Stell mentally beat herself up as the pirates threw her and her companions onto the deck of their ship. Unie wailed about Rapario's boat sinking and one of the pirates stealing her bag of weapons. It wasn't until one of them kneed her in the stomach that she was silenced, coughing and hacking in pain. Kabuto tried fighting off the pirates that were trying to hold him down, but when they threatened to slash Tak's neck open as the fire mage tried fighting his assailants off, Kabuto relaxed and ordered Tak to do the same. Reuben came on to the ship calmly, shaking with one of the pirate's guns to the back of his head. Farkas snarled and snapped at the pirates that held him, but when he looked to Alia he only growled and let the pirates drag him to where everyone else was. Thorne, however, kept trying to fight her captors off, kicking and hollering while Harry squeaked furiously and kicked his long feet at anyone who tried to grab for him to help their fellow pirates.

Everything finally calmed down when the crew tied the group heading to Sefloria up and shoved them to their knees in the middle of the deck. Unie sobbed, Stell scooched over to let the child cry on her shoulder. The girl, who appeared to be the captain, strode over proudly to loom over the group, her eyes glinting as she glared down at them.

"Evening, land lubbers," the girl greeted, fangs protruding from her smile, "you all have been forced on to the Night Raider tonight because you all are wanted by Kespain's royal family, the Mallors for treason!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kabuto spat. "We did nothing against their God damned laws!"

"Why are you going to Sefloria, shadow boy?" the girl demanded, pointing her sword at his neck. "And with a witch no less." she eyed Stell with a quizzical look.

Stell flinched under her gaze. Did the captain know about her? Were the Mallors really looking for her?

"We're just going there to a museum!" Reuben lied, catching the captain's attention. "You know, ancient items, old dusty books, boring stuff, you wouldn't like it."

"Why would a shadow he interested in seeing a Seflorian museum?" the captain asked, with a sly, fang-filled smirk.

Reuben smiled up at the girl, clearly looking for some way to answer. "Good question!" the necromancer's voice cracking. "W-Why are you interested in going to a Seflorian museum, my good fellow?"

"I'm going to gut you like that fish!" Kabuto threatened. "I'm going because... She promised my kid here a cake and he wouldn't shut up about it!" Kabuto replied, motioning at Stell and Tak. "He's a young, stupid fire mage, he doesn't understand shadows and witches aren't on best terms at the moment."

"And why would you offer a shadow's mage cake?" the captain asked, looking to Stell suspiciously.

"Because, unlike shadows, Tak is cute and nice!" Stell replied hostily. "He deserves something sweet like him and not gross, bloody meat made by jerks everyday!"

"You got something to say about how I'm raising Tak?" Kabuto growled, moving his body to face Stell.

"Maybe if you weren't so full of yourself," Stell spat back, "you would know he deserves to be a child for once!"

"I'm trying to make him stronger so he can help me fight Alabaster!" Kabuto told her defensively.

"Well at the very least, could you teach him humility?" Stell asked. "He thinks he doesn't need parents!"

"His parents abandoned him," Kabuto pointed out, "of course he's going to think he doesn't need parents, I'm all he's ever had!"

"Are you what he needs?" Stell asked. "Because I'm pretty sure he thinks a lava cake is made of actual lava!"

"It's not?" disappointed Tak asked.

"No, Tak," Stell answered calmly, "it's made of chocolate."

"What the hell's chocolate?" Tak looked at her curiously.

"I knew it!" Stell shouted.

"Alright, that's enough!" the captain exclaimed over the fighting. "Good Gods of the Sea, out of all the people those pushy Mallors have made me arrest, you're the most talkative! I've got a whole crew on standby ready to kill you all with the snap of my fingers and you're arguing about whether or not to feed a brat chocolate?"

"Well what is it?" Tak asked impatiently.

"It's an unhealthy snack, Tak," Kabuto explained, "you don't need it."

"You ever taste anything so good, you couldn't stop eating it?" Stell asked.

"No." Tak admitted.

"That's what chocolate is." Stell told him.

"Are you trying to make him fat and lazy?" Kabuto accused.

"I wouldn't dream of turning him into you!" Stell snapped.

