Author's Note: Sorry I've been avay, mein readers, if any of you are left. I was trying to speed up the story and get through a lot of plot in one chapter, but finally gave in and published what I have so far. Thanks to anyone who's still around, I'll do my best to come up with chapter 9.
Disclaimer: PotC and all characters except for Sushmita and Magdalena belong to Disney.
Sushmita had returned. So now she wasn't the only girl, Magdalena thought. That was comforting, but somehow if felt like Sushmita had disrupted the peace. Since her return, Magdalena had been relegated to being Sushmita's caretaker, and had no say in any plans. She didn't have a clue how close to Tortuga they were.
Will quietly opened the door. Sushmita was fast asleep in Jack's bed and Magdalena sat in an armchair idly examining her stub of a finger. How does she stomach looking at her mangled appendages? He thought. Over the days Will had begun to think that Magdalena maybe wasn't a witch after all. But seeing the way she rolled that finger around like a marble…definitely a witch, he decided, and caring for her fellow hag. He had forgotten that it had been he who had insisted on Magdalena staying with Sushmita because something about the darker witch attracted his pity. He didn't really think she was a hag, if he asked himself truthfully. Her flowing curves, long, dark, straight hair that turned curly when wet or in humid environments; she was like a top – a beautiful, beautiful toy. But he would never treat her like a toy, no…he would…
Eight years of previously undefeated affection for Elizabeth drained away. Will had fallen in love all over again.
"Oh. Hi Will." The lighter witch had picked up her finger and was rolling it between her other fingers. She was staring at him, her eyes wide with fear and confusion. Lies. He bet she was reading his mind right this second. She was extremely pale, with dark eyes and hair. She and…Sushmita – what a beautiful name…contrasted one another. He couldn't imagine kissing Magdalena, though. Looking deep into her eyes while the paleness of her face lit everything up around them – why it was like analyzing a blank canvas with only eyes painted on it.
His eyes refocused onto her and lost their glaze. "Jack wants you on deck."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"Well, someone has to stay here with Sushmita," she protested, clearly not liking the idea of going on deck in the cold night. Will almost offered, but held back. It was his duty to rescue Elizabeth, even if his love for her had just been surpassed by something greater. "Why don't you..." Yesyesyesyesyes, Will willed the witch to read his mind just once. "…stay here with her?" she finished.
"I guess…if you must go…"
She looked at him with exasperation. "You just said I didn't have to!"
He sighed. "Very well. I'll take care of your witch friend," he agreed a bit too quickly.
Magdalena waited for her eyes to adjust before she walked over to Jack at the helm.
"You summoned me?"
"Aye. I thought you might like to see Tortuga at night. From a distance. She's a beauty."
Magdalena looked far into the blackness. Slowly she could make out a huge wall of rock – the island of Tortuga. She remembered that it was in the shape of a skull, but she couldn't see that from this angle. After a few minutes, they sailed into the cove and the lights of the town glittered in the night. Loud ruckus could be heard even from such a distance.
"It is pretty," she agreed.
"It's disgusting," Sushmita, who had been led by Will on deck once she had awoken, obviously had noticed the stench above everything else. "Why does it smell like pee?"
"Because this is the 17th century, Sushmita," Magdalena reminded her.
Jack seemed unsatisfied with the word "disgusting" being labeled upon one of his favorite places in the world. Definitely not heaven on Earth, but almost as enjoyable. "You can't look at her that way, mate. See the life there? See the chaos? It's beautiful. Who wants stuffy old order in their life?"
"I do!" Sushmita raised her hands. Magdalena rolled her eyes. Here was a fine example of Sushmita's supposed cleverness.
Tortuga loomed closer and closer, until the stench was unbearable and Sushmita vomited. After a good hour of waiting for a spot in the port – Tortuga was a popular place – and arguing with the harbormaster over the fee, they had landed and were now setting foot on land for the first time in several days. Sushmita and Magdalena wobbled a bit, so Will ran over and supported Sushmita, leaving Magdalena unsteadily in the dust.
A good five minutes was all it took for her to recover and to grow accustomed to the unique odor of the island, however, and she was soon racing ahead to where Jack was enjoying the sights and sounds. "…More importantly, it is indeed a sad life that has never breathed deep the sweet proliferous bouquet that is Tortuga, savvy?" He glanced at Will, who had caught up, dragging Sushmita as lovingly as he could. She was still hobbling about. "What do you think?"
