"New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on Earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become."
-Kurt Vonnegut

Chapter Nine

Jack's mouth is moving swiftly with mine, tasting, teasing, driving me absolutely insane! And although I'm lying down, my knees feel weak and my entire body grows warm from his tongue caressing mine, to the very tips of my toes. I don't know how he manages to keep the kiss this tantalizingly slow and sensual.

One calloused hand brushes the shoulder of my dress aside, stroking the pale flesh with light touches and delicate kisses. Jack pays particular attention to a small, barely-there scar just below my collarbone.

"And this?" The coarse hair of his beard and mustache tickle my skin. "How did ye come across this souvenir?"

"A duel in Paris," I say. My voice is husky, much to my surprise. "The man got lucky. I tripped over a box of something or another."

He smiles. "Ye like to loose your legs don't ye?" He refers to the day on the Pearl when I lost my footing while fencing with him.

I shrug nonchalantly. "I still won."

A low, rumbling growl comes from deep within his chest, causing me to smile. He leans up to kiss me again, but something stops him. Footsteps from outside the door.

A knock follows in suit. "Andie?" the voice asks. "Are you still awake?" It's Chester.

I sigh and begin to scramble to my feet, much to Jack's disadvantage. And he's not helping any, either! He's doing his best to keep me from getting up by kissing my neck to grabbing a hold of my legs.

I laugh, but try to keep my voice low. "One moment!" I respond. I grab Jack close to me, leaving him with a hard satisfying kiss, before quickly moving away from the bed. I send him a cunning smile over my shoulder, before turning back to open the door.

Chester raises an eyebrow at me. "Sparrow's in there, isn't he?" he asks quietly.

I slip out and close the door behind me. "Yes, he's in there."

"You're not forgetting your duties are you?"

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. "Of course not, Chester."

"I just don't want you to get distracted."

"Cross my heart and hope to die," I promise, placing a hand over my heart.

He sighs but says nothing more of it. "Look, I got another message from England. Something about the mark of the Phoenix. The letter was all torn into pieces."

"The mark of the Phoenix?" I question. "What is that?"

Chester shrugs. "Apparently an allegory of resurrection and life after death. I've never heard of it until now. But I did do a bit of research. Here." He hands me a large envelope.

"Thanks. I hope this helps," I say, opening the large tab to peer inside. It's filled with a few pieces of parchment, both pages from books and covered in Chester's messy script. Let's just hope I'll be able to decipher it.

"It should."

I raise my fingers to brush hair away from my face. "Chester, there's something I've been wondering about. About six months ago Jack caught a pretty bad fever," his bright eyes narrow a bit in confusion. "And I caught that same illness about a week ago."

"You never get sick," he states.

"Exactly!" I supply. "Which is why I think there's something more to it than just the spreading of germs. I mean, he caught this months before I even met him."

Chester nods. "If you caught the fever, you caught it for a reason."

"Do you think I could be experiencing something that he did? Something important to this mission?" I ask. "It did happen before."

"You're probably right," he says. "Just keep a sharp eye."

I grin confidently. "I always do."

He smiles. "I'll be here for a couple of days. Mercy offered me a room downstairs and I think I'm going to take her up on it after I have a drink or two."

I nod. "Have fun. I'll come fetch you if I need to." Chester's and my meetings are most always like this; nothing but business.

And with that, I turn and retreat back into my old room, where Jack is busying himself with going through my writing desk and reading my journal.

"Hey!" I call, "What are you doing?"

Jack smiles but doesn't even raise his eyes from the scribbled pages. "Ye went through me things, so I think it's only fair that I'm aloud to go through yers."

I admit, he does have a point. "Fine," I surrender.

His eyes curiously dart back and forth on the pages. And suddenly, a smile grows on his handsome face. "Seemed to her ear his winning lips to lay, and thus is whispers said, or seemed to say," he reads clearly from my journal, "'Fairest of mortals, thou distinguished care of thousand bright inhabitants of air!'" Jack stops to get a good look at me. "This is some pretty deep stuff, darling."

I laugh. "I told you I was into the arts."

