Rose woke up late, seeing that Angelica had already risen from her makeshift bed on the crates she herself once had laid her head upon. She rose, dressed, and went down the stairs to find Angelica looking over Tia's shoulder as she sat at her table, muttering some charm into a handful of crab legs.
Rose silently began to organize the herbs she had picked the other day into their respective drawers, but quickly finished the task. Having nothing to do, she sat on the lowest step and watched Tia and Angelica work.
"I can't do it!" Angelica shouted, scattering the legs across the table. "It's nonsense and witchcraft and I'll have no part in it!"
This continued for several weeks. Tia would teach Angelica something, Angelica would quickly grow frustrated, declare it nonsense, then sulk in the corner.
One day, Tia had prepared a basin of water in front of Angelica and herself, and was instructing her on how to charm liquids. Rose was finally bored of this routine. Already Angelica was beginning to grow impatient with her lessons. So Rose stood, went into the storage room, and found another basin, filling it with water from the rainwater collection barrel. She then placed it on the table and looked to Tia for further instructions.
"What do you think you're doing?" Angelica spat.
"I'm tired of not doing anything here," Rose said. "I see no reason why I can't learn."
Angelica snorted. "Go play with your leaves, Rose."
"No," Tia said, eyes gleaming. "Rose can stay." Rose broke into a grin, realizing that Tia almost looked…impressed by her act of defiance. But Angelica only fumed next to her, and her fury intensified at the fact that Rose was able to charm her water while Angelica still could not. After that day, Rose was welcomed as a regular pupil to Tia's lessons.
A week later, Tia began instructing the girls about mythical sources. A talk about mermaids was the first lecture in which Angelica ever seemed engaged. Tia spoke about something called "L'Aqua de Vida," a fountain just east of the bayou where legend had it that one could glean years of life from another living soul with but water from the fountain, two charmed chalices and a mermaid's tear. Rose wasn't certain if she believed the legend, but was more engrossed by the silent fascination Angelica had for the subject.
This sudden bout of interest in Tia's lessons didn't last for Angelica, however. After the eighth week, she began to sneak out again. She would actually get quite far sometimes, one night being able to sack a small boat and make her way to the town of Shipwreck, which was only a few leagues away from the bayou. But as soon as Rose noticed that Angelica was gone, she would immediately tell Tia and giddily watch as a furious Angelica would stomp back through the door, forced back to the house with the homing charm Tia still had over her.
Once Angelica figured out that it was Rose who was telling Tia about her late night escapades and escape missions, she began retaliating. One night, Rose was violently awakened upon being thrown to the ground. Feeling around her, she discovered that Angelica had used her sword to cut Rose's hammock down, sending her toppling to the ground.
Rose then brewed Angelica a special tea infused with bloodroot, an herb that causes its consumer to throw up their food.
Angelica's revenge included dumping out all of the contents of the herb chest into one large pile, forcing Rose to reorganize the entire chest all over again.
Rose responded with an idea that had been brewing for several months at that point. She tiptoed past where Tia was telling Angelica about how to reanimate dead corpses, a process she called, "zombification." Rose took Tia's yellow snake, which Angelica was terrified of. She placed it at the bottom of Angelica's bed so that she would feel it slithering around her foot when she went to sleep. Rose delighted upon hearing her enemy's startled screams. Sadly, the next lesson Angelica learned from Tia was how to charm snakes, and Angelica had taught the creature to fear Rose so much so that Rose couldn't even come near the animal without it trying to strike at her.
Angelica's next attempt at revenge didn't stop there, however. It didn't become apparent to Rose what had happened until she had tattled to Tia that Angelica had snuck out once again and she was forced to return. Instead of cursing at Rose, as was to be expected, Angelica gave a wry grin.
"What are you so happy about?" Rose asked with a small grin of her own, silently reveling in the fact that Angelica was also being kept at the shack against her will.
Rose's inner joy ceased suddenly however when Angelica tossed a small, empty leather pouch on the table in front of Rose. She gingerly picked up the bag, realizing that it once contained all the money she had saved from her days as a barmaid on Tortuga.
"On behalf of the entire Shipwreck Tavern," Angelica said with a catlike smile, "I would like to thank you for paying for a round of drinks for all the pirates on Shipwreck Island!"
Rose dropped the pouch and proceeded to leap onto Angelica, fully attacking her with all the might in her body.
