“Don’t know. I’ve never seen them before.”
“Look at those women though. If they weren’t with men already I’d sure take one.”
“You always have women on your mind. Don’t you ever think of anything else?”
“Not when you see women who look like that!”
Walking by the men who are talking about them, Diana looks directly in their direction. With her Tricorn hat and her collar buttoned as high as it could go only her eyes can be seen. She has darkened the area around her eyes so that she will look dark and ‘Mysterious’.
“Well, that cinches any idea that I had. I’m not going to tangle with that guy. Did you see the look in his eyes?”
“Yea, I was thinking the very same thing.”
“Don’t think about going aboard their ship either, look at the ones they left behind.”
“This looks like a mean bunch… Let’s pass the word along.”
Entering the main lodge where most of the pirates have congregated, all eyes are fixated on them as they walk in. The music stops, and silence fills the hall.
Diana is standing with Jaci, as Jaci kindly asks, “have any of you seen Black Beard?”
No one answers.
In fact, the music begins again and everyone goes back to what they were doing.
Going up to the guitar player, Kristen asks, while Danielle is standing by her, “Would you please stop playing your guitar while my sister asks this crowd a question again?”
Ignoring her, the pirate continues playing his guitar. Danielle looks over at him with menacing eyes, sending him a warning, but he continues to play his music. Walking over to his side, she kicks the chair out from under him. Falling onto the floor, his guitar flies through the air.
As a warning to the guitar player Kristen says, “Don’t ever think that our kindness is a weakness…” Turning back to the crowd, Kristen says loudly, “NOW, I WOULD LIKE TO REPEAT WHAT MY SISTER HAS JUST ASKED YOU…HAVE ANY OF YOU SEEN BLACK BEARD?”
Silence…
In the back of the room there is a young man with very broad strong shoulders and long beautiful black hair. Though he is very familiar with Black Beard, he says nothing.
“IF YOU WOULD LIKE US TO BRING IN OUR WHOLE CREW, I GUESS WE CAN DO THAT…I WILL SAY THOUGH, THAT THIS PLACE WON’T LOOK THE SAME WHEN WE GET THROUGH WITH IT…AND YOU WON’T EITHER!”
The owner of the establishment begins to speak up.
“Come on everyone tell these people what they want to hear. I’m not going to serve any more drinks, until you start talking. If you don’t speak up, this place is going to be ransacked, and then, where will you be able to get your drinks?”
Finally a voice from a pirate near to them says, “I heard that he is on his way to Port Royal, but then I know that he likes to stop at a lot of other places between here and there also.”
“Like where?” she asks.
“He likes the Caicos Islands, Puerto Rico, Haiti and especially the Cayman Islands. He likes the women there.”
“Thank you,” Jaci says to the crowd. “Now was that so hard?” she says with her hands out to each side.
Diana goes up to the bar and points to a bag of salt. Jaci speaks for Diana. “Salt, would you please give us the salt?”
“Oh, sure thing…anything that you want…” Handing Jaci the bag of salt the proprietor asks “do you want anything else?”
“How much is it?” Jaci questions.
“Just take it and get out of here.”
Diana puts coins on the bar.
As they begin walking out of the establishment, Kristen looks at the owner and says, “We don’t take anything we don’t pay for.”
Once they are out of the establishment and are walking on the beach, the other pirates sitting in the establishment begin commenting.
“Who are they?”
“I don’t know, but they mean business.”
“Gray Wolf, you knew Black Beard, why didn’t you say something?”
“And what could I say? You know what happened to him.”
“Yes, and we were all afraid of him, but with these new pirates, I wish he was here to show them who is boss. They look as scary as he did. If I see them again, I’ll just turn and walk the other way.”
Echo’s of agreement sound throughout the room. Diana and her fellow pirates had made a successful first impression.
Walking up the ‘Destiny’ gangplank, Jaci comments, “Now that wasn’t so bad was it?”
