Chapter 22: A Touch of Destiny
"We're here."
Will Turner looked blearily around at their new surroundings.
They were still drifting on the river, though the trees were so thick that nearly all light from the afternoon sun had been blocked out. Fireflies flitted here and there among the dense foliage. Over the now misty waters, their flickering lights occasionally illuminated a lizard or rodent straying close to the water for a drink.
Burning torches lined the shoreline, attached to ramshackle wooden shacks, the largest of which Pintel and Ragetti were now rowing towards. Jack had already reached the small wooden dock and was busy ordering Sloane and Cotton to tie up his smaller boat while he picked up Jack the monkey's cage.
Will shivered as the longboat stopped on the other side of the tiny dock. Was it just him, or did he and the others pass through some invisible wall of air? Was that part of this voodoo woman's witchcraft?
He looked at Peggy. She, too, looked apprehensive as she rubbed her right wrist, which she had once again bound in bandages. Will frowned at the limb.
He knew why her chest was hurting, but he had still not uncovered the mystery behind her arm. From what he had seen, it seemed fully functional, so why was she so intent on hiding it?
Now that he thought about it, Will noticed Jack had wrapped his palm tightly in bandages.
There's more they're not telling me. Something happened to them both in the last six months that has nothing to do with this selkie bond mess. The blacksmith frowned as Jack approached the ladder leading up to the large shack.
"No worries, mates, Tia Dalma and I go way back." The pirate lord grinned as his crew began to stand up and stretch their legs. "Thick as thieves. Nigh inseparable we are…were…have been... before" His smile fell awkwardly, and Peggy sighed as she and Gibbs rolled their eyes in fond annoyance.
"I'll watch your back." the old sailor clapped a hand on Jack's shoulder.
"It's me front I'm worried about," Jack admitted, glancing at Peggy. "Speaking of fronts, come on, love, you're comin' with me."
"Aye, captain." She nodded, quickly turning to Gibbs and muttering. "Mind the boat."
"Mind the boat." Gibbs frowned back at Will, not wanting to be left behind.
Will, however, was not going to be ordered about so easily. He turned to face Sloan,e who had come up behind him and muttered:
"Mind the boat."
Sloane rolled his eyes, turned back toward Marty, and repeated the order, only to have it passed down to Pintel, then Ragetti, who hissed at Cotton and his parrot Paulie,, who finally squawked.
"Kaaw! Mind the boat."
Cotton pouted as he slumped in his spot alone in the small rowboat but loyally stayed put as was ordered.
After all, he'd probably hear everything from someone anyway. People always liked confiding things in him.
Peggy, meanwhile, gulped nervously as she and Jack clambered up to the shack's front door. They cautiously pushed it open, and Jack ducking for cover as he braced himself.
Peggy was not surprised. Many of the women he had jilted were fond of shooting at him or throwing stuff at him upon seeing his face. However, she knew Tia Dalma would not resort to such tactics.
Not when she had nastier ways of getting vengeance at her fingertips.
Peggy shivered as she crossed the threshold after Jack, the magic of the space rippling through her and making the selkie within purr almost with relief.
She was no magic practitioner, but she could tell by instinct that no harm would come to her in this place. Here, she was safe. Even the Devil's Mark on her arm itched and throbbed less beneath its bindings.
As soon as the warm, calm settled over her, Peggy looked around.
Tia Dalma's shack was as cluttered and crowded as the last time she had been here. Trinkets dotted every cabinet and surface while strange bottles, jars and objects hung from the ceiling. A yellow python lazily draped around a nearby coat stand carved from an old swamp tree stump, basking in the warmth of a bunch of candles lit in one of the many brackets that lined the room.
Many other waxy candles of different shapes and sizes illuminated the entire shack, filling the space with warm yellow light and casting sharp shadows in the corners.
And in the centre of this room was a woman seated at a wooden table, swirling a shallow bowl of water in her hands.
Her deep walnut brown skin had strange dots tattooed under her hypnotic dark eyes. Her teeth were blackened in her dark, blue-tinged lips, and her dark hair fell in long dreadlocks tipped with shells and beads. She wore a dark beaded shawl and a low-cut red and brown dress with a ripped hem, yet all of it suited the air mystique that lay thick around her like an invisible fog over the ocean.
Peggy gulped.
It was eerie how little the woman before her had changed in the last thirteen years. Indeed, she seemed wholly unaffected by the ebb and flow of time, for there were no extra lines on her face or any sign of weariness of age. Was she just blessed with youthful looks? Or was there something more at work here?
Peggy remembered the woman telling her once that she had been around a long time. But how long was a long time? Everyone knew sea witches could keep the Grim Reaper at bay longer than most humans. But just how powerful was she?
"Jack Sparrow!" The dark, mysterious woman smiled warmly and welcomingly as she looked up from her bowl to see Jack's skulking form.
"Tia Dalma!" Jack straightened up quickly, forcing a blasé smile that quickly faded as he nearly bumped his head against a bottle of a strange yellow liquid filled with what appeared to be severed human toes.
"I always knew da wind was goin' to blow ya back to me one day." Tia Dalma sauntered to the pirate, her skirts raised and her hips swaying seductively, each step as graceful and calculating as a hunting panther.
However, she was quick to pause as she caught sight of Peggy's face behind Jack.
"Mam." Peggy felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment as the woman slowly approached her. Her smile softened as she reached to touch her face.
"Aye, me poor girl. Ya came to me just in time," she murmured, tutting as she looked down at Peggy's chest.
Peggy shifted uncomfortably, feeling painfully exposed under that hypnotic stare. She wondered how much of the damage those trained eyes could see.
She was glad when Will chose that moment to cautiously step into the shack behind her, distracting Tia Dalma from her fussing.
When she saw Will's handsome face, her eyes widened with curiosity.
"You…" She murmured, gently pushing Peggy out of the way. "You have a touch of destiny about you, William Turner."
Peggy's brow furrowed.
How did Tia Dalma know Will's name? He had never strayed near her territory in all his life.
Then Peggy quickly looked at the water bowl on the table and shook herself.
Of course, she should have known…how else would the woman have been so calm at their arrival?
"You know me?" Will frowned, standing his ground warily as the strange voodoo priestess sidled up to him with that smooth sway, her brown eyes locking with his and holding him still like a statue.
"You want ta know me?" she purred, her face coming dangerously close to Will's.
