Authoress Note: Welcome to Chapter 8 of Fake It. Thank you to those who have left reviews for this story. It really does mean a lot to me. Writing seems to be the only thing besides drawing as of late that brings me joy. I hope that you guys continue to love this story. Without further ado Chapter 8. ENJOY!

Chapter 8

Bonnie stood next to Barbossa as he moved the wheel as they continued to cut across the water with ease.

Barbossa looked over at Bonnie with a coy smile of silver and gold.

Bonnie shifted a little slightly as she felt his eyes on her. Her head turned sharply as she looked at him.

"Feisty as ever." He mused as he looked at Bonnie with a cheeky smile. He had to admit that he enjoyed making her life a living hell since she chose the wrong man to begin with ever since she had joined the crew all those years ago.

Bonnie scoffed. "You won't be getting anything out of me, Captain." She said, narrowing her eyes at him. "You may have tricked my husband. But I won't fall for your tricks."

Barbossa grabbed her arm in anger, jerking her towards him. "You chose wrong all those years ago. You could've been happy with me."

Bonnie jerked her arm out of his strong hold and her eyes narrowed again before spatting in his face anger contorting her lips. "Never."

Barbossa grabbed her arm again pulling her to him again, his eyes narrowing at her. He wiped the spit from his face as he looked at her in anger. "You would ne'er admit that you loved me more than Jack. I know yer, Bonnie." Barbossa said as he touched her cheek lightly causing her to try and jerk away from him. "Now your going to do what I say. You'll change your clothes and bring Miss Turner a gown as well."

Bonnie's eyes widened not expecting him to order her to wear a gown again. She swore to herself that she would never do anything to appease him, but she knew that she needed to if she was going to survive after the curse that was upon them would change. Bonnie swallowed the lump in her throat knowing that she had no choice. "Alright." She said, jerking her arm out of his hold and jerked her body away from him. She moved away from him and down the stairs knowing what she had to do.

PIRATES

Elizabeth stocked the cabin back and forth in irritation.

Bonnie opened the door dressed in a fine black and burgundy silk dress. Her hair was down over her shoulders with no bandana covering her blond locks. She carried a black silk dress in her arms. "You'll be dining with the Captain, and he requests you wear this."

"Tell the captain that I am disinclined to acquiesce to his request." Elizabeth snapped at the older woman.

Bonnie let out a breath and shook her head lightly. "He said you say that! He also said if that be the case, you'll be dining with the crew, and you'll be naked. I doubt you want that."

Angry Elizabeth held out her hand for the dress.

Bonnie slowly handed it to the young woman. "You brought this upon yourself just like I have brought this upon myself as well."

Elizabeth looked at Bonnie with wide eyes. "What?"

"I'm in the same place as you. I cannot even go to my husband."

"But you should be with him."

Bonnie shrugged her shoulders softly looking away. "That may be the case, but it's not easy. The Captain won't let me go even if I was able to." She shook her head. "I'll never be able to escape him. He is making sure that Jack and I never see one another ever again."

Elizabeth took a breath and nodded her head weakly as she began to dress in her gown that was given to her.

PIRATES

Barbossa entered the cabin once Elizabeth had changed and saw Bonnie standing with the younger woman.

He was followed by pirates carrying trays of food, wine, table setting and a bunch of everything.

Elizabeth stood at the small table in the dress looking down gripping her hands at her sides.

"Maid or not, it fits you." Barbossa said, looking at Elizabeth.

"Dare I ask the fate of its previous owner?"

"Now, none of that. Please dig in." Barbossa said as the table was set.

Elizabeth took a seat and cut a tiny piece of meat, eating it daintily.

"No need to stand on ceremony, and no call to impress anyone. You must be hungry."

Elizabeth quickly dropped the pretense. She began to eat like she was starving.

Barbossa watched her intently. "Try the wine."

Elizabeth took a large gulp of the wine, before tearing off a hunk of bread before devouring it.

"And the apples - one of those next."

Bonnie took a breath as she watched Elizabeth going for a bite before stopping.

Elizabeth realized that his gaze was on her and neither Bonnie nor he were eating food. "It's poisoned!" She shoved her plate away and took the opportunity to palm her knife.

Barbossa let out a laugh.

Bonnie bit her lower lip trying to not laugh herself.

"Oh, there would be no sense in killing you, Miss Turner."

"Would that I could." He produced the medallion, letting it dangle from his fingers. "Do you not know what this is, then?"

"It's a pirate medallion."

Bonnie slowly took a seat next to Barbossa feeling him jerk her down into a seat. "It's a piece of the treasure of Isla de Muerta."

