Hey everyone! Thankee much for the fabuloso reviews!! Sorry it took ages, but they should come faster now the play's over (it was fabbo if you're interested).
Thanks be to:
piratetomboy: Thank you soo much for your lurvely reviews! Keep 'em coming, they make my day!
Carn: Wimpish? Wimpish??? However, turns out I rather agree, so hope this is better, there's a nice little wrestle with Sparrow in this chap. But anyhoo, Tempest...weren't we fab? Turns out Dad only taped the scenes I was in (I think) but I'll get him to DVD them and I'll bring them to drama on Freitag, savvy? Shame he wasn't there on Wed, or he could have seen the "Lend thy hand" and the boat collapse!!
Sparrow and I stare at each other in horror for several seconds before he comes to his senses, whirls around, and bolts up the stairs. "Sparrow!" I scream after him. I sprint out of the room, dash up the hatch, and tackle him to the ground as he heads for the stairs down to Will's chamber. I grab him and pin him down as he struggles.
"Let – go!" he pants, trying to make me release him.
"No," I reply, and grab his face in my hands and wrench it up to mine. "Listen to me – listen to me!" I hiss. "There is no way you can tell Will. There is absolutely no way."
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't," he responds, wriggling, so I drop his head and hold his arms to the floor.
"Because if you tell him – hold still! – if you tell him you are guaranteed to totally crush him; if you tell him you may as well just stick your sword through his brain and pull it out; the truth will kill him – do you want that?"
Sparrow falls still. I release his arms slowly, hoping against hope he won't make a bolt for Will's chamber and blurt everything out. "No," he sighs deeply. "No, I don't want that. But what is going to happen when he finds out?"
I drop my head into my hands. "I don't even want to think about that."
"You can't pretend it's not going to happen," he says. "Someday he's going to find out what really happened."
I am silent. "Oh, I see," Sparrow says nastily. "You're hoping that we're going to find Elizabeth in the middle of a circle of pirates with a sword through her stomach and then you can pretend the pirates did it."
"No!" I snap, but I blush, revealing the truth. Sparrow sits up, looking triumphant. "You were going to present Will to his dead girlfriend – who you killed – and hope he was going to turn around in need of a shoulder to cry on, and then you could –"
"Look, the thing you have to understand," I interrupt desperately, "is that I did not kill Elizabeth."
"You did! I just heard you saying it!" Sparrow replies.
"Shh! It was an accident! I was… sort of fighting with her, and she slipped and fell from her balcony."
Sparrow regards me for a minute, and then says, "And you expect me to believe that."
"Yes! Because it's the truth!"
He looks at me suspiciously. "I can tell I'm going to have to watch my back from now on with you on board."
"Please!" I almost shout. "It was an accident, I swear. And you have no idea," I pause, "you have absolutely no idea how much I wish it hadn't happened."
He is silent. I stand up so he can move. He pulls himself up, seeming to be considering something.
"All right," he says finally. "I won't tell the whelp your little secret. But if anything happens – anything – which makes me think we can't trust you, I won't give you a second chance." He raises his pistol to my temple to underline the point. "I've grown quite fond of the boy over these few years and I wouldn't like to see him hurt. Just remember that I'm watching you from now on." He lowers the gun and walks away, then climbs down the hatch.
I sigh and walk to the rail of the ship. My life just seems to get more and more complicated by the minute. I stare, unseeing, out over the waters, where a mist is steadily gathering in a dark cove. Dark, overhanging cliffs loom before the ship. The silence is tangible. The waters beneath us, which have darkened to a black-blue, make the only sound as they splash gently along the ship. The musty smell of damp reaches my nostrils, along with another smell – a vile, rancid smell, just like rotting flesh.
Oh no.
As the ship comes closer to the cliffs I can see many spears protruding from the walls. This rings a very nasty bell in my head. I remember the black ship with the Governor's corpse. I suspect we have just found the place where that ship may dock.
"Sparrow!" I hiss. There is nobody around but I do not want to draw attention to myself anyway. "Sparrow!"