Peggy turned her face away, quietly touching her chest as a painful sting shot through it like an arrow. By the sea gods, why did it hurt so much? She knew Tia Dalma was flirtatious and charming. The woman was as dangerous and tempting as the ocean itself. But Peggy's heart was so fragile right now that any knock, big or small, felt ten times worse than it should.
She was so distracted she did not notice Will quickly snap out of his stupor, his hand flying up to his chest and sucking in a sharp breath, much to the surprise of Jack and Gibbs, who had silently made his way into the shack without being noticed.
Tia Dalma tilted her head curiously, eying Will's hand on his chest. Her lips curled into a strange smile as she reached up with a careful finger to trace the spot the blacksmith had touched.
However, before she could make contact, Jack's hand shot out between them as he blurted out:
"There'll be no knowing here! We've come for help, and we're not leaving without it." He quickly put an arm around Tia Dalma's shoulders to steer her away from Will. "I thought I knew you, " he added with a pout.
"Not so well as I had hoped." Tia Dalma snorted teasingly, swatting the pirate's ringed hand from her.
Will sucked in a deep breath to steady himself as he watched Peggy gingerly settle into a seat offered to her by Tia Dalma, the voodoo lady's face tensing worriedly as she looked her up and down.
Will could not blame the woman for her concern. Despite trying to keep a stiff upper lip, Peggy was not looking good. Her face was pale, and the slight gauntness he had noticed that morning seemed much starker in the yellow candlelight.
He remembered the strange pang of pain he had just felt in his chest and felt sick. So, all those stings he was feeling were coming from Peggy? Was this what she had been going through all this time? How bad had the other attacks been that he had not seen?
No wonder her body was giving up on her. No mortal form, selkie or otherwise, was made to endure such agony for so long.
She was so out of sorts that she did not brush Jack off when he passed behind her. Instead, he gave her a small, reassuring pat on the shoulder as Tia Dalma turned to greet her other guests.
"Ahh. Another child of da ocean." Tia Dalma refreshed her seductive smile at Sloane as he crossed the threshold of her shack. "It has been too long since one of ya clan visited my 'umble abode."
To Will's surprise the selkie male looked nervous at being in the woman's presence.
"It is an honour to meet you, Madam." He whispered, bowing his head. It was not, Will realised, the respectful bob a gentleman might give a lady. There was almost a reverential deference in his tone…as if he were addressing a queen or a member of royalty. "On behalf of Grand Matriarch Margrat of the liath-chrios, I, Ronan Sloane, bid you the blessings of tide and wind sea sister."
"An' I bid ye, and ye clan de blessings of de tide an' de wind me, sea brother." Tia Dalma nodded graciously, her smile widening with delight as she gestured to him, Gibbs, Marty, Pintel and Ragetti to join the table, "Come."
"Come!" Jack repeated, eyes fixed on Tia Dalma as she swayed to the table to take a seat at the head of it.
Will turned to sit beside Peggy, only to be jostled out of the way by Sloane, who quickly took the spot.
The blacksmith snarled at the male selkie's shit-eating smirk in his direction, his stomach turning nastily as the man put a consoling arm around Peggy's shoulders.
However, before Will could retort, Tia Dalma's slender fingers gently stroked the back of his head. Then, they gripped his collar and guided him to the chair opposite Peggy at the table.
Will wanted to protest as the woman pressed him smoothly but firmly into his seat, fixing him with a stern, cold look of warning as she purred:
"Now…What service can I provide?" She quickly looked up at Jack and barked sharply:
"Ye know I demand payment!"
"I brought payment!" Jack then whistled at Pintel who scurried forward with a large birdcage in which Jack the monkey snarled and skittered anxiously around in as Jack raised his loaded pistol and aimed it between the bars. "Look!"
BANG!
"An undead monkey. Top that!"
Peggy and Will both flinched as Jack the monkey screeched in surprise. His teeth bared threateningly at Jack, who sneered viciously at the primate as he set its cage on the table before Tia Dalma.
The Voodoo woman tilted her head as she examined the cage for a moment. Then, with a careful hand, she unlatched the lock and opened the little door.
As quick as Jack's gunshot, the creature was off in a flash, darting for an open doorway that seemed to lead into another room. Peggy frowned as she caught sight of a pair of black-booted feet and wondered who else the voodoo priestess had in her possession. They hardly seemed to move as the monkey hopped onto them and out of sight.
"Ghaa! Don't!" Gibbs cried in dismay as Pintel and Ragetti sighed and shook their heads. "Ye've no idea how long it took us to catch that."
"The payment is fair." Tia Dalma nodded with satisfaction, ignoring the crewmen's annoyance.
Jack nudged Will's shoulder, and the blacksmith quickly detached from Peggy to pull a piece of cloth from his belt.
"We're looking for this, " he said, flattening the cloth on the table. And what it goes to."
Peggy recoiled as the picture of an ancient key drawn in dark charcoal was revealed to her eye.
She could not believe what she was seeing.
Oh gods. Oh gods…was this Jack's master plan? She glanced at Tia Dalma. The voodoo witch, too, was staring at the key with undisguised surprise and even a little bit of anger.
Her tone was much sharper as she turned an imperious eye on Jack.
"De compass ya bartered from me; it cannot lead ya to dis?"
"Maybe…" Jack muttered awkwardly, avoiding everyone's gaze. "Why?"
Tia Dalma's face split into a smirk as she sat at the head of the table where a much fancier chair with a high back and comfortable yet lightly torn upholstery was set for her.
"Ah-ha-ha! I hear ya! Jack Sparrow does not know what he wants. Or…do ya know, but are loathe to claim it as ya own?" she pinned Jack with her stare, but the pirate was doing his best to avoid it by blowing on the hair of a voodoo doll suspended from the ceiling.
Tia Dalma sighed at the man's antics and sank back in her chair to address the room.
"Ya key go to a chest. An' it is what lay inside de chest you seek, don't it?"
"What is inside?" Gibbs asked eagerly.
"Gold? Jewels?" Pintel piped in, trembling excitedly, "Unclaimed properties of a valuable nature."
"Nothing" – gulp – "Nothing bad, I hope?" Ragetti swallowed thickly as he almost knocked his head against a hanging jar full of eyeballs preserved in a strange, thick liquid.
Tia Dalma's smile widened.
