CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: Stranger Than Fiction
The entrance to Tia Dalma's shack was only covered by some sort of beaded curtain rather than a door. In contrast to the shadows outside, their eyes were assaulted by the hundreds of candles that covered every surface, bathing everything in bright light. Katie noticed many unusual things hanging from the ceiling and on many of the cluttered surfaces, including a cage containing the skeleton of some sort of seven-legged monster and a jar full of pickled brains. Grimacing, Katie looked towards Teague. He'd taken off his hat and was examining his surroundings too, though with more curiosity than disgust. Jack stood nervously behind Katie, not wanting to venture any further into the shack; Gibbs was standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. Footsteps told them the rest of the crew was hovering outside the door, but before anybody could speak, Tia Dalma loomed from further into the shack.
"I knew you would all be coming to find me." She grinned at Teague.
"We have some questions to ask you." Katie said, drawing the other woman's eyes to her.
"Kathryn, de one person I was really hoping to see." Jack made a small noise of surprise when Tia Dalma actually gave a partial curtsey to Katie. "Not a moment too soon, I tink. We have much to discuss." Tia Dalma turned again and began to head further into her shack once more. Katie, Gibbs and Jack followed her, as did Teague, though only after making a motion to the rest of the crew to remain behind.
The room they were led to was just as brightly lit and Katie thought her eyes might never recover from the glare. Tia sat down at a small rickety table and the other four took assorted seats around the room. Jack remained close to Katie, his eyes scanning everything about them.
"You have come to ask of Angelica Teach." Tia Dalma supplied after a moment of silence, fiddling with something Katie could not see. Gibbs caught Katie's eye, but it was Teague who spoke:
"How did she get to The Money Pit and onto the Pearl, and more importantly, 'ow did she escape?" He growled. Tia Dalma smiled her slightly menacing smile once more.
"I tink you know de answer to dat question." She replied.
"Yes, but why?" Katie interjected, and the other woman glanced at her before her eyes shifted to Jack, who was suddenly very interested in his own fingernails.
"Dat was her punishment." The air suddenly became very still on the last word. Jack looked up at Tia Dalma then, his attention captured. Tia grinned again, satisfied with the effect her words had had, before elaborating: "She planned to use de power of de sea for her own means… and in so doing, was playing a god herself."
"I don't understand." Gibbs said.
"Dat pit was full of strange magic… if Angelica had not been dere to take de brunt of it, Jack here would have died… again." Katie's eyes widened at this. What was she talking about? "Yes, I know dat was de other reason you were here, Jack Sparrow."
"What…?" Teague began but Jack interrupted the question:
"And what about on the Pearl?" He demanded.
"If she had not saved your lives wid de water, your beloved would have died." The three men's eyes found Katie.
"I would have…?"
"Most certainly."
"How is that punishment?" Jack wanted to know.
"She was forced to save de life of a woman she wanted dead." The shack fell silent again as they all thought about the implications of this. Katie was watching the goddess in human form, her mind racing. She remembered her conversation with Angelica in the brig, every detail. She was also recalling the heat of the flames, and how faint she had felt before Angelica had suggested blowing up the water barrels with grenades. And then Jack had sent her below, where she was safe. He would have been too distracted to do that otherwise, and may not have figured out how to navigate the sea of flames. Then they would have felt the full wrath of Calypso, and Katie would have been one of those to suffer for their daring to bind a freed goddess. Why had Tia Dalma cared though? Why had she wanted to save her?
"You still took her away." Katie said out loud. "The cell was still locked, but she was gone."
"Yes, but she isn't bothering you anymore." Tia pointed out. Jack and Katie glanced at one another.
"Where is she?" Another pause, and then Tia Dalma raised her hand. Clutched between her fingers was a tiny golden bell, which she rang. The sound chimed disproportionately to the size of the bell, and the sound was dissonant and unpleasant. All four others in the room winced and clutched their ears, but the sound seemed to be coming from inside their heads. Jack, not yet understanding this, yelled, "Bloody hell woman!" Tia Dalma stilled the bell and they all removed their hands.
"What was all that about?" Teague did not look pleased. His dislike of the 'Voodoo Girl' was increasing by the second.
"Here is de answer." Tia Dalma replied. And there came a tiny, pathetic mew. Katie jumped and looked down at her feet. There padded a tiny cat. It passed them all and leapt up onto the table before Tia Dalma, and proceeded to hiss and spit in her face.
Katie and Gibbs looked confused, but Jack and Teague's faces both showed similar expressions of comprehension and horror. They had seen this before, a long time ago, happen to somebody else. Tia Dalma ignored the angry cat and fastened the bell to the red collar around its neck.
"I thought she'd 'ad her punishment." Teague said, and finally the truth dawned on Katie and Gibbs: this cat was Angelica!
"Dis is to punish quite a different crime." Tia Dalma responded.
