I had never expected slavery to be well, this enjoyable. I got to work with horses from the Captain's stable, enjoying their musky scents. Occasionally the Captain himself, with his midnight black tresses and rumbling voice, would come by. I adored these visits, he was a joy to be around. It wasn't just me who was happy with our current situation. Many of the other girls who I worked with and lived with were satisfied with our current way of life. Several even had sweethearts in the Captain's crew.

But then again, how we got here was not fun. No, not at all.

It had begun like any other day. We had arrived at our school, going to our classes and socializing. But then the chaos began. At first we thought it was a senior prank, guys dressed as pirates rushing through the school, demanding that we surrender. We had laughed, until they pulled swords. Many stopped laughed but several, including me continued. It was then that he entered. James Hook, Captain.

He was resplendent in a red captain's coat draped with gold filigree. His steel hook hung by his side, glinting evilly in the sunlight that filtered through the windows. When I first saw him, I didn't know wether to be scared or enthralled. I settled on scared when a cold steel blade pressed into my throat.

"Now, ladies, calmly make your way outside with my crew. If any of you try to run, this one dies." He ordered. The others looked like frightened sheep. They looked distressed when they noticed the cold blade against my throat.

"NOW!" He bellowed, sending his crew into a flurry of activity. The girls were pushed into a long line, snaking into the distnace while the boys were herded into the hallways which were promptly locked.

"Come along, my dear." Hook said sarcastically, sheathing his sword but throwing his left arm, the one with the hook, around my shoulder so the sharp point of the hook occupied the point wheere his sword had been. I half walked, was half dragged, along beside him like some giant puppy. Then I became totally dragged once I saw what was resting on our football field.

A pirate ship. She was a beauty, all dark wood and fresh paint with golden accents along her prow and stern.

"Welcome to your new home, dear." Hook whispered, his lips barely caressing my ear. They were incredibly soft, a mere breeze. It still took my breath away. It was audible, earning me another glance from him.

"If you're going to react like that, I may just keep you as my own." He chuckled, a deep rumbling sound from within his chest. With a praticed dexterity he swung me around to face him and crushed his lips to mine. his lips were soft but with a force behind them so strong that my knees went weak. Now I have abosolutly no experience kissing, this was actually my first one so I wasn't sure if my body was supposed to get all warm and tingly except for the spot where his hook still dug into my neck. Luckily, once I ran out of breath he pulled back.

"That was quite enjoyable. If I can get my hands on you, expect more of that and a little something extra." He purred, leering at my clothes. I suddenly felt ridicously self concios in my quite modest clothing. A flannel shirt, jeans,boots and a coat wrapped around my waist. A messenger bag backpack rested on my hip.

"You want me to take this'un Cap'n?" A gruff pirate asked, coming up behind me. Hook nodded and I was promptly flung over the pirates shoulder. I had a good view of Hook though as he followed us to sit in one of the jollyboats. The last of the girls and the pirate crew were hoisted up. I could see the rest of the girls being held below decks, their faces looking up through the cargo hatches.

"Hey Captain, can we, uh, have some fun with these new ones?" One of the pirates asked directing his gaze to me. Why were they all obsessed with me? I mean a tall, brown eyed, blonde haired, splotchily tanned girl should hardly attract this much attention.

"You randy sons of bitches, can you not wait three hours until were back home and you can get to the whores you know so well? Besides, we can't have them all tuckered out for the work they're going to be doing." Hook said, directing one of the other pirates to herd us girls into the belly of the ship. I stumbled roughly down the stairs leading to the gun deck. Light filtered in, showing the rest of the girls. Some were crying, others praying and several were rocking back and forth.

"What's gonna happen?" One of them moaned.

"I think we're going to become slaves." I said, I was still shell shocked from Hook's kiss. My comment took over, causing more crying and cries of outburst. I hardly paid attention, I was wondering why Hook had kissed me? Why me? There were plenty of other girl in our high school, many prettier than me. Why would he kiss me? Just thinking about it sent shivers up my spine, and not shivers of fear. What did he mean by 'If he got his hands on me'? I shuddered to think of it. The girls were girls were crying now, almost all of them. My mothering side took over, there had to be something I could do to make it better. I reached into my backpack and pulled out a book I had stashed. Meg Cabot's Mediator: Shadowland.

"GIRLS!" I yelled, quieting the majority of them, "I have a book to read, so be quiet." They were quiet. I opened the book up and began to read.

"They told me there'd be palm trees." I started. The girls stared at me with wonder in their eyes as I weaved my way though Ms. Cabot's words. By the time we reached chapter five though, the ship slowed and finally stopped. I hastily put away my book, lookig upward for any sign of escape. There was none. Soon the crew walked in, they would gather ten girls and then leave before returning for another ten. I found out all to soon just what exactly they were doing.

They took hold of both of my hands and pulled me up the stairs to the deck. There, shackles were clapped around my ankles and cuffs around my wrists. An iron collar was put around my neck and connected by a long chain to the other girls. We moved roughly with short, choppy strides due to the shortness of the shackle chain. I kept tripping, only managing to catch myself at the last moment.

We passed through a town- of sorts, it was made of the ruined hulks of sunken ships- filled with bars and brothels. I shuddered to think about who would be put to work in the brothels. We progressed farther out of the town, it thinned out until we reached a large wall also made from the timbers of wrecked ships. A gate had been built into it, which swung slowly open to reveal our new home.