"Ya know of Davy Jones." She said in a low voice, and all the sailors in the room nodded, leaning in to listen intently as she continued, "A man of de sea. A great sailor. Until he run afoul of that which vex all men."
"What vexes all men?" Will tried prompting only to find the sea witch's hand slide smoothly over his own as she purred:
"What indeed?"
"The Sea!" Gibbs cried out.
"Sums." Pintel put forward with a solid nod.
"The dichotomy of Good and Evil!" Ragetti piped in, and everyone turned to raise their eyebrows at him in surprise.
Since when did someone like him know the meaning of the word 'dichotomy'?
Yet a soft song filled the air even as Sloane rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to speak.
Will quickly pulled his hand out of Tia Dalma's as he looked at Peggy. Her eyes were downcast, fixed on two items that hung from Tia Dalma's neck. They were, Will noticed, a silver crab-shaped locket and a small conch shell on a chain. Will wondered what they could mean, for Peggy was staring at them most intensely as she hummed under her breath.
A soft, sad, sorrowful song…one Will had heard a few times before.
"A woman," Jack grunted, interrupting the song, and Peggy fell silent.
"A woman." Tia Dalma's smile twisted slightly as she glanced at Will's confused face. "He fell in love."
"No-no-no-no, I heard it was the sea he fell in love with!" Gibbs corrected, but Sloane shook his head.
"I've heard otherwise. A woman was his downfall. All the old songs I was taught say so."
"Well, I was told-"
"Same story, different versions, and all are true!" Tia Dalma snapped over both men, who shut their mouths and ducked their heads subserviently as she leaned back in her chair and gestured to her sultry form. "It was a woman. As changing, harsh, and untamable as de sea. Him never stop loving her." She paused as her gaze flickered to Will.
Jack followed her gaze, and his lip curled in disgust as he realised the blacksmith was staring, not at Tia Dalma, but at Peggy. The whelp's expression was difficult to read. He seemed torn between guilt and grief, though anger was swift to pass over his features as he caught sight of Sloane's arm still slung around Peggy's shoulder. The selkie was not holding her close in an embrace. It was merely a bracing arm a friend would use to offer comfort. Yet even such a touch was enough to have the blacksmith bristling and broiling like a kicked rattlesnake.
Peggy, however, was not looking at Will. Indeed, she was not looking at anyone else. Her eyes were focused on her bandaged right wrist, which she was holding tight in her other hand.
"But de pain it cause 'im was too much to live with. But not enough ta cause him ta die." Tia Dalma tilted her head with intrigue, her soft and curious tone drawing Will's attention back to her face.
"What…exactly did he put into the chest?" Will asked cautiously, his eyes flickering between Tia Dalma and Peggy's wrists as he did his best to keep from looking at Sloane's arm around her.
"Him heart." Tia Dalma said softly.
"Literally or figuratively?" Ragetti gulped only to get swatted and shushed by Pintel as he hissed:
"He couldn't literally put his heart in a chest?" He turned in horror to Tia Dalma with his wooden-eyed friend and Gibbs. "Could he?"
"In rage and sorrow, he did swear, To curse her name, her love laid bare, He carved his heart from out his chest, And hid it where their vows did rest."
The tune was soft, yet Will felt a chill sweep through him as it passed into his ears. In all the years he had heard Peggy sing, her voice had always been warm and sweet, but now…now there was no warmth, nothing but hollow emptiness. Her blue-grey eyes, too, seemed dead as they stared at the bowl of water before her, seeing but unseeing.
Will was not the only one unnerved. The crew, including Jack, looked as shaken as if someone had walked over their graves.
The only one unmoved was Tia Dalma, who agreed with the selkie's song.
"Aye, ya be right me gal. 'twas not worth feelin' what small, fleetin' joy life brings. An' so him carve out him heart," the sea witch savagely mimed a carving action against her breast much to the alarm of her guests "Lock it in a chest, and hide de chest from de world. De key," She glanced at the drawing of the key still lying on the table, "he keep with him at all times."
There was a pause as Will turned to see Jack's reaction to the news. Despite the astounding nature of all that had just been revealed, he seemed calm as a cucumber.
"You knew this?" Will hissed as he leapt to his feet. Of course, the pirate knew. Why else had he come here if not to confirm his suspicions?
"I did not." Jack sniffed haughtily, hardly phased by Will's ire. "I didn't know where the key was, but now we do. So now all that's left is to climb aboard the Flying Dutchman, grab the key, you shove off back to Port Royal where you belong and save your bonnie lass. Hey!"
The pirate quickly turned to shuffle out the door before Will could snarl at him, but Tia Dalma's voice called coldly across the room. She rose to her feet, her hand outstretched.
"Let me see ya hand!"
The crew of the Black Pearl all stiffened to attention at the commanding tone of the woman's voice. There was no room for argument, no chance to appeal.
Even Jack, who liked to be the one in charge, found his body turning back to the voodoo priestess of its own accord, though he looked very anxious to face her.
He tried offering his left hand, but the woman's stare only hardened like ice.
"Jack," Peggy muttered warningly as she felt the invisible magic wall around Tia Dalma tense. It was like being near a cobra getting agitated.
With great reluctance but no snarky words, Jack carefully handed his right hand to Tia Dalma, who swiftly but gently undid the red and white cloth he had bandaged around his palm.
Peggy smelt the mark before she saw it. The Devil's work always had that acrid, fishy scent. Even the mark on her wrist smelled similar.
The sight was just as bad as the smell.
A bubonic-like lesion throbbed painfully over the skin of Jack's rugged palm, strange hairy tufts sprouting around the circumference of the mark.
"By Poseidon!" Sloane hissed like an angry cat, his selkie fangs extending on instinct as he leapt out of his seat and backed away from the table.
Gibbs likewise also recoiled just as sharply, eyes wide with horror.
"The Black Spot!" he gasped, dusting himself off hurriedly, spinning around on his feet for one rotation and spitting on the floor by Will's feet, much to the Blacksmith's disgust.
Will grimaced as Marty, Pintel, and Ragetti copied Gibbs's actions, his gaze flickering to Peggy.
To his surprise, she stayed seated where she was. Even more astonishing was that, even though she looked repulsed by the mark, she did not seem surprised.
Had Jack told her beforehand? The two of them confided a lot in one another; after all, he mused bitterly. Yet when Will turned to glower at Jack, he saw that the Pirate seemed just as surprised as he was by Peggy's odd reaction.