"What was that?" Katie asked weakly eyes still on the cat, which turned its big yellow eyes on her. Tia Dalma didn't answer her question.
"Are you feeling sorry for de wench?" She indicated the cat, which immediately let out a stream of hissing which, though incomprehensible, left no doubt of its meaning. Katie thought hard for a second. She'd hated Angelica for so long now, yet she wasn't sure that her being transformed into a cat was a just punishment. Sympathy might be pushing it, though.
"Well, we 'ave our answers now, we can get out of here!" Jack announced, snapping out of his shock abruptly and getting to his feet. Gibbs followed suit, only too eager to be out of there.
"It is night now, Jack. De river is a dangerous place nowadays, and you cannot row in complete darkness." Jack froze and turned to look at Tia Dalma. "You used to like spending time with me, Jack." She said flirtatiously.
"I'm a married man now." He said. Katie raised her eyebrows.
"Indeed…" Tia's eyes strayed to Gibbs for a second before she smirked slyly. "I need to speak to your wife, actually. You and de crew can set up to sleep in de room upstairs." Jack looked as if he might very much like to argue, but Angelica growled and launched herself off the table. She hissed angrily at Katie's ankles as she stalked out of the room. Tia Dalma laughed meanly, but Jack got the message; crossing Tia Dalma had you turned into a cat. Teague rose then and steered his son from the room, Gibbs bringing up the rear, leaving Katie and Tia Dalma alone.
Jack was in an absolutely foul mood by the time the crew had gathered in the upstairs room Tia Dalma had mentioned. It was a large space, with a few hammocks and plenty of floor space to sleep in. It was also not quite as brightly lit as downstairs, though there were still many candles that would have to be distinguished before anybody slept. Angelica was also in the room, perched on the sill of the window, looking over them menacingly. He would be hard put to sleep in a room where there was likely a cat waiting for the first opportunity to claw his eyes out.
"Calm down, son." Teague advised him in a low voice.
"How can I be calm? I owe me life to that bloody woman! Just when I thought I was free of 'er…"
"You are free of 'er. She can't talk anymore, can she?"
"Don't mean anything." Jack grunted. Teague rolled his eyes.
"You have the answers you wanted, Jackie."
"Yeah… but she's still…" Jack mumbled falteringly. Teague thought he knew, though.
"She was never gonna die, son." He reminded him quietly. Jack stared at Angelica across the room; he couldn't believe that somewhere in that cat's body was a girl he had once corrupted into leaving the convent and had gone on to become a fearsome pirate in her own right, the daughter of Blackbeard. Somebody he had once loved and now hated and could certainly never forgive.
"I can't stay here. I need to get out of here." At that moment, Katie entered the room. Her expression was unreadable, but Jack drifted towards her. "Perfect." He muttered. "Wanna go for a walk?" He asked her.
"Please let's." Katie agreed faintly, taking his hand. Tia Dalma didn't stop them from walking out of the shack as a pair. "Apparently the bell takes away Angelica's free will, so she can't hurt us no matter how much she wants to," Katie informed him, as they made their way away from the shack and into the dense trees, "The bad news is, we have to keep her."
"What?" Jack spluttered, coming to a halt. Katie turned to face him, looking grim.
"It's supposed to teach us to learn to coexist." She explained.
"Since when did Tia Dalma become a teacher?" He asked the world at large.
"It's going to be hard to keep our wedding a secret." Katie blushed, looking down at her feet, "If you still want to really marry me, that is."
"I promised you." Jack said, stepping towards her and putting a finger under her chin, gently lifting it. His anger had abated a little with Katie there- she was like the sea, she calmed his nerves. "Katie, what did she want to talk to you about?" Katie hesitated. Her head was ringing with the words she had just been told herself, and she wasn't sure how she was ever going to relay them to Jack, though she had been charged with just that task. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. "Katie." He said, using the authoritative captain's voice that forced an answer.
"There is a way to be free of her forever." She said, and her voice took on a curious tone. Jack ducked his head down to look at her more closely.
"What's that?" He asked.
"We have to forgive her." Jack stared.
"That's never gonna 'appen." He said flatly after a moment. Katie sighed.
"It'll be difficult but… we can't be stuck with her forever, can we?" Jack thought about this; the eternal company of Angelica, even in cat form, would be close to unbearable. But he was nowhere close to forgiving her for everything she'd done- and almost killing Katie was very high on that list.
"Would she be human again if we forgave 'er?" He wanted to know.
"I don't think so. Just… we wouldn't have to live with her." Katie gave a slightly bitter laugh, which was uncharacteristic of her.
"Could you forgive her?" His voice was very low. Katie reached out and clasped his hands in hers, looking down at them. Slowly, she shook her head.
"I don't think so… it would have to be… something big, I think. And even then, I can't imagine not…"
"…Hating her guts." Jack finished the sentence for her.
