DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean or the characters Jack, Will, Elizabeth, Barbossa, Gibbs, the Pearl, etc. I share characters Ann, Joan, Nick, Sebastian, and Mr. Bright with my esteemed co-author and best friend Lily.
AN: Please note this is a story I am writing together with my best friend Lily McKendrick. I will post her link soon. Please go read her stuff. She's awesome!
Chapter 1
Ann Corlette sighed heavily as she walked around the empty bedroom feeling like the loneliest person in the world. Long white fingers gently brushed the oak bed frame of the last place she'd seen her beloved mother. Her deathbed.
I just can't believe she's gone. I am alone.
Ann…She spun round.
Mother?
"Ann!" A familiar voice called from the hallway. "Ann!" Closer now - then suddenly from the door burst her best friend, Joan Avery, dark blond hair flying from under her black bonnet and she raced across the room.
Before she could think another lonely thought Ann was enveloped in the warm embrace of her best friend. She sighed for a moment.
Perhaps not all alone.
"Oh Ann, don't do this to yourself," Joan said gently taking her hand to lead her from the cold room. "Let's get out of these sorrowful clothes, and..."
"Wait," Ann said softly stopping. A memory blossomed in her mind. "There is something I need to…" She walked a few steps away from her bewildered friend towards the dresser in the corner her mind sea of memories.
Her vision blurred. The room turned to night with low burning candles. The only sounds were the far distant waves crashing to shore that nearly eclipsed the labored breathing of the woman in the oak bed.
"Ann," she said softly, her frail hand patting the bed linen.
"Mother shhhh, you mustn't speak." A young girl with tousled dark curls and tear brimmed grey eyes clutched Margaret Corlette's hand. It was like ice. "You must rest," The girl's voice cracked.
"Oh child, do not weep," her mother said softly with a wisp of her old smile. "We both knew this would come one day. Ever since my fall from the gelding I have not been well." She took the last of the reserves of her strength and pulled her only child, her precious daughter, close to her face. "I have one last gift to give you my dear. A secret."
A secret? Margaret Corlette has always to her daughter. There were days she would see her spend hours looking out the windows of their home to the sea. It used to make her father angry, but that was long ago. He'd all but forgotten them in the arms of his young mistress, Ann thought bitterly. She tenderly stroked her mother's graying dark hair.
"Mother please," she begged. "You'll be fine. You…"
"Ann listen," her mother hissed, fire alighting her grey eyes, her grip tightening. "Listen carefully. In the dresser… In a secret compartment. There is something you must find… It's from your Father. Your real Father.
Ann gasped.
"Yes, it's true. You know it is," her Mothers gaze wavered a moment.
"Mother?" Ann cried. "Mother!"
"Remember," her Mother breathed her last breath. "I love you…"
Then she was gone.
The real world swirled back in to view as Ann stumbled to the dresser.
"Ann," Joan rushed to her side once again.
"I almost forgot," she stammered. "I was so upset…"
"Ann what are you talking…" Joan trailed off at the fever in her friend's eyes as she hastily opened the dresser drawers one after another.
"Where is it? Where…"
She stopped short at the hollow thud of the last drawer hitting the ground. Something cracked. Together the girls knelt.
Joan felt a wave of uneasiness sweep her as she watched her friend digging into the broker drawer of her ghostly mother. What is going on?
"It's here," Ann seemed almost giddy in her dull funeral garb. Slowly she pulled a long length of white silver chain up for them both to see. Dangling at the end was a beautifully crafted locket. On the front was a bird, perhaps a sparrow, swooping from the sky toward the sea. The back was just as intricate with a great ship rising on a wave.
Joan's eyes were wide. "Ann, what is it?" she whispered though no one else was in the room to hear.
"Right before she died my Mother told me where to find this," Ann whispered back still gazing thunderstruck at the locket. "She told me it was from my Father."
Joan snorted. "That rank old fa…"
"Joan," Ann admonished. "Your language lady."
Joan flashed a chaste smile. Her friend had almost sounded like herself for a moment. "Blame my newly returned sea faring brother!"
"Sebastian is back?" She had not known, but quickly cast the thought away. "Joan listen. This is about my real Father," It was Joan's turn to gasp. Ann's eyes seemed to glow with anticipation as she began to open the locket.
But to Ann's disappointment the picture she had envisioned was not there. There was nothing. Eternal emptiness gripped her again, and her eyes welled up anew.
"Oh Mother a mystery to the end," Ann choked.
"Wait," Joan caught her hand. "Look there is something written inside."
Ann looked closely back at the locket. There was indeed an inscription.
The sparrow's nest is empty
The sparrow's nest is gone
But when Sparrows three aplenty
Fly to Treasure at dawn
"Look at the other side," Joan whispered. "Longitude 16, Latitude 77. Those are sailing coordinates. What is this?"
Before Ann could answer there was a knock on the door. Quickly she tucked the locket into her dress pocket.
"Come in," she coughed. She sent Joan a look that clearly meant, Say Nothing.
