Treasure Tides (The Coins) (21 page)

Why would all those memories have to come rushing back today, of
all days?
When Landon tossed her on the bed, she was suddenly back
“there” in her mind. She lived it all again, the feelings of being trapped
in hopelessness, pain, and humiliation.

She had suddenly transitioned from a confident Witch tussling with a
sexy Werewolf to a whack job in the blink of an eye.
Landon had
descended on her, and in that instant she heard the cell door slam shut in
her mind. She actually felt the metal bands around her wrists and ankles.
The bands with razor-sharp edges were designed to deter prisoners from
trying to slip free. Some of the prisoners who were disobedient, or tried
to escape, had been fitted with collars. They should have known…there
was no escape from hell!

The jailers used dark magic to draw power from the Witches they had
chained to the dungeon walls.
The
Witches
were physically
and
emotionally drained to the point of exhaustion, and in some cases death.
Late at night guards were allowed to help themselves to a captive or two.
They would take the Witches into their private chambers, and what
happened there was even worse. Joanna shuddered.

“Mommy, look! A pirate ship, like in my bath,” a young voice chirped
nearby.
Joanna turned to look at the young child pointing toward
Charleston harbor. “Pirates have treasure!” she announced dramatically.
“Do these pirates have treasure, mommy?”

Joanna felt a sharp stab of pain at her temple.
She automatically
reached for the sunglasses perched on top of her head.
“That’s the funny thing about pirates, Madeline…you never know,”
her mother laughed. She looked into the harbor where the little girl was
pointing and praised, “You have such a wonderful imagination. Pirates!
Who would have thought?”
Sliding the sunglasses in place, Joanna closed her eyes briefly in an
effort to minimize the nausea brought on by her sudden pain.
“Mommy! It’s not in my mag-i-naion,” the little girl said with a frown
and
stomp
of her small foot.
“Well, in that case, we better get to the ice cream shop before the
pirates steal all of the ice cream,” her mother suggested trying to distract
her daughter.
The little girl looked out into the harbor one more time and shrugged.
“Ok. Can I have the bubble-gum kind?
And
a waffle cone?” she
negotiated.
The mother laughed hugging her daughter tightly. “Sure, if I can have
a bite.”
“Mommy, you don’t
like
bubble-gum! It makes your tongue blue,”
the little girl said, wiggling away from her mother with a giggle. She
latched onto her mother’s hand and began tugging. “Come on, Mommy,
those bad pirates don’t get my ice cream,” she declared as she began
skipping down the sidewalk holding tightly to her Mother’s hand.
Joanna couldn’t take her eyes off the pair. Her heart felt as if it was
being slowly ripped out of her chest.
Her own daughter would be about
that age.
Joanna imagined her with the same dark hair and dancing eyes.
Tears of sorrow welled behind her sunglasses.
After hours of labor in a dank, dark place, they had taken her baby girl
away.
Weak from blood loss and hunger, Joanna had barely survived the
birth of her precious baby girl.
The midwife had sneaked the baby into
Joanna’s arms for a brief moment before the guards came to take her
beautiful baby away.
In that moment, Joanna had lost the will to live.
She had considered
using the last of her strength in order to stop her heart from beating.
But
then, her precious baby girl began to cry.
As the guards took her away,
Joanna suddenly found a reason to live. She vowed to search to the ends of
the earth looking for her daughter.
That day, she began planning her escape. She feigned a lingering illness
as a result of the birth. In reality, she was secretly gaining strength.
The midwife watched Joanna closely each day, searching for any sign of
improvement. The Master was waiting for her return to the dungeon. The
moment she was strong enough, Joanna would be sent back into hell where
she would be drained of her magic each day and would live in fear of nightfall.
Joanna listened closely to the whispered conversations between the
servants and midwives. Screams of pain and the sound of babies crying
indicated that Joanna was in maternity ward of sorts. She only heard the
crying for a few moments, before they were quickly taken away by the
guards. Some of the Witches, like the one who briefly occupied the bed
next to Joanna, did not survive… nor did her child.
She secretly grew stronger, while continuing to feign weakness. She
had listened intently to the servants and midwives in an effort to find out
exactly where the guards took the newborns when they stole them from
their mothers’.
Joanna
had successfully
bridged a
fragile
mental
link
with her
daughter. She had been fearful of making the link too strong as she
couldn’t risk discovery. The link would help Joanna locate her daughter
when it came time to leave.
She woke abruptly to a blinding flash of pain searing through her
head and into her heart. The pain was so intense that she had become
violently ill. Joanna screamed and retched over and over again, and then
she had slipped into unconsciousness.
Joanna knew the moment she had awakened that something was
terribly wrong. She frantically tried to link with her daughter, but she
could not. Soon she learned why….
The guards who brought the next Witch into the sick bay told the
midwives the tragic news.
A virus had spread through the nursery and
“took all the babies.” They went on to say that the nursery had been
moved to complex B.
Her baby was dead!
Joanna screamed inside, biting her lips until she
tasted blood. She mustn’t show emotion or react to the devastating
news. What kind of virus would kill all the babies in one night?
Joanna was more determined than ever to escape.
She vowed to
make each and every one of them pay for killing her baby. She escaped
that very night and kept her vow of revenge… with one exception.
Joanna dreamed of the day their paths would cross, and then he too
would get what he deserved.

