Nicolette Barker || Book 2

IV. Canibals

"No sign of a crew..." Matthew stated and he lowered the spyglass from his eye to look at Nicolette who had been staring at the beached Pearl since the dot of black first appeared on the horizon that morning. "How long is it they've been here?"

She shook her head, taking a deep breath to fill her lungs in the hopes of slowing her heartbeat. "I don't know." She had a very bad feeling about this and her gut felt like she had swallowed a cannonball with her breakfast.

"If it's any more than a few days I don't very much think it would be worth going ashore." Once again Nicolette shook her head and held her hand out as a silent request for Matthew to hand her his spy glass. "Nico-" He tried to start a compelling argument of persuasion as he dropped the heavy instrument into her hand but she interrupted.

"I have to go ashore." She heard Matthew shift beside her in frustration but moved her attention to the enhanced view of the Pearl she now had.

Their temporary Captain had been right by saying there wasn't a man to be found, if she didn't know any better she would have said the Pearl had been abandoned. But she knew Jack and he would have never left the Pearl for anything and he would never be found far from it either.

"Get the boy." She said to one of the crew members passing, lowering the spyglass and passing it back to Matthew. "You can take us ashore now and be on your merry way." There was a cargo ship travelling from Africa to Barbados which he was hoping to intercept, therefor Matthew could not bob up and down like a sitting duck waiting to see if they returned or not. It was something which seemed to cause him great headache this morning with him even threatening to cancel his mission for her safety.

But Nic knew him and his moral compass was too strong after she reassured him they could look after themselves. After all if the Pearl really was abandoned then at least they had a means of escape should things turn sour.

"Alright, but finding a man willing to take you all the way to the beach won't be possible. You'll have to swim part of the way." Nicolette grimaced, her lips snarling as the heavy sound of boots running across the deck caught her attention.

"Jack's here?" Will appeared at her side, shrugging on his coat and going to the deck to get his first look at the Island.

"Looks like." She grinned, instantly hiding her worried expression. The small fact of the islands inhabitants might have slipped her mind every time she saw Will but all for very innocent reasons. One, she simply did not want to worry the young lad and two...the mere idea of him knowing and having question after question of their plan would have irritated her to no end. Ignorance was bliss in her opinion and it also made her feel like she had the upper hand which was always nice. "You ready to get going?" Will simply nodded, looking between her and Matthew.

"My First Mate will take you ashore." Captain Rathbone gestured to the longboats further down the ship and Will eagerly followed, leaving her alone.

Her eyes narrowed once more on the Pearl before she did a quick cast over the entire Island. It looked beautiful, though from past experiences she had learnt it was always the most beautiful things that were the most deadly. "What are you up to Sparrow?"

Her whisper was lost in the wind and her jaw tensed, narrowed, due to the silence she was met with.

"Barker!" Nic turned as Matthew called for her and saw Will was already ready and waiting down in the long boat with Matthew's first mate.

"Safe ventures Captain Rathbone." Nicolette called as she joined the. "I do hope you find your Navy ship." She swung one leg over the railing to straddle it and paused to turn and look back at Matthew. "Hopefully we will meet again one day."