Disclaimer: I don't own Pirates of the Caribbean or the character of Long John Silver.

Chapter 60: No Such Thing As Cursed Treasure

Camille was lying on a pile of coins, looking up at the ceiling of the cave. So this was it. They had made it to Diablo's Gate, Long John was dead… "Jack!" she said, sitting up.

He poked his head around from the side of the pile where he'd been. "Hm?"
"I'm not so sure that it's a good idea to take any of this with us," she said to him.

"What? Where would you get an idea like that? Darling, we're pirates," he said convincingly.

"But the treasure is cursed."

He looked at her closely, sticking a ring on his pinky finger. "Who told you that?"

"Will."

"Will?"

"Yes, you remember I talked to him about the key. That's how I knew that it had belonged to Silver."

"But how would he know more than I do about this? It was my plan. And Long John wouldn't have gone for the treasure if he knew that it had been cursed. He would have kept me alive, so to speak, so that I could be cursed. D'you see what I'm saying, Camille? That's impossible."

She nodded, remembering that most of what Will had told her had been a lie. "Somebody obviously fed Will the wrong information," she said, eyeing Jack suspiciously.

He looked back at her innocently. "What?"

"Did you lie to Will?" she asked harshly.

"Darling, of COURSE I lied to Will, I lie to everybody! It was only a small stretch of the truth."

"Small? So you being a guardian of the treasure of Diablo's Gate and Long John Silver's brother is a small stretch of the truth?" she said disbelievingly. What else had he lied about?

He caught the expression on her face. "Don't get angry with me, now. I do not wish to argue at a time like this."

"Jack I'm not angry…but what constitutes as a big stretch of the truth?" she wondered.

He thought for a second. "Well…me not liking rum. That would be a shining example."

Camille laughed, putting a crown on his head. "Then you can have whatever part of the treasure you think you deserve. I'm only taking enough money to get back."

"Back to…"

"Port Celebros Jack, Cadence's birthday is in a few months."

His eyes widened. "Did that child not already have a birthday?"

"Well, it does happen once a year."

"So what does that mean?" he asked, clueless.

Camille looked at him, letting go of the pile of gold she had been raking up. Was he serious? "It means that we celebrate it once a year. Cadence will get a party, with food and entertainment and dancing and…do you have any idea what I'm talking about?"

"You people do this one a year?" Jack exclaimed incredulously. "No wonder the British have so many problems, you're throwing your money away on something as simple as a person's age."

She pressed her lips together. She didn't want to get Jack upset and thinking about his childhood. Obviously, he had not had the luxury of a mere birthday party every year. And the only thing he had ever told her about his parents was that they had both died when he was young.