Joanna determinedly pushed her grief away and turned once again to
gaze into the harbor.
She reminded herself that, like the tides, life
constantly changed and moved. She had no choice but to move forward
rather than dwell on the past. She spied Fort Sumter standing proudly in
the distance. This great fortress was one of the strongest in the United
States, possibly even the world. The Fort must have been a hotbed of
activity during the war. Joanna could imagine the sounds of cannons and
guns firing as soldiers worked diligently to defend their stations.

Joanna knew when she moved on she would leave a piece of her heart
in this historic city.
The past seemed so close here; she felt it wrapping
around her in such a way that it almost seemed within reach.

However, long before the war, Charleston was somewhat of a pirates’
heaven. Shop and tavern owners loved the constant supply of goods the
pirates supplied. Merchants especially looked forward to the coins and
jewels spent in their shops and bars. It was a match made in heaven; that
is until the pirates held Charleston under siege. Several wealthy families
were held hostage and threatened with death if the pirates’ demands were
not met.
In all fairness, Joanna did have to acknowledge that the
demand was for medical supplies to treat injured crew members. When
the medicine was handed over to Blackbeard, he freed the wealthy
hostages.

It must have been exciting to see Charles Towne Harbor, as it was
known then… filled with cargo ships as well as pirate ships. Wives of
ship owners and crew members paced back and forth on platforms or
walkways that had been built on the roof tops of their homes.
The
‘widow’s walks’ provided a bird’s eye view for the women as they tried to
catch a glimpse of the ship that would bring their husbands home to
them. Many women spent countless hours walking and praying for their
husband’s ship to return safely while they also prayed they would not be
left a widow.

Joanna didn’t see herself as the pacing sort; she would have most
likely been out on one of those ships seeing some action first hand. It
would be fun to travel back in time, but only for a short visit.
Modern
conveniences were not something Joanna would be willing to give up.

Turning to watch as one of the tourist filled horse-drawn carriages
passed by; she decided it was time to move on.
Joanna pasted a determined smile on her face and began moving
toward the retail district. She couldn’t resist glancing at the harbor over
her shoulder one last time.

Joanna stopped midcourse, ripped the sunglasses from her eyes, and
ran to lean as far over the seawall bordering the battery as possible. She
blinked…and then looked again.

“Holy--” she didn’t finish her outburst. She had already received
strange looks when she had sprinted to the wall like a crazed woman.
The little girl was right about the ship. “Oh, Baby, that ship wasn’t in
your ‘mag-i-naion’ after all,” Joanna mumbled.

Queen Anne’s Revenge
once again graced Charleston Harbor just as it
had in 1718. As if seeing a ghost ship was not freaky enough, the flag
was downright disturbing-- a skeleton spearing a heart-- while toasting
the devil. Joanna felt shivers dance down her spine.

She spun toward the gardens behind her, looking in the direction the
mother-daughter duo had taken.
She searched frantically for the child
who apparently could also see the ship. Of course, the little girl and her
mother were long gone.

Ok! Retail therapy would have to wait!
Joanna had a ship to explore.
Forcing herself to stop
and think for a
minute, she
decided that
disappearing with so many people milling about was not an option. It
was the sort of thing that would definitely cause a stir. Quickly crossing
the street, she ducked into a heavily shaded corner of the gardens.

For the briefest of moments, Joanna considered calling Sean, but then
she dismissed it as unnecessary.
He would report to Royce, and she
didn’t want to deal with all of that right now. Royce would throw a fit if
he knew what she was about to do, but this was too good to resist.
Besides, it would be a quick in and out. There was no way to guess how
long the ship would be here, and Blackbeard was rumored to be quite the
ladies’ man.