Kristen almost screams with delight, “That was spectacular Danielle. You knocked that guitar player’s stool completely out from under him.”
“Well, he wasn’t answering you and I didn’t like his music,” she says with a smile.
Finally standing on deck, Diana quietly states, “Everyone in your positions, we will leave in just a little while. We have no time to lose…Black Beard is on his way toward Port Royal. Apparently he has several stops in between so we’re going to try to catch him before he gets there.”
The ‘Destiny’ begins to move out of the Harbor, just as a few pirates are walking out of the crowded establishment.
“How can they sail out of the harbor now when there is no wind?”
“I don’t know, but as you can see, they don’t seem to be having any trouble.”
“Now… I think that I’ve had too much to drink…. It looks like their ship is above the water, and moving backward.”
“I must have had too much to drink also, because that’s what I am seeing.”
“Well, I don’t know how you feel, but if I’m that drunk, I’m going back and getting another drink.”
“Yea, if we’re this drunk, what could it hurt?”
Walking back into the establishment and up to the bar, the owner asks, “What’s the matter? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Just pour the drinks, you wouldn’t believe us if we told you.”
In the ‘Destiny,’ Diana is figuring out the direction they need to sail, while Jaimie is at the helm moving their ship out of the harbor. “Jaimie, Port Royal is 17 degrees 56 minutes north, 76 degrees 51 minutes west. Which means that we need to sail South, then around this island,” pointing at an island on the map “and then almost directly, west. Now after I said all of that, I remembered that one of the pirates said that he also likes to stop at the Caicos Islands, Puerto Rico, Haiti and especially the Cayman Islands.”
“So while we are on our way to Port Royal in Jamaica, we’ll stop off at the Caicos Islands first. Next we’ll go to Haiti, and then the Cayman Islands. We’ll hit Puerto Rico after Port Royal. How does that sound?”
“Anything you say, you’re the Captain, Diana.”
Since the ‘Destiny’ is now securely moving out of the harbor, Jaimie quickly looks over to where Diana has been working on their travel plans. “It looks like it will take a few days Diana,” Jaimie comments.
“Well it would with a regular ship,… but remember, this ship flies.”
“So how long will it take us to get there?”
“We should be in the Caicos Islands by tomorrow.”
Walking into the Captain’s cabin Marie hears where their next destination is. “The Caicos Islands, huh? How long are we going to stay there?” she asks.
Diana answers, “Not very long. We’ll land, get out and see if Black Beard is there, and if he isn’t, then we’ll leave and go on to Haiti.”
“I’m thinking that it will take a little longer than that, Diana.”
“Why would it take any longer, Marie?”
“There are forty islands in the Caicos Islands. Are you going to search every island?”
Shocked, Diana states, “Forty?”
“Yes, I was reading about it just before we left on this adventure.”
“Well, then this could change my whole thought process.… If we want to make sure that our sisters are not on any of those islands, then we have to look at all of them.”
For at least a week, Diana a
nd her crew search each of the forty islands, asking anyone living there if they had seen Black Beard. On the islands that were not inhabited, they fly over them making a crisscross pattern to make sure that they don’t miss anything. When they are fully satisfied that Black Beard, and their sisters are not on any of the islands they decide to continue on, finally finishing in record time.
“Diana, I am so glad that Daniel made it possible for our ship to fly. Can you imagine how long it would have taken us to search each of those forty islands if we had to walk across everyone of them?”
“I know that it would have taken longer than I would want it to take…I love flying this ship. Daniel made it so easy to maneuver with all of these switches and lights to let us know what is happening.”
“And since we fly, we can see for miles around. We can see people and they don’t believe their eyes, it’s not familiar to them, so they don’t believe that they have really seen anything.”
“Haiti is our next destination. I know that you are all tired, but we need to keep looking… Rest while I fly our ship.”
