Author's Note: Sorry that Ive been MIA...again...bit of work and internet problems kinda put a kink in putting this chapter yup. But here it is. Hope you like it!!! :)
Oh...and Thank you sooooooo much for the reviews. Im so excited that you guys are enjoying my story. I honestly didn't think it was that good. Hopefully I can get Ch.8 up soon, but if I don't...most likely my internet is down again...


Chapter 7

I woke later that night to a very loud crash.

"Now where the bloody hell did that last step go!" came a voice. I gasped at hearing the startling voice. "Who's there?" came the voice again,

Oh no! What if he found me? I heard footsteps and saw a light heading my way. I held my breath.

"Please don't see me, please don't see me," I pleaded in my head. The footsteps were getting closer and closer. Then they suddenly seemed to stop. I then heard the small click of the gun's safety being pulled back.

"Come out, come out where ever you are?" The footsteps began to resume their path towards me. In fear of being seen I tried to push my self back against the wall, accidentally squishing Jack's poor little tail. Jack let out a painful screech and jumped out of his hiding place.

"MONKEY!" shouted the man, followed by a gunshot. Surprised by the shot I let out a scream. I saw the shadow of the man turn towards me. He now knew where I was, and was now advancing on the barrel that concealed me. I readied myself, putting my hand on my cutlass.

"1…2…"I whispered to myself, "….3!" I jumped out from my hiding place and efficiently disarmed the man of his gun. Place the tip of the cutlass at his chest. The man raised his hands in surrender. I looked up into the man's eye, and felt my knees go weak …

"That was an fascinating trick, but what exactly are you planning to do with that," Sparrow questioned, indicating the cutlass at his chest with his right index finger.

"I haven't thought that far ahead," which was actually true, "just stay there while I think."

(Pause) "Anything?"

"Shut up!" I retorted. Sparrow at that moment took a good look at me,

"You seem awfully familiar, I have been threatened by you before?" his gaze then went to my head, "Hey! That's my hat! Give it to me."

"Sorry you will just have to get it back," and that's all it took. Sparrow sly smile had appeared once again, he looked straight into my eyes. I took a deep breath in, his mystifying eyes were now transfixed into mine,

"Miss Lirette, is it? I see you have come to me for a rematch, since you are obviously upset about losing the last time, or perhaps you just couldn't resist Captain Jack Sparrow."

"Oh please, you cheated in a fair duel, and like I would ever fall for the likes of you Sparrow!" I replied

"Captain, Captain Jack Sparrow…Then why would it be, a lady such as yourself, be found on me ship?" his gaze did not stir one bit.

"I'm trying to get back home to Port Royal, and seeing how I'm in the higher position right now, you are the one who is going to do that for me." I responded, stammering on a few words.

"Really now. What makes you think that you have power over me?" That's when I hear the sound of a gun cocking behind me. I didn't even need to turn to know that there was now a gun pointed at my head. "But seriously, you need to teach me that little trick of yours." I stood there for a moment before releasing the cutlass. "Mr. Gibbs, it seems we have the need to find some accommodation for Miss. Lirette," Sparrow stated peering over my shoulder.

"Accommodation?" asked Mr. Gibbs, whom I assumed was the man standing behind me.

"Yes," he returned to look at me, "accommodation…"

"All hands on deck, come you worthless gits, get up!" Mr. Gibbs shouted as he held onto my arm, forcing me onto the deck. Sparrow trailed behind us, caressing his new found bottle of rum.

"So what exactly are you proposing to do with me?" I shouted back at Sparrow. Gibbs turned me around to face him,

"Well you see Miss. Lirette, it seems we have no room on this ship. And being gracious pirates, me crew members are going to decide amongst themselves to see who will be courteous enough to share their bunk with you."

"WHAT!?" horror struck me, he couldn't be serious! Slowly the crew of the Black Pearl began to emerge from below deck. Majority of them were still half asleep, while the others were grumbling about being so rudely awaken.

