Chapter 6
The following morning, Zoe woke up in a large, comfortable bed- one far more comfortable than any bed she had ever slept on. A soft, rocking motion below her kept her lulled and sleepy, but she forced herself to open her eyes and look around. She was in a wooden cabin, with a large, luscious bed beneath her. Zoe threw the covers off, the night before coming back to her as she stood to dress in the clothes Jack had purchased for her the previous day. After leaving the pub, Jack had showed Zoe (formally) around the Black Pearl, as he hadn't got the chance to show her every room and rope. The bedroom she was in was the First-mate's cabin, and Zoe was all to aware of the fact that it was going to belong to Barbossa later that day. She picked up her clothes and walked out of the cabin and up the stairs, where she found Jack standing at the helm, looking out over the sea lovingly.
"Zoe! You're awake! Good, good." He called, motioning for her to come up to the helm. She took note of the fact that they were still docked in Tortuga, and rubbed her eyes as she slung the clothes over her arm and walked up the stairs.
"Yes?" She asked quietly as she made it up the stairs. Jack turned to her, tilting his head slightly.
"There's no need for you to be quiet and act like you're afraid, luv. Be brave, speak up. Like last night. That was the Zoe I want to see more often." Jack's strong hand fell gently onto her shoulder, and she smiled.
"Sorry, old habits die hard. So what? You want me to be loud and drunk like the rest of the people on this island?" She questioned playfully, poking his sides. Jack chuckled.
"Not as drunk and not as loud. They're just plain obnox-obnoxious?" Jack stuttered the last word, drawing a laugh out of Zoe.
"Obnoxious, yes. That is the correct word." She confirmed. "That's fine though. I can be louder and talk more. It'll give me more opportunities to poke fun at you." Zoe told him.
Jack looked taken aback. "Poke fun at me? Why? I'm so nice to you."
Zoe giggled. "Cause I can. So deal with it, Mr. Sparrow. And we have a crew to retrieve, do we not?"
"That's Capt'n Sparrow to you, luv." Jack teased playfully. "And yes. Yes we do."
The crew Barbossa had assembled was not exactly what Zoe had been expecting, but they seemed to know enough about the sea that it didn't matter to Jack. He'd accepted them all with open arms, and they were already out, sailing over the open sea. Zoe had already took a liking to some of them who seemed harmless enough; a skinny, one-eyed man named Ragetti and his close friend, Pintel, and a brooding-type older man named Bill, though everyone just called him 'Bootstrap.'
On the first full day of their voyage, Jack stood at the helm, Barbossa on the deck below, ordering the men about. Zoe was beside Jack, watching him turn the helm every now and then. It seemed so simple, yet the idea of touching the helm as she had to do previously on their way to Tortuga was absolutely daunting with all of the new crew watching. Jack seemed so confident, yet Zoe couldn't manage to wrap her head around steering such a huge ship.
"Where exactly are we heading, Captain?" Zoe asked, leaning against the small space behind the helm. Jack's brown eyes turned to her, and he motioned for the tall, African man to take the helm.
"Call me Jack, Zoe. Cap'n is for the crew alone." He instructed. "As for where we're headed… I'll show you. Follow me."
Zoe nodded, and followed her friend into the captain's quarters. Jack led her to a table, and sat her down in the large mahogany chair that sat in front of it. A large map that covered the whole tabletop laid before her, and Jack pointed to a spot, pushing aside a compass that sat on top of it.
"There's nothing there, Jack." Zoe stated. She reached for the compass, "Are you sure you know how to use this? Or have you just drank too much rum?" Flipping open the compass, the needle simply spun in circles before she snapped it closed quickly. "This compass doesn't even work, Jack!"
"Uh, my compass works fine." Jack retorted, snatching up the compass out of Zoe's hands. "It's leading me to where I want to go."
"Unless you're planning or going in circles, I'm afraid it's not leading you anywhere." Zoe looked at Jack with an impatient look, and he sighed.
"I'll tell you our destination and bearings, but keep it quiet. I told Barbossa where I wanted to go when we were in Tortuga, but ain't mention the bearings to him. I don't like me crew knowing the exact directions." Jack explained. "Normally, I'd let others take the helm most of the time, but I want to make sure I be keeping us on track."
Zoe nodded, and pointed to the spot on the map that Jack had been previously. "What is this place?" She asked, tapping her finger on the spot and looking up at Jack and his wild hair.
"It's called the Isla de Muerta." He said, sounding enchanted and happy as he told her the name.
