Not Your Average Princess

by Kylee Kosoff

  —Author Unknown

  GRIM

  An author’s gotta do what an author’s gotta do! And I had to save Henri and Hook no matter the cost. I pulled out my pen. There was nothing I could do to help Hook, so that meant I had to save Henri.

  Act 3

  Scene 1

  Grim appears on the scene fully equipped to help Henri.

  I’ve learned the hard way to always be fully equipped when it comes to saving characters’s butts. I sure was glad that I was prepared when I found myself on the bottom of the ocean. Thankfully, I had an oxygen tank full of air, a wet suit, flippers, and goggles.

  If this were real life and not fiction, Henri would have been dead.

  A character’s life is always in the author’s hand. The author controls whether or not they die.

  It’s why characters can go through impossible things because without the characters there is no story.

  I carefully grabbed Henri’s arm and pulled her away from the rocks.

  She was bleeding which was attracting sharks.

  I wasn’t sure what to do. Just because she couldn’t die didn’t mean that her wounds weren’t serious.

  Characters hurt. Their pain is as real as anyone else’s.

  But like all stories this one seems to have a mind of its own. Henri’s body began transforming in front of my eyes.

  Blue and black scales swirled through the water and started merging with Henri’s body. Her legs changed into a mermaid’s tail!

  HENRI

  My lungs scream for air, and every single cell in my body yearned for air. I gasped and gulped oxygen in greedily. For a few moments the only thing I could focus on was breathing. But it felt differently from breathing. Heavier and wetter. I opened my eyes. It was dark, but I could see clearly. I was underwater. My feet were gone where my feet were supposed to be I had a tail covered in obsidian and indigo scales. More scales covered my wrists and hands almost like gaudy jewelry. The pearl necklace Hook had given me was still clasped around my neck.

  “I wasn’t sure you’d make it!” a relieved voice exclaimed.

  A dark figure in some kind of suit waved a hand in front of my face. “Earth to Henri! Are you ok?”

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  “I’m your fairy godmother!”

  “Really?”

  “If the shoe fits, my name’s Grim. We need to save Hook.”

  But if what Peter said was true. “I’m not sure if I can!”

  “Look you’re the princess and he’s the prince. You save each other that’s how the story works!”

  I couldn’t help but remember that Dad said I could change my story. It wasn’t written yet. And I refused to be just another fairytale. “No, you don’t understand.”

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  “My curse,” I whispered. “Hook can’t be my prince.” I told her everything that Peter had told me.

  “Cursed or not it doesn’t matter! You’re still the only one who can break Hook’s curse!”

  “How do we even find him? He could be anywhere! And I don’t know how to save him.” I couldn’t breathe. How did one even breathe with gills?

  “Snap out of it! I know this is a lot, but Hook needs us.”

  Taking a deep gulp of salt water, I thought about Hook. There were so many memories. Memories of a gangly teenager with a constant scowl, but he smirked for me. I couldn’t help but remember when he left and never came back. I had waited to see his sails on the horizon for weeks, and when the Jolly Roger never showed, I had realized that fairytales didn’t exist.

  Then he came back.

  The ocean surged around me. I could feel the crashing of waves. The ocean is filled with tears, and I could could feel the suffering of an angry pirate.

  “Wait!” Grim yelled before I could swim after Hook. “You need me—I’m your fairy godmother. Now let’s go save the pirate in distress!”

  She grinned, and I refocused on finding Hook.

  Swishing my tail for force I practically flew across the ocean floor. The speed was as surprising as it was invigorating. I felt as sleek as a dolphin and as powerful as a shark. I didn’t know how, but I was sure I could save Hook.

  Chapter 18: What Do You Mean Kissing Doesn’t Break Curses?

  “Life is not a fairy tale. If you lose a shoe at midnight—you’re drunk.”