"Gentlemen," Sparrow started, "it seems that we have a stow-away on board." It seemed at that precise moment, the crew had discovered me standing beside Gibbs. And the looks that they gave me made me take a nervous gulp. As Sparrow carried on with his speech, I hastily tried to come up with a way to get myself out of this horrific predicament. "…so with out further a due I shall hand the floor over to Miss. Lirette. Have at it gentlemen." Gibbs then left me standing to watch the approaching men.

"Wait," I cried out, "can't we make a deal here. I mean really, you're a sensible pirate right?" Wow, those were two words I never expected to use together. But it bought me some time. Sparrow lifted his hand and the advancing crew froze in their spots.

"And what would you have to offer Miss. Lirette?" I had to come up with some thing quick,

"I will give you back your hat, and you can just drop me off at the nearest port. Sounds fair don't you think?" I tried nervously

"Or I could just take the hat, and throw you over board, that would be even fairer for me," he grinned as he lowered his hand, and the men began to advance on me once again. I started to back up. What was I going to do? I trip over something from not looking where I was going. I fell and landed on something hard. Then I remembered, the journal. But I couldn't give him my mother's journal. The men were starting to laugh as they neared me.

"Stop! Wait, I have another offer!" Once again Sparrow raised his hand and the men backed off. Sparrow walked over to me and kneeled down to me to face me.

"And what might that be love?"

"This," I revealed the journal. He looked at the book then look back up at me,

"A book, this is a book, you're offering me a book," he asked disapprovingly.

"Yes to the first, yes to the second, and not quite to the third. This is no ordinary book, this is my mother's journal." He just looked at me confused,

"Uh, huh…sorry that's not going to cover it love," standing up and turn his back on me, "gentleman…"

(interrupting) "It contains the where about of the treasure of the lost city of Atlantis." Everything on deck seemed to stand still. The lonely wind was all that could be heard. Jack stood there immobilized, till he finally turned around and looked down at me,

"Now that's interesting," he murmured. I picked myself off the ground, "how did you manage to come upon a prize such as this," he asked circling around.

"I told you, it was my mother's," but Sparrow didn't seem convinced. "Why does it matter how I got it anyways, I have it and I'm trading it for safe passage to port." Sparrow seemed to be thinking it over for a moment, then smiling he replied,

"Very well love, Mr. Gibbs show Miss. Lirette to her cell," Sparrow commanded his first mate.

"Wait, you're assuming that I am to take the rest of my voyage in a cell," I yelled.

"No, I'm expecting you to take the rest of your voyage in a cell. You didn't specify on how you were going to spend your passage to port, then again you didn't even specify where you were going to dock." Taking the journal from my hands, I looked up at him vilely. The tears again were making their way to the back of my eyes. Sparrow turned to retreat to his quarters. "Welcome to the Black Pearl love."

Gibbs left me in my cell too hold back the tears that pricked my eyes. I was not about to let the crew see me cry, I had to stay strong. But I was losing that battle very slowly. Jack had found me with my head buried into my knees. I picked him up, placing him on my lap, caressing his head.

"Bloody pirate. Can't beat a girl with a sword, can't function without his bottle of rum, can't shoot a monkey without missing…" I hated him with a firey passion, and hated myself even more because I couldn't even close my eyes without seeing his. For heaven sakes, what has come over me…


I must have drifted off to sleep because when I opened my eyes, sunlight was pouring

into my cell through the many holes of the ship. "Sparrow ends up with the best ship on the sea, and look how he treats it" I thought to myself, "it's a wonder this thing is even a float."

I lay there for a few hours, just thinking to myself. Jack busied himself with his breakfast that he found crawling underneath the floorboards. I didn't see anyone for most of the morning, that was until two pirates, whose names I later found out to be Ragetti and Pintel, came flying down the steps. They were both unbelievably dirty, and reeked. It was most likely due to months (maybe years) with out a single bath. The taller of the two had a wooden eye, while the shorter had teeth so yellow that it was a surprise they he had some at all.

