Prologue

Everyone has a dream. Some are simple, and some are complex. Some don't even make sense. But at least they're dreaming. Every now and then someone dreams of something that could never happen. And when I say never, I mean never.
But what if that dream did come true? What if that impossible dream that you've wished for since you were small could come true? Would you want it to? Would you want your dream to end? To have to find a new one?
I've had only one dream my whole life. It is a rather impossible dream. A dream that seems only small children would have. But if I could have it... Well I'd take it.
A dream of sailing the high seas. A dream of crossing oceans, riding the waves to unknown islands. I want to find buried treasure, and discover Davy Jone's Locker. Plundering and pillaging is a child's game I wish to play every day.
But no, I can't. Pirates don't exist anymore. And even if they did, I could never be a pirate. Not in the past, not today, not ever. And the only reason why is because...
I'm a girl.





2

Flag 1: Restless Nights


My name is Cordelia O’Malley. I guess you could say today was like any other day. Get up. Not a pirate. Go to school. Not a pirate. Go home. Not a pirate. Have dinner. Not a pirate. Go to bed. And you guessed it! Not a pirate.
But for some reason I couldn’t sleep that night. Something had felt off. So instead of rolling in my bed all night like I usually do. I looked underneath my bed, and took out a rather large box. Inside the box was almost all of my things that had to do with pirates.
That night I spent hours reliving memories, and playing old pirate games with my toys. Sometimes it feels great to be a kid again. Doing whatever you want, and not caring what others think of you. I had never felt so alive.
Around four I finally got tired and went into a dreamless slumber. Maybe tomorrow will be different. Maybe it won’t. All I know is that I am getting sick of wanting to be a pirate. Maybe tomorrow I’ll find a job, or bug Amy Ray about the boy she likes.