Chapter Nineteen: A Quick and Unlikely Plan

Morning came quickly for the boys, and they woke to the sound of someone coming down the stairs. Jack rolled over onto his back to see the man that had been bringing them food coming down with a few apples in his hand. 'Carrick,' Jack remembered hearing the others call him.

"Sorry this isn't a substantial meal," Carrick apologized, handing the fruit to the boys through the metal bars.

"That's all right," James assured, giving the man a smile. Carrick gave the boy a friendly grin and began to walk away, then frowned as he noticed Alaina looking at him wearily through half open eyes.

Immediately he unlocked her cell and went in. "Are you alright?" he asked, kneeling down next to her.

James and Jack both stopped munching and looked carefully at their sister, noting silently that she looked like shit.

"I feel sick," she said hoarsely as her eyes began to fill with tears.

"Where does it hurt?" Carrick asked, looking her up and down, trying to see if there was anything physically wrong.

"Everywhere," she told him, not moving, afraid of what kind of pain it would bring.

James watched carefully as Carrick began to inspect her. "What was the last thing you ate and drank?" he asked, noticing the mug of water and small plate of food still sitting untouched. James saw his sister grimace as she replied.

"A piece of bread and some rum."

Jack almost dropped his apple on the floor. 'Rum?' he thought curiously.

"How much rum?" Carrick asked, concerned.

"More than I should have," she replied with a sigh.

"How much?" Carrick asked again, prodding her gently.

"More than three, less than ten," Alaina admitted regretfully.

"You're probably suffering from alcohol poisoning," he told her almost immediately. 'Not to mention immense shock,' he thought grimly.

"You'll be all right in a day or two," he assured her as her eyes began to widen. "Though I think you should take it easy on the rum from now on."

Alaina nodded and closed her eyes.

"Sorry, but you can't sleep. You might fall unconscious," Carrick told her, gently shaking her.

"But I'm so tired," she moaned, reluctantly opening her eyes. She hadn't fallen back asleep after her dream.

"I know, but I'll see if they'll let you three up on deck," Carrick offered, beginning to get up.

"Why can't I just lay here?" Alaina asked as her eyelids began to droop.

"Because you'll fall asleep," he told her, gently moving her legs and going out.

"Do whatever you have to in order to keep her awake," he told the boys, shutting the cell door and going up the stairs quickly.

"I think he likes you," James told Alaina after he made sure Carrick was out of earshot.

"Sure," she mumbled, not paying any attention to what they were saying.

"Do you like him?" Jack asked curiously, knowing that she and Carrick had only known each other for a day at the most.

"Sure," Alaina grumbled again, trying to fight off sleep.

"Hey!" Jack cried, throwing a piece of apple at her as she closed her eyes. "You're not supposed to sleep!"

Alaina just shook her head and kept her eyes closed.

"Wake up, damn it!" James yelled at her, making her eyes jump back open at his words. "I knew that would do it," he mused to himself aloud.

Jack looked, startled, at his conservative brother. 'Maybe we aren't all that different, personality-wise,' he thought with a grin.

Carrick came down a few seconds later with a man behind him, carrying shackles.

"Not again," Alaina groaned, seeing the iron cuffs.

"Sorry. Captain's terms," Carrick apologized, going over and unlocking the boys' cell door.

"We don't have to wear any?" James asked suspiciously.

"No," Carrick said with a small laugh. "The captain thinks you're a little small to do any serious damage." But as he said that he winked at them, making Jack grin.

As much as he hated to admit it, Jack was starting to like this Carrick fellow.

***

Alaina waked slowly around the deck under the careful eyes of her brothers, as well as Carrick, who glanced at her every few seconds. It was a nice day, the sun was out, the wind was blowing, but she felt a little queasy.

'Why'd I have to drink all that damn rum?' she thought to herself with a groan, glancing over the ship's railing to see another ship in the distance. Her heart jumped at the thought of being attacked.

Squinting, she noticed its dark sails, and the corners of her mouth twitched into a brief grin. "Jack. James," she called as loud as she could, pretending to fall down on the deck.

Jack and James were immediately at her side, their eyes wide with fear. "The Black Pearl's a few miles north of us. They haven't seen her yet," she told them quickly in a low tone as they slowly helped her up.

"Don't turn to look," she commanded, leaning on them for support. "Now," she said, a plan forming swiftly in her head, "on the count of five we're going to jump off and swim as fast as we can for the Pearl."

"But what about the fact that it's miles off and that we're not that strong," Jack asked in a low tone, playing along with her and trying to make it seem like he was comforting her.

"Just swim as fast as you can. They'll see us," she told them, lowering her head and closing her eyes as her head actually began to spin this time.

"But what about you?" James asked, taking a hold of her arm and jangling the iron cuffs that limited her arm movement.

"I'll be fine," Alaina assured him with a nervous smile.

She wasn't exactly sure herself on how she was going to swim with the shackles on, but she wasn't going to stay on board this ship any longer. Though fortunately they had cuffed them on in front of her and not behind her back, as they had the last time.

"On five," Alaina told them as they began to walk around again. "One, two," Alaina started quietly.

Carrick looked over at them and immediately realized that they were planning to do something. 'Oh shit,' he thought, getting up and moving over to them.

James braced himself as he counted 'four,' then bolted for the railing along with Alaina and Jack.

"What the hell?" one of the crewmates asked as the three siblings jumped over and plunged into the chilly water.

As soon as hit the water, Jack quickly began to make his way toward the faint outline of the ship ahead of him. He heard the gasp of his brother as he also surfaced and came up behind him. 'What the hell am I doing?' he asked himself as cold salt water began to sting his eyes.

***