Sparrow's Love

Chapter 13: Jack's Past

We've been sailing for a while now and I have the feeling that we're soon going to be catching up to the Black Pearl and the man I should call Father.

Jack hasn't spoken to me since the incident with me being a mermaid, but I still catch him staring at me when I go for a walk on the ship.

I've grown close to Anamaria the last few days. I'm not meant to leave my room, orders of the captain. Anamaria comes to visit me and tells me tales of her youth. She also tells me not to trust Jack and I don't know why, but I know that if it ever came down to it, I would trust Jack with my life. That's right, I said it. I trust him now. I also think I'm beginning to have feelings for him.

I go above deck to get some fresh air and I look at the sea and see about ten sunken ships. I get an eerie feeling about this place, yet I still feel drawn to the sea.

"Dead men tell no tales," Cotton parrot sings while we pass through. I speak to Cotton a lot as he is an amazing listener.

"Puts the chill in the bones how many honest sailors have been claimed by this passage," Gibbs says to Will as they sit looking at some map.

I go and sit down next to Will. Whenever I feel myself worried or scared, I always move closer to Will because I know he'll protect me. I know that he's in love with Elizabeth, but Will and I aren't like that. We're just friends. Will puts his arm around me as he continues his conversation with Gibbs.

"How is it that Jack came by that compass?" Will asks.

I look up to see Jack looking down at the compass with a confused expression on his face. He looks up at me then back down to his compass and back at me and then shakes his head and closes his compass. He's a very strange man.

"Not a lot's known about Jack Sparrow before he showed up in Tortuga with a mind to go after the treasure of the Isla de Muerta. That was before I met him. Back when he was Captain of the Black Pearl."

"What?!" I say.

"He failed to mention that," Will says. Gibbs laughs but continues with his story anyway.

"Well, he plays things closer to the vest now. And a hard-learned lesson it was. See three days out, the first mate comes to him and says everything's an equal share. That should mean the location of the treasure too. So, Jack gives up the bearings. That night, there was a mutiny. They marooned Jack on an island and left him to die, but not before he'd gone mad with the heat."

"That's awful. How could they betray him like that?" I ask.

He just shakes his head and looks down and says, "That's the life of a pirate. You can't trust anybody."

"Ah. So that's the reason for all the...?" Will asks while doing some of the hand actions that Jack does. I laugh but stop when Gibbs gives me a harsh stare. It's obviously a touchy matter for him.

"Reason's got nothing to do with it. Now, Will, Maria, when a pirate's marooned, he's a given a pistol with a single shot. One shot. Well, that won't do much good hunting or to be rescued. But after three weeks of a starving belly and thirst, that pistol will start to look real friendly," he says while pointing his fingers to his head as if they were a pistol. "But Jack escaped the island, and he still has that single shot. Oh, he won't use it, though, save it on one man. His mutinous first mate," he continues, and I gasp.

"That is an absolutely horrible thing to do to someone," I say, but they both ignore me, and Will says one word that sends chills down my spine. The worst thing anyone could say.

"Barbossa."

I close my eyes and try to stop the tears. Now I know why Jack said he wasn't a good man, but I have to see for myself. I'm sure that Barbossa hasn't done anything to hurt Elizabeth. I hope.