Norrington's Darling

The Chest of Davy Jones

POV: Zuri Sparrow

I sat beside my father as Ragetti and Pintel badly rowed the boat. I'm facing Norrington and Elizabeth, and a spike of pain and jealousy goes through me at seeing them together. I turn my head to watch Pintel's oar dip in and out of the water rhythmically.

"You're going too slow!" Ragetti complained.

"You're going too fast!" Pintel snapped back. "Anyway, we don't want the Kraken to catch us. I'm saving me strength for when it comes." He fell silent. Then said, "Jus' don't think it's Kraken anyways. I've always 'eard it as Kray-ken."

Ragetti gave him a weird look. "What, with the long 'a'?" 

"Uh-huh," Pintel said.

Ragetti shook his head. "No no no no no. 'Kroken''s how it's pronounced in the original Scandinavian, and 'Kraken''s closer to that."

Elizabeth and Norrington share a look. Jealousy stabs me in the gut again.

"Well, we ain't original Scandinavians, are we? Kray-ken."

"It's a mythological creature; I can calls it what I wants!" Ragetti snapped.

The bottom of the boat scrapes against the sand of Isla Cruces. Jack steps out. Norrington starts to move, glancing at me, but I hop out before he can offer his hand to me. Norrington looks down and climbs out, refusing to meet the gazes of either me or Elizabeth. I keep my eyes away from him.

Elizabeth catches up with me as Jack turns to give Ragetti and Pintel orders. "He's hurting, you know." I glare at her as Jack says, "Guard the boat; mind the tides." As an afterthought, he adds, "Don't touch my dirt."

Norrington, Jack, and I followed Elizabeth as she leads, holding the compass out. She's frowning at it and I'm focused on her—barely noticing that Jack moved to put Norrington and I next to each other. When I realize, heat spreads throughout my chest. I focus solely on Elizabeth, but I notice out of the corner of my eye he's doing the same thing—attempting not to notice me but doing so anyway.

Elizabeth starts walking in circles. I stop, not intending to look like an idiot by following her, walking in circles. She shakes the compass and lets out a frustrated hiss. She throws the compass at Jack. "This doesn't work. And it certainly doesn't show you what you want most." She sits down, bad-tempered, cross-legged in the sand.

Jack looks at the compass, then back up. "Yes, it does. You're sitting on it."

"Beg pardon?" Elizabeth's voice is a few octaves higher.

Jack shoos Elizabeth away from the spot. "Move." He whistles to Norrington, who takes the shovel off his shoulder—nearly decapitating me in the meantime. I yelp and dance out of his way.

"Sorry—!" he started.

"Norrington!" Jack called.

Norrington snaps his mouth shut and starts to dig.

Jack sits down and begins to meditate. Elizabeth, who remains sitting in the sand, and I share a glance and each of us raises our eyebrows at Jack. I shrug and remain standing behind Norrington, remembering sitting in the crow's nest and watching my beloved scrub the deck of the Black Pearl.

My eyes start to get heavy and I move over to Norrington's right, where he can see me, and sit down. Elizabeth raises an eyebrow at me. She waves her hand toward Norrington. I give her a look. I'm working on it, I mouth.

Suddenly Norrington's shovel hits something solid and hard. I scramble closer as the four of us look into the hole. Together, we brush the sand of the top of the chest and open the large wooden chest. Elizabeth takes out a few letters and flowers, observing them. Norrington and I glance at each other for the first time without looking guilty. Both of us have been guilty of sending each other love letters—these are clearly love letters of some sort. 

Jack, unlike Elizabeth, holds no wonder upon looking at the letters. He sweeps them off to the side and lifts out the chest of Davy Jones. We lean close to the chest.

Thump, thump thump.