"Shut up!" the captain ordered, taking out a pistol and shooting it in the air. "Alright, I've had it! They don't care what happens to you!" she spat as she pointed the pistol at Kabuto. "For that, for being annoying as holy hell, and saying chocolate is unhealthy, you're walking the plank! Jet, Brick, take him overboard!"

Immediately, two of the men in the crew marched over and snatched Kabuto up by his tried arms. The shadow struggled as the men shoved him over to the side of a ship where a board stuck out over the ocean. Tak began to push himself up off the floor, but remained on his knees when the captain pointed her sword at him.

Stell suddenly felt her heart begin to race. She despised the shadow, but Tak had nowhere to go if Kabuto were dead. All Tak would have left back in Kespain were the rebels who didn't even seem to like him.

She watched as Kabuto was pushed by the pirates' swords and daggers to the edge of the plank. She needed to stop this before he was finally pushed and drowned to the bottom of the sea.

Stell began thinking about when she was so furious that she broke her own powerless enchantment. If she could get that angry again, she may be able to break free and scare the pirates enough to let them all go. She used enough to break a dragon free and escape its claws in one day. Surely she could escape a crew of killer pirates. She just needed to be at least as angry as she was in the Mallor castle.

Kabuto was inching closer to the edge. Why couldn't Stell use her powers without her emotions? Why was she so weak? She could raise an army of the dead and turn them into shadows for God's sake. Not only that, but she broke her own enchantment that prevented her to use magic of any kind. She used magic to break magic. She escaped the claws of a dragon, a beast no one lived to tell the tale of meeting. Why couldn't she break free of a bunch of stupid rope? Why couldn't she save a God damned shadow? Why was she so weak?

Just then the snapping of rope echoed across the ship and Stell felt herself rise off the deck as she moved her arms out to her sides. Everyone on the ship turned to look up at the rising witch, their eyes wide. She saw the purple haze of her magic glow from her hands and felt the surge of magic overtake her. With a swift wave of her hand her companions' ropes snapped and fell to the floor, all of them in too stunned to massage their bruised wrists. Stell didn't care how her traveling group saw her, she felt powerful and higher than the pirates who had dropped their weapons out of surprise.

"Let the shadow go!" Stell demanded, her voice sounding strange as she spoke. When no one moved, Stell spoke louder, the very sea shaking. "Now, before I blow this ship to smithereens!"

The captain's eyes widened. "Do as she says!" she ordered. The pirates close to the plank immediately jumped away from the board and allowed Kabuto to run back to Tak's side. The fire mage grabbing onto the shadow's leg for dear life.

"We're taking our boat and leaving," Stell began, her eyes glowing the same purple light as her hands.

"But we sank it!" the captain cried out pleasingly. "It's probably at the bottom of sea by now!"

"Then we'll just take one of your life boats!" Stell replied.

"We don't have those anymore," one of the pirates admitted timidly, "and we can't escort you to where you wish to go."

"What kind of ship of pirates are you?" demanded Stell, her voice booming and magic glowing brighter. The crew fell to their hands and knees cowering before the frightening witch. The group of necromancers, the shadow, fire mage, and nymph staring up at her in awe, jaws dropped.

"If it were our freedom we owned," the captain explained, "we wouldn't even be at sea right now! We'd be sailing the sky; this is actually an airship! Unfortunately, the Mallor family took control of my ship and ordered us to sail the seas for anyone trying to escape the Mallor law. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't even have known who any of you people were!"

"The Mallors?" Stell relaxed, her magic growing dim. "They took control of your ship?"

"They threatened to execute my crew and take my ship if I refused to give them our loyalty," the captain raided her head to look up into Stell's eyes, her eyes pleading, "I couldn't let them take what belongs to my crew, I had to do as they said. We're aerial treasure hunting pirates, not sea sailing murderers."

