Scratched Glass

Chapter Two

A/N: This is going to be an EXTREMELY long chapter, on my behalf. So hang on. :

Recap: "Why?" she retorted, her fiery temper starting to flare.

The man pulled out a gun and held it to her head. "That's why."

"Now show him to me," the man ordered.

"All right, all right, just back off a little," she said, her anger overruling logic. She did not really comprehend the fact that a gun was held to her head and that her life was at stake.

Turning her around so that he had a better grip on her, he moved her forward with his own legs. "Come on, get moving," he said roughly.

"Fine," she muttered and started to move toward the animated mansion. "But just exactly why do you wish to see him?" she asked.

"Not through the front entrance, you dolt. Then we'll be in plain sight," he said, moving her away from the front entrance of the mansion.

Dolt. No one had really called her a dolt before. But she had to admit, the word did suit her quite well. So she moved to the right and away from the front entrance.

"And the answer to your question is because the man has something of mine, miss," he said, continuing to push Karyane in the direction that she was already moving in. She almost fell over a hidden twig, but the man was holding onto her waist. Fortunately, his firm grip around her stomach held her in place.

"Funny how you're addressing me as miss when I'm obviously you're hostage, Mr…."she commented on his previous words.

"Jack Sparrow," he answered gruffly, his eyes watching for any unwanted guests.

"Fine then, Mr. Sparrow. How do you know that I'm not a Mrs.?" She continued, trying to strike conversation.

A grin played on his rough face and he replied in a teasing tone, "No one would want to marry you." This inevitably caused a frown to settle on Karyane's features. "Only kidding, love. You have a rather alluring figure. Much like a whore's," he joked, causing her brow to furrow and her frown to dig even deeper. "Now enough chit chat. Get us there already.

He obviously wasn't a romantic. "All right, hush already, or else someone will hear you," she helped. Under her breath, she added, "And I'm the dolt."

"I heard that," he said, keeping an eye out for anyone that was spying on them.

Reaching the back of the mansion, a fairly desolate area, Karyane pushed open the glass double doors silently. "He's in the ball room with everyone else," she informed. If this man was trying to get rid of Thomas, then he was obviously a friend of hers.

Their steps were padded by the lush cream-colored carpet as they went the distance to the other door. Jack pushed open the door while holding onto Karyane's waist. Looking about, he set forward on the now marble floor. Within a few steps, a hurried waiter stepped into the larger room. As soon as he saw Jack and Karyane, he stopped dead. "Miss Ruele," he said and those were his last words before Jack shot him in the chest.

Karyane tried struggling, but Jack held onto her tightly. "Love, you're forgetting that this gun of mine allows me two shots, not one," she smiled as the realization dawned on Karyane. This man had mercifully shot a complete stranger; he could easily do it again. And besides, he still had a shot left. She stopped struggling and they moved on to the next expansive room.

This one was obviously the living room. There was a large couch that could seat three, two armchairs, and a loveseat. They were all centered around a brown coffee table.

"Where is the ball room?" Jack asked his voice bowing down to a mere whisper. If he hadn't spoken directly into her ear, then she probably wouldn't have heard him.

"Definitely not close is all that I know," she replied. As soon as she said that, the door to the next room opened and in came Zenakabee. Jack took Karyane and quickly hid behind the large sofa, which was nearest to him.

"Where is Karyane?" her step-sister Zenakabee muttered as she went to the next room. As soon as she passed, Jack got up as did Karyane. Two close encounters. And the latter was the more dangerous one.

But their close encounters for the night weren't over. As soon as they were a few feet from the door ahead of them, Zenakabee emerged from the door that they had just left from.

"Karyane, there you are," her step-sister called softly. "The lovely waiter was able to inform me of your whereabouts before he died," she answered to the shocked expressions to the two persons standing before her.

"What do you want, thief?" Zenakabee asked, moving forward. Jack was forced to make a decision. Shoot Zenakabee and have Karyane run off to warn someone. Or, shoot Karyane and have Zenakabee run off to warn someone. Instead, he let go of Karyane, ran to Zenakabee, and held her as his new hostage.

"You see, I'll take at least one of you. And I'm guessing that you," here he pointed roughly at Karyane, "are the more considerate one. So you wouldn't really want to see this one dead." Now, wise men would have thought a filthy pirate – such as Jack – to be an idiot. Bur pirates have a few skills that wise men don't. They can lie, cheat, steal, but will always keep their promises to a close friend. And above all, most are extremely intuitive. Why? Because after having to deal with so many people, they can guess a person's character after meeting them for only a few seconds. Therefore, they know how that person will react to certain things. There you have it. The downfall of you're so-called "all knowing" wise men.

