Sparrow's Love

Chapter 10: Tortuga

While travelling at sea, I kept hearing whispers and kept being drawn to the sea. A couple of times Will and Jack had to stop me from going overboard due to my daydreams.

Most of the time I sulk in my cabin. I managed to call dibs on the Captain's Quarters so that is now my area on every ship we are going to be sailing on. And yes, that is where I was when I woke up from my nightmare.

We finally made it to Tortuga.

"More importantly, it is indeed a sad life that has never breathed deep this sweet bouquet that is Tortuga, savvy? What do you think?" Jack asks me and Will. I say nothing and just keep looking around.

"It'll linger," Will says.

"I'll tell you, mate, if every town in the world were like this one, no man would ever feel unwanted," Jack says. I can't help but snigger at that. A redheaded cheap tart then started to walk in our direction with an angry look on her face. "Scarlett!" Jack says excitedly. She slaps him across the face. "Not sure I deserve that," Jack says and turns around and sees a blonde girl and says, "Giselle!"

"Who was she?" The girl says in a snarky voice.

"What?" Jack asks with a confused look on his face and gets slapped again. "I may have deserved that." Will and I can't help but laugh.

We're now currently looking for one of Jack's old friends called Gibbs. It rings a bell actually, but I can't think of where.

We're standing outside of a pig's den, but there seems to be a man sleeping there. I'm not sure why Will and I had to carry buckets of water from the local pump to this sty. Jack grabs my bucket and throws it on top of the sleeping man, startling him awake.

"Curse you for breathing, you slacked-jawed idiot!" The man shouts. He then looks up at Jack. "Mother's love! Jack! You should know better than to wake a man when he's sleeping. It's bad luck," the man says. He glances at me and then looks away before returning to stare at me.

"Do you's two know each other?" Jack asks obviously noticing how the man was looking at me.

"It must be eight years, eh Miss Swann. It's me. Mr. Gibbs of the Royal Navy. I was there the day we fished young Mr. Turner here out of the sea," Gibbs explains. That must have been where I recognized him from.

When we were sailing, I saw a boy in the water and then a burning ship and then a pirate ship sailing in the opposite direction. Mr. Gibbs has always been obsessed with pirates and the 'rules' of the sea. Father had banned both me and Elizabeth from speaking to him. I heard that he had been caught stealing and was then banned from the Royal Navy.

"Gibbs, fortunately, I know how to counter it. The man who did the waking buys the man who was sleeping a drink. The man who was sleeping drinks while listening to a proposition from the man who did the waking," Jack trails off obviously ignoring the fact that I knew Gibbs and that we were having a conversation in between.

"Aye, that'll about do it," Gibbs says then Jack helps him to his feet. Will then throws his bucket of water over Gibbs. "Blast! I'm already awake!" Gibbs shouts.

"That was for the smell," Will states with a simple shrug of his shoulders and I burst out laughing. Jack looks at me slightly amused.

"Mr. Turner, can I trust you to look after Miss Swann and help her find her way to the Inn that we'll be drinking at?" Jack asks in his serious voice and does this weird thing with his eyebrows.

"Of course," Will says while looking at me with a grin spread across his face probably because I'm still laughing.

"Mr. Gibbs and I will meet you there."

I watch as Jack and Gibbs walk off. As soon as Will knows they can no longer see us he too bursts into a fit of laughter. After five minutes of laughing, Will and I make our way to the Inn.

Tortuga is an amazing place. It's full of freedom and pirates. Most women would hate it, but because I was born to be free, I feel right at home.