Disclaimer: I don't own POTC. Chapter title is an AMAZING short story by Edgar Allen Poe.

Chapter 6: The Masque of the Red Death

Afterwards, the three of them stayed in the kitchen as all of the children went off to play. Gretchen was still talking to Will. "Excuse me Gretchen, perhaps you should help us with the dishes," Camille said, interrupting her.

Ana Maria overheard her. "Camille!" she said in shock. "She is a guest, she will do no such thing," she said, taking more plates off the table.

Gretchen looked at Camille. "I think you should listen to her."

Camille looked at Will. "I'm sorry," she mouthed. Will nodded, letting her know that it was okay. She turned to help with the dishes, but Gabriel casually pulled her aside.

"I think this may be the best time for me to speak with you," he whispered.

She nodded, excusing herself and leading Gabriel to what used to be her father's study. By now she was extremely nervous about what he had to say. "This has to do with the treasure, I'm assuming?" she asked first.

Gabriel nodded. "Yes, it does. Priscilla doesn't know anything, and Gretchen refuses to even acknowledge anything about our mother anymore. I've been searching for the answer, but I'm afraid I can't figure out what went wrong."

Camille watched him patiently, trying to think of all the horrible things that could have gone wrong with the treasure. What if Long John was still alive? Or if the treasure was cursed? She remembered Jack and Will telling her of Captain Barbossa and his crew of immortals, and bit her lip.

"It turns out that the treasure did have a curse put on it," he continued. "But then I get lost. You see, I managed to track down both pieces of the map. And it was hard to decipher at first-I can't recall the exact words on it-but, it says something about the treasure that one keeps being a death sentence."

"What? You must've read it wrong, we didn't keep any of it for ourselves. We gave all of it away," Camille insisted.

"I didn't read it wrong."

"Well then, how do you know we are in danger?"

Gabriel said nothing, but rolled up his sleeve. Camille looked at him questioningly, for she saw nothing but his arm. He gestured for her to follow him toward the fireplace, and squatted down in front of it. "Watch closely, just below my elbow," he instructed.

She obeyed, and in a few seconds saw a large dark mark appear. It was a skull, and coming out of one of the eye sockets was a snake. It glowed in the light of the fire, and she let out a small gasp. The red lines seemed to glow, like the symbol had been freshly carved in Gabriel's skin.

She could see that he was in pain by doing this. He clamped his other hand around it and stood up, back away from the fire. He looked at her afterwards. "I have reason to believe that you have a similar mark."

Camille stared at him, and then into the fireplace. She took a deep breath, and shook her head. "I don't want to do it."

"Camille, please. I must know."

"But what does it matter? What does the mark mean, anyway?"

Gabriel shook his head. "I don't know. But it's on the map."

She knelt down as best she could in her dress, and rolled up her own sleeve, looking away at first. Slowly, she began to feel a shallow cut. Looking down, she saw the exact same mark forming just below the inside of her elbow. And it burned! She pulled away before it had time to form completely. She stood up, still looking in to the fire. "We've been marked," she said sadly. But what did they symbolize? "I've got to tell Jack."

"No, he mustn't know of this!" Gabriel protested.

"But if anyone can help us, he can. He knows more about curses and treasure that you or I will ever know," she insisted. "You can trust him. He doesn't know about us," she said, lowering the last part to a whisper.

"It's not that. I'm not sure that I entirely trust that man," Gabriel confided.

"Gabriel," she said sincerely, "The women on the island died protecting the treasure. And we were the ones who brought about their death. If we can do anything to make up for that, it's learn about this mark."

"Aye, spoken like a true warrior." They both turned around, and Jack was standing in the doorway.

Camille looked at Gabriel, but he ducked out of the room immediately, brushing past Jack. Jack looked after him, than shrugged. He looked back at Camille and saw the horrified look on her face. "Love, you look as if you've just seen a ghost."

She swallowed. "Jack, the treasure…it was cursed."

"No, it wasn't. What is Gabriel telling you? Don't let him scare you."

Camille looked at him. He looked so entirely sure of himself, and she couldn't figure out why Gabriel had doubts about trusting him. "Jack…" she began slowly. "We did give away everything we took with us from The Rune, didn't we?"

"Of course we did. Camille, what is going on?" Jack asked sternly.

She took a deep breath and turned to the fire. "I have something to show you." Taking a few more deep breaths, she bent down in front of the fire, exposing her arm once again. This time she watched as it formed, slowly at first but then the lines came together in a deep shade of red. "Ouch!" she cried out as the pain surged up her arm. She took it away, shaking it out and covering it back up with her sleeve.

She turned to look at Jack, who was still gazing into the fire. "What does it mean; do you know? Jack, please answer me."

"It's a symbol of death," he replied monotonously, still looking into the fire.

She felt like she was going to throw up. "What?"

He was still looking at the flames, and they danced in his eyes. After a long moment, he rolled up his sleeve and did the same as Camille. Just over his tattoo of the sparrow flying in front of the sun, the same mark appeared. He stared at it, wide-eyed as it boiled on his skin.

Camille remained quiet as she watched it and him. "Doesn't it hurt?"

"Not as much as some things, love," he said thoughtfully before pulling away. "Gabriel has one, too?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"Then I'm assuming that the child and that wretched woman have one as well. It was the five of us who touched the treasure. But why the curse?" he said, talking to himself more than Camille. She crossed her arms over her chest, trying her best to be patient and let him think. Finally, he made eye contact with her. "Did Gabriel tell you anything else about the curse?"

"He said that it was meant for those who kept the treasure for themselves. Jack, we must still have something."

He bit his lip, thinking hard. "I don't know," he said, sounding defeated.

Camille sighed. "Curse of the Sullivans," she murmured.

At that moment, a horrible realization hit Jack. His eyes grew so wide that she thought they were going to burst out of his head. He reached into his coat pocket, and drew out a small ring. "Sullivan," he said. Now he knew that MS had been Camille's mother's initials.

She looked at him, terrified. "You took something!" she nearly shrieked. "Jack Sparrow, what could have possibly caught your eye?"

"I'm so sorry, darling," he said in a low voice. He sounded so devastated as he dropped the ring into her palm.

She stared at him blankly. "A ring? We are cursed to something terrible because you kept a ring? Jack…" she said hopelessly.

"Well it isn't as if I'd done it on purpose," he said, becoming defensive. It was true, he had completely forgotten about that ring that he'd found. He felt bad enough for dragging Camille into this, and he was regretting the whole incident again.

"Jack, I know that look. Don't go regretting everything again. There has got to be a way to solve this." She examined the little ring in her hand, noticing the sparkling emerald in the middle. "Oh my God, I've seen this ring before!" she exclaimed. She squinted her eyes, looking for the initials. "This is-was, I should say-my mother's engagement ring."

Jack nodded. "I didn't know that when I pocketed it," he admitted.

She looked at him and rolled her eyes. Then she focused her attention back on the ring. It was so pretty. She slid it onto her ring finger, and it fit perfectly. "It's so beautiful," she said, admiring it for a moment and forgetting all about the curse.

She felt badly for yelling at Jack. It could have been any one of them who had unknowingly kept a small piece of the treasure. "Would you like your ring back?" she asked in a gentler voice.

"'s not mine," he said, and she could see that he was still upset. She bit her lip. There had to be something that would cheer him up.