Chapter 7:
"Has the girl woken up yet?" Anna heard someone above her.
"Not yet, captain," a husky voice replied. "There was another person that washed up on the ship. We could tell that he was a swimmer. Maybe not even human, for he looked somewhat like a dog."
Emlis, Anna thought to herself, trying to open her eyes. She coughed and felt burning sea water rise up from her chest and come out of her mouth. With an effort, she sat up.
At first, all she could see was darkness…then everything got brighter. The first thing she saw was a strange man hovering over her. Then, as her vision came back, she finally got a full view of her surroundings. She was in a small bedroom with wooden walls and floors. She felt underneath her and found she was on a feather mattress bed, with warm, red blankets. There was a constant rocking motion that seemed to be all around her…this told her that she must still be on a ship…but whose ship? She'd never seen the strange man in her life.
"So you finally decided to wake up, have you?" the strange man said, grinning at her. Anna merely nodded. Though the man looked sinister, she wasn't afraid of him…Anna looked up as the door to the cabin opened wider. She watched as Emlis was dragged into the room and sat onto the bed next to hers.
"Anna! You're alive! Thank goodness!" Emlis chattered on happily. "I saw you get swept away and I immediately went after you-,"
"Excuse me" said the person that dragged Emlis in. "but I would love to know how and why two strangers ended up on my ship." Anna looked up at the young man who just spoke. He was tall, thin and had dark, untidy, black hair. His grin on his thin face sparked Anna's memory. It was about something that was in the stories of The Four Sisters….but what…then it hit Anna…no, surely there could be no way…the man looked too young to be…but still…
"-Er- sorry," Anna said carefully. "The storm swept me off the deck of our ship. It's lucky that your ship spotted us."
"Well, my ship is lucky…" the young man grinned even more. "After all, her name is The Lady Luck." Anna gasped.
"So it is you!" she said, leaping out of the bed. "You're Laughing Jack!" The man looked very surprised…even angry at this.
"What would make you think that?" he stammered. "My name is James Grant…you yourself look familiar."
"My parents are the ones who you stole from which trapped you on this ship." Anna said, ignoring Emlis' whispers to silence her. "You may know them….their names are Lief and Jasmine." Anna watched as "James'" mouth dropped.
"I remember them…" he said, bitterly. "The Shadowlord sent me to defeat them…but I failed."
"I know, I know. I read about you, Jack, along with other adventured my parents went on." Anna said, waving this away. "But I have some questions for you…that happened more than 16 years ago...how come you didn't die when you were sent to the ship? And still if you didn't die, you'd still be really old….but yet you look only a few years older than myself." Jack considered this.
"I assume all four Sisters have been destroyed then?" he asked Anna, who nodded. "The Shadowlord feared that…all of the curses that were made under the influence of the Shadowlord would have been broken...Since mine was basically under the influence of him…I pretty much got a second chance to live my life. This is why I can actually leave the ship now, though I do not for I know my name is still infamous in Deltora," he grinned, "And I was sent back to when I was 19, the age I first acquired The Lady Luck from the Shadowlord…and the first time I called him "Master"…well, that is no more. I am neither for the Shadowlord nor for Deltora. My crew and I are only loyal to each other. We spend our days on the border of Deltora's lands. Here we remain, never aging…for along with the spell being broken, a new one was made…this one stating that we will never age while we are off of Deltoran land." Anna saw Emlis jump out of the bed.
"So we are at the border of Deltora?" he asked. Jack nodded. "Then where is our ship?"
"They returned to Deltora I believe." Jack said, never stopping grinning.
"What!" Emlis exclaimed. "Then, we have no crew to move on! Can you take us back to Deltora then?" Jack laughed.
"Maybe in a million years when the people of Deltora have actually forgotten me." He said, grinning mockingly at Emlis. Anna thought quickly. She did not want to stay on this ship…nor did she want to go back to Deltora. Her adventure was getting really interesting, although it was rather dangerous now.
"Then can you take us to the Western Land?" Anna asked, cautiously. Jack laughed again, this time louder.
"You expect to land on my ship and for me to be your free ride to you destination?" He asked, still grinning. "Oh no, you two are not leaving this ship until your debt is repaid."
A/n….Um…yeah I don't know what to say about this chapter….it is quite interesting…not exactly how I planned it to be…but I still like it…trust me you may have some questions about this chapter…but it will be clearer in the next chapter! Thanks for the nice Reviews!