Ok, chapter 2 please keep your arms inside the vehicle at all times. Here we go! And even if you've already read this chapter, read it again, I cahnged it A LOT!!!!

Jane awoke to a rumbling of thunder overhead. She rubbed her eyes, which were sore from crying. Her face was covered with dried tears. She stood up and stretched her weary limbs as a light rain began to fall on the city.

Jane sat down again, intending to sit out the rain. But when the sprinkle turned to a steady rain, and the steady rain turned to a downpour, Jane figured she wasn't about to get a stroke of luck. She stood up once again and began walking, tripping every few minutes because of the shackles that still bound her wrists and ankles painfully. She tried her best to make her way toward the docks, keeping to alleys so as to not be seen. She had to get out of Port Royale before a passer-byer saw a young girl dressed in rags wearing shackles. The last thing she needed was the East India Trading Company on her tail. Jane was walking cursing the East India Trading Company, and in her mind imajining stabbing Lord Bekket. Suddenly she felt a jerk at her ankles and was all of a sudden on the ground with a face full of mud.

"Bloody Shackles!" she cursed struggling to stand once more. As she gropped for something to help her stand, her hand made contact with a piece of wood. After standing once more she turned to the piece of wood.

Blacksmith

Jane had never really been taught to read, but she had picked up some information about the art from her fellow street children.

Standing, trying to figure out the sign, Jane remembered something, a memory from long ago.

Jane was sitting on her mothers lap, they were on a boat, no a ship. A gentle wind was rocking it from side to side. Jane was not older than 4 or 5. Her mother was telling her of her father. She said that Jane looked exactly like him, with her curly black hair and dark brown eyes. Her mother had been teaching Jane to read for the past two days and Jane had suceeded in stumbling over an old ships log.

A briliant flash of lightening brought Jane back to the present. She turned back to the sign, determind to know its meaning. She knew what B was and A and she thought she knew L. Slowly she began to form a word.

"B-L-A...A-C..S-S-S..M-ITH? BLACKSMITH. Blacksmith!" cried Jane happy with herself.

Cautiously walking to the door, Jane slowly pushed it open. She cringed when it made a loud creaking noise. When she heard nothing, she tiptoed in, carful to leave the door open should she need to escape.

Jane took a look around the shop, and was horrified to see a sleeping man in one corner.

"H-hello?" she called softly. When he didn't respond she called a little louder. "Hello?"

The man still snored on. Feeling a little adventurous, Jane opened her mouth and let out a blood curtling scream that can only be emitted by a small girl.

The man in the corner still slumbered. Jane guessed he was drunk. She had to work quickly now, someone may have heard her scream. She walked over to a burning fire and pulled out a burning poker. Jane knew about welding, she had seen men at the docks do it. She had also seen her fair share of welding accidents. Gingerly she took the hot end of the poker and placed it in the lock of the shackles on her ankles. She heard a sizzle and then a click. Setting the poker back in the fire, she took hold of the shackle and pulled, it came off easily in her hand. After doing the same to her wrists, she made her way toward the door.

Before she got there something caught her eye, a sword, well actually many of them, hanging from a turner in the middle of the shop. A weapon could be useful, but she hated to steal. A snore from across the roommade up her mind for her. She grabbed the nearest sword and made a dash for the door. Back outside in the rain, now armed with a sword, Jane made her way toward the side of town where the docks were located. She needed to hop a ship.

Jane peeked out from behind a barrel. The rain had ceased which was bad. She had been counting on the bad weather to be her cover for when she stowed-away. The ship she was watching was large, with men bustling all over it, a parrot was squaking a nd a monkey was screeching. On the side were the words,

Black Pearl.

The name had stirred something in Jane's memory that she couldn't quite put her finger on. When there was a slight cease in the action aboard the ship, Jane slipped on the gang plank. She sprinted over to a side of the deck where there were barrels stacked on top of each other. Jane ducked behind them just in time. From her hiding spot, Jane could see al the activity going on on the deck without being seen herself. A man with dred-locks and a bandanna walked on to the deck. He stopped to make a few orders and returned once more to the cellar. Jane figured he was the captain. Free of worries, Jane settled down to a quiet sleep.

Jane was bored out of her mind. She had awoken to find the ship rocking and swaying, After awaking she wasn't able to get back to sleep. They had been sailing for at least three hours and Jane ached all over. At least no one had found her.

The sun was begining to set which ment that Jane would soon be able to come out of her hiding place and hopefully find somthing to eat. After the Black Pearl had set sail, there had been a steady flow on and off the deck, not enough to be worried about being found, but enough to keep her tucked away behind the barrels. Finally, the sun went down and a night shift came to relieve the day workers. there were only about twelve people on the deck, but even so, Jane wanted to be sure that no one saw her. She gropped around in the growing darkness until she found a knot in the wood of the deck. Using the hilt of her sword, she hit the knot until it fell out into her hand. Afraid that someone mat have heard the noise, she threw the knot on to the other side of the deck, where it made a loud clattering.

While the night watch went to investagate, Jane quietly slipped out from behind the barrels and down the stairway. As she came to the bottem, there was a celler like room, with two doors leading off of it. Jane took the left one, which led her to another hall. She walked to the end and opened the last door; shutting it quickly when she saw that it held hamocks full of sleeping pirates.

Hoping for a stroke of luck, Jane tried the door directly across from it. The room was completley dark so Jane had to leave the door to the hall open for light, and hope that no one saw. Still, the room was very dark, and Jane could only make out the looming shapes of a shelf and some barrels.

She gropped around the shelf until she found somthing that felt like a candle. running out in to the hall, Jane stood on tip-toe to light the candle on the single lantern.

Holding her hand behind the flame, so as to not blow it out, Jane returned to the room, delighted to see that she had found the ships store room.

Jane ran to the nearest barrel and pried it open. She dipped her hand in and took a sip, only to spit it back out again. The awful taste that was in her mouth could only be one thing, rum. She whiped her mouth on her sleeve and opened another barrel, horrified, and disguseted to find that it held more rum. Finally she found a water barrel, using a dipper that was hanging from the side, she drank long and hungarily.

Finally with her thirst satisfied, she moved on to find some food. After eating her fill, and packing some aaay for later, Jane took a final drink of water.

She was about to turn to go back to hiding, when a shaddow formed in the light from the door.

"So," came a voice, "You think that you can stow-away, eat our rations, and get away with it,"

OOOOOOOOOOO A CLIFF HANGER, Who could it be! you'll have to click the purple button to find out!