"Your pardon Miss Corlette," said her maid, Posie. "But this has just arrived from the post." She barely glanced and the drawers littering the floor. "It's from the Caribbean," she said excitedly.
"The Caribbean?" Ann frowned. "Who on earth do I know in the Caribbean?"
Quickly she opened the letter. Inside was a lovely card with lacey trim inscribed in gold letters. "Oh my goodness!" Ann gasped. "It's from Elizabeth Swann."
"Elizabeth," Joan said excitedly. "We haven't seen her in near nine years! What does she say?"
"She's getting married," Ann read on hurriedly. "And we're invited!"
They shared a look and in an instant were agreed. They would be going. After all Elizabeth had been one of their dearest friends when she'd lived in England.
"Oh, I hope he's handsome," Joan said wistfully while looking out the window at the rolling sea. An adventure at last.
"Oh Joan for heavens sake," Ann shook her head. "Posie – we'll need to pack." She left the room without a backward glance. Her mother wouldn't have wanted that.
I'm not alone, she thought. I'm going to find my Father. Joan isn't the only one who knows things about the sea. I intend to find these coordinates, and I don't care how much of Lord Corlettle's money I have to spend to do so.
Jack was stuck.
Literally.
He dangled precariously by one foot from the rope bridge he'd been crossing, which was now reduced to a skinny line holding him twenty feet in the air. He looked like fish on a line. But as usual for Jack, that was the least his worries.
"Honestly," he yelled waving his arms. " I was jus 'aving a little peek at your gold goddess." Arrows hailed down around him, and he clutched the small ornate nude goddess in his hands.
"AH!"
He hollered as his foot slipped a little more and glared at the busty statue. "This all your fault, woman," he grumbled just as the line snapped.
It could never be said that Jack Sparrow wasn't a lucky man. He swung like the great ax of pendulum and with a casual flip he landed on his feet on a soft patch of sand. He sketched a little bow and his would be pursuers and ran full tilt to the dinky rowboat bobbing near the shore.
"Took you long enough," a woman's thick voice said. Anamaria stood at the front of the small boat waiting to carry him back to the Pearl.
"Now look you," Jack drawled as he clambered into the boat. "I've 'ad enough trouble with one woman today wi'out your lip," he hefted the statue to his knee. Anamaria eyed it with a thieves gaze.
"Ah ah, my dear," Jack clutched the nude to his breast. "This is now the rightful property of the soon to be Mr. & Mrs. William Turner. Now row blast ye!" The natives were catching up and arrows where soon thudding against the water and boat.
Jack peeked his head over just as he thought them out of range. Bad idea. One last arrow fell from the sky directly toward him.
"Oh no!" He let out a heart wrenching wail and fell back into the boat.
"Captn' Sparrow," Anamaria yelled. "Are you alright?"
"No!" Jack cried. "They got me!" He held up his precious compass which now had an arrow through it.
Anamaria could only shake her head and row harder.
"Oh, all the uncivilized," Jack sighed and pulled the arrow loose which was wedged into the top. It made a popping sound as slip apart, but not from the arrow.
"Ello," he paused.
The top of the compass had popped in two, and something silvery caught the pirate's attention. "What's this…?"
He turned and hunched away from Anamaria and opened his secret prize. There was a rolled piece of paper, and miniature key with a Sparrow, his family's device, at its head. Quickly Jack read the paper.
Jack my boy,
Don't ever say yer old pirate of a Father never gave you nothing. Always told you there was more to this compass than meets the eye. May God save you from the folly that led ye to find it.
Jack snorted and rolled his eyes. Folly indeed.
When Sparrows three aplenty
And golden dawn arrives
Go forth two paces twenty
Treasure for three lives
Sorry lad couldn't make it easy for you, now could I? To find this treasure you'll need wits and courage of all three Sparrows.
Pa
Jack read the letter several times and tucked it and the charm in his pocket. He stared for a few moments at the sea. What could the message mean? Three Sparrows. Well he'd worry about that bit later. There was treasure to found.
"Right then. Anamaria can't you row any faster. We've a wind to catch."
For once Anamaria bit back her reply from the fierce look a mania in Jack's eye.
A young man sat in the corner of the noisy tavern on Tortuga. It stank of stale beer and sweat. His Father's dagger was never far from his finger tips – keep a sharp eye was an understatement. His eyes were hard as diamond at this point.
"Oy lad, you're Nick Sparrow aren't ye," a balding seaman approached warily. The man before him was had barely the growth of beard to his face, but in his bright blue eyes glittered the same mania that lit his famous brother. Was not a man on Tortuga that hadn't heard of the Sparrow family, and their prepotency to the bizarre and unexplained.
"Depend on who's asking then doesn't it," Nick said calmly leaning back in his chair. The candlelight glinted off his sun streaked brown hair.
"I was told you was looking for information about the whereabouts of your brother," the little man licked his lips disliking the way Nick eyed him. The boy may have tried to lie to himself and turn gentleman – but pirate he was, and pirate he'd always be. The sailor didn't know what sort of falling out the brothers had had, but he was certain he didn't want to know.
