The Curse of the Opal Necklace
Part 2
"I've got a jar of dirt!" Capt. Jack Sparrow, DMC
Night reigned upon the softly moving ocean; the lanterns of the ship let off a nice, solid glow. From afar, one could hear two horn pipes dueling of supremacy in a song that was clapped too. The sailors had talked their Captain into bringing out the rum rations, of which he happily did so.
However, Captain Jack Sparrow was not with his company; he was rather sequestered in his cabin. In his hand was the necklace he had pocketed earlier that day; to his left was a book he had pilfered off a Latin scholar just months before. He had the necklace turned about and was searching for the correct translation of the words on the backside of the necklace.
So far, he had not come to any conclusion as to what secrets this necklace held. He flipped it over; the opal stone had turned black, then red, and then back to a semi green blue. Jack had never seen a stone change colors like that before! It fascinated him to no end; He knew that he had to find out everything about the necklace.
Jack sat back in his chair, momentarily caught up in the ruckus of his crew above him. But he felt too tired to go up and join in. He yawned just then and decided that it was time for bed. He pulled off his boots and coat and vest; hung his hat on the edge of his chair before moving across the slightly slopping room to his bed. He flopped down, set the necklace on the side table and turned over.
Moments later, he turned over and put the lamp out. It was quiet then, except for the sounds of his crew. He sighed and turned onto his back, his eyes slid closed and he breathed deeply. He was just about to fall asleep when his eyes popped back open and he felt very much wide awake.
He turned over to face the hull of his ship and tried to think of what was keeping him up. He tapped his fingers against the covers of his bed, then turned over and sat up. He picked the necklace up once again, and that feeling of sleepiness came over him once again. He shrugged and slipped it on over his head, the cool stone felt nice against his skin, and he laid back once more, intent on sleeping the night away.
"JACK SPARROW! WAKE UP YOU LAZY ASS!" the yelling woke Jack suddenly, he sat up and glared at the table. How dare…whoever it was, wake him up at this time of day. Jack looked out the huge windows of the cabin to see that it was actually almost midday but he decided to forget that little detail.
"Jack! Jack!" the yell came once again and Jack sighed. He stood and his pants fell to the floor. He glared at the clothing and hiked them up once again. He held them up as he made his way to the door of his cabin. He had trouble opening said door because his sleeves had decided to get in his way.
Jack was very much not happy when he finally got the door open to see Anna Maria there yelling at him because of something that Jack couldn't understand. He sighed and just looked bored. It was five minutes before Anna Maria stopped, stared at him and then called for Gibbs.
"What's wrong with you?" Jack asked.
"What happened to you?" Anna Maria asked. Gibbs showed up then, he crossed himself when he saw Jack.
"What has gotten into you lot?" Jack stamped his foot. Which, he realized he hadn't done since he was a younger. Anna Maria walked over to the desk in the room, and picked up a seeing glass. She then held it up in front of Jack.
His reflection showed a much younger Jack Sparrow. The boy who looked back at him was about fifteen, with black hair held back in a red bandana. No kohl rimmed his eyes, and he had no beard. Jack turned away from the mirror, he pulled up his sleeve. Where a tattoo of a sparrow was supposed to be, was gone, along with the bran marking him as a pirate.
"Holy barnacles," Jack muttered.
"You're a kid!" Gibbs finally said.
"I just figured that out, thank you very much!" Jack replied.
"How could this happen?" Anna Maria asked. Jack looked up at her in surprise. It might be a curse, he figured, put on him by Tia Dalma…but…that didn't make any sense!
"I don't know," Jack replied, just as puzzled as Gibbs and Anna Maria.
"Well, we have to figure out what could do such a thing," Anna Maria said.
"Yes, but…what do we do with him?" Gibbs asked, waving his arms at Jack. Jack looked like a small child trying to play dress up and pirates at the same time.
"We find clothes that will fit him, then we have to find a safe place for him while we try and figure out what to do," Anna Maria said.
"Hello! I'm right here! You don't need to talk about me as if I ain't here! In this room no less!" Jack said, waving his hands about, his pants fell once again to the floor and he had to hike them back up again.
"Clothes that fit," Anna Maria said and sent Gibbs on his way. She then turned to the fifteen year old, scrawny kid, who had to be Captain Jack Sparrow.
