chapter 12
"Are you sure about what you're doing?" Will asked, sitting at the table, the medallion in his hand.
"Yes Will." said Jewel, "I heard you talking to Gibbs,and now I will answer them."
"Why now?" Elizabeth asked, stepping down the stairs to sit across from Will.
"Well, this seemed like the opportune moment to tell the truth since you've already done it regarding the medallion." Jewel said, looking from Will to Liz, "So, what do you have to ask?" There was a moment when Will and Elizabeth looked at each other before looking back at Jewel.
"How did your parents meet?" Elizabeth asked
"The way most pirates meet, on a ship." she said
"Did they work on the same crew?" Elizabeth asked
"Well, actually, my moms ship was sinking, so she retreated to my dads. When their eyes met, they fell in love instantly, then were married at the next port." Jewel said, sighing a romantic sigh, "My mom loved the sea. When she found out she was pregnant, it was hard to let it go. But she adjusted quickly to life on Tortuga. My dad, well, I hardly ever did see him back then."
"How do you know about Barbossa? About my father? About the Black Pearl in general?" Will asked, his voice getting a bit louder.
"Easy Will. I'll tell you. My dad wanted me to come aboard on the Pearl when I was only three years old. He gladly would've accepted me. But my mom, she wanteed to raise me to be a proper little lady amogsnt the pirates of Tortuga. So in the middle of the night, when the town was asleep, he kidnapped me and brought me aboard his ship." she said in a whisper
"Kidnap you?" Will said, a bit surprised.
"Yes kidnap me, and I happily lived on it till I was five!" Jewel enthusiastically said
"Does that mean, you were around for the mutiny?" Will asked. Jewel slumped down at the table and pulled out a third chair from behind the stairs to slump on.
"Yes, I was around for the mutiny. I watched as they marooned my dad on a god forsaken spit of land, while I stayed abord the Pearl to endure Barbossa. It also explains why I know their little moonlit secret." Jewel said. Elizabeth shuddered when she heard that, and Jewel noticed.
"I'm guessing I'm not the only one who knows it." she said, turning her attention to Liz.
"It was so frightening to see living men like that. So terrible." Liz said. Will put an arm around Liz's shoulder to calm her down, then he looked back at Jewel.
"What happened when you were trapped on the Pearl?" Will asked
"Well, Barbossa made me swab every deck every day of my life. My room was the brig and he hardly gave me anything to eat. But Bootstrap, your father, he was the kindest of them all. He taught me to read, write, and navigate through even the harshest conditions. He also gave me this." Jewel quickly pulled her knife out and stabbed the table so the two could see the shining blade, "He got it from a raid, and he taught me how to use it. It came in handy when I escaped from that ship."
"How did you escape?" Elizabeth asked
"On the day I escaped, Barbo and I had a bit of a fight, his sword against my knife. In the end," she pulled back her left sleeve to reveal the scar, "sword won. Don't worry it doesn't hurt." Elizabeth gave it a poke and she drew it back in pain. "Okay, it still hurts. But Bootstrap patched it up before any more blood came out. I was placed back in the brig for the night, but no one noticed that he secretly snuck into my bandages, a spare key and a note that told me to escape. So, I jumped into the water and began swimming towards Tortuga."
"Barbo?" Will asked
"It was a little name I came up for Barbossa when I was three."
"Wait. You swam the whole way to Tortuga? That's amazing!" Elizabeth said surprised
"Well, I didn't exactly swim all the way. Around night time, I began giving up and started sinking beneath the water. Then, I grabbed something that was moving. I looked up and what do I find? A Sea turtle!" Jewel said smiling. Will gave her a bit of an akward look.
"A sea turtle?" he asked
"Yes a sea turtle. I grabbed onto its back and steered it in the right direction, and made it go to Tortuga the next morning. And finally saw my mom after eight years." Jewel said sitting back down.
"It was one of the happiest moments of my life." "You said your mother gave up on turning you into a lady. Why?" Will asked
"Lets just say, there was a bit of a fiasco at my twelfth birthday party. Taught a bunch of boys not to call me a 'wench to be'. Sadly, the fight cost me my cake, and helf my presents. So much icing everywhere." Jewel said, smiling.
"Why did you lie to me about how you mother died?" Will asked. Jewel froze and began looking uneasy.
"Um, well." she said. "I really don't want..."
"How did your mother die?" Will asked. Jewel sat in silence as she looked at the couple.
"I'd rather not talk about it." she said
"Why not?" Will asked
"It's a bit of a tough subject."
"Why?"
"I Don't Want To Remember!" Jewel yelled at Will, tears forming in her eyes, "It was a terrible memory! Don't make me remember. I just don't want to talk about that night. I'll just say that it's my fault she died, that's all. Any other questions?" Jewel wiped the tears that began welling up in her eyes away.
"How did you meet your father again?" Elizabeth asked
"It was two years after my mom's death and on the night she died, I always went to the Faithful Bride, other than the Fox and Hound Tavern, and I met a strange man who wanted to drink my rum bottle. Little did I know he was my dad. Later, I saw him at my mothers grave, and I chased him. We fought and fought and fought until he told me who he was. I was shocked. After ten years of waiting for him to come to me, he suddenly appears out of nowhere. I didn't want to believe it was him, so I kept fighting. When I was about to deliver the final blow, I fell into his arms and began crying. I was so happy to see him again." Jewel said. The tears stopped and she started smiling again. Elizabeth went up the stairs to see what all the ruckus was about.
"Jewel, is that everything? Is it all true?" Will asked putting a hand on her cheek.
"If I lied, May the devil come for this ship!" she said. Gibbs quickly came down and started hauling out a barrel.
"Gibbs? What's wrong?" Will asked
"It's the Pearl, she's gaining!" Gibbs said, rushing back up the stairs. Will looked over at Jewel who had a sheepish smile on.
"Well, he's not exactly the devil." she said