A Pirate's Fairytale

Chapter 3

Selene sat at her desk inside the captain's quarters, not bothered by the rocking of the ship as she wrote quickly in a small journal. Once finished, she closed it with a light snap and placed it inside a small pocket on her coat that was hidden from view. Afterward, the young woman placed her boots on the desktop and picked a book up off her desk to read.

Suddenly her door was thrown open by Jack, who looked absolutely furious over something. He walked up to her desk and placed his hands across. Selene rose an eyebrow out of curiosity but said nothing. Jack would speak when he felt like it and not a minute sooner; much like herself.

"What are you reading?" he questioned as though he had never seen someone read.

"A book," the young woman muttered as she turned the page.

Jack spared her an aggravated glance before going to the reason he had barged into her quarters, "Is no one concerned that a ship is coming towards us?"

Selene picked her head up, "Is it flying the Jolly Roger?"

"Yes."

"Then no, we are not worried. Should we be?" she questioned calmly.

Jack dodged around the question, "And why aren't you? Most captains would be getting up to see who is approaching."

She scowled at the evasion of her question, "Because everyone knows my ship and my crew knows who is dangerous and who is not. Honestly, not every crew comments mutiny; some are quite loyal."

It was Jack's turn to scowl at the thinly veiled insult, but before he could comment the door was opened by one of Selene's crew members.

"Sorry ta interrupt cap't, but Misses Jolene's ship is coming near. Would ya like ta chat real quick? There's a Navy ship followin' us, so ya won't be able to talk for long."

Selene nodded in understanding. "We can stop and talk for a minute or so, but we really need to move on."

"Aye captain."

Putting her attention back on Jack, Selene raised an eyebrow in question, "You wouldn't happen to know anything about the Royal Navy ship following us would you?"

Jack scoffed quietly, "I'm a pirate too, you know. Navy catches you, they catch me too."

Selene nodded in understanding as she stood up and walked out of the cabin. She stopped at the door and looked out, "You really should work on your lying skills. They are below par with even a child's."

Jack watched her go cautiously as he berated himself for his foolishness.

Selene climbed up on the railing of her ship and sat comfortably with her feet laced through the railing to keep her balance. "Hello, Jolene!"

Jolene was a beautiful blonde with large assets and a wonderful personality; Selene absolutely loved the young woman and the feeling was mutual. "Selene!"

The two women grinned brightly at each other as they threw bottles of liquor at each other. It had become a tradition of sorts for them to share the different exotic drinks they had found in their travels. The two women chatted quickly before a call rose from the crow's nest of the Navy ship coming too close. Selene sent Jolene a quick grin before twisting around to shoot another grin at her first mate. The man, who had already started barking orders to the crew to prepare for a quick escape, understood her signal and started barking more orders to get the hell out of the area.

Jack watched all the movement on the ship with a sense of foreboding; his secret was going to be out soon and he could only hope that he could get away when it did come out.

That night Selene stood out on the deck, silently watching the waves hit against the side of the boat. Jack walked out and stood beside her, waiting patiently for her to explain to him why he was given a note to meet her here at this ungodly hour of the night.

"How well do you know Tia Dalma, Jack?" she finally asked.

Jack stared at her curiously, "Fairly well."

Selene sighed, "You know my eyes used to be brown."

The male captain gave a soft hum.

"My mom was a beautiful woman, everyone says I look like she did, and she was the kindest person you would ever have to luck to meet. One day, when we were out on a walk, she saved this pirate from drowning; she forced some townsfolk to jump down and drag him up. Then she took him home, laid him in the guest room, and played nurse. My father wasn't home at the time, out on business or something like that. Anyway, my mom took care of him despite the horrible things the townsfolk said about how improper she was acting. When he woke up, he was really confused because there was this kid sitting at his bedside looking at his pistol and cutlass. My mom walked in then, scolded me for messing with someone's belongings when they didn't give me permission, and continued playing nurse for this pirate.

"He got better and he decided to stick around the manor for a while, I guess he liked knowing he was going to eat that night. He grew on my mom and me, and we grew on him. He would tuck me in at night and tell me stories of his adventures until I fell asleep. One day he took me out back in the garden and taught me how to swing a sword and fight. Mom never said anything bad about it, and now that I think about it, maybe she knew the dignified life wasn't for me. I never questioned her though because I was having fun playing pirate with an actual pirate.

"Then one day my dad came back, and he was enraged to find that a pirate was living in his house and ruining his reputation. He didn't care about my mother and my reputation, but that didn't surprise me even then. The pirate stayed because the townsfolk liked him well enough and my father didn't care enough to argue with my mother. One day I got really sick, so my mother and the pirate got a ship and sailed me to Tia Dalma, who the pirate had told us about plenty of times. She wouldn't be able to get rid of the sickness, but she could transfer it to a different person. The pirate offered himself up first, assuming that something had stuck to him and had gotten me sick. My mother knew that my father had poisoned me, so she offered herself instead; saying that it was her fault for getting into a horrible marriage and not trying to get me away from him sooner. Tia accepted my mother as the person to receive the sickness. Something about the process turned our eyes silver, I guess to show that we were truly connected now.

"Anyway, we got back home and Mother slowly got worse and worse. My father was enraged, but when my mother finally died he blamed it on the pirate. I guess if he couldn't get rid of me, he was going to get rid of the pirate. I've seen the pirate a few times since then, and you would know him well. Does the name Captain Teague ring a bell?" Selene finished her story with a sarcastic smile.

Jack stared at her in surprise, "So that's where he was."

Selene gave a bitter laugh as she turned to look at Jack, "Do you know why I told you that story?"

Jack shook his head 'no.'

She scoffed and walked off, "Don't end up like my father, be like yours."

He was going to be the death of her.