Stell lowered herself to the deck, relaxing her arms to her sides. Her magic light went out, but she kept her guard. She made her way to the captain and lowered herself to her knees so that she was standing eye-to-eye with the girl. Stell looked deep into the girl's eyes, searching for the truth. In the golden brown of the captain's eyes, Stell could see her dark pink. The captain of the ship had the same hopeless eyes Stell had when she was a prisoner of the Mallors. The witch soon felt terrible for being so threatening toward the crew of pirates. She could only imagine how she'd feel if she was still being used by those heartless shadows and have someone attack her for what the royal family told her to do. It was the very fear Stell had when it came to Kabuto.

Stell held out her hand to the captain. "I'm sorry," the witch smiled kindly, "I had no idea."

The captain looked to Stell to her hand before smiling up at Stell and taking her hand. Stell helped the girl up and shook her hand in a silent truce. The crew looked to one another as they rose to stand behind their captain, confusion mixed with relaxation overcoming their fearful faces.

"So, they're not going to arrest us?" Tak asked from behind Kabuto's leg. The shadow continuing to stare in shock while the others calmed themselves.

"We won't anymore," the captain assured, "but I'm afraid the Mallors are still after you all and I can't make any stops anywhere without the Mallors consent or without them knowing. They have spies practically all over Trapario."

"Under what grounds are we to be arrested?" Reuben asked insulted.

Stell felt her heart drop with fear and guilt. It had to be because of her. Why else would the Mallors hunt them all down specifically? And for treason? It was all pointing to Stell. The pirates may take pity, but the others would immediately turn her in and banish her to the Netherworld for sure.

"We don't know the details," the captain answered, "all we know is that the Mallors want all of you arrested for treason and to be returned to Kespain dead or alive."

Stell suppressed the urge to release a sigh of relief. If they didn't know the full story, neither would Kabuto or Reuben. She looked to the others and noticed Kabuto sigh in relief before returning to his stern gaze, it deepening as he caught Stell's eye. It looked as if she wasn't the only one holding out on someone in the group.

"What are we going to do now then?" Unie asked worriedly.

"We'd need to discuss a plan to get you all somewhere safe without the Mallors knowledge," the captain answered. "It's not going to be easy. They've planned everything from taking my lifeboats to putting at least one spy in every port of Trapario. Not to mention, who knows how many shadows loyal to the royal family are in the skies these days?"

"So, you're saying, until we can find a way to avoid being seen by Mallor spies, we're stuck in the middle of the ocean?" Tak established.

"Basically," the captain nodded.

The fire mage fell to his knees and let out a long winded scream of dejectedness. His fists over his spiky hair shaking violently. He only stopped when Unie slapped him across the face, leading to another fight between the children.

"Can't you use your door enchantment, Reuben?" Thorne asked her tutor.

"Unfortunately, I cannot," Reuben told her, "I have no attachment to this ship. I can only open doors to the house if I'm attached to the place where the door I go through is. I just met these people and I've never heard of this ship, so I can't just open the captain's quarters' door and we'd be home. I have to have some sort of connection to this place."

"That's a huge design flaw if you ask me," Kabuto shot.

"We're necromancers, not miracle workers," Reuben defended himself.

"Not that this is... Enlightening, or anything," the captain of the ship spoke, "but I'm afraid my crew missed out on morning meals and we're all a little peckish, do you all mind if we move below deck and discuss a way of stopping this madness over dinner?"

"That sounds perfect, Captain..." Stell smiled only to trail off when she didn't know any of the pirates' names.

"Oh, where are my manners?" the captain smiled. "Names Moonsetter, Captain Carla Moonsetter. You can just call me, Carla though." she offered, winking at Stell.

"I'm Stell," Stell bowed, "Stell Mooney."

"And I'm Reuben-" Reuben began to introduce himself proudly.

"Let's get some crub, Stell," Carla offered as she led Stell to a door on the deck of the ship, ignoring Reuben completely.

The necromancer slumped before following after the crew that went after their captain. Kabuto forced Tak and Unie apart and dragged them both after the others, Alia and Thorne guiding their familiars after them.