If I could compare it to anything today I would say a summer camp. Cabins, made out of what else but the wood from destroyed ships, were lined up and down the space in between the walls. They stopped around a square in which a large fire burned, heating a huge iron cauldron. I could hear a river rushing nearby, more than likely inside the walls as well. The pirates walked along our line, unlocking our restraints.

"Trust me, I'll see you later wench." One of them said to me, punctuating it with a slap to my but. I whirled around and slammed my foot into his back sending him sprawling forward onto the ground. His fellows helped him up and threw nasty looks in my direction as they walked off.

"Haley, where are we?" My friend, Julia, asked.

"Well, judgin' from the fact that I was help captaive by a man with a hook on his arm who is referred to by Captain and commands a horde of pirates, I'd say Neverland." I said, shrugging my bag off. This started the crying again.

"Now girl, stop that! No crying, no moaning, no nothing!" I yelled, "We're going to be fine, alright? Whatever happens we've got each other. We're going to be fine." This stopped them, the firelight lighting their scared faces. "Now, I'd recommend we eat and get to sleep." I continued, gesturing to the pile of bowels next to the fire and the cabins.

Bowls were dipped into the giant pot, it was filled with a kind of beef stew. Didn't taste that great but it at least it was warm. Warm was good since we were by the sea and an onshore breeze had begun to blow and, boy, it was cold. We huddled around the fire, glad fot its warmth. Seeing the hopelessness on many of their faces I stood.

"Guys, I know this looks really bad okay? But, let's just try our hardest to do what they ask us. I mean, I know it's gonna be really demeaning to have to be slaves but we can get through this." I said, spreading my arms in an imploring position.

"Yeah, but they're pirates for crying out loud." One of the girls, a popular one named Delilah, said. Several of the other girls in her popular 'clique' agreed with her.

"Hey shut up! Haley's right, enough hard work and we'll be fine." Julia said, coming to my aid. I looked at her and mouthed 'thank you'. She nodded. I could see that there was a division forming, the girls who agreed that we should work and the girls that were with Shannon and were just prepared to whine and bitch the whole way. after we finished eating I read a bit more of the book until most of us were tired.

Yawning, we investigated the cabins. They were long, they had to be to fit five beds on each side. The matresses were really just cloth stuffed with straw. Rough canvas blankets were resting on them. Personally I didn't care what I was sleeping on, I was tired. I fell asleep alomst as soon as I hit the thing.

Smee hadn't seen Hook this excited since he had cut Pan during the Tiger Lily incident. The Captain seemed almost, sprightly. His appetite made a booming return. Circles under his eyes diappeared, his hair looked better than ever and Smee could have sworn he heard him whistling.

"Well you seem to be cherry today Cap'n." He commented to Hook as they made their way to examine the new slaves. It was the morning of a great day in Neverland. Pan had not been spotted for days and while Hook missed fighting his old adversary he was ecstatic to see the slaves. Especially that one, the tall blonde one.

In addition to the walls he had built around the slave enclosure which was sunken into a valley. He watched with a sense of delight as they stumbled out of the cabins which had so recently been home to Lost Boys. Hook had decided awhile ago that Lost Boys were just to risky to keep as slaves. Girls were much easier.

Ah, there she is, he thought upon seeing her come out of one of the cabins. She was easily recognizable due to her height, in fact, he was almost positive that she was some kind of leader among them. She directed traffic to the fire, passed out bowls and generally tried to make eveything easier for the rest of them.

There was some opposition to her niceness though, roughly thirty of the girls -all grouped around another blonde, yet shorter than her- cursed at her and yelled as she passed them some of the poridge from the pot hanging over the fire.

"Smee, send the old girls for that bunch." Hook said, gesturing to the ones that were cursing. The old girls were the whores, they would greatly enjoy the service of those ones.

Hook, himself though, wanted one that was not part of that bunch. He wanted the blonde.

I secretly cheered as Delilah and her cohorts were hauled out by very frivilously dressed women. I had no qualms about where they were going. One of the ladies stayed behind though, dressed more modestly than the others. We watched her with a sense of curiosity.

"Quiet down girls. Now, you are right in assuming that you'll be slaves, but it will be more like servants. You're crucial to the running of this town, wether it's from serving drinks in a tavern to making the Captain's bed. You'll get your work tomorrow but first there are some rules." She said, she took our quiet looks as a sign she should continue, "Number one, if the Captain speaks to you, which is unlikely, you'll will address him as Captain. Wether it be 'Yes, Captain' or 'No, Captain' you will call him Captain. Number two, you will obey the people you work for. And lastly, you must be back here by sundown." We watched in a sort of fascination as she walked out. Soon the buzz of many conversations going at once obscured the noise of racous hoots and hollers from the town.

"I'm going on a walk." I said, leaving Julia and my other friend Leah gossiping about where they would be working. I passed by the fire, most of the cabins and headed for where I had heard the river.

"Smee, where's she going?" Hook asked, his eyes following the head of blonde hair as it moved out of his line of sight.

I arrived at the river and was greeted with an incredible sight. It was a bright and bubbly brook, the wall streaching to its other bank. Metal grating ran into the ground where the wall ran above the water. In reality the place we were in was just a valley with walls enclosing it. I laughed and slurped greedily from the clear water. It was wonderful, cold and refreshing. I turned around to head back to the fire, glimpsing a bit of red up on the side of the valley.

Was it him? Was he here? I thought, thinking of the Captain as I had now begun to call him.

Did she see me?