At first Maggie wasn't sure how to feel about having a real live witch aboard the Dying Gull. But she eventually came to the conclusion that she and Carina could be kindred spirits. They were the only two females aboard a ship full of males and Carina was a witch. Witches were females with magical powers, that's why they were outlawed. Folks around this era didn't like it when women had power... and Maggie didn't really like those kinds of people, so it would be fun to tick them off. If Carina could teach Maggie some of her witchy magic, imagine all the mischievous things Maggie could pull off.

"So how does one go about becoming a witch?" Maggie asked as she sat cross-legged in front of the mast Carina and Henry were tied to.

"For the last time, I'm not a witch. I'm an astronomer" Carina explained.

"Oh, sorry..." Maggie apologized. "So how can I become an astronomer witch?"

Carina sighed deeply. It was bad enough she was kidnapped by pirates, but now she was being talked to death by this pipsqueak.

"What did you say your name was again?" Maggie asked Carina.

"Carina Smyth" she answered.

"Hmm..." Maggie took a minute to think about it. "I'm gonna call you... Carina the Teenage Witch!"

"No" Carina told her.

"Oh... Well how about Witchypoo or the Wicked Witch with the Flat Chest?" Maggie started spouting more suggestions.

Carina sighed "Don't you have anything else you could be doing right now?"

"No, my Daddy told me to go bother you, so I don't bother him" Maggie explained. "It's a peaceful little cycle we kinda have going here, I'd hate to mess it up."

Captain Jack came down from the helm and approached Carina.

"There is no map in this map?" He said, holding up the diary questioningly.

"Give me my diary" Carina told him.

"Give me the Map No Man Can Read" Jack retorted, crossing his arms.

"If you could read it, then it wouldn't be called The Map No Man Can Read" Carina explained to him.

"Well then let me see the diary map, I can probably read it!" Maggie said, reaching for the diary.

"But it's written in Italian. Can you even read Italian?" Carina asked.

"Maybe I can, maybe I can't" Maggie told her. "We shall see."

"Can you read at all?" Carina asked, skeptically.

Maggie's jaw dropped. "Well that depends, Miss Smarty Skirt..." she told her. "Can you take a long walk off a short plank?!"

"Now Maggie..." Jack held her back from lunging at one of their captives. "Most of the men on this ship can't read" he argued with Carina. "Which makes all maps the Map That No Man Can Read."

"Well, if you can't read it, then you have no use for it or me" Carina smirked.

"Let me start again" Jack sighed. "Show me the map."

"I can't" Carina told him. "It doesn't exist yet."

"She's a witch!" Marty accused.

"I'm an astronomer" Carina corrected.

"Ah! Ah, she breeds donkeys" Scrum nodded.

"What?" Carina asked. "No. An astronomer contemplates the sky."

"Yeah, on a donkey?" Scrum informed her.

"No! There's no donkey!" Carina told him.

"Well, then how do you breed them?" Cremble asked, cluelessly.

"Allow me to simplify this equation" Jack told Carina. "Give me the map...or I will kill..." He pointed to Henry. "Him. I'll kill him."

Henry turned to stare at Jack in panic. Maggie stared at her father as well, only she could tell he was kidding. If he really did kill Henry, Elizabeth and Will would hunt him down.

"Go on then" Carina told him. "You're bluffing."

Captain Jack smirked. "And you're blushing" he turned to the crew. "Throw him over."

The crew grabbed Henry, starting to untie him, laughing as they shoved him near the the edge stern railing.

"We call this keelhauling" Jack explained to Carina. "Young Henry will be tossed over and he will be dragged under the ship."

"All right" Carina smirked, still unconvinced. "What're you waiting for?"

"Uh, he doesn't appear to be--" Henry started before Cremble shoved a rag in his mouth.

"Nope, not bluffing, me" Jack nodded. "He's trying to say something..."

Henry's shouting was muffled as the crew hoisted him up over the railing.

"No, no, we don't have any food aboard. Sorry!" Jack told him.

"Yes, I'll tell your mother you love her!" Maggie gave him a thumbs up.

The crew bound Henry's hands and feet together and then unceremoniously tossed him overboard.

A look of shock crossed Carina's face as she came to the realization that the pirates weren't just messing around.