“Don’t think I will forget that ye hornswaggled me, ye doublecrossing scalawag,” the gentleman pirate, Bonnet Stede, groused. Yet, he
lifted his glass of grog in salute of his old frienemy Edward Teach, aka
Blackbeard.

The last time their paths crossed, the scoundrel Blackbeard had left
Stede
high-and-dry.
Literally, he
had left Stede’s ship the
Revenge
marooned on a sandbar.
Now that he thought about it, Blackbeard’s
actions had ultimately led to Stede’s current state of ghostliness.

“Aye, sorry about that, me harty. As they say now a days, business is
business, savvy? ‘Twas more ‘n a century ago,” Blackbeard said stroking
own ghostly beard.

Alexander turned his soldier boys on ye,” Stede remarked mirthfully.
“Aye, the bilge sucking landlubber,” Blackbeard agreed. “Alas, the
Scurvy Dogs weren’t as smart as they thought! Me loot is safe and
sound,” he bragged.
A century ago, Blackbeard had tricked Stede into sailing to North
Carolina to receive a pardon. Stede did indeed receive his pardon, but he
returned to Charleston only to find the
Revenge
, his ship, marooned on a
sandbar. Twenty-five of his crew members were stuck on the sandbar
along with the ship. After Blackbeard had not-so-accidentally trapped
the
Revenge
, he pillaged the ship. He stowed the spoils of his deed on his
own ship,
Queen Anne’s Revenge
.
Bonnet was livid and vowed to get revenge.
Unfortunately, he was
captured, tried, and eventually hanged before he could find Blackbeard
to square things up.
Blackbeard met an even more gruesome end.
Virginia Governor
Alexander Spotswood ordered First Lieutenant Robert Maynard to find
and kill Blackbeard. The Lieutenant did just that.
After locating and
capturing Blackbeard, the Lieutenant severed Blackbeard’s head.
He
actually hung the severed head from the sloop’s bowsprit to prove that
Blackbeard was indeed gone forever. Or so they had assumed…
Straightening in his chair, Stede corrected Blackbeard’s claim, “Ye
mean ‘ta say
our
treasure be safe and sound?”
“Aye, ‘tis what I said.
Me
treasure be safe and sound,” Blackbeard
reiterated.
“Blow me down! Where be the loot ye Old Salt?” Stede inquired
gleefully.
“Dead men tell no tales, savvy? ‘N last I heard, we was dead, me
matey,” Blackbeard laughed heartily.
“Aye, that we are,” Stede shook his head in regret. Then he looked at
Blackbeard intently adding, “For the moment.”
The reunion was interrupted by one short knock followed by the
Quartermaster’s voice announcing, “Cap’n we got somethin’ fer ye.”
Blackbeard rolled his eyes and shouted, “What do ye have fer me?”
The Quartermaster chuckled deeply. “Somethin’ ye gonna lust,
Matey. Ye been waitin’ near a hundred years fer it.”
“Jolly help be hard t’ find,” Blackbeard muttered to Stede. “Bring it
in, ‘n be quick about it,” he shouted toward the door.
The mighty door opened. The Quartermaster entered Blackbeard’s
quarters dragging with him the most beautiful wench either pirate had
ever seen. She was just what the party needed.
“Avast,” Blackbeard whispered rising quickly to his feet.
Stede struggled to get to his feet as well.
He was still getting his
sea-legs, and the grog was making it more difficult than usual.
Well,
that and the fact that he had been land-locked for the past hundred
years or so.
“Let go of me, you imbecile,” Joanna ordered. For a ghost, he had
a pretty firm grasp.
Joanna jerked her arm away from the pirate who had captured her
the minute she had materialized on the ship.
The plan had been to
sneak on board, investigate, and be gone before anyone knew she had
been there.
Shit, this wasn’t going at all the way she envisioned it.
Blackbeard extended his hand toward Joanna and commanded,
“Come, me bonny lass; I wish to see ye more closely.”
“Well you can wish in one hand and shit in the other. I’m not
coming any closer,” Joanna assured him. She refused to budge one
inch from the space she currently occupied… in the Captain’s
stateroom…aboard a ghost ship.
Holy crap, Royce was going to pitch a
colossal fit.
Stede jerked to attention, and Blackbeard laughed loudly. “We will
see, wench, when I am more than I am now. We’ll just see how far
you want to stay away from me. I’ve been told that I’m very talented
with the lasses,” he bragged.
Stede looked at Blackbeard in surprise. With the exception of the
word ‘wench,’ there wasn’t one trace of
pirate
in his speech.
Stede
narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Why have we been speaking in
pirate jargon,