"I am," Nick said softly. "But only if the information be good and true, else someone will be looking your whereabouts mate." Nick leveled his gaze at the man enjoying watching him sweat, but just then his ear caught the sound of music and he laughed long and loud, and began humming away merrily. "Oh I love this song."
The little man was taken aback by the change in him, and shifted his feet. "Uh yes, uh Captn', uh..."
"Oh but you must have a ship to be a Captn' my friend," Nick laughed with no humor in his eyes. "Tell me where my brother is though, and I'll soon fix that."
The little man nodded and they got down to business.
"I'm going with you." Sebastian stood stubbornly in his younger sister's doorway.
Joan looked at him from the corner of her eyes as she packed her bags. He was taller, his dark hair longer and pulled back as was the fashion, but his eyes were still warm brown and filled with kindness that betrayed his stern voice.
"You need protection on such a long voyage," he argued.
"Hah," Joan crowed. "You and I both know, brother dear, that I do not require protection. It is for another purpose that you insist on journeying with us."
Quick as a cat she pulled her rapier from its hiding place in her mattress, "En guarde!"
Sebastian paused, and then a slow smile spread across his tanned face. With liquid grace he pulled his own weapon from the scabbard at his side. He met his sister's charge blade to blade. They danced around the room, swords chiming like crazed metallic birds.
"Admit it," Joan laughed ducking behind a bedpost. "You love her. You're eyes follow nothing but her footsteps since you have been home. Ha!" She parried quickly.
"Nonsense. I think of Ann just as I think of you. A sister," Sebastian panted circling left.
"Tisk Tisk, brother. You can't fool me," Joan surprised him by leaping to her powder chair and nearly took off his head. Sebastian eyes widened. That was too close.
"Who the hell have you been practicing with?" He cried and retreated.
"If you admit your love, I'll tell you," Joan laughed.
"Never," her brother smiled. Teaching a woman to fence was unheard of, but then again no one had ever met his sister. She could be quite persuasive.
A knock at the door diverted his attention, and before he could recover Joan was on him. They went in a pile.
"Joan? It's Ann." She entered to the room to see a familiar pose of Joan triumphantly astride her brother.
"Hi Ann!" She chirruped then dug her knee deeper into her brothers back. "Do you yield you scurvy knave!"
"Joan," he growled, and heaved himself up, and she tumbled backward with a loud umph.
"Bully," she huffed. "It's not fair for you to grow so fast."
"Ahem," Sebastian gathered himself, sheathing his sword, and smoothing his hair. "Sorry you saw that Miss Corlette. We were just…uh," he stammered looking at her eyes.
What on earth has come over him? Ann thought.
"Sebastian, please call me Ann. Is it true you will be traveling with us?" she asked politely.
"Yes. If it pleases you," he breathed.
They stood a long moment staring at one another.
When had he grown so tall Ann thought? He looked like…like a man.
The image was shattered when Joan, now on her feet, kicked Sebastian out.
"I'll deal with you later," she said mischievously.
"Joan, you wouldn't," the man choked.
"Goodbye Sebastian," she said and closed the door. Locking it firmly she turned back to the task of packing.
"What was that all about?" Ann asked.
"Nothing," Joan gave her a sly grin. "I'm glad he's coming. Big Oaf!"
"You two will never change," Ann said smiling. "Sometimes I wish I had a brother."
Joan snorted and shoved yet another item into her bulging suitcase.
"Trust me, you do not. Now then, did you bring it?" Joan smiled as Ann flashed the silver in her palm. "And your rapier? We'll have to practice."
"Really Joan, I don't think," Ann began.
"Ann we're going to the Caribbean! We're going to see Pirates! Of course you'll need it!"
Well, her friend did have a point. However, Ann would only quietly admit that to herself.
Ever since she was a small girl she'd a fascination with pirates. It had been a fascination that her mother had only quelled when she they were in her husband's presence. Her mother had fueled her adventurous spirit in private. There had many a time when they would pretend to be pirates searching for lost treasure in the garden. Her mother had gone so far as to make a treasure map for her. Ann smiled at the thought. It was good to remember her mother in such a way. It made the sadness just a little easier to deal with.
"Ann? Aaaannnn?"
She blinked and gave her friend a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry. I was just thinking about my mother."
Joan hugged her. "It's understandable, of course, sweet. I think this trip will be good for you. Not only will we see pirates but getting away is a good thing. Now you've packed all the right clothing? Nothing heavy. It's quite warm in the Caribbean."
"Yes, Joan. I had my geography lesson back in the schoolroom." She laughed, grateful for the distraction. "I packed accordingly, I swear." She held up her hand to make sure her friend was assured her of sincerity.
Joan laughed. "I'm just excited."
"Yes, I know. So we should get our rest. Our voyage is going to be long." Ann turned to leave the room but paused as a thought suddenly occurred to her. "You don't get seasick do you?"
Joan's eyes went wide. She hadn't thought of that.