"'ello poppet, seems the captain wishes to 'ave a little word wit t'ou," said Pintel.

"Well if he wishes to see me he is bloody welcomed to come down here and get me himself," I retorted folding my arms and leaning back on the wall. The two pirates looked at one another before they each grabbed me by an arm. "Hey! Let me go! Stop it!" I demanded while trying to fight fighting back. Jack let out an angry screech and jumped on Ragetti knocking out his wooden eye out, causing him to stumble around trying to catching it. With Pintel pre-occupied by his friend, I took the opportune moment and seized Pintel's cutlass. He lunged at me trying to retrieve it back. Jack jumped onto his back and began pulling on Pintel's hair. Then unexpectedly, a gun shot came, and Jack fell from Pintel's shoulders and laid motionless.

"Jack!" I screamed

"Yes?" I looked up to see Sparrow standing by the stairs. Through the entire ruckus, I didn't even notice him standing there.

"Not you Sparrow," I spat. I stared at Jack's limp body, "YOU SHOT HIM!" I yelled

"Ya, so," came a calm reply from Sparrow.

"so…So….SO! You Killed Him!" I cried

"No I didn't." I looked at him as though he were an idiot. Then suddenly Jack jumped up onto my shoulder. I let out a terrified scream, scaring Jack and causing him to tumble to the floor. I was bewildered by the fact that he was alive. I looked from Jack, to Sparrow, to Pintel and Ragetti, then back to Jack who just sat there looking at me innocently.

"But…but…you shot him?" I was so confused. I tried fitting pieces together but I just made myself even more confused.

"Well," Sparrow started, breaking the silence, "if this little shing dig is over, I would like to have a little chat with you Miss." I looked up at Sparrow, who held out his arm in a gesture towards the stairs. He made his way up the steps and I slowly followed behind him.

As we walked through the hallways of the ship, I peered around every corner. The rooms were either rotten out or were full of junk. We finally reach a room that I immediately guessed it to be the captain's quarters because it was the largest room that I had seen so far on the ship. Sparrow made his way over to an antique desk, taking the open bottle of rum and sitting down in the chair behind the desk. I stood there in silence waiting for him to get on with what he wanted from me. He just sat there drinking his rum. It was beginning to seem he had forgotten that I was there. I began to become very annoyed with him.

"Well?" I asked. He looked over towards me. "What do you want, because if you don't have anything to say I will be going back to my cell." He looked at me with an arched eyebrow,

"Do you really want to go back to your cell love?"

"…No"

"Ah…didn't think so." He went back to drinking his rum. I sighed; he was getting to be beyond annoying. I studied the room. It was full of maps, tools, old bottles of rum, and the occasional piece of somewhat valuable treasure. I made my way around the room, looking at the different artifacts. One caught my eye, a map. I took a good glance at it,

"Isle de la morta," I muttered under my breath.

"What was that love," Sparrow had come up for air from his rum bottle.

"Isle de la morta, the hiding place of the Aztec gold taken by Cortez" I turned to look at Sparrow.

"You know your history. That gold is the reason your bloody monkey is still…alive?"

"The curse is real," I thought to myself. I moved along from the map till I found a compass. I picking it up I opened it to find the damn thing broken. Instead of pointing north like it should, it was pointing towards Sparrow. I shook my head in disbelievence in Sparrow's ability of being a pirate, and placed the compass back down on the shelf. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Sparrow was staring at me still. "What!" I exclaimed, "What is it!" Sparrow only smiled, clearly he was enjoying my anxiety.

"A little stressed are we," Sparrow toyed.

"Look Sparrow, can you please just get on with what you wanted with me?" I asked as nicely as I could.

"Captain, Captain Jack Sparrow may I remind you. And why the rush we have all the time in the world." I had had it, the last nerve in my body broke. I couldn't stand him dancing around why he wanting me there. I strode over to him and before he knew it I had grabbed his bottle of rum and held it from his reach.

