Disclaimer: Some of these characters/places/etc. are not mine. Ha! Now you can¹t sue me. :D Another special thanks to my friend Serpentfairy who posts all my stories. Please keep up with both of my stories, it is very important that you do! I am sorry about the little numbers, I have no idea why they¹re there. Read on!

... Amy smiled. Captain Sparrow beckoned her to the back of the ship into the dark gloom of his quarters. Everything went black as the door shut behind her. Suddenly, a lantern flared and the room was lit wit a soft glow. Any sat once again in the soft chairs of Captain Sparrow¹s quarters. ³Ye have proved you¹re not afraid to take on a challenge and that you¹re tougher than you look. Piracy is all about what a man can do, and what a man can¹t do. Ye must understand that I can¹t have a lazy crew. And that Ye can¹t get off of this ship. I can let Ye work because a ship always could use a few more hands. Ye can be a good girl and work very hard for me. You¹ll work with your new shipmates and you¹ll not be having any special breaks or extra rations. Just like any other lazy scalawag that¹s not been pulling his weight, you¹ll walk the plank. The whole pirate code applies to Ye and you¹ll get the same punishments and rewards as the rest of your mates. I¹m giving Ye the one choice of where your quarters will be. A storage room or with the crew.²

Amy answered without blinking, ³I want to have the same quarters as my crew mates. I only want a small corner, a piece of rope and two nails. That¹s my only request.²

³So we have an accord then?² The Captain replied.

Amy leaned over the table, ³Aye.²

The Captain smiled and blew out the lantern. Plunged into darkness again, Amy stood up and turned. The Captain threw open the door and the two stepped out into the bright light. ³One final word, I¹ll be teaching Ye nothing about being a pirate. You¹ll watch and learn from your crew mates.²

Turning to his crew Captain Sparrow bellowed, ³Now men! Get to work! Ye all know what to do!² And with that, he turned and went below deck.

Amy watched the crew, silently studying them. They were a filthy lot and had the grime of years layered upon their cheeks. They had ragged strips of hair, hanging limp from the damp sea air, dangling in front of their dark silent eyes. Amy scanned the crew, looking for a softened glance or a shadow of kindness on the stony faces. Only one face stood out in the meager crowd. He had the look of a strong young man but the air around him still lingered with the feeling that he was yet a boy. Their eyes met and a smile played faintly around his mouth. She returned it and started to walk toward him. She had not taken more than two steps when his smile was replaced by a frown so slight it almost didn¹t exist. He flicked his eyes around him and ever so slightly shook his head. Ah! Now she understood! He was her friend now, they both knew that, but they would need to talk later when they weren¹t in the immediate view of the others. They must become friends carefully and quietly. She would need to slowly integrate into the acceptance of the group otherwise both her and whoever she immediately befriended would be outcasts and enmity would destroy the unity between the crew mates. Amy nodded and started looking at the faces again.

She had many talents and was already good at most everything she tried, but one talent stood out as her favorite and most used. She could read people¹s emotions and knew their thoughts as easily as reading a book. Her scrupulous eyes fell on one man in particular. Bill, she had heard the men call him. He was also none other than the man that had first led her to the ship. She read in his body language that something wasn¹t quite right and that he was still undecided about an issue of considerable importance. Frown lines in his forehead showed his concentration and incomprehensible mutterings revealed an inner battle. Reading the other pirates she got a little different message. There was a tense excitement that emanated from them that crackled the very air. Something held the pirates¹ attention and kept them focused on their goal. The only reluctance she read was from the boy. He would loyally follow his Captain but had a small shroud of doubt of the plan.

Now she did not organize what she had read into the order I¹ve put down, her mind just absorbed the feelings she had felt was there. It was all received in such a vague, almost unconscious way, that she sometimes wasn't aware she was doing it. Taking no more than a few seconds to analyze the situation, Amy now had a slight sense that something big was going on.

Later on below decks, Amy had just eaten her first meal. A slab of tough, overcooked meat and a crumbly biscuit was on the menu. The meat wasn¹t that bad to eat but the biscuit took the cake, so to speak. Each sailor took their biscuit and tapped it on the table. They had done it so many times that it was a simple habit now. After a few of the wriggling weevils had dropped out, the pirates crammed it into their mouths. Amy was definitely a little grossed out but did the same thing. She was used to bad food though, and bore it better than most would have. The old school meals had been absolutely terrible and the orphanage had had even worse ones. The little money of both were not put into their food, and sometimes, the children in the orphanage had had to beg for their meals. It wasn¹t a smartly run organization, like you would see in Annie or like the many wonderful places that there are todayit was a hard place to live and hardly offered anything better than living in the streets. Thinking about her previous life was not easy for Amy. She was tough on both the outside and the inside, but deep down there was a tiny shred of sadness and pity for her friendless world. Amy was snapped sharply back into reality by a large bell, struck twice. The men got up and headed down into the hold for their bunks. Looking through the portholes, Amy saw that twilight had already started to settle around the gloomy ship.

A large man with huge black boots and a tattered shirt came thumping up next to Amy. She turned and stared with cool eyes. She had to keep her ground around all these men and needed to appear calm and collected every second of the day. She had to appear to be her own master. ³Yes?² she asked him.

³The Captain says you¹re to be on watch Œtill midnight, with me 'n Jake. Ye¹ll have to look and learn mate, you¹re on a real pirate ship now!² the big man said, and with a haughty laugh he started for the main deck. Amy followed him, trying to learn the insides of the ship and where to go so that she wouldn¹t get lost in the belly of the infamous Black Pearl. They crawled up through the hatch and onto the main deck, breathing in the soft sea air. Velvety darkness had enveloped the ship in a thick mantle and the only light seen was given by the few lanterns slowly swinging in sync with the movement of the ship. The man with the big boots gestured that she go up to the bowsprit and take watch, looking for any ships or islands. He himself went to the other end of the boat, sinking into the gloom. Amy remembered that she was supposed to watch with Jake too. She looked around for him and her eyes came to rest on the boy that she had seen earlier. He smiled and came up to her with his hand out. ³Hi,² he said, ³I¹m Jake.²