"Or virgins visited by angel powers, with golden crowns and wreaths of heavenly flowers. Hear and believe!" I could almost listen to him reading for hours on end. "Thy only importance know; nor bound thy narrow views to things below." He finishes by frowning and rasing a dark eyebrow.

I grab the beaded book while he's pondering and swiftly throw it back in the desk. "You, pirate, have no appreciation for literature."

"Who's not appreciatin'?" he defends.

I sent him a mock angry glare before tossing the large envelope Chester gave me into his lap. "The newest scoop," I present.

"The scoop on what?" he questions, taking out the papers.

"The mission. Chester did some research. And he mentioned something about a mark of Phoenix," I add. "Ever heard of it?"

Jack shakes his head, gazing over the parchment.

Casually, I walk to a corner on the other side of the room. There is a loose floorboard somewhere over here, holding a few things I've kept in hiding. Hitting my foot against a couple, I finally get the hollow sound I was hoping for. The board comes up easily, and beneath it appears a small bag of tobacco, a golden pocket mirror given to me from Loyal, and my mother's beloved locket.

"What are ye doin'?" Jack asks.

I quickly grab the bag of tobacco and place the floor piece back where it belongs. "Cigarette?" I offer.

88888

"I love it out here," I say, taking a seat on the roof of the tavern. I can see the people outside, the torches lighting the outside walkway, and the faint chatter of the people inside. "I used to come out here almost every night and count the stars." I laugh. "Now it seems somewhat foolish."

But Jack slightly shakes his head to disagree with my statement. "'Tis not foolish at all, love," he says, taking a long drag on the small brown cigarette. "I do the same thing."

I smile, feeling so secure and comforted at this moment. Picking up the envelope from beside me, I take a look at the things Chester noted and found about the Phoenix. Along with the papers are a sketch of the bird, beautiful with large wings and intimidating black eyes.

I shuffle through a couple more papers until I see deep blue ink lines on the page, underlying what I suppose is important information. "A mythical bird with gold and scarlett feathers, said to be as large as an eagle, that scans the world and distant space with it's intense beauty. The Phoenix creates ever growing excitement and deathless inspiration," I read.

"So I'm in danger of being inspired?" Jack asks smartly. "Doesn't sound like a death threat to me."

I shoot him a 'shut your mouth' look and then continue with another paragraph of marked information. "Only one bird was said to live at a time, and had a strong will for living with it's life span from five-hundred to twelve-thousand, nine hundred and ninety-four years." I stop to take a puff of the rolled up tobacco before I begin again. "At the end of it's long life, the Phoenix would build a nest of spices and aromatic branches and then set it on fire. The bird of the Sun would be consumed in it's tongue of flames and after three days the rebirth of the Phoenix would rise from the ashes."

I look up to see Jack stroking his beard with nimble fingers, a habit I've noticed he always does when he is in deep thinking. "So we'll be lookin' for the mark of this bird?" he asks.

"Looks like it," I respond. "Why don't we start with following your footsteps?"

I put out the cigarette and climb back through the window.

"Now?" Jack asks. "I thought ye wanted to jump in bed? Have a bit of fun before duty starts callin' ye in the mornin'." But despite his words, he pulls his coat on and follows me back into the attic.

I grab my gray wool cloak from a chair and throw it over my shoulders. "But my duty is already calling." I smirk seductively and lean up to whisper hotly in his ear, "Be patient, my pirate."

He grabs me in return and lays an aggressive nip to my bottom lip, and it takes everything I have not to kiss him back. Responsibly, I push him lightly away and start down the attic stairs.

"Robin?" Mercy sees the two of us approaching the back doors. "Jack? Where are you two running off to in the middle of the night?"

"Have a bit of business to attend to," I explain. "Be back soon, I promise."

She glances at us most suspiciously, but understanding my line of work, says nothing but, "Be careful."

88888

The streets are dark and dry, but the sky is shining gold and the air is comfortable surrounding us. When Jack and I reach the small cottage, I'm surprised to see what we find.

"It's abandoned," I state.

