Day 2: May 15, 1568

We are closer now. Possibly in the middle of the Atlantic. The sun is now at the highest point in the sky, but I stayed up the rest of the night to let Alejandro sleep in the Captain's Quarters. I tried to find some of our ships that we lost using my telescope standing on my favorite part of my ship other than my room, the Crow's Nest. I was also trying to keep course using my compass.

I looked ahead, through my telescope. There was a huge whirlpool in our path. I grabbed a rope from one of the sails and swung down to steer the ship. It was harder to swing down because of the bandages that were on my hands. I grabbed the wheel and made such a turn that the ship was almost parallel to the water. We were getting closer, but the force of the whirlpool pulled us closer to it. As we got closer turning the wheel became more of a challenge. "Alejandro!" I called hoping that he would come out.

"Yes, Captain?" The door opened.

"Take the wheel. Ill get the men and the sails."

"Your hand…"

"It's an order not an option!"

He ran up and I let go and headed below deck.

"I need my crew! Get up here!" I came back up and grabbed the rope for one of the sails.

The force of the whirlpool also increased wind speed. The wind was not as strong as the storm last night, but still had an outstanding pull. The men came up and took position of the other sails. I heard Alejandro struggle. I had to run back up and help him. We both pulled on the wheel. I heard the cracking of the wood in the process. Our ship was just meters away from the swirling water. As we passed it, it seemed to have whispered names and I thought I had heard mine. "Zanita. Zanita, the key." The swirling terror whispered names, but I could only hear mine. I tried to hold the wheel in position, while wanting to leave and see the whirlpool. I watched as one my ships was pulled in and broke apart.

The pulling stopped. We were all out of breath. "I heard your name." Alejandro said.

"I guess I wasn't the only one." I responded.

I thought about it and headed towards my quarters. I grabbed a book from the self. Las Advertencias del Mar (Warnings of the Sea). I looked for whirlpools.

I found the section where it described the whirlpool we had encountered: 'Entrance to the Underworld of the Sea: This whirlpool is larger than most. It is believed to be one of the few entrances to the Underworld of the Sea. When encountered, sailors can hear the whispers of the people that have died at sea. This theory has not been proven to be true.'

I closed the book and leaned on my desk. "The dead called my name?" I thought. "The key?" I had no time to ponder about my issue.

I headed back to the deck. We might have changed course after that. I checked while Alejandro manned the wheel and my crew was at their stations. Alejandro seemed to have checked while I was in my room, because we were right on course.

"You seem to know what you're doing. I'm going to take a short siesta."

"Yes, Captain."

I heard someone ring the bell for land, "Land! Cap'n, land!" I took my sword and hat and ran out of my room. It was land, but when I looked at the map the island wasn't on there and we weren't close to the Caribbean yet. "Are we on the right course?" Luis asked.

I wondered if he was drunk, because it was stupid to ask. "I know what I'm doing." I said as we anchored the ship to shore. "I need some men to mind the ship. If not enough volunteer, I'll choose my own volunteers." Luis quickly raised his hand. He was drunk.

Five more men volunteered. "Okay the rest of you, take your weapons and follow me." I jumped off of the ship.

It felt so good to be on land again. I waited for all of them to come down from the ship. "We will split up. If you want to follow one another, be my guest. We will meet back here in three hours." I turned and began walking into the forest that was in front of me. There were only two people who stayed together. Alejandro walked the shore, Delmar walked into the forest on the other side and the other ten took their own paths.

The forest was terribly mild. Trees were tall and there were many different types of plants that I have never seen or heard of. Some plants were short with leaves the length of an ore and the width of a sword.

I used my sword to cut my path through the forest. I saw that there was an opening no too far from where I was at. When I cut through the last of the plants there was a field with ruins. There was also a pyramid looking thing. I walked straight towards it and up the steps.

