Calico Jack

The other girls were going out to sunbathe on the rocks. There was talk that a ship was coming and they were eager to attract the sailors with their bare shoulders, coy glances, and deadly songs.

"C'mon, Space Cat Sophie," Tess tugged at her elbow, an eager smile on her coral lips, "We could really use your alto out there."

Sophie bit her bottom lip and considered the request for a moment before shaking her head, her long seaweed-green hair tangling around her.

"Not today, Tess. My show is about to start."

"You're always watching that show," Tess pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. "What's so fintabulous about it that you'd give up an opportunity to help crash a ship and watch Leggers sink to their doom?"

Sophie's tail swished through the salty water. She could feel her heart drum a faster beat under her breastbone.

"It's a thrilling tail," Sophie gushed. "Calico Jack took command of the Ranger after the pirate captain, Vane, tucked tail and ran from a French frigate. Vane and his supporters were left in the sloop. Vane and his men sailed to the Bay Islands, capturing sloops, until a hurricane hit and stranded Vane on an uninhibited island. When an English ship came by, he tried to board under a false name but was recognized and arrested!"

Tess frowned. "Sloop? Pirates? It sounds to me like you're getting too caught up in the Legger's world. I mean, seriously, Sophie? You're so enamored with this Khaki Slack —"

"Calico Jack," Sophie murmured.

"— and Vane humans that you've become reclusive and withdrawn. You never come out and sing. Your eyes are bloodshot from watching the orb and your hair is a wreck."

Sophie grabbed a whalebone hairpin from her pufferfish-pincushion and pulled her hair out of her face.

"I demand you come to the surface and hang out," Tess's blue eyes flashed as she lifted her chin. A smile tugged at Sophie's mouth. Tess could be as stubborn as a hammerhead shark when she got an idea in her head.

"Sorry, Tess. I can't. Calico Jack has just convinced his lover, Anne, to leave her husband and join him in a life of piracy!" Sophie clasped her hands over her heart, fighting the urge to dramatically swoon into the arms of the small statue of her father, Poseidon. Tess's mouth dropped open.

"A woman on a ship?" she snorted. "Why, that's positively scandalous!"

"They're currently being hunted by a Legger called Jonathan Barnet. It's a very close chase and I'd like to see if Jack and Anne make it."

Tess licked her lips. "Maybe…maybe I could watch one episode with you."

"Fintabulous!" Sophie clapped her hands with glee. "It's past sunrise, it'll have started already." Sophie flicked her tail, propelling herself toward a large cavern. Tess swam beside her into the dark space as Sophie reached out and picked up what looked like a smooth, round pearl the size of a basketball. At her touch, the orb flashed white and began to glow.

"Calico Jack and Anne Bonny," Sophie whispered. A picture of a ship shimmered across the orb's surface. Sophie adjusted the sphere, setting it on a natural, stone stand, and the image was projected against the cavern's bumpy wall.

"There's Anne," Sophie pointed. "With the red hair."

"She's...she's pregnant!" Tess gasped. Sophie grinned and leaned closer to the orb. Anne was gesturing to a ship in the distance. Calico Jack was grimacing and shaking his head.

"That's the pirate hunter, Barnet, following them." Sophie explained.

"Shhh! I can't hear what they're saying!" Tess hissed.

By evening, Tess was hooked and within days her eyes became as bloodshot and her hair as snarled as Sophie's.

"I can't believe Jack and Anne were captured by Barnet," Sophie sadly shook her head.

"And did you hear what she last said to Calico Jack as they drug him off in chains?" Tess grunted. She scooped up a stick from the sandy floor and held it out like a sword. "'Had you fought like a man, you need not have been hang'd like a dog.' I thought she loved him."

"I think she did, in her own way." Sophie's eyes glistened with tears as she remembered the execution of Calico Jack.

"Do you think they'll hang her, too?" Tess dropped the stick and clutched at her throat.

"No. Not while she's pregnant, anyway."

"I wish there was some way we could help," Tess whispered, tracing a finger along the side of the orb. It glimmered and focused on a red-headed woman, pacing back and forth in a prison cell.

"Maybe we could," Sophie murmured. "We could call her to us. Make her part of our family. She would make a great Siren!"

"She won't hear us, Sophie. Female Leggers never do. And even if she could, she's trapped behind those bars. How would she get out?"

Sophie's forehead wrinkled as she searched for a solution. "Well, then," she swallowed past a lump of nerves, "We'll just have to rescue her."

Tess's eyes grew round with horror. "You want us to go to land, lose our tails, and become Leggers?" she shook her head. "No way! We'll get stuck on the surface forever!"

Sophie rolled here eyes. "Don't be so dramatic, Tess. We can be on land for thirty-six hours before we permanently lose our tails. That's more than enough time to free Anne! Think of the fun we could have. It'll be like our very own orb show!"

Tess bit her lip, wavering between the allure of peril and fame, and the safety of the ocean's salty depths.

"Fine," she finally sighed. "Lets go rescue the most famous female pirate of all time!"

"Yay!" Sophie cheered. "Last one to land is a pirate hunter!" Flicking her tail, Sophie zoomed toward the ocean's surface.

"No fair!" Tess giggled, "You got a head start!"

The water churned as the girls swam into adventure.