Chapter 9

Jonas hastened his walk, more girls were starting to awake from their cabins and he couldn't tell who was real and who wasn't anymore. His head was spinning by the time he got to his quarters. He sat on the other side of the closed door, his head between his hands and his eyes shut as tight as he could.

Why did you do this to me? The voices echoed and overlapped.

I was going to be married.

What will my mother think?

Have you no heart?

I didn't want to die.

I DIDN'T WANT TO DIE!

I DIDN'T WANT TO DIE!

The screams of the souls pierced his ears. He didn't even realized he'd been screaming for them to stop.

"Jonas!" Cordelia shouted. She was holding his hands tightly, trying to pull them away from his ears. He was shaking. When she saw his eyes look at hers, she pulled him close. "It's okay. It's me. I'm real. I'm real," she cooed.

All around him there were images of sailors, young and old, mixed with images of women and children. They slowly faded from view, their faces emotionless and hollow.

"How many?" Cordelia asked once he stopped shaking.

"Nearly twenty."

They sat there, holding each other until Cordelia began to stand. She pulled him up. Jonas steadied his racing heart, and went to go sit at his desk.

He began sorting the books on his desk into piles. He'd read every single one three times over. Cordelia pulled a small stool over to the front of the desk and helped him.

"Can we talk about last night now?" she asked.

Jonas didn't take his eyes off his books, "Do we have to?"

"Jonas. It's getting worse. I just woke up to you screaming by the door. If you don't tell me what you found out, I'm going to shoot you again."

Her threat did it's purpose as he felt a pang in his chest; the nerves remembering the hole the bullet ripped through him. "He didn't have any answers."

"How could he not have any answers?" Cordelia asked. The man that Jonas had gone off ship to visit was a shaman. Their crew member, Wes, had suggested it. He told them that his old master had sent the man to jail for practicing paganism. It was worth a shot, one where Jonas had to get himself purposely arrested to speak to the man.

"He just didn't Cordelia. He said that there was nothing he could do about it. So, now we're right back to the start." Jonas's voice got low with frustration.

Cordelia's frustrations matched Jonas's, however. "That's great," she said, her voice dripping in sarcasm, "Really. At least now I've got all these girls on board. Now we can get to work on these damn near impossible tasks you need to complete."

"Cordelia, this is why I didn't want to talk about it-" she cut him off with her hand.

"You're right, because you know me. I just love putting your pieces together after every breakdown."

Jonas knew better than to fight with her. She'd been there when it all started; when he first started seeing the souls.

He didn't know if they were hallucinations or apparitions until one day they actually reached out and grabbed him. Since then, he'd been looking for a way out. He'd seen nearly every religious practitioner he knew of. Rabbis, priests, bishops, shamans, gurus, monks. You name it, he's met with one. He had nearly every holy book on his wall, and read each one over and over again, trying to find examples of his torture, but none held the answer.

On top of it all, it didn't help that Daemon so casually watched him when the souls appeared. Between the bodies, he could always see Daemon Stygian's twisted grin, watching him suffer.

Even now, while he and Cordelia fought over their next move, he half expected to see Daemon appear, just to revel in the conflict.

"Cordelia, you're right. We can work on this some more. We can begin the Selection I planned. Just, please, don't give up on me." His voice was breaking, the stress from everything finally reaching a tipping point.

Cordelia's expression softened. "Sorry, you know I get carried away sometimes, but I'd never leave you alone like that." She stood and pushed the books to the side. "You need sleep. Go to bed, I'll start the girls off with one of the challenges."

He stood as well, heading to his mountain of duvets. "Cordelia," he said, "be nicer to them, too. I can feel the fear on some of them. They aren't pirates in need of a leader."

Cordelia recalled her own youth. She smiled at the thought of her own innocence and how incredulously naive she was. "Psh, sink or swim. We only need the ones who swim anyway," she joked, as Jonas fell swiftly asleep when he hit the mattress.

The sun was still low in the morning sky, but the heat was beginning to build. It was going to be another scorching Caribbean day. Before she'd gone out on deck she'd changed clothes into something more breathable. She simply wore a loose fitting linen undershirt, cropped trousers, her first mate's hat, and went barefoot, seeing as the easiest way to climb the ropes was to be barefoot.

"Iggy," she stopped a crewman in his work.

"Yes, Moss," he presented himself, albeit slightly apprehensive.

Cordelia flourished the action of looking around the deck. "Who've you got working the ropes with you today?"

"M'self, Potts, Flinn, Edgar, and Georgie."

"Right, and what would you say the hardest job above deck would be?"

"Wonderful. I'd like you all to tie the the sails back up then, if you will."

Iggy looked confused, "Moss, that was nearly an hour of work, and will be another hour to put 'em back up. It also a sunny day which would most usually present either you or the Captain with the order to let the sails down, like they are." Iggy's speech was littered with improper grammar, as he tried to impress Cordelia.

"Ah, right you are, Iggy. Unfortunately, we have some guests on board who need to be learning the ropes. I figured today would be a clear day to do so." Her voice became low and held a warning, "That is, Iggy, unless you think you know better?"

Iggy stood up straighter and gathered up the rigging in his arms. "Not at all, Moss. Let me inform the boys of that right away." He ran off, climbing the ropes like a spider-monkey, rushing to get the sails down. Cordelia bet that it wouldn't even be half the time Iggy quoted her, judging by the pace he was prompting the others to work.

Cordelia fixed her hat, and went down to the cabins. At the end of the hall, she saw the door to the Yellow Room wide open. So that's where they hide.