Matey
?” He moved toward Blackbeard running his
fingers over the black handled dagger sheathed at his side. “I did
not realize you were such a student of the English language these
days.”
“Just keep’n you on your toes,
Matey
. I can’t reveal all of my
secrets, now can I?” Blackbeard said blandly. He chose not to
acknowledge the none-too-subtle combative gesture made by Stede.
Seriously!
Was she listening to this insane conversation, between
two dead pirates?
What was Stede going to do?
Kill Blackbeard?
News flash-- someone had already been there-- done that.
Stede made his way toward Joanna. “May I introduce myself,
Lass?” he asked, in a gentlemanly manner. He then paused to wait for
her response. At her nod he continued, “My name is Stede Bonnet. I
am also known as the
gentleman
pirate,” he emphasized the word
gentleman. “At your service, my lady,” Bonnet declared as he bowed
low at the waist.
“Oh, for Neptune’s sake, Stede…. Stop fawning all over her. The
lass is smart enough to know which of us in this room is privy to the
location of
Blackbeard’s
hidden treasure… and
who
in this room is
not
,”
Blackbeard boasted gleefully. He strode pompously forward inserting
his body between Stede and Joanna.
Stede shrugged in temporary defeat and moved to retrieve his glass of
grog. He drained it in one large gulp.
“As I was saying before I was interrupted,” Blackbeard said casting a
narrow look in Stede’s direction, “when I am again a flesh and blood
man, I would suspect you will not be so stand-offish toward me, Lass. I
promise you I know how to please a fire-filled woman such as yourself,”
he said raking his eyes boldly from the top of her head to the painted tips
of her toes.
Joanna took a step back retreating from his invasion of her space.
Blackbeard puffed his chest out, the ruffles down the front of his
shirt adding to his impressive albeit ghostly image. “I happen to be very
rich,” he declared, “as well as
heavily
endowed.” He grinned while
waggling his eyebrows up and down.
At that, Stede barked with laughter, slammed his glass back on the
table, and crowded Blackbeard out of the way. “I too am very rich.
Additionally, I’m much more refined than this scalawag. As to the
rest
, I
will let you draw your own conclusions, my lady.” As he finished, he
strategically tucked his thumbs into the waistband of his velvet britches,
bringing attention to the bulge in his trousers.
The Quartermaster was long gone, having fled shortly after shoving
Joanna into the stateroom. Joanna rubbed her head as it was beginning
to pound incessantly.
Really?
Not one-- but two horny pirate ghosts!
Joanna stifled a chuckle by
turning it into a groan.
God, Royce would never let her hear the end of this. That
is, after he got over being pissed that she had boarded a ghost ship alone in the first
place.
“Please. Sit down my lady,” Stede insisted as he grasped her elbow to
guide her to a large table dominating the room. “May I get you some
sort of refreshment, something to eat or drink?”
“Um-- I’ll stand. Thank you. I’m not hungry, but I
could
use a drink,”
Joanna said, casting a wary glance toward the assortment of bottles and
glasses lining the table.
Blackbeard scrambled to direct Joanna’s attention back toward him.
“Allow me to pour for you,” he proposed grandly, already splashing grog
into a mug for her. He winked broadly as he wrapped her fingers around
the mug full of dark liquid.
Joanna eyed both pirates suspiciously. They each grabbed a mug
and poured themselves a drink from the same bottle.
Stede and
Blackbeard
crashed
their mugs mightily together in a silent salute, took a
deep swallow, and then held their mugs high in her direction.
Ok, maybe it was safe to drink?
Trying not to think about how many
hundred years the refreshment had been on board this ship, she lifted
her mug to salute them with a gentler
bump
. “To new friends,” Joanna
toasted before drawing in a healthy mouthful of the liquid.
Oh, God!
Room temperature grog flowed over her taste buds.
Joanna felt tears sting her eyes and try as she might; she just could not
bring herself to swallow. Reflex and self-preservation overtook good
manners…Joanna could not help herself; she spit the disgusting muck
back into the mug.
“What-
the hell
-- is that foul tasting mess?” she asked scrubbing her
tongue on her hand. She desperately searched the room for something
to clean her mouth with.
They evidently didn’t stock bar napkins on pirate
ships.