Zenakabee had panicked, she did NOT LIKE PIRATES. And the tell-tale stories of the conniving thieves only added to her fear. She tried escaping from her captor's firm grip, but to no avail. And unlike most wise men, pirates are not weaklings.

"Get moving. I need to find Thomas and soon," he ordered, pushing Zenakabee forward. A flicker of doubt crossed Karyane's mind. She could easily escape and save herself. Then Zenakabee could rot in hell – exactly what she deserved. And to save her pitiful life, Zenakabee would tell Jack where Thomas was. Then Jack would shoot Zenakabee and kill Thomas with some weapon or another. Then both pests would be removed from Karyane's life.

Closing her eyes, Karyane moved forward. No, she couldn't. She would be acting much too like Zenakabee. "Follow me," she whispered and conceded to the orders. Almost all her life, she had done what she was told to do. Why not continue with her dreaded state?

But before she could get very far, a scream emitted from Zenakabee's mouth, a vase crashed noisily to the floor, and Jack threw curses at the girl. Karyane turned around to see that Jack was trying to suppress Zenakabee's shouts, but her step-sister bit him.

"That's it," he yelled, getting angry and carried her body out of the room. "You're going to die one way or the other."

"NO!" Karyane shouted, running after them. She pounded the man's back with her fists but he turned around and held the gun to her mouth.

"Ssh, love, unless you wish to die," and he left the second room.

For a second, Karyane stood frozen. She had to do something to save her hated sister, but what? She ran to the ball room….the only thing that she could come up with was to tell someone so that they would take action.

Scanning the crowd, the closest able-bodied man was Thomas. She ran to him, by now very much out of breath.

"Thomas, listen," she gasped for breath, holding onto his shoulder for support.

"What is it dear?" Thomas asked, his straight row of brilliant white teeth shining at her. "What's wrong?"

"A pirate….he's taken Zenakabee. He's going to kill her…" she breathed for air. The mansion wasn't exactly tiny and the ball room was far from the room that Jack and Zenakabee had last been in. Catching her breath, she explained hurriedly, "He was here. He wanted to kill you. But then Zenakabee started yelling. And he's taken her somewhere. We have to save her," she finished.

The men standing around Thomas burst into laughter and one said, "Good story, little girl. And was there a mermaid in it as well?" This only roused even more laughter.

Thomas joined in, laughing weakly. For a second, he had believed Karyane – after all, he did love her – but after the uproar from his friends, he doubted the reliability of the girl that he so admired. "You should go rest. You've probably drank too much, that's why you're head is so confused." With that, he shooed her away to talk of more important matters.

Karyane stood, shocked. They didn't believe her, he didn't believe her. They thought that she was telling some sort of story to fetch Thomas's attention. And of all people! She didn't even like Thomas!

But it dawned on her slowly, bit by bit. If there was a pirate, someone would have seen him or heard him. And he would certainly not travel alone for his own protection. Why should anyone believe her? And for a second, even she doubted the validation of her story. Had she been dreaming? No, she could very well feel the man holding her waist just a while back.

What to do? She ran outside; she couldn't just let him kill Zenakabee like that! Trekking through the lawn, she saw two pairs of tracks leading to her right. She turned her head that way. What was over in that direction? Streets filled with beautiful houses, the Deloure's manor, and…the docks! That was it!

He must have a ship and where else would his ship be but at the docks! She ran in the general direction as fast as she could.

Terrible thought flooded her head. Was Zenakabee alive? If yes, then under what condition? And what would happen to her?

As you probably know, when you're preoccupied with something, you are usually unaware of your surroundings. Like the pole that you're about to run into.

Like when my friend is busy ranting about the guy that she likes and is walking backwards. She tells me to tell her if something's behind her. And I'm listening to my other friend talk about this really cute guy. Out of the three of us, none realize that a pole is about a foot away from my friend's head. And so she smacks the back of her head into the pole. And so she is left in a horribly sticky situation.

The same can be applied to Karyane. She was so busy thinking of Zenakabee, that she forgot that she was wearing heels. She was soon reminded as she twisted her ankle and fell to the cobblestone streets. She fell on her stomach and her face collided with the pavement. She cried out as her nose started to bleed and her palms became blistered. Trying to get up, she knocked one palm against a cobblestone and held that one in pain. Crawling to the gate of a house, she held her bloody nose as her palms throbbed as if they were on fire. She noticed that her right knee had twisted itself as well as her ankle. And Karyane too was left in a horribly sticky situation.