  —Author Unknown

  Hook

  The ocean floor is impossibly dark. I couldn’t breathe. Atrophy locked my muscles and seeped into my bones. As if the pain in my lungs wasn’t bad enough, the pain in my muscles was unbearable. I wanted to pass out or better yet I wanted to die. The metal was almost to my neck, which meant the curse could still be broken. But how?

  Henri couldn’t get to me on time, even if she could I wouldn’t want her to.

  I was on the bottom of the ocean! I hoped that Peter had not hurt her. I felt the ocean floor shudder beneath me, and the waves surged.

  “Captain James Hook!” A loud voice boomed.

  I rolled my eyes. I was drowning; it wasn’t like I could talk.

  “Hmm.”

  Suddenly, I could breathe as if a bubble of air was around my face. After a moment of coughing the water from my lungs, I drawled “Come out, come out wherever you are.”

  A man—well a merman—approached me. “Do you know who I am?” he asked. His voice dripped with power.

  In fact, if I wasn’t made of metal, I probably would have fallen on my knees. “I’m going out on a limb right here, but I’m guessing that you’re King Triton.”

  He nodded. “And you are my granddaughter’s true love.”

  “Your granddaughter?”

  “I believe you know her as Henrietta.”

  “Henri.”

  “If it looks like a starfish.”

  “Touché. What are you doing here? What do you want from me?”

  “As we speak Henri is on her way to save you, and I cannot allow that to happen.”

  “Wait what?”

  “She’s trying to save you.”

  “Didn’t think she cared.” I grimaced because the pain was still unbearable.

  “I do not like your sarcasm.”

  “I don’t particularly care! What do you want?”

  “I want my heir, and I can’t have her follow in her mother’s fish fins.”

  “You don’t approve of me?”

  “No, she should be with one of her own kind.”

  “She’s half human as well.”

  “You see my dilemma.”

  “My heart bleeds for you; however, if Henri wants me there is nothing you can do. Doesn’t true love conquer everything.”

  “Perhaps, but this time true love will not be enough to break the curse.”

  “And how do you intend to do that?”

  “By making it so that only I can break your curse.”

  I gulped. “She’ll never forgive you.”

  “I don’t need her forgiveness I need her duty.”

  “And you think this is the way to get it!”

  “You wouldn’t understand being a pirate.”

  The king of the seas snapped his fingers and disappeared and with him the bubble of air. Bloody hell!

  My heart lurched as Henri came into my view.

  Her golden locks were floating about her head. She was still wearing the pearl necklace. But her neck was etched with gills. Scales lay upon her body merging into a tail that swirled with dark blacks, mossy greens, and bright blues. More scales covered her slim wrists, and her brown eyes looked more like copper.

  Grim was right behind her.

  If I hadn’t been in so much pain, I would have thought I was lost in a dream. But it felt much too real.

  Henri’s hands fluttered around me. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “You’re the mermaid princess; I’m sure you can think of something. I’m sitting this one out.” Grim said but her words were muffled.

  I breathed out through my nose win
cing as more water entered my lungs.

  “Air! We need air.” Henri closed her eyes and seemed to concentrate on something.

  In a few moments an air bubble covered all of us.

  I coughed up most of the water in my lungs and tried to breath. My brutalized lungs contracted as they filled with air. “You came,” I rasped when I could finally talk.

  “I would never leave you to this fate.” Of course she wouldn’t. Henri was too kind for her own good.

  “The bottom of the ocean gave me pause,” I admitted. “But apparently, you were holding out on me, little mermaid.”

  “I didn’t know. How could I? All my life, I’ve been Rumple Stiltskin’s daughter. A child loved by villains and the farthest thing from a princess.”

  “Not so far,” I admonished. “You need to give yourself more credit.”

  “And you should have just told me the truth!” Fire sparkled in her eyes. “Why didn’t you just tell me you were cursed?”

  “Would that have helped my cause? Would you have believed me? I don’t think so. If anything, it would have made everything even harder.”

  “You should have told me the truth.”

  “It would not have helped my cause. In what story does the cursebreaker know about the curse?”

