A/N Hey, sorry this took so long guys. Harry Potter completely took up my attention, wow, what a way to end the series. Anyways, thanks to all my loyal reviewers new and old: grape soda queen, LostWitch5, luv2laff, Saegeous-Capernaum, Silvia X., Alessariddle, Bizzy125, and Jessie Sparrow. I'm not as proud of this chapter as the others, but I think you'll like some parts. Bye for now
Disclaimer: I don't own this, but, like Jack, I own Jess.
A gift most unwanted: Chapter six: biblical figure, sun god, and a flower
"Oh god," Jack repeated. "I've killed her." He laid her down, he listened for breathing, god yes, she was breathing. He picked her up and brought her on deck, hoping the fresh air would revive her. All the crew crowded around.
"Is she dead?" Raghetti asked "Oh no, Captain, I've heard they're too frail, you should be more careful with the next one.
"They make them too delicate, don't they, captain?" Pintel asked, "You should get your money back."
"She is not dead, simply fainted. Now move away, give her some air." Jack said, making silly little shooing motions with his hands. She was not awakening. Jack tried shaking her and fanning her with his hat, but to no avail. Then it hit him, when had she last drank any water?
"Go get her some water." he yelled at the nearest crew member.
They fetched it quickly for they could sense a sort of frustration that would be dangerous to whoever did not respond quickly enough.
Jack managed to get her to swallow some, "Come on," he said, "come on."
Her eyes fluttered open. She looked around, she had no idea what was going on, then she remembered, she'd fainted. They were all staring at her, she also realized someone was holding her in their arms, her body lifted just slightly. It was Jack. He handed her a mug of water that he had obviously been trying to get down her throat. She took it and sipped. She handed him back the empty mug.
"Is that enough?" he asked, she nodded. "Ready for me to bring you back in?" She violently shook her head.
"I'll never get back out again." she said seriously
Jack rolled his eyes, "Yes you will, come on." With this he pulled her up and dragged her off to his cabin. She was too weak to protest. He sat her down, with a plate of food in front of her. She was too weak to be starved now.
Jessica stared at the food in amazement. He was actually giving her all this food, like he'd promised. She was almost scared of it. Why would he feed her so much? Surely it was poisoned? No, that was foolish, he had no desire to kill her. Was there a drug in it? That would explain it. Something to make her tell him the weather when he wanted it, or, just to simply obey. Either way, Jessica wasn't having any of it.
"Why aren't you eating?" he asked her staring at her. "You haven't eaten anything in hours, eat something, you're still pale."
"I'm not hungry." she lied.
"Not hungry?" he asked in an almost quizzical tone. "You were starving this morning, what changed, not like you've eaten anything. So it has to do with the food. "He stopped and stared at her. "Ah, you think it's poisoned. Now why would I want to poison you? That'd be like taking an axe to my favorite desk." (She rolled her eyes at the reference to the stupid comparison between her and the desk.) "Unless you think I'm trying to drug you?"
Jessica's eyes widened, Jack grinned.
"Very intelligent assumption darling, but wrong."
"Jessica," she murmured quietly
"Sorry, did you say something?" he asked
"My name is Jessica, not darling, not luve. I asked you to call me by my first name last night, but you didn't listen."
"Well last night I asked you to call me Jack, but you don't."
"But that's different. I don't call you pet names like we're lovers."
"Wish we were."
Jessica grimaced, "And you seem so surprised, that I suspect you of putting a drug in my food. You are too damn forward, Jack. I've seen the way your eyes follow my every move. They have a look in them, a look I've seen before every night in the tavern. It's called lust and I can only imagine how it will intensify, once we've been at sea for a while."
Jack sighed, "Has it ever occurred to you that I look at you like that because you're a pretty girl? I won't lie, I would love to have you. But I don't believe in rape. So I look at you, because it is all I can do. Besides, I don't need to use drugs or force. Every woman comes around eventually. Trust me, you will too. "
She sat there in silence for a moment, then Jack broke the silence.