How she alone would now save Zenakabee was beyond her. What really mattered was when the ship would leave. Racking her brain for any useful information, she thought back to something that she had read in the paper. A terrible storm was predicted to hit the island on Sunday. It had warned the captains of ships to leave with the tide on Saturday night, for the storm would most likely start in the early morning. Either that or wait for a few days before the storm would pass.

Realizing that she had hit the jackpot, she tried thinking of when the tide would go out. Thinking of the newspaper today, she thought of the section related to the weather and such. Yes, the times were around…..the tide would go out at around one o'clock, come in at seven and….she forgot the next time. Wait, if her calculations were correct, then the tide would go out at one o'clock once again.

Then….what time was it? Oh no, she had absolutely no idea of the time. With that thought in mind, she fell into despair.

Tears racked her body and the pain that chorused throughout her body was the only thing that kept her awake. She had to save Zenakabee, but how? Frustration fogged her mind, obscuring all logic. She sat there for God knows how long and waited for the church bells to ring. They would tell her what time it was. In the meantime, she let the tears take over her. She was hopeless.

There they were and they rung….seven….eight…nine…ten…eleven…twelve…and stopped. It was midnight. She had less than an hour to carry her pathetic body to the docks and save Zenakabee. But the docks were still so far away! Wiping her tears, she removed her heels and painstakingly got up.

She walked slowly, bidding her pain to leave her. But try as she might and walk as slowly as she wished, the pain grew only worse. After awhile, she sat down and tried soothing the pain away. She rubbed her knee as she thought of the many minutes that she had already wasted. Wasted, when she put it that way, she sounded so much more slower than she really was.

Getting up once again and more resolute this time, she walked and walked and walked and walked and walked. What seemed like an eternity was only half of a whole hour.

Arriving at the docks, she was suddenly lost in the many ships that were there. Which ship was Zenakabee on?

Jack pushed the girl along. She was less cooperative than the other, but he couldn't let her go. No, he had to take her to the Pearl before the tide went out.

The church bells rang twelve times as he set foot on the Black Pearl, bringing the thing of a human along with him.

"Gibbs!" he shouted. "A new captive. Make sure that she doesn't escape," he ordered. He heard his stomach grumble; he hadn't eaten anything since when he had last left the Pearl. And that was well before noon.

"Cap'n, a female be…" Gibbs tried to explain, but Jack cut him off with a gesture of his hand.

"Aye, I know. You've been telling me that every time a female stepped aboard the ship. Don't matter."

Calling Matchere, a bald man, he requested, "Bread and rum and anything else if you happen to find it." Matchere nodded and left. Finally, food and peace, he thought to himself as he set off to his quarters.

Karyane stopped at a large and ancient ship. It had large white sails that seemed oddly out of place. On the side in glittering letters were the words, The Black Pearl White sails, they just didn't seem to fit the ship.

Was this the ship? Or was it the one before her? Or the one after her? She had asked herself this for the past twenty other ships. She saw a glimpse of a red bandana on board the ship. The red bandana bobbed up and down, a man was probably talking to someone. Wait……the bandana looked oddly familiar. She had a feeling that this was the ship, this odd and eccentric ship was the one which Zenakabee was aboard.

She looked to a dangling rope that was the only way on the ship, for there was no plank to climb. Walking gingerly to the swaying rope, she prepared her already blistered palms for even more pain. She held onto the rope and wrapped her legs around it. Slowly and tediously, she inched upward. With every movement, a bout of fire spread her small palms that were not accustomed to any form of rigorous work. A few feet from the railing, she heard the church bells chime.

She heard the orders of, "Go cut the rope, it's time!" God, if this wasn't the right ship, then there was no hope. She mustered all her strength, bit her lip so as not to scream with pain, and reached the railing. As soon as her tiny swollen hand reached the wood, another rough hand reached it as well. She peered into the eyes of a bearded man and he peered into hers. For a minute, they just stood there and stared at each other. Then a man shouted, "What's taking so long, Gibbs? We have to leave!" And she heard footsteps approach her.

She held onto the rope, slowly losing grip of the object. She pleaded with her eyes and asked theman not to cut the rope. "Please," she whispered. "I need to save my…"

And then a voice asked, "What is the problem?" Looking to the right of the man, she saw none other than Jack Sparrow, her step-sister's captor.

A dangerous smile crept onto Jack's face and he whispered with the loftiness of a man who has just found a rat among his clothes. A rat that had been chewing holes in the man's clothes for weeks. A rat that had puzzled the man so much, that the man had spent hours of thinking of how to rid himself of the rat. Jack was the contemptuous man and Karyane was the desperate rat, holding onto the rope for dear life. "So that is the problem."

A/N: There you have it, Chapter 2. Sorry it took so long, but I hope the length makes up for the wait. : Oh, do review!