WOW! So many reviews! I love you all:)
PirateAngel1286: Thank you for adding A Lesser Evil to your Story Alert list!
PirateKnightoftheRings: Thanks for your review and for adding my story to your Story Alert list! I'm so happy you love the story so far. I can't tell you who Ed's ancestor is; you'll find out later on, I promise. :)
Dutchman Girl: Thanks for reviewing! I'll update as soon as I can!
the-american-hockey-girl: Thanks for reviewing! I'm so happy now; it feels good to know that I'm inspiring others. Thank you, I'm touched:) I'll update soon!
TavyBeckettFan: Thank you for your wonderful reviews and for adding my story to your Story Alert list!
K.D. Sparrow: Thank you for reviewing and for adding A Lesser Evil to your Story Alert list! I will update soon!
PippinBaggins: Thanks for your review! I'm happy you're so excited., and I can't tell you who Ed's ancestor is. You'll find out later:)
bubblymuggle: Thanks for your review!
Knight of Avalon: Thanks for placing my story on your Story Alert list!
Smashy-Smashy: Thanks for putting A Lesser Evil on your Story Alert list!
Almenel-Miriel: Thanks for adding my story to your Story Alert list!
spongedork789: Thanks for your review!
LadyJavert: Thanks for adding my story to your Story Alert list and for all those great reviews! Reading your reviews made me smile:)
I hope I didn't forget anyone; if I did, I'll just say thank you right now. Thank you! (grins and waves) Also, I want to take a moment to thank my non-reviewing readers. Thanks, everyone:)
Okay, here's what's going on. I got back to college yesterday (sob), and classes start tomorrow. Sadly, this means I won't be able to update as I often as I have been. :( I will aim at updating once a week over the weekend when I have time to write. If I don't do an update, that means I got too busy with schoolwork and couldn't post a chapter. If that happens, please don't assume that I've given up on the fanfic and all you wonderful readers, because I will never do that! Ever:)
As always, if you'd like to leave a review, please do:)
Now, on to Chapter Seven!
Chapter Seven: Climbing In and A Captain's Return
"Is there something you wish to tell me?"
There goes Doc into another rant; I knew he wouldn't disappoint me!
Elaine waited for Doc to fly deep into his tirade before attempting to escape. She peered down the long stretch of balcony, determining the best way to reach her window. Standing up and running was clearly not an option; Doc would see and hear her as she made her getaway. Crawling was required once again.
With one arm to steady herself and the other wrapped tightly around the jar, she quickly crept along the balcony towards her room window. She scuttled sideways under each windowsill like a crab, glancing behind her every few moments to make sure no one had opened their shutters and spotted her. She laughed silently to herself; the team slept completely unaware that one of its members was sneaking around in the night.
A couple of long minutes later, Elaine finally reached her window.
"Of course mine had to be the very last one!" she grumbled. "Now I just need to . . . Oh crap."
Elaine found herself confronting a new problem: getting into her room. She fastened the shutters before she went to Ed's room, not knowing she would reenter her room through them. A sliver of yellow light left a glowing line on the balcony floor, teasing Elaine for her inability to enjoy the comforts of her warm, cozy room. She set the jar down and pushed herself up, wincing when her knees reminded her how much they hated crawling on hardwood floors. As she rubbed her sore kneecaps, she tried to come up with a solution to her awkward plight. How was she going to get in?
How do I get myself into these situations?
She looked up at the beam of light shining through the shutters and sighed. Fate enjoys placing humanity into embarrassing situations, and it had once more conspired against Elaine for its own pleasure.
Or had it?
Elaine peered at the crack between the shutters, and an idea sprang into her head. She shoved her hand into her pajama pants pocket and yanked out her room key.
It may not be brilliant, but it just might work!
She leaned forward and attempted to slip the key through the slit in the shutters. "Please let this work," she whispered, biting her lip in anticipation.
Her fingers trembled as she slid the tiny key into the crack. She sighed in relief; at least that part of the challenge was over. Now she needed to find the clasp holding the shutters together.
