Trapped

"You know, I thought I heard something downstairs earlier," the pirate said, slowly pacing the room as Ariel stood in the middle of it, defenseless. The only advantage she had right now was the the pirate had no idea who she really was. "I thought I was imagining it, you know? But turns out, we have a stowaway on board!" Hook said, grinning. He talked and acted like a madman, but Ariel somehow knew that he was much wiser than he let on.

"I'm pretty sure you know who I am, even if you don't know what I've been through," Hook said, taking out a shorter blade and running its flat side across Ariel's face gently. "Meaning I'm at a sort of a disadvantage here. Perhaps you can enlighten me on who you are."

Ariel didn't say anything, since she couldn't speak. Hook laughed. "Fine. You're clever, I'll give you that. Sneaking aboard a ship that belongs to a two hundred year old captain? That is pretty impressive."

Ariel stared at the man. Had he just said that he was two hundred years old? Sure, merpeople lived that long, but she had always been under the impression that humans could barely live up to the age of sixty, much less two hundred.

"So tell me, love," Hook said, staring into Ariel's eyes. "Why are you here?"

Ariel concentrated and tried out a trick her sisters had taught her many years ago. Ariel focused all her energy into the tips of her eyes, and thought of a raging storm. This spell was supposed to make whomever looking directly into her eyes go mad. Unfortunately, Ariel was not her sister, meaning Hook caught on long before the spell could take its course.

Hook pushed Ariel away from him, and Ariel's awkwardness with her human legs caused her to collapse onto the floor.

"You- you're a mermaid," Hook said in a terrified voice. But that terror soon turned into curiousity which slowly turned into laughter. "I have a mermaid aboard my ship, completely at my mercy!" he began to cackle like a madman.

Arield didn't understand what was going on, or why Hook was so at ease with the realization that mermaids existed. Then it occured to Ariel- Hook may have looked like he was twenty something years old, and he may have been a total psychopath, but he also had two hundred years of life and experience. He knew things. And a person who had sailed their entire lives aboard Neverland's mystical waters was bound to know a thing or two about mermaids.

"But you're not from here, are you, love?" Hook said, staring down at Ariel. "Those other lagoon mermaids, they turn into vicious sea demons whenever I get near them. They have power. And their faces also get really ugly when they get provoked. You, though," Hook said, crouching next to Ariel, "You're a weak nobody with no magic and no demon mode who also happens to have a beautiful face," he said, reaching his hand out to touch Ariel's face in fascination.

Ariel grabbed the first thing she could find- a stick of some sort- and bashed it at Hook's hand. With a yelp, Hook got away from her. "I'd let go of that if I were you," he told Ariel, who was still holding the stick. "Got it from a realm called Camelot. It can create eternal fire, and we wouldn't want eternal fire taking over this wooden ship, now would we?"

Ariel carefully set the stick down, never allowing her eyes to let go of Hook.

"Look, can you speak? Screech?" Hook said, staring at Ariel. Ariel slowly shook her head no. Hook frowned. "Strange. You really aren't from here. Well, this certainly changes things."

Now it was Ariel who was frowning. "You see," Hook began, "I was going to kill you," he said, taking out a long blade which Ariel had learned the humans called a 'sword', "But now, I realize you're one of a kind. You don't have anyone to help you, you can transform into a human, and most importantly, you're in no condition to escape me. Meaning you're staying right here, locked up just like all my other precious treasures."

And before Ariel could do anything, Hook walked straight out the door. Ariel heard the lock close with a click. She was locked up un a pirate ship, full of murderous humans, nobody knew where she was, and there was nothing she could do. Ariel was trapped.