When I finally got to the top, I walked inside. There were scriptures on the wall. "This is amazing. I wonder if I could read it." I took a close look. My amazement quickly turned upside-down into a feeling of unease. I could read it but unfortunately understood what it had said: 'This island is usually hidden underwater. Anyone who is here will face fate if they cannot understand this warning. This island sinks when sunsets and comes back up when the sun rises. Any inhabitants that are here at the wrong time will sink with the island. Just like us.'

The words 'just like us' sent chills up my spine. I calculated how much time we had. I gasped, "I only have an hour to get everyone back on the ship and leave. I have to hurry."

"Hey! Hey, yeah you on top of the giant elephant that just washed up on shore." A drunken Luis yelled at the ship that had anchored beside our ship.

It was pirate ship, "We came to take our treasure and claim this island!" Its captain yelled.

Ramiero whispered to the men that had stayed behind, "Captain Zanita told us to guard the ship. We will have to fight if anything goes wrong, but for now they only see Luis. He's a good distraction."

The captain of the pirate ship asked Luis a question, "Where's your captain?."

"She's on the island. Could you find her for me? She hid the rest of the rum and I can't find it."

"Her? Sure. I'll find her for you." He laughed and walked into the forest while the rest of his men took their own paths like we did.

I must have stepped on the wrong rock while running. It collapsed and I fell with it, but I caught myself on the edge of the hole that had been made. I sheathed my sword so I can use my other hand to try and pull myself up. It wasn't a long way down. There was actually another part of the ruins. I suddenly heard moans from below me, but I heard talking from above. I pulled myself up. My legs were still hanging, but I had my elbow on the ground where I fell from.

I screamed when something pulled my leg. I took out my sword and sliced whatever thing that had grabbed me. The weight had lifted from my leg, but was still attached to my leg.

I quickly got up. I was disgusted to see an arm wrinkled from water. I snatched it off of my leg and threw it down.

"Leave. Save your self." I heard a voice from below.

I scurried back up to my feet and turned around. As I started walking back down the steps I saw a key on the first step. I didn't remember it being there when I had walked up or maybe I just didn't notice. It had a skull molding on the end of the key. It looked unique and could be a key for a chest. I tied it around my neck with string that I had in my pocket.

"Hey!" Someone yelled as soon as I touched the grass. I looked up. It was some pirate captain. "Are you the captain of the ship that I anchored next to?" He yelled my way.

"What does it matter to you?" I asked.

"I just never expected a woman to captain a ship." He unsheathed his sword "I want you to prove to me how you became a captain."

"I don't have time to play." I needed to get my crew back and leave this place, but like he would care.

I ran towards him and unsheathed my sword. I jumped up to get a better angle and slashed diagonally down. He fell to the ground. "Hope that answers your question."

"Wait…what's…yer name?" He struggled to ask.

"Captain Zanita. Don't forget it."

I ran towards the shore to see if I could find Alejandro. I ran to the ship. There was a ship next to ours, but seemed to have no one on it. "Alejandro! Alejandro! Delmar!" I walked up the roped ladder up to the deck of my ship. I saw my crew held hostage by three of the pirates that were next to us. "Hey, beautiful. What brings you here?" One of the pirates held a gun to Ramiero's head. The other pirates also had a gun to each one of my men.

"I'm captain of this ship. What the hell are you doing here?" I pulled out my gun and aimed it toward the pirate who spoke.

They laughed, "Captain? Ha, that's some humor."

"I wouldn't be laughing if I were you. How will you leave here with no captain?" I teased.

He moved his gun towards me, "I have one of the greatest captains in the world."

I grinned, "Not anymore."

He walked closer to me with his gun to my head. He told the other pirates to leave the ship. I felt the cold barrel at the side of my head. I put my gun down, but hadn't changed emotions. "Watch the words that come out of your mouth girl." He spoke into my ear.

I grabbed his arm that had the gun in his hand and pulled him down. I had the heel from my boot in his chest, "Don't point a gun at me on my own ship."

I dragged him to the side of the ship and threw him over.

I went back to untie my men.

