Honor Among Thieves || Book Two

~10~

The next morning...

Sera woke up to snoring.

It was a violent, obnoxious snore that rattled her innards and sounded like a wounded cow drowning in a lake.

Knitting her brows, she rolled over to find Jack splayed out on his back with his mouth agape and a puddle of drool on his pillow. She grimaced and gently shook him in an effort to wake him up, but his snoring grew even louder.

Annoyed, she shook him harder. "Jack? Jack, wake up."

More snoring.

Gritting her teeth, she lightly slapped him on the face. His eyes flew open and his hand immediately went to his afflicted cheek. "That's a rather rude way to wake a man up, don't you think?"

"You were snoring loud enough to wake the dead." She retorted with a yawn as she sat up to stretch. Jack snorted and draped an arm over his eyes. "'Good mornin' to you too."

"Someone sounds cranky." She said, quirking an eyebrow as she poked him in the side. He moved his arm and looked at her, blinking away the kohl that had somehow managed to smear in his eyes. "I quite literally woke up on the wrong side of the bed, dearie. I told you this side has a bloody stone or somethin' in it." He winced and placed a hand on his back. "Now me back's ruined for the day."

"Aw, poor Jackie." She cooed, toying with his dreadlocks. "I suppose we overdid it last night, huh?"

"Oh no." He sat up and stretched as well. "There was nothing overdone about last night, love. If anythin', it wasn't done enough."

She laughed and gathered her clothes out of the floor.

"You surprised ol' Jackie." He added as he watched her dress. "I had no idea you were so...flexible."

"Well," She gave him a sly smile. "Would you be up for another round?"

A lopsided grin spread across his face. "Is that an offer?"

"If it were," She murmured, undoing the binding she had put over her breasts. "Would you accept?"

His eyes gleamed as they drank in her bare body. 'Would I accept?' Pfft. Darlin'," He stood up and made his way toward her, his eyes never leaving hers. "Do you know who you're talkin' to?"

"Of course: Captain Jack Sparrow." She purred as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself against him. He hummed in approval. "Say it again, love."

Giggling, she pecked him on the lips and whispered in his ear. "Captain Jack Sparrow..."

[] [] []

Later...

"Come on you rancid mongrels! Put your backs into it!"

Jack continued to hurl insults at Pintel and Ragetti as they scrubbed the deck of the Pearl in hopes of impressing Sera, but she paid him no mind; she was standing portside with her eyes closed, clearing her mind so that she could better connect with her surroundings.

She could hear the steady winds in the ship's sails, the gentle ripple of the sea, but over all that, she could actually hear the creatures of the sea as they swam below the waves. Sharks were circling nearby, a sea turtle drifted along the currents, a--

Her eyes flew open as a deafening squealing sound tore through her head. Her muscles grew rigid and her jaws clenched in anger as her grip on the railing tightened.

"Beautiful day, innit?"

Jack strolled up beside her. She wheeled around to face him, her face taut with anger. "I need to borrow your ship."

He raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"

"I need to borrow your ship." She repeated as she pushed past him and climbed up the stairs to the helm, where she shoved Cotton out of the way and took ahold of the wheel.

"Oi!" Jack exclaimed, rushing after her. "What are you doing? Why do you need--"

"Whalers!" She shouted as she turned the wheel sharply to the right. He held onto his hat as the Pearl veered off course. "Why in the devil are we chasin' whalers?!"

"It's part of my duty. Here," She replied, gesturing for him to take the wheel. "Stay the course. I'm climbing up to the crow's nest."

Confused, Jack took ahold of the wheel and watched Sera scale the mainmast. Gibbs hurried up the stairs with a rum-soaked shirt, a direct result of the ship's sudden change in direction. "What on God's green earth is she doin', Jack?!"

"I'm not entirely sure, mate. Said somethin' about whalers an'--"

"There!" Sera shouted halfway up the mast, aiming a finger at a little speck on the horizon. Jack squinted in an effort to see. "What do you want me to do, love?"

"Nothing! Just hold her true!" She resumed climbing. "I'm going to call Levi!"

He wrinkled his nose and looked at Gibbs, who shrugged.

"Uh...Who's Levi?!"

"You'll see!" She shouted from the crow's nest, pulling out her spyglass. Even from this distance, she could hear the distressed calls of a calf to its mother, who was the one being stabbed with harpoons...

"Damn bastards." She growled, slamming her spy glass shut before murmuring the necessary words to summon the monstrous Leviathan.

Within moments, the sea's calm waves turned into a boiling mess as an enormous webbed spine emerged near the Pearl. Carefully, ever so carefully, she inched out on the rigging of the mainmast and held out her arms before allowing herself to tumble down into the roiling sea.

Jack and the rest of the crew watched in awe as the towering beast raised its head out of the water with Sera perched on top. "We'll be back shortly!" She called, waving at them.

They were speechless.

"Down, Levi!" She called. The beast growled and lowered its head under the water. She gripped one of the many gnarled spikes sticking out of its head as it swam toward the whaling party at break-neck speed.

A cloud of dark red blood greeted them when they arrived.

She told Levi to stand by as she swam up to the surface, popping up near the injured whale. Three boats filled with men surrounded her, each of them with harpoons dug into her rubbery hide. Sera could tell she was not going to last much longer...

"Good afternoon, gentlemen!" She called in a cheery voice as she pulled out her sword and cut the lines of their harpoons.

"Oi!" A gruff man, presumably the captain, shouted. "Who the bloody 'ell are you?"

"None of your concern." She snapped as she rubbed a hand over the injured whale's skin, murmuring a healing spell under her breath. One by one, the sharp weapons popped out of her skin and her wounds closed. "Go on." Sera whispered, patting her on the side. "Get out of here."

The whale squealed in thanks and slapped its tail on the water as it dove after its calf, drenching the already sweat-soaked whalers.

"Wat are ye?" The captain asked. As she continued to bob in the water a swarm of sharks gathered below, frenzied by the whale's blood. Without taking her eyes off him, she reached out and cut one of his men's leg. She tilted their boat just enough to cause him to fall in the water and once he was splashing and thrashing around, even though a gun was pointed in her face, she willed the sharks to come taste the new blood. "Good luck."

With that, she ducked back under the water just as the sharks attacked the unfortunate whaler and prompted an all out frenzy of overturned boats and anguished cries.

When all was finished, she returned to the astonished crew of the Pearl...