Elizabeth gave an infinitesimal shrug of her shoulders, intrigued despite what she was in.

"Ah, so you don't know as much as you pretend. Back when Cortes was cutting a great bloody swath through the New World, a high priest gave him all the gold they had, with one condition: that he spare the people's lives. Of course, Cortes being Cortes, he didn't." Barbossa's hand went to Bonnie's leg squeezing it before nodding his head. "He'd've made a great pirate, that one." Babossa got up to his feet and moved to a shelf. He put a key into a medium-sized polished wooden box. He opened the box. "So the priest, with his dying breath, called on the power of the blood of his people, and put on the gold a curse. If anyone took so much as a single piece, as he was compelled by greed, by greed he would be consumed."

Inside the chest were charts, some gold, a sextant and a few pages of Mayan CODEX, pieces of tree bark inscribed with Mayan glyphs.

Barboss removed them carefully, setting them onto the table and poured over them. "Within a day of leaving port for Spain, the treasure ship carrying the gold ... something went wrong. The ship run aground, every man aboard dead, save one. He survived long enough to hide the gold ashore. Over time, the dark magic of the curse seeped into the place, making it a cursed island. An island of death. Isla de Muerta." He looked up.

Elizabeth had been rapt, involved with what he was telling her. He feigned a dismissive attitude. "That's all very interesting, but I hardly believe in ghost stories anymore."

Barbossa got angry, standing up sweeping the food off of the table.

Bonnie moved quickly before any of the food landed on her.

"You idiot girl! It's no make-believe! My crew and I, we found the gold, and we did more than take one piece, we took it all. Rich men we were and we spent it and traded it and gave it away in exchange for drink and food and pleasant company. But we found out: the drink could not sate us, and the food turned to ashes in our mouths, and no amount of pleasant company could ease our torment." He regained his composure. "We are cursed men, Miss Turner, condemned, to be forever consumed by our own greed. Gold calls to US, always, and we are driven, always, to find more, and add it to the treasure." He picked up the priceless Codex and crushed them in his fist. "There is but one way to remove the curse. All of the scattered pieces of the treasure must be restored in full, and the blood repaid." He threw the pages aside. "We've recovered every piece - save for this." He held up the medallion. "And as for the blood repaid … that's what we have for you. And that's why there's no sense killing you. Yet."

Elizabeth stared at him horrified at what she had learned.

Using the toe of his boot, Barbossa flipped up an apple off the floor, catching it, extending it to Elizabeth. "Apple?"

Elizabeth slowly reached for the apple and then came out of her chair, trying to run around Barbossa.

They struggled briefly, and then suddenly he shoved her away.

Elizabeth's stolen knife was buried into his chest to the hilt.

Bonnie let out a breath looking away, shaking her head lightly.

Barbossa was completely unaffected. He opened his shirt to get a better look at the knife, before pulling it out with very little effort. There was blood on the blad, but none anywhere else. "I'm curious - after killing me, what is it you were planning to do next?"

Elizabeth backed away and whirled around and barrelled right out the door. She came to a dead stop. She stared her jaw working to scream but nothing came out.

The pirate crew worked at their stations, coiling lines, navigating the ship, swabbing the decks, but where the moonlight fell across their bodies, they were nothing but skeletons.

Elizabeth turned away from the sight.

Barbossa stood just inside the doorway, out of the moonlight with Bonnie behind him. He grabbed her roughly by the shoulder and jerked her back around.

Elizabeth shut her eyes.

"Look!" He shook her. "LOOK! The moonlight shows us for what we really are! We are not among the living and so we cannot die -" He spun her back around to face him. He leaned forward into the moonlight showing who he really was. "But neither are we dead! We have all the desires of the living, but cannot satisfy them! Ten years I have parched of thirst, and able to quench it! Ten years, I have been starving to death - and haven't died!" He raised his hand. "And I have not felt anything for ten years ... Not the wind on my face, nor the spray of the sea …" He reached towards Elizabeth. "nor the flesh of a woman …"

Elizabeth flinched away from his skeletal hand.

He dropped his hand before taking a bottle of wine from the open case beside the cabin door, uncorking it with his teeth and raising it. "You'd best start believing in ghost stories, Miss Turner. Because now you're in one." He tilted the bottle and drank, it ran over his jaw, and through his rib cage, drenching his clothes.

Elizabeth darted around them and back into the cabin shutting the door.

Barbossa hurled the bottle away from him around Bonnie who stood there closing her eyes knowing that this wasn't something that Elizabeth shouldn't have been dealing with.

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This is the end of Chapter 8. I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review and let me know what you think. I'm going to try my best with updating this story. Until next time.