"Island of the Dead." Zoe translated quickly, locking eyes with the pirate next to her. "What is there that interests you so much?"
"According to pirate legend and other such folklore, The Aztec Empire delivered a stone chest with 882 pieces of Aztec gold to Hernan Cortés in an attempt to stop the slaughter of their people, but Cortés refused to halt his conquest. In response, the heathen gods placed a curse upon the gold, so that any mortal who removed a single coin from the chest would be punished for eternity." Jack told the story with a twinge of excitement in his voice, that immediately had Zoe concerned for his sanity.
"Jack. You want to be 'punished for all eternity'? That sounds quite daft, don't you think?" Zoe tried to reason with him, but Jack simply shook his head.
"No, no. Do you actually believe that the coins are cursed? I've believed a lot of things in me life, luv, but this is not one of them. And since the Isla De Muerta can only be found by those who already know where it is, I am the only one who is capable of finding it." Jack finished, waving his bejeweled hands around.
"You've been there?"
"No."
"Than how do you know?" Zoe asked. Jack smiled.
"The compass, luv. Me compass isn't broken. It points to the thing that the user wants the most. And I have narrowed it down to this few square hundred miles. I've gone around in circles, drawing lines on maps until they intersect. It has to be there." He said proudly, tapping the map in front of them again.
"You don't believe there can be cursed treasure, but you believe that your compass points to the thing you want the most?" Zoe clarified, eyebrows raised disbelievingly.
Jack tapped his chin. "Yep."
Rolling her eyes, Zoe turned in the chair to face Jack straight on. "Why?"
"Zoe, luv, I've been traveling for a long, long time. Since I was a wee little boy aboard my father's ship, and a stowaway after that. I bartered this compass from a Caribbean voodoo priestess. It works. It led me to land when my ship was sunk by the East India Trading Company, and it's brought me to treasure before. Trust me, Zoe. It works." Jack flipped open the compass when he finished, and Zoe watched the needle spin until it pointed in the same direction the ship was moving.
"Alright then. Hand it here." Zoe told him, holding out her hand.
"It's just going to spin for you, luv." Jack told her, placing the compass in her outstretched hand.
"Why?"
"Do you know what you want the most?"
Zoe paused. She didn't know. Zoe felt so free being on the Black Pearl and away from the boring island that she hadn't even thought about what she wanted next. She really would like her mother back, but the compass couldn't point up towards heaven. Zoe sat, contemplating and rubbing her fingers over the edge of the compass.
"You don't know, do ye?" Jack teased, poking her arm. Zoe gently slapped his hand away, catching his warm brown eyes once again.
"And if I don't?" Zoe shot back, sitting up straighter in her chair. Jack smiled.
"Like I said, it's just going to spin."
Zoe pursed her lips, flipping open the compass and watching the needle go around and around. It was moving rapidly, with no sign of slowing down anytime soon. "Ugh."
Jack tilted his head, beads clanking and jingling as his hair moved all about. His hair was so dark and wild-looking from the wind outside, Zoe couldn't help but laugh as she took it all in.
"Are you laughing at me?" Jack asked suddenly.
"Maybe." Zoe snorted, closing the compass and setting it back on the table.
"What's so funny?" Jack demanded, dark eyes watching Zoe as she giggled.
"Your hair is so wild and crazy."
Jack put his hands on top of his head, attempting to smooth out the rat's nest atop his head. It looked as if the bottom was beginning to dreadlock, but the top was just wild and unruly still. Zoe laughed as he got his finger stuck in a knot, frowning and removing it slowly.
"Oi! It's not easy to have good hair on a ship like this!" Jack snapped, though no malice was behind his words.
Zoe shook her head, before standing up and walking around behind him. Jack leaned away at first as her hands made contact with his hair, but he relaxed as he realized she could probably do a far better job that he could. Her nimble fingers gently pulled apart knots, but Jack flinched, not used to having someone do something so… intimate.
"What can I do with this mess?" Zoe mumbled to herself. She looked around Jack's cabin before spotting a length of thin leather cord on the floor by the bed, probably once used to keep a scroll or book held shut. "Perfect."
Zoe walked over and grabbed the cord, bringing it back to where Jack sat. "Hold this." She instructed, hanging it in front of Jack's face. He glanced at her quickly before reaching to take a hold of the cord. "What's wrong?" Zoe asked.
"What? Nothing." Jack stuttered out, relaxing as her fingers combed through his thick hair. It was actually kind of lulling, and Jack found himself dozing off slightly as her hands continued to work their way through the mess atop his head.