Disclaimer: Still don't own the wonderful Jack Sparrow, or anyone/anything
else associated with Disney. I wish I did, though.
AN: A special thanks to those who have reviewed and encouraged me to continue this story...this chapter is for you! May you all have pleasant dreams about Jack tonight!
Chapter 4: Experiences on the Black Pearl:
Angela's POV:
Angela woke up feeling a bit claustrophobic, but didn't know why. As the sun beamed through the window above her head on her left, she groaned, remembering what had happened the night before. However, before she could roll over and go back to sleep, she heard someone chuckle. Slowly turning around, she peeked through slightly opened eyes, seeing someone she least expected on a pirate ship.
It was a woman. Her skin was a soft cocoa, and her hair was a dark brown. Her eyes matched her skin, and she wore a loose white shirt, black pants, a faded black sash, and rough black boots. A sword, pistol, and a dagger hung from a belt that went over the sash, and her face bore a slight smirk of amusement. Angela decided to pretend to still be asleep, hoping to be left alone. It didn't work.
"No use tryin' to fool me, lass, I know you're awake," she said, her slight smirk turning into a full-fledged grin. "Besides, it's time fer ye to earn yer keep, and to pay back the Cap'n." She came over and poked Angela in the shoulder. "Come on, now, don't make me use my cutlass!"
Angela groaned as she rolled out of bed. "What time is it?" she asked as she slowly stood up and smoothed her wrinkled dress.
"A little after dawn," the woman said. "I'm Annamaria, by the way. Who're you?"
"I'm Angela, Angela Sharp," she replied, holding her hand out to shake. Annamaria accepted.
"Glad to meet ye," Annamaria replied, releasing her hand. "It's not everyday I meet a girl who can steal from Cap'n Jack Sparrow and live to tell the tale!" She laughed at Angela's shamed expression. "No worries, lass, ye seem alright, and the crew ain't mad at ye. We thought that the Cap'n over-reacted anyway, so don't be so hard on yerself."
Angela sighed. "I didn't mean to steal from him, it's just that I was desperate, that's all," she said, shifting from foot to foot nervously.
"Well, no use crying about it now," Annamaria stated. Suddenly, she frowned as she looked the newcomer over. "We need to get ye out of that horrible faded dress and into something better fer working on a pirate ship. Come on, let's find ye something in the stores to work in, what do ye say?" Angela nodded meekly, and the two women walked out of the room to begin the work day.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A few hours later, Angela was experiencing some mixed feelings about working on the Black Pearl. Annamaria had given her several pairs of pants, shirts, sashes, bandanas, and boots from the storage area before she introduced Angela to the rest of the crew, who seemed friendly. The elderly Mr. Gibbs was kind, though he kept muttering something about 'women' and 'bad luck,' but Angela just shrugged it off. Another elderly man with a parrot on his shoulder, Mr. Cotton, was cheerful, and Angela liked him, despite the fact that he was a mute and his parrot kept whistling at her. The rest of the crew was also friendly, and didn't seem upset about her picking their captain's pocket; it seemed that the only person who was upset about that was Jack himself.
Speaking of the pirate captain, Angela hadn't seen him all day. It had been Annamaria who had assigned Angela her chores, and boy, were there a lot of them. So far, Angela had scrubbed the floor of the galley, washed and prepared the food to be cooked for lunch, washed the dishes, and had prepared the food to be cooked for dinner tonight. Just when she thought she would collapse from exhaustion, Mr. Gibbs had told her to take a rest until dinner, which she would *not* be helping with. After dinner, her only chore was to wash the dishes, and then her day would be over. Relief passed over her as she sat and stared at the wall of her cabin, content with finally receiving a break.
This relief lasted only half an hour. After that, the young witch felt that she would go mad from boredom. Getting up, she exited her cabin and went in search of Annamaria, who was at the helm.
Angela looked at her, puzzled. "Shouldn't the Captain be doing that?"
Annamaria grinned. "The Captain's a bit ill; probably had too much rum last night."
A disbelieving look settled on her face. "It's after noon; surely his hangover would be over by now?" Angela asked. "I'm an herbalist, and could help out, if it's possible."