Exhausted from a week’s worth of investigation on all forty islands, all of the sisters fall into their beds, while Diana continues to fly the ‘Destiny’ to Haiti.
Haiti is one island. Larger than any of the Caicos Islands, but everyone knows everyone that lives there and they all know who is arriving and who would be leaving.
After anchoring their ship, Jaimie and Jaci row to the beach and walk onto the island asking questions, while Diana rests. The other sisters guard the ship.
Walking through the market place, Jaci asks, “Have you seen Black Beard? We are looking for him?”
“No, he was here a few months ago, but he never stays here very long.”
“Do you know where he went?”
“He had business in the Cayman Islands, and then wanted to go to Port Royal for some fun.”
“Thank you.”
“When you see him, tell him that he still owes me,” an islander says.
“What does he owe you?”
“When he came here a few years ago he brought some girls with him and I took care of them for him. He owes me for all those years… Do you know that not once did he pay me….”
“…Girls?”
“Yes, they were all courageous little things, especially that Jody…”
“Jody?”
“Where are the girls now?”
“Gray Wolf just picked them up about a week ago. He said that bad people were looking for Black Beard and he didn’t want the girls to get hurt.”
“…Gray Wolf?”
“Yes, Black Beard wasn’t with him. In fact he had a whole new crew, but he said that Black Beard would pay his bill as soon as he could.”
“Did he say where he was going?”
“Just wherever the girls would be safe, wherever that is…”
“Thank you for all the information. How much does Black Beard owe you?”
“…A lot. All I can say is a lot. Do you know how much it costs to take care of so many girls for all those years?”
Jaci had been carrying the jewels that she had secretly taken from Treasure Cove. Pulling one out of her pocket, she asks, “Is this enough?”
Shocked, the woman holds out her hand… “Yes, I think that this will cover everything. Thank you very much. Come back again any time.”
Jaimie begins to pull Jaci’s sleeve, “Oh, sorry” Jaci says, “we have to go. Thank you for all the information.”
As Jaimie and Jaci walk from the market to their ship, Jaimie asks, “When did you get that jewel?”
“The day that we were looking at the ‘Destiny’ for the first time, I picked up a diamond and a ruby. I brought them with me, because you never know when you’ll need something like that.”
“Well, what a smart sister I have. Just don’t show them to everyone, or we’ll have people following us, and trying to steal them from us.”
“How long have we been on the ship, and you haven’t known that I had anything did you?” Jaci asked.
“Just keep it to yourself until we get home.”
“I will.” Jaci says with a huge smile.
On board the ship, Diana asks “What did you find out?”
“The girls were here in Haiti, until Gray Wolf picked them up about a week ago.”
“…Gray Wolf?”
“Yes…the same Gray Wolf that betrayed our father. I’m sure that no other person has that name.”
“Where did he take the girls?”
“He said that he was taking them somewhere it would be safe.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know, but where else would he take them, but to Black Beard?”
“The last thing that I heard about him was that he had business in the Cayman Islands and then he was going to Port Royal for some fun.”
“Then the Cayman Islands are our next destination. Its coordinates are 19 degrees 20 minutes north, 81 degrees 24 minutes west. Let’s get going.”
Marie walks in and quips, “Well at least we only have to search three islands this time.”
“It has three islands?” Diana looks around confused.
“Yes, that doesn’t sound like very many after we searched forty islands in the Caicos, does it?”
“No, we should be able to do that in a day.”
Finally arriving at their destination the crew is shocked.
“Is there anyone here?” Marie questions.
“I don’t see any ships,” Jessica states. “In fact I don’t see very many people either.”
“This could be a waste of time, my sisters, but we have to check it to make sure if our sisters are here or not…Jaimie, would you and Jaci go again this time while I rest?”
“We’ll be glad to Diana.”
“The rest of you, please protect the ship, while I rest. We’ll use the same plan that we used in Haiti.”
Throughout the islands the people are friendly, but have no information.
