A Pirate's Tale

Chapter 3

Jack stood there quietly, unbothered by  the fact that he had been like this for almost an hour. Selene sat across from him with a piece of paper and a pencil, putting the finishing touches on her drawing. The crew worked around the two, this had been happening recently even if they didn't know why. Selene never bothered to tell them why she was drawing Jack so much; mostly because he never told her why he wanted her to draw him so much. Jack kept his secret quiet, but feared the day she would discover his secret. He always told himself not to worry about it; mainly because they were taking a course very different from what he had originally thought and told them.

"Done." Selene finally said, holding up the finished drawing.

Jack looked at the picture of himself, his face serious. She had caught even the small details perfectly, making Jack wonder how she had done this in just an hour.

"How?" He asked.

"Hmm?"

"How could you do a picture with this much detail in little over an hour?"

Selene tilted her head slightly and answered, "I have a photographic memory, so I could the major details easily. I had you sit still for so long because I needed a chance to catch all the small, fine details that I don't normally notice."

Selene chuckled lightly at his fascinated face and walked towards the wheel to take it from the smiling first mate. On his way past her, her hand snapped up and caught him squarely on the back on the head. The man laughed as he went to work, unbothered by the slap.

Selene rolled her eyes and kept the ship heading in the same direction as she stared out at the ocean, her thoughts troubled. Jack noticed the troubled look on her face, so he walked up beside her.

"What's got you troubled luv?" He asked quietly.

"Just something a... friend told me."

"Ah." Jack noticed the hesitation about this friend, but said nothing.

He went down to help the crew with the ship, once again leaving the silent captain to her thoughts.

Selene stood at the stern of the ship, talking to the mermaids down below. The language was strange to the ears of most English speaking people, but natural to the black haired woman.

"I have trouble believing you. If he wanted to do what you say he has had plenty of opportunities, so why has he not?" Selene questioned calmly.

"We think he might have had a change of heart or forgotten, but the Royal Navy most certainly hasn't." The lead mermaid replied, gorgeous in the most simple of ways with straight brown hair and dark chocolate eyes.

Selene sighed as she stared off for a moment before nodding, "I will take your warning seriously, but I cannot do much without him noticing. I will merely be very careful about what I reveal to him from now on."

"We fear it might to be late for that," with the last warning, the mermaids disappeared under the waves.

Selene sighed as she thought about what had been told to her, it surprised her. Her thoughts were interrupted by someone clearing their throat. She spun around with her sword drawn to meet Jack, his brown eyes curious yet weary.

"Hello to you too luv." Selene smiled lightly at the conversational tick before putting her sword away.

"What are you doing out and about at this time of night, Jack?"

"I could ask you the same question," but Jack caught the threatening look in her eyes and deciding to answer her question. "I was woken by strange noises."

Selene rose an eyebrow, that was impossible; the language of the mermaids was a very quiet language. She nodded slowly though, but Jack could see suspicion deep in her eyes.

"I didn't know you could speak mermaid." Jack commented.

"Not many people do."

"What else can you do?"

Selene turned the upper half of her body towards him, "why?"

"I've been told I am a very curious pirate."

Selene gave a short laugh, "that's not always a good thing."

Jack gave a soft shrug in reply.

Selene stared off for a moment. "To understand my other abilities you would have to understand how I got them and why."

Jack sat down on the deck by the rail and patted the spot beside him. Selene sighed and sat down as well.

"I was eighteen the first time I met a pirate. I was hiding from my father because he was drunk again and my mother was away visiting a sick friend whom I never met. I, quite literally, ran into him outside a bar. Both of us fell, but he never got mad; he seemed to understand that I was running or hiding from something. I got to know him quite well, as he was in the town for some job or the other and he would be around for some time.

"He told me all about his adventures around the world, and about how a ship wasn't just a ship, it was freedom. When my mother returned, my father stopped drinking because Mother had a horrible hate for drunks. I couldn't sneak out the house anymore, and didn't meet the pirate until they caught him and almost killed him at the gallows. My mother stopped them because she said he was related to someone or the other who was very important, I can't remember the day very well. "

Jack smiled lightly, "it seems as though your mother was a wonderful person to save a pirates life."

Selene smiled as she leaned her head back against the wooden rail, "sometimes I think she knew that I was friends with him, and that's why she saved his life. Yet other times I think it was because she knew him from somewhere. I'll never know."

"Why's that?" Jack asked looking at her. Selene's smiled turned sad and she contiuned.

"The pirate stayed with us for a month to my joy and my father's displeasure. When my mother fell ill, my father blamed the pirate, so he left and Mother never got better. Everyone thought it was because the pirate poisoned her, but I knew father had done it.

"So I left in search of Tia Dalma, whom the pirate had told me about. She gave me the ability to heal my mother, then sent me on my way. I don't mind though, all I wanted to do was save my mom. "

"Did you make it?" Jack asked like a kid.

Selene rolled her head towards him, "if you would let me finish the story, you would know."

Jack's lips made an 'o' as Selene continued.

"When I arrived back she had already passed, so as soon as I could I left to give Tia Dalma the healing stone she had given me to heal my mother. Once there, she took the stone from me, but gave me something else; something much more powerful."

"Where is it? Where is it?" Jack asked excitedly.

Selene pulled up the sleeve of her shirt to show an imprint of the full moon on her wrist.

"She gave me the ability to control the sea with magic."