It had been days since the Pearl's encounter with the Dutchman, and Evangeline was not impressed.
Jack wasn't speaking to her or anyone else, for that matter; when Evangeline sent Gibbs in on a secret mission to uncover Jack's train of thought, he was sent out of the cabin moments later on the grounds that he was 'disturbing the peace'. His responses, if ever he gave them, were cryptic and he didn't eat (not with the crew, anyway). He rarely showed his face outside the cabin, now, and the Pearl was, for all intents and purposes, captainless. The ship bobbed aimlessly on the big blue sea, and in spite of the piracy in her blood Evangeline was sick of it. The crew were getting restless, too, she could tell. This wasn't pirating; this was sailing. Plain old boring sailing. Not a single adventure in sight. They were pirates, not merchants. Jack would be facing a mutiny soon if he wasn't careful.
Kalepi wasn't much better, either- in spite of Evangeline's hopes, his walls had not weakened one bit. For a twelve year old boy, he was completely and totally unfathomable, and Evangeline would no sooner get him to trust her than she would start breathing underwater (and at the rate things were going, she would master the latter before the former). She was also beginning to wonder if he had psychic powers on top of demonic possession, because there was no way that a kid could be that good at checkers.
All the same, she worried for him. She didn't like the grin on Jack's face when he had emerged from his meeting with the heartless captain, and she didn't like any of the behaviour that had followed. She knew he didn't like Kalepi. She knew he thought that Kalepi threatened the safety of everyone on board, particularly his. She knew better than to trust him, but what else could she do?
These thoughts and more were filling her head when Cotton's parrot appeared in front of her. She started, then glared at the shaggy old thing.
"Shoo," she snapped, shepherding it away with her hands.
"Scurvy dogs, scurvy dogs!" it shrieked.
Evangeline hissed and snapped her teeth together; the parrot cawed and flew off, screeching obscenities back at her. Next port they stopped at, she would find Cotton a new parrot if it killed her.
She'd only just started thinking about what kind of parrot would suit the old geezer when there was a bellow from above: "LAND AHOY!"
The sleepy deck jerked to life as if struck by lightning; ears pricked and heads snapped up, and all at once every single crew member had swarmed to the sides, craning their necks and squinting into the horizon. Evangeline sprang up onto the rigging and monkeyed her way up, swinging off one arm and shielding her eyes with a brown hand.
She didn't expect to see anything; a cry from the bird's nest didn't really mean much until a few hours after it had been made, what with perspective and all that. All too often, 'land' was nothing more than a dead, drifting whale, or a mirage, or a very distant ship. It wouldn't even surprise Evangeline if the sailor was making it up, just for a bit of excitement for a change.
The crew seemed to be thinking the same thing, for the horizon was as empty as it had ever been and they turned away, grumbling in mutual disgust. Heart sinking, Evangeline lingered, dangling limply off the rigging. Turner's words of floating aimlessly looking for a cure for Kalepi returned to her and she felt sick to her stomach. What if he was right? Kalepi had been perfectly comfortable in his hole (at least, as comfortable as anyone could be in a hole); he wasn't looking for a cure. Not actively, at least. She'd had no right to drag him away from that semi-peace and into this mess. And if Kidd did find him, then it would be all her fault.
She swung down the rigging once more, moving considerably slower, with her mind made up: she would tell Jack to turn around, and she would tell him to take them home. Maybe she could take Kalepi in, to live with her in the manor at Port Royal. She doubted it. He would probably return to his hole and continue his quiet, wasting existence in peace until his last breath.
Depressing, but still. Anything was better than this.
She jumped the last few feet to the deck and made her way to the captain's cabin, head low and dejected. She would probably go and whinge about this to Rocky later- she had gotten into the habit of frequently using him as a verbal and emotional punching bag- but until then, she had to confess to her father.
Oh, joy of joys.
"Evangeline!"
The Evangeline in question looked up with a start; her brown eyes widened in amazement when she saw none but the one and only Jack Sparrow standing at the helm, surveying his ship and crew with as much snobbery and self-importance as usual. Granted, he looked a little pastier than he had when Evangeline had seen him last, but he would no doubt remedy that soon enough.
Spurred on by the shock of seeing him outside, Evangeline answered his summons immediately (and much to both of their surprise). She jogged to his side and surveyed their surroundings; charts and navigational tools were littered about their feet. Business as usual, then.
"You're feeling awfully active," she observed.
"Lovely day, isn't it?" Jack replied, ignoring her as completely as usual. "I daresay it's time for a little stop over, don't you think?"
Evangeline's eyes narrowed, and almost as if on cue there was a bellow from the crow's nest once again, and the crew flocked to the side once more. Watching Jack suspiciously, she followed them and, pushing her hair out of her face, had yet another reason to drop her jaw: it was no mirage. There, large as life, was an island, rapidly drawing closer.
It was no coincidence. Evangeline fell upon the charts, sifting through them with the dexterous hands of someone who was born to do this. In minutes she had found their position- or thereabouts- and her head snapped up to Jack, who was watching her with an expectant grin.
"Africa?" she hissed. "Jack, you know we can't-"
"Actually, I think you'll find that we can," Jack countered, nodding at the island ahead of them.
Evangeline glared. "The Gates are that close- Kidd could be hanging around, just waiting for someone to float by-"
"I'll know if he is," Jack replied with a knowing grin. His self-assured cockiness infuriated Evangeline, and her hands curled into fists.
"Listen, Jack," she hissed, her face suddenly inches from his own. "You can make all the stupid little prophecies you like, but this is a promise: if Kalepi gets hurt because you thought it was a good idea to bring us to the Gates- hell, if anything goes wrong while we're here I will personally haunt you for the rest of your life until you regret the day you were born, and even then I will pursue you to the very ends of the earth."
