While Captain Jack leaves for a doctor's appointment, Maggie is left with a babysitter named Amera, only this sitter turns out to be a child-snatching siren in disguise. Maggie's evening takes a turn, when she has to journey all the way to the bottom of the sea...

Living a pirate's life wasn't always as glamorous as most well-known pirates made it look. It was a dangerous and perilous way of life, you had to be on your toes at all times! Maggie Sparrow's father had raised her to understand that, but even Captain Jack was caught off guard at times.

It was late one night in the town of Tortuga, the Black Pearl was docked and all was peaceful, Maggie was in her cabin reading before bed. The crew was down below playing a round of poker and Captain Jack Sparrow was at a local nearby pub, finishing off his last drink of the night.

As Jack turned to leave out the door he noticed the temperature had dropped lower than he expected and he had left his coat aboard the Pearl. He scanned the bar room and noticed a black bear skin rug draped over one of the rafters above.

"Oi, Mr. Mixologist!" He called to the bartender. "Could I borrow that bear skin?"

"Keep it!" The bartender shrugged. "Been trying to get rid of it for a year now! Bloody things ridden with nits!"

"Wonder if he caught the nits before or after he got shot..." Jack muttered to himself, shaking the bear skin rug out before slipping it over himself like a cape.

Captain Jack exited the pub with the heavy bear skin covering his frame almost completely. The bear's head drooped down over his face and he slipped his hands under the paws like makeshift mittens.

When he finally got back to the Pearl, Jack went straight to his cabin and decided to start a fire before taking the bear skin pelt off. He walked across the Captain's Cabin to the fireplace, but found the flint and tinder kit was missing from the mantel. Jack naturally assumed Maggie took it to light her kerosene lantern and forgot to put it back.

Not wanting to wake her, Jack walked over to her door and tried to open it as quietly as possible. But the door didn't open more than a few inches, Maggie had chain locked the door as she always did when Jack was out, in case of intruders.

All the while, Maggie was preparing for bed and was putting her book back in it's assigned place on the shelf. Until she noticed a large black furry paw was reaching into her door and trying to grab and undo the chain lock!

Maggie's eyes went as wide as possible as she notice a big, furry bear snout poking in through the crack of the door as well.

"Oh... my... God..." Maggie mouthed silently as she watched on in horror. She had read about black bears in a zoology book once, apparently a bear that size could gut a grown man with one swipe of his claws. As easy as a knife going through hot butter! If a bear could do that to a grown man, Maggie didn't even want to think about what it would do to a little girl like her!

Not wanting to waste anymore time, Maggie dived under her bed and grabbed the field hockey stick she kept under there. She didn't play field hockey, but this stick was the closest thing to a proper security system she could afford.

Maggie lifted up the loose floorboard under her bed and stuck her face in the floor, below her the crew was carrying out there last hand of poker.

"Psst!" Maggie hissed to them.

Mr. Gibbs, Scrum and Marty looked up at her.

"Maggie! What are you doing up?" Scrum asked. "You know how the Cap'n gets about you staying up past your bedtime."

"That's the least of our worries now!" Maggie told them in a hushed tone. "There's a big bloody bear aboard the Pearl as we speak! He's trying to break into my cabin!"

"A bear?" Marty asked. "There's no bears in the Caribbean."

Maggie rolled her eyes. "A furry shark that sprouted limbs then!" She groaned. "Just grab a blunt weapon for whacking and get up here! Quickly!"

Even though they weren't sure if Maggie was being serious or not, the three pirates prepared themselves for battle. Mr. Gibbs grabbed a fire poker, Marty grabbed a cast iron skillet and Scrum armed himself with a palm-sized rock which he slipped into old sock and practiced swinging around.

The three men carefully opened the hatch and peeked around the main deck. No sign of the bear yet... They slowly crept over to the Captain's Cabin and peeked to the left where the entrance of Maggie's bedroom was. Sure enough, a hairy man-sized black bear had it's back to them as it continued to try and break into Maggie's room!

"Lord almighty!" Mr. Gibbs gasped silently. "It is a bear!"

"Run for your lives!" Scrum turned to dart down the gangplank.

"No!" Mr. Gibbs grabbed him by the collar. "Maggie's still in there! We can't just leave her!"

"Sure, we can!" Scrum nodded. "We just gotta believe in ourselves!"

"If we creep up on it, we might have a chance to take it down" Marty suggested. "Use the element of surprise..."

The men nodded to each other and slipped into the room quietly. As they slowly and silently approached the bears furry backside, Scrum leaped onto it and tackled the bear headfirst into the nearby wall.

"I got him! I got him!" Scrum cried out as Mr. Gibbs and Marty began beating the bear with their weapons and every ounce of strength they had.

Maggie came flying out of her room seconds later, brandishing her field hockey stick. She let out a shrill battle cry as she joined the men in the brutal-- and quite one-sided-- battle with the bear.

The bear moaned in protest and tried to swat their weapons away with his large paws.

"Pummel the beastie, lads!" Maggie shouted as she swung her stick, hitting the bear in his rear end. "Try and break into my room, ye hairy motherbugger!"

The bear tried to stand up as the four pirates cornered him against the wall. Mr. Gibbs smacked him across the back with his fire poker, Marty collided his skillet with the bears kneecaps and Scrum socked him in the gut with his rock sock. But the final blow came when Maggie used her field hockey stick to hit the bear right in his... cannon balls.

The bear let out a muffled howl before grabbing his groin and falling forward onto the floor.

Maggie slung her hockey stick over her shoulder and chuckled. "Got him right in his hundred acre wood!" She grinned.

"Let's cook him!" Marty suggested. "I hear bear meat is delicious!"

"I wonder how much meat we'll get off him?" Mr. Gibbs wondered.

