A Line In The Sand
Chapter Four

The lights in Tia Dalma's hut where a dull sort of orange and it was warm in a sleepy sort of way that made Victoria lean her head against the wall and draw her knees up closer to her chest.

Will was watching Elizabeth, who was staring straight ahead, her eyes empty. He had been looking like that at her ever since she clambered down into the longboat without Jack. Something about the look niggled at Victoria because there was something in it that she had never seen before, at least not levelled at Elizabeth. It looked remarkably like distrust, but it couldn't be. She narrowed her eyes and studied him as Tia Dalma passed out mugs.

The last one was thrust into her hands and her fingers closed around it automatically. She looked up at Tia Dalma and who was looking at her oddly. When Victoria realised it was pity on her face, she scowled and sat up straighter, stretching her legs out in front of her.

"There ain't nuthin' to be ashamed of in heartbreak," Tia said gently.

Victoria's fingers clenched convulsively on her mug and she stared into it, feeling something creaking inside her. Dimly, she heard the toasts raised to Jack Sparrow and tilted her mug.

"A selfish man," she added. "But who had the measure of a person better than anyone."

She gulped down most of the contents of the mug and felt it burn on the way down in a way rum never did, prickling the tears already in her eyes. She spluttered and wiped her mouth with her grimy sleeve, but no one seemed to have noticed because Tia Dalma was talking excitedly.

"What would any of you be willin' to do, hmm? Would you sail to the ends of the Earth and beyon' to fetch back witty Jack and him precious Pearl?"

There was a chorus of "ayes" and Elizabeth's whispered, fervent "yes."

Something like hope welled up in Victoria. It wasn't over. She didn't have to go back and settle down with that odd creaking in her chest. She could drown it out in another adventure, to World's End.

"Aye," she said, raising her glass and meeting Tia Dalma's eyes defiantly.

Tia's lips stretched back over her blackened teeth as she grinned at Victoria.

"If you gonna brave da weird and haunted shores at World's End, then you will need a Captain who knows dhose waters."

And sure enough, when Barbossa tramped down the stairs and Jack the monkey ran to him with an excitable shriek, the creaking inside Victoria was forgotten in a wave of shock and horror.

The atmosphere on Sao Feng's ship wasn't much better than it had been at Tia Dalma's and the weather only made it worse.

"Are you cold?" Will asked, his face red and frost glittering in his beard.

Victoria looked at him and he managed a smile as he sat beside her. She lifted up the blanket and he shuffled inside and put his arms around her.

"Are you all right, Will?" she said after a moment.

"I'm fine."

"Liar. You haven't been the same since you were aboard the Dutchman."

"I have to do what I promised. He's our father, Vicky."

"He abandoned us, Will," she said, turning her head to watch an iceberg as they passed. "And he abandoned us for no other reason than to go pirating."

"And you're saying I have a better reason to abandon him?"

"You love Elizabeth," Victoria shrugged, turning back to face him. "Choosing her would mean a family for you."

"Who says I'll have to choose?"

"Who says you won't?"

"You talk as though you don't want me to help him."

"It's not that. I want to see you happy, Will. And you owe him nothing, neither of us do. And right now you're sitting with me and she's over there."

"You're my sister, just like he's my father."

"And all of this started because of her. Because Barbossa took her. Because Beckett threw her in a cell. Don't lose her, Will. Or else what will all this have been for?"

He looked pensive for a moment, then looked up at her with that look she always dreaded and hated. A shrewd look of dawning comprehension.

"And what are you doing this for?" he asked.

"For you, remember? I came with you to find Elizabeth."

"And then?"

"I had a debt to be repaid," she replied shortly. "And now that I've paid it, I've come because I have nowhere else to go. There's a price on all our heads, remember? Now," she elbowed him in the ribs and snatched her blanket back from over his shoulders. "Just how long are you two going to continue not talking?"