🏴☠️Before We Set Sail...🧜🏻♀️
Chapter song: Overboard — Sail North (feat. Luria)
Almost one hundred years have passed since a mermaid signed a contract
That she never could have fulfilled.
When the sun set on the third day, she lost everything.
Her name
Her voice
Her birthright
And, as the years slipped beneath the tide, even her memories.
Yet every full moon, she still rises from the sea to dance beneath the stars and wander the human world she has never stopped loving.
Almost one hundred years have passed since the Fae Prince Eric of Summer lost his Kingdom beneath the Sea.
So he built another.
One that finds her every full moon.
A kingdom of mast and sail.
A kingdom that follows the wind instead of the tide.
A kingdom forever chasing the horizon.
Piracy is many things.
To kingdoms, it is treason.
To Merchants, it is theft.
To a kingdom left with nothing, it is survival
The Pirate King, now known as Hook, chooses his targets carefully.
He steals weapons from tyrants.
He steals food from the greedy.
He steals gold from the profiteers.
His targets are usually Tinker Bell, Peter Pan, and his shadow.
For they steal something Hook will not allow to be lost.
Children.
He must steal them before they are ‘Lost’ to the dust she uses to control them.
One of them sails upon the sea.
One of them swims beneath.
For almost One Hundred years, neither has been able to leave the world that claimed them.
Their courses continue to cross.
Their fates forever tied in writing.
They will remain bound to each other, to the sea, and to the story.
Until the contract is fulfilled.
Before You Set Sail
Not every voyage ends with a lighthouse. Some disappear beneath black water.
Others answer a siren’s song.
This story sails through treacherous seas and sunny shores. It may contain:
• Graphic violence and injury
• Blood, death, and body horror
• Pirates, monsters, and supernatural creatures
• Mermaids, sirens, and predatory folklore
• Psychological manipulation and gaslighting
• Trauma, PTSD, and grief
• Emotional, verbal, and physical abuse
• Kidnapping, captivity, and imprisonment
• Torture and cruelty
• Moral ambiguity and morally gray characters
• Questionable consent and complex power dynamics
• Sexual content and mature themes
• Profanity
• Themes of obsession, vengeance, and survival
The waters ahead are unpredictable.
Storms rise without warning.
Ships sink.
People become monsters.
Sometimes the monsters were people long before the sea found them.
If any of these subjects may be harmful to you, consider dropping anchor here. There is no shame in choosing calmer waters.
But if you hear the call of the open ocean...
Welcome aboard.
Just remember: Not everything that smiles from beneath the waves wants to save you.
Contracts and copyrights.
Every sailor has heard a different version of the tale.
Some swear the crocodile was only ever a beast.
Others insist the sea itself remembers every name it has claimed.
This is not that story.
Hooked is an original work of fiction by K. Bengel. While inspired by classic folklore, myths, and beloved tales passed from one generation to the next, this reimagining, including its characters, world, plot, and original elements, is protected under copyright law.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form without prior written permission from the author, except where permitted by law.
Fair winds.
Following seas.
And may you survive the voyage.
© K. Bengel. All Rights Reserved. May 2026