Maggie kneeled down at the bears head and grabbed his snout. "I wanna see how big his teeth are!"

But as Maggie pulled on the bears snout, his head fell back like a hood to reveal a very worn and painfilled Captain Jack Sparrow.

The pirates eyes widened as they all dropped their weapons in shock.

"Daddy?!" Maggie gasped.

"What in the bloody hell were you lot thinking?" Captain Jack snapped. "Ye could've killed me!"

Mr. Gibbs and Maggie grabbed Jack's arms and helped him to his feet, but no sooner than he stood up, his knees buckled and he fell back down again.

☠💀The Next Morning...💀☠

Normally Captain Jack was sore when he woke up in the morning, but suffice it to say this time it was no hangover.

Maggie had gotten up early that morning to make her father breakfast. Toad-in-a-hole, bacon, oatmeal, juice and his usual hangover helper tablets. Although she'd burnt the toad-in-a-hole and the bacon... and the oatmeal was basically soup... and the orange juice had a ton of pulp. Nevertheless Maggie shrugged and placed it all on a tray. She walked up the stairs to her father's cabin, the orange juice and oatmeal sloshing everywhere.

"Daddy!" She called, kicking open his cabin door. "Wake up! I made you breakfast in bed!"

Captain Jack groaned from where he laid in bed. Maggie plopped the tray onto his lap, orange juice splashing on the cloth sling holding his sprained arm.

"Sorry, Daddy..." Maggie cringed, pulling a napkin out of her pocket and wiping off his sling.

"It's alright, Mag's" Jack groaned, sitting up a little more. "You said you made me..." His voice trailed off when he saw it. "...Breakfast?"

"Yeah, I made all your favorites!" Maggie smiled.

"I noticed" Jack nodded, trying to return the smile. "You know how much I love... blackened square and sticks..."

"Toad-in-a-hole and bacon" Maggie corrected.

"With brown soup..."

"Oatmeal."

"And half a glass of orange goo..."

"Orange juice" Maggie told him. "Wait! Half a glass? I think I spilled some..."

"You tried, Darling" Jack smiled. "That's all I really care about."

"I just wanted to do something, y'know cause I beat you up with a field hockey stick" Maggie said. "And broke your arm... and gave you all those bruises... and hit you in the bum... and hitting you in the bal--"

"Apology excepted! Apology excepted!" Jack told her. He was never comfortable having those kinds of conversations with his baby girl.

"So anyways..." Maggie continued. "I just made you this breakfast to let you know... I forgive you."

Captain Jack turned to look at her. "What?" He asked his daughter. "You forgive me?"

"Yep" Maggie smiled. "Just wanted to let ye know so you didn't go blaming yourself for your little accident."

"You forgive me?!" Jack repeated. "After you beat me up with a field hockey stick?!"

"Well, it's your fault I did it!" Maggie told him.

"My fault?!" Jack cried. "How is it my fault that you beat me up?!"

"Well, you're the one who read me the story of Goldilocks & The Three Bears!" Maggie shrugged defensively. "And I saw a bear trying to break into my cabin when I was getting ready for bed! What would you have me do? Shove an apple in my mouth and lay down on a silver platter, awaiting death-by-bear-chompers?!"

Captain Jack stared at her. People often spoke of how he had a strange and warped outlook on certain situations. Apparently Maggie also inherited that trait from him.

He sighed and shook his head. "You're probably right" he agreed to disagree.

"I usually am" Maggie nodded.

"Look Luv, you don't have anything to worry about me injuries" Jack told her. "Mr. Gibbs is taking me to see the doctor about them this evening."

"A doctor?!" Maggie exclaimed, ready to burst into tears. "Oh my God! Are you in that much pain?! Oh lord! What was I thinking?! I could've killed you!"

"No! No!" Jack told her. "Come now! No, Luv! Daddy's just going to the doctor to be certain. Maybe get a prescription for pain medicine or a cream perhaps. Calm down, pet. Daddy's going to be fine."

"Alright" Maggie nodded, reassured. "And I'll be right there with you the whole time!"

Captain Jack furrowed his brow slightly and his gaze shifted downward. Maggie knew that to be his Bad-News-Breaking face. She also knew that was his tell in poker, that's why she always won.

The thing is, Maggie..." Jack explained hesitantly. "I think it best that you stay here while I go to the doctor."

"What? Why?" Maggie whimpered.

"Because I think you're a little too young to go to the doctor's" Jack told her.

"I wasn't too young when you made me get that flu shot!" Maggie grumbled. "Going out for ice cream you said! Just have to make a quick detour first you said!"

"I'm not discussing this any further" Jack told her. "Besides I already hired a babysitter for you."

"A what?!" Maggie exclaimed.

It was one thing for her father to tell Maggie she was too young to tag along with him to the doctor's, but hiring a babysitter for her? What does he think she is? A helpless little girl? Maggie may look the part, but she had proved on more than one occasion that she was fully capable of handling herself in dozens of strange and dangerous situations. And the fact that her father still felt the need to hire a babysitter for her, was an insult to say the least!

"I don't need a babysitter!" Maggie argued. "The very idea of paying someone to sit on babies is disgusting!"

"She's not going to literally sit on you, Maggie" Jack chuckled. "She's just going to sit around to make sure nothing bad happens to you."

"But why can't you trust me to do that for myself?" Maggie questioned softly.

"Because I won't be back till late and everyone on the crew has already made plans in town" Jack explained. "And with our luck anything can happen. I want to make sure you're safe."

Maggie grinned "Alright, Daddy..."

"And no beating the babysitter with bats!" Captain Jack deciphered her grin.

"Spoil sport..." Maggie pouted.

