I'm so happy you all enjoyed the first chapter! (:
I've decided not all the chapters are going to be narrated by Maryn. Some will be narrated by Jack, some by Angelica, and others by Maryn. The majority will be by Maryn, but I thought I might need to add a little of the others in, too. Tell me what you think!
Chapter 1 - Maryn:
Watching my mother asleep in her bed across the room, I sighed. How was I going to leave her? And if she found me… well you didn't want to see that.
I didn't want to hurt her, but this town was getting me nowhere. I needed to get out. I needed to live the life that I was supposed to live, and I needed to find my father, even if he turned out to be as terrible as my mother said.
I stood, grabbed my bag and walked over to her bed, giving her a small, soft kiss. Why did she have to make me love her so much? I didn't think leaving would hurt me this much… No turning back now. I've already decided. I'm going to Tortuga… just need to find a way to get there without getting killed.
You're probably wondering why I decided to go to Tortuga. Well, the other day I heard talk of my last name being the last name of a notorious pirate… Blackbeard, or something. I didn't ask my mother. I didn't want to upset her. But Tortuga is where pirates go. If my mother was a pirate – which now made perfect sense to me – chances were that my father was a pirate too.
I looked back at my mother once more before I headed out the door. This was harder than I thought.
I headed to The Lantern, the local bar. If anybody could help me get to Tortuga, it would be somebody there. I just really didn't know who to trust…
I opened the door, looking in at the few men and women who were there. I felt like I was so much better than them, being sober and actually clean. But it didn't matter, I needed their help.
The bartender, a pretty red head dressed in a corset and loose blouse, smiled at me. "Sweetie, this isn't the place for you," she told me.
I shook my head. "It actually is," I replied. I walked over to the bar, sitting down. "Do you know how to get to Tortuga?"
She almost laughed. "Darling, what would a little thing like you be wanting to go to Tortuga for?" she asked me, her curls bouncing as she shook her head. "That place isn't for little girls."
"I'm not little, I'm 18. And I'm looking for someone," I said, feeling a little mad. I didn't think I looked that young. I was old enough to take care of myself…
"For who? A boy?" she said, smiling curiously.
"Sort-of… I'm looking for my father," I told her, now feeling young like she thought.
"Oh baby, we are all looking for a daddy. But you don't want a pirate for one," she said. "What's his name?"
"I…don't know," I said. "My mother won't tell me. But I know she was a pirate, so that means he is too. I need to find him…"
"What's your name, baby?" she asked, pouring me a drink.
I looked at the glass for a moment. It was a dark and dirty drink, and I wasn't really interested. But I didn't want to be disrespectful either. So I took a sip. Bleck… Didn't let it show how much I hated it. "Uhm, Maryn Teach," I said. Everybody else knew who I was. They were all talking about me. Why was my last name so much to talk about? Who was this Blackbeard character?
She almost dropped her bottle, speechless.
"Why is everybody afraid of me now?" I asked, tearing up a little.
"Baby, do you know who Blackbeard is?" she asked.
"My grandfather… I think, or so people say…" I said, looking down.
"Do you know what he did? Who he was?"
I shook my head. I had no idea. My mother never told me anything about her life before me. She never told me who she was, or what she did, or what she was running away from.
Then she told me… of all the ships he had stolen, all the people he had killed, how he had found the Fountain of Youth, and finally how he died. I couldn't believe it. My grandfather did all that… and he tried to kill my mother. My family was a legend, and I was 18 and didn't even know about it.
"Do you know who helped him find the Fountain of Youth?" I asked. "That was 19 years ago… that was right before I was born…"
She shook her head. "Sorry, baby, I don't."
"Thank you for all your help," I said. "Do you think you can do me one more favor?"
She smiled. "You want me to take you to Tortuga, right?"
I nodded. "I understand if you can't, but I need somebody who won't take advantage of me."
She smiled. "No problem. My father owns this bar; he can handle it for a while. Besides, we own a little ship. Won't get us far, but far enough."
I didn't know if I could trust her… but I was desperate. And I definitely didn't want my mother finding out. So we got on her ship, which wasn't really that bad at all, and left for Tortuga. Nobody knew how excited I really was.
I'm hoping I can start making the chapters longer. Sorry its so short!