"I guess I better start writing his obituary" Maggie said, pulling a notebook and a pencil from her pocket.

"If he's lucky" Mr. Gibbs informed Carina. "He'll drown before the barnacles shred him to ribbons."

"Barnacles?" Carina asked, her face going pale.

"Like a thousand knives across your back..." Jack explained.

"Henry Turner" Maggie recited as she wrote. "Beloved son and prisoner of pirates..."

"Course the blood attracts sharks..." Jack shrugged.

"Sharks?" Carina's eyes went wide.

"...Taken from us too soon at the young age of... I wanna say somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty-five?" Maggie guessed.

"Shark off the bow!" Mr. Gibbs glanced over the side of the ship.

"I would say that swimming is no longer his primary concern" Jack said.

"May God carry his soul up to heaven and not haunt the stubborn witch who refused to help him before his life was snuffed out like a candle flame" Maggie nodded. "Ooh, I should do poetry..."

Carina's hand flew upwards, as she pointed towards the sky. "The map is there!" She told them.

Everyone glanced upward.

"Where?" Jack asked.

"On the tip of your finger?" Marty inquired.

"No. In the heavens." Carina told them. "That diary will lead me to a map hidden in the stars."

Jack and Maggie looked at one another in disbelief.

"The map that will lead us to the Trident of Poseidon is hidden in the stars?" Maggie asked her, skeptically.

"Yes! Now let him up!" Carina urged them. "I'll find it tonight!"

Captain Jack shook his head. "Sorry, can't bring him up" he replied. "Look for yourself."

Maggie patted Carina's hand in sympathy as she ran to glance over the side of the ship. Maggie giggled evilly as Jack grinned, mischievously.

"As I said..." Jack called to Carina. "...blushing!"

As Carina looked down and braced herself for the worst possible sight. She was shocked to find Henry was still in one, non-bloody peice and lying in a longboat tied to the side of the ship.

The pirates laughed.

Carina sighed rolling her eyes. "Filthy pirates" she muttered, angrily. She stormed over to Jack, nostrils flaring and blue eyes narrowed.

"You're mistaken" she told him. "I'm here for one reason: The Trident."

"I know how this works" Jack gave her a wry smile. "The stolen glances, the hidden smiles, the beads of sweat behind the neck..."

"That boy means nothing to me" Carina said, involuntarily checking the back of her neck. "Now give me my diary and stay out of my way!"

She snatched the diary from Jack and stalked off.

"Mee-ow!" Maggie hissed like an angry cat.

"Let her be angry, Maggie" Jack informed her. "But the scent of desire does not lie." He paused, raising his arm and sniffed. "Although that could be me..."

☠💀☠

Later that afternoon, Maggie was writing another entry in her log, when a barrel of water beside her, began to ripple. Maggie tore her eyes from her log to look into the water. It was strange, the water wasn't rippling due to the swelling of the ship. No, it appeared the something inside the barrel was causing it, as if the water was rippling from the inside.

Before Maggie could even think into it anymore, she found herself peering into the barrel. A soft, humming serene-sounding voice began to come from it.

"Hello?" Maggie said, looking closer.

"Maggie!" Her Father's voice snapped her out of it. "Maggie?"

"Coming!" Maggie yelled back as she left the barrel to scurry up the steps to the helm.

"There you are" Captain Jack said, passing the helm to Pike. "Walk with me, Darling. I need to have a talk with you."

"Oh, if this is about the dead fish in your pillow case..." Maggie said. "It was only to repel the wenches. I don't want any potential step-monster's lurking around."

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked.

"Nothing" Maggie smiled innocently.

Jack sat down and held her in his lap. "Darling, do you remember last night in the cell, when you woke up and you were talking to the puddle? And you said 'they're here'?"

"Mm-hmm" Maggie nodded.

"Well, who did you mean?" Jack asked. "Who was there?"

"Matty" Maggie answered.

Jack's eyebrows shot up. "Matty? Who's Matty?"

"The girl in the water" Maggie explained. "She talked to me from the puddle in the cell last night and she talked to me from the barrel over there."

"What do you mean she's in the water?" Jack asked her. "A girl couldn't fit into a puddle?"

"Matty isn't in the water" Maggie shook her head. "Just her voice. C'mon, I'll show you."