☠💀☠

That day came and went fast, it was now half past five and the crew of the Black Pearl were finishing their dinner. Maggie was still sore about the prospect of a babysitter, so Captain Jack had the ship's cook prepare her favorite meal, chicken stew and fresh biscuits. He even tried to butter her up with chocolate cake for dessert.

"How's your cake?" Jack asked her, smiling.

Maggie swallowed her last bite. "Mmm... tastes chocolaty with a hint of bribery" she said dryly.

Captain Jack sighed. Should've tried given her money he thought.

"Come now, Maggie Darling" Captain Jack said. "You know I hate leaving the Pearl when we're on bad terms."

Maggie growled under her breath.

"Luv, I have to go to the hospital" Jack told her. "And the doctors are going to be examining me and giving me pain medicine. And it can be scary for children to see their parents in that state. You know I wouldn't let you leave my side unless it was necessary, right?"

Maggie nodded. "I do get kind of uncomfortable seeing you walk around without a shirt after your yearly bath" she said.

Jack looked at her. "Why?" He asked. "I always put a towel around my waist?"

"But you always forget to cover your boobs!" Maggie exclaimed.

"Men don't have boobs!" Captain Jack told her.

"You do!" Maggie told him.

"Maggie, those are called pecks" Jack explained.

"No, this is a peck" Maggie leaned upward and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Jack sighed and smiled. "Yes, that's a peck as well."

Maggie leaned her head on his chest and watched the sunset over the horizon. "Daddy...?" She said.

"Yes, my angel?" He asked.

"Will I ever get boobs as big as your some day?" Maggie asked.

Captain Jack's eyes widened. "Uh...?"

"Mr. Sparrow?" Came a female voice.

"Thank you" Jack's look to the sky, before turning to the young woman behind them.

Maggie turned as well and didn't like what she saw. Of course, Maggie knew it was wrong to judge someone on their appearance, the crew of the Black Pearl was living proof of that! Ragetti seemed dumb and easy to manipulate, but his caring nature and love of listening made him quite the ladies man. Marty lacked both height and hair, but another thing that was short about him was his temper and he didn't need a head of hair to kick ass. Even Captain Jack looked like a drunk lunatic most of the time, but in reality... alright, so that one was pretty accurate for the most part.

But this young woman, who had walked onto the Pearl, gave Maggie a nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something about this woman was off, on the outside she was conventually pretty, a thin frame, pale complexion, bright red hair. She wore a dark green dress and carried a purse that looked like it was weaved of rope. But what unnerved Maggie the most was her mysterious green eyes... it was like she had some sort of intentions hidden behind the eyes. What Maggie couldn't figure was if they were good or bad intentions...?

"You asked for a babysitter?" The woman said.

"You must be Amera" Captain Jack nodded, approaching the woman. "This is my girl, Maggie."

"Hello" Maggie said, feeling awkward as the woman stared her down with a half amused look.

"Maggie..." she breathed. "Yes, we'll have lots of fun tonight."

"I'm not really one for fun" Maggie told her. "Just a quiet evening in, will suffice."

"Well then, I'd be pretty useless..." Amera said.

"Huh... pity" Maggie replied humorlessly.

"Mind your manners, Luv" Captain Jack warned her, before he turned to Amera. "So, Maggie's already had her dinner, although she can have a small snack before bed if she wants. Nothing sugary though or else you'll never get her down. Her bedtime is nine o'clock, but if she wants a bedtime story, be certain she's in bed half an hour early. I should be back late, perhaps around 2 a.m."

"Of course, Mr. Sparrow" Amera said with the fakest smile Maggie ever saw.

"Glad to hear it" Jack smiled, before kneeling down to Maggie. "Alright Luv, behave yourself and I'll be back when you wake up. Be a good girl and do what Amera tells you."

"Please don't leave me with this lady" Maggie groaned. "She could be one of those an axe murderers!"

"Maggie!" Jack scolded her, he glanced back at Amera and laughing nervously. "Why don't you go get into your pajamas, Darling?"

"Yeah, yeah! Good luck at the hospital, Daddy Desert-est!" Maggie called as scurried off to her room to change.

Jack turned to the young red-headed woman. "You'll have to excuse her. She's just nervous" Jack explained. "We're very close. It's rare that I leave her alone like this."

"You have nothing to worry about, Mr. Sparrow" Amera told him. "Your little daughter is in good hands."

Captain Jack nodded "Good to know."

☠💀☠

As Maggie slipped her white nightgown over her head, she jumped back startled to find Amera standing in front of her.

"Oh God!" She gasped. "Thanks for knocking..." Maggie muttered sarcastically.

"You're father left" Amera said in a humorless monotone, while smiling.

"Alright" Maggie nodded, a little creeped out.

"You should go to bed now" Amera told her.

"But Daddy said my bedtime is at nine" Maggie reminded her. "And it's only six-thirty..."

Amera didn't respond at first, she just stood her ground looking down her nose at young Maggie. Her creepy smile fell to a scowling frown. "What did your father tell you?" She asked.

Maggie resisted the urge to groan. "To do what you told me to..." she muttered.

"Then do it" Amera snapped.

Maggie stomach lept, she was beginning to think her first impression of this lady was correct. Still she wasn't going to back down that easily, this was her ship and Amera was brought here by her father. She may be the babysitter, but Maggie was going to be calling the shots this evening!

"Listen, lady" Maggie told her. "You may be in charge tonight, but this is my Daddy's ship and as his daughter and I'm automatically second in command in his absence."

"Oh, really?" Amera raised a brow.

"That's right" Maggie nodded. "In fact, you and your services aren't even necessary. Because I can take care of myself. So don't tell me what to do, Miss Priss!"

A dark look came across Amera's face, a look that made Maggie's stomach turn to ice water.