Jack was unfazed, and Evangeline hadn't expected him to take a word on board anyway. But she found that it almost always helped to shout at Jack when she was frustrated. "Consider meself warned, love," he replied. "Better go get your little brat. We're going ashore."
Evangeline glared a moment longer, filled her eyes with as much hatred and fury as possible, then whipped around- hoping with all her heart that her hair had swung around and hit him in the face- and marched off.
She was halfway down the deck when she realized that some of her hair may have landed in Jack's mouth, which meant that she was now partially coated in his spittle.
With a strangled cry of muted disgust she tucked her hair under a hat in the most furious manner ever seen.
xXx
The island they had landed in was scarcely different from any other tropical island in the world. The jungle was thick and steamy and damn near impossible to navigate. Weird animals rustled in the ground near their feet and the plants were big and impractical. They waded through hot, stagnant rivers- sometimes so deep that Evangeline would have to hoist an embarrassed Kalepi onto her shoulders- and hiked up never-ending mountains. Through it all, Jack was impossibly silent; Evangeline's bad temper increased, and Kalepi could only watch, keeping whatever opinions he had safely locked behind big brown eyes.
Eventually they reached a long, flat plateau. Much of the ground beneath their sore feet, Evangeline was pleased to notice, was flat and dry- a nice break from the uncertainty of jungle undergrowth. Weeds and trees lingered on the side, and it was under one of these that Evangeline sought shade and refuge from the heat. Kalepi lingered for an awkward moment amongst the crew, but in the weeks since his arrival he had still gained no place amongst their ranks. Almost reluctantly, he moved to Evangeline's side.
He settled himself next to her quite comfortably, and she offered a water skin to him. He glanced at it suspiciously, and Evangeline rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"Come on, it's water. Contrary to whatever your heart is set on, I'm really not trying to kill you."
He looked away, embarrassed. "Never dream of it," he mumbled, accepting the water skin.
Evangeline smirked. "Right. One of the guys give you rum before?"
After a moment's hesitation, Kalepi nodded.
Evangeline wrinkled her nose. "It's an acquired taste, Kalepi. You either love it or you hate it."
Her eyes could have been deceiving her, but Evangeline swore that Kalepi looked relieved at not having to impress her with any rum consumption. She watched him as he tipped his head back and took a swig of the lukewarm water, and forgot to look away when he held it back out to her.
"What?" He was immediately on guard, and it was Evangeline's turn to duck her head and look away.
"Nothing. It's just… You're a good kid." The words fell out without her permission, but she wasn't surprised to find that she meant them. He didn't deserve anything that he had gotten, but in a terrible, guilty way she was glad for it. Even if he beat her in checkers every time, and barely spoke to her- let alone looked at her- she was glad to have him around.
Suspicion lingered in his features for a moment and then, to Evangeline's great surprised, vanished. As if he had finally, finally lowered his guard. She smiled tightly, encouragingly, wondering if she was overdoing it-
Next thing she knew, she was lying flat on her face on the hard-packed dirt with something very heavy on her back. Instinctively, she struggled, but the weight on her back was not to be dislodged. Trying desperately to flick her troublesome hair out of her face, she tried to find the others, to make sure Kalepi was safe- hoping against all hope that the ambusher wasn't Kidd- but fell still the moment she felt the sharp blade of a weapon pressed into the back of her neck.
With strong, rough hands, she was hauled to her feet. Flicking her hair out of her face, she observed without much surprise that the rest of the crew had been captured and bound. The attackers weren't the notorious pirate crew she had been expecting, which was a plus; on the not-so-bright side was the fact that they were a group of unknown and apparently unfriendly natives. Images of grisly human sacrifice and cannibalism appeared, unbidden, in Evangeline's mind.
There was a minor skirmish in the corner of her eye. Looking around, she saw that Kalepi, small and nimble youngster that he was, had somehow escaped the attackers and was currently attempting some sort of evasive maneouvre around a small group of them, trying in vain to corner him. Evangeline jerked, hard, against her attackers hands, and was jerked back with an aggressive grunt and a sharp prod of what she guessed to be a spear. Moments later, thick, coarse ropes- probably vines- were clapped around her wrists and tugged tighter.
Her mind raced and desperation threatened to choke her. Kalepi needed help- they were trapped and bound- there was no chance of outside help- and she still didn't have a weapon on hand to defend herself with.
In a last ditch effort, she opened her mouth to scream. Possibly the weakest diversion in the book, but a diversion none the less. Maybe Kalepi could get away, and then- then what? Come back and free them? There was nothing to stop him from leaving them to rot- apart from the fact that a ship cannot be captained by a lone twelve year old slave boy.
This was the general positive mindset running through Evangeline's head when she took in a deep breath, and after all the trouble she'd gone through to think of such a fool-proof plan she was extremely peeved when her scream was interrupted by another. As could be expected, all activity stopped and heads turned as a rather large woman covered in camouflage paint tore through the clearing, barreling through her fellows to get to-
Kalepi?
Jack- standing with his hands bound behind his back, much like Evangeline- caught her eye as the woman threw her arms around Kalepi, but all she could do was shrug and watch on with as much astonishment as everyone else as the woman sobbed and held him tight. Judging from the look on his face, Kalepi himself had no idea what was going on either. At least, not until the woman let out a long, keening wail, through which only one word was discernible. Evangeline's jaw dropped and Kalepi went as white as a sheet. The woman noticed neither, and said it again and again until she could be sure that everyone present had heard her.
"Kalepi!"