Lost City of Atlantis (POTC 6) + Shorts

Chapter 8: Poseidons Sapphires

Narrator's POV

Annette washed up to shore, coughing and spitting the salt water out of her mouth. The rain poured down harder, creating goosebumps to rise on her skin from the cold.

Once she got her bearings, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the cryptogram and spread it out flat in front of her face. She encoded something about a sapphire, but she had no idea where it was. However, she was determined to find it.

Meanwhile, on the Black Pearl, Gibbs ran up to Jack and asked, "what do we do, sir?"

Jack was still looking out to the horizon by the taffrail. His heart yearned to be near Annette again. He responded with sorrow, "let's get the blazes out of here."

"Aye, aye, Capt'n."

"I want as much distance between us and this bloody sea as possible," Jack said scornfully. He started to walk up to the quarterdeck, "the lost city of Atlantis should stay lost."

"Capt'n," Gibbs said.

"Aye?" Jack stopped on the stairs and turned to look at Gibbs.

"You used to say that not all treasure is silver and gold..."

"Aye?"

"Annette is not made of silver nor gold..."

"How dare you use me own words against me?"

"I'm just saying... if you need time, we will understand," Gibbs said, carefully tiptoeing around Jack's feelings.

Jack looked out over the edge of the ship, and he exhaled slowly. The wide open sea felt insignificant without Annette sailing beside him, or just on the other side of the horizon. He said, "the part of me that's her will never die." He left Gibbs to call out orders, because all he could think about was Annette.

On shore, Annette was too focused on finding the sapphires to notice that the Black Pearl sailing away without her. She looked down and patted at her torso, not seeing or feeling the wound she thought she had endured during the fight.

She ran through the code over and over in her head, muttering to herself. She spoke out loud in French, "you need... roof half covered to prevent a woman... you don't that shake the... to come... pin... July... make a turkish dog pite... from the sea... dry well and on... than a woman who wants to make a... in... sleeping a man... must be returned... that a diffur...one drunken vile per person... " She groaned, "what were you trying to say, Papa?"

She looked down at her feet and noticed Jack's compass semi buried in the sand. It had washed up on shore during the struggle. She grabbed it, and the needle immediately stuck, pointing her in the direction of what she wanted most: the sapphire.

She followed the point, using the magical shortcut so she did not need to rip open her brain anymore than she already had. She rolled up the chart and stuck it in her shirt and began walking inland.

She reached a boulder against a mountain side, similar to the one they found in Hawai'i. With no crew members to help her, and the needle telling her to travel through the rock, she tied the compass to her belt using the stem from a leaf that she plucked from a nearby plant and pressed her body into the rock, slowly sliding it out of the way. She dug her boots into the mud for some leverage as she pressed her back and shoulders into the giant rock.

The boulder finally fell to its side, revealing a darkened tunnel that twisted into the earth. Annette stepped inside, a faint smell of dirt wafted into her nose. She wished that she had a torch to light her way through the dark tunnel. Instead, she drew her sword and stepped into the darkness.