When everyone sat at a wooden table below deck, Carla introduced her crew to everyone as Tani, the cook went off to start making dinner. Brick was the quarter master and next in command if anything happened to Carla, though he seemed much older than Carla. He was a burly Unnatural hawk, with giant, dark brown wings and big sharp nailed hands. Jet was the rigger from the Capital and had a metallic arm that went with his robotic eye and leg. Pearl, Pike, and Stench were the sailing masters. Pearl was a half-blooded siren, her father being a human sailor. Pike was a gargoyle from a kingdom Stell had never heard of. Stench was a human that lived up to his name, believing baths were pointless as people got stinky afterwards anyway. Tani, while being the cook, was also the carpenter and surgeon of the ship, being the busiest of the crew, despite only having one arm. Lu-teng and his sister Yeo-sun were the master gunners from Sefloria in a town terrifyingly close to a dragon's nest. Hatch, an eagle Unnatural, was the boatswain. Tellini was the able bodied sailor and came from a kingdom that lived solely off of magic, the power keeping the land from falling under a dark curse. And finally, Carla was a vampire who lived a privileged lifestyle that she had gotten bored of and decided to live life at sea instead.

The moment Carla admitted to being a vampire, Reuben let out a yelp and hid under the table, causing the wooden table to shake violently.

"Is something wrong?" Alia asked in disinterest for Reuben's sudden fear.

"I'm sorry, but," the older necromancer apologized as he peeked over to Carla from below the table, "but I have a severe fear of vampires."

"Relax, string bean," Carla rolled her eyes, "I'm not a blood sucker anymore, I only drink the juices of fruits. Apparently people don't like you if you drink their blood."

"Yeah, that's not the part I'm afraid of." Reuben laughed nervously.

Before anything else could be said, Tani returned with a pile of plates which she set down in front of everyone, followed by wooden mugs filled with a weird brown liquid Stell had never seen before. Whatever the drink was, Kabuto immediately shoved it away from Tak and Unie, warning them it wasn't a drink for children. Tani then walked out the kitchen with a huge pot of a slimy mix of meats that she slapped on everyone's plates with a huge ladle. Luckily, the woman was the size of a giant boar, so there was no concern of her breaking her back. Tak and Unie cringed as the cook slammed her food on their plates, pushing their chipped China away from themselves. Alia carefully jabbed her spoon into the slop, but when she tried to lift it up, the glop wouldn't budge. Harry sniffed Thorne's plate before covering his tiny pink nose and jumping to hide under his master's chair. Kabuto stared at his plate, his eyes haunted as if reliving a life he thought he forgot. Reuben, however, ate up his food joyfully while keeping his wide, terrified eyes on Carla.

Wanting to be polite, Stell stuck her spoon into her share and used all her strength to lift the food up off the plate and to her mouth. But once she felt the food lift up with effort off the plate, she looked to see the food still on the plate was stuck to the spoon that held the portion she was going to eat. She let go of the spoon to stare awkwardly at the food as it remained in the air, the plate holding it all up.

"Sorry, about all this," Carla sighed sadly, "Tani used to make the best meals, but ever since the Mallors took our ship, they changed almost everything. They took our lifeboats so we couldn't escape if there was an emergency, they took our freedom to search for treasure on uncharted islands, and they took all our food, forcing us to live off scraps and any unfortunate animals that find themselves on our ship."

"May I ask, why?" Kabuto spoke, looking over to the young vampire. "If the Mallors are doing all this to you to force you to be loyal to them, why are you trying to find a way to let us go without being caught? Why not just turn us in and get something for capturing us?"

"Because this isn't that kind of ship," Carla responded serious, "we're not killers. We sailed the skies with our homes in our hearts. We searched for treasure in hopes to return home and make our names something to be proud of instead of being mocked at, a name to be feared by the peace, and make a statement of who we are over what we are." Carla looked down shamefully, a life long guilt running swiftly through her eyes before she went on. "I don't want to swear my loyalty to those monsters! My crew isn't a shadow following group of land lubbers! No offense." the vampire quickly looked to Kabuto.

"None taken," Kabuto shrugged.

"And when I looked into Stell's eyes, I saw something familiar," Carla turned her stare to Stell, the golden brown becoming even darker and more serious, "I saw pure, unadulterated hatred for the Mallors, something I thought only I felt, I realized they've harmed even more of us than those on this ship right now. Whatever they did to anyone, I only want them to pay. But... For the sake of my crew... I have no idea how to do that..."