"Get it over with or I will drop it," I threatened.

"Easy now, don't do anything stupid, just hand it back over to Jacky and everything will be alright," he pleaded.

"How pathetic, it's a bloody bottle of rum!"

"Shh…she didn't mean it, really," he cooed to the bottle. I rolled my eyes.

"You've got to be kidding me," I muttered, "Just tell me what you want…with…me?" my eyes fell upon my mother's journal. The lock was still fastened tight around it. A smug smile spread across my face. "So having a little trouble with the lock are we?" Sparrow stood up straight, he grinned at me, as I looked smugly back at him,

"So how do I get it open?"

"Why should I tell you, you've held me at gun point, allowed me to be held at gun point, auctioned me off to your crew, caused me to sleep in a cell, and shot Jack…twice!" I reminded him.

"Your point?" I shook my head and allowed the neck of the bottle slip through my hand, as he lunged for the bottle I quickly snatched it before it hit the ground. He looked at me, "fine…I'm sorry, there you happy. Now how do I open it?"

"Uh uhh, that's not going to cut it."

"But I said I'm sorry, now you owe me something," he whinned.

"Fine," I threw him the bottle of rum that he caught and began hugging the bottle, "there now were even. So what else do you got for me?"

"How about I don't through you overboard, savvy?" he threaten.

"Think about that Sparrow ("Captain" he muttered under his breath), it won't do you any good. Not only am I the only one who can open it, Im the only one who can read it."

"Well what do you propose?"

"First, you will give me the room of MY choice to sleep in, while you take me to the port of MY choice, and second I keep the possession of the journal at all times, I will give you the directions from the journal and you will listen to MY instructions." I stated, "And since I will be holding the journal and giving you the directions, you will take me along with you to the treasure, where we will split it 50/50."

"Sorry love, I will not have a women aboard this ship without a dress. And seeing how there is no dress in my cabin at this time, you will have to leave that journal with me and watch me sail off in my ship to retrieve the treasure and split it 0/100."

"Fine then," I took the pistol that I had been hiding behind my back, which I took from him when I stole his rum, and pointed at my head.

"You wouldn't love?" Sparrow replied

"Why wouldn't I, I have no home to go back to, if I did I would be shipped back to England. And I would rather die than go back there." Which really was partly true, I just didn't know if I had it in me to pull the trigger, but Sparrow seemed to think that I would.

"Alright, relax love. You can keep the journal, and give the instructions as long as you sail under my command and give me back me hat; you can have your choice of accommodation, and you can come with us on the voyage. We will split the treasure 10/90, and I will then take you to your desired port." I thought it over for a moment,

"Actually I just want one article of the treasure that will be mine and only mine," I asked. In the back of my mind I remembered my mother's warning of the "power source" and figured if I could keep it for safe keeping, I wouldn't have to worry about it falling into the wrong hands. Sparrow thought about it for a moment. He walked over to his seat and began drinking his rum once again before replying,

"Deal. Mr. Gibbs!" Sparrow yelled. Mr. Gibbs quickly appeared in the room waiting for his instructions. "It seems we have a new crew member," he nodded in my direction.

"Ah sir, you know that it is frightfully bad luck to have a woman aboard," Gibbs cautioned.

"Well it is good thing that I know how to…"

"…counter act it, I figured you would Captain. What would you have me to do with her?" Sparrow shrugged his shoulders,

"I don't know, what do woman do…get her to swab the decks or what not." As we were about to leave the room, Sparrow stopped us, "Miss. Lirette where would you be planning on staying during the nights." Taking a swig from his bottle.

"Why, right here Sparrow," I answered self-satisfied. Sparrow choked on his mid-swallow, Mr. Gibbs look to and from us very confused. "You are a man of your word are you not?" Sparrow looked at me spitefully, then turned into an amused smile,

"Very well love." Taking the hat from my head, I threw it to him, and made my way up onto the deck.