Escape
Each soldier grabbed one of them. Marana struggled and fought, but it was no use. They were all put in shackles again, and led down to a room at the end of the corridor. They were shoved inside, and the door was closed and locked. The water was already almost reaching their knees.
Celeise started crying. She leaned on Beckett's shoulders. All of them were desperate. Jack spotted a lantern hanging on the wall. He had an idea.
"If one of us gets that lantern down, we can use the oil to get one of the pairs of shackles off." He reached up to get it, but it was too high up. He pushed a stool up to the wall and climbed up. He grabbed the lantern and jumped down. Beckett observed, "The person with the smallest hands will have the best chance of getting out of the shackles. That will be either Marana or Celeise." The girls compared hand sizes. Marana's were smaller. She stepped forward. Jack crashed the lantern against the wall and poured the oil over her hands. Celeise held her hands steady as Jack and Beckett each took a cuff and pulled. She folded her thumbs in and pulled her hands back. The cuffs opened a little, but soon her hands were stuck. Beckett pulled harder, and the cuff came off. She wiped the oil on her jacket as Jack pulled the other cuff off.
Marana dropped the shackles into the water, which was now almost to their thighs. She shouted, "Everyone, look around; see if you can find a key!" They all searched through the room, opening drawers and cabinets, searching for a key. Beckett found a large ring of keys. The water came in faster. It was up to their waists. Marana was becoming frantic. "Cutler, quick! Get us out of here!" He looked surprised, "Did you just call me Cutler?" She pushed him to the door. He tried each of the keys (there we 38 of them) on the door. When he had used the last one, he turned to Marana. "None of them work!" She grabbed the ring. "Well, look for some more, then!" She stuck each of the keys into the lock. The water was rising to her stomach. Finally the door opened. A wall of water as high as her head poured down on her. She was knocked under the surface. She felt someone lift her. Beckett pulled her to the surface.
She stood up and clapped her hand onto his shoulder. Then she heard Jack shouting, "Marana, Beckett, come over here!" They ran over to him. He continued, "There's a weak ring on my shackles. If you each take one of my arms and pull, then it might be enough to break it." Celeise grabbed a candle from the wall and kept the flame on the weak ring. Beckett and Marana each took one of his arms and pulled as hard as they could. The ring eventually broke. Then Jack pointed at a cannon. He thought awhile before saying, "I could fire it at the wall, and we could escape that way." Marana brushed her wet hair off of her forehead and smiled. "Jack, that's fantastic, but how are you going to light it?"
Jack took the candle from Celeise and stuck it down into the cannon. There was a loud BANG and the cannonball crashed through the wall, creating a large hole just big enough for one of them to squeeze through. Water rushed into the room, climbing up their bodies inch by inch. Marana grabbed Beckett's hand, and Jack grabbed Celeise's, and they went through the hole one by one. Marana swam with one hand and held tight to Beckett's hand with the other one.
The four of them came up to the surface. They swam up to a huge rock. Jack and Celeise went up first, followed by Marana. She climbed up and lay on her stomach at the top. She reached down for Beckett's hand, but his fingers just barely brushed hers. She shouted to Jack, "Don't let me fall! I have to get down lower!" She eased herself a little lower as Jack held onto her waist. She grabbed Beckett's hand and pulled as hard as she could. She helped him sit on top of the rock. Celeise gave him a choking hug. Then he broke away and spoke to the others. "Marana, you and Jack may stay at our house overnight. I doubt you'll be able to leave in this storm."
Once they were at Beckett's house, they locked all the doors and windows. Jack and Marana were given the spare bedroom. As they dried off, Celeise gave Marana one of her nightgowns. It tied like a corset in the back. Jack tied the laces as Marana dried her hair with a towel. Suddenly, he hugged her around the waist. He ran his hands up and down her stomach. She turned around and kissed him with so much force that he fell back onto the bed. When she let go, she was on top of him. He grinned slyly.
"Marana, darling, don't plan on having just one baby." They sat up. Marana took his hands. "How many children do you want, my Jacky?" He grinned again. "I want four children, love. Four little Sparrows." She looked surprised. "Jacky, I want two children."
"Well, I want four."
"I want two."
"Four."
"Two."
"Four."
"How about three, then?"
Jack look defeated. "I don't even think my beautiful, lovely, ravishing, irresistible pirate wife could take care of four children. You wouldn't have the strength, since it would be all used up on me."
She said dramatically, "You've hurt me, Jack." She clapped her hand to her heart and fell back onto the pillows. He was laughing. She tried to get up, but she was trapped under him. He leaned down and kissed her neck. "Three children would be fine, love." They fell asleep in each other's arms.
Meanwhile, Beckett and Celeise were in their own room. Beckett walked out onto the balcony while Celeise combed her hair. When the blonde locks were completely straight, she joined her husband. She gave him a gentle hug. There was a slight breeze, causing her hair to coil around his neck. When he let go, he gave her a deep, longing kiss. Then he pulled away. He said sternly, "Celeise, I need to tell you something."
She stood up straight. He sighed, "I will likely lose my position in the company for what we have done in the past couple of weeks." Celeise saw the sad look on his face and took his hands. She hugged him and whispered in his ear, with a sly grin, "We'll just see about that."