Will go this tongue back after the door was shut and locked, trying to communicate through the gag and casting a wary glance at Mina. The girl frowned, looking back and forth between him and Elizabeth, finally going to the other young woman and pulling her gently to her feet, ignoring the look of terror in her eyes as she began to work on the rope that bound her hands.

As soon as she could, Elizabeth slapped the other girl. Mina grabbed her hand, noting the contrast of immaculately trimmed and polished nails against her own, bitten and dirty. "I know I didn't deserve that," she quipped, reaching out and yanking down the gag.

Elizabeth looked unsettled, eyes darting between Mina and her husband. "What do you want from us?" she asked, voice actually rather steady.

Mina shrugged, turning away and going to untie Will's gag. "Pleasant conversation and lack of physical harm would be nice."

Jack smiled wryly, head still propped up on his arm. "Elizabeth and Will, this is Mina. Mina, Will and Elizabeth. Now say your how-do-you-do's."

Will worked his tongue to get it wet again. "You're on speaking terms with your jailer?"

The other man shrugged. "I'm Jack Sparrow."

"I knew him when we were younger," Mina said shortly. "And that's not going to do anything." This last was directed at Elizabeth as she was inspecting the way the chains were fastened to the wall. Looking immensely tired, Mina crossed the room again and collapsed on the floor with her back to the door.

Elizabeth blinked. "How can you sit there? We've just been kidnapped by pirates!"

"Miss Elizabeth," Mina began, "Jack's been here eight months and I've been here nigh on . . . four or five years. Now, they're not going to do anything to kill your husband –"

"They're not?" Jack looked interested. "Tell me, what've you been hiding, love?"

"A lot," she shot back bluntly. "But you're now rather expendable."

That shut him up, a feat the king's navy had not been able to manage.

"Why am I here?" Will demanded. "I think I have the right to know."

"Unfortunately, some others don't think along the same lines." Mina shrugged. "You're here because our captain demands it. I'm here because our captain demands it. Jack's here because he's an idiot and a fool. And you" – she nodded to Elizabeth – "no one wanted here at all, so that's a bit of a puzzlement."

Elizabeth was silent, pressed to her husband's side, though Will was not deterred. "What foolish thing landed him here?"

Jack moaned, flopping on his back and wincing as a chain dug into his side. "You had to ask that, mate."

Mina was without pity. "He lost the Pearl. Gambled it away. To our captain, which is half the foolishness."

"The Pearl." Will frowned. "I thought you were supposed to give it to Anamaria."

"Aye," Jack muttered, grabbing a handful of hay and letting it fall back to the floor. "I did."

"You gambled with something that wasn't your own?" Distracted from their immediate plight, Elizabeth looked horrified.

He closed his eyes. "I gambled with my soul and lost my freedom as well as my crew. I think I've been though enough without your disproval, Miss Sw – Mrs. Turner."

Mina blinked. "Mrs. Turner or Miss Turner?"

"I don't have any brothers or sisters," Will said irritably.

Her frown deepened as she chewed absentmindedly on her thumbnail. "Still bad," she finally concluded. "Jack, it's really not going to work."

"Jack or Captain Sparrow?" Elizabeth said, glaring at the other young woman.

"For you, it's still Captain Sparrow," the man in question said lazily. "But for the one who secured me that position in the first place . . ."

"Enough flattery," Mina said flatly.

"I was talking about you, love." He raised an eyebrow. "This is really a problem, isn't it?"

Mina was silent a moment, climbing again to her feet to fetch two scraps of cloth and approaching Will. Elizabeth clutched him more tightly around the waist, though she herself was an ineffective shield as she hid behind him, but Mina was not even looking at him. Her attention was on his wrists as she padded first one and then the other against the rough cuffs.

"Whose side are you on?" Elizabeth demanded skeptically, still not moving away from her husband.

"Mine," Jack said, sitting up as she pulled a knife, a pot of salve and some clean cloths from her waistband.

"You assume much." Her tone was preoccupied as she inspected the sores on his wrists. The left one held a few open spots, nothing too terrible, though the right was in worse shape. All across the back of the wrist there was a sort of blister, a bubble of skin and fluid that needed to be attended properly. She started with the left, rubbing salve into the sores and binding it with what looked like a monogrammed handkerchief.

"Will you not answer any of our questions plainly and simply?" Will demanded, allowing himself to sag slightly now that his wrists were better padded.

"Yes." Mina nodded, running her fingers gently along the outside of the sore and noticing Jack's quick intake of breath. "That one."

"Don't distract her now," Jack said, closing his eyes. "Do a mate a favor."

"And what have you ever done for me?" Will spat.