Jack nods. "Has been for years. That's why I was supposed to meet the man here."

"You never told me why you were making a trade with him," I realize. "Or his name."

Jack leads me around to the back of the shack. "Gregory Froth," he says. "He was a cartographer. He drew a map for me and I promised him one third of the treasure we found there."

But this confuses me. "You're a pirate. Aren't you supposed to lie and keep it all for yourself?"

He smiles. "That's what most would do. But ol' Gregory is a friend of me father's and has always proved to be a loyal man. Therefore I didn't break our accord, savvy?"

"Savvy," I reply.

Curiously inspecting the bricks and landscaping, or lack there of, I notice something shady written on the wall. "What have we here," I inquire, stepping over a few rocks and mud until the mark is right before my eyes. There, drawn in the blackest coal, is the mark of the mythical bird.

"Is that the Phoenix?" Jack asks from behind me.

I nod. "Yes."

Suddenly I hear footsteps nearby. I turn, eyes sharp and ears listening closely. They are approaching quickly.

Jack looks at me confusedly. "What is it?"

I press my palm over his mouth as a signal for him to keep quiet, and pull my small pistol from the tight bodice of my black dress. The moment my ears register another part in the grass and the break of a twig, the gun is cocked and pointed confidently in the same direction.

"Relax," someone says from behind me. But it's just Chester.

I sigh and slide the gun back to it's place so it is hidden beneath the fabric.

"What else do ye keep in there?" Jack questions, peering down my bodice from beside me. I ignore him.

"Chester?" I ask unbelievingly. "I swear I heard someone approaching from-"

The ringing of a gunshot and a sharp burning pain in my chest silences my words. I look down and reach fingers to the source of anguish right above my right breast. When I pull my hand back, it's covered in crimson.

"Andie?" Jack grabs me tightly by my arm and holds me steady.

I open my mouth to answer him, to let him know I'm all right, but another shot fills our ears. Two wounds stain my flesh and the fabric of my dress. It's at this moment that I realize what is happening; I was right. I'm reliving the time before and during Jack came to Helena Port five months ago.

"Hell," I mutter, feeling light headed and a bit unsteady. But as Jack keeps a tight hold on me, murmuring unheard sufficiencies as he helps me to the security of the ground, I look ahead to see a dark figure, pistol in hand as he rushes back toward the other corner of the house. "Jack," I point to the being, clutching at my dress.

I know the pirate sees the man too as he unsheathes his sword and lets Chester take a hold of me.

Not a moment later, he's gone, following the figure into the shadows.

By the way, the poem that Jack was reading from Andie's journal is an actual poem called "The Rape of the Lock" by Alexander Pope (1688-1744).

You all crack me up. Last chapter everyone reviewed and was like, "Yes! It's finally gonna happen!" And I just laughed and thought, "Not exactly."

Review, please!

A Depp Girl: Their not getting together yet, but it's bound to happen eventually.

Whosegotyou: I'm happy to have a new reader! Glad you like.

CaptainMarySparrow: You're right, I love to keep everyone coming back for more! Keeping you all hooked is the best thing in the world haha.

Sereture: It's all right that you didn't review a couple of the past chapters. I won't yell at you for it haha. I'm just glad you're reading the story and you've taken the time to send me a review at all. Thanks for all the wonderful feedback.

Funkyflamingo: Haha I hope I caught you a bit off guard at the beginning there. Was that what you were expecting?

AJ-Sparrow: Not yet, but sometime soon. And I hate Sadie as well! Haha. I just thought it would be fun to write a character that didn't think Andie was the cat's meow, and gave her a hard time. Doesn't every girl have someone like that in their life?

Jadeddreamz: Not quite so luscious, but there will be one. I promise! And no, Andie is not her real name. Her and Jack had a conversation about her actual name in the first chapter, I believe, but I haven't yet revealed it.

Istani: Haha sorry I update so quickly. I just love this story and this character so much that I can't stop writing! Ideas are constantly forming in my head.

Orlando's Hot Chick, Cap'n of the Deep, & Super Monkey289: Thanks girls! Enjoy.