  “He’s got a point there,” Grim grumbled.

  “But I am not the prince.”

  “No, thankfully you are much too beautiful for that, love.”

  “You’re incorrigible.”

  “And you two need to stop this banter and finish the story. Kiss him!” Grim exclaimed.

  Henri hesitated, but I knew she’d do it. If just to save me from my own foolishness.

  But dread overcame me.

  She swam up to me and hugged me. “You’re the most frustrating man I’ve ever known. Your ego is literally bigger than this ocean at times, and you’re a pirate. You’re not perfect, and you’re no prince charming, but I couldn’t care less. Going through my very own fairytale I’ve realized something.”

  “And what is that?” I asked.

  “There’s no such thing as a fairytale or true love. It’s not real. Love is hard. It hurts, and it’s scary. It’s an ocean of overwhelming emotions. And you make me feel everything.”

  I could tell she was about to kiss me. “Henri, wait! I don’t think this will work.”

  “Don’t you want to be saved?” Hurt filled her eyes.

  “It’s not that; your grandfather and I had a bit of a chat.”

  HENRI

  Hook explained, “He doesn’t want you to save me.”

  “He’s already cursed me! What are we going to do?”

  The metal was just under his mouth. “Kiss me,” he whispered.

  “But it won’t work!” Tears slipped from my eyes. Crying underwater was unexplainable.

  “Kiss me anyway,” He murmured.

  I wasn’t sure what we were. I wasn’t sure if this was love. But I kissed him.

  “No one’s ever come for me before,” He told me as the metal encased the rest of him.

  Suddenly, he was frozen in time and cursed to drown. What could be worse for a pirate? To be tortured by what he loved most?

  My heart broke for him. I felt as wild and turbulent as the storms that wrecked the seas.

  “No!” I screamed. I wouldn’t allow it. I refused this to be how the story ended.

  The curse could be broken, and that was the only thing that mattered.

  My grandfather could break the curse.

  And I would do anything to break Hook’s curse.

  “What’s that crazy look doing in your eyes?” Grim asked.

  GRIM

  Henri didn’t reply instead she shot off in a vortex of bubbles and disappeared into the deep blue sea.

  “Well, one thing’s for certain whatever plan she’s cooked up in that pretty little head of hers isn’t a good one,” I told the immobile Hook.

  He blinked at me. I’d noticed that Henri’s air bubbles popped with her disappearance which meant Hook was drowning again. Thankfully I had an extra oxygen tank. It was difficult fitting it around a statue, but actually not the hardest thing this stupid story has put me through.

  I looked over at the general direction Henri had disappeared to. “I’ll say this about your girlfriend when she’s half fish she’s exceptionally hard to follow and extremely fast.”

  Hook glowered at me.

  “Don’t look at me like that. I was barely able to follow her here!”

  “I’m sure she’ll be fine. She’s like the queen of the ocean; what’s the worst she can get herself into?”

  Oh, who was I kidding? Not you guys for sure.

  Whatever Henri was planning was stupid, extremely stupid.

  Chapter 19: Love Is Sacrifice

  “We cannot fight for love, as men may do; We should be wood and were not made to woo.”

  —William Shakespeare

  Henri

  Atlantis was a kingdom of sunken ships, crumbling columns, and dull pearls. Sickly corals, broken reefs, and rotting treasures littered the mucky floors.

  Dolphins frolicked in meadows of yellow seaweed, and sharks prowled admist the jagged rocks. The water felt polluted, and it was difficult to breathe.

  A little mergirl swam up to me. She had black hair, glittering blue eyes, and a gap between her pointy teeth. “Are you the queen?” She spoke with a lisp, and her big blue eyes looked up at me like I was a queen.

  I felt uncomfortable with the title. I didn’t want to be a princess much less a queen.

  “Why do you need a queen so badly?” I asked her.

  “The queen is the only one who can save Atlantis. It’s dying without her.”

  “How?”

  “No one knows. But she’ll save us.”