“Hello, have you seen Black Beard?”
“No. We haven’t seen him for a long time.”
“So you haven’t seen him with any little girls?”
“No. We haven’t even seen him, for a long time.”
“So he’s nowhere on any of the islands?”
“No where!”
Sensing a little hostility, Jaci decides to stop questioning the islander.
“You have a beautiful island here.”
“Thank you.”
Walking back to the ship Jaimie reports to Diana, “He’s not here…and apparently hasn’t been for a long time. They haven’t seen the girls either.”
“Then it’s on to Port Royal.”
“Diana, could we all rest before we go to Port Royal? If it is as rough as I have heard that it is, we all need to be rested up and ready for a fight if it happens.”
“I agree with you Jaimie. Halfway, there we’ll find a safe place to rest for a while, and then we will continue on.”
True to her word, half way to Port Royal, Jamaica, Diana finds a small area on the Southern tip of Cuba which seems to be deserted. Sailing around the tip she finds a small cove where they can stay hidden.
Sitting the ‘Destiny’ down into the water their ship floats on top of the water as they rest throughout the night. The feel of the rolling waves rocks them to sleep.
As the morning sun begins to come up over the horizon, the waves seem to become angry that something is still sitting on top of them. The waves roll back and forth, reaching higher and higher trying to gather the warmth of the sun’s rays.
“Wow, what was that?” Stacey questions. “Marie, did you feel that?”
“Yes, what’s happening?” Marie questions.
Within a second, water splashes on Jessica, Stacey, Marie and Danielle, where they had been sleeping on the upper deck. Looking over the railing they see how rough the waves are getting.
“Diana. DIANA, WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE,
” They all yell.
Trying to stand up as she comes out of a sound sleep, while the ship is rocking back and forth, Diana awkwardly runs to the Captain’s cabin. Quickly flipping switches and pushing the handle forward, the ship begins to rise above the waves.
As they begin to move forward, they round the tip of Cuba again as they come out of the cove. Jaci looks back to the beach that is now visible. She sees foot prints that no one had noticed before. “Diana, there are foot prints on the beach.”
Because of the tight quarters that she is maneuvering in at the moment, Diana doesn’t comprehend what they are saying, as the ‘Destiny’ begins its flight toward Port Royal. While everyone else is looking forward, Jaci and Kristen quickly look back toward the island. From the heights that the ‘Destiny’ is now flying they can see huts, and to their surprise they see several men running out onto the beach weaving their hands over their heads.
“Diana, there are men on the beach.”
Still concentrating on her ship, without looking back, Diana says in a frustrated tone, “look girls I don’t have time for your games. We need to get to Port Royal before Black Beard leaves. I want to know if our island sisters are with him, or where he took them. It’s imperative that we get there as quickly as we can, do you understand?”
Looking sadly at each other, Jaci and Kristen begin to express their feelings to each other.
“She’s going to feel bad if she ever finds out that we’re not playing a game this time Jaci.”
“I know Kristen, she’s going to feel really bad,” Jaci quietly and sadly states.
“…Really bad!” Kristen repeats. And both of the girls begin to look forward also.
As the waves push higher and higher, Diana adjusts the height of her ship.
These same waves move a large piece of wood from a wrecked ship, close to where Jaci and Kristen had seen the men on the beach exposing the name of the ship… ‘MYSTERIOUS’.
CHAPTER 5
Flying over the clear turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea, the ‘Destiny’ shows its beautiful lines against a peaceful blue sky. All of the older island sisters, including Diana are on the upper deck of the ‘Destiny.’
“Diana, how can this ship fly if you are up here on the deck?”
“Oh, I learned how to make it fly by itself, while we are over calm water.”
“This is so beautiful, I wish we could fly forever,” Danielle says as she holds onto the railing with her hands, closing her eyes and feeling the air as it brushes past her face. “I feel like a bird,” she says.