Prologue:
A cold moon sent icy shafts of moonlight onto Kayli's brown, almost black hair, turning it silver. The ocean water lapped hungrily at the sides of a small rowboat, nearing the cave opening to Isla de Muerta, threatening to upturn it, as dark storm clouds writhed above their heads.
As they entered the cave, she was enveloped in darkness. Not the thin darkness that covered her when she blew out the candles to go to sleep, but a heavy, thick, choking darkness. Claustrophobia mixed with pure fear caused her to cry out. She clutched the laces of her bodice with one hand, gasping for breath, when a cool hand firmly squeezed her shoulder.
"Calm down, love, it's alright. I'm here." It was her mother. Finally, multiple holes in the black rock above their heads shed beams of moonlight through the roof, calming her. The light pierced the blackness and sliced through the clear water. As she peered over the side of the boat, she couldn't help but be fascinated by the gleaming treasure at the bottom.
The thud of wood against rock broke her from her trance, and she stumbled out of the boat and onto the rocky shore. She lifted up the hem of her skirt, and hurried farther into the cave, clambering up the mounds of treasure. She scanned the expanse of the cave until her eyes rested upon a man who lay there quietly, unmoving. She rushed to his side, and bent down next to him, her heart pounding in her chest with a sickening ache.
"Father?" she whispered, her voice cracking with grief. He gave a small grunt before cracking open his eyes.
"Kayli?" he croaked. His lips were white and chapped, and his eyes were glassy.
"You're still alive!" she breathed out in relief.
"Where's Sparrow?" he croaked. "Where's that blasted Sparrow? I'm gonna kill 'im if it's the last thing I do!"
Kayli pushed him back down to the floor.
"No!" she cried, astonished at how brave her father was. "You need to rest! You've been shot!"
"Ye think I don't know that already?" he snapped. "Ye have to find him before he gets away!"
"No one is going anywhere, especially you!" Kayli snapped back. "We'll find Sparrow later." She turned back around to look at her mother, but she was more interested in gathering up treasure. Disgusted, but not bothering to deal with it now, Kayli turned back to her father, tears starting in her eyes, and a painful lump clogging her throat.
"It's all going to be alright," she whispered. "We're going to get you out of here, and-"
"I thought ye were smarter than this, Kay," he whispered. "I'm not going to live much longer." Kayli gave a sob as tears ripped from her eyes and poured down her cheeks.
"Don't say things like that!" she hissed. "If ye talk like that then you're never getting out of here!" He just stared at her with sad eyes. Suddenly, Kayli was angry. How dare he patronize her, when he knew how much pain he was causing her at his nonchalant behavior? She thumped him in the stomach.
"You bloody idiot! How could you be so stupid as to get yourself shot?!" she yelled. He just laughed.
"Ye were born with a fire in the soul like ye're mother," he whispered.
"Please, you know perfectly well I get it from you!" she shot back defensively. He didn't answer; he just stared back at her.
"Just do me one favor, lass," he whispered.
"Anything, father," she replied.
"Kill Cap'n Jack Sparrow."
He never spoke another word. Kayli sobbed as she buried her face in his jacket. Tears spilled from her eyes until she could cry no more. Her eyes were red and stung terribly. A cold hand nudged her harshly, and pulled her away from her father.
"No!" she screamed. She turned to slap her captor, but it was only her mother. She watched in horror as her mother's crew covered her father with a blanket and carried him off to the boat.
"What are you doing?" she cried. "Can't you--" but her mother pressed her fingers to Kayli's lips to silence her, and gently tugged on her arm. As her mother coaxed her to the boat, she reached under the blanket and pulled out her father's sword and handed it to her daughter.
"He would have wanted you to have it." Kayli stared at her in disbelief.
"What?" she whispered. Her mother smiled and gave a small chuckle.
"The infamous Captain Barbossa would have wanted you to have it." She pushed the sword into her daughter's hands, and stepped gingerly down into the boat. Kayli could do no more than stare dumbfounded at the sword in her hands. The sword of her father was now hers. The sword of Captain Barbossa.
"Captain Barbossa," whispered Kayli so only she could hear. "Father..."
She slowly stepped into the stern of the rowboat, and replayed her father's last words in her head. It was at this moment that her jade green eyes darkened to a ominous, haunting sea-green. She would get her revenge on Jack Sparrow, if it was the last thing she did. She would do it even with her ditsy, treasure-obsessive mother. No one would hold her back. She looked into the sky, up at the moon. She seemed to see everything with a new clarity. The air was crisp, and stung her lungs with icy air every time she took a breath. The moon seemed made of porcelain, and the water gleamed with an eerie intensity that would seem frightening to a little twelve-year old girl, but she was no longer the little girl who had entered the cave, scared for her father's fate. She was a new girl, almost a woman. She had a purpose. And with this alluring thought, she closed her eyes, and took a long breath...