Look at the Stars, Look How They Shine for You

"Where are we going?" I finally figured it was time to get an idea of what our destination was. The crew were scurrying around the ship, heaving on ropes, pulling strings and do their jobs. Jack was standing up at the helm, hands placed firmly and the wheel, eyes glued to his compass. Every now and then he would adjust the wheel millimetres to either side, and I wondered how such a minuscule movement could make any difference at all.

"Jack's got us on course for a treasure hunt." Will said, unamused. We were both leaning against the port side of the ship, watching everyone in their mad rush to complete their assigned tasks.

"I take it he doesn't usually find what he's looking for?" I asked, referring to his tone.

"No, it's just that whenever he does it's never easy." He explained.

"What do you mean?"

"Jack doesn't exactly have the best of luck when it comes to treasure. If it isn't cursed, or guarded by some lethal foes, then it doesn't exist at all."

"And where exactly are we headed this time?"

"Isle d'Ectar." He said, rolling his eyes. "Apparently hundreds of years ago a sailor went into the caves and buried immense amounts of gold, silver, and many statues valued by religious groups. When he came out from burying it all the Spanish guard was there, and he fled before they seized him. He left the island, but never went back for the treasure."

"Then how do we know it's there?" I asked.

"For some reason he gave a map with the exact location to his best mate."

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that map wasn't given to a relative of Jack's." I said realistically. Will laughed lightly.

"How Jack gets a hold of half of the things he owns is a mystery to all."

"Smooth talking, no doubt." I added. "So when do we get there?"

"We're here, love." Jack called from the helm. I suddenly felt slightly guilty that he had heard the entire conversation. I brushed it off and looked ahead at the approaching island. It was small, but beautiful. There was a white sandy beach, and lush trees as well. I smiled, happy to be taking part in my first true pirate expedition.



"Grapple, Mallot, Marty, Cotton, you stay here with the Pearl. Everyone else comes ashore with me, savvy?" Jack said to the group of people before him. There was a chorus of "Aye, Cap'n"s from the crew, and I even threw in a quiet one myself. A plank was lowered from the Pearl to the shallow waters and the remaining five of us left the Pearl.

When we got onto the beach, Jack took out his compass and began to stare it down. A few times I caught him making faces of confusion, but eventually he pointed us all to the left and we began to march down the beach. Jack held his compass at eye level, walking ahead of us all. Will stayed at my side as we followed our captain, darting his eyes around in a watchful manner. Pintel and Ragetti were behind us, balancing their shovels on their hands as they followed us.

Stopping in front of the caves we were no doubt looking for, Jack looked inside nervously. It was pitch black, and there was no knowing if the caves dropped down suddenly, when there was a turn available, or if there was anything else inhabiting it.

"Anyone happen to have a lamp?" Jack asked, turning away from the cave to look at us all. I gave him a skeptical expression. Obviously no one did. I wasn't very scared of the dark, so I walked ahead of them all and inched my way in. Feeling my way along the wall my hand collided with something meshy. I carefully wrapped my hand around it, smiling as I realized what it was.

"Jack, hand me your pistol." I called back through the cave. He looked protective for a moment.

"Why?" He asked childishly. I rolled my eyes.

"Because there's a torch in here, that's why." I said and he wearily walked forward. I sighed, walking forward and grabbing his hand to speed up the process. I dragged him to the location of the torch and held out my hand for the pistol. He gave it to me, and I used the flint locker to put a spark onto the oiled material. It sprung into flames, and Jack exploded in a happy grin.

"Well done, Arabella." He said absent mindedly, grabbing the torch from the wall and walking ahead.

"Who's Arabella?" I asked, confused. He spun around rapidly.

"What?" He asked nervously.

"Arabella, you called me Arabella." I said, narrowing my eyes slightly.

"No I didn't." He laughed, and turned around to continue walking down the cave. I stared at his retreating form for a moment in confusion until Will placed a hand on my arm, pulling me forward. I figured there'd be another time for explanations.

Once again Jack's eyes were glued to his compass. Every now and again he would angrily tap it, and I saw that it was changing where north was much more than a normal compass. My eyebrows furrowed.

"Why are you using that compass if it's broken?" I asked.

"It isn't broken." He said.

"It doesn't point north." I pointed out.

"We're not trying to find north, are we?" He asked. Will turned to me.

"It points to what-"

"AH! This way!" Jack yelled suddenly. Will and I exchanged a look, but pressed on anyways. As we went deeper and deeper into the caves, the air began to get more dense. The oxygen molecules were becoming outnumbered by all the moisture in the air. There was a metal taste in what we did breathe in, and I knew we were close. But I wasn't feeling well. My head was spinning slightly, I was having trouble focusing, and it was getting harder to breathe.

