Chapter 10
Caylie and the rest of the crew were huddled in the hold again, playing Liar's Dice. It had become a habit of theirs, to play once or twice a week, or maybe more, they couldn't tell the time. Caylie had learnt many new techniques to the game, how to tell when people were lying and such. She discovered Clanker always touched the brim of his hat when he was lying, Maccus bit down on his lip when he thought he was winning and Hadras tapped his fingers on the table when he knew someone was lying. She had gotten quite good at the game thanks to those little hints and the crew soon regained their respect of her and the state of her appearance blew over. Caylie was happy again and she soon refocused her attention on the chest in Jones' cabin. She knew she had to get to it now, her dream from some nights ago being a confirmation of that.
"Five sixes," Hadras said.
Caylie smiled. "Liar."
They revealed their dice and sure enough Hadras had only three sixes, not five.
"Anymore takers?" Caylie asked triumphantly.
The crew grumbled, miserable they had all been outmatched by a young girl.
"I will," came a booming voice from the ladder.
Caylie froze on the spot, her marrow suddenly very chilled. She was not feeling so comfortable anymore. Jones descended to the hold and looked at everyone.
"I'll take me hand at a game," he said, looking at Caylie. Maybe it was out of his character but he was going to put her in her place. No one had beaten him at Liar's Dice for nearly a century. But also, he was curious as to how good she was.
Caylie put on her brave face. "Take a seat then cap'n."
Jones sat across from her and took the cup, shaking it. "So what's yer bet?"
Caylie thought for a moment then it dawned on her. "If I win in a best out of five rounds, you have to give me the key to that fancy little chest in your cabin and you show me what's in it."
Some crewmembers began to talk between themselves as Jones stared angrily at Caylie. "It was ye! Ye entered me cabin!" he cried furiously.
"Are ye taking my bet or not?" Caylie snapped.
Jones tried to control his anger. "I will, but if I win then ye have to spend another thirty years on me ship."
Caylie bit her lip. Was the key to the chest worth it? Yes, it was and she was sure she would win. "Fine."
They slammed their cups on the table, blue eyes staring at blue eyes.
"Three sixes," Caylie began nervously.
"Four sixes," Jones continued.
"Five sixes," Caylie said.
"Six sixes," Jones said.
Everyone in the hold groaned. They knew they were in for a long game.
Jones and Caylie were tied two-two. The games had been long and stressful but neither noticed. They were too keen on winning. It was Caylie's turn. Jones had just called 'two fours,' so she had to top that while successfully bluffing.
"Three fours," she called.
"Four fours," Jones called.
Caylie stared at him and in the back of her mind a small voice was calling to challenge him. Call him a liar. Call him a liar. Caylie tried to ignore it, but the more she did that the louder and more powerful it grew until finally it slipped from Caylie's mouth.
"Liar," the word rolled off her tongue so slowly, so fatally.
Jones' face screwed up as his tentacles clenched in anger. He threw the cup across the room. Caylie peered over at his dice and saw that he didn't have four fours. She had won…against Davy Jones. The room was so silent one could hear a raindrop.
"I won," Caylie breathed.
Jones got up and stormed back up to the deck. How did she beat him?! Maccus and Jimmylegs maybe but him?! He was Davy Jones! And now he had to show her the key to the chest…and all his memories of her mother. Caylie caught up to him.
"Our bet?" Caylie said, folding her arms across her chest. "You better keep your end up."
Jones rolled his eyes and marched off to his cabin. Caylie let him go, but she knew the next day he would have to show her the chest. And she couldn't wait. As she went back to the hold no one looked at her the same. It was as though she was a different person.
"Ah! Stop gawking, he's just one person after all!" Caylie cried, storming off to her hammock.
Caylie woke up early and just lay in her hammock. What if Jones didn't keep his end up? What was the worst she could do to him? Tell the crew I'm his niece, she thought, but it seemed like an old excuse. He would probably ignore her anyways…
"Come with me girl," a voice said roughly.