Annamaria stared at her. "Yer a medicine woman?!" she cried. "Why didn't ye say so? I wouldn't have made ye do all of those chores if I'd known; we're in desperate need of mixtures." She called Gibbs over to take the wheel. "Come on, lass, let's go." She grabbed Angela by the hand and led her downstairs, past the galley, and into a dark room. Angela took a deep whiff and instantly knew where they were before Annamaria had even lit a candle she had somehow found.
They were in the ship's medicine room. There were herbs of every variety hanging from the ceiling, stored in jars, or pressed between sheets of cloth, and the young witch felt like she was in heaven; not even her mother had had so many herbs in their home in London!
"If ye can mix up somethin' effective to help the Cap'n, ye'll be free from all other chores on the Pearl," Annamaria said. "We need medicines of all kinds, but haven't had the right person to do it. What do ye say, lass?"
Angela smiled before going straight to work, the dark-skinned woman watching in amazement. She mixed herbs and water together in such a quick fashion that the pirate woman had no doubts about her skills, and knew that the Pearl had found a treasure worth more than her weight in gold. After all, a good herbalist is hard to find, and even harder to get to work on a pirate ship!
Ten minutes later, the two were at the door of the Captain's Quarters. Angela was a bit nervous about knocking, so Annamaria did it instead.
"Who the bloody hell is it?!" yelled a voice from inside. Apparently it was a really bad hangover.
"It's Annamaria, Cap'n," the dark woman called. "Angela's here, too, and she's got somethin' fer yer hangover!"
"What does a pickpocket know about hangovers?" the obviously annoyed (and suffering) Captain yelled through the door.
"I'm an herbalist, Captain," Angela replied nervously. "My mixture should help instantly."
A moment of silence passed before there was a grunt from inside and the door was opened. A very unkempt Jack Sparrow stood there, his clothes all wrinkled and out of place, and he was clearly in pain. He looked at the cup in Angela's hand before grabbing it and drinking it down. An instant later, his face cleared up, and he seemed to stand up a bit taller, a small smile on his face.
"Well, lass, if every mess ye make works like this, I might not let ye go after all!" he exclaimed.
"So she's off the normal chore list, Cap'n?" Annamaria asked, a bit surprised at his mood change.
"Aye, that she is!" Jack exclaimed as he went inside and grabbed his hat before coming out into the afternoon sun. Cheerfully humming a song, he went up to the helm and took control, leaving behind two very surprised women.
"Well, that went better than expected!" Annamaria exclaimed. "I think that ye've made quite the good impression on the Cap'n, lass! Now let's go get ye situated in the medicine room."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A month later, Angela had become a very welcome presence onboard the Pearl. Her herbal skills soon had the galley full of burn balm, numbing liquids for surgeries, and other such medicines, and the crew was ever grateful for them, especially after ship raids. Her talent with herbs also helped to make dinner taste better. However, there were a few events that made the crew a bit uneasy around her.
The first incident had been a few days after helping Jack with his hangover, when Angela, while being on deck, had felt something prick her on the back of her neck. Reaching up, she felt nothing, and a quick look around showed that no one was close by. Rubbing her neck again, she soon noticed a white feather from Mr. Cotton's parrot float by and land in a bucket near her feet. Looking inside the bucket, she saw that the feather had changed from snow white to a light gray in the filthy water. Swallowing hard, Angela knew that this was a forewarning, a sign, of a heavy storm coming up. She had given the Captain small mention of it, and the ship had been prepared for the imminent storm.
A second forewarning had happened a few days later, when the Pearl had been restocking. Jack had ordered five crates of rum (for himself), and Angela had been the first one to intercept them. As she laid a hand on one crate, she felt that something was off about it, and asked the delivery man to open it. He had refused and told her that she could open it herself after he had left. The young witch had glared at him with gem-stone cold eyes, and the man had paled before opening the crate, revealing that the crate was half-empty when it should have been full. The rest of the crew looked inside and was furious that the rum merchant had tried to cheat their captain, and had nearly beheaded the delivery man before Jack came out and stopped them. He had gotten the rum for free, as well as an extra five crates to keep quiet about it, and the crew had remained happy with the turn out.
