Ice Queen - A Pirates Of The Caribbean Love Story

Chapter Fourteen

“The only reason I got ye out of the jail, Jack, was so you could help me with this.”

Low, whispering voices woke me up. I lay in my hammock, half-listening to the conversation.

“What do you want me to do?” Jack asked.

“I want ye to help me find this treasure,” Barbossa’s voice said, fierce and determined. “Or else I’ll put ye right back in jail.”

“What about that pretty daughter of yours, Barbossa,” Jack said, his voice wheedling. “I doubt she’d let you do that.”

“Oh, she will, when I tell her it was you who suggested to Norrington he could capture not only a notorious pirate, but a wanted bounty hunter.”

I sat up in my hammock. What?? This was getting confusing. Jack had betrayed me? Jack? No. No, that was impossible. I trusted him. I loved him…

“The treasure,” Jack was saying. “Do the others know about it?”

“Aye,” replied Barbossa. “But you’re the only one who actually knows where it is. Help us find it, ye can have a percentage of it, then I’ll put you down in Tortuga and we’ll ne’er have to see each other again.”

“That last part sounds good,” admitted Jack. “But Cathy comes with me.”

“Nay. Cathy stays with me. She be my daughter, and I want to see she’s raised properly.”

“It’s a bit late for that now, mate,” Jack said.

“Why don’t you let Cathy decide what she wants to do on her own?” I asked, my voice ringing clearly.

There was a dead silence, and Jack and Barbossa both came over to my hammock. I stared grimly at them. “You’ve both been hiding things from me.”

“Only in yer best interests, darlin’,” Barbossa said, grinning, and I knew I couldn’t hold a grudge against him.

“What’s your excuse?” I asked Jack.

He just smiled. “No excuse.”

I rolled my eyes and jumped out of the hammock. Too late, I remembered I was only wearing my long shirt, which came to just below my calves. I clutched my blanket around me, and glared at Jack, for his eyes were staring at my legs.

“I’m up here,” I said, crisply, poking him in the chest.

“What?” He smiled at me, sheepishly.

“Did somebody say treasure?” I asked.

“Aye,” Barbossa said. He handed me a map. I say a map, it was more a rough drawing on a piece of cloth that felt like it would disintegrate at any moment.

I smoothed it out carefully and studied it. Treasure was clearly marked at one end of the map, but it seemed we would have to sail through all kinds of hazardous conditions first.

“And you know where the treasure is, Sparrow?” I asked.

“What happened to ‘Jack’?” he asked, looking hurt.

I glared at him. I told myself I no longer loved him. Not after he had tried to hand me over to Norrington. What else could I expect, though? A pirate and a bounty hunter was always going to be a recipe for disaster. “Do you know where it is or not?”

“Aye. I’ve been there. The treasure is hidden on a place called Scarecrow Island.”

“Scarecrow Island?” I repeated.

“Aye. Ancient cultures used to come to that island to worship their gods. They planted crops as an offering to the gods. But they discovered the birds would come and steal the seed. So, they put up scarecrows, to frighten the birds away.”

“I know what scarecrows are for, Sparrow,” I snapped. “When do we go?”

“Just one thing,” Jack said. “I’ll be wanting my compass back before I show you where it is.”

I reluctantly brought out his compass. Before I handed it to him, I took one last look at it. I noticed the needle still pointed to Jack. I shut the compass quickly. I could still love Jack. Not after all he had done to me.

But what had he done to me that I hadn’t done to him?

I didn’t let myself think about that. The sooner all this was over, the better. I would never have to see Jack again.

I wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing…