“How do you even play that game?” I hear Cassandra say with a laugh. Her laugh is sweet, and so familiar that I want to be able to wake up quicker just to see her.

“It’s easy. You think of an object or a person, and I can ask questions. But you can only answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’,” Zack replies.

“Why don’t I go first?” Zack suggests.

I gradually wake myself up, feeling all the cuts and bruises on my body from the king’s guards. I’ve never been a brilliant fighter, but I didn’t stand a chance against so many of them. It was a losing battle from the moment they started.

“Chaz?” Cassandra asks, as a small soft hand strokes my forehead. I feel a buzz of power when she touches the middle of my forehead, like a lightning burst that is almost pleasurable and yet demanding. My whole body feels an urgent need to wake up. I open my eyes to see her hazel ones staring down at me. Her brown hair is wild, and her mark stands out even more than before on her pale skin. Her beauty stands out more, even hidden under all the marks the world has given her. I can see dim, yellow bruises on her right eye, and even though it’s clear she has been in the dungeons for a while, she doesn’t look too dirty, just thin. Her cheeks are starting to hollow in and she looks paler than I remember her being.

“How is your face? It looks -,” I start to say, but she cuts me off.

“My face? Have you felt yours, Chaz?” she says, shaking her head as she helps me sit up and rest against the bars. I look over to see Zack nod his head my way, letting Cassandra take over and look after me. I’m relieved to see him here, and then I look over to see Dante snoozing further inside of Zack’s cage, lying on the dirty stone floor.

“Do I look that bad?” I ask her, and she smiles.

“You look as handsome as always, just with a little blood and bruises, too,” she says, but I don’t believe her. I know I must look as bad as I feel.

“I should be dead with the injuries I took…why am I not?” I ask her, my logical medical side taking over. A guilty expression hovers over her face.

“Whatever she did to save you, Chaz…she did it because you were nearly dead when we got back here,” Zack tells me, “I’m happy you’re alive and I’m going to leave our girl to explain.”

“Just tell me. I would never judge you for making a choice you shouldn’t have had to make. Either way, I could never be mad at you for saving me, giving me a chance to see you again,” I say as I look back at Cassandra. She takes a deep breath, before locking her eyes with mine.

“I made you my chosen. You wear my mark and you have my protection. Chosen cannot die when their changed one is alive,” she tells me, her words full of what I believe is regret for something I never want her to regret as she looks away. I’m one of her chosen. I suspected it, I always have, because of the way I was drawn to her. That kind of draw isn’t just lust, it was old magic, the magic of two souls that are meant to be connected. I move closer, lifting a finger under her chin and making her look into my eyes.

“Do you regret making me your chosen? I’m not a brilliant fighter, I cannot cook or clean well, but I’m a pirate who would die for you in a second,” I tell her, watching as her beautiful hazel eyes brighten. Her eyes are more than just hazel, as hazel doesn’t describe the little flecks of light brown that mix with the flecks of green. I know I could spend hours just staring into her eyes and looking for anything I hadn’t seen before. I want to memorise every bit of her, so I will never forget.

“I don’t regret it, only that I couldn’t give you a choice,” she whispers.

“There was never a choice, not for me. I chose you when you hit me on the head with a book and knocked me out. I chose you when you spent hours reading with me. And I chose you when you fought to save us on the ship from the guards, rather than hiding. I admire you, Cassandra,” I tell her, and she breaks into tears. I pull her to me, ignoring the sharp pains I feel when I do.

“Do you know what island I’m from?” I ask her, stroking her back as she rests against me and cries quietly.

“No. I only know you have been to all the islands because of this,” she responds quietly and lifts my shell necklace into her small hands. She plays around with the shells for a while as I watch her, seeing how she seems to like the shell from Sixa. It’s purple, with blue lines throughout the star-like shape.

“Fiaten,” I tell her eventually.

“What is it like there?” she asks me, curious about the place we told her she would be free.

“Free from the king. I never ran from my island, I just wanted to see the world that I was told about. Fiaten tells its children that the king rules all the islands with his mad queen at his side, that the army their parents are in, is training to destroy the king,” I respond. I knew when I first met the other pirates, and they told me about the changed one they had rescued on board the ship, where I had to take them. I saw my parents every time we took a changed one back to the island, and they took the changed one we brought into their ranks. I know they would love to meet Cassandra, and I hope we get out of here soon, so I can finally take her somewhere safe. She has never been safe, and I want that for her.

“They have an army?” she whispers.

“Yes, of dragon riders. Of changed ones and their chosen. Of soldiers who want peace. There are even half-mermaids who have no home on land or water, as the king would have them killed, too,” I tell her gently. “Basically, it’s a home for anyone in need, and they can choose to fight back if they want.”

“That’s where we need to go, to help them if we can. I’m tired of always running, tired of losing people to him,” she says, trying to be quiet, I imagine, but the venom in her words can’t be missed.

“Who?” I ask, knowing something must have happened to cause the pain written all over her face.

“My father and my teacher I told you about. The king brought them back here when he went to Onaya,” she says.

“I’m sorry, so sorry, Cass,” I whisper, leaning down and going to kiss her cheek when she moves and our lips meet. I freeze, feeling her soft lips against my own, but not wanting to push her. Cass doesn’t have the same worry as me, as her lips encourage me to kiss her back. I groan, leaning more into the kiss and tilting her head to the side with my hand to kiss her harder. She tastes sweet, and addictive. She tastes perfect. I flinch when her hands hold onto my shoulder and she pulls away.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she says.

“Don’t ever be sorry for that, my first kiss,” I tell her, and she smiles.

“First?”

