Pirates' Destiny: In Hazardous Pursuit

Chapter 31: Ghosts (Evie)

They didn't hear it. No one did; no one but me. Jack and Lucy had tried to coax me away from the railing, but I refused to leave. It was my fault, they were my fault. All those men on my father's boat, they must have ended up here, that's why they were singing to me. That's why only I heard them. I shuddered. That must be why the sea wanted so badly to take me. She wants retribution for them. I felt a warm stream begin to trickle from my eyes and closed them. As we sailed towards a cavern entrance, we passed the abandoned ships. To me, it was like the voices had crawled inside my head and continued singing, their sound reverberating around my skull like they would the walls of a cathedral.

It was Mr. Gibbs that finally broke the spell. "Ye hear the singin' don'tcha, miss?" I whirled on him.

"You hear it too?" I asked.

"No," he shook his head. "But I've heard of it. Nasty business."

"What do you mean?"

"Ghosts, miss Hawthorne." Mr. Gibbs said, and something in his voice chilled me to the bone.

"Ghosts? Surely you don't mean..."

"Oh, they exist." He said, his voice still low. "It's said that they prey on the guilty, those who feel they've done somethin' terrible. They lure ye in with their song and they snatch ye from yer ship."

I visibly shuddered and he laid a hand on my shoulder. "Best you be gettin' inside, miss." I gulped as he walked away; then turned from the rail as fast as I could, and made for the opposite side of the ship, where Jack stood at the wheel.

"Welcome back." He drawled as I climbed the steps to him.

"I wasn't gone for all that long." I said, still unnerved.

"But it was long enough that I noticed." He slurred.

"Jack," I started hesitantly.

"Yes, love?"

"Do you believe in ghosts?" I expected him to laugh it off and tease me about tall tales and legends. Instead, he became very serious.

"'Course." He said gruffly after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence. "Nigh impossible to find waters without them." He fell silent and I dare not ask further, the chill threatening to creep back up my spine. I stepped closer to him and took one of the wheel's spokes in my hand, as though that would keep me from being dragged into the abyss.

The fog soon encapsulated the ship and one could barely see the person in front of them. I gripped the wheel so tightly that it made my arms sore, awaiting the boney claws that would surely dig their way into my skin and rip me from the ship. So many faces flashed in front of my eyes through the fog: The men and women from my father's ship, Markus, my father himself. These were the people I sent to their graves. These were the spirits that found me in the shroud. These were my fellow passengers in death.

I watched in horror as a hand reached through the gray nothingness and took hold of my arm. This is it. I thought. I'm so sorry, Lucy. I should have done right by you. Hopefully one day you can forgive me. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, then held it, waiting for the moment. When I felt nothing, I opened one eye, then the other, to find Jack standing beside me with his ringed fingers around my arm.

"Are you alright, love?"

I let out the breath I'd been holding and nodded. Perhaps Mr. Gibbs was wrong after all. "Yes." I said breathlessly. "Yes, I'm fine."

"Good," he said, letting go of me. "'Cause we're close." Jack had a new glint in his eye. He was focused in a way I had not seen him before. With the island in our sights, he had lost all of his charming swagger and stood rigid, staring at the Isla de Muerta as though he was already on it.

"Jack," I said gently, laying a hand on his grimy coat. It seemed to awaken him and his lilt returned almost immediately when he looked over at me.

"Young Mr. Turner, you, and of course I, are to go to shore." he said, suddenly grinning. He then descended the steps and sauntered over to Will and Mr. Gibbs; I followed him absentmindedly, still peering around the ship for any signs of otherworldly visitors. When I reached the three of them, I heard Jack say something about back hair and turned to him questioningly. However, he was not facing me and saw none of it. I tried to look through his thin white shirt to see if he truly did have hair on his back, but he turned around to me before I really got to study it and motioned for me to follow him.

"But what to do if sum'thin happens, cap'n?" Mr. Gibbs asked Jack.

"Keep to the Code." Was Jack's only reply.

"Aye...the Code." Mr. Gobbs replied, nodding.

"There's a Code?" I said aloud, but it seemed that no one heard me, for there was not an explanation given. Jack, Will, and I readied ourselves to depart the ship, gathering our swords and throwing them into the dinghy we would be paddling to the shoreline.

"You can't go with them!" I heard the shrill voice before I turned around. Guilt returned to me, but this time, anger came with it.

"And why can't I?" I replied, not even turning around to look at her.

"You'll be killed!" Lucy screeched.

"And won't you be better off for it, hm?" I whirled on her with fire in my eyes. "All you've done is complain about me since we got on this ship. If I die, you won't have to bother with me anymore! Besides, you're not about this "pirate thing" anyhow." She looked shocked at my words, but before she could recover to say more, I turned back around and grasped the rope to the dinghy and lowered myself down.

Jack and Will came down after me, and we began rowing towards the unknown.