"My eyesight's as good as ever, just so ya know!" Jack called to the room at large as Tia Dalma sighed heavily at the mark, tilting his head and examining with all the professional calm of a practised physician.
"Hmm…" she pursed her lips, letting Jack's hand go and lifting her skirts, "I have just da thing. Now, where did I put it?" She hummed as she ducked behind the curtain at the back of her shop.
There was the clinking of glass and the muffled thuds of crates being moved and feet on the floor.
Jack quickly took advantage of the pause to re-wrap his hand, his fingers deftly swiping one of the jewelled trinkets Tia Dalma had left on the table before her seat.
Peggy glared at the Pirate, who merely gave her a small wink and made a shushing action.
"Fine-fine. On your head be it." Peggy rolled her eyes, shaking her head at Jack's antics, drawing Will's attention.
She gulped and turned away as the blacksmith opened his mouth to say something to her, leaning across the table.
"Peg…are you-"
The thud of footsteps silenced him as Tia Dalma returned to the room, something large and made of glass in her arms.
"Davy Jones cannot make Port. Cannot step on land but once every ten years." She looked at Jack, staring him unblinkingly in the eye. "Land is where you are safe, Jack Sparrow. So ye shall carry land with ye."
Tia Dalma held out her hands, revealing a large glass jar filled with-
"Dirt?" Jack mumbled as he took the jar and weighed it in his hands. "This is…a jar of dirt."
"Yes?" Tia Dalma nodded.
"Is the…Jar of Dirt going to help?" Jack asked cautiously, gulping as Tia Dalma's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"If ye don't want it, give it back" She held her hands again.
"No!" Jack swiftly held the jar to his chest like a mother with a newborn child.
"Then it helps." Tia Dalma smirked, though the threat in her eyes did not leave.
It makes sense, I guess. Peggy gulped as she exchanged looks with the others. The Devil is bound by the rules he has agreed to. He cannot break his word to anyone, mortal or immortal.
She met Will's eye and gulped as she realised he was eyeing her suspiciously, the curious expression not too dissimilar from when he had first discovered her pirate roots.
She supposed it must have looked odd, her lack of surprise at the Black Spot. Peggy did not know Jack had the mark until he revealed it, but it did not surprise her that it had come to this. She knew all about Jack's deal with the Devil. She had figured he had been looking for a way to wheedle out of it. He was never good at sticking to his word if the result did not benefit him, and Barbossa's mutiny had cut down the thirteen years he should have had with the Pearl to a mere sliver.
No wonder he was so eager to beach the Pearl. If the Devil has marked him for his pet to hunt,, he has no choice but to stay far on land.
Of course, Jack could argue that since he had not been Captain for ten years, but Peggy doubted the Devil would care. The Black Pearl had been sailing the waters for thirteen years. Their deal never stated that Jack had to be the captain who sailed her, only that he could sail her. Whether he was captain or crew had nothing to do with the timeline.
And just as he finds his beloved Pearl again, so too does he see me…just in time for me to deliver him back to the Devil as I promised.
"It seems…" Peggy sucked in a deep shuddering breath as she forced herself to meet Tia Dalma's eyes. "We need to find the Flying Dutchman."
Tia Dalma smiled her strange, eerie smile as she retook her seat, reaching into a pouch tied onto a belt around her waist.
Something rattled in the voodoo priestess's hands as she shook them together, shutting her eyes and murmuring softly under her breath.
"A touch.." All eyes turned to watch her as she suddenly sucked in a sharp breath and opened her eyes. "of Destiny!"
The Devil of the Deep looked up from the grand pipe organ.
He had been sitting and playing for hours, as was his custom after the dinner rush. He did not know why he or his damned crew even bothered to eat human food any more—habit of the old flesh, he supposed.
More for comfort and pleasure than for sustenance. Besides, a warm meal in the belly kept crew members from griping and complaining.
And yet, all through that final meal for the day, the Devil could not shake off that feeling.
It was almost like expectancy…if one could use that word.
A sort of eager excitement that was palpable in the air.
He was not quite sure if it came from the ship itself or if it was feeding off his own emotions. A ship was a reflection of its captain, and the Flying Dutchman was no exception to the rule.
In a few short days, he would collect on two deals.
Two deals long in the making. The Devil sneered victoriously to himself as he sucked in a deep drag from the smoking wooden pipe entwined in his tentacles.
Long had he waited for these deals to come to completion. There was little pleasure he could deride from his duties, so the Devil took what little suffering he could squeeze from whatever poor, unfortunate souls he could.
And the two wretches he had bound to his word truly were pathetic.
A pirate lord, desperate to hold onto his freedom while the rest of the world came to heel under the shackles of civilisation. And a young selkie, desperate to live despite a world that wanted her dead.
Well, at least she would be somewhat safe in his keeping. The Devil smirked to himself as he eyed a silver-lined chest nearby. He hoped she would not be so foolish to run from him a second time. Though he enjoyed watching the young sea child squirm, he was loathed to put an end to her. To do so would mean putting an end to the last of the selkies of the Caribbean. And once one magical species in an area was eradicated, the other magical creatures would follow swiftly. Mermaids, Sirens, kelpies, even the Devil's precious Kraken. And if all magic were lost from the Caribbean, the other oceans would follow in their footsteps and fall.
It was a dangerous and precarious position for them all. And though he hated his curse, the Devil was bound to his oaths. But soon, that would be remedied.
That little Pirate Lord would be under his thumb, and the Selkie would be safely tucked away in the ship, out of sight and out of mind from the rest of the foolish mortals being put to proper work. Who knows, with the type of work the Devil and his crew did, she may even come to enjoy her time here…especially since it could offer her all the opportunity to get vengeance on those that took away all from her.
The Devil sighed and smiled up to the ceiling of his quarters.
Yes…not long now, and all would be right with the world again.
Will bit his lip as he tried to keep his breathing quiet.
It was nearly midnight. Tia Dalma had bid him, Jack, and the rest of the Black Pearl crew stay the night at her shack rather than risk travelling down the dangerous river by night. Now, most of the crew, Cotton included, had been ushered into an upper level of the shack hidden in the large tree it had been constructed around and fed a rustic dinner of eel stew served by their gracious hostess.
The stew was surprisingly good, although it had a less-than-appealing appearance. The blankets and hammocks Tia Dalma had provided them for sleeping in the lone room were warm, dry, and soft.