“I was never interested in anyone, too busy studying and learning everything I could to help people. Then I was travelling, never in one place long enough to know anyone,” I explain.

“I want to see your home. I want to travel at your side,” she says, resting against me once more.

“Yes, and when we escape, which we will, we will go there,” I tell her, and she leans up, gently brushing her lips against mine once more. I watch as she settles down on my arm, resting her head and falling to sleep after a while.

“How did you get hurt?” Zack asks me after Cassandra’s breathing evens out, “One moment you were with us and then you were gone.”

“The king wanted to know everything about Ryland and Hunter on the ship. He wanted to know how close they were to Cassandra,” I say, not wanting to remember the hours of beating. I didn’t need to think about the bones they broke in my body and how I know they didn’t care if I lived, they just wanted answers. It’s strange, though, because I remember my arm being broken, but as I lift it in front of me, it feels nothing more than sore.

“What did you say?” Zack asks.

“Nothing, that’s why I was beaten,” I respond. I would never betray them. They are family to me. Everyone on that ship is.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, sliding a hand through the bars and placing it on my shoulder. I rest my hand on his before he moves away.

“Don’t be,” I say quietly.

“When did you wake up?” Dante asks loudly, and Cassandra stirs slightly. I stroke her side as Dante walks over and sits behind me in his cage next to Zack.

“Not long ago,” I say, and I begin to say more when we hear a clicking sound. I watch as the doors to the dungeons open and three guards walk in. The cage next to us has a blonde woman sleeping on the floor and she jumps to her feet when the cage door is opened. Standing tall and unafraid. The guard throws a loaf of bread in her cage and then shuts the door. The guards do the same to our cages, but Cassandra sleeps through it all as she must be so tired. Except with our door, the guard pauses and pulls out a long green dress from a bag on his back. Cassandra lifts her head, wiping her eyes as the dress is thrown at her.

“The king wishes she wears this dress for the games tomorrow, or we will strip her naked of all clothes if she does not agree. There is going to be a dinner,” he says in a cold tone and then walks out, locking the cages and leaving. Cassandra stands up, holding up the shiny green dress in the air. It looks well made, beautiful. I know she will look amazing in it, but wish it were under different circumstances.

“Why does he want me to wear this? And how can the games be tomorrow? It’s only been a day,” she says, dropping the dress on the floor and looking at it like she wishes she could burn it.

“He wants this over with, Cassandra, and you dead,” the blonde girl says as she chews on her bread.

“You have a point, Everly,” Cassandra replies.

“Which will never happen,” Zack says firmly, his words almost a growl instead of words. He sounds as angry as we all feel at the idea.

“I won’t let any of you die, and that includes me,” Cassandra says suddenly before walking over to Zack.

“Let me protect you, like I have Chaz?” she asks him and there is no hesitation as he nods once. I watch as she grabs his head through the bars and presses her forehead to his. He doesn’t stop her and there’s a warm feeling in my mark. I feel the connection between Cassandra and me increase, a more powerful need to be near her.

“My chosen,” she whispers, and he smiles widely.

“My changed one,” he says and kisses her. I expect to feel some kind of jealousy as they kiss, but there’s nothing, other than a little frustration that we are not alone and there could never be more than kisses in here.

“Do I get the same experience?” Dante asks, coming over to the bars near Cassandra and Zack. I watch as Zack pulls away, stroking a hand down her face before happily stepping away. He looks at me, nodding in understanding, as I look at the mark on his forehead. The one I know I have, too.

“Yes. All of you are my pirates, my chosen, but you have a choice. We don’t have to…,” she says and walks over to Dante, who pushes his head as close to the bars as possible as she speaks.

“I’m yours, and I want to be yours always,” he says. In response, Cassandra presses her forehead to his, and a wave of strong power hits us all as we fall to our knees. I gasp for air, as a burning feeling stretches from my mark all the way through my body and then back again. All I can see is water for a long time, just water in my eyes, and then it disappears as I gasp for air.

“What was that?” I cough out, hearing Zack and Dante also coughing for air. I open my eyes when no one responds, climbing up off the ground to see Cassandra. I just stare, as she stands completely still. Her mark is glowing so brightly that you can’t even look at it without it hurting your eyes.

“Cass?” I ask.

“I feel powerful, so much more powerful than before,” Cassandra says, her mark glowing a dark blue colour as her eyes find me. They glow the same blue, all traces of her hazel eyes gone. We all stand and watch her, feeling a bond between us all, a bond that will never be destroyed. I don’t feel scared, not even worried. Just at peace. Her mark stops glowing, the colour draining back to black, and as I look back at her eyes, they are hazel again. She smiles, walking over to me as we are all silent. She kisses me gently before sitting down and I shrug at Everly who looks at us with wide eyes.

“Old magic can’t be explained; it just is,” I tell Everly, who nods, still keeping her eyes on Cassandra. Neither of them speak as they watch each other.

“When that happened, I could feel where each one of my chosen were. I could tell how powerful each of you are to me; you are all equal. I could also sense the king, and the queen.” She tells us, but when I look at her, she is locking eyes with Everly.

“And?” Everly asks.

“Something about you shines so bright, so different from anyone else near,” Cassandra says, and Everly looks away from her.

“I do not know what you’re talking about. You are wrong,” Everly says and walks away into the shadows of the cage. I pick up the dry, stale loaf of bread and split it in half, offering the other half to Cassandra.

“We need to eat and get strong. Tomorrow is going to be a big day for us,” I suggest as she looks up at me.

“Yes…because we will escape,” she says with a cheeky smile. I watch as she sits down on the wall and looks over at the dress. She just stares at it as she eats her food slowly.

“Escape sounds good,” I reply and eat my food, too.