“You idiot,” Stede said reprimanding Blackbeard. “She is obviously
too delicate for the potency of grog,” he observed, snatching the mug
of regurgitated liquid from Joanna.
“Please accept my apologies, beauty,” Stede beseeched.
Nodding
toward Blackbeard, he observed, “He obviously left his brain in the
grave. Not,” he continued in a loud whisper, “that he was all that
smart to begin with.”
“Grog?” Joanna croaked, “What the hell is grog… and is it fatal?”
“No, my lady, ‘tis nothing harmful. Just a refreshing bit of fire.”
“You’ve obviously never heard of a
skip-and-go-naked
or
sex-on-thebeach,
” Joanna complained, shivering a little. Talk about an after-taste.
Both men began to chuckle, eyeing her with great interest.
She was
going to be a fine shipmate for one of them. She was beautiful and full
of enthusiasm.
“We will, no doubt, have to duel for her,” Blackbeard announced to
Stede wearing a bemused expression. “Pistols at dawn?” he suggested.
Ok, enough is-- too much!
Joanna decided it was time to get some
answers.
She
took a
moment
to
pull
herself together by
finger
combing her hair and smoothing her shorts.
She was desperately
wishing for a mirror, her favorite tube of lipstick, oh… and a breath
mint.
Joanna took a deep breath as she prepared to dive into the
Where’s
and
What For’s.
Both pirates’ eyes immediately dropped to her breasts
and intently watched as they expanded with her indrawn breath.
WTF?
She felt a static-electric sizzling feeling engulf her and fought to control
the surge of anger. These two idiots would not understand a sparking
Witch.
“Excuse me, boys,” Joanna gritted between clinched teeth. Bending
her knees to put her face in their line of vision, she pointed out, “My
eyes are up
here
.”
Blackbeard sighed. “Ah, but you have such lovely--”
“Stop right there!” Joanna interrupted. She spied a coverlet draped
over the foot of the bed.
She snatched up the piece of cloth and
wrapped it securely around her shoulders.
Distractions concealed, she began, “If you would have a seat,
gentlemen
,” she said gesturing toward two of the uncomfortable looking
chairs surrounding the massive table. “I have some questions. I would
appreciate honesty from you both,” she insisted as she aimed an I-meanbusiness look toward both men.
“Now, as I started to say--” Joanna began, only to be interrupted as a
knock sounded on the door to the stateroom. This knock sounded more
frantic in nature than the previous one had, the one announcing Joanna’s
arrival.
“Oh, for the love of--” Blackbeard rolled his eyes and bellowed.
“What is it
now
?”
“Cap’n, the
Ranger
be fast approachin’ ‘n she be sailin’ th’
Jolly Rodger
from ‘er mast.”
“Vane,” Blackbeard said gravely.
“Aye, and Calico Jack,” Stede added.
“My lady,” Blackbeard said with a sigh, “we must continue this
conversation at a later date. It seems I have company, and I must warn
you that these scurvy bilge rats know no honor. They’ll not think twice
before making you walk the plank. Fear not, we will stow you away.
You are a fine treasure, and this room was built for hiding valuables,” he
confided mysteriously.
“I’m quite capable of taking care of myself,” Joanna assured him. She
hid a smile imaging their surprise at her particular skill-set.
“Cap’n she’s droppn’ anchor,” the Quartermaster reported urgently
through the door.
“We will be on deck shortly to meet Calico Jack and Vane. And,
William…” Blackbeard paused.
“Aye? Cap’n?” Quartermaster William Howard responded.
“Anyone mentions the lass, loses their tongue,” Blackbeard promised
darkly. “Savvy?”
“Savvy, Cap’n. I’ll be spreadn’ the word.”
As the Quartermaster hurried away, Blackbeard crossed the room to
open an armoire positioned on the far wall.
He pushed aside a wide
array of ornate coats and lavish poet shirts, the real pirate variety with
ruffles galore. He felt around until he found the release trigger he was
looking for. With a click, the false back opened and…
surprise of
surprises
… an entire room was hidden behind the armoire.
Stede escorted her across the room and kissed her cheek before
bundling her quickly into the secret room. As he pushed her through the
opening, he whispered “Be very quiet no matter what you hear. You will
be safe in there.”
“Really,” Joanna protested, “this is not necessary. I--”
“Be silent, Lass,” Blackbeard added his warning. “We will protect
you. Worry you not.” He strode past her to light a candle sitting on a
mammoth desk littered with various maps and trinkets.