Will, Lucy, Ray, and George slowly rose to their feet; being careful not to draw attention to themselves.
"So what exactly is our plan?" Ray whispered.
"We make a break for the hill, and hopefully we can get up before they notice we're gone." Will said.
"Why don't we just make a break for it down the river?" Ray asked.
"On foot? They'd catch us within minutes!" Will argued.
"Boot!" George said. The three of them looked at him for a second and hissed "sssh!"
"Well we'd have a better chance on foot moving away from them rather than simply moving up!" Ray said.
"Booot!" George said again.
"Hush!" Lucy whispered harshly to him.
"Will's right. We'd be better off going up the hill, our chances are just better. If we hurry and get up it quickly we'd be given a big advantage." Lucy said.
"Boot!" George said impatiently, pointing ahead. Will, Lucy, and Ray all looked at George and then in the direction of where he was pointing. George was referring to the river, which was a little off in the distance, and right beside the river was a rowboat. Then as if they had planned it that way, their mouths fell open one right after the other.
"Okay, well maybe we can out run them on the boat." Will said plainly.
"Listen, not that this isn't fun, but I really think we need to talk about our release." Callie stood up and looked down at Jack in a professional matter.
Jack's amused smile stiffened into a more serious look.
"And what about your release?"
"Is it going to happen anytime soon, or even at all?" Callie asked.
"You're quite eager to go home, however you seem like the type that doesn't fit into the normal crowd."
Callie shrugged. "They don't fit in with me." Jack laughed.
"Wouldn't you rather be with people that did fit in with you?" He asked.
"That is extremely hard to find. Trust me." Callie said, laughing to herself a little bit from all the memories rushing into her head.
"Well, maybe you're not looking in the right place."
"And the sea is the place to find them?" Callie said skeptically.
"Might as well search somewhere you've never been to before." Jack stated.
"I've been to the sea." Callie said. "My father is part of the Royal Navy. He used to take me out on some voyages."
"A Royal Navy ship…I see. Never been on a pirate's ship?" Callie found it interesting how when he spoke of a Royal Navy ship he used a dull tone and yet when he said a pirate's ship he sounded just like an obese child when given a piece of cake. Callie shook her head, as an answer to his question.
"Ever wanted to be one on?" Jack asked.
Callie stayed expressionless for a few moments. This man was offering her the chance to sail the open seas forever. As she said before her father took her on some of his voyages. The ones without guaranteed dangerous and life threatening situations, of course. Callie loved the sea. She loved the unpredictability of it, since Willow's Bend is nothing but predictable.
"Are you still with me?" Jack asked after watching her blank face for two minutes or so. Callie's glazed over eyes quickly snapped back to look at Jack.
"Yes." Callie answered. "To both questions." Jack tipped his head back happily.
"Do you want to leave here on a pirate ship?"
Callie smiled and shook her head. "No."
Jack raised his brow, no doubt surprised by her answer.
"My father…my family, they'd be heartbroken." Callie explained. She stared off into space a little bit again before continuing to justify her answer.
"Well I guess Rose, Eve, and Annie; they're my sisters, they'd be thrilled with my absence at first but I know they'd be bored with their lives after two weeks without me. " Callie said confidently.
"You're sure about that?" Jack asked.
"Yes, besides that I have got to get rid of the little one hanging around us. We left home to take him back to his tribe." Jack's eyes widened with a sudden new interest and he snapped his fingers.
"That's right! There are other children here. Let's ask them what they would like to do."
Jack took Callie by the arm and led her to where the others were kept.
"Oh children?..." Jack called before he abruptly stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the empty ropes wrapped around the tree trunk.
"That's interesting." Jack said. Callie shared the same surprised look as Jack had at the vacant spot where her friends once sat. She looked around quickly, swishing her head this way and that until she found them.
They were a few yards off or so by the river; fighting to push a boat into the water. She smiled and whipped her gaze back at Jack, who was giving her a questioning look that said "and what do you know about this?"
Callie kept her smile strong and sly as she spoke.
"You do realize that if you plan taking us to your ship you will have to catch us first!"
Swiftly Callie twisted her arm free of Jack's grasp and sent her other hand shooting into Jack's most favorite and delicate area. Jack sucked in the air sharply and quickly bent over in pain and Callie took off running as soon as she was sure he could not come after her.
"Wait up you rotters!" Callie yelled as she headed for the river.
"Oye! They're getting away!" Jack called to the other pirates. Callie looked over and shoulder and saw three pirates starting to run after her, and when she looked back ahead there were the two pirates that got mad at her over the parley incident stood just a few feet away from her. Also a few feet ahead of them was a pirate running towards the boat with Ray, Lucy, and Will yelling frantically at Callie. Callie sped up to outrun the pirates although the one heading towards the boat was getting too close, so Ray and Will started to push the boat fully into the water.
As Callie came up to the two that blocked her way she quickly dropped to the ground and somersaulted through the gap between the two of them and continued to run as soon as she quickly recovered to the standing position. Now there were five pirates chasing her, two very close behind her, three a little bit off behind them, with one ahead of her and the boat was quickly starting to float away. Callie sped up a little more although she could feel one of the pirate's hands swat occasionally at her hair. There was only one way to get them off her tail, Callie abruptly took a sharp left and started to run in that direction.
The two pirates who were following her tried to imitate her sharp left however it caused a collision between the two; since they were running side by side, and they both fell hard to the ground. Callie kept running hard for the boat; although now that it was moving she had to run along and towards the river. (A/N She's going diagonally instead of straight towards the river, in case you don't understand.) She was now gaining on the pirate that was chasing the boat, although he didn't seem to notice. Once she was close enough behind him she took advantage of the moment. She lunged forward and grabbed his legs, causing him to crash to the ground. Then once again she quickly scrambled to her feet and was moving faster than she ever had before, for now she had six pirates chasing her, maybe even seven if Jack's cherries would allow him to.
"Come on Callie!"
"Hurry up!"
"Go! Go! Keep going!"
"I like wataaaa!" Will, Lucy, Ray, and George yelled from the boat as its speed steadily increased.
Callie's breaths were turning into very sharp pants and her muscles were becoming very stiff however she kept going at that speed because she knew if she slowed down at all they would catch her. She took another sharp turn to the right, jumped over a few logs and shrubs and now she was right on the river's edge with the boat just a few feet away.
Luckily Callie was very used to jumping over things to get away from people therefore she could do it more swiftly than others, that gave her a second or so of a head start.
"Okay legs, just one more time…" Callie panted to herself as she forced her legs to quicken their pace one more time.
Will grabbed an oar and started to dig it into the bottom of the river to slow it down a little for Callie, it worked somewhat. Callie got just a foot away from the boat before she made a lunge for it. She landed in the water but she managed to grab onto the back of the boat, where Ray and Lucy immediately started to pull her into the boat. Will immediately stopped dragging the oar and started pushing them away from the shore so they could be picked up by the rapids. Once Callie was in the boat Ray grabbed the other oar and both Ray and Will started to row. They both rowed like madmen and didn't stop until the combination of the rapids and their own oars put them safely away from the pirates.
Callie sat on the floor of the boat and rested her back on the side of it. Her breath was coming in huge ragged pants and there was sweat dripping off her forehead. It wasn't until her breathing started to go back to normal before she noticed everyone was staring at her with concern. She smiled loosely at them since her mouth was too tired from trying to catch her breath.
"Thanks for waiting up."
A/N: Wow I was just re-reading some of the previous chapters and there's some odd mistakes in there! Sorry guys, I'm gonna be more careful of that from now on. Just wait for the next chapter there's a bit of a twist coming up. Hope you all enjoyed this!