"Dammit, Elizabeth! Calm down!" Will looked caring and sleepy in the dim light. He took her hand. "Let´s find Jack and Gibbs before anyone catches us."
Jack was snoozing underneath the boardwalk, his new hat tipped below his eyes, his back against a post. ELizabeth got the duty of waking him up.
"Jack!" she whispered. "JACK!" She shook him and he leapt up and placed his dagger against her throat. She squeaked.
"Oh, Elizabeth! ´S only you! Sorry ´bout that. Will, you´re ´ere too! Wonderful. Let´s gather up the rest of the crew and we´ll set sail ´round noon." Jack freed Elizabeth but she lingered at his side. She hoped she didn´t look like a simpering idiot.
"All right," said Will. "Need supplies?"
"Got me rum," said Jack. "´S all I need. I think Annamaria got some rope and other necessities. . ." He trailed off, he didn´t actually know what she got. Elizabeth was looking at him, fawning really, and that´s all that mattered. Will looked nonplussed.
"So, where would the other crew members be? Not on the Pearl?"
"Annamaria doesn´t believe in sleep," Jack muttered. "Prolly at the tavern or on a dock looking at the sea. And even now, I wouldn´t be much inclined to sleep if MY mum was captured by evil pirates. Cotton, Gibbs, and the rest are on the Pearl, of that I´m certain."
"Do you think Pintel and Ragetti would be dim enough to hold Marcella in Tortuga? That´s in Hispaniola, right?"
"Wait- not Cuba?" Elizabeth cut in. Her heart sank a little- she´d supplied her father with false information. Then she grinned brilliantly. This was incredibly bold of her and she loved it.
"Port-au-Prince, I´d think," Jack said, scratching his head. A few moths flew out of his dreadlocks. "Brilliant place for plundering, to be sure. . . naturally we´ll search the whole island. They can´t´ve gotten far. I heard this news two days ago."
"How´d they get off that ´godforsaken spit of land,´ I wonder?" Will said. He looked at the cloudy sky.
"They´re both bumbling fools- I haven´t a clue." Jack started traipsing toward the fort. "C´mon, m´dear Elizabeth, Will. . . we´ve got a ship to sail."
The next four hours consisted of loading supplies like barrels of rum, cannonballs, lengths of rope, and crates full of food onto the Black Pearl. Gibbs turned up with his eyes bloodshot and his clothes all muddy. He started picking up cannonballs one by one and stumbling on the dock, until Jack stopped him.
"You´re spectacularly drunk, mate, aren´t ya?"
"Experiencing the aftermath, more like." Gibbs wiped his nose with his sleeve, leaving it all brown. He was embarrassed because he looked like he slept in a pigpen, something he was not unfamiliar to. Dear Miss Elizabeth, I beg you. . . don´t look at me. He slipped his hand inside his coat and fingered the canteen full of rum. Once he was in his chamber he would drink himself senseless. Annamaria and Gibbs had actually spent exactly half an hour with each other: Annamaria fell asleep due to a heavy dose of chamomile tea slipped into her beverage of choice (no one knew what it was, she refused to divulge the contents) and Gibbs went to the tavern long after Will, Elizabeth, and Jack had left, to his dismay. He consumed a lot of rum and then passed out in the road.
"Too bad." Jack ordered a few of the Pearl´s crew to start hoisting the sails, lifting the anchor. They still had quite a way´s to go, but they could still pray for an earlier departure from Port Royal. Jack turned back to Will, Elizabeth, and Gibbs, who were all looking at him like expectant puppies.
"C´mon, ´s all get our effects," Jack told them, gesturing to his belt, jacket, and new hat. "Elizabeth, will you accompany me for a tick? Bring your necessities, come now." They wandered over to the green and ducked when several guards ran past them. Mullroy and Murtogg, the local idiots in a position of power, were saying to each other as they jogged by, "Elizabeth Swann is going to come home today, mark my words."