But to Will, nothing would compare to the feel of the blankets back at Mister Brown's…especially not after Peggy had laundered them fresh.
Not for the first time, Will wished everything could return to how things were…when life was simple. When the only thing to worry about was keeping Mister Brown at bay and fulfilling all the orders in the forge…days when Peggy greeted him first thing in the morning with a smile or a fond roll of the eyes as she ruffled his head of bed hair…
He did not know what felt worse: his longing for those days or the guilt gnawing at him as he remembered his marriage vows to Elizabeth, vows he had spent ages working on alone in that cold apartment surrounded by relics of that warm past with Peggy.
A past he had thrown away for a future so uncertain and filled with pain, anger and regret.
He rubbed his chest as the now familiar ache throbbed through him.
It was getting worse and worse with each passing hour. Why was Peggy in so much pain? Was it one of the symptoms of the bond being broken? If so why was he feeling it so strongly?
He remembered Tia Dalma's story about Davy Jones. It seemed so fantastical and cruel to exist without a heart, yet now, Will could feel this pain; he could almost believe it was true.
He bit on his lip as he chanced a peek through a beaded curtain into the main shop area of the shack, his ears pricking as he heard Peggy gasp and grunt.
"Ugh! What the hell was that?!"
"A tonic, for ya strength." Tia Dalma clipped though her voice was laced with amusement as Peggy wretched and gagged behind her hand, doing her best to swallow down whatever she had been fed.
"It will also dull de pain for a day or two. Give ye the chance ta sleep proper…and maybe get rid of some of that poison in ye mind." Tia Dalma's shadow offered another mug to Peggy across the table. "Here. Wash it down wit dis. Dat potion helps but it will make ya feel a little low for a while, dis will pick ya up."
"Thanks." Peggy accepted the mug and took a grateful sip. "Gah! That's better."
"Ya were lucky ya came when ya did," The older woman tutted in an almost motherly tone at the young selkie "Ya did not have much time left."
"How much time did I have?" Peggy mumbled as she drained the last of her mug.
"Two weeks."
Will felt his blood chill in his veins.
Two weeks?
Two weeks…that was all she had…but that was…no…NO!
"And now?" Peggy frowned, and it took Will all his power not to leap into the room and repeat the question himself.
"Four weeks. But only if ya careful and don't damage ya-self anymore." Tia Dalma answered bluntly, shaking her head with a tired groan as she slumped back in her chair, the back now facing Will. "Aye-yai-yai! I never seen a bond so damaged in all me years. How ya still standin' is beyond me. Den again, ye Caribbean Selkies always were de tough ones."
"You should have told me, y'know," Peggy grumbled, rubbing her chest. "About the whole selkie bond thing. The last time I was here as a nibbling, you should have told me I could die if I fell in love with such an arse."
"Aye…I should have. Dat is my mistake and mine alone." Tia Dalma admitted bitterly, "I thought ye mama woulda' taught ye. Tis usually one of de first things a selkie learns, for a heart tis a precious thing to lose."
"Mother was too busy playing prisoner for Daddy-dearest." Peggy snorted, though her anger was no longer directed at the voodoo priestess. "She loved him. Look where it got her."
"It isn't de fallin' in love dat kills ye." Tia Dalma corrected the young selkie gently, "Tis the betrayal of de heart. A betrayal that cuts so deep it makes a wound where none can see but ye can feel constantly. Ya young man betrayed ye big time, didn't he?"
"He did."
"An' how did 'e do that?" Tia Dalma prompted, "Ya said ya knew he loved another for a long time. So what changed?"
Will waited with bated breath for Peggy's answer. Finally, he was so close to figuring out the root of all this pain and suffering. Once he knew that, he could figure out how to fix it.
He was so eager to listen to Peggy as she opened her mouth to speak that he held a hand over his mouth to muffle his breathing.
"I don't know…" Peggy exhaled heavily, her voice trembling as her eyes watered. "I honestly don't know. Like you said, I knew he had always loved Elizabeth for years. Yes, it did hurt, but honestly, I was so happy for him to have his shot at being with her if it could make him happy. But then…then he had the opportunity to tell her everything while they had a moment at Isla de Muerta, and he did not take it."
"But dat was not de moment de bond broke?"
"No…" Peggy sniffled, wiping her nose as she tried to hold herself together. "No, that happened after…at Port Royal…the day Jack was supposed to hang…"
Will felt his gut sink. He had an awful feeling he knew where this was going.
No…please no…
"I had just seen Jack for what I had thought would be my last time, and then Will found me and said all those sweet things to console me.-"
No…no-no-no…
"Told me I was precious to him. That he cared. HA! I should have known that was all bullshit!"
It was not bullshit! I meant every word!
"But then straight up afterwards, he just waltzed right up to Elizabeth and…and told her he loved her…right in front of everyone…in front of me!" Peggy sucked in a sharp breath, her fists now clenching tight on the table before her as they shook with rage. "WHY? Why did he have to do it then and there? Did he have to confess his undying love for that woman while I was watching one of my dearest friends about to be put to death?!"
Will felt his breath still in his chest as he listened with mounting horror to the words now spewing out of Peggy's mouth in an angry tumble.
"And he did that in front of everyone! In front of all our friends and neighbours, who had probably all guessed how I felt about him because, let's face it, I was shit at hiding it! And this was after lying to me and telling me I was dear to him? Why did he tell me all those stupid things? Was it just to butter me up? Was it so he could keep me on the hook? He was happy to whisper sweet bullshit to me in private as if it were some dirty, shameful secret. Then to add sea salt to the wound, he blasts it out loud for the whole world that he'd much rather be with the PERFECT Elizabeth Swann than the selkie pirate-housekeeping scum like me!" she grunted as she accidentally slammed her palm on the table harder than she intended. "If Elizabeth had not returned his feelings…I…I would have just been that stupid besotted idiot he settled for…a shitty consolation prize. That's all I am to him…in the end."
No. That's not…how could she think that? How could she think what I said was a lie? Will wanted to reach out and shake her. How could she say such awful things about herself? How could she believe such things? Had Jack put it in her head?
But no. Jack would never put her down. The pirate might tease and poke fun at his cabin girl for kicks sometimes, but she was one of the few people he truly respected and held in high regard; even Will could see that from a mile off. No, Jack, of all people, would never encourage such degrading self-talk when it came to Peggy.
