The Second Swann ---///--------

Chapter 1

A gasp came from behind, followed by the ruffling sound of the thick covers in the bed opposite of Charlotte's. She knew it was her sister Elizabeth, and wondered if she, too, was awake. It was much too dark to see anything, even with the soft candlelight glowing dimly through the darkness of the chamber room. 

She heard the sound of the floorboards creaking and sat up to see the illumined face of her sister who holding the candelabra up across the room. Elizabeth walked back to her bed and set the candelabra down on the end table between hers and Charlotte's. 

"Elizabeth?" 

Elizabeth gasped and turned around to meet Charlotte's curious frown, a soft haze emitted around her caramel hair. It was always startling how uncannily identical they were, with the same tumbling waves that past their shoulders, the enticing hickory eyes that'd light up into a deep honey in the sunlight. Apart from very few and nearly invisible details, they were exceptionally like, so much so, in fact, their own father had difficulties telling them apart. 

"Oh! Charlotte, you gave me a fright. I thought you might still be asleep." Elizabeth breathed, her startled brown eyes gleamed in the candlelight. Charlotte was sitting on the edge of her bed.

"What are you doing?" she asked, standing up and pulling her night robe off the peg of the headboard. 

Elizabeth hesitated and Charlotte spotted something gold glitter in her hands. 

"Do you remember the day we met Will?" Elizabeth asked, eyes shining with excited reminiscence. Charlotte studied her sister then turned her head to the drawer next to her. It was opened and empty, other than the journal sitting in the coat of dust. No one besides her and her sister knew of the secret stashed treasure beneath it. A switch at the back of the drawer would flip open to a secret floorboard, safely guarding a curious little trinket. A medallion made of pure "I had a dream about him," Elizabeth continued, pulling Charlotte's gaze back, "and about that day." 

She remembered that day. It was one she'd often look back to, for it was the first time she and Elizabeth had experienced their first adventure and, more importantly, it was the time they had met someone peculiar. Someone they had been close with till this day. 

It happened while journeying from Britain to where they live now, in Port Royal. They happened upon a terrible sight of the aftermath of an ambush that had targetted two merchant ships. Both were cracked open like empty egg shells, left to drown. Charlotte could still remember the stench of burning wood. There weren't any survivors, that is, but one. A young boy, the same age as she and Elizabeth, was lying on a piece of driftwood. When the men of their ship reeled him in, their father assigned both her and Elizabeth to take care of the boy. Charlotte spotted a golden chain around his neck, and clung to it, a large golden medallion. Charlotte pointed out the medallion to her sister, who took it carefully and as they saw the wide grinning skull they assumed he was a pirate. 

Afraid for his life, for they knew the punishment of being a pirate, and being associated with them, they took the medallion and hid it from their father, and everyone else aboard, including the boy. 

"Elizabeth this is wrong! It belongs to him, we have to give it back," Charlotte hissed, turning her head to spot anyone at earshot. 

"But what if Captain Norrington sees it? Or papa? You heard what Gibbs said! Will could face the gallows!"

In the end, they had kept the medallion from Will. Neither Charlotte nor her sister forgave themselves for stealing it. 

Charlotte's thoughts shook off when she spotted the grinning face of the medallion in her sister's hands. She recalled that same face, painted white on a large, tattered black flag. She had spotted the flag during their trip to Port Royal, and a cold shudder trembled down her back. Yet, it was oddly alluring, as though there was a deep and rich story that it wished to share. 

Suddenly it was in her hands, and she looked up to meet her sister's grim smile. It was very wrong of them to have it with them, and Charlotte wondered if her sister weighed more guilt than she did. 

There was a sudden knock at the door, starling the both of them. They turned to the door with alarmed faces. 

"Quickly, hide it!" Elizabeth whispered.

"Elizabeth?" their father's voice was muffled from behind the door, "Charlotte? Are you two...decent?" 

"Yes!" Elizabeth called back and Charlotte panicked at the sound of the door opening. She quickly slipped the medallion over her neck and slammed the drawer shut in time for their door to open and their father to stroll in. Two maids followed behind him, both holding white packages.