"Well, yes." Katie admitted. The scar on her back seemed to throb as she thought about it. Jack sighed, pulling her close to him. They stood together for a long time in the darkness of the trees, not saying anything. Katie wished that everything would disappear, everything that wasn't her and Jack. A childish desire but a very real one; it seemed their problems would never end, they'd never be free. Eventually though, it started to get cold and Jack drew away from her.
"We'll marry soon, love. It's the only thing left we 'ave to do, an' then… well then we'll worry about 'er."He added darkly, leading Katie by the hand back into Tia Dalma's shack. When they got upstairs they found everyone else was asleep, Sully and Gibbs' snoring filling the room. They'd left a hammock free for the captain and his wife and they climbed into it carefully. It was only when Katie shifted that she spotted Angelica's glowing yellow feline eyes from the windowsill. The eyes were focused on her and so Katie closed her own, wanting to block out the realities.
The sun was hardly up when Teague was waking everybody up. He was as eager as anybody to be off and nobody was going to argue. Tia Dalma never seemed to sleep and bade them all farewell with an air of unfriendly mystery. Jack and Katie were almost out the door themselves when she tapped Jack on the shoulder and dumped the bundle of fur that was Angelica into his arms. He promptly dropped the cat in disgust, not wanting to touch her even as a cat. Angelica landed on all four feet and hissed, before stalking out after the rest of the crew to head to the boats.
"We may be seeing each other sooner than you tink." Tia Dalma told the couple ominously as they made their exit.
Jack took up an oar this time, rowing back up the Pantano River. It was only marginally less creepy in the day time. Katie could see people peering out of the trees again and knew this time that those faces weren't imagined; locals were staring, curious. Angelica settled on Gibbs' knees. He wasn't exactly happy with the arrangement, but Teague would have sooner dumped the cat overboard and she wouldn't deign to sit on Katie, who'd probably take a similar stance anyway.
The sun was fully risen and warm by the time they reached the Black Pearl again. When Jack entered his cabin an hour later, when they were sailing swiftly, he found Angelica perched on his desk, paws folded, looking expectant.
"Oi, get out of 'ere!" He shooed the cat, tempted to get some water and splash her with it. Instead, he took a book and made as though to hit her, causing her to leap away. "Yer not to come in 'ere, ever, or Katie'll make cat stew of you!" Message received, Angelica darted out, almost tripping Katie up as she followed Jack in. He looked angry, so she shut the door behind her and came towards him.
"I suppose there's no point in being upset. We can't do anything about it, yet." She told him, approaching him carefully.
"I hate her. I hate her." He said repetitively.
"I know. But you don't hate me." Katie smiled playfully in attempt to cheer him up. It worked as he caught her mischievous grin and placed his hands on her waist.
"No, I don't hate you." He agreed, pecking a kiss on her cheek. "I like you, actually." A kiss on her jaw. "Rather a lot." A kiss behind her ear. "Too much, some might say." He applied his lips to her neck, nibbling a little. She gasped and tilted her head back as she always did under his ministrations. Her own hands began deftly caressing his arms before sweeping across his chest and stomach sensuously. He let out a minute groan and steered her over to the bed, suddenly overcome with a carnal need for her now. All thoughts of Angelica had, miraculously, gone from their heads as they were wrapped up in each other once more.
Out on the deck, Teague was at the helm. Angelica jumped up suddenly onto his shoulders and draped herself there like a scarf around his neck. The bell around her neck jangled horribly once more, again much more loudly than was proportionate to its size, seeming to sound inside his head more than it did in the outside world.
"Ge' off me." He growled at the cat. She made no move to, and turning his head he saw her give him a very sarcastic look. "I'm not above animal cruelty in special circumstances, cat." Still she didn't move. He had a mind to stick the cat with his sword but then thought better of it. Instead, he handed off the wheel to Gibbs and instead lifted the cat of his neck himself, took her over to the rail of the ship and held her over the edge, right over the sea.
"Cat's don't like water, do they?" He said menacingly. "Shame it still wouldn't kill ye." He put her on the railing instead, where she sat quite comfortably and fixed him with a yellow stare.
"You cause my son and his wife even a little bit of trouble an' I swear I'll do it. You got that?" Teague had a notion that anybody watching would probably think he'd lost his marbles in his old age, threatening a cat. But Angelica merely stared for a few seconds longer and then nodded. "Right." He muttered, satisfied, before stomping away.
A/N: So… what do you think? I'd just like to say that the person they'd seen suffer this fate features in the Jack Sparrow novels that are part of the universe. I haven't read them but I did read the synopses of these and thought it would work well in this fic, and the character if you're interested in looking up was Constance Magliore. Thanks to everyone who reviewed last time, please do so again!
P.S. Sorry if you follow this story and got two updates of this chapter. The first time I uploaded an incomplete version by mistake. My bad!