"Look, I know I have no say in who Will chooses to love or be with. That's his choice." Peggy gulped down on a large lump in her throat, wiping at her nose before it could stream. "But come on, Elizabeth?! ELIZABETH?! That filthy cat was eager to dump poor James Norrington high and dry without any remorse the second he lost his usefulness to her. Oh, and let's not forget how she treated Will all those years. She practically ignored him in public while all those ruddy, snobby sycophants chased after her. She only became interested in him the second he played the hero for her. If Hector had not attacked Port Royal or taken her away, she would have been happy to let him rot in that smithy without a second thought. Oh, don't get me wrong, I think she was fond of him, and yet, every time I suggested we drop by the shop to pretend to buy something, she'd always make up some excuse not to see him. I thought she was just being shy. HA! SHY? Her? She always enjoyed being the centre of attention at every party she went to. I wouldn't be surprised if she still enjoyed men's flirtations even if she's engaged or wed. After all, being married will only amuse her for so long before she gets bored and people stop being awed by it."
Will stared at Peggy as she panted for breath. He had never heard her so agitated. Her eyes were wide, and her nostrils were flared. And the way she spoke of Elizabeth…she had always been so warm and respectful for her friend…Had she always felt this way, or was this all recently borne of jealousy and hurt feelings?
Will could understand her anger at him for choosing another woman after loving him for so long.
But the vitriol…the venom…who was this hateful creature he saw before him?
But even as he thought this, his stomach churned uncomfortably. Was all of this rant just an excuse to badmouth the woman she felt had stolen her man? Or had Peggy's friendship with Elizabeth soured for other reasons that she had never confided in him?
Will might have dismissed these awful claims had he not remembered that flirtatious nobleman from all those months ago…the pleasure Elizabeth had taken in receiving his attention despite being newly engaged. And poor Commodore Norrington…disgraced and humiliated.
Now that Will has dwelled on it, had Elizabeth properly apologised to the man for leaving him high and dry after using him to rescue them from Barbossa? Apart from expressing that she felt sorry for him, Will had not seen any attempt on her part to bury the hatchet with the man or offer some sort of consolation or compensation for his troubles…unless she had urged her father to handle that particular problem. The same way she got him to handle any challenging topic with Will whenever conflict arose...
"You know…I don't know why I always stood up for her." Peggy shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. "She was not much of a real friend to me, unlike Anna or the girls at Fort Charles. When I was accused of stealing from the Governor's mansion, she did not lift a finger to help prove my innocence. Because she was more afraid of her father scolding her for skipping her lessons to play hooky at the beach than she was for me losing my job and being publicly shamed and beaten with a switch in front of the rest of the staff by that cow of a housekeeper! Y'know, I still have the scar from that? That's how hard that bitch thrashed me! And Elizabeth just stood aside and let it happen! She did nothing! Like yes! I guess watching someone getting beat is horrible, but if you're someone's friend, you'd step in to stop it if you knew it was wrong, right? Well, she didn't. She was happy to let me take the literal flogging until I accidentally let slip we were at the beach together, which made her father wheedle the right information out of her. Hell, she even made me feel guilty for ratting her out and said that as a token of good faith, and even told me I should probably accept her father's offer to transfer to Fort Charles washhouse to move on from the embarrassment of it all. HA! Move on from the embarrassment! She was the only one embarrassed by me! So embarrassed that she ignored me just as much as she ignored Will after I left her service. And me, being the absolute idiot that I was, felt so grateful to her that I lied to Will and told him I had been searching for another job anyway with better pay because I, the idiot, did not want him to be angry at her because I, for some stupid reason, did not want him to get hurt by realising the sick truth about her. Every bloody time I give something for either of those two, I pay the effing price, and I'm sick of it! I'm so sick of it! I hate it! I hate them!"
She raised the mug to her lips and skulled the last drink to stem the wrathful flow of words streaming out her mouth.
She doesn't mean that. Will shook his head. She can't mean that, surely.
He shut his eyes, remembering that event Peggy had just described.
How could he forget that day in a hurry? One of the footmen from the Governor's house had carried Peggy home, battered, bruised and trembling all over. He did not believe for one second her feeble excuse that she had fallen down the stairs, but she had been in such a state that he did not pursue the matter for her own sake. That Elizabeth had not stepped in to stop such a miscarriage of justice and had even essentially helped kick Peggy out was appalling after all the fuss she had kicked up to beg for his and Jack's freedom that day.
But that was not the worst part. Six months ago, he might have angrily objected to such a story. Though he would never dismiss Peggy's pain so flippantly, he would not have believed her anger at Elizabeth was justified. He would have tried to convince Peggy that Elizabeth had done all she could to help her friend when she was scared of witnessing such a traumatic event.
But even now, the excuse sounded flimsy in his head.
Friend or not, Elizabeth should have come forward before Peggy had been wrongly beaten. Being grounded for sneaking out of a lesson was nowhere near as terrible as being thrashed with a cane to the point one could hardly walk. She may have tried to make amends by helping Peggy get another job. However, Will had seen how Elizabeth crept out of conflict firsthand by using her father's influence. Was offering another job kindness if it was done with the intent to sweep an embarrassing incident under the rug?
And what if, God forbid, the false accusations had followed Peggy to her new job? Will would not put it past that awful woman Missus Berry to have used such rumours to get Peggy framed for something petty and then fired and blacklisted and that would have been disasterous. At that point in their lives, he and Peggy had been so poor that they barely kept out of squalor. They needed a double income, and Will hardly had time to pursue another job because Mister Brown kept working him to the bone. With a black mark on Peggy's name and the shame of being accused of theft (from the Governor, no less), she would have never found work as anything but a prostitute.
Even as a child, Elizabeth could not be THAT oblivious and detached from how things worked for the lower class…could she?
He found himself leaning against a wall as he heard Peggy begin to talk again, her voice still trembling with barely suppressed anger.
"You want to know what really pisses me off. If Elizabeth's father had never agreed to let them marry, would she have given up everything to be with him? Would she, that spoiled brat who hardly lifted a finger to carry more than a cup of tea, ever degrade herself to do what I did in that house? Would she wash filthy linens day-in-day-out for military men that would sneer down at her or fondle her arse when they pass her by? Would she scrub floors on her hands and knees till her hands were raw for extra cash because a landlord wasted it all? Would she risk exposing her biggest secret to protect the man she loves? I doubt it. She's a coward! Always has been. Is happy to sacrifice other people to get what she wants but won't put herself on the line. She would never have the balls to deal with the shit I have!"