After that, other, smaller, things had happened, such as Angela finding lost items and returning them to their right owners when she shouldn't have known who they belonged to. The crew started getting suspicious at that point and had told Jack, but he had waved it off, saying it was nothing. However, after one too many coincidences, he decided to have a small chat with the crew's newest member.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Angela sat nervously in her chair in Jack's cabin, her hands twisting around themselves as the devilishly handsome pirate captain looked at her. His expressive brown eyes stared at her, an odd look of warmth in them, asking her to tell him everything about her. She knew that if she told him everything, he and his crew would lock her up or kill her the first chance they got, so she kept her mouth shut until he asked her something. Jack raised an eyebrow. "So, lass, it seems that my crew has a small bone to pick with ye," he said, sitting back in his chair as he looked at her, his hands expressively waving around. "Mind telling me how ye happen to know stuff before it happens, or know when something's wrong?"
Angela shrugged. "I just happen to have good timing and a knack for keeping my eyes open, that's all," she said. "I'm a good observer, Captain, nothing more."
Jack chuckled. "That's true, ye always seem to be in the back, watchin' people," he commented as he crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes glided over her figure, disturbing her, before his gaze stopped at her face and looked her in the eye. "Just try not to scare the crew too much, luv, they're a bit superstitious." He winked at her, grinning as he propped his feet up on the table.
Angela smiled at him. "Aye, Captain, I promise I won't..." she was cut off when she felt a sudden pain in her head. 'What on earth?' she thought as she fell out of her chair, straight to her knees as she clutched her head in pain.
"Luv, what is it?" Jack said, jumping out of his chair and running to her side, wrapping his arms around her.
She couldn't tell him because she was receiving a vision, which for her was very rare and came when danger was near. This one held a splendid ship with white sails and gold paint decorated the side, displaying the name of the ship called the Dauntless. A closer look showed a man in an embroidered blue coat and a powdered wig, smirking as he glanced at a drawing of Jack. The vision ended as soon as it started. Angela snapped out of it before looking up, not expecting to see Jack's face so close to hers. She looked into his brown eyes and knew that she would have to lie to him. As she nervously licked her lips, she also knew that it would have to be the hardest thing she'd ever have to do.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jack's POV:
When Angela had started clutching her head in pain, he panicked before mentally kicking himself for doing so. Captain Jack Sparrow never panicked for any reason! However, all sense of reason fled the moment Angela seemed to be in pain. On a basic instinct to protect her, Jack flew out of his chair and to Angela's side, wrapping his arms around her.
"Luv, what is it?" he asked, looking down at her. Less than a moment later, she looked up at him, her somber amethyst eyes staring into his. As he looked down at her, he saw her lick her lips nervously. Swallowing hard in reaction, Jack tried to get control of himself. "Luv?" he whispered to her.
"Nothing," she said, looking way. "I just get sudden headaches once and a while, that's all. They always end as quickly as they come. I'm alright."
Confused, Jack helped her to get to her chair before going to pour her a glass of water. As he handed the glass to her, he looked her up and down, trying to figure her out. He knew that there was something different about her, he just didn't know what. She claimed that her ability to find things and predict things before they happened was just her sense of observation, but he knew differently. After all, he was Captain Jack Sparrow, and he had seen more different and unusual things than the normal person. Still, there was something different about the Pearl's new herbalist, and he was determined to find out what. However, before he could go any further in his thoughts, they were interrupted by their cause.
"Captain, you are wanted by the Royal Navy, aren't you?" she asked, setting the now empty glass aside.
Jack raised an eyebrow at her. "Of course, luv," he said, leaning against the table as he crossed his arms. "Why do ye ask?"
"Well, Annamaria told me that we're very close to several large English ports, and I thought that it would be a good idea if you kept an eye open for any Navy ships, that's all," she said, avoiding his gaze as she spoke.
He frowned in thought. "Ye might be right, Angela," he said, rubbing his beard. "I'll tell the crew to keep a good look out going at all times." His eyes found hers, and he smiled at her. "Good idea, luv. After all, we pirates can't be too careful when it comes to the Navy." Jack stood straight up and walked to the door of his cabin, pausing when he reached it. Turning around, his eyes met her. "Ye might want to go and help Gibbs prepare dinner; for some reason it always turns out better when ye help out down there." With those final words, he opened the door and left.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Angela's POV:
She felt terrible about having to lie to him, but she couldn't help it. After all, she wasn't doing this just for her sake; she was doing it to help keep the crew from rebelling against him for letting a witch onboard the Pearl. The last thing she needed was for an innocent person to suffer for her inability to keep her 'gifts' a secret. As she watched Jack leave, she went over to his desk and took the collapsed telescope off of it. Pulling it out to its full length, Angela walked to the floor-length windows at the back of the Captain's Cabin and looked through it. Sure enough, there was a small speck on the horizon. Collapsing the telescope again, she headed out on deck to check and see if there was anyone in the crow's nest. There was, but they were looking the wrong way! Exasperated, Angela looked up at the helm and was relieved to see Jack standing there, steering. He looked down at her and smiled.
