CHAPTER 14
The Persephone
Genevieve smiled out at the sunlight beaming down through the hole. "Come on Jack, help me up."
Jack grinned down at her, "maybe I'll just leave you there. Who knows exactly what's down there. Creepy crawly things or ghosts."
"Ha ha, very funny. Now help me."
She caught his arm as he lifted her up. Dusting herself off, she waved a hand in front of her face. "God, it's hot out here."
"No time to whine, we have to find Xander."
"God, you're bossy."
He smirked, "and you're mean tempered, but we can discuss that some other time."
"How do you do that?" she asked, cocking her head to one side as he shoved at the brush in his face.
"Do what?"
"Piss me off so well and be funny at the same time."
"It's a gift," he said with a crooked smile.
Hours later, Jack and Genevieve still hadn't found Xander. They had searched every corner of the island, and were unable to find any trace of him.
"Maybe he fell down a hole," Jack said, studying the beach where the rowboat sat.
"Or maybe something on this island got him. Come on Jack, tell me what's kind of tests we're supposed to pass. This place gives me goosebumps. Maybe if Xander knows about it, he might be looking for him."
Jack grinned, "one of the things I love about treasure is the mystery. It's hidden, you find it, it doesn't matter if it's lost or cursed or someone else's."
"How very male of you."
"What?" he asked, looking innocently confused.
"Something is someone else's and you just have to have it."
"Ah," he said, "no, it's just a pirate thing," he murmured seriously. "There are seven tests to pass in order to find the treasure."
"Seven?"
"Aye, seven.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Jack! What are you doing? Didn't I tell you to stay out of those?" Jack's father, scooped the little boy off the rigging that he was climbing, which caused an ensuing shriek from the boy.
"I was only looking!" he yelled.
"Aye, you'd be just looking when you fell off too, and then I'd hear about it for days from your mum."
Jack sulked away, rubbing his hands on his pants where the rope had burned them. With a smile, he concocted another idea, more brilliant than his previous one.
Stomping down below decks, he wove his way through the catacomb like passage and reached his father's private office. Twisting the knob, he rolled his eyes when it didn't open. His pa was a bit paranoid. He slid a sharp pin out of his pocket, something ol' Handy had given him.
After popping the lock, he raced to his father's desk, where papers where scattered. It was the ancient looking parchment which had been colored that caught his eye. He picked it up and slipped it into his pocket deftly, a light in his eye. His father would never know.
When he hurried back above decks, his father was no where to be seen. Most of the crew were scurrying about, paying him little mind. He leaned over the railing as he held on to some rigging, the wind breezing over his cheeks. He saw an ancient looking ship coming up alongside.
Just then his father came up behind him. "Ah good," he said, "here comes the Persephone."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"We can't just leave him!" Genevieve said. "I'd rather stay than desert him."
"I wasn't suggesting that love," Jack said, "I was only saying that I might drop you back off on the ship where you'd be more comfortable and then come back here by myself."
"Since we've met, how many times have you thought about my comfort?" Genevieve asked, tipping her head to the side.
Jack rubbed his chin, "it's hard to say, you've been driving me so crazy I think I've lost my mind."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"No, I don't want to leave, something bad might happen."
"That's your choice love, but I thought you would take any opportunity to get away from me."
"Well, at least I know you won't kill me because you think I know where this treasure is, your crew though, that's a different story."
"Whatever you want, I was just trying to be nice," he said, fingering the piece of parchment in his pocket. "Well in that case, we need to set up camp."
"Camp?" Genevieve's eyes darted back out across the water towards the ship.
"Of course, we'll have to spend the night. I need to find Xander, and seeing as how the sun's setting, we'll have to wait til morning."
"Ah...okay."
"So, which side of the beach do you want?" He winked at her as she plopped back down onto the sand.
"This is going to be a very long night, isn't it?"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"You are kidding!! You really ran off with Brigand's daughter? I thought you were just joking when you told me that!"
"Tiffany was a lovely lass, but she wasn't cut out for life on the sea."
"So, whatever happened to her?" Genevieve propped her head on her hand as she lay on her side, sipping from a dark brown bottle.
"Ah, bless her heart, she married some sort of Spanish lord and made her father a nice sum of money."
"Brigand is a black-hearted, foul creature."
"Aye, he is that, but he's also got secrets, some of which could be damaging to both of us."
"So, are you suggesting we kill him?" she asked.
"As happy as that would make me, we'd have to get close to him. He'd have a firing squad ready before I made it within one hundred yards," he pinched her hard, "thanks to you."
"You are a very unpleasant person," she said. "I'm not exactly sure how I feel about that."
"Brigand sent you because he thought that I'd have a weakness for you," he smirked, "little did he know that my taste doesn't run towards sniping girls."
"Then what was that display earlier?"
"What?"
"That kiss! What was that supposed to be?"
"I was just trying to shut you up."
"You are the most egotistical pig I have ever met. Why don't you just tattoo it on your forehead and save the women of this world a lot of trouble."
"You're just mad because you liked it," he said with a sly wink.
"Get over yourself, Sparrow. And while you're at it, why don't you just go dive in the ocean and drown yourself, and make me the happiest girl on earth." She leaped up, her heart pounding in her ears, cursing him under breath.
"I swear, if you walk away from me one more time," Jack said, stalking after her. He caught her arm and spun her around. She slapped him across the face as he caught her lips with his own.