Sparrow emerges from the cabin. "What?"
"Land!"
As he climbs up the ladder and sees where we have come to, he blanches slightly. "I did not direct the ship here."
"Sparrow, it's a pirate ship, it's probably cursed or something. I bet it found its own way."
"We have to get out of here," he says, and rushes to the helm.
"But –" I start. I cannot tell him why I need to go on that island – to find my father. If his boat directed us here, surely it directed us to him?
"Don't argue, Miss Costa, unless you want to end up as a human kebab!" he says dangerously, indicating the spears. I decide not to push my luck.
"What the hell –" Sparrow is spinning the helm, but the boat is not turning at all – it is almost as if it is deciding where we go now, not us. "We're going to have to abandon ship," he announces, but on closer inspection the boat has no escape lines or boats. We have no choice but to let it take us to the island. Sparrow swears loudly and loads his pistol.
As the boat draws closer to shore, it slows, and soon stops adjacent to the beach of black sand. Sparrow and I stand for several moments, staring out at the island.
"We're going to have to go ashore, aren't we?" I say. Sparrow nods.
"I really don't want to, but I don't see how we can prevent it from happening," he replies gravely. At that moment Will emerges from below deck with a sword, avoiding my eye. He sees the island and looks fearfully at Sparrow.
"Is it -?"
"The very place," Sparrow nods. I get the idea they have been here before, probably during the curse of the Black Pearl era. Will stares back at the island for a few seconds.
"We must go ashore to save Elizabeth!" he says. I feel a dull pain in my stomach. Sparrow looks at me very pointedly, but thankfully says nothing. Will is suspicious of our hesitation. "Come on!" he says.
"I don't really think –" I begin, as Sparrow seems to have decided to refrain from speaking ever again, but Will interrupts me savagely, staring me right in the eyes.
"What you think, Miss Costa, does not signify any more, I am afraid. You are the reason Elizabeth is here; you left her to the pirates when you were too busy thinking of yourself, and if you have any scruples about going ashore, fine. Stay on board. But Jack and I are going ashore to save Elizabeth, whether or not you deign to come."
I stare at him. He has never, ever spoken to me like that before. He holds my gaze for a few more seconds and then leaps down from the ship, landing softly on the sand below. Sparrow follows him, and I do likewise, thinking it unwise to stay on board alone.
Will heads boldly forward into a dank, gloomy cave, flooded with water, Sparrow at his side, and I follow close behind. Will strides along the bank for as long as the water will let him, but soon the path narrows and the way is blocked with water. A slim canoe lies on the bank, obviously waiting for us. I get an ominous feeling that heightens when Will climbs into the canoe, but Sparrow hesitates.
"There's only room for two in that thing, 'less it capsizes," he says.
Will looks at him as though completely unaware of the problem. "Your point?"
They both glance at me. I look from one to the other and say, "Never mind me, I'll just wait here until you get back," not without sarcasm, but Will accepts this answer and motions for Sparrow to climb in the boat, which he does. As they paddle off into the gloom, Sparrow shoots a worried glance back, but I hear Will say audibly, "Don't worry about her; nothing will happen, and if it does…" The words 'oh well' hang in the air; he didn't say them, but we all know he's thinking them.
I watch until the canoe disappears completely from sight, then I kick the wall angrily. The sound echoes around the walls of the cavern. I pace up and down aimlessly, stopping every now and then to enjoy the echoes that make it sound as though fifty other people are pacing even after I stop. I put my foot down as slowly as possible to see if it still echoes. Yes; it makes a sound not unlike people walking slowly. Creeping. How odd. I lift my foot off the floor, but the echoes continue. I am not making this noise. There must be other people in the cave. I spin around but nobody is there. I am just getting paranoid. I breathe out. I am just beginning to relax when a hand grabs my shoulder and a deep voice whispers in my ear, "All alone, little girl?"
Ooh, yet another cliffhanger. It's like reading a book in the Himalayas. Review please!!!