"Got you a wife." He winced as the knife bit into his skin. "Taught you that you only feel at home on the water. Like your father."

This time both Will and Mina sucked in a breath, his eyes fixed on the pirate's face, hers on the task at hand. "My father was both a pirate and a decent man, you taught me that," he allowed, not willing to admit the rest out loud, and not in front of his wife.

But Jack had noticed Mina's reaction. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She reached for another strip of cloth. "It actually doesn't look that bad."

"Willemina."

Even if he had not reached over to lift her chin their eyes would have met, hers flashing. "I told you not to call me that."

"But not why."

Breaking the spell, she pulled away, rocking back and up onto her feet. "This would be a lot easier if you would just accept the fact that there are some things I'm not allowed to tell you."

Jack grabbed her hand and pulled her back down. "And why won't you?" His voice was soft, insistent, and somehow intimate enough to make Will and Elizabeth look away. "You've told me everything before."

She shook her head slightly. "No. I haven't."

The breath went out of him. "You haven't?"

"What the 'ell is she doing free?" Smithy was back in the doorway.

Mina had no time to get to her feet, but she was there, anyway. "You don't think I'm going to look after the lot of them?" she asked, scorn all too obvious in her voice. "She can work. She's not going to try anything rash; she's one of the upper class." A mocking glance was tossed in Elizabeth's direction.

"She won't want t' be seein' this," he said smugly, gesturing slightly with his whip.

Her eyes flashed again. "Have you cleared this with the captain?"

He snorted. "Jus' because you're his daughter, missy, doesn't mean you're the only one in th' know."

"You are not to harm the prisoner."

Smithy rolled his eyes. "No, we're not allowed t' kill the prisoner. 's a difference."

A quick sidestep brought her between him and Will. "And if you whip the prisoner and one of his wounds gets inflamed? He becomes feverish. Who is to care for him? You? And what if he dies from something as simple as a whipping?"

"We need the information." But Smithy was not nearly so confident.

"You've been trying with that on for months." The look on her face was bordering smug. "And he hasn't yet spoken anything of – of importance."

Smithy twisted the whip in his hands, murder on his face before he threw it to the floor. "Damn you all," he muttered before going out, locking the door and even going so far as to place a bar over it.

"Come anytime," Jack called pleasantly. "What?"

Mina was looking at him. "I know."

"Know what?"

"The compass." She shook her head. "Amazing."

"What's amazing?" Elizabeth asked sharply, trying to comprehend something . . . anything . . . through her headache.

"The compass only points to Isla de Muerta when it's in your hand. That's why so many think it useless. That's why he can't find it. I can't believe I let myself forget. And then . . ." She trailed off, looking at him in wonder.

Jack smiled. "Bravo, love."

"But why . . ."

"I always told you we'd split the prize."

"You were joking. I was a child, you had – you didn't really mean –"

He shook his head slowly. "I only thought I had her, and I did really mean it."

Elizabeth blinked. "You two aren't . . ." She trailed off, sentence half-finished.

Jack laughed. "Watch that wife of yours, Will; she's starting to sound like us."

He smiled weakly. "Could you at least try to get me down?"

"Now, where are your manners?" Jack scolded, complete with shaking a finger. "This girl just saved you from a whipping."

"He wouldn't really have whipped Will, would he?" Elizabeth asked, still not letting him go.

In response, Jack turned his back and lifted his shirt.

It was answer enough.

* * * * *

Captain Torrington did not turn as the door opened. "You're lucky."

Smithy's mouth twitched. "We didn' mean t' take her, too. She just – came."

"And they've not yet begun to grow suspicious." The captain's brown eyes were focused on the harbor, growing smaller and smaller behind them. None of the other tall ships had been set to sail.

The other man cleared his throat. "Sir, your daughter – she's let the girl free, t' help, she said."

"Willemina." The corners of his mouth turned up in what would have been considered a small smile on any other man. "Let her. We've worked her hard these past months. Of course, the constant beatings haven't helped."

Smithy winced at the rebuke but said nothing, turning the brim of his hat round and round in his hands.

Silent for a moment longer, the captain nodded. "Good. Give my daughter anything she requests."

"Yes, sir."

"Smithy."

He stopped in the doorway and turned. "Sir?"

Torrington turned. "Offer my daughter anything she desires. And then give it to her."

Licking dry lips, Smithy tried to form a response. "And if that's . . . not wise?"

The captain strode across the room in three long steps, wavering only slightly in the transition from real leg to prosthesis. "You will give her whatever she asks," he said softly, eyes flashing. "And you will not question me again."

Throwing a hasty salute, Smithy left quickly before anything else could pass between them.