She shoved at his chest as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her to him. When he finally broke the kiss, her eyes were wide and her face flushed.
"You are something else," she said, her voice hoarse and barely above a growl.
"What?"
"You think kissing me is going to make everything all better," she tried to step back from him, but he kept his arms around her, which hindered movement, "that I'm just going to melt into your arms and forgive you anything!"
"Kissing never hurts," he said, "why are you being so difficult?"
"I'm difficult?! You won't string two consecutive sentences together about what you know and if I ever go home, they'll throw me in prison first."
"What are you complaining about? I swear I think you're a little crazy."
"Me crazy? Yeah, that could be part of it," she said, shoving a hand through her hair as it swung wildly down her back as she moved farther away from him. "Or it could be that you're being so damn cryptic about everything that I can't keep my head on straight enough to dig through whatever it is you're babbling about."
"So what do you want?"
"I want you to tell me everything that you know. About Brigand, about Xander, and why you need me for this stupid map. Everything."
"You know, I don't know why I even let you on me ship. You're nothing but a spoiled brat!"
"Why are you avoiding telling me what's going on?"
"Because, I'm not exactly sure about everything meself. It's all a big puzzle, love."
"Well, why don't you try to explain it. I mean, we have nothing but time here," she raised her arms over her head.
"Come on, you're going to need to get comfortable, it's a rather long story."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Xander grinned up at the night sky. He wasn't exactly sure where he had made it to, but he felt like he had just been wandering in circles all night. It was a tropical island, but he felt a chill in the air that wasn't entirely natural. Maybe Jack had been right after all. About everything.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Tines smirked as the women whisked passed him in the twilight of Port Royal. All respectable, beautiful, upstanding, proper women. They all disgusted him. Their snotty little attitudes as if they were one whit better than he was. After a few drinks he saw himself as Don Juan, the great lover, suave, smooth, and handsome as opposed to what the rest of the world saw, a wiry man with ginger colored hair and a deep-lined face who didn't let a glimmer of kindness peek through the harsh facade he created effortlessly. Little did they know what hid beneath the exterior.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The stars twinkled overhead in the dark blue sky, the wind whipping down the beach, creating little sand tornadoes as Gen huddled under a thin blanket. The glittering lights looked as if they were diamonds scattered across rich velvet. Gen was freezing as she moved closer to the dimming fire Jack had built out of a couple of trees he had hacked down as there was no branches or anything to use. The funniest part was when one of the trees fell on top of him, flattening his hat in the process. It had taken him a good fifteen minutes to get it back in respectable condition after he had stomped up and down the beach cursing the headache that was brewing from the lump on his head.
Genevieve simply told him that it was evidence that he had a hard head that that was the only thing wrong with him, which made him curse her even more. She chuckled at the memory, and frowned into the fire. It was as if the wind was trying to wiggle it's chilling fingers under the blanket. She started when she heard Jack snore loudly across from her.
That man was a complete mystery to her. Of course, she didn't even to want to admit that to herself. He was thickheaded, stubborn and a complete jerkābut he was funny and handsome and god, what was she saying? She wasn't a woman to get caught up in emotion, especially over a pretty face. As soon as she had been old enough to take care of herself, and considering her mother died when she was only thirteen, it had been a pretty early age, she had never created any lasting attachments. Her whole life had been devoted to finding out who had murdered her father and why. And it had been a gift from God when she was given a post right on Brigand's ship. Right in the lion's den. Of course, her little secret had been cracked before she had been able to prove anything about him. Hopefully, all of that would change, but she still wasn't sure exactly how that was going to be accomplished.
Shaking her head because she could feel a headache bubbling right between her eyes, she stood up, wrapping the blanked around her like a cape. Jack was still snoring away happily, his nose twitching and a sly smile on his lips. He didn't appear to be cold as he had his thick coat piled on top of him and his white shirt unbuttoned almost to his waist, his tanned chest visible in the shadows.
She rolled her eyes as she felt her heart skip a beat and berated herself inwardly. Suddenly, she heard something pop farther down the beach. Everything was enveloped in dancing shadows, but she dusted herself off and trudged through the thick sand closer to the graceful palm trees. She saw some sort of movement behind the moss draping across the low branches of an unidentifiable twisted tree and was about to move closer but a hand clamped down on her shoulder. Before she could turn to see whether it was Jack or Xander, the hand clapped over her mouth, muffling the scream brewing in her throat. She was dragged through the trees, towards the center of the woods, another arm around her waist before she stomped down on her assailant's foot as hard as she could and was shoved to the ground, landing on her stomach. The wind had been knocked out of her and she rolled onto her back, prepared to yell at whoever had dragged her around.
The eyes that met hers were mere slivers of silver as they stared down at her.
"Well well, Miss Starr, how nice to see you again," Captain Brigand growled as he saw her eyes widen markedly while he bowed ceremoniously.
"What the hell do you want?" she spat, noting the two men standing behind him.
"Why nothing my dear, just came to collect my earnings."
"Well, I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm doing the job you gave me."
"Oh yes," Brigand said, "I'll just bet you've been doing your job," he grinned as his eyes ranged up and down her disgustingly.
"Go back to whatever scum pond you mutated from," she snarled, "and leave me the hell alone."
"That's not going to be possible my dear," he said as he clasped her arm tightly, hauling her to her feet. "You see, I've known about you all along. You are going to lead me straight to the treasure."
