Chancing Fate - Jack Sparrow x OC

Part 1 - Chapter 11

Isla de Muerta stood before them once again swallowed beneath a blanket of fog thick enough to nearly erase the island entirely from view. Without sunlight cutting through the mist like before, the narrow waterway looked far worse now, reduced to shifting shadows and jagged outlines that appeared and vanished again with every slow movement of the Dauntless through the channel. Somewhere beneath the black water rested the wrecks of ships unfortunate enough to miss the passage entirely, and every so often Caroline caught the crooked remains of broken masts protruding through the fog like skeletal fingers reaching upward from the sea.

The moon lingered somewhere overhead beyond the clouds, its light muted into a pale haze that barely reached the water below.

Caroline stood near the stern watching darkness drift beyond the railing while damp wind tugged steadily at the loose strands escaping the braid she had redone earlier. Every creak of the ship felt louder here. Every splash against the hull seemed sharpened by the silence surrounding the island. She still could not understand how they had managed to navigate the passage at all without striking one of the wrecks hidden beneath the surface.

It seemed Jack’s compass truly could do the impossible.

Everything was finally coming to a close, and somehow that felt worse than the uncertainty before.

At least during the chase there had always been something to do. Another problem demanding attention before fear could settle properly inside her chest. Now all she could do was stand uselessly aboard the Dauntless and wait while Jack disappeared somewhere into the fog alongside Norrington and the navy officers.

The waiting became unbearable almost immediately.

Every passing minute stretched tighter through her chest while distant cannon fire occasionally rolled faintly across the water from somewhere deeper within the island. Each time the sound reached the ship, Caroline found herself turning instinctively toward it before she could stop herself, straining to hear whether more followed afterward. Whether the fighting sounded closer. Worse.

Whether Jack was still alive.

The thought arrived so quickly she shoved it back down at once.

Unfortunately, she was effectively a prisoner now anyway.

Her father had apparently decided she would remain safely out of the way until this ended, and Norrington, eager to keep both Elizabeth and Caroline from interfering further, had agreed without hesitation. The result left her confined inside the captain’s quarters with marines standing guard outside the door while the rest of the ship moved on without her.

The confinement settled beneath her skin like something old and familiar she had nearly forgotten how to endure.

Resting with her back against the wall beneath the rear windows, Caroline sat on the floor with one knee drawn loosely upward while she stared at the ceiling overhead. The ache behind her eyes from the previous night had finally dulled somewhat, though exhaustion still lingered heavily through her body after everything that had happened since sunrise. Lanternlight shifted slowly across the cabin whenever the ship rolled beneath the waves, shadows dragging lazily across the walls before rearranging themselves again.

She had already crossed the room six separate times. Every attempt ended the same way.

The door was impossible. Even if she managed to overpower whichever marine entered first, there would still be too many men immediately outside. The rear balcony remained the only real option, though climbing down onto the lower deck in darkness carried risks of its own. She would need the crew distracted long enough that nobody noticed if the room suddenly fell quiet.