"I thought ye'd be below deck helping Gibbs," he said. "What are ye doing up here?"
Angela walked straight up to him and leaned over to whisper in his ear. "Captain, I think that we're being followed," she said, nodding her head towards the rear of the ship.
Jack turned around to look. "I don't see anything, luv," he said quietly. "Maybe yer imagining things?"
She shook her head as she pulled out the telescope to full size and gave it to him. "Take a look for yourself," she said. As he looked through the device, she saw his face go from relaxed, to surprised, to thoughtful.
"Yer right, darling, we are being followed," he said. Collapsing the telescope, Jack turned toward the crew and started barking orders. "All hands on deck, ye lazy dogs! We're being followed, and I want full sails so that we can outrun them! Get to it!"
The crewmen (and woman) raced around deck, unfurling the sails to their fullest extent to catch all of the Caribbean breezes. Angela stood by his side as Jack kept barking orders to ready the guns for any possible attacks, and the crew was running around as though someone were chasing them with whips and hot pokers.
For the rest of the day, Jack and the crew kept an eye on the ship following them, and were relieved when they finally caught a good breeze to get them out of there. When night fell, the ship behind them was long out of sight, and Jack steered the ship towards a small, uninhabited island, where he stowed the ship inside a hidden cove. After the anchor had been lowered, the crew took a collective deep breath and relaxed. Mr. Gibbs took a drink from a small flask as Mr. Cotton petted his bird and fed it a cracker. Annamaria sat down on a tall coil of rope and wiped her face with her sleeve. The rest of the crew sat down directly on the deck or on whatever they could find to sit on.
Jack turned and looked at the crew's newest member. "Angela, ye seem to be the only one not tired out, why don't ye go and make dinner for the crew?" he asked.
"Aye, sir," she said as she went below deck.
Little did she know that the crew was discussing the day's earlier events, and her involvement in them.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jack's POV:
He could tell that the crew was exhausted, and that Angela was the only on fresh enough to prepare dinner for everyone, so he sent her down to do the job. However, feeding the whole crew wasn't the only thing on his mind; he intended to talk to the crew about the day's events.
"Alright everyone, gather around. We need to have a talk," he said, waving his arms around theatrically. As soon as everyone was surrounding him, he began to talk about what had happened with Angela's headache and her question about the Royal Navy. The crew began frowning after that, and began putting in their suggestions on what to do about their newest member.
"I think we should ask her about herself," Gibbs said, crossing his arms. "There's somethin' a bit off about that lass, and I want to know what."
"She's done nothin' but good since she came onboard, Gibbs, even ye can't argue with that," Annamaria said, hands on her hips. "She made that muscle ointment that ye put on after every raid, so don't tell me that she's evil or bad luck, because nothin' bad has happened since she came onboard."
"Aye, but that's the point, now, isn't it?" asked another crewman named Spike. "Nothin's happened because she always seems to make sure it *doesn't* happen in the first place!" The rest of the crew nodded in agreement.
"So what do ye want to do about it?" Jack asked. "I don't want another mutiny just because ye all are afraid of the lass and her small abilities." The crew shrugged in response.
"I think that she's down right handy, Cap'n," Annamaria said, glaring at the others. "Her medicines are the best I've ever seen, and she's never done us any harm. I say keep her until we're sure, that's all." The rest of the crew reluctantly nodded in agreement.
"Alright, then, that's what we'll do," Jack said as he looked at them all. "Now let's all go down for dinner before she gets suspicious." Everyone raced downstairs for their dinner and their beds.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Later that night, as the last crewman drifted off to sleep, Angela suddenly got the strangest feeling that she needed to keep her eyes and ears open in the future, because her life onboard the Pearl probably depended on it.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
AN: Thanks again to everyone who's supported this story through their reviews; you rock! Your compliments give me the inspiration to carry on. Thanks again and please review!