☠💀☠

The next thing Maggie knew, she was lashed to her own bed. Amera has taken some ropes and wrapped them around her binding Maggie to her mattress, one rope wrapped across her chest, then another near her waist and a third holding down her ankles. Her wrists were bond together as well. Maggie had tried her best to put up a fight, but as skinny as Amera was, she was clearly well-versed in the art of hand-to-hand combat. Maggie wondered if she'd ever been involved in an underground fight club...

"You know... normally in the scenario of a babysitter and her charge" Maggie said. "The babysitter doesn't treat her charge like a hostage!"

"There's a difference between having a charge and a hostage?" Amera asked. "Huh... I always thought they were the same. Especially since they're both trouble." She turned to leave. "Anyway nighty-night!"

"Wait!" Maggie exclaimed. "What about my bedtime story?"

"Bedtime story?" Amera repeated. "Of course."

She walked over to Maggie's bookshelf, pulled out a random book and tossed it onto Maggie's chest.

"Oof!" Maggie groaned. "You had to pick the hardcover... there's like twenty paperbacks on that shelf too, y'know?"

Amera turned to leave again.

"Wait, you have to read it to me!" Maggie reminded her.

"Can you read?" Amera asked.

"Well, yes... but--" Maggie was cut off by Amera slamming her bedroom door shut.

Maggie was left in complete darkness, she squirmed a little, causing the hardcover book to fall off her chest and onto the bed beside her.

Suffice it to say, Maggie hated how this evening had progressed. She was in bed and it wasn't even seven o'clock yet, no bedtime story and she had been left alone with the most shifty babysitter on the face of the planet! Also an added benefit, the rope burns that were developing on her wrists!

Maggie heaved a sigh. I can't wait for Dad to get home she thought to herself. What did I do to deserve this? Oh yeah... hit Dad in the nards with a cricket bat. Maybe I do deserve this...?

As Maggie was left alone in her dark bedroom with nothing but her lonely thoughts. Her eyelids grew heavier and soon she did drift off sleep.

☠💀☠

Flip-flop-flip! Flop-flip! ...Flop-flip-flop-flip!

Maggie was awaken from her slumber by some strange moist flopping sound. It sounded like a wet peice of rubber jumping around on the floor next to her bed. Maggie didn't bother opening her eyes though, she was use to hearing strange sounds around the Pearl at night. The sound of waves lapping against the bulk outside, the odd seagull squawking in the crow's nest above... for all she knew, that floppy squishy sound might've just been Jack the Monkey playing with her rubber ducky!

He better not chew him all up! Maggie thought. I need Ducky Von Quackenburg to keep me company in the bathtub!

Suddenly, Maggie felt something dripping on her forehead. She opened her eyes and gasped. Amera was hovering directly over her, staring at her with green glowing eyes. The water leaking onto her came from her soaking wet red hair.

Maggie screamed and fell out of bed, landing on the floor with a grunt. Amera must've untied her as she slept.

"Hey! Watch it!" Came a heavy nasal voice behind her.

Maggie turned to look over her shoulder at the fish behind her foot. The source of the wet flopping sound:

"Ooh sorry!" She apologized. Then she did a double take and screamed again. Maggie wasted no time, she lept to her feet and made a run for it.

"Damn it, Elong!" Amera scolded the fish. "You let her get away!"

"Oh yes! I don't know why I didn't go after her!" Elong the Fish said sarcastically. "Maybe it has something to do with my not having legs or feet... or limbs in general!"

Maggie ran out to the deck of the Pearl, but stopped when Amera lept out from behind the mast in front of her. She was carrying Elong the Demon Fish tucked under one of her arms like a squishy black ball. The only thing scarier than him was Amera, the irises of her green eyes turned into slitted snake-like eyes. Her skin was suddenly a few shades paler and she was wearing a skimpy, tight green scaley one-peice suit.

"What are you?" Maggie asked.

"I'm the one who's going to make a mint off of you!" Amera told her, grabbing her face. "You know... for a human, you're not as ugly as you should be. Not all the way to beautiful, mind you, but you do have a certain prettiness to you. Different from other children I've abducted. Yes, I believe you'll fetch me a lot of cold, hard cash at the Atlantian Dark Market Slave Auction. Or maybe I could just keep you all to myself, to be my slave. And I'll work you and work you till you're spirit is broken, your nerves are shot and you pray to Neptune to kill you because that will be your only escape!"

Maggie jerked her face out of Amera grasp. "...Or you could get off my ship before I toss you off, you kidnapping, low level, dime-a-dozen, trashy, useless, greasy fish stick!" She told the evil lady off.

Amera's eyes widened angrily, she threw her head back and let out a shrill shriek.

Maggie dashed away, back into her father's cabin. She slammed the door shut and locked it behind her.

Amera rapped her fist on the door. "Little human little human, let me come in!" She sang eerily.

"Get a life!" Maggie shouted to her through the door.

...Cause mine's too nutty for two! She thought to herself.

There was a short pause, but it felt like an hour to the frightened young Maggie. For a moment she held out hope thinking Amera was gone, then she spoke to Maggie through the door again.

"Then I'll bash and I'll crash..." Amera shouted. "...And I'll smash your door down!"

Maggie froze listening. She could hear a faint, but familiar sizzling sound along side Amera's voice. Her eyes widened when she identified it, it was the lit fuse of a cannon! Maggie ran and ducked into a hiding place, just as a cannon ball smashed through the wooden door, blowing it into toothpicks and splinters.

Amera came walking in and glanced around the empty room. "I know you're in here, child!" She snapped. "You might as well come out or do I have to tear this room apart looking for you?" She tossed Captain Jack's writing desk sideways with a loud crash.

Little did Amera know that the window sill behind her opened into a hidden drawer. That's exactly where Maggie was hiding, hugging her knees to her chest and covering her mouth to keep her breathing at a lower volume.