She marched over to it, presenting her face for the room to see. She did a headcount to find that all but two women were in that room. "Ladies," she said.

The small talk stopped and all eyes fell on Cordelia.

"Welcome to your first full day aboard the Jewel of Hades. I'd like you all to follow me." Cordelia turned to leave, and didn't hear a single ruffle of fabric behind her. Again she turned to face the group of women. "Now. That was an order." As if snapping back to reality, the sixteen women in the room got up and filed into a line down the narrow hallway behind Cordelia.

When they got on the top deck, Cordelia turned to the girl nearest and asked, "Where are the other two?"

The blonde looked frightened and could only muster out a couple of choked 'uhm's before a girl in the back spoke up.

"They're already here, Moss!" Cordelia turned to the voice, and saw them pointing up at the rigging. The Asian girl, the one who had foregone the dress at last night's party, was up on the rigging, helping the five crew members tie up the sails. Above that, in the crows nest she saw two figures, one undoubtedly the other missing girl.

"Right," Moss muttered under her breath. "You there! What is your name?" she asked of the girl helping.

Iggy nudged the woman, getting her attention, and repeated Cordelia's question to her.

"Florence Alberta de Capitani."

"Right then, Florence. It's nice to see you know what you're doing, but I didn't bring you aboard the Jewel to help my men do their own jobs." Florence gave a curt nod, and looped her foot in a line, gently lowering herself to the deck.

"And Mouse!" she called up to the crow's nest.

"Aye, Moss?"

"Who've you got up there with you?"

"The new hand you've brought aboard, Rob!"

Cordelia sighed, and wiped away the sweat on her brow. "Mouse! I didn't bring on any new hands, not any boys at least. Send that one down!"

There was a moment, where you could hear the two in the crow's nest talking but the words were lost to the wind. The other figure copied Florence's foot loop, and used a single rope to glide all the way down.

Cordelia momentarily had to remember this one. This one that tried to hide in the group of sailors on the charter ship. It was true, she looked boyish, but you could see feminine features in her eyes and jaw. It was clear that the girl was used to taking on a boy's alias.

"Your name? The real one?"

"Robin."

Cordelia saw the embarrassment and contempt in the girl's eyes. "Robin, why don't you join the other's here. You'll have an opportunity to learn the crow's nest later," Cordelia said just loud enough to have only Robin hear it.

"Now that we all are present, I'd like to introduce you to this Selection more in depth. The captain sends his regards this morning, and has asked me to orient all of you. You see, you all will be taught how to be a pirate on the Jewel of Hades for this next week. You all will learn the rigging, ropes, cannons, and even how to work the kitchens below. At the end of this week, you should know this ship inside and out. After that I will have a second challenge for you. I'd suggest you all learn your jobs well." Cordelia didn't want to outright threaten the girls, especially since Jonas hadn't yet decided what he would do with the ones that failed, but she needed some incentive to prevent insubordination.

"Lovely," she said, and turned to see the five men sitting on top of the Jacob's ladder, waiting for their orders as well. "Men come down here and meet your new pupils." They flopped lazily to the floor, and came to Cordelia's side.

"Ladies, I need ten of you willing to work the ropes." Hesitantly, six hands rose into the air. Cordelia gestured for them to come forward and then picked out four more at random. "Pair up, and go with one of my men. Iggy," she said and he turned at attention, "You're in charge while I'm gone, keep a careful watch on these ladies. Just the basics today. I would rather not fish them out of the ocean this morning."

"Aye, Moss."

"The rest of you, follow me."

She led them down to the kitchens, dropping off two more girls with her two cooks. The rest traversed down to the eighth deck, where the cannons were. "We aren't in battle right now, so we only have three men active down here. If we were attacking, each of these cannons would be manned." Cordelia waved over the three men playing cards in the far corner.

"Men, I have six girls here who need to learn how to fire a cannon properly. We are out in open water, so feel free to fire at will. Two with each of you." The girls acquainted themselves with the pirate they'd been matched with, and her crew members immediately began teaching them the basics of how to handle a cannonball without blowing one of your hands off.

Cordelia sighed to herself as she climbed all eight flights of stairs. All the girls were learning their roles, and she didn't have to herd them like cats anymore. Back on the main deck, she went to check on Jonas in his quarters. He was still fast asleep, and she left him like that. She hoped he was exhausted enough to sleep through the cannon fire but she doubted it.

She watched as her five men taught the girls how to properly loop their feet in a rope. It was entertaining to see shoes strewn around the deck as all the girls were now barefoot. She noted that Florence and Robin had paired up, and were with Edgar. Florence and Edgar sat against the railing, talking casually as they watched the remaining eight girls struggle with the coarse and heavy rope. Robin sat behind the Jacob's ladder, each leg through one hole, looking bored out of her mind.

"Edgar," Cordelia called out. "You can move onto more advanced topics for those two if you wish."

"Aye, Moss!" he called back.

He began instructing the two women to climb, each of them doing so with ease, up to the first main sail. Cordelia, satisfied with the work that was being done, retreated once again into the captain's quarters to retrieve the small ledger Jonas had written himself. It was filled with notes he'd gotten from Daemon Stygian while back in jail. She figured it be good to study that while the women worked, so she could be better prepared to know who was who.

Thanks for reading everybody!

I'm hoping to get out a bunch of chapter to make up for last time, and also to cover my butt for the week of Christmas. Let me know what you all think! I look forward to your reviews!

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Till next time!