Caylie nearly jumped. She hadn't heard him come into the hold. Nonetheless, she was waiting for the chest so she followed him without a word. Jones walked up to his cabin grumpily. He didn't want her to see what was in the chest. Not all of it. So, he had hidden the most valuable things of the chest and there were only a few letters and such. They went into his cabin and Davy reached into his shirt and extracted a key with a heart engraved on the handle. He handed it to Caylie.
"Go ahead, open it," Jones said, proud of his quick thinking.
Caylie smiled in satisfaction and took the key, opening the chest. She knelt and began taking the things out of it. She looked at the letters momentarily, smiling as she saw her mother's writing. It evolved as the letters came out of the chest from scribbled Scottish slang to proper English lady. Caylie read some of them and saw in living proof that Jones had actually loved his sister-very much.
Dear Dawn,
Oh where to begin? Today was among the dull days where we worked and did nothin' amusing. No fights, nor raids. Just nothin'. I am sure that me broadsword is gettin' bored, lying against the wall, unused. How are ye? Yer letters seem to improve each time ye write, Mrs. Stuart must be proud. And that love of yers, what's his name? No matter, how is he? I wrote to Calypso the other day. I want to marry her Dawn. She is so wonderful, I can't begin to describe her on paper. I hear her laugh in me ears and see her face in me dreams at night. Oh if she says no to me, what would I do? 'Tis a depressing thought indeed! I miss ye every day and I've told the crew all about ye. They love ye already. I wish ye could meet them all. I hope to see ye one day soon Dawn. I hope ye've been practicin' that piano of yers. Ye play it so beautifully. Well, until I see ye again,
Your love-struck brother who doesn't know what to do with 'imself anymore,
Davy Jones
Caylie could barely believe Jones had written that letter. The Jones who wrote the letter seemed human. Jones stood over her, not too sure what letter she had been reading, but he was annoyed nonetheless. He didn't like her going through his things. But she beat him in the game, fair and square. And she has a right to know what her mother was like. Ye're the only one who can tell her…that bothersome little voice in the back of his head said softly. Caylie put that letter aside and slowly extracted another one.
Dear Davy,
I am glad the crew has taken a liking to me. I hope you did not stretch the truth at all, as you tend to always do. Well lo and behold you have a love after all! Fancy me being right for once! Alas, I feel I must warn you Davy, as a caring sister who loves you infinitely. Calypso seems like the sort of woman who wants all fun and is not ready to marry. Perhaps I am wrong but I wish you to take things slow and please don't do anything too drastic Davy. She's only one woman and there are a million more who would love to marry you, and I could name a few here. When they read over my shoulder the letters you send (which vexes me greatly), they all coo and tell me "Is your brother married?" "Oh! He isn't, well make sure he stays that way, he sounds so romantic!" It makes me laugh. All this to say just be careful and remember all the people (women) here who would love you. There are some…new changes to my life now. I am married to Jonathan, though he is away, and I am carrying a child Davy! A child! Me as a mother! The thought itself drives me insane! You are going to be an uncle! Be proud Davy Jones! I am so thrilled by it. I hope I have a daughter but a boy would be perfect for Jonathan. If it is a boy I want to name him after you, and tell him all about his namesake the famous sailor. If it is a girl, well, I have no idea what to name her! Oh so much to do Davy! I am breath taken with it all. I miss you as well and I hope to see you soon, and be able to let you hold your niece/nephew. I give lots of love to you, and pray you are safe and happy.
Your very round and very content sister,
Dawn Jones-er-Adams, oh, it's still so hard to remember!!
