Honor Among Thieves || Book Two

~15~

"This doesn't work!" Elizabeth exclaimed angrily, shaking Jack's compass as she ambled along the sandy beach. Her lips curled in disgust as the dial landed on Jack. Again. "And it most certainly does not show you what you want most!"

Fed up, she crossed her arms and plopped down on the sand with the compass beside her. Jack watched as the needle teetered for several moments before finally pointing to her. He licked his lips. "Oh yes it does."

She glowered at him. "No it does not! It keeps--"

"You're sitting on it!"

"Wha--"

"Up, up, up!" He gestured for her to move and started clawing at the sand with his hands. Norrington let out an exasperated sigh. "Isn't that what the shovels are for?"

"You're right." Jack stood up and dusted himself off. "Start digging."

Rolling his eyes, Norrington jabbed his shovel in the ground.

Jack watched from afar and gnawed at his fingernails, impatiently waiting for something, anything that would--

Thud.

He perked up. Norrington tapped the solid object several times more.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

"I think I've found it." Norrington said, tossing his shovel aside. Jack's eyes glinted as he peered down in the hole, glimpsing the prize within. "Let's lift it out, shall we?"

"It's real!" Elizabeth gasped as the two men hoisted the chest out of the ground. Jack frowned and dusted it off, kneeling beside it to open it. "Of course it's real."

"Yes, it would seem you managed to tell the truth for once in your life." Norrington quipped, eyeing the chest. Jack shot him an icy glare and rifled through piles of yellowed letters in search of the heart, finding another chest instead. "I tell the truth quite often, actually, yet everyone always seems surprised..."

"With good reason."

The trio turned their heads in unison to find William standing on the beach, soaked to the bone. Elizabeth happily raced toward him. "Will! Oh Will!" She threw her arms around him, not caring that he was soaking wet. "Thank God you're okay!"

Jack's lips curled in disgust as the couple shared a loving kiss. "How did you get here?"

"Sea turtles." Will answered, keeping an arm around Elizabeth's shoulders. "A pair of them strapped to my feet."

"Easier said than done, eh?"

"I owe you my thanks." Will added. "When you used me as a pawn to satisfy your debt to the Dutchman, I was reunited with my father."

Elizabeth gasped, both from hearing what she already knew spoken aloud and from hearing that William's father was on the Flying Dutchman. "Everything you told me," She spat, aiming a finger at Jack. "Every single word was a lie!"

He nodded in agreement, apparently unaffected by her accusing words.

Without warning, William snatched the key off the ground and knelt in front of the smaller chest. Jack looked at him funnily. "What are you doin', mate?"

"I'm going to kill Davy Jones."

The sound of metal scraping prompted William to look up and as soon as he did, he was staring down Jack's sword. "I can't let you do that, son. If Jones is dead, who's goin' to call his terrible beastie off the hunt?" Jack's voice was low and surprisingly menacing as he moved the sword closer. "Now, be a dear an' give me the key. Then we can all--"