Captain Jack had made a few secret hiding spots in both the his and Maggie's cabin. When Maggie was little and Pearl would come under attack, Captain Jack would pick her up and put her into a hiding place, so the red coats or enemy pirates wouldn't be able to get to her. That's also the reason Jack had her cabin built next to his with a hidden door conjoining the two rooms.

Amera kicked at the furniture in the Captain's Cabin. Maggie could hear hear tearing up the joint, she heard charts and maps rip and paper weights and ink wells shatter as they were thrown to the floor.

"You'll show yourself if you know what's good for you, human!" Amera yelled.

Maggie squinted out of the crack in between the planks of the wooden window sill box. Amera was facing opposite where she was, she scanned around the room and then huffed angrily.

"Fine" Amera said. "But rest assured, little girl, I have never lost a target and I don't intend to start..."

She noticed Captain Jack's compass was hanging off of a nail near the door. Maggie watched helplessly as Amera smirked and snatched the compass off the wall.

"A magical compass...?" Amera's eyes shined mischievously. "Not a human child... but it does hold the promise of a pretty profit." She turned sharply and scanned the room.  "Send my regards to Dear Old Daddy!"

Amera left and as Maggie slowly emerged from the window sill compartment, she heard her plunge overboard and into the sea.

Maggie slowly crept out of the Captain's Cabin and thought all was lost. Until she noticed that ugly black fish flopping along the deck.

"Amera! Wait for me!" Elong yelled, trying to jump over the Black Pearl's railing after her.

Once Maggie was certain that Amera was long gone, she reached out and snatched the fugly little fish:

"GAAAH!" Elong cried as Maggie grabbed him by the scruff of his... neck? Back fat? Blubber? Who knows? Maggie wasn't even sure if the thing she was holding was a real fish or not...

"Not so fast, my fanged little foe!" Maggie smirked. "I got some questions for you!"

"Question me all you like, twerp!" Elong told her. "You won't get squat outta me!"

"Oh really?" Maggie's smirk grew.

☠💀☠

Maggie brought her finned hostage downstairs to the Black Pearl's galley. She plopped him down in a large pitcher of water, which was quite cramped for the pot-bellied fish. He could barely turn around in the pitcher.

"Comfy?" Maggie asked him, smugly.

"You let me out of here!" Elong blubbed in his watery glass prison.

"I'd be happy to!" Maggie replied. "As soon as you tell me exactly where Atlantis is and how I can find Amera!"

"Forget it!" Elong told her. "Even if I showed you the way to Atlantis, you'd never be able to follow her... Lil' Miss No Gills!"

"But there is a way for me to breathe underwater" Maggie stated.

Elong's eyes widened. "How did you know abo--" he cleared his throat. "I mean, no! There is no way for a human to breathe underwater... No gills!"

"Elong, is it?" Maggie leaned on the table, towards him. "I think you're keeping something from me... and if there's one thing I hate, it's to be left out of the loop."

She grabbed a cast iron stew pot from the rack of kitchen equipment behind her. She grabbed the handle of the pitcher and dumped Elong and the water into the pot. The water in the pot only came up to where his nose should be. His black eyes glared at Maggie from above the water line.

Maggie ignored him and his dirty looks as she set the pot onto the wood stove, where the ship's cook made their meals.

"What are you doing?" Elong asked her in a quivering voice.

Maggie continued putting wood under the stove. "Oh nothing!" She said nonchalantly. "Just getting ready to make one of my favorite recipes."

"What recipe?" Elong asked.

Maggie grabbed the flint and tinder kit and rubbed it together to created sparks on the wood inside the stove.

"Fish bourguignon!" She grinned up at the defenseless fish, slamming the iron door shut as the fire began below.

Elong's eyes widened in fear. "You're threatening to boil me alive?!" He shrieked bubbles flying up around his mouth.

"It's your choice, fish!" Maggie told him. "Either cooperate and show me the way to Atlantis and Amera or become my midnight snack!"

Elong panted as the water the pot began to heat up around him. "Let me out of here, you little sadist!" He yelled.

"That doesn't sound like the directions to Atlantis..." Maggie tsked. "Oh well... hopefully you'll look more appealing as an stew."

Elong began to see bubbles forming in the bottom of his pot. "I don't know nothing!" He lied. "I'm just her henchfish! Honest!"

Maggie pretended to consider that excuse, then threw in some salt and pepper with him. "Perhaps a little seasoning will jog your memory?"

Elong let out a shout as some pepper hit him in the eyes. "Alright! Alright! I'll talk! Just get me out of this pot and into some nice cool water! Please!" He bawled.

Maggie picked him up and plopped him back into the pitcher, along with some sea water.

"Now how do I get to Atlantis?" Maggie asked him once more.

"I'll show you the way" Elong said, reluctantly.

"What about the whole breathing underwater part?" Maggie asked. "There is a way, isn't there?"

"There is" Elong bopped his head in a nod. "But I have to warn you it's not very appealing."

"Neither is facing my Dad when he finds out I lost his compass!" Maggie told him. "What do I have to do to breathe underwater?"

☠💀☠

Ten minutes later Maggie had changed out of her pajamas and into her swimsuit and stared down at the answer to her question with disgust.

"Do I really have to eat all of it?" Maggie groaned.

"It's the only way to adapt human lungs to breathe water" Elong told her. "Eat an entire  Cocana sea slug and your body will be able to survive underwater for at least the next twenty-four hours."

Maggie was seriously beginning to reconsider wither or not she should do this. I mean, so her Father would return home to a trashed cabin and a missing one of a kind magic compass...? But then again, she was already in the dog house for the whole beating him up with a bat thing...