Captain Jack followed his daughter over to the the barrel of water. He mimicked her as she peeked into the still water.

"We have this kind of game going on" Maggie explained. "Matty asks me a question and I talk into the water to answers her."

"Oh, I see!" Jack nodded. He was beginning to think that maybe nothing supernatural was going on. Maybe Maggie was just being an overly imaginative little girl.

"And you talked with Matty last night?" Jack asked her.

"Yeah, she was asking me all sorts of questions" Maggie nodded.

"Really, like what exactly?" Jack asked.

"Well, first she asked me for my name and I said I'm Maggie" she explained. "Then she asked how old I was and I said I was eight. She asked me if I was your daughter and I said yes. And then she asked me if I was near the sea and since Saint Martin was a coastal town I said yes. So Matty said she wanted to visit me and told me to give her my coordinates so she could come see me. But I told her I didn't know. Then she asked me if I was anywhere near a place called the Devil's Triangle and I told her no, I didn't think so. And then you woke up and I didn't hear her anymore after that."

Captain Jack nodded while listening intently. It was when she mentioned the Devil's Triangle, that his previous theory of Matty being imaginary went out the window. Surely whoever this girl was, she was in cahoots with Salazar. But he didn't want to tell Maggie that. Maggie had an insatiable curiosity for all things macabre and dangerous. If he told her that Matty was a ghost or something else, Maggie would get herself into danger. Captain Jack was fine with curiosity killing the cat, but his daughter was an entirely different situation.

"Maggie, darling" Jack told her. "Next time Matty asks you a question just ignore it."

"Why?" Maggie asked.

"Well... remember what I told you about strangers?" Jack reminded her.

"Yep!" Maggie nodded. "Make sure their pockets are jingling before you try to rob 'em!"

"No..." Jack shook his head. "I meant when I said don't talk to them. Matty is a stranger. A stranger in the water, so you shouldn't talk to her."

"But why don't you want me to talk to her?" Maggie asked.

"It could be dangerous" Jack told her.

"Dad, you're a pirate!" Maggie reminded him. "Danger is practically your middle name!"

Captain Jack nodded "Also handsome and daring... and Christopher... all depends on who you ask really."

"So why should I be careful around danger?" Maggie asked. "I've spent my whole life being around danger."

"Doesn't mean you shouldn't be cautious" Jack wrapped his arms around her. "Remember you can explore and venture this world as much as you like. But above all I want my girl to be safe and happy." He kissed her forehead. "I love you."

"That's nice" Maggie began to walk away, but Jack tightened his grip on her.

"Oy!" Jack protested. "I don't get an 'I love you'?"

"Nope" Maggie grinned.

He gasped putting his hand to his heart. "Tell me you love me!" Jack told her strictly.

"No!" Maggie refused, giggling at his reaction.

Captain Jack huffed. "Fine then" he said, playfully overreacting."Then I'm going to discipline you just like my parents did to me!"

He grabbed Maggie by the ear and marched her across the deck.

Maggie giggled, knowing he was just kidding. "Ow! Ow!" She laughed. "Child abuse!"

"Oh! You think that's child abuse?" Jack asked her. "What if I do this?" He scooped her up and hung her upside down.

Maggie squealed with laughter.

Captain Jack grinned hearing her laugh. "I'm going to shake all that sass out of you, missy!" He said, playfully stern.

"Put me down!" Maggie's chuckles poured out of her.

"What's the magic word then?" Jack asked.

"Abra-put-me-down-aca?" Maggie guessed.

Captain Jack glared playfully and shook her upside down.

"Ahh! No! I love you too, Daddy!" Maggie said.

"What was that?" Jack asked, pretending not to hear her.

"I love you too" Maggie repeated.

"Speak up! I can't hear you!" Jack told her.

"I love you too!" Maggie yelled.

Captain Jack flipped her right side up and kissed nose. "Heard ye the first time!" He smirked, setting her down on her feet.

Maggie blew a raspberry at him before scampering off.

AN: Alright, the next chapter is halfway done, so expect an update soon. Also a new story from the newly published book The Maggie Sparrow Adventures is also on it's way, including a special Halloween story. Be sure to check it out! I don't like to brag, but jeeze I'm on a roll this month!