Skye was woken early the next morning by the slight sprinkling of the ocean waters on her face. She sat up and crawled back into her corner. The door to the room opened and she looked up.

"Here princess," said Ward sarcastically, "it's breakfast."

Skye made a confused face at him.

"What? Yeah, we keep you here so we can make an honest living. We aren't going to starve you and torture you."

She raised an eyebrow, "an honest living, really? That's what you're calling this?"

He nodded and flashed her a cocky smirk, "isn't this what everyone does for a living?"

"No," she glared at him.

"Well then," he said, "less competition for me."

"What are you going to do with me?" she asked as he reached the door to leave.

He turned around and looked at her, "keep you in here until we get our money, of course."

"Why? Why can't you just pillage and plunder like all the other pirates out there?"

"You'd rather that I let my men loose in your town to terrorize the women and children?" He asked, "you have to remember, they ARE still pirates."

"They are? Not you?" she laughed sarcastically.

"Sure, I'm a pirate. But I'm an honest one," he turned to leave again and winked at her, "can't say that my men are."

She gulped.

____________

"How long are you going to keep me here?" Skye asked the next man who was sent to check that she hadn't escaped.

The man shrugged, "until we get our money. The captain usually likes to keep the girl out here for a while, to make the parents worried, then once we receive word that they're ready to make a deal, we negotiate and bring her to shore. But the captain has something special in store for you. Says he doesn't need money from the king and queen this time. Says he's got something better."

"Like what?" Skye asked uneasily.

The man shrugged, "he never said. But it'll be good. Somethin' about you, missy, you're special."

And with that, the man walked away, leaving Skye even more puzzled than before.

____________

"Are you ever going to let me out of this cage?" Skye asked, glaring at Ward.

He laughed, humorlessly, "this is hardly a cage. It's a room, obviously."

Skye sneered, "yeah, I'm just chained to the floor."

Ward walked over to her and took the key out of his pocket and unlocked her, "and now you can roam around this room. Satisfied?"

She crossed her arms and smiled, "not really. You see, one of your men told me that you need me for something. Something important. So really, I could ask for something and you would have to give it to me. Otherwise I could just jump into the ocean and you wouldn't find me."

"Or," he said, not even slightly concerned by her threat, "when your demands get too high, I'll chair both your feet and your hands to the floor. And if by chance you escape that and jump into the water, I'll have you know that all my men are quite amazing swimmers, so it wouldn't be that hard to get you back."

Skye's eyes widened. She didn't even think about that. She mentally cursed herself, she was supposed to be sensible and think everything through. How had she not thought of those two points?

"I'll leave you to ponder that, princess."

"Wait!"

He turned around, "what?"

"Can I at least go on the deck? You can have someone watching me, or you can even watch me and make sure I don't escape, I just want to feel the fresh air again."

Ward sighed and walked over to her. He offered her his hand and she took it as she stood up, lifting her skirts out of the way.

He opened the door and she was met with the faces of about fifteen to twenty men all singing an old sea-shanty. She looked around and noticed that they were all covered in jewelry, probably from other ships and town that they had stolen them from.

She walked to the railing of the boat and looked out over the vast blue ocean. She smiled as she watched various dolphins and fish jump out of water. She closed her eyes and relished the feel of the water splashing her face.

"Sorry princess," said Ward, "but it's time for you to get below deck again. You can come back up again later."

"What? Why can't I just stay up here?"

Ward pointed to the cliffs that were coming up, "because my men are experienced and you are not. Those are sirens."