Chapter Seven

The Adventure Unfolds

Jack watched Trinity sit on her bed below deck, curled into a ball and hugging her knees so fiercely that her ankles were turning blue. She had collapsed after she rushed into his arms, her eyes already swollen shut, puffy, and pouring tears. She hadn't know what exactly had happened that night, only that the owner of the bar was shot and she had witnessed it, but it seemed to be something she wanted to keep to herself. I wonder, Jack thought to himself and he listened the now ghostly pale girl sob, just what had unnerved her so badly. Surely she had seen someone killed before? Death is a common punishment after all, and a good hanging can quickly turn into a public event.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and, by the rough grasp, knew that it was Barbossa. He turned to his first mate, suddenly feeling less vulnerable than he had in their other encounters. "What be the meanin' of this, Hector?" Jack puffed out his chest in an authoritative way, making his voice seem deeper than usual.

"Naw to be botherin' ya, Jack, but wha' migh' we be doin' now thaw we set sail from Tortuga?"

Jack cringed at the accent, which he had sorely forgotten seeing as how most of his conversations had been with Trinity in that last couple days. "The map in my cabin," Jack motioned towards the wooden stairs and up top side, "and some joined papers you will find there will tell you everything you and the crew will need or wish to know. Including our new heading."

"An ya won' be joinin' the crew at the wheel?"

"Not yet. I think...I think I have something else to tend to. I think you can manage, Hector."

Barbossa seemed to have a malicious gleam in his eye containing a mixture of satisfaction and disappointment. Or hatred. The two emotions were the same to the man. Or maybe jealousy? They were all interchangeable in Jack's mind.

He then watched Jack leave, when Dani produced herself at his side. "So what's her story?" She folded her arms and nodded towards the sulking figure that no longer resembled the elegant figure Jack once come to remember her as. "She looks too clean to be some stray that you just happened to pick up off the streets."

Jack shook his head, "No. Her's in a complicated tale. Truthfully, I don't know what she's doing, myself. And I offered her the entire situation." He felt a need to leave out that he also offered 500 shillings to her keeper to have her by his side. Dani would disapprove, as Trinity had when she first boarded his ship, and he also didn't want to have to explain why he had acted on such an impulse.

Dani, having none of the problems that Trinity had been having with the men - although she was quite good looking - because she could handle herself. She sighed, finding it useless that this girl was crying and spending all her time in the closet sized room when she could be top side, taking in the sea salt and everything else the ocean had to offer. She shrugged, showing her slight confusion, and began to walk back the way she had come from.

Jack looked after her as she walked away, finding himself compelled to look like he would if it was any other woman, and shouted after her, "Dani, you know why I asked you to come, right?"

Dani nodded in response. "Because I, unlike the other members of your crew or yourself, know just what's going on in the head of a younger girl. You're curious about her as, I admit, I am. You want to know what makes her tick. But, I have to say, I can't help you at the present moment, Jack. She's got her walls up. And, after the way I saw you two after finding Luc the other night, I think she's only going to lower those defenses for you." Her hands grasped the railing as she started to ascend the stairs, but abruptly stopped after three steps. She pivoted, and finished with, "Sooner or later, Jack, I want to have a discussion with you about those maps in your cabin. Imaginary? Not?"

"What do you mean?"

"The Isla de Muerta?" She scoffed, "It's fiction. A child's bedtime story."

Jack let a crude smile cross his lips. "Not so, I believe. The fact that there are tales of it makes it seem, as it were, that some of the tales are true. Some, not all." He began to show his enthusiasm while his arms swayed about and he felt a strong urge to have a celebratory drink. Now that he thought about it, while he had been with Trinity, he couldn't remember the last time he had had a drink. That, alone, was enough to make his knees knock worse than any unnerving stare Hector Barbossa could shoot his way.

"So we're really going there?"

"First, we find funds and provisions. We were supposed to fill up in Tortuga, but complications arose."

Trinity, who had been able to hear them but was ignoring them, heard Jack's last phrase and burst into a new cycle of tears as she remembered her father's tale about how "complications arose." It made her double over and vomit all over the floor, making Dani stick her tongue out in disgust. Jack stepped over the mess and picked Trinity off of the bed, carrying her the short distance to the stairwell and putting her back on her feet. "A little air will do you some good, love. And maybe some rum. It's numb you."

And Trinity, without spoken word, consented with a dying need to feel numb.

A/N: short, i know, but very needed. it gives the story direction, and, of all else, it explains why Dani is accompaning them. I, with permission from thomthom830, think that Dani would be a good role model for Trin, and i think she's exactly the presence that's needed to break Trin of her molding, if you understand what i'm saying.

hope it was good.

review please!

Ruby