining our fingers.
I squeezed his hand in reply and said, “Let’s go.”
Maddox let go of my hand to go up the stairs, making sure no one waited to ambush us. He waved for me to follow, and he grabbed my hand again when I climbed up behind him.
We carefully moved down the gangway, past several doors, most likely the crews’ living quarters, and opened the last one on the right side.
Once we stepped inside and closed the door, Maddox leaned up against the handle and announced, “We’re going to crawl out the window.”
I was proud of myself for coming up with the same idea of escaping out the porthole window. However, his plan meant diving into the water at nearly fifteen feet up instead of from down below where it was closer.
“I can’t swim very well,” I said, embarrassed at the confession.
“That’s all right.” He put his hands on my shoulders. “I’ll be there to help you. I can swim well enough for both of us.”
I nodded, even though my heart was already racing at the fea
r of drowning. “But what about the sharks?”
“What about them? There aren’t any around here. I swam out here, remember?”
I nodded, unconvinced.
Maddox moved to the window and pushed it out on its hinge. The smell of the salty sea air wafted into the room and began to replace the musty air. I breathed in a big cool, fresh breath and prepared myself to make the plunge.
I moved next to Maddox and peered out the window. My stomach roiled as I thought of me plummeting to the water.
“I’m going to jump first, and then you’re going to come after me,” Maddox said. When I didn’t respond, he nudged my arm with his elbow. “You can do this, Rapunzel. This is nothing compared to what I’ve seen you do.”
Using his compliment to build my lack of confidence, I said, “I’m ready.”
Then, without telling me, or asking, Maddox leaned over and kissed me.
He kissed me!
My eyes were open, and the kiss was short, but, oh, it was sweet and wonderful and made my toes curl.
Maddox studied me for a moment, measuring my reaction, then he put both hands on my cheeks. “Can I kiss you again?”
“Yes,” I said, my voice coming out almost as a sigh.
His lips turned up in a smile as they lowered closer to mine.
This time I was prepared. My eyes fluttered closed and I grabbed the front of his shirt to pull him closer. As his lips settled on mine, I melted into his embrace. The kisses I read about in books didn’t do justice to this real-life kiss. My chest burned with a sweetness that filled my soul and overflowed into rich happiness. I breathed him in—this man I loved.
Did I just say loved?
I wasn’t sure yet if it was love, but it felt pretty close.
When he broke away from our kiss, he said, “We should go.” His voice was raspy and a little out of breath.
He still held my face in his hands, so I smiled as I nodded. “Yes, we should.”
He dropped his hands and prepared himself to climb out the window. With one last look at me before he pushed himself through, he said, “Looks like my plan worked. My kiss distracted you from being afraid.”
Rescuing Rapunzel (The Princess Chronicles Book 3) Page 14