When I was done, the other pirates that have left climbed back up. I ran, jumped up off of the boat and kicked the first one that was closest to the deck. I caught myself on one of the rungs of the ladder. I quickly took out my gun and shot at them before they could do the same to me.

I climbed back up. "Have any of you seen the rest of our crew that have left to the island?"

They all shook their heads, "Hey, Zanita. Where's the rum?" Luis asked.

I ignored him, "Do you know which way anyone had gone to?" I needed to know.

Ramiero spoke up, "Alejandro walked the shore, everyone else headed towards the forest. Why?"

"I have no time to explain. Three of you come with me. No Luis, you cannot come." Luis raised his hand.

Once we had gotten down from the ship, I explained to them what was happening, "This island sinks at sunset and rises with the sun. I told them to met back her in three hours. Unfortunately by that time it will be too late. We need to hurry up and find them before we sink with this island. Understood?"

"Yes mam." They yelled.

"Good I got the shore to the east." I began to run along the side of the forest. "Alejandro! Delmar!" I ran further. I found two of my men already, which was a good sign, "Have you seen any of our crew?" I asked.

They responded with a helpful reply, "We saw Delmar sitting in the sand not too far from here."

"Thank you. Go back to the ship. No questions asked!" They followed my orders and dashed passed me.

I began to run again, but faster than before so Delmar wouldn't move. I finally found sight of him exactly where they said he would be. "I need help to find the rest of our crew. We need to leave soon. We have about an hour."

Delmar looked at me, "I thought you said three."

"I know what I said, but things changed. We need to get our crew." I tried to encourage him. He didn't look too well, "Are you feeling alright?"

He grabbed my leg and dragged me down. His face was close then had changed with tentacles, "Does it look like I'm alright!"

I screamed at the formation of his face. You could smell the dead. "I'm with Davy Jones now!" He laughed and grabbed my neck attempting to put it into the water, "Care to join me…Zanita?" His voice calmed slightly, but then sound of evil stayed.

His tentacles rubbed my face. "No!" I kicked his face, but my attempt to break free failed.

He took out his sword and laid it under my chin, the blade preparing to cut my neck.

"Hey!" Alejandro came from out of the woods, "Let her go!" Alejandro unsheathed his sword and held it to his face. Delmar only laughed, "I'm already dead. What do you plan to do with that thing?" He threw me and put a gash in my arm by moving his sword to point it at Alejandro. "Zanita, please, go back to the ship!" Alejandro requested. I didn't want to.

As a captain I needed to worry about him before myself, "No! Ale…"

"Go, Zanita!" He interrupted.

If I stayed it would have mattered no less. I had to leave no matter how much it killed me inside. I ran towards the ship. I'm not usually one to show my emotions, but tears could not help it from falling from my eyes.

"Alejandro, my brother, you have fine taste in women. I will let you choose your fate: You can come with me and never die or stay in this cruel world with the regret of letting your younger brother leave your side knowing you can help it." Delmar messed with Alejandro's head, "Your choice my brother."

"I'm staying." Delmar cut Alejandro's stomach and grabbed his hand. "This mark will change the way you act, but someday you will change into something like me. Now leave!" Delmar gave him a push. Alejandro grabbed his stomach where he had been cut. There was blood flowing between his fingers.

The island began to shake. I looked behind me before I climbed the rope ladder. The sun was setting. It also meant that the island was sinking.

I climbed, but my boot stayed on the bottom rung of the ladder, "Head out!" I saw Alejandro barely standing, "Alejandro! Grab my hand!"

The ship started to move. I moved as close as I could to Alejandro. He held out his hand and grabbed it before passing out. I pulled him over my shoulder and carried him up the ladder. He was drenched in blood.

I carried him to my bed so I can wrap his wound.

After I was done, I wrapped my arm and changed my clothes from the ones that were dirtied up from everything that has happened. I walked to deck and checked our course. It was night and the sky was clear. There are about ten more days left of sailing, I do not like it much so far.