"What?" Rose and Angelica both exclaimed simultaneously.
"Ya heard me," Tia said simply. "Ya be free."
As she flounced out of the storage room's doorway, the two girls exchanged a shocked glance.
Freedom. That's all Rose had longed for ten years, but now that it was here, she suddenly felt incomplete. "So what happens now?" she asked, on Tia's heels as she walked into the main room. "Isn't there some sort of…of prophecy or some mission I am to go on?"
Tia Dalma shook her head. "Nay. Id be yer time."
Rose was incredulous. "And that's it? Now I'm to do what, find Jack?"
"Yes."
Rose threw up her arms in exasperation. "But how? That's all you have to say? After the years of riddles and prophecies…nothing? I just have to trust that I can find Jack wherever he may be in the world?"
Tia considered this for a moment, then chirped, "Yes."
Intense feelings of confusion and anger rushed through Rose, sending her reeling. She only scoffed, staring wide-eyed at Tia in stiff silence as the priestess meandered over to her table and began chanting to her crab claws.
Angelica muttered under her breath to Rose as she passed her on her way up the stairs to pack, "We're leaving, that's all that matters. What are you so upset about?"
Rose was upset about an innumerable amount of things. She hadn't been out of the bayou in over a decade. She had no contacts on the outside. She was leaving with Angelica and she felt completely uncertain about her future and had no idea where to even begin looking for Jack.
Tia looked up from the crab claws once Angelica had left the room, saying softly to Rose, "I know id be hard. Let Angelica guide ya off da island. Ya must obey her once ya leave he-ere. Id be da only way you'll find whad ya seek."
Rose was nearly speechless she was so overwhelmed. "I don't know what to say," she finally managed to squeak out. "You taught me so much for such a long time...I have so many questions I thought would be answered before this day. You have prepared me...yet I feel so incredibly...unprepared. What do I do?"
Tia took Rose's hand. "You be ready. You 'ave to be."
Rose wanted to cry. She had spent more time with this woman than her own mother, yet she knew virtually nothing about her."How can I thank you?" she whispered.
"Just find 'im. Keep 'im safe."
Rose walked down those stairs for what she thought was the last time, carrying nothing from her past. Not any of her gypsy heritage, nothing. That way, she thought, a part of her would never be forgotten from the site. Though she certainly had days of heartbreak, loneliness, and confusion in the bayou, it had become a part of who she was. Now, her only reminders of this portion of her life would be nothing but the clothes on her back and the herb pack tied around her waist.
As she entered the main room, she saw Angelica, holding a small leather bag with the few belongings she had accumulated over the past decade. She looked emotionless.
"Where's Tia?" Rose asked.
"In the back I think."
"Shouldn't we say goodbye?"
"I don't see why," Angelica responded bitterly.
Rose scoffed and quickly walked to the storage room to say her farewell, but Tia wasn't there either. Perhaps she was in the swamp again, deep in the mysterious trance Rose and Angelica had found her in earlier that day…
"Do you want to leave or not?" Angelica's shrill voice called.
Though it pained her not to properly thank Tia Dalma for all her years of care, she whispered a farewell and joined Angelica. As soon as they had left the building, the night blindness took hold. Together they took a rowboat down the river Angelica had stolen years before. As Rose could not see anything, her sense of direction was rendered utterly useless. The journey was near silent, sans a few recommendations on where to row or directions on how to leave. Shapes suddenly began to materialize before her eyes as the light began to grow steadily stronger, and for the first time in ten years, Rose was surrounded in sunlight.
The exterior of the bayou was far different than that of the interior. The white sand of the shore led to green grass, which led to lush jungle. Now that her vision was fully restored, the boat moved along far quicker. They approached the shoreline that fed directly into open ocean
"This land is far larger than it appears," Angelica announced. "There's Shipwreck Island that can easily be reached by this boat just on the other side. If we try for any other island however, the waves get too rough for this size of boat. I say we try there!"
Angelica had been outside the bayou many times since Jack had left her there. Rose hadn't. Unfortunately, this meant that Rose had little choice but to defer to Angelica's judgement. While this minimized quarreling, which was their specialty, it terrified Rose that she had no say in her immediate future.
"There's a fortress there, but also a small town," Angelica continued as they rowed. "Some of the townspeople run a few taverns. It's the only place to resupply for miles. Mostly fishing boats this time of year. One never knows, however..." When Rose only continued to silently keep rowing, Angelica huffed, "What is the problem, Hexfury?"
Rose turned to her. "The problem is that I don't want to be here. Generally, I never want to be with you, but now I particularly do not want to be entirely alone with you, set off on a solo quest I hardly know anything about! That is my problem, Teach!"
"It's not as though I would choose you, either!" Angelica spat. "Just stop being stubborn and follow my lead to town, lest you'd rather swim!"
"Why? What will town get us?"
"The town," Angelica smirked, "Will grant you a ticket out of this godforsaken place."
"You expect me to be a stowaway?"
"Why live a gypsy life when one can ride in style?"
Rose grimaced. "I appreciate the insult, Angelica, but tell me—how would one achieve such high status?"
Her eyes sparkled maliciously as she whispered, "Get friendly with the pirates!"
"Absolutely not!"
"Just enough to distract them! Steal any valuable you find. We can use them to barter with one of these other men for a ride to the next port of call."
Rose was unmoving. "If you'll recall, I at one time had enough money to buy us passage anywhere! You were the one to steal and pawn it off! I rather think you'll do the distracting while I wait!"
Angelica narrowed her eyes. "The world is not as naïve and innocent as you are, ninita. My guidance ends once we reach the shore. Either heed my advice, or find your own way off Shipwreck Island."
Tia's final words to her rang in Rose's ears: Ya must obey Angelica once ya leave he-ere. Id be da only way you'll find whad ya seek.
Rose swallowed her frustrations and silently continued rowing. The trek was long, taking most of the afternoon, but was not overly strenuous. The worst part of the journey was her eyes adjusting to the amount of light she was now exposed to. The heat on her back was incomparable to the rage in the pit of her stomach however. I cannot believe that Angelica expects me to stoop to her level. At the same time, a single yet powerful doubt crossed her mind— What if she is right? What if stooping to her level is my only way off this island?"