"Your dinner's getting cold."
She pushed it away.
Sighing, Jack pulled it toward him and took a bite out of every dish. "There, satisfied? I wouldn't drug myself would I?"
Jessica couldn't bear it; she pulled the food toward her and ate. She ate so much she was sick.
"I forgot that could happen." Jack said cringing as Jessica vomited into a bucket. "If you're not used to eating all that food, you get sick."
"Thanks for the tip." she said emerging for a moment, then returning back to the bucket. "I hate you." she told him, after being sick.
Jack shrugged, "What's the weather going to be like?"
Jessica sighed and started to talk. "The next four days are going to seem like rain, but trust me, they're perfect sailing days. Then it's going to be really stormy for about three days, maybe longer, but I can only see about a week at a time."
Jack nodded, she was giving him this information easily; too easily, he thought. But, he had to wait and see, only time would tell.
"Can I get dressed now?" she asked, breaking into his thoughts
"Of course, let me get you something to wear." So he left, locking the door behind him.
Jessica stretched and gave an utter sigh. Since she seemed to be out of danger for a moment, she felt, well, frustrated. She hated this, locked up. She stared at the mark upon her arm. She really hated it, she wondered, if she could find some way to ruin that mark on her arm. She doubted it. She looked around the messy room. She really had done an excellent job. Out of boredom she looked through everything more carefully, to see what was of interest. She pulled out a thick heavy book, from under a mass pile of papers. She thought about how her mother had taught her to read and how she hadn't gotten her hand on a book since. She looked at the title of the book.
"History of magical beings"
She wondered if her kind were in there. She looked at the table of contents. She found chapter nine titled: "The People of the Craft" and quickly flipped to the chapter page. She started to read.
Most Christians do not believe in the craft. Then again they do not believe in most magical creatures. The origin of the people with the craft has many rumors. Although the most logical one is the story that Calypso took a lover a thousand years ago and bore twenty children. These children, having human fathers were human, but with Calypso's powers. There were stories of people of the craft once being able to control the weather, but that power seems to have died out.
"Interesting read, isn't it, Jess?"
Jack's sudden appearance startled her. She turned to see him dumping a ton of dresses on the bed. He grinned at her. "Continue, read the rest aloud."
Jessica continued, "Once sailors and pirates discovered their powers, they were rounded up and enslaved to ships. It nearly killed them, being imprisoned. For they were like the water and their mother and desired only freedom." Jessica stopped and looked pointedly at Jack.
"We've discussed this, go on."
"But they adapted and learned to thrive. Eventually, they began to bear offspring, slaves which were the most valuable. Noblemen and sailors could not afford them, but the greatest pirates in the world were the only ones who were rich enough. As time passed, enslaving people of the craft became illegal, for only pirates owned them, so there enslavement was considered piracy. Eventually a few ran away and there are some out there who are free."
Jessica read the part in the book were it described her powers. Then she came to an interesting little section at the end.
"They say that there once was a particular line in the craft of people with violet eyes. They were the most powerful of their kind, but are now believed to be dead. If ever to be discovered, they would easily fetch between 300,000 and 400,000 pounds.
There was a picture, of one of these violet eyed people. This was a female and she looked just like Jessica.
"I thought there was something about your eyes," Jack whispered.
"Dampier really did think I could control the weather." Jessica murmured
Jack stared down at her and had to keep from grinning. Just when he'd really thought he'd gotten a good deal on her, it turned out she was worth more than that. She turned to look at him and she suddenly reminded Jack of someone, though he couldn't put his finger on it.
"Jack, I don't think I have any special abilities for a person of the craft. I think this book's a bunch of nonsense."
Jack decided not to say any more about it, for now. Although now, something was nagging at him, she looked like someone. There was no way he had made love to her mother, he would have known if he'd had anyone with the craft.
