The Captain and the Pearl |J.S

Nine

"You godless pirate!" Elizabeth screeches as she charges Barbossa. He whips around and grabs her by the arms.

"Welcome back, miss." He taunts. I loosen the ropes around me to try and break free. "You took advantage of our hospitality last time. It holds fair now you return the favor." Barbossa smirks and throws my sister to his crew. They start grabbing at her and I manage to slip out of the ropes.

"Get your hands off her!" I shout rushing towards the men. Before I can make it, Barbossa grabs my arm and pulls me to his side.

"Well aren't you feisty, little one?" His face is close enough to mine that I can smell the stench of his breath. I shrink away from him in disgust. I look over to Jack as he moves to come to my aid but Barbossa's men pull him back.

"Barbossa!" We hear a voice call out. I turn around to find Will standing on the railing of the Pearl.

"Will!" I smile. He jumps off the railing and points his pistol at the Captain.

"Elizabeth and Evelyn go free." Barbossa hands me off to another crew member and walks towards Will.

"What's in your head, boy?"

"Elizabeth and Evelyn go free." Will repeats.

"You've only got one shot, and we can't die."

"Don't do anything stupid." Jack pleads with Will from the sidelines. Will jumps back up onto the railing.

"You can't." He points his pistol under his chin. "I can."

"Like that." I hear Jack whisper.

"Who are you?" Barbossa asks.

"No one." Jack answers. "He's no one. A distant cousin of my aunt's nephew, twice removed. Lovely singing voice though. Eunuch." What the hell is he talking about?

"My name is Will Turner." Will states. "My father was Bootstrap Bill Turner. His blood runs in my veins." The crew mutter amongst themselves.

"He's the spitting image of ol' Bootstrap Bill, come back to haunt us!" The wooden eye man exclaims.

"On my word, do as I say," Will continues. "Or I'll pull this trigger and be lost to Davy Jones' locker."

"Name your terms, Mr. Turner." Barbossa says after thinking for a moment.

"Elizabeth and Evelyn go free!" He repeats yet again.

"Yes, we know that one. Anything else?"

"And the crew. The crew are not to be harmed."

"Agreed."

They drop anchor off the coast of a tiny island in the middle of nowhere. The men throw me and my sister onto the plank to be thrown overboard. Guess Will wasn't specific enough about the terms of our release.

The crew shouts and points their weapons at us while I try my hardest to not look uneasy. I really wish I had decided to take swimming lessons with Elizabeth when we were younger.

"It'll be alright, Evie. We'll swim together, ok?" Elizabeth grabs my hand and I squeeze it for reassurance.

"Barbossa you lying bastard!" I hear Will shout. "You swore they'd go free."

"Don't dare impugn me honor, boy!" Barbossa seethes. "I agreed they'd go free, but it was you who failed to specify when or where." He laughs. Maybe these pirates are smarter than I thought. "Though it does seem a shame to lose something so fine, don't it lads? So I'll be having that dress back before you go."

Elizabeth takes off the gown she had on leaving her in her undergarment dress. She throws the fabric at Barbossa who catches it with a disgusting smirk.

"Goes with your black heart." She sneers then moves back over to me at the tip of the plank.

We jump off together and I land in the warm Caribbean water. I manage to get back up to the surface and shout for Elizabeth.

"I'm here, Eve." I hear her say as she grabs my arm. "Just kick your legs and follow me, ok? Don't panic, you'll be alright."

I take a deep breath as best as I can and listen to her. I gently swish my arms around and kick my legs and eventually make it to a point where I can stand up.

I take a minute to appreciate the fact that I didn't drown and make my way up onto the beach of the tiny island with my sister.

"I'm so proud of you, Evie." Elizabeth says pulling me into her arms.

I turn around to see Jack walking up to us with his sword, pistol, and compass in hand. The Black Pearl now leaving us behind.

"Are you alright, love?" He comes over to me and I nod in answer. He turns back to the ocean to see the ship sailing away. "That's the second time I've had to watch that man sail away with my ship."

We follow Jack as he walks further onto the island looking for something.

"You were marooned on this island before, weren't you?" Elizabeth reminds him. "So we can escape in the same way you did then."

"To what point and purpose, young missy?" Jack whirls around to face her. "The Black Pearl is gone. Unless you have a rudder and a lot of sails hidden in that bodice...unlikely...young Mr. Turner will be dead long before you can reach him." Jack walks off again and knocks on a palm tree.

"But you're Captain Jack Sparrow." Elizabeth states. Jack walks away from the tree taking abnormally large steps. What the actual hell is he doing? "You vanished from under the eyes of seven agents of the East India Trading Company. You sacked Nassau port without even firing a shot. Are you the pirate I've read about or not?"

"How did you escape last time, Jack?" I butt in. He looks at me in a way that I can't decipher.

"Last time, I was here a grand total of three days, alright?" I furrow my eyebrows in confusion as he reaches down and opens a hidden hatch in the ground and descends down the small set of stairs. "Last time, the rumrunners used this island as a cache. They came by and I was able to barter passage off. From the looks of things, they've long been out of business. Probably have your bloody friend Norrington to thank for that." He comes back with a bottle of rum in each hand.

"So that's it then?" Elizabeth questions. "That's the secret, grand adventure of the infamous Jack Sparrow. You spent three days lying on a beach drinking rum."

"Welcome to the Caribbean, Miss Swann." He hands me a bottle and walks back to the beach.

"Might as well enjoy it while we're here, sis." I shrug and follow after him.