She slowly guided the key upwards, waiting for the clasp to stall its progress. About halfway up, the key refused to budge. She pushed harder, the clasp squeaking as the key forced it to unhook itself. A loud rattle and the key's sudden jerk up the slit indicated that the shutters were unlocked. Elaine could now climb into her room.
She pushed the shutters open and gave a quick glance around the room. The large pile of shoes, underwear, and shirts she left behind when she went to The Landlubber's Wharf remained in a gigantic mound on the floor. Other than that particular mess, everything else appeared to be clean and in order.
She picked up the jar, the heart inside it now beating at a much more relaxed pace, and set it gently on the bed right next to the window. Once she felt comfortable that the jar wouldn't tip over and roll off the blanket, she hoisted herself through the window and closed the shutters.
Elaine flopped back on the bed and yawned. The evening's events left her incredibly exhausted; all she wanted to do was go to sleep and dream about what the team would find tomorrow on the shipwreck. She curled up next to her pillow and settled in for the night, her eyelids drooping as her mind wandered off into her dre---
BANG BANG BANG!
Elaine was so startled by the sudden fanfare of knocking that she fell out of her bed and crashed facedown on the floor. She lay there for a second or two, thinking of all the tortures she could apply to Ed for ruining her night.
"Who is it?" she grumbled as she wiped dust off her tank top.
"Miss Thompson, it's Doc! Open up!"
She froze in shock. Oh crap, it's not Ed!
She looked behind her and spotted the jar, nestled in the blanket, with the heart still pumping peacefully inside it.
Nervous sweat beaded on her forehead. She needed to hide the heart before Doc came in. But where to put it?
Desperate for a solution, she hopped over to the open suitcase lying empty on the floor and dragged it over to the bed. She snatched up the jar and carefully placed it inside the suitcase. Her plan was to hide the suitcase in her closet, but when she zipped it up, she could still hear the heart beating loudly within it. She put her panic to good use by running over to the pile of clothes on the floor and tossing as many items as she could into the suitcase. Two minutes later, the mountain of clothing had disappeared into the suitcase. When she zipped it shut, she was pleased to find that the clothes muffled the sound of the heart beating.
"Miss Thompson, I've already dealt with this ridiculous waiting game once already! I'm not going to play this game again!"
"I'll be right there in a sec, sir!" Elaine rolled the suitcase to her closet, opened its doors, and shoved it inside. She took a deep relaxing breath as she closed the closet doors, relieved that it was safely hidden away.
For now.
"Alright, Miss Thompson, that does it! I'm counting to three, then I'm breaking down the door! One . . ."
Elaine pulled the blue elastic band out of her hair and ruffled it up with her fingers to make it look like she just climbed out of bed.
"Two . . ."
She walked towards the door and turned the knob.
"Three!"
The door swung wide open.
Doc, prepared to thrust his shoulder into the door, almost lost his balance and barely caught himself. He coughed and straightened up his red bathrobe while he stared at Elaine. Her hair was a frizzy mess full of knots and tangles, and the dark circles under her eyes hinted at her lack of sleep.
"Yes, Doc?"
He cleared his throat. "What were you doing in Mr. Harrison's room?"
She frowned. "What are you talking about?"
Doc glared at her angrily. "Don't you dare give me that look, Miss Thompson. What were you doing in Mr. Harrison's room?"
"Nothing sexual, if that's what you're worried about."
Doc took a step towards her. "I'm not here for your attitude. I just want to know what you were doing in---"
"Alright, fine! I'll tell you!" Elaine flipped her hair back and looked him straight in the eye. "Ed wanted to talk to me about what happened in the restaurant, and we took a long walk on the beach so we cou--"
Ed had come out of his room, massaging his shoulder and watching her with a nervous glint in his eyes.
"You walked out on the beach in the storm?!" Doc asked. "What were you thinking?!"