AN: A special thanks to those who have reviewed and encouraged me to continue this story...this chapter is for you! May you all have pleasant dreams about Jack tonight!
Chapter 4: Experiences on the Black Pearl:
Angela's POV:
Angela woke up feeling a bit claustrophobic, but didn't know why. As the sun beamed through the window above her head on her left, she groaned, remembering what had happened the night before. However, before she could roll over and go back to sleep, she heard someone chuckle. Slowly turning around, she peeked through slightly opened eyes, seeing someone she least expected on a pirate ship.
It was a woman. Her skin was a soft cocoa, and her hair was a dark brown. Her eyes matched her skin, and she wore a loose white shirt, black pants, a faded black sash, and rough black boots. A sword, pistol, and a dagger hung from a belt that went over the sash, and her face bore a slight smirk of amusement. Angela decided to pretend to still be asleep, hoping to be left alone. It didn't work.
"No use tryin' to fool me, lass, I know you're awake," she said, her slight smirk turning into a full-fledged grin. "Besides, it's time fer ye to earn yer keep, and to pay back the Cap'n." She came over and poked Angela in the shoulder. "Come on, now, don't make me use my cutlass!"
Angela groaned as she rolled out of bed. "What time is it?" she asked as she slowly stood up and smoothed her wrinkled dress.
"A little after dawn," the woman said. "I'm Annamaria, by the way. Who're you?"
"I'm Angela, Angela Sharp," she replied, holding her hand out to shake. Annamaria accepted.
"Glad to meet ye," Annamaria replied, releasing her hand. "It's not everyday I meet a girl who can steal from Cap'n Jack Sparrow and live to tell the tale!" She laughed at Angela's shamed expression. "No worries, lass, ye seem alright, and the crew ain't mad at ye. We thought that the Cap'n over-reacted anyway, so don't be so hard on yerself."
Angela sighed. "I didn't mean to steal from him, it's just that I was desperate, that's all," she said, shifting from foot to foot nervously.
"Well, no use crying about it now," Annamaria stated. Suddenly, she frowned as she looked the newcomer over. "We need to get ye out of that horrible faded dress and into something better fer working on a pirate ship. Come on, let's find ye something in the stores to work in, what do ye say?" Angela nodded meekly, and the two women walked out of the room to begin the work day.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A few hours later, Angela was experiencing some mixed feelings about working on the Black Pearl. Annamaria had given her several pairs of pants, shirts, sashes, bandanas, and boots from the storage area before she introduced Angela to the rest of the crew, who seemed friendly. The elderly Mr. Gibbs was kind, though he kept muttering something about 'women' and 'bad luck,' but Angela just shrugged it off. Another elderly man with a parrot on his shoulder, Mr. Cotton, was cheerful, and Angela liked him, despite the fact that he was a mute and his parrot kept whistling at her. The rest of the crew was also friendly, and didn't seem upset about her picking their captain's pocket; it seemed that the only person who was upset about that was Jack himself.
Speaking of the pirate captain, Angela hadn't seen him all day. It had been Annamaria who had assigned Angela her chores, and boy, were there a lot of them. So far, Angela had scrubbed the floor of the galley, washed and prepared the food to be cooked for lunch, washed the dishes, and had prepared the food to be cooked for dinner tonight. Just when she thought she would collapse from exhaustion, Mr. Gibbs had told her to take a rest until dinner, which she would *not* be helping with. After dinner, her only chore was to wash the dishes, and then her day would be over. Relief passed over her as she sat and stared at the wall of her cabin, content with finally receiving a break.
This relief lasted only half an hour. After that, the young witch felt that she would go mad from boredom. Getting up, she exited her cabin and went in search of Annamaria, who was at the helm.
Angela looked at her, puzzled. "Shouldn't the Captain be doing that?"
Annamaria grinned. "The Captain's a bit ill; probably had too much rum last night."
A disbelieving look settled on her face. "It's after noon; surely his hangover would be over by now?" Angela asked. "I'm an herbalist, and could help out, if it's possible."
