Ana Maria erupted into a whole new bout of laughter. "Do you hear THAT, Lizzy?" She howled. "Maybe we were right about her after all!"
Elizabeth just grinned as she lifted a pale blue-white gown from her trunk.
Chapter Three…Intuitive Sense
"My incredibly intuitive sense of the female creature tells me you're troubled." I flinched and moved away from the man who suddenly appeared beside me. "That can't be a good sign." Jack muttered at my nervousness. "What is it?"
"Nothing." I whispered as I looked over the sea.
"Now, that can't be true." He leaned over and planted his face inches from my own. "You're eyes don't lie. That's one thing I've noticed about you in the past month. You're eyes are too revealing. You can't hide anything if the person you're hiding it from catches a look at your eyes."
"Is that how you knew?" I moved away from him again.
"Knew what?" He followed me once more.
"That I was a woman." I leaned on the railing of the prow, still watching as the waves lapped at one another in the Pearl's wake.
"It was ONE way." He answered with a thoughtful look on his face.
"What were the others?" I asked as he leaned beside me, facing the deck as I faced the water.
"Do you really want to know?" He turned to me and I turned to face the deck, avoiding his eyes.
"Yes." I lied. "I REALLY want to know. How did you know I was a woman."
"Well, for one." He stroked his goatee. "The way you walked. You see, most pirate MEN swagger, like so." He demonstrated. "But YOU on the other hand, FLOATED, like SO." He demonstrated again. "You were obsessed with things being tidy, organized, sparkling clean." He shuddered. "Obviously not male. Now, how did YOU know I knew YOU weren't a man?"
I smiled. "You never pushed me away, for one." He grimaced. "You gave me my own cabin when none of the other's had their own except Gibbs." He nodded. "And my own suspicions were confirmed when you didn't show the least bit of surprise when Pintel and Ragetti caught me."
Jack shook his head with a smile. "Intuitive, aren't we, Miss."
"Another question." I looked straight in his deep, black eyes. "Why didn't you say anything? Why did you let me continue my masquerade?"
Jack took my chin between his thumb and forefinger as he looked back. "I'd prefer it if my crew trusted me enough to let me know if they were male or female. I wanted you to tell me yourself. It's the same with your name. I'll call you Alex or Miss until you trust me enough to tell me who you really are. I don't ask for more than what a person wishes to tell me about his or herself."
He stepped away, though his eyes remained on mine and soon I was forced to look away. Jack sighed and I looked up at the sound of his boots retreating. "CAPTAIN!" I called out and he turned to face me with a surprised look on his face.
"Yes?" He asked patiently.
I took a deep breath. "My real name is Virginia."
Jack smiled at me disarmingly. "Well, then. Welcome aboard the Black Pearl, Virginia." He turned and swaggered off singing about really bad eggs.
The next day I woke to Ana Maria's hand shaking me viciously. "Look, Ginia, I know you like your sleep but HONESTLY! We need you up there!"
"Why?" I groaned. "I don't hear any cannon fire. Or waves crashing. As a matter of fact, I don't hear anything what-so-ever!" I sat up quickly and stare at. "That means land?" I asked her.
Ana Maria grinned. "Aye. That means land!"
"Wahoo!" I jumped out of bed and grabbed the blue-white gown I'd worn the day before. Pulling the gown over my head I listened as the dark-skinned woman filled me in.
"It's an island." She said, quickly. "Jack's had the men digging up there all day. It's noon by the way. He claims that when he captained the Pearl the first time, he buried most of the loot here in secret. They stopped between four islands and he rowed to this one and buried his treasure here. Jack said he wants it back now because he thinks the crewmen deserve a few free trinkets."
"How does he know that the treasure's still here?" I asked as we hurried for the deck.
"His compass." Ana Maria answered. "Do you know anything about it?"
"Just the stories." I answered back. "That it'll lead you to your heart's desire."
"Precisely." She laughed. "And right now, Jack wants that treasure very very VERY badly, for some reason."
"Any ideas?" We had reached the deck and I saw Jack standing on shore, scratching his head as he walked about to various spots.
"Not a one." She told me. "All I know is, every time Jack gets where the compass points, the arrow changes direction. He's getting really angry about it too."
"Where's Elizabeth?"
"Sick." Ana Maria rolled her eyes. "Says her stomach's rolling."
"Odd. She was fine yesterday."
"I personally think she just doesn't want to dig."
I laughed. "Funny. Sounds like a spoiled, little rich kid."
"She IS a spoiled, little rich kid." Will laughed as he walked past us with a shovel. "Now, get out there and report to Jack before he gets an even worse attitude."
"Yes, sir!" We laughed as he walked off.
Ana Maria grabbed a pair of shovels and handed me one. "Let's go then." She smiled as she climbed down a rope ladder and splashed into the water below. I rolled my eyes, followed her down, and marched straight for Jack.
"Where to, Captain?" I laughed as he turned towards me.
He looked at me and then at his compass and then back at me. Snapping his compass shut, he said, "Um, right, then… Err.. Well…" He thrust the compass at me. "You choose."
I opened it and thought about what I wanted most. 'I want to please my captain. Finding his treasure will do that, so I want that treasure.' The arrow spun around a full four times before settling in one direction. I marched in that direction until the arrow started to spin and then I tossed the compass back to jack. Digging my shovel into the sand I laughed at his expression. "Well, you said CHOOSE!" I told him.
He shook his head and opened the compass to resume his pacing. A good two hours passed and I felt more than ready to collapse when my shovel got stuck. I tried pulling it, dragging it, jumping on it, and everything else I could think of before dropping down on my bottom. I dug the sand and dirt from around the shovel to see what was the matter and I felt smooth, hard wood. "CAPTAIN!" I yelled as I continued to dig. "There's something here!"
I heard sand being tossed about as pirates came running. Jack fell to his knees next to me and pushed the sand away to show a sparrow over a sunset sea burned into a flat bit of wood. "Dig here, boys!" He laughed. "I think Virginia deserves a break. Ana Maria, help her to the ship."
Ana Maria pulled me to my feet and I leaned against her in relief as we made our way to the Pearl. "So?" She smiled at me. "How did you find it?"
I sighed in exhaustion as she helped me down the hall to my room. "I just thought about how badly I wanted to make Jack happy. I figured that finding his treasure would make him happy."
Ana Maria smiled as she laid my dress over a chair. "Aye. That certainly DID make him happy. I wonder what he'll reward you with."
"Reward?" I whispered. "What do you mean?"
"Well, of course he'll reward you." She laughed. "His compass didn't work for him so he'd never have found it if you hadn't."
I shook my head. "I don't want a reward. All I want is to keep my captain happy."
"Well, isn't that sweet." Pintel and Ragetti stood in the doorway. "The poppet, just wants to make the Cap'n happy."
"We could teach her a few tricks he'd like." Ragetti smiled wickedly beside his friend.
Ana Maria stood up angrily. "What the devil do the two of you want?"
Pintel glared at her. "The Cap'n wants to see you in his cabin."
"Tell him I'm coming." She watched them suspiciously as they walked off. Turning to me slowly, Ana Maria spoke again. "Lock the door once I'm gone. Pintel enjoyed himself a bit too much for that to have been an innocent visit." I nodded and she handed me her pistol. "Can you shoot?" I nodded again. "Good. You've got four shots. Make them count." And with that, she was gone and I was locking the door.