"All right," she said after a few moments of silence, "What did you do?"
"Nothing! I didn't do a thing!" Jack replied.
"Really? You didn't pick up anything that could do this?" Anna Maria asked.
"Nope! Honest!" Jack said, crossing himself as Gibbs had done earlier. Anna Maria sighed.
"I'll be right back," she said. She also told Jack to stay in the cabin and await for their return. Gibbs came back before Anna Maria, and when she came with some food, Jack wore fitting breaches and a shirt. He had wrapped his white and red stripped sash about his waist and wore his red bandana like always.
"Eat, we still have to figure out where to keep you safe," she said.
"What about Port Royal?" Gibbs asked.
"Are you kidding? If anyone finds out it is Captain Jack Sparrow, they're sure to kill him!" Anna Maria said.
"But what if it wasn't actually Jack Sparrow, what about Jack Turner?"
"Your on to something, mate," Jack spoke up.
"What are you on too?" Anna Maria took a seat upon the desk the three were gathered around.
"What if we sneak Jack in and get William Turner to look after him? Jack could be a long lost relative or something…"
"Cousin? Maybe?" Anna Maria asked.
"Right, he could be from Turner's mother's side of the family, it tends to happen,' Gibbs said.
"Right, Jack lost everything he ever had in England, was told of family out in the Caribbean and was sent here to live with William Turner Junior, perfect!" Anna Maria smiled.
"We're only two days from Port Royal, we could sneak him in to Turner in the middle of the night," Gibbs said.
"Let's do it then," Anna Maria said. Jack ignored the whole conversation, except that which was important to him, as in his alibi. He wasn't adverse to seeing dear William once more, but he had to wonder what hell he would go through till the curse was lifted.
Since Jack was a kid, once again, Anna Maria was put in charge of the Black Pearl. Jack wasn't quite happy about it, he remembered dreaming about being Captain of his own ship since he was five! Living in London with his Nanny and being told of various pirates who had made a name for themselves.
The crew, had been told what had happened, and so they took the boy under their wings. Jack of course, knew the difference between an anchor and the foretopsail, but he didn't say anything and gracefully took the school that the older buccaneers had. Though, he did make faces at Anna Maria behind her back, and made plenty of mayhem in the galley till he was tossed out and told not to come back till supper time.
After the galley incident (He honestly hadn't meant to add so much Cajun spice to the stew,) Jack found himself in the sails of the Pearl. He climbed to the very top of the ship, and then some, to see what there was to see. The wind blew in his face, making the ends of his sash and scarf fly about him. He smiled; he had forgotten what it was like as the youngest member of a crew. Even though he had all his memories, his kid-like tendencies would come back every once in a while.
Jack sighed and frowned briefly; the Commodore wouldn't know him now that he was a teen. Jack could only guess at this, however it seemed a good guess. Will would have trouble believing it, but…that hardly mattered. With Gibbs and Anna Maria along, Jack knew that Will would help him out.
"Jack!" it was one of the young boy's of the crew, except he was seventeen.
"Yeah, Georgie?"
"Captain Anna Maria wants you to come down before you fall," George informed the young Sparrow. Jack sighed and rolled his eyes dramatically.
"All right, I'm going," Jack said. He took his time to climb down however, he honestly didn't care that his body had changed, he was still the same person. With this thought, he knew that even if he was thirty-one again, he would have done the same.
Anna Maria, though, did not see it that way; "What do you think you were doing? Climbing so high?" she glared at him.
"Now, now, luv! I've been doing that since I was ten, it ain't a big deal," Jack informed her, his hands waving her comments away.
"At least let someone know where you are, I can't have you falling overboard," Anna Maria said, she was still glaring at him. Jack clapped his hands and folded them in a prayer-like way.
"You worry too much, honestly, I'm fine," Jack said, giving a very dramatic sigh as he did so.
"Hn, stay with me, and don't move out of my site," she took hold of the back of Jack's shirt and dragged him to the helm. Once he had been freed, he flopped to the deck and stretched out.
"I can take the helm, if you want," Jack said from his form on the deck.
"I'll let you know when I need you," Anna Maria replied.
The business of running the ship went back to normal with Gibbs and Anna Maria giving most of the orders.
TBC