Annamaria stared at her. "Yer a medicine woman?!" she cried. "Why didn't ye say so? I wouldn't have made ye do all of those chores if I'd known; we're in desperate need of mixtures." She called Gibbs over to take the wheel. "Come on, lass, let's go." She grabbed Angela by the hand and led her downstairs, past the galley, and into a dark room. Angela took a deep whiff and instantly knew where they were before Annamaria had even lit a candle she had somehow found.
They were in the ship's medicine room. There were herbs of every variety hanging from the ceiling, stored in jars, or pressed between sheets of cloth, and the young witch felt like she was in heaven; not even her mother had had so many herbs in their home in London!
"If ye can mix up somethin' effective to help the Cap'n, ye'll be free from all other chores on the Pearl," Annamaria said. "We need medicines of all kinds, but haven't had the right person to do it. What do ye say, lass?"
Angela smiled before going straight to work, the dark-skinned woman watching in amazement. She mixed herbs and water together in such a quick fashion that the pirate woman had no doubts about her skills, and knew that the Pearl had found a treasure worth more than her weight in gold. After all, a good herbalist is hard to find, and even harder to get to work on a pirate ship!
Ten minutes later, the two were at the door of the Captain's Quarters. Angela was a bit nervous about knocking, so Annamaria did it instead.
"Who the bloody hell is it?!" yelled a voice from inside. Apparently it was a really bad hangover.
"It's Annamaria, Cap'n," the dark woman called. "Angela's here, too, and she's got somethin' fer yer hangover!"
"What does a pickpocket know about hangovers?" the obviously annoyed (and suffering) Captain yelled through the door.
"I'm an herbalist, Captain," Angela replied nervously. "My mixture should help instantly."
A moment of silence passed before there was a grunt from inside and the door was opened. A very unkempt Jack Sparrow stood there, his clothes all wrinkled and out of place, and he was clearly in pain. He looked at the cup in Angela's hand before grabbing it and drinking it down. An instant later, his face cleared up, and he seemed to stand up a bit taller, a small smile on his face.
"Well, lass, if every mess ye make works like this, I might not let ye go after all!" he exclaimed.
"So she's off the normal chore list, Cap'n?" Annamaria asked, a bit surprised at his mood change.
"Aye, that she is!" Jack exclaimed as he went inside and grabbed his hat before coming out into the afternoon sun. Cheerfully humming a song, he went up to the helm and took control, leaving behind two very surprised women.
"Well, that went better than expected!" Annamaria exclaimed. "I think that ye've made quite the good impression on the Cap'n, lass! Now let's go get ye situated in the medicine room."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A month later, Angela had become a very welcome presence onboard the Pearl. Her herbal skills soon had the galley full of burn balm, numbing liquids for surgeries, and other such medicines, and the crew was ever grateful for them, especially after ship raids. Her talent with herbs also helped to make dinner taste better. However, there were a few events that made the crew a bit uneasy around her.
The first incident had been a few days after helping Jack with his hangover, when Angela, while being on deck, had felt something prick her on the back of her neck. Reaching up, she felt nothing, and a quick look around showed that no one was close by. Rubbing her neck again, she soon noticed a white feather from Mr. Cotton's parrot float by and land in a bucket near her feet. Looking inside the bucket, she saw that the feather had changed from snow white to a light gray in the filthy water. Swallowing hard, Angela knew that this was a forewarning, a sign, of a heavy storm coming up. She had given the Captain small mention of it, and the ship had been prepared for the imminent storm.
A second forewarning had happened a few days later, when the Pearl had been restocking. Jack had ordered five crates of rum (for himself), and Angela had been the first one to intercept them. As she laid a hand on one crate, she felt that something was off about it, and asked the delivery man to open it. He had refused and told her that she could open it herself after he had left. The young witch had glared at him with gem-stone cold eyes, and the man had paled before opening the crate, revealing that the crate was half-empty when it should have been full. The rest of the crew looked inside and was furious that the rum merchant had tried to cheat their captain, and had nearly beheaded the delivery man before Jack came out and stopped them. He had gotten the rum for free, as well as an extra five crates to keep quiet about it, and the crew had remained happy with the turn out.