"Oh no! Father must´ve taken my note as a way to escape his wrathful grip on my independence!" Elizabeth whispered to Jack.
"It wasn´t? Anyhow, m´dear Elizabeth, did you take my advice seriously? You ARE carrying one bag. You should only have the clothes on yer back!" And several rips in your bodice. NO! Shut up, shut up.
Elizabeth meekly opened the bag and started dressing, though the morning humidity made it harder than it already was. "Jack, you must admit I was a good pirate last year. I´ve matured a bit, you know."
"You have," Jack agreed. Elizabeth looked at him and shook her head. That man got more daft everyday. She loved it.
Donned in several jackets and petticoats and a bag full of jewelry, Elizabeth felt heavy and unattractive. "Jack, I´m feeling sick. Can´t I please bring one bag? I swear, it´s only to carry these clothes. They´re stolen," she added as an afterthought.
"Atta girl," Jack hooted and they made their way back to Will and Gibbs.
Annamaria was a wreck. Smoking a cigar, eating in general, even drinking her special drink reminded her of her mother. She´d woken up crying out, "Marcella! Mama!" and that bastard Gibbs hadn´t kept his promise to Jack by leaving her when she fell into her drug-induced slumber to get wasted at the Barnacle. Luckily he´d gotten his and ended up passing out face down in the dirt. Annamaria smiled sadistically. The idiot would learn his lesson: he and alcohol never mixed.
Dressed in a loose-fitting muslin shirt, breeches, and her favorite pair of muddied, softened boots, Annamaria strolled down the dock after taking an early morning swim. She heard JackÕs garbled speech and thought it something serious. She tried not to cry. Mama couldnÕt be dead- Annamaria knew Pintel and Ragetti to be foolish and always fighting, though they made a lovely couple- but who knows what kind of torture they were applying to her? Marcella had abandoned Annamaria at fifteen but sheÕd left a letter and several hundred doubloons (probably stolen):
My dear Annamaria,
I have to leave you. The sea is my love and I cannot be tied down to your father. Please forgive me. We will meet again and sail under the same captain once more. Your father will give you this when you are ready.
Marcella Castilla
Annamaria had grown to be bitter and a hard nut to crack, except in the case of love. She´d fallen for several pirates who had then left her with nothing but memories. Jack was probably the only lover who stuck around and talked to her after their romance was over. But she saw hope in Will. It wasn´t just plain lust; she´d grown to be accustomed to his presence last year and she appreciated what a fine man he truly was: doing anything to find his love, he was strong, keen, and while inexperienced in the pirate area, he learned quickly.
She smiled again; a true smile that met the odd group that met her: Captain Jack Sparrow, blacksmith Will Turner, spoiled child Elizabeth Swann, and. . . Joshamee Gibbs. She frowned once she met eyes with Gibbs. "Dammit, Gibbs, you scalawag, you knew better than to leave me alone when I was in my misery! I could´ve jumped off the Pearl and you never would´ve known until I bobbed up, dead as Barbossa." Jack, Elizabeth, and Will laughed; Gibbs looked embarrassed.
"Sorry, Anna," Gibbs mumbled and raked his dirt-caked hands through his gray hair. He´d lusted after HER as well when the thought of Elizabeth was too much to bear. There were so few women who would accept a shag from Joshamee Gibbs, but he could fantasize about them all. "You were asleep, and my canteen was empty."
Annamaria remained stony-faced while the others laughed. Will looked at Annamaria´s sour face and imagined her smiling. It was sort of hard, but the product was lovely. Will immediately felt guilty and grabbed Elizabeth´s hand.
"Darling, it´s almost time to go. Are you sure you´ll be all right on this trip? You can turn back now." Elizabeth was outraged. "Will, I know of the consequences and I am fully prepared to have the time of my life." She jutted out her chin.
"That´s the spirit!" hurrahed Jack and they all got into a rowboat and rowed to the Pearl. Elizabeth closed her eyes and thought, I never thought I could be this happy.