"One can never know what might have happened on de path untrodden. Maybe dis Elizabeth might rise to da challenges ya faced. Maybe not. Maybe her strengths lie in facin' struggles on her own path that ye cannot imagine. I know ya angry chil'. Ye have plenty a' reason to be. It been a long an' painful road ta get here. But be careful. Throwin' ya anger around don't make her any worse or ye any better. It only make you more angry." Tia Dalma cautioned her gently, a dark, slender-fingered hand reaching out to hold one of Peggy's consolingly. "Speakin' of anger, I ain't seein' any more damage to ya bond even tho' ye are angry like dis. De potion must be workin'. But be warned. Dis is only ta buy time. If ya heart keep fixatin' on de hurt like dis den ya will run outta time before ya have a chance ta change ya fate."
"Oh, please." Peggy snorted, rolling her eyes. "Change my fate? I'm a dead woman walking."
"Ya givin' up so fast?" Tia Dalma sounded irritated now. "Ya de last selkie in de Caribbean and ya givin' up de fight."
"Yes." Peggy sighed heavily, her head hanging in her hands "I'm tired, Tia Dalma." She mumbled wearily "I'm tired. All my life, I've fought and scrambled for a scrap of safety and happiness, and now I'm…I'm all out. I can't…every day hurts. Literally, it hurts to sit here and exist right now. Breathing, hurts, thinking hurts. I…I just want it to stop…and if giving up really is the only way out of it…" she paused and sucked in a deep breath. "I'm not ungrateful for the help you've given me. This potion at least can buy me some time to set things right before it all ends…at least I can die on my two feet with what little dignity I have left."
"Ya not dead yet." Tia Dalma pulled her hands away from her face. "And ya don' know what da future might bring."
"Don't." Peggy pulled away from the woman sharply, eyes still teary. "Don't try and give me hope. That's why I'm in this mess in the first place…because I hoped it would all be better…because I hoped one day, if I just worked hard and cared for him enough, he'd look at me and forget all about her and love me for me – God, I sound so stupid – Will won't return my feelings. That's fine. He's a free man, free to love whoever he wants. As angry as I am with him for what he did, I…I do want him to be happy. I truly do from the bottom of whatever remains of my heart. But…but I can't live on with this pain…I can't. It's too much. It's too much, and I just want it to stop. For once! Just make it stop!"
Peggy's head fell back into her hands as she began to sob quietly.
There was silence as Will backed away from the beaded curtain leaning against the wall. His heart was hammering, and his breaths were heavy.
The ache in his chest was still throbbing painfully, though he did not feel the strange tearing sensation that he had felt the night before. But that was little mercy.
He had thought that once he heard the truth from Peggy, his mind would be clear, and it would all be so easy to solve everything.
How foolish he had been.
His confession to Elizabeth was not the cause of her pain, but it was the final nail in the coffin.
He had thought he had been romantic and bold, declaring his love for Elizabeth in front of many people. He had thought he was keeping Peggy safe from being tarred by his brush by keeping their talk quiet and private. If people had seen him talking with her before he had disobeyed the law and freed Jack, they might have accused her of collaboration and sent her to the chopping block for her part in their escape. Of course, she had, in the end, aided and abetted in the crime anyway, but still, he had hoped to keep her out of his plans for her sake.
That Peggy would see his actions as some vulgar ploy to toy with her vulnerable emotions made him feel sick. His initial gut reaction was to deny all claims. After all, he had meant every word. She was precious to him; she was family. Why would she ever think he'd lie about something so personal? Yet the more he thought about it, her reaction made sense, especially now that he knew her true feelings for him.
What else was she to think when he so crudely confessed to Elizabeth barely five minutes after being so tender with her? And he had done that when someone else she loved was in mortal peril.
No wonder she felt so betrayed.
After everything they had been through with Barbossa, after fighting so avidly for him to live, revealing her true selkie nature despite a risk to her own life, and putting herself in front of Elizabeth to save her life, he thanked her with a slap in the face, hurting her with his selfish desire to play the hero.
Jack's right…I did toss her aside. His hand flew to his mouth as he felt his stomach roll unpleasantly.
He could not even hide behind the excuse of being oblivious to how she truly felt because, deep down, he knew she treated him differently than anyone else. The sick feeling in his stomach grew as he remembered how smug he had felt when Peggy had been so protective of him before Jack and Barbossa. How much he revelled in being treated specially by her. He might not have known she was in love with him, but he sensed he held a special place in her heart, and he had used that to get his way for so many years that he did not even pause to think about what it might have put her through. And now his selfishness was going to kill her.
She should have punched me harder. He wiped his watering eyes with his sleeve as he leaned back into the wall behind him. I'm such an idiot! All this time, I felt angry at her for leaving me behind, but what else was she to do? How could I expect her to watch me get married to someone she resents after all those times I took advantage of her? She loved me, and I used her.
He stiffened as he heard footsteps thudding toward him and braced himself for being shouted at for eavesdropping. Let Peggy hit him; he deserved it and more after everything that had happened.
Yet when he opened his eyes to face her, he only saw Tia Dalma standing before him, arms folded.
To his astonishment, the voodoo lady did not seem even remotely upset with him. She stared at him curiously, her head tilted, and gazed hard at the open collar of his shirt, right where his heart was.
He shivered as she silently reached out with a sharp-nailed finger, tracing over his flesh with such a feather-light touch that it almost felt like a cold sea breeze was brushing against him.
He shut his eyes and shivered, though not from embarrassment like he usually felt when a beautiful woman tried flirting with him.
For this was no attempt to seduce him.
Tia Dalma was staring at his heart so intensely he was sure she could see through the skin and straight to the beating organ itself. He was sure that if she put her mind to it, she could rip out his heart from his ribcage with her bare hands.
Then her touch was gone, and he felt his entire body relax like a bowstring that had just been released.
He panted for breath and slumped to the wall, eyes shutting as he became aware that the voodoo woman had not moved away from where she stood before him.
"Interesting…" She murmured thoughtfully, her gaze flicking up to meet his terrified eyes and sweat-covered brow. "Most cannot feel me sight upon dem. But ye can."
"Sight?" Will gasped, wiping his brow as he tried to straighten up.