Maggie sighed and picked the squirming white sea slug up by it's tail. She shuddered. "Dad, you better buy me my own candy factory for this..." She muttered to herself.

Maggie closed her eyes, opened her mouth and quickly shoved the slug into her mouth. She chewed as fast as she could, but a bitter, salty slime squirted out of the slugs body and onto her tongue. Maggie put a fist to her mouth, trying hard not to puke it back up. After silently gagging several times, she finally managed to force the slimy creature down her throat.

Elong chuckled, watching her gag on the aftertaste. "Revenge is sweet!" He said.

Maggie flicked him on his squishy black forehead. "You know what else would be pretty sweet right now?" She asked. "A nice caramelized fish fillet with a side of rice. And we're all outta rice!"

Maggie leaned down to one of the cupboards and pulled something out.

Elong's smug smile fell. "What's that?" He asked scared.

Maggie grinned. "Well, once we get in the ocean, I can't have you swimming off without showing me the way to Atlantis" she told him. "So..." She snatched up Elong and shoved him into the glass jar she held.

She screwed the lid onto the jar tight and walked out onto the deck, preparing to take the plunge... literally.

"This is humiliating!" Elong shouted from inside his jar. "Do I look like a pet goldfish to you?"

"Of course not!" Maggie tied a short rope around the top of the jar. "Goldfish are majestic and pretty... and you look like something Satan pooped out."

"Least I smell better!" Elong snapped.

Maggie took her dagger and jammed the blade into the jar's metal lid, narrowly missing hitting Elong between the eyes.

"Alright! So I've been stingy with the cologne lately!" Elong cried defensively.

"No, I'm just making you some air holes..." Maggie told him. "Or rather... water holes."

Maggie picked up the fish's jar and the leash-like rope attached to it, as she climbed on top of the Pearl's railing. She stared down at the dark waters below. She took a deep breath, she knew it wasn't necessary due to the slug she had just scarfed down. It was mostly to calm her nerves. After all, jumping into the frigid ocean in the middle of the night, where a whole array of creepy sea creatures lived in the dark watery depths was definitely a first for her.

But Maggie knew she couldn't waste time being afraid as she stared up at the moon. Judging by it's current position in the night sky it must be around midnight. Captain Jack said he would return at around two in the morning. So if Maggie was to swim to the sunken city of Atlantis, retrieve the compass and swim all the way back... she would have to be as quick as possible!

Without giving it another thought, Maggie closed her eyes and stepped off the railing of the ship she called home, where her little body was immediately enveloped by the frigid and salty sea water.

☠💀☠

Maggie opened her eyes underwater, she floated in place for a moment, letting her body get used to the odd sensation. A shiver ran down her spine as she got used to the frigid temperature of the water and her eyes slowly began to adjust to the darkness of the depths. But what was most unusual for Maggie was the strange new sensation of breathing underwater. Somewhere in her subconscious, she felt the urge to close her mouth and hold her breathe. But she seemed to be doing quite well, breathing in water through her nose and out of her mouth, like she would air. It was hard to describe how it felt, it was just like breathing and drink water at the same time. She could feel the water passing in and out of her respiratory system, in through her sinuses, down to her lungs and back out again. Maggie kept expecting it to hurt or choke her, but it didn't! Had the stakes of her misson not have been so high, she might've actually taken the time to enjoy this...

Elong looked at her from inside his jar which she was still holding the rope to.

"C'mon! C'mon already!" He snapped impatiently. "What do you want? A metal for breathing? Let's go already! You wanted me to show the way to Atlantis, so let's go! I don't want anyone seeing me in this jar!"

Maggie glared at the fugly fish. "Fine!" She groaned. She stopped, a little shocked that she could talk underwater too. But then continued to focus on the misson. "Right. Which way to Atlantis?"

"Start swimming and then keep moving straight ahead till I say!" Elong instructed her.

Maggie followed the captive fish's instructions and after swimming a far peice from the docked Black Pearl and passed a large reef, she found herself in deep and open waters. Soon they came to a deep and wide crack in the sea floor, a Trench.

"You see that patch of blue coral on the other side of the trench?" Elong told her.

"Yeah" Maggie nodded.

"Swim directly into trench but stay directly under where the coral is" Eling said. "The blue coral is a marker. If you swim straight under it, eventually you'll come to a hole in the trenches wall. That leads to a flooded cavern that will lead to the gateway of the city of Atlantis."

"Alright" Maggie said. She swam to the other side of the trench, the blue coral patch in front of her. Then began swimming directly downward, the water got colder and began to get darker as she swam deeper and deeper into the trench.

"Elong?" Maggie asked as she swam. "When will I know when I'm close to the entrance of the cavern?"

"Oh, you'll know!" She heard Elong tell her in the darkness.

"Well, that's an unsatisfying ans--AHHH!" Maggie screamed as two rubbery-like hands clasped around her wrists. They pulled her towards where the trench would be, but instead she past through. She must have been pulled into the caverns opening... but who or what pulled her through.

Maggie could barely see her hand in front of her face before, but in here it was even more dark. Suddenly two light did flick on on either side of her. Maggie turned and gasped at the creature holding her. They were two identical men, but they were also part angler fish as well!

Maggie squinted at the low but harsh lights that eliminated off the antenna hanging from their foreheads.

"Halt!" One of the Angler Men said in a deep voice. "This be the entrance to the City of Atlantis. It's path's are not to be tainted by human presence! You must turn back now or suffer the fatel consequences!"

Of course young Maggie had seen her father talk his way out of situations so many times, it had rubbed off on her. Lying was basically Maggie's love language.

"Human?" Maggie exclaimed narrowing her eyes angrily. "Oh! Real nice! Make fun of the paraplegic siren! Is that how you boys get your kicks? Because that's just rude!"