Will, who had been immersed in his gentlemanly task, looked up and around at the wrong time. A woman held a peep show beneath her dress. Everywhere, men with scraggly beards drowned themselves in alcoholic merriment. "It'll linger," Will finally replied. How cleverly ambiguous that response was, he thought to himself. Good going, William. Just think of how impressed Sushmita must be.
Jack remained unperturbed. "I'll tell you mate, if every town in the world were like this one, no man would ever feel unwanted." Magdalena, who had been keeping an eye out for a certain redhead, spotted Scarlett in the distance. She said nothing, only silently willed Scarlett to turn around by using an intense angry stare. She did.
"Scarlett!" Jack's face lit up. He grinned widely, making himself look more like a chipmunk than a man happy to see someone.
Scarlett waddled over. She planted a big slap on his cheek. "Not sure I deserved that." He muttered, confused but not surprised. For Jack Sparrow, slaps were an everyday occurrence. He sometimes wondered to himself whether there was some higher power up above playing a cruel recurring joke on him. He could hear God laughing above and would have given him a piece of mind except that another came waddling up next.
Jack barely had time to remember her name, "Giselle!" but was not rewarded for his quick memory.
"Who was she?" She tilted her head in Scarlett's direction. "And she?" She gave Magdalena a look that would have rivaled the intense angry stare. Sushmita she ignored, seeing as she was still struggling not to fall down in the mud.
Giselle stalked off before Jack could reply. He shook it off easily and they quickly continued their quest. "You there, with the ability to see the future," Jack turned to Magdalena, "Where is Mr. Gibbs?"
"Oh, oh!" Sushmita wobbled violently, "He's in the pig thing with the mud." Magdalena glared. Jack stopped swaying.
"You can see the future too?" This was an interesting turn of events. Sushmita was more easily manipulated than Magdalena. Jack got the feeling that Magdalena had plans to withhold information and change events, but Sushmita had no plots whatsoever.
"She can…" Will breathed in awe.
Nonetheless, they followed Sushmita's instruction and visited various pigpens, looking for a sleeping old man with extreme muttonchops.
"I see him!" Magdalena cried. "That's the one."
They crowded around and listened to him snore. Jack poured a bucket of cold water over Mr. Gibbs's body, and he spluttered to life, staring up in disbelief.
"Jack." He breathed. Jack bent down and muttered something to Mr. Gibbs, which made him brighten up, saying "Aye, that'll about do it."
Sushmita gagged a little. Will noticed this and grabbed a nearby bucket of water,
"Blast I'm already awake!"
They stared with inquiring expressions. "It was for-" my love "-the smell."
Mr. Gibbs recommended that they drink at The Faithful Bride, where it was certain that Jack would not run into any other disgruntled women. Jack and Gibbs slid into a booth, leaving Will, Sushmita, and Magdalena to keep watch.
But Magdalena would not settle for being a watchdog. She slid into the booth beside Jack, leaning in and saying, "You should be honored to have me on your side." Gibbs looked at Jack, puzzled. Jack shrugged; there was no way out of it, the woman knew some of his darkest secrets. Secrets he had tried to cover up with those ridiculous stories. "Imagine if I had fallen into Barbossa's lap instead?"
Jack grimaced, "Love, you would not want to be there." He sighed. "Gibbs, I have a proposition to make."
"Aye," Gibbs leaned in even closer excitedly. Magdalena told herself to buy him some toothpaste and leaned away. Jack didn't smell much better though, and when he opened his mouth it smelled like a donkey's ass. Magdalena had no choice but to grin and bear it.
"Why are you grinning?" Jack asked.
"Because your breath smells like a donkey's ass."
"How do you know what a donkey's ass smells like?"
"How are we getting the Pearl back?"
"Shh!" Gibbs glanced around suspiciously. "What about it, missie?"
"For one, Gibbs, before you doubt us you must know that we have leverage."
"Leverage?"
Jack nodded and diverted his eyes to William, hoping Gibbs would take the hint, but Gibb's brain wasn't made for such intellectual activity. Jack moved his head toward Will, making hint-like noises all the while.
"To the left, to the left…" Magdalena sang.
Gibbs' face lit up, "The whelp?"
Jack nodded approvingly, "That is the son of Bootstrap Bill Turner. His only son, savvy?" He could barely contain the glint in his eyes. He was this close to regaining the Pearl and killing that mutinous bastard Barbossa once and for all.