After that, other, smaller, things had happened, such as Angela finding lost items and returning them to their right owners when she shouldn't have known who they belonged to. The crew started getting suspicious at that point and had told Jack, but he had waved it off, saying it was nothing. However, after one too many coincidences, he decided to have a small chat with the crew's newest member.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Angela sat nervously in her chair in Jack's cabin, her hands twisting around themselves as the devilishly handsome pirate captain looked at her. His expressive brown eyes stared at her, an odd look of warmth in them, asking her to tell him everything about her. She knew that if she told him everything, he and his crew would lock her up or kill her the first chance they got, so she kept her mouth shut until he asked her something. Jack raised an eyebrow. "So, lass, it seems that my crew has a small bone to pick with ye," he said, sitting back in his chair as he looked at her, his hands expressively waving around. "Mind telling me how ye happen to know stuff before it happens, or know when something's wrong?"
Angela shrugged. "I just happen to have good timing and a knack for keeping my eyes open, that's all," she said. "I'm a good observer, Captain, nothing more."
Jack chuckled. "That's true, ye always seem to be in the back, watchin' people," he commented as he crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes glided over her figure, disturbing her, before his gaze stopped at her face and looked her in the eye. "Just try not to scare the crew too much, luv, they're a bit superstitious." He winked at her, grinning as he propped his feet up on the table.
Angela smiled at him. "Aye, Captain, I promise I won't..." she was cut off when she felt a sudden pain in her head. 'What on earth?' she thought as she fell out of her chair, straight to her knees as she clutched her head in pain.
"Luv, what is it?" Jack said, jumping out of his chair and running to her side, wrapping his arms around her.
She couldn't tell him because she was receiving a vision, which for her was very rare and came when danger was near. This one held a splendid ship with white sails and gold paint decorated the side, displaying the name of the ship called the Dauntless. A closer look showed a man in an embroidered blue coat and a powdered wig, smirking as he glanced at a drawing of Jack. The vision ended as soon as it started. Angela snapped out of it before looking up, not expecting to see Jack's face so close to hers. She looked into his brown eyes and knew that she would have to lie to him. As she nervously licked her lips, she also knew that it would have to be the hardest thing she'd ever have to do.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jack's POV:
When Angela had started clutching her head in pain, he panicked before mentally kicking himself for doing so. Captain Jack Sparrow never panicked for any reason! However, all sense of reason fled the moment Angela seemed to be in pain. On a basic instinct to protect her, Jack flew out of his chair and to Angela's side, wrapping his arms around her.
"Luv, what is it?" he asked, looking down at her. Less than a moment later, she looked up at him, her somber amethyst eyes staring into his. As he looked down at her, he saw her lick her lips nervously. Swallowing hard in reaction, Jack tried to get control of himself. "Luv?" he whispered to her.
"Nothing," she said, looking way. "I just get sudden headaches once and a while, that's all. They always end as quickly as they come. I'm alright."
Confused, Jack helped her to get to her chair before going to pour her a glass of water. As he handed the glass to her, he looked her up and down, trying to figure her out. He knew that there was something different about her, he just didn't know what. She claimed that her ability to find things and predict things before they happened was just her sense of observation, but he knew differently. After all, he was Captain Jack Sparrow, and he had seen more different and unusual things than the normal person. Still, there was something different about the Pearl's new herbalist, and he was determined to find out what. However, before he could go any further in his thoughts, they were interrupted by their cause.
"Captain, you are wanted by the Royal Navy, aren't you?" she asked, setting the now empty glass aside.
Jack raised an eyebrow at her. "Of course, luv," he said, leaning against the table as he crossed his arms. "Why do ye ask?"
"Well, Annamaria told me that we're very close to several large English ports, and I thought that it would be a good idea if you kept an eye open for any Navy ships, that's all," she said, avoiding his gaze as she spoke.
He frowned in thought. "Ye might be right, Angela," he said, rubbing his beard. "I'll tell the crew to keep a good look out going at all times." His eyes found hers, and he smiled at her. "Good idea, luv. After all, we pirates can't be too careful when it comes to the Navy." Jack stood straight up and walked to the door of his cabin, pausing when he reached it. Turning around, his eyes met her. "Ye might want to go and help Gibbs prepare dinner; for some reason it always turns out better when ye help out down there." With those final words, he opened the door and left.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Angela's POV:
She felt terrible about having to lie to him, but she couldn't help it. After all, she wasn't doing this just for her sake; she was doing it to help keep the crew from rebelling against him for letting a witch onboard the Pearl. The last thing she needed was for an innocent person to suffer for her inability to keep her 'gifts' a secret. As she watched Jack leave, she went over to his desk and took the collapsed telescope off of it. Pulling it out to its full length, Angela walked to the floor-length windows at the back of the Captain's Cabin and looked through it. Sure enough, there was a small speck on the horizon. Collapsing the telescope again, she headed out on deck to check and see if there was anyone in the crow's nest. There was, but they were looking the wrong way! Exasperated, Angela looked up at the helm and was relieved to see Jack standing there, steering. He looked down at her and smiled.
