Chapter 25
The days passed slowly, with Rhia in a fowl mood, and shouts and other unpleasant sound coming from the deck. Neither of them dared to move, except once, when Rhia had sneaked up a little to grab the compass. Daybreak was just beginning to peak over the horizon when someone called from the crows nest.
"LAND HO!"
"Bring me the chest, I want it, and in one piece, if the girl is there, bring her too. In one piece, I want to watch her bonny squirm as he hears her death cries." Jones ordered. But Bill and Rhia heard none of this; they quietly clambered down and swam to shore.
After a few quick minutes of searching they found some sturdy sticks and flat pieces of driftwood which they tied together with vine. These would have to work for shovels. Rhia took out the compass, and thinking only of finding Davy Jones's chest, she looked at it. Then followed it towards a spot some twenty feet away. Then rapidly began digging, Bill helped. After a few minutes they heard a thump as their shovels hit something. They hastily pulled it out. It was the chest; Rhia grinned, and withdrew a dagger and the key. She unlocked the chest with a click.
"Um, Rhia, is there really a heart in there?" Bill asked nervously.
"Only one way to find out, but whatever it is; I'm killing it." Rhia said, and opened the chest.
Both of them just looked on, transfixed, at the living, beating heart of Davy Jones. A crashing behind them brought them to their senses. There was no time to destroy it. Rhia grabbed it and wrapped it in cloth, then hid it in her shirt, Bill grabbed the chest, and they ran for their lives. The chest weighed Bill down, and, despite all of what he had tried to do to her, Rhia tried to help him. She grabbed the other handle of the chest and they ran. Then stopped dead in their tracks, they were suddenly surrounded by Davy Jones's crew. The crew seized them and dragged them back to the ship.
"Throw them in the brig for now." Jones shouted. "We must have the father and mother at the funeral of their own child, mustn't we?" Bill was shoved in a cell with his grandfather, but Rhia was thrown into the one next to a limp David. After she had stopped blinking stars, she looked over. David was hunched over, leaning against the bars separating them. His back was a bloody, scarred mess. Rhia swallowed and gently touched his shoulder. He jumped and looked around.
"Rhia! Rhia what are you doing here?" He asked, worriedly.
"Uh, slight miscalculation, we ended up getting caught. Now Jones is going to go and find the Pearl." Rhia said, avoiding details.
-From here on out, The younger Bill will keep his name and his grandfather will revert to his nickname 'Bootstrap'.-
"So Jones has his heart." Bootstrap said glumly.
"He has the chest." Rhia sighed, she felt David clasp his hand around hers.
"So what does Jones plan on doing with us?" Bill asked.
"With you, me, and David, I don't know." Bootstrap said, not wanting to give details to what would happen to Rhia.
"What about Rhia?" Bill asked, in a worried tone.
"Whatever pain and misery he can think of that will kill me. It's not going to be going down in a pirate ship battle if he has any say in it. He's going to make my death as painful and bloody as he possibly can." Rhia said, casually, but David's hand gripped hers tighter.
"What! Why?" Bill asked, standing up in outrage.
"I've caused him way too much hell for him to want me alive. He just wants to end it. I've given him full run around, and it's been fun." Rhia said grinning. Bill looked at her, stunned that she could be this casual about it.
"He's going to skin you alive and you're just sitting there doing nothing? Shouldn't' you be trying to escape?" He asked outraged. "You have gone insane."
"I've been insane for a while, but this isn't one of those insane moments, that I promise you. So how'd you get aboard anyway?" Rhia asked.
"Is this really the time for this?" Bill asked.
"Yes, just sit down and tell me, otherwise your just going to slip and fall down." Grumbling Bill sat down and explained that he had followed in a long boat from the Pearl.
"Oh, that's simple enough isn't it?" Rhia said, leaning against the bars, between her and David, who was fighting back a lecture almost identical to Bill's.
What was she thinking? He was going to kill her. No! He would find a way to stop that, to save her. Somehow, but he didn't know yet.
Well, there's one chapter. What will happen to Rhia and the gang next? Read on to find out.