The two Angler Men gave each other a questioning glance. "Did you say paraplegic siren?" One asked.

"That's right!" Maggie told them. "I lost my tail in a freak accident with a ship's rudder! They had to save me by giving me these puny, useless human legs! I have people looking at me and judging me all the time! And now both of you harassing me and calling me a human! Where do you get the nerve?!"

"We're very sorry!" The other Angler Man quickly apologized. "We didn't know!"

"I come to this fair city to visit and this is how you treat me!" Maggie raised her voice. "Making fun of my short-comings?! Calling me the..." she pretended to stifle a sob... "the H word! What are your names? I want to report you both right now!"

"No! No! There's no need for that, Miss!" One Angler Man shook his head, his light swinging back and forth.

"You can go right on in!" The other told her. "Please! We're very sorry! Go right ahead!"

"Oh, thank you" Maggie said, passing through.

"By the way, I thought you're legs were very lovely!" One called after her.

"Yes, you can hardly tell there was ever an accident!" The other chimed.

"Very convincing!" Elong muttered.

"Shut up" Maggie told him.

☠💀☠

Maggie swam deeper and deeper into the deep sea tunnel. She was beginning to suspect that Elong had been leading her astray the whole time.

"This better not take much longer, fish!" She told him.

"Don't worry" Elong said from inside his jar. "Where almost there. And then you'll get to see it!"

"See what?" Maggie asked.

"The ACLU" Elong answered.

"The ACL--what?" Maggie raised a brow.

"The ACLU. The Atlantian Cache of Laboring Underlings!" Elong explained. "It's an outdoor market where the Atlantian people sell and trade products and goods. Mostly the other species they capture fetch the most as they are sold as slaves to the highest bidder."

"Whatever" Maggie said. "All I want to do is find Amera and get my Daddy's compass back. And I don't have much time left to do it, so this place better not be... crowded..."

Her voice trailed off as the tunnel opened out and Maggie breathlessly looking out upon a whole underwater city of fish and humanoid sea creatures alike. She saw creatures that looked either scaley, tentacled, finned and outlandish or all of the above. All of them swimming around bumping into one another, shouting ans laughing in unearthly voices as they shopped at the many kiosks and tents set up all around the ruins of the stone city that was once Atlantis.

"Hey!" Elong cried. "I kept my end of the bargain and got you to Atlantis! Now let me out of this jar! People are starting to stare!"

"Fine" Maggie said. "But you still have to lead me to Amera, remember?"

"Sure! I'm probably headed her way anyhow" Elong said. "Now let me out."

Maggie sighed. "Don't you dare screw me over, fish!" She warned, unscrewing the lid of the jar and letting him out.

Elong strenched his fins and tail as he swam next to Maggie, who headed into the vast market place. The scent of seaweed and other aquatic plants, assaulted Maggie's nostrils, the brilliant blue and green street lamps of the city dazzled her eyes.

"This place is kind of cool" Maggie couldn't help but smile as she looked around.

"I bet you my tail bone, that Amera's over by the Slave Auction over there" Elong lead her to a nearby platform. "She always gets a seat near here every year. She's either selling or betting on whatever creature she can get her hands on."

Maggie swam up to the edge of the round marble platform, where a morae eel swam around, auctioning off a frightened caged dolphin-woman hybrid.

"Going once! Going twice!" The morae eel shouted. "Sold to her Lady Titania for two hundred sand dollars! Next item up for bid... a magical compass! Points to the thing you desire most! Used, but still in fine condition! Let's start the bidding at fifty sand dollars!"

"The compass!" Maggie breathed.

"And I have fifty from Princess Aquarius!" The eel cried. "Do I hear a hundred?"

"That's my compass!" Maggie shouted, trying to rush the stage, but two shark men held her back.

"Looks like we have an eager bidder here folks!" The auction eel chuckled. "I'm sorry, little lady. But if you want the compass you'll have to bid for it!"

"But that's my compass!" Maggie shouted.

"Indeed, it is!" The auction eel nodded. "For a mere one hundred sand dollars!"

"No!" Maggie cried, trying to make her voice heard over the roar of the marketplace.

Annoyed with her, one the shark men used their tail to kick a cloud of sand into her face. Maggie breathed in the cloud, getting sand in her throat and in her eyes, she began to hack and cough uncontrollably.

Elong came up to her with a wine skin. "Here" he offered it to her. "Drink some of this! It'll help!"

"Thanks" Maggie sucked on the nozzle of the wine skin. It was filled with a strange mossy, plant-tasting liquid.

When Maggie finished drinking, she felt a wave of nausea hit her and soon her head began to spin. She looked at Elong, who was smirking smugly at her.

Maggie had just realized too late that Elong had laced the drink with something. As a means of revenge...

"You ugly little..." Maggie found herself losing her balance and landing softly on the sand covered marble street of Atlantis. Her vision blurred until it went dark. Maggie couldn't remember anything after that.

☠💀☠

When Maggie came to, everything had come flooding back. Her father's accident, the evil babysitter, her ugly fish, the compass, the journey to Atlantis. Oh God... how could it get any worse?

But as Maggie opened her eyes, she realized her situation had indeed, gone from bad... to worse.

"Oh no..." Maggie moaned as she gripped the iron bars of the cage she was in.

"And now ladies and gentlefish, we have a late entry to our auction" the Eel announced. "A human child, female, burnette, less then a decade old, full of innocence. We'll start the bidding at a hundred."

Now Maggie herself was being auctioned off! Her heart thumped rapidly as she stared out from her cage at the gathered bidders. They were grim and grotesque-looking, each of them staring at her, contemplating what to use her for.

"No one bids one hundred?" The auction eel asked. "How 'bout fifty? Fifty sand dollars for the young human female!"