Caylie folded that letter and felt a tear spring at her eye. Why did her parents have to die? Why was her only relative alive a half-octopus sea monster who hated life? But after reading the letter Caylie realized Jones was not evil. He was angry. Hre grandparents had told her tales of how Jones had had his heart broken and had carved his heart out and buried it on an island. Caylie didn't know if she wanted to read anymore. She knew enough now…What's one more? She suddenly thought, reaching in and grabbing another letter. This one was not addressed to anyone. But she knew it was Jones who wrote it.
Dear Dawn, wherever ye are now,
I don't know what death is Dawny. I don't know where ye are. I wanted ter follow ye, but ye went into a room with a closed door and I don't have the key. I want ye to come out. Dawn, come back to me. I miss ye. I'm sorry I wasn't there for ye and I'm sorry I didn't always listen to ye. Come back Dawn and I promise I'll do better! But I know these pleas will not be heard, because ye can't come back. Ye left me alone, like Calypso. She laughed at me. She ridiculed me. I feel alone Dawn and ye're not here anymore. I left Carolyn with her grandparents. They'll love her better than I could ever. She has eyes like ye did Dawn. Big, blue and innocent. She just reminds me of ye and I don't want her to have that burden of me grief on her shoulders. She doesn't need that. I hope she never has to meet me again. I don't want to start blamin' her for yer death. She doesn't need to know that either. I'm going to do it Dawn. I've been thinkin' about it for days and I decided it's best. There's nothing for me to live for anymore. Calypso never loved me and ye're dead. I might as well do it. And I'll become more powerful than anyone. I will control the seas and everyone will remember me. I promise ye that Dawn. It's over. Life as we knew it is over and now I'm ready. Good bye Dawn.
Davy Jones
Caylie dropped the letter forgetting Jones was in the room. She got up, looked at him for a minute then ran out, shutting the door. She didn't know what to think, what to say. Jones walked over to the letter she had dropped and read over it quickly. When he finished he crumpled it into a ball. He had forgotten to get rid of that one! He had written it the day he had decided to carve his heart out. Now he knew why Caylie had been crying. Well, she had wanted to know what was in the chest so there. Now she does, one side of him said. Jones now wished he had never agreed to play against her. He wondered if he ought to go and talk to her. It'll make it worse, he decided and began picking up the letters and threw them in the chest. Why hadn't he just rid himself of those memories when he had the chance?
Caylie stood on the deck gripping the rail, shaking furiously. Why did she have to be so curious? Why couldn't she have left well enough alone? Now she knew. Clanker and Bootstrap had been wrong. Davy Jones did have reasons for what he did. He hated her because he blamed her for her mother's death! It never crossed her mind before, she thought he just hated his family and didn't care about kinship. Apparently he did and he loved his sister very much. And Caylie came and Dawn died. He blamed her for taking away his sister. Bootstrap came and stood next to Caylie.
"Did ye find out what was in that chest?" he asked her.
She nodded.
"Was it what ye thought it'd be?" Bootstrap asked again.
"More than I thought," Caylie sniffled.
Bootstrap left her and began to do his work. Caylie went too, ready to begin her work but somehow, she didn't feel right. She felt like she was like a thorn stuck into Jones and he found her a nuisance. And that thought itself hurt Caylie, though she didn't know why. Ye hate him too, right? She asked herself. Of course she did. So what if he hates ye and thinks ye're a pain? But Caylie knew the truth. It was hidden deep in her heart. She wanted to ignore it, but she couldn't anymore. Jones was not her distant relative, he was her uncle. Her direct uncle. First uncle. The blood he shed that day was the blood than ran in her veins. It never occurred to Caylie as clearly as it did at that moment. It was like a ton of bricks. No matter how different they looked, Caylie and Davy Jones were family. Related. And a strong feeling coursed through Caylie. She wanted him to like her. She wanted him to treat her like his niece. Like a normal uncle would. Like family. But Caylie knew he never would. He never could. Because he wasn't normal. They weren't normal people so they couldn't do normal things. Caylie threw a small barnacle in the sea and growled. Why did she have to be like this? Why was she related to Davy Jones?