(unedited version)
"Sam! How have ya bin?!" Sapphire greeted the man standing in the doorway cheerfully,
nearly tackling him. Sam grinned," I've bin good and yerself?"
"I've bin fantastic! Oh! I nearly forgot, Sam this is Silver and Silver this is Charlotte
and me's good friend Sam," Sapphire introduced us enthusiastically.
"Pleasure to meet ya Silver, I hope your stay here on Tortoise Island is a good one,"
he greeted warmly, with a small hint of sarcasm at the last part.
"Thank you," I replied then realized the food was ready and went to the oven to
pull the pies out.
"Sapph, the crew is here, I swear they're like wolves who c'n smell a good meal fer
miles," he joked.
Sapphire laughed," well I'm glad I can boast having the best meals on this 'ere
isle."
I pulled out the pies and handed them off to Charlotte, and Sapphire," the pies ain't gonna
serve themselves, come on."
A pang of sadness hit me when I remembered Stick had said something like that not long before he
was killed protecting me. I pushed the thoughts aside before following
Charlotte, Sam and Sapphire to a big room with a long dining table, twenty or
so sailors sat around it talking loudly to each other.
When they noticed us come in, one by one they stopped talking and looked at us or rather the food
in our hands. Sapphire grinned," Even'n boys, who's hungry?"
They all cheered, we set the food on the table. Most of the men were about to start serving when
someone yelled," Men! Haven't ye forgot'n ta say somethin' to the ladies for their hard work?"
I looked to see that Sam was standing at his seat. The men nodded and turned back to us
again," thank ya ladies" they chorused. A smile crept onto my face; both Sapphire and Charlotte were also smiling. The room became noisy again as the men started eating and talking. I followed Sapphire back to the
kitchen.
“I don't know about you folks but I'm starving," Charlotte exclaimed.
Both Sapphire and I nodded, I grabbed the two pies that were left and set them on the table.
We all served ourselves and started eating in silence, I took a bite and let the heavenly
taste fill my mouth," delicious! Can I have this recipe Sapphire?"
Sapphire grinned and nodded," yes definitely."
I looked at Charlotte, “So what is your story? If you don't mind me asking..."
Charlotte smiled slightly, "'Tis a bit long but you might as well know: I was born
into a very wealthy family in a rich seaport town. One day when I was around
fourteen, around four or five pirate ships came and laid siege to our town. My
parents were killed during the first month..... that’s when I learned to act
and dress as a boy, two months later whoever had remained alive were taken
prisoner. That included me as Charlie; I knew I'd suffer a worse fate if I was
discovered as a girl. After about a week in the brig of Captain Flint, the
captain who orchestrated the horrible mutiny on The Midnight Queen a few days
ago...."
"THAT was Captain Flint?!" I interrupted in alarm, my face paling.
Charlotte nodded," yes, you heard of him?"
I shuddered, "uh yes... a little bit more than heard..."I replied feeling sick.
"She... Umm was on the Midnight Queen when one of Flint’s crew claimed mutiny...."
Sapphire explained to Charlotte.
"Oh Silver! I'm so sorry, I had no idea you also had fallen prey to Flint."
I only shook my head," it's fine, it just was a shock to find out who had been behind it
all, please continue..."
Charlotte nodded," as I was saying, I, along with a few others were in Flint's brig
for about a week when he finally had us brought up to the main deck and given
the choice to either join his ranks or be tied and thrown into the sea to our
deaths. I joined him and spent two grueling years on the ship with Sam the only
one knowing my true identity. When we docked here in a small port island, both
Sam and I were accused of stealing from Flint, there was no evidence but Flint
was still angry about it and marooned us on an island... After about a week on
the island we were near dying but a small pirate crew found us and took us here
where we met Sapphire. Sam still works for that Captain as payment for his help,
“she finished quietly.
I couldn’t help but stare at her, "so what do you do now?"I asked.
"I help people, mainly girls to get off this island; I teach them how to
masquerade as men. Often girls who follow my instructions end up being able to
find a new life... but unfortunately some are found out.... That's the danger
of it all," Charlotte replied.
I nodded, "Is it possible you could teach me? I plan on staying here a while
but I need to find someone....."
"I don't think that would be a problem, but I have to warn you, pirates aren't
kind to women of any kind, if you were found out, it’s likely you may
perish..."Charlotte warned, looking straight into my silver eyes with her
green ones.
"I understand the risk, I made a promise and I intend on keeping it," I
replied firmly.
Charlotte got up from her seat, "good, I thought you'd say so, how about I let you
rest tomorrow, and then I'll start teaching you."
"Thank you Charlotte."
-----------------
Later that night as I laid in bed , I thought about Jacob. I couldn’t believe he was part of Flint's crew, he seemed so kind and lighthearted. Not the coldhearted, murdering, pirate I had seen in him, it just completely boggled my mind he could watch his father die like that. I mourned over the Jacob I had only had for a short time then lost so miserably.
I think I was falling for him...
Why is he part of Flint's crew?
How could he think I would not get hurt in the middle of this?
Why can't I forget about him?
Why...?
Why.....?
I cried silently into my pillow, the questions I could not find answers to swirled in my mind dragging me down into despair. After several minutes I finally stopped crying, calming myself by listening to the waves crash on the shore not far from the window. My thoughts then turned to Charles, my brother, how was I going to know whether or not he is truly my brother?
Would he even accept me?
Or would he reject me and I would be on my own again?
Again, questions filled my mind, and again I was on the verge of tears when I looked up and saw a dark figure towering over me. I opened my mouth to scream but a warm hand clamped down on my mouth, muting the noise.
"Don't scream Anna" the man whispered......
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Author's Note: yes I decided to put in a cliff hanger XD Evil? I know :) okay so this chapter took me longer than usual because I had no idea how the get Charlotte's story down. I was thinking about it and the idea popped into my head to possibly write her story separately in the future, what do you think?
He he, who do you think the "dark figure" who snuck into Anna's room was?
Vote, comment, fan:)
Have a great rest of the week!
<3Gypsy