Everyone that was on the ship was suddenly huddling over to see what was approaching. All they saw was a normal ship, but my father and I saw so much more.
"The ship stopped!" someone announced.
"Why would they come?" I asked my father. "They're not supposed to take me for another three weeks."
"The captain of the Ghost Ship is an ignorant man," my father replied. "He'll take his catch, regardless of deals."
"Hello," somebody whispered into my ear behind me. I quickly turned and saw the last person that I ever wanted to see.
The captain of the ghost ship looked nothing like a ghost. He looked like a normal human being. But the only difference between him and human beings was that he was actually dead.
When he was murdered by a fellow pirate, he wasn't on the sea, so he couldn't go to Davy Jones locker, and neither Heaven nor Hell would take him. He was cast out to the world as a ghostly figure and captain of his own ship. His crew was made up of either people who had the same fate as him or made deals with the devil.
"We made a deal Barbossa," the captain spoke to my father, flashing him an evil grin. "She is to be mine."
"And the deal was that she would be yours on her twenty-fifth birthday if she did not pass on her gifts," my father replied. "She is not twenty-five yet. In fact, her twenty-fifth birthday isn't for another three weeks."
"You of all people should know that I'm an impatient man."
"But you only want to take me so I could be a part of your crew," I spoke up. "And if you take me now, I will turn into dust. Now, tell me Captain, what use would I be if I was dust?"
I always was able to persuade anyone to do whatever it was I wanted them to do. It was a gift. The captain gave me a nasty look, but returned to his evil smile.
"I'll let you go this time," he said. "But if you have not passed on the gift by your twenty-fifth birthday..."
He tugged his transparent hand through where my heart was. At first, I didn't feel anything, but then he somehow brought an excruciating pain through my whole body. My heart felt like it stopped. It felt that my body was on fire while someone was stabbing me with thousands of knives. "Stop," I quietly pleaded. It even hurt to talk.
He slowly pulled his arm out of my heart. I nearly collapsed to the floor, but I felt someone catch me, help me back up, and hold onto me so I wouldn't fall. I looked to see that it was Ragetti who was holding onto me.
"You'd better hurry Barbossa," the captain told my father. "Unless you want your daughter to serve an eternity on my ship."
He disappeared. My father turned and looked at me with fear in his eyes. "What did he do to me?" I whispered, leaning against Ragetti.
"He was showing you what it would be like if you served on the Ghost Ship," my father replied.
"So despite the fact that I'll be dead, I'll still feel pain."
"The pain was internal. Not external. He has ways of making the emotional pain become physical pain."
It was around this time when I passed out from exhaustion while holding onto my hero for dear life.
When I awoke, I noticed that I wasn't holding onto anybody, but rather lying in a bed. It wasn't the most comfortable bed, but I wasn't complaining. I looked over to see Ragetti and another pirate sitting over in the corner. The other pirate was shorter than Ragetti, had a little bit of a belly, and was bald on the top part of his head, but had long, gray strings of hair growing on the sides of his head.
They were whispering to each other, trying to make sure I wouldn't overhear. Slowly, I leaned up so I could hear them better, but all I could make out was the other pirates saying, "you released..."
"Hello," I said, trying to sound like I just woke up. They turned in surprise.
"Who's your friend?" I asked Ragetti.
"'E's me uncle," he replied.
"The name's Pintel," the older man said, standing up and bowing. "I's a pleasure to meet ye."
"I'm not a princess or a goddess," I told Pintel. "You don't have to treat me like one."
"But you amount to a princess or a goddess," Ragetti said. His face turned red when he realized what he just said. I smiled at him.
"That's sweet of you," I told him. Before I could say another word, I passed out from exhaustion again.
I wouldn't have woken up the time I did if it weren't for the snoring up above me. I suddenly realized that there was another bed above mine. When I looked down, I noticed a figure lying limply on the floor. "Ragetti?" I whispered.
The figure shifted positions and looked up at me. It was too dark, but I swore I saw him smile. "'Ello Sleepin' Beauty," he replied.
"I don't know what he did to me."
"You're no' in any pain no more, are you?"
"Thankfully, no. But your uncle just might be in as much pain as I was if he doesn't stop snoring!"
"You'd wanna ge' used to it. I've had to 'ear 'im snore since I wa' fifteen."
I suddenly realized that I was lying on a bed while he was sleeping on the floor.
"Why are you lying on the floor?" I asked.
"Cause oi wanted you ta have a bed."
"That was nice of you. But now that I'm well rested, you may takes your bed back now."
"No."
"No?"
"I wan' you ta stay in it."
"I don't want you to lie on the floor, though."
"I'll lie on the floor if it means you can have a bed."
It was obvious he wouldn't kick me out of the bed. I had to find a way to give him the comfort of a bed and not the comfort of a hard, wooden floor. Then the thought came to me.
"I guess we could share the bed."
He looked up at me and saw that I was serious. "Bu' wha' if someone comes in?" he asked.
"I'll push you out of the bed if anyone comes in," I replied with a smile.
Ragetti didn't respond for a little while. Finally, he quietly got up and climbed into the bed. "This feels wrong," he whispered, making sure he wasn't facing me.
"You're too nice," I said with a smile. Within minutes, I fell asleep, close to my hero, my protector.
The next morning, I was awoken by a chain reaction from Ragetti being pushed. I looked up to see Pintel having a look of confusion on his face.
"I know what you're thinking," I told him. "But he refused to kick me out of the bed, so I told him that we should share it so he wouldn't have to sleep on the floor."
"Well, ye migh' wanna ge' up before Barbosse comes in 'ere," he told us.
We both quickly leaped out of the bed. I sat back down on it while he and Pintel raced over to the bench on the other side of the room. As if he was called, my father walked into the room. He snorted at Ragetti and Pintel, but smiled when he saw me.
"Did you have a good rest last night?" he asked.
"Yes," I replied.
"An' how did these two treat you?"
"They were gentlemen." My father looked back over at the two pirates.
"Course they did," he replied. "They know what would happen to them if anything happened to my daughter."
I noticed a look of fear in Ragetti's eyes. Lucky for him, I didn't plan on telling my father about the previous night any time soon. My father turned back to me.
"We'll be stoppin' soon," he told me.
"We're already at the Fountain of Youth?" I asked in confusion.
"No. We're going to visit Calypso."