"All who practice de craft learn to see more than just their eyes." Tia Dalma said softly, "Tis how I can see the state of dat one's heart. And yers."
"Mine?" Will quirked a disbelieving brow.
"Aye. I see ya, sittin' by the fireplace of ye home, wearin' her shawl 'round ya shoulders" she reached up to gently caress the side of his face "I see ya go to her room and tidy up and clean her bed, ye make sure nothin' is thrown away. I see all de times ya draw her face on de pages of ya book when ya should be writin' ya vows for another. How ya call out her name in ya sleep and see her face in the de reflection of each sword that ya make with ya two hands. How when she bathed in de sea only yesta'day ya wanted to go to her an' ki-"
"That's enough." Will backed away, hitting the wall behind him, unnerved. He had never met this woman before in his life. How could she know such things he had never told anyone else?
"You've made your point." He gulped down the shiver of nerves, trying to keep a calm façade though he knew she must have seen his fear.
To his relief, however, Tia Dalma did not comment on his frazzled state or gloat. Instead, she just gestured to the front of her shop.
"Come. Sit with me a while."
"What about Peggy?" Will frowned. Now that he thought about it, why wasn't she responding to this commotion? Usually, she'd be furious with him for intruding on such a private moment.
Tia Dalma did not answer but merely jerked her head beyond the beaded curtain. Will followed her gaze and saw Peggy slumped unmoving on the table, her head resting on her arms.
"What happened to her?" Will breathed, swiftly entering the room and approaching Peggy's prone form.
"A sleeping draught." Tia Dalma waved him off airily as she sauntered back to her spot at the table, reaching for a water pitcher. "Now she can get de rest she needs."
She put down a freshly poured mug of water and slid it across the table to Will.
"And we can talk."
Will looked up from where he had been checking Peggy's breathing, putting his ear to her mouth. So far, she seemed blissfully asleep. Indeed, she seemed most peaceful despite the distressing conversation she had just had.
Still, he was unsure how he felt about this voodoo woman's remedies. He knew Jack and Peggy trusted her, and the selkies, like Sloane, held her in high regard, but Will did not know this woman. She seemed to be hiding a lot despite acting so hospitable.
Then he remembered the chill of her finger, like a cold dead bone against his flesh. He quickly obeyed Tia Dalma's request and sat beside Peggy, his hand resting on her cheek as she rested her head on the table.
"Ya heard everything then?" Tia Dalma quirked a brow at him, and Will nodded. There was no point in hiding it.
"yes."
"Good. Den dis will be a lot easier." Tia Dalma took a sip from her cup and gestured to Will to follow suit. "What do ya know about selkie bonds?"
"Only what little I've heard recently." Will took a polite sip of his drink. "I would not have believed it if I didn't feel it for myself."
"Ah…I see…and do you feel it now." Tia Dalma's lips curled upward into a tiny smirk.
"Yes." Will rubbed his chest. "I've…I've felt it since Peggy returned to Port Royal. It was small at first; I thought I was getting catches in my chest, but now…now it's constant." He frowned at Tia Dalma's smug expression. "Tia Dalma…if I find a way to make amends with Peggy, will that stop her from…" he trailed off, unable to even utter the word.
To his dismay, the Voodoo woman shrugged.
"Dunno. Depends on de state of her at de time. If she is strong and holds on den maybe. But, if too far gone and too much damage den…no ye can't stop it. But," she put a finger up to stop Will before he could open his mouth. "There is another way, to buy her more time to make tings right."
"So there is still hope?" Will straightened up, his heart racing in his chest. "You can still save her?"
"No…but ye can."
"…how?" he gulped, hardly hoping to dream. "What must I do?"
Tia Dalma smiled.
"How far ya willin' to go fer her?"
"As far as I have to," Will answered quickly. "She would do the same for me." He added softly.
"Ye'd do anythin' to make it right?"
"Anything." Will nodded "it's no less than she deserves."
He knew he was probably jumping into this too recklessly and thoughtlessly, but he did not care.
If Peggy was too drained to cling to hope, he would hold on for them both.
"What must I do?" He asked again, his voice firmer in his conviction.
Tia Dalma's smile widened.
The whelp was too easy.
"Captain! Captain!"
The Devil smiled as the door to his quarters thudded open to admit a member of his crew, humanoid-shaped though his head was oddly stretched at the sides like a hammerhead shark.
The man's teeth were bared in excitement as he panted for breath, almost bent double from the exertion of his fat run.
"Captain," the 'man' puffed as he quickly straightened up to attention as his captain turned to face him. "We've spotted 'er. The Black Pearl. She's here."
"Finally." The Devil's grin widened as a deep roll of thunder and drums crashed overhead in time with his ship's swaying. "And the other vessel?"
"Scuppered till the last wooden board." Maccus sneered with derisive pleasure "poor lubbers didn't know what hit 'em"
"Good. Submerge the ship and send the crew to scavenge what's left of the survivors." The Devil barked, "Let Jack Sparrow see what happens to those who try to run from me!"
"An' the selkie sir?" Maccus tilted his head. "Who should we send to fetch her?"
"No one." The Devil snarled, "I will go an' fetch her meself when it's time. She's a slippery thing." his lips curled viciously "An' I want to watch her an' Sparrow squirm."
Muahahaha! Nearly there, folks nearly there. I am so looking forward to finally bringing the "Devil" out from the shadows (I know we all know by now who he is, but let's be kind and let him have his "dramatic" reveal).
So yeah, Jack got his precious Jar of Dirt, and Will FINALLY knows how Peggy feels. (Though he had to eavesdrop to get it, naughty Will.) I know it seems like I'm bashing Elizabeth a lot in this chapter, but there is a point. Peggy needed to let off that last bit of steam, and I think Will needed to hear from her rather than other people how much damage he did.
We will visit Elizabeth in a few chapters (spoiler alert) to see her side of things, and I am looking forward to writing it. However, I want to get through this arc before getting to her. I was initially going to alternate between the "Jack, Will, and Peggy's quest" storyline and the"Elizabeth's side quest" storyline from chapter to chapter, but that felt too jarring, so I will get to her later when it feels right.
It was fun writing for Tia Dalma. She's a neutral party with her agenda, and I like the idea that she's drawn to Will because of his future destiny in the series.
Anyway hope you enjoyed
Keep reading, reviewing, faving/following for more.
Cheers
FuzzyBeta