No one piped up.

Maggie sighed in relief. Maybe no one would bid and she would be free to go.

"If no one takes her, we'll be forced to grind her into chum and toss her in the shark pit!" The eel announced.

Maggie's eyes widened, her hands shaking in fear.

"Forty sand dollars to save this pitiful human youth from a horrid fate!" Called the eel. "Forty! Do I hear forty?"

Suddenly a cloaked stranger riding a giant seahorse raised their hand to bid.

"Fourty! I have forty!" Cried the eel. "Do I hear fifty?"

Suddenly a hagged woman with squid tentacles for hair raised her hand.

"Fifty!" The eel yelled. "I have fifty! Do I hear sixty?"

The cloaked creature near the seahorse raised their hand. "Sixty! The cloaked stranger bids sixty--"

The tentacle-haired hag raised her hand.

"Seventy!" The eel called "Her ladyship bids seventy!"

Maggie wanted to scream and shout insults at the auctioneer eel. She wanted to do anything to stop this from happening. But the shock, horror and disorientation of the situation rendered her speechless. All she could do was watch on in mute terror as her fate was decided by living water monsters. Sweet little Maggie felt tears prick the back of her eyes. What would the future hold in store for her after this, she would never see her home or her friends or family ever again. She would be bought like property and forced to serve some obnoxious fish monster for the rest of her life. She let out a shuddering breath just thinking of it all...

"Eighty from the cloaked creature!" The eel hollered. "Ninety from her ladyship! Do I hear one hundred...? Ninty, going once. Going twice..."

The cloaked creature raised it's hand again. "One hundred! Sold for one hundred to the cloaked creature! Thank you!"

Maggie's breath hitched as the two shark men, carried her cage off the platform and towards her new owner. They tied the cage onto the back of his seahorses saddle and the cloaked rider tossed them the sack of a hundred sand dollars, before Whipping the riens of the seahorse and taking off out of the cavern she had come in.

As Maggie bounced around in the cage, the full horror of her situation swept over her and she couldn't hold back her tears any longer. She let them fall freely as she curled up in a ball on the cage floor.

Maggie couldn't remember how long she stayed that way. But before she knew it, the galloping seahorse had come to a stop on top of the trench Maggie had swam down earlier. The seahorse's lone cloaked rider hopped off and slowly walked towards her. As Maggie's captor approached her, her horror had grown into a wild panic. This time she was sure, there was nothing short of a miracle that could help her now.

"Daddy... where are you?" she sobbed silently. "I need you..."

"...I'm right here, Maggie" came an all too familiar voice. The cloaked figure pulled back his hood to reveal he was Captain Jack Sparrow.

"Daddy!" Maggie's face broke into a grin as he unlocked the cage. Maggie hugged him, close to tears of happiness. "How did you know I was here?"

"Well, my doctor's appointment ended early and as I was headed home I overheard talk of a child-snatching siren in the area" Captain Jack explained. "I should've known. It's so hard to find good child care these days. And she didn't even haggle me on the fee I was paying her, that did seem suspicious."

"How did you find me?" Maggie asked.

"What? You think this is my first time traveling under the sea?" Jack asked her.

"First time I know of..." Maggie shrugged.

"Nah, this is my second time down here in the past two years" Jack told her.

"Did you have to eat a cocana slug too?" Maggie asked.

"Yeah, but I have a vile of the powdered stuff tucked away" Jack explained. "Better then eating it live... ugh!" He stuck out his tongue in disgust. Then bent down and picked her up "Now come on! It's way past your bedtime, missy."

"But what about Amera and Elong..." Maggie asked.

"Oh... don't worry about them" Captain Jack told her. "I tipped off the auctioneer and his people. Apparently Amera and Elong never told them that they were selling them stolen and abducted goods. They'll be doing time in Atlantian prison for the next... five to fourteen years."

☠💀☠

Soon Maggie was back aboard the Black Pearl in her bedroom. She changed out of her wet bathing suit and into her warm nightgown. Captain Jack placed a towel over her head and shook the remaining water out of her hair.

"So I trust that you didn't get into too much trouble while I was gone?" Jack questioned. "Aside from you're little underwater adventure?"

"No, Daddy" Maggie smiled, climbing into bed.

"Good" Jack nodded. "What on earth even possessed you to go down there anyway?"

Suddenly Maggie remembered, she hadn't retrieved the compass before she left Atlantis!

"Well... the thing is, Daddy" Maggie muttered. "Um... it's about your compass..."

"Don't worry about that, I have it right here!" Captain Jack pulled the compass out of his pocket and swung it around.

Maggie's jaw dropped in utter shock.

"I brought it with me to the doctor's office" Jack explained.

"B-but... what about the compass that was hanging in your cabin?" Maggie asked.

"You mean my decoy?" Jack asked.

"Decoy!" Maggie practically shouted.

"Well, of course!" Captain Jack chuckled. "I'm not gonna just leave a magic compass lying around. Suppose it got lost or someone tried to steal it. That would be a nightmare! Anyways sweet dream, me darling" Jack kissed her forehead and left the room.

Maggie sat there in bed still in shock, her eye twitching. She grabbed her pillow, inhaled and let out a frustrated scream right into the pillow.

AN: Hope you guys enjoyed this one, been working on it for a while! You guys can probably already guess that this one was inspired by the recent #justiceforjohnnydepp movement. Please don't forget to support that and if you haven't yet, please follow the link below and go sign the petition to get Johnny back in the role as Captain Jack Sparrow. It's free to sign, just type your name and show your support to our favorite pirate:

https://www.change.org/p/the-walt-disney-company-we-want-johnny-depp-back-as-captain-jack-sparrow-65c54dc0-db49-47ff-bcb0-726fcf1cb81a