Disclaimer: I don't own half of the characters in this story.

SHE WAS A PHANTOM OF DELIGHT

Chapter 7: Fly Towards the Sun

She woke up still dressed in the green dress that she had maintained at the whorehouse. Blinking, she could not recognize the inside of the ship. It must have been one from the fleet at Port Celebros. She sat up, trying to accurately recall recent events. If Captain Jack Sparrow and this Black Pearl had been simply a dream, than she would not have been wearing that dress. So that meant that Jack Sparrow had been real. And he was probably locked up in the brig down below.

Getting to her feet, she pushed the door of the room open a crack and peered out. There was nobody in sight, so she silently walked across the deck and downstairs to where most of the cabins were.

Growling to herself, she held back a scream as she bumped into Norrington. He seemed surprised to see her. "Up so soon, Miss Quartermaine? Would you like me to escort you back to your cabin to finish getting your rest?"

"Uhm, no thank you Commodore. There is something which I would like to personally discuss with Gillette," she lied.

"I see. You will find him at the last door on the left," he instructed her. "Good day, Miss Quartermaine."

"Thank you, Commodore."

Of course, that was the only place she did not check. She was able to find the brig easily enough, shutting the door and sliding a heavy object in front of it to keep it closed.

Jack was sitting on the floor of his little cell, and he looked quite comfortable except for the blood that was dripping down his arm. She covered her mouth to avoid screaming. "Captain Sparrow, what on earth happened to your arm?" she demanded in a whisper.

He looked up at her, just noticing her. "Your fiancé decided to shoot me even though you were safely returned in one piece."

She looked around, seeing the ring of keys hanging on a nail. She got it and began going through it, trying each key on the lock. She got it open on the second try.

"He is not my fiancé," she protested.

"All right then, what is he?" Jack sneered as she entered the cell.

"That man," she said, kneeling down at Jack's side. "Is the most pompous, most inflated, and overall most boring creation that the good Lord has ever put onto this earth," she said, reverting to her accent. "If I 'ave to even THINK about sittin' through another one o'his lame stories about how he fought for this war an' that, I think I may 'ave to kill myself."

He looked at her with no expression on his face at all, blinking. This was not what he had been expecting her to say. "Good girl," he said, being very impressed with her comment. "Now what are you doing?"

"Any enemy of Gillette is a friend of mine," she said, gently taking his arm. "What can I do to help you escape?"

The look in her pretty green eyes was so sincere, Jack didn't even have time to be sarcastic. And his arm throbbed with pain. He was beginning to feel lightheaded from all of the blood loss, as well.

"You need to get the bullet out of me. My arm's starting to go numb," he said. "You'll have to help me take my coat off."

She did so, and rolled up the sleeve of his shirt revealing some tattoos and a burn mark. She worked quickly. "It's not that deep, your coat must have stopped it somewhat," she informed him. I can still see it."

"That's wonderful. Can you pull it out, do you think?" he asked hopefully.

"Hmm, it's going to be hard," she said. Rolling up her own sleeves, she held his arm steady as she touched the open wound as lightly as she could.

"OUCH!" Jack cried, flailing his arm and scaring Camille.

"I'm sorry!" she apologized. "I'm so-"

"No, no. Shh, it's okay. It's okay. Just try again," he said through clenched teeth as he squeezed his eyes shut.

"Okay," Camille breathed. "This is going to hurt."

"Just do it and let's get it over with."

Taking a couple of deep breaths, Camille took hold of his arm once again and steadied it. As fast and as accurate as she could, she pulled out the little lead musketball and threw it somewhere, wiping off the blood from her hands on her dress. She then proceeded to wrap the pirates arm tightly with a piece of loose cloth she was able to tear off her dress.

Jack looked at her. "Thank you," he said.

"Captain Sparrow, whether I like to admit it or not, you and I are allies now. I want nothing more than to escape this ship with you," Camille said eagerly.

"Oh, and you're so sure that I am going to agree with the woman who loathed being in my presence for as long as she was?" Jack said cunningly.

"You have to take me with you," she said, putting her hand in one of her pockets.

"And why's that?"

"Because I have something that I think you will find most beneficial to you, Captain Jack Sparrow of the Spanish Main."

Jack sat up, stroking his split goatee. "Now I am very interested in why you are talking like you have something important to me, love."

She grinned slyly. "A man once said to me…hmm, now what was it?" she said playfully. "Ah! I remember."

Jack smiled, watching her be so sly. Perhaps he was beginning to rub off on this beautiful young woman.

"He said to me, 'The bird always flies toward the sun'. Now does that mean anything to you, Captain?" she asked.

"Long John!" Jack mused. "You've spoken with Long John Silver?" he asked incredulously.

She nodded. "I have. He had one leg, by the way. Well I'm afraid I have got some bad news about him, then."

"He was hanged, wasn't he?"

"Yes, and he assaulted me in the marketplace!" she ranted. "But that is beside the point. Before he died, he entrusted something to me."

Jack's jaw dropped, and she thought that it was going to hit the floor of the jail cell. "He gave you the KEY?"

She held up the little key that had been in her pocket. "Aye," she said, mocking his pirate like language. Jack looked at his tattoo, which was a sparrow flying towards the sun.

"Clever girl," he mumbled. "So tell me now…how did you manage to get your rich little paws on that key?"

"I told you, he gave it to me. Captain, he simply walked up to me and gave me the key. There's no mystery to it."

"If he gave it to you, than the situation must be more dire than I imagined," Jack said.