Chapter 5 – The Invitation

"First off, you tell me who you are!"

"Ladies first."

"I asked you first," she demanded.

"Jack Sparrow. And you?"

"Rebecca de Cristao."

Jack pulled Rebecca into a different tavern. This one was much rowdier and smelled horribly.

"Rebecca, you're looking for the Black Pearl, right?"

"Yes."

"And if I remember correctly, you sailed in on the Monkey Shines?"

"Yes. Why is any of that important? I just crossed over from Portugal on that ship."

"How would you like to sail before our mast?"

"On the Pearl?"

"Yes."

"I thought only the Captain had rights to invite strangers aboard."

"Then it's a good thing I'm Captain." Rebecca laughed and Captain Jack ordered two pints of rum.

"So you'll let me stay on board?"

"Isn't that what I said?"

"Just asking. Will we actually do any honest pirating?" Jack laughed and nearly spit out his rum.

"HONEST pirating? My dear, there's nothing HONEST about pirating!"

"You know what I mean, Jack."

"I wager we might do our fair share of plundering, provided that you shut that hole in your face." Rebecca felt mildly insulted. Now she wasn't sure she wanted to see the Black Pearl, or even if this man was the captain like he said he was.

"Mr. Sparrow, I'm not daft. I know when someone is fooling me."

"How do you know I'm not fooling you?"

Rebecca picked up her bags and strode away, nose in the air. Jack clumsily followed after her, his amusing amble even more so affected by the quantities of rum he had imbibed.

"Wait! Wait, wait, Rebecca. You want to see the Pearl?"

"I thought I'd made that part clear…"

"Come around to the docks at midnight, and there you'll find a ship with black sails."

"The Pearl?" she said flatly, her Portuguese accent poking through very clearly.

"None other than."

"How will I know which one it is?"

"Because that will be the one I will be scaling the mast of." Rebecca couldn't help but laugh. The man could barely walk, much less climb up a mast.

"And I'll have carte blanche to access your ship?" she laughed.

"The highest privileges, madam," Sparrow slurred.

That night, Rebecca waited anxiously for the stroke of midnight. In the interest of punctuality, she left half an hour early. Sure as Sparrow had foretold, there was a ship at the docks with black sails, and Jack was sitting in the crow's nest, cradling his bottle of rum, sipping occasionally.

"Come down from there!" she called.

"Come up from down there!"

Then voices began to sound. Dirty faces were ogling the young girl, but she ignored them. Rebecca dragged her luggage aboard the massive-ish ship and the men eyed her carefully. Jack shimmied down the ropes to meet Rebecca on deck. It was hard to see her in the dark, but the lamplight was enough.

"Gentlemen, we have a lady aboard. Make her feel welcome here."

"Begging your pardon, Jack, but isn't that… bad luck?" A purple-faced, plump man said, lowering his voice so Rebecca wouldn't hear him.

"Ah. Mr. Gibbs, this is Miss Rebecca de Cristao."

"De Cristao? Milady, you've never been to Portugal, have you?"

"It's where I sailed here from… I thought Jack had told you about me. I'm looking for-" Jack covered Rebecca's mouth.

"Nothing. Just looking for a good time, that's all."

"Right. Where do you expect to put her up?"

"Captain's Quarters." Gibbs pulled Jack aside and huddled in closely, leaving Rebecca to wander around on deck.

"Why are you being so nice to the girl?"

"That girl you're speaking of is Hector's daughter."

"No!"

"Don't you remember Aurelia?"

"Aurelia?"

"The woman Hector was in love with about fifteen years ago. Remember, when we pulled into Lisbon and she was walking the streets?"

"Was she the skinny one or the horse-faced one?"

"The skinny one."

"Oh. Right! I remember her now. That's her daughter?"

"Precisely."

"So why all the trouble to bring her aboard?"

"I don't believe in chance or coincidence. Hector deserves to meet his daughter."