"It was Ed's idea, not mine," she said. "But anyway, the walk didn't do much good because we got into another argument. I was pretty much sick of the whole thing, so I turned around and headed back towards the restaurant. That's when a wave hit me and knocked me out."
Doc gasped. "Oh God!"
"I know, it scared me, too." She crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm just glad Ed was there to make sure I was alright. He brought me back to his room so he could check to see if I had any serious injuries like broken bones and such." Elaine looked over Doc's shoulder to give Ed a wink and a smile.
Doc nodded. "Oh I see," he said. "But if that was the case, then why did Ed try to hide you?"
"Oh, that was my idea," she said. "I wasn't sure what you'd think if you found us in the room alone. We didn't want to give you the wrong idea of what was going on."
Ed smiled at her and walked back into his room.
"Well, I'm glad you're okay," Doc said and patted her on the shoulder. "Sleep well. I'll see you tomorrow morning!" He turned and strode down the hall to his suite.
Elaine closed the door and leaned against it as she stared up at the ceiling. She had pulled off the lie without any complications. Ed's appearance in the hallway surprised her, but his positive reaction erased every concern.
Everything except her anxiety over how she would survive jogging with Margaret the next morning.
Nighttime in the depths of the Caribbean marked the end of another day for many marine animals. Crabs and shrimp scattered across the ocean floor to seek out the protective shelter of rocks or coral. Most of the fish followed suit, hoping to find an unoccupied crevice where they could spend the night. For these creatures, darkness did not bring the welcome embrace of sleep. Instead, it brought something far less comforting:
Sharks.
The arrival of these sleek and cunning predators wrought widespread panic on their victims. Any fish or crustacean stranded in the sand were considered easy prey. On the rare occasion that no food could be found out in the open, the sharks had no choice but to stalk the coral reefs. They knew they would find a feast here; every potential prey item tried to hide amongst the coral and rock formations to avoid being ripped to shreds.
This posed no problem for the sharks.
They swam above the coral and wound their way through the rocks, waiting for one fish to panic and give away its hiding place. This fish never lasted more than a few seconds outside its shelter before finding itself within razor-sharp jaws. The sharks sometimes grew so excited at the sharp scent of blood that they would take their agitation out on each other, often leading to fatal results.
A tiger shark lurked along the sea floor hoping to drive a crab out of the sand. One small reddish-brown crab made the mistake of crawling out too early, and the shark spotted it. The crab realized its blunder and rapidly scuttled across the sea floor towards a large rocky outcrop. Over six feet long and enveloped in various species of coral, this rock was the perfect place for it to take cover.
The shark gave swift chase, but the crab had already crawled beneath the rock by the time its hunter arrived. But this shark was not about to give up so easily; it could smell meat all over this rock, and it refused to leave until it had at least one bite. It hovered around the rock trying to find out where the tastiest morsel lay. Unable to decide, it took a random bite.
A giant crab claw suddenly snapped out of the rock and clamped its bluish pincers around the shark's neck. The shark writhed in pain, but this only allowed the claws to tear deeper into its flesh, releasing spurts of dark blood into the water. The scent of blood summoned other sharks to the scene, and they glided through the water towards their prospective meal.
The trapped predator had become prey to its own kind. The shark's instinct to survive motivated it to make a final effort to escape from the claw's grip. It gave one last fierce shake of its head and freed itself, but the other sharks overwhelmed its attempt to escape and sank their jagged teeth into its fins and gills.
They were too busy gorging themselves to notice the life stirring behind them. The claw grabbed part of its rocky prison and started to pull. A crab-like arm emerged; then the rest of the torso appeared, clothed in a black leather coat and a stained white shirt. A black leather hat sank to the sand, but the claw picked it up out of the sharks' reach.
A pair of blue-grey eyes opened in the midst of a pale face, breathing through a siphon instead of a nose. Tentacles took the place of a beard, each one coiling and unfurling at will. A smile appeared, revealing yellowed teeth and a wicked spirit that no longer lay dormant on the ocean bed.
Davy Jones had awoken.