Stell looked down, not wanting to look at anyone, especially Kabuto. If what Carla said was true then Kabuto was sure to see the hate she had for the Mallors that went deeper than them abusing her peoples' gifts. She wasn't the only one who hated the Mallors with a passion. Carla's whole crew lived a life they could take pride in and the Mallors took that from them. She wanted them to take that life back. She wanted Carla to captain a crew of aerial sailors that hunted for treasure that would make them heroes to their homes instead of disappointments.

"Just take it back," the idea just popping into her head and out her lips, Stell looked to Carla determinedly. Everyone looked to her baffled. "They were your lives and the Mallors just took it from you? Well, how dare they? They have no right to take that from you!" the witch reached around and snatched out her mirror before climbing onto the table and matching over to loom over Carla, handing her the mirror. "I don't know who you were back then, nor do I care. But you do. You're the one who made this life your own. You remember that don't you? You remember what it's like to be free and how amazing it felt to sail the clouds in search of a better world! Then take it back! Don't let the Mallors just take that from you!

"I know it's scary," Stell sympathized as she grabbed Carla who was staring at the blank mirror that didn't show her vampire reflection and onto the table with her, "but that's what makes the adventure so exciting! If you sailed without worry or care, it would be boring. Being a hero and someone to be proud of means taking risks. You may lose some battles, but in the end you can't just give up. Fight for what used to be yours!"

Stell then touched the mirror, the reflecting glass glowing a silver light. The witch watched in awe as a ball floated above everyone's heads. They all watched as a scene appeared in the ball of Carla's crew doing amazing tricks in the sky through the clouds, landing on islands with caves filled wall-to-wall with gems, crystals, and gold, daring fights that took place on the ship, and the solumn send off of candles out to sea as the crew saluted the drifting lights.

Stell looked to see Carla grip the mirror tightly in her hands, holding back the tears that dared try to escape her eyes. When the light faded and the mirror returned to just being a mirror, Carla spun and looked down at her crew.

"Well," she smiled, "you heard the witch! Let's fly!"

The crew burst into cheers, hitting their mugs together before gulping down its contents and running off to take their posts. Carla punched open a chest hidden below a carp and filled with treasure, a captain's hat lying on top of the gold. She snatched it up and plopped it on her head before grabbing Stell and running up to deck where the crew was preparing the sails. The others ran up after them, Tak and Unie watching as the crew swung around their heads on ropes that made the sails swing up and down and back and forth.

Carla barked orders as Stell tried to keep her balance while the ship moved fast through the dark waters. Reuben held back a barf while Farkas slip and slid all over the place with Harry gripping to his back in desperation.

"Take us up, you three!" Carla ordered Pearl, Pike, and Stench. The three nodded to their captain before jumping to either side of the ship. Pearl on the left, Pike on the right, and Stench at the back of the ship. They each grabbed a lever that stuck out from the deck of the ship and pulled it simultaneously, causing the ship to start shaking slightly below everyone's feet, making Stell even more sick.

She then watched in amazement as she saw the sides of the ship open up and wings made of paper and wood jutted out the ship. They began beating fiercely like a dragon's the sails catching the speeding wind. They continued to flap against the water until the ship began lifting up into the air, the night sky growing speedily close.

Once the ship broke through a couple night clouds, the star filled sky surrounded them like the sea below. Stell staggered until she could stand up straight and run to the bow of the ship. She looked down in shock to see the ocean far below them, the waves crashing and shining under the light of the moon. She ignored the sound of Reuben throwing up over the side of the ship and only took in the whistle of the wind as it buffeted her long, tied up purple hair. It was the most incredible thing she had ever seen in her life.

"I missed this!" Carla exclaimed, putting her boot on the side of the ship near Stell. "Nothing like the beauty of freedom!"

"You gave this to the Mallors?" Stell asked in surprise with a laugh. "You're crazier than I am! I would spend my entire life up here!"

"Will you take us to Sefloria now?" Thorne asked, her and Harry jumping up to join the girls, the others following suet.

"I'll take you straight to your destination!" Carla vowed. "Fuck the Mallors! Lets go to Sefloria and beyond!"