Book One: Part Two: Chapter Twenty-Four

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February 1726, Drifting in The Caribbean Sea

Aimee heard waves crashing against her sleeping hammock and felt rather disoriented. Then the events of the day ran through her mind and she sat up. Her head ached and she lifted her hands to check it, yet found them bound with a tight rope around her wrists. They were already having chafing them quite badly, they were bound so snugly. She reached behind her neck and trailed her fingers along the back of her head, feeling a length of cloth draped around her forehead.

Finally remembering how she'd gotten hurt, Aimee lifted her gaze to find a pair of boots angled her way. She gulped as she followed the length of their owner's body. Eventually, she came face-to-face with Esme Caminante, her old captain and friend. Someone who she once saw as her savior. Esme gazed out toward the ocean and Aimee hurriedly checked her pocket for the amulet, but groaned when she spotted its chain dangling along Esme's neck.

She finally acknowledged her with an icy stare, then turned her head back toward the water. "We will dock in Tortuga and meet up with Taria there. If you all had only stayed away, we could have handled this ourselves. Such a nuisance...You are all just children who do not know when to obey orders. I find you even more intolerable now."

"Wh-What...?" Aimee grew indignant and stood, feeling a sharp pain in her leg. She glanced down at it. Aimee was surprised to find more cloth draped around it as well, but her attention was quickly deterred as the boat began to swash about. She regained her footing and glanced out at the ocean, seeing their destination in the distance. No! What about--

"Your comrades were taken to Kingston. They will likely be hanged for piracy." A chill ran down Aimee's spine at her old friend's frosty tone. She sat back down, her anger forgotten. She stared at Esme until she finally rewarded her glare with a glance. "What?"

"What happened to you?" Aimee leaned in closer. "Did Taria do this to you? Is she why you are behaving so callously?"

"I do not think one such as yourself should presume anything about their captor. And stop speaking to me as if we know one another. You are but a means to an end who should have stayed on dry land and Taria is waiting for me." Esme leaned nearer and shoved her back down further into the boat so brisk, there was no trace of the captain left within her. She grabbed the ores and began rowing them toward Tortuga, but Aimee caught sight of something else much more alluring. With each sway of her torso, Esme revealed more of the amulet. The red gem within its gold glowed and drew Aimee's attention. "Be still and do as you are told, girl."

Aimee tilted her head to the side as she heard an odd ringing. It reminded her of the fog surrounding the island. She eased forward ever so slightly and could eventually make out something moving from within the ruby.

She is bewitched, Lucia. Aimee heard someone call and lifted her gaze. She surveyed the ocean around them at all sides, yet found none other than Esme and herself. Her former captain was unaware of her searching and kept her eyes peeled to the distant coast. Veering her focus back toward the amulet, Aimee concentrated on it as more words filled her mind. The back of her neck carries an insignia only you and one other can dispatch. Place your hand on it and say: Frange. Do not fret, little one. She will not harm you even with her veil intact. Once it has faded, she will return to you as the captain you once knew.

Aimee blinked as she considered the peculiarly familiar voice. It felt as if it was someone she had known her entire life was speaking to her. Like they were looking out for her and if Aimee really thought about it, she felt this presence more often than she previously recalled. She glanced between the amulet and Esme's face a handful of times before she stepped into action as she tried to process the piercing words. Perhaps...Just maybe this was a chance to see if everything she learned was real. Her memories had been genuinely restored, she now heard the voice of which Francisco spoke and she felt herself leaning toward the belief that she was more connected to every person involved than she once presumed. This was what she wanted after all, wasn't it? Answers...? Maybe even the full, unbiased truth?

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