Jessica swam in the blue ocean, the water cradling her and holding her like a mother. She hadn't swum for enjoyment since she was twelve. God it was wonderful, no wonder she'd been so unhappy for years. Not anymore, she felt so free.
Except for the tugging from the rope tied around her waist.
She sighed and looked up at the sky. The sun was higher up in the sky, must be time for supper.
Tug, tug.
She swam back towards the ship, "Mustn't keep the captain waiting." she muttered under her breath. Since agreeing to comply, he had fed her, given her a vast selection of gowns and other feminine things; and then he had shown her around the ship. He was very proud of it obviously and showed everything off. Then he had seen her look longingly over at the big wide blue ocean. Jack, trying to keep her happy she supposed, had suggested tying a rope around her waist and letting her swim, while he had the other end. He told her he'd tug on the rope when it was time for her to come back.
She hated this control, but she knew she would be in control again once he realized she'd been lying to him. But for now, at least he was treating her like a guest, rather than a thing. She would miss this, but it wouldn't last anyways. Besides, he may still be trying to seduce her in his own way.
She had reached the ship and they pulled her up. She stepped onto the deck and let Jack unfasten the rope from her waist. She instinctively wondered if she could jump again once he had the rope off, but there were too many crew and Jack was too close. She might have made it, but did not want to take a chance and lose her privileges. , besides swimming had left her starved.
"Have a nice swim?" Jack asked her conversationally
"Yes, very nice," she said, trying to sound casual, but unable to keep the smile from her face.
Jack smiled as he noticed how happy she was. With her auburn hair, she looked much better with color in her checks. He asked about her swim and she tried to sound nonchalant, but her smile betrayed it. He tried to look at her, when she didn't notice. Now it was her smile, she definitely reminded him of someone.
"I need a bath." Jessica said at supper
"You just went swimming in the ocean." Jack said incredulously
"Yes, but the ocean is salty, I've got salt all over my skin. I am a girl you know."
Jack tried not to groan. He remembered this was why they didn't allow women on ships. , too fussy He decided to change the subject.
"What was your name in Italy?"
She seemed surprised he was asking her. She cautiously said, "Appolonia Moretti"
"What was your name when you were with Dampier?"
"Marigold Prencaryiton"
"Prencaryiton?" Jack asked
She seemed embarrassed. "I came up with it as a child and it was the first thing that popped into my head when I was kidnapped. I always get flustered when I get kidnapped." she said the last sentence as a joke.
Jack was quiet for a moment. "You do know what the name 'Appolonia' means, don't you?"
"Yes, it's the feminine Italian name of 'Apollo' the sun god."
"Your mother chose it?"
"Yes, I was two."
"She had an interesting choice of names, a biblical figure and a sun god, both feminine versions of the original names. You though, chose a flower."
"A biblical figure, a sun god, and a flower, that's me." she said
Jack noticed she had a burn scar on her wrist. "How did you get that?" he asked thoughtfully
She seemed startled and covered her wrist. "That hasn't show up in years."
Jack checked his wrist as well. He had one too, it was identical to hers. He knew he had it, but it rarely showed up. He couldn't even remember where he'd gotten it. He showed her. Some how they felt compelled to put their wrists together and upon that touch, a white fiery pain erupted on the scars. They both screamed in pain. They broke the connection.
"What just happened?" she asked
Jack shook his head in disbelief, "I don't know."
That night in bed, Jack dreamt of his childhood. He was seven years old and his father had just come home from sea for a few months. In his father's arms was a beautiful little blonde child.
"She's going to be your new playmate son." his father said to him. "She's very shy, so be kind."
Jack was eager to play with her and held out his hand. She eventually took it and they quickly became friends. The dream went through many years of their lives together as they ran playing pirates and other boyish games.
Jack awoke from that dream feeling sure that he was remembering his childhood. There was a girl his father had brought home and they had played together, he remembered that now. But he couldn't remember anything else.