"I thought ye'd be below deck helping Gibbs," he said. "What are ye doing up here?"
Angela walked straight up to him and leaned over to whisper in his ear. "Captain, I think that we're being followed," she said, nodding her head towards the rear of the ship.
Jack turned around to look. "I don't see anything, luv," he said quietly. "Maybe yer imagining things?"
She shook her head as she pulled out the telescope to full size and gave it to him. "Take a look for yourself," she said. As he looked through the device, she saw his face go from relaxed, to surprised, to thoughtful.
"Yer right, darling, we are being followed," he said. Collapsing the telescope, Jack turned toward the crew and started barking orders. "All hands on deck, ye lazy dogs! We're being followed, and I want full sails so that we can outrun them! Get to it!"
The crewmen (and woman) raced around deck, unfurling the sails to their fullest extent to catch all of the Caribbean breezes. Angela stood by his side as Jack kept barking orders to ready the guns for any possible attacks, and the crew was running around as though someone were chasing them with whips and hot pokers.
For the rest of the day, Jack and the crew kept an eye on the ship following them, and were relieved when they finally caught a good breeze to get them out of there. When night fell, the ship behind them was long out of sight, and Jack steered the ship towards a small, uninhabited island, where he stowed the ship inside a hidden cove. After the anchor had been lowered, the crew took a collective deep breath and relaxed. Mr. Gibbs took a drink from a small flask as Mr. Cotton petted his bird and fed it a cracker. Annamaria sat down on a tall coil of rope and wiped her face with her sleeve. The rest of the crew sat down directly on the deck or on whatever they could find to sit on.
Jack turned and looked at the crew's newest member. "Angela, ye seem to be the only one not tired out, why don't ye go and make dinner for the crew?" he asked.
"Aye, sir," she said as she went below deck.
Little did she know that the crew was discussing the day's earlier events, and her involvement in them.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jack's POV:
He could tell that the crew was exhausted, and that Angela was the only on fresh enough to prepare dinner for everyone, so he sent her down to do the job. However, feeding the whole crew wasn't the only thing on his mind; he intended to talk to the crew about the day's events.
"Alright everyone, gather around. We need to have a talk," he said, waving his arms around theatrically. As soon as everyone was surrounding him, he began to talk about what had happened with Angela's headache and her question about the Royal Navy. The crew began frowning after that, and began putting in their suggestions on what to do about their newest member.
"I think we should ask her about herself," Gibbs said, crossing his arms. "There's somethin' a bit off about that lass, and I want to know what."
"She's done nothin' but good since she came onboard, Gibbs, even ye can't argue with that," Annamaria said, hands on her hips. "She made that muscle ointment that ye put on after every raid, so don't tell me that she's evil or bad luck, because nothin' bad has happened since she came onboard."
"Aye, but that's the point, now, isn't it?" asked another crewman named Spike. "Nothin's happened because she always seems to make sure it *doesn't* happen in the first place!" The rest of the crew nodded in agreement.
"So what do ye want to do about it?" Jack asked. "I don't want another mutiny just because ye all are afraid of the lass and her small abilities." The crew shrugged in response.
"I think that she's down right handy, Cap'n," Annamaria said, glaring at the others. "Her medicines are the best I've ever seen, and she's never done us any harm. I say keep her until we're sure, that's all." The rest of the crew reluctantly nodded in agreement.
"Alright, then, that's what we'll do," Jack said as he looked at them all. "Now let's all go down for dinner before she gets suspicious." Everyone raced downstairs for their dinner and their beds.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Later that night, as the last crewman drifted off to sleep, Angela suddenly got the strangest feeling that she needed to keep her eyes and ears open in the future, because her life onboard the Pearl probably depended on it.
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AN: Thanks again to everyone who's supported this story through their reviews; you rock! Your compliments give me the inspiration to carry on. Thanks again and please review!