  How could I break her heart and tell her that this queen didn’t want the throne any more than my mother had? I realized that glowing eyes watched me.

  Mermen, mermaids, and the merchildren even the sea creatures looked at me with gazes were filled with hope. How could I be their hope?

  The center of the ruined kingdom was a group of broken columns surrounding two gigantic thrones. Only one throne was occupied by a giant merman with a steely gaze.

  “Henrietta Anastasia Smith, daughter of Ariel and Erik and princess of the Merfolk, welcome to your kingdom.” His voice rumbled like the waves crashing against the cliffs.

  I bobbed my head as there was no way to curtsy with a fish tail.

  The curious Merfolk surrounded us teeming with curiosity.

  “Do you know who I am?” He asked.

  “You’re my grandfather,” I replied.

  He nodded. “Do you know your inheritance?”

  “I am my mother’s heir: the only one who can become the Queen of the Seven Seas.”

  “And you are here to claim birthright?”

  All of their faces were so eager. Was what the little girl said true? Was I really their only hope?

  “I’m here to make a bargain,” I said drawing from everything I had learned under the villains.

  King Triton frowned obviously displeased with the turn of the tide. “A bargain?”

  “Yes.”

  “What is it you wish to bargain with?”

  I took a deep breath. “My life for Hook’s.”

  I heard a few gasps, but the king simply scrutinized me.

  “What are your terms exactly?” He asked in a calculating tone.

  “I will do whatever it is you require of me. I will become your queen and fulfill my duty to the best of my ability.”

  “Your condition?”

  “You break Hook’s curse and return him to his ship. And I’ll not be forced to take a husband.”

  “And if I refuse?”

  “I won’t be your princess,” I said.

  He was silent for a moment as he thought over my plans.

  “We have a deal, Henrietta.”

  I exhaled with relief, but the king wasn’t finis
hed. He snapped his fingers. The water swirled, and suddenly Hook and Grim, a contract, and a pen appeared.

  “Sign this document and it will be so.”

  I picked up the pen with shaking hands. Slowly I made my way to Hook.

  He was frozen, but his eyes were screaming, Don’t do this.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered so only he could hear. “But I can’t live with myself, knowing that you have no hope and no way to heal. I love you, and love means sacrifice. You deserve to be happy, Hook. I only wish it could be with me, but it can’t—” my voice broke.

  The pearl necklace felt heavy around my neck. Tears blurred my eyes as I unclasped it and gave it back to him.

  “Don’t be afraid.” I wasn’t sure if I was talking to him or to me.

  I picked up the pen and I signed:

  Henrietta Anastasia Smith

  Chapter 20: Hooked on a Feeling

  “I’m hooked on a feeling. I’m high on believing that you’re in love with me.”

  —Blue Suede

  Hook

  The curse was broken, yet freedom tasted bitter. The pearl necklace was still wrapped around my hand.

  I’d woken up on a beach with Grim passed out next to me. It was one of my favorite islands. It had a chain of underwater tunnels that led to blue holes in the island. It was a perfect place to bury treasure.

  If my crew kept true to my plans, my ship should be on the horizon within a few days.

  Something glinted in the sand. Crouching, I picked up a message in a bottle. Pulling out the cork, I realized that the letter was from Henri:

  Dear Hook,

  I know that I can count on you to get this to my family and friends. I will forever regret never having said goodbye to them. I know that what was between us was stronger on my part than yours, and I want you to know that I understand. You weren’t ready to fall in love again because you were still healing.

  Wendy broke your heart, and I wasn’t the girl to fix it. Despite how it all turned out, I am so glad that I met you. You taught me that it doesn’t matter if I’m the perfect princess as long as I’m myself. I truly fell in love with you, and I wouldn’t change a thing. Yes, this isn’t how I thought my life would turn out, but I knew at least for a moment I understood why the best stories are love stories. Because the greatest thing in this world is love, and you gave me that. I hope that someday you will let your heart fall in love again.