But Jack stopped dead in tracks. I looked up, and my eyes widened. It was there. The treasure was all there, right before us. A single mountain of gold, silver, and innumerable artifacts and jewels. I smiled to myself, thinking that it was because of people like Jack that museums had next to no evidence of ancient civilizations. It felt like I was in an Indiana Jones movie, and that finding the treasure had been too easy. Where were the booby traps?

Jack took one step forward but I stopped him. He looked at me, obviously missing the point. Pulling him back, I picked up a small stone and tossed it onto the pile of stones. There was a weird noise for the briefest of moments, before spikes protruded from either wall, not a foot in front of my face. I didn't flinch. There was a moment of silence while everyone took in the scene that would have been Jack's body being pierced to death. The image unnerved me, causing me to cringe.

"Thanks, love." He said amused. "Now how do ye make 'em go back?" He asked. I hadn't anticipated that. I stood, looked at the bars for a moment. I reached out my hand testing the strength of the metal. It was weak, hollow even.

"Ragetti, can I use your shovel for a second?" I asked, turning to face the pirate. He looked nervously from me to Jack, who nodded in approval. He handed me the device, and I wedged it in between two bars. I was about to apply pressure, but Will offered to take my place. I gladly agreed, not entirely convinced I would have been able to do it at all. He pushed down on the shovel and forced the two spike walls apart.

"You're quite useful, Cat." Jack said, shocked. I rolled my eyes. Had he already forgotten about my supernatural defense of his ship? I ignored it, and helped put the treasure into the burlap sacks we brought.



That night we celebrated. It was a clear night, beautiful temperature, and we were rich. At least, I hoped so. I didn't exactly know if I would get a share, considering I wasn't a legit member of the crew. But if I did, I would buy myself some clothes. And perhaps a brush. I understood now why Jack had dreadlocks, they were so easy to maintain.

We were all standing on the deck, laughter roaring from the throats of the happy (and drunk, very drunk) pirates. I could hold my liquor like no other, much to everyone's surprise. I was on my third bottle of rum, and hadn't lost my composure in the slightest. Will sat beside me, amongst the sober ones aboard the Pearl, and Jack sat on my other side. Together we watched the pirates interact in their impaired stupor.

They all told tales of far off adventures they'd been on, and I figured only about a quarter of them were relatively true. But they made good entertainment nonetheless. Some spoke of legendary pirates or widely feared foes, of night raids and day escapes, and of women. Boy, did they like to talk about women. It got to the point where I didn't think they remembered I was there.

"Jack, who's Arabella?" I pressed. His slightly intoxicated expression immediately vanished.

"Er, my old cat. Had her when I was little, she died." He replied, keeping his eyes averted from mine.

"Your cat?" I said skeptically.

"Aye, my cat. It makes sense, don't ya think? Catalina...Cat...my pet cat, Arabella.." He said, mumbling the "cat's" name.

"Then why did you pretend you didn't say that in the caves?" I asked. He hesitated for a moment, eyes sliding to look at me through his peripherals for a moment.

"Don't want me crew thinkin' I got a soft spot, love." He said. I stared him down for a bit, hoping to break out whatever secret he was keeping. But he was good, even after drinking. I decided I could find out at a later time, and switched the subject.

"How do you divide the treasure?" I asked, finishing the rest of my bottle. I reached over and took Jack's out of his hand, receiving a momentary glare. If he wouldn't tell me the truth, then I would take pleasure in pushing his buttons.

"Equal shares for the crew, captain gets a little extra." He said with a bitter tone. I smirked.

"Do I count as crew?" I asked, causing him to look over at me.

"Ye hardly do any work, Cat." He smirked.

"But if I do recall, you would have never entered that dark and scary cave without me, Mr. Brave and Strong." I taunted, pulling his hat off of his head and putting it onto mine. He clenched his teeth slightly, turning away from me while stifling a million insults he no doubt wanted to say to me. My smirk grew.

"Fine, ye an have a share." He said, rolling his eyes.

"Thank you." I said, feigning politeness. I then turned my attention to Will. "I think I'm going to call it a night. Sweet dreams." I said, pulling him into a brief hug and downing the rest of my rum.

"Goodnight." He said as I shoved the empty rum bottle into Jack's hands.

"Goodnight, Captain." I said bitterly as I walked away.

"Oi!" He piped up, and I turned slightly. "My hat, love." He said, eying the object on my head. I smirked again.

"You know, it reminds me a lot of this hat my friend used to wear. So I'm just going to keep it for a bit. Nothing special." I said, using his own tactics against him. I left him to brew and sought refuge in my room, locking the door before I laid down to sleep.