Life of Jacob and William

The paper was thin, folded in half. My thumb played with the lip, the edge sharp against the skin.

What words were waiting for me?

"Tuck the sails! Untie the ropes!"

Saul's words cut through the air and we were once more put into it. The wall stayed down, the ship rocked as I ran to untie a rope hooked to it. I don't know how the ropes kept us there.

The paper wrinkled as it once more went to my pocket unopened. The words burned into my leg as I helped undo what was keeping us inside of the building.

Wiley appeared, a disheveled look as he ran for the helm. His words were just as loud as Saul's.

"Wait! The helm. We can't damage it!

He looked a bit confused as I watched him. He jumped over the hole in the middle of the deck, his foot catching onto it. It would have been easier for him to go around the stairs than thinking he could have jumped the distance.

Still, he jumped back to his feet, not worried about if he had been hurt. He limped, telling me that something had happened.

The helm was on the opposite of the ship. Not above the bar, or room where the Captain quarters should have been. I didn't know how it could work at the front of the ship, or how the wheel itself could be at the front of the ship when the other part was on the opposite side.

He had no more reached the stairs before the ship moved. We slammed forward.

I stumbled, the jolt sudden. A curse escaped as my fingers missed the railing that I wanted to grab. I slipped backwards, as it felt like we were going down. The ship felt titled up in the air.

It wasn't only me who had been surprised. Others fell, landing on the wood than staying on their feet.

A loud scraping sound screeched as we passed the opening. I fell as the ship once more jolted. Gears grounded.

"Wooo!"

A scream came from above. My eyes found the boy who seemed to have been the one to build the ship. He was in the crew nest.

Staring at the masts, I wondered if the hole had really been big enough for the ship to leave. The length alone was longer than the old one. Almost twice as long as the Going Sally. The masts were high in the air, the sails flapping against the wind.

Water splashed as the boy once more shouted in glee. Silver sprayed up as we dived.

Then it was over as quickly as it happened. The jolting came and left that it could have just as easily not have happened. The wall started moving again, the noise echoing to us as the ship moved from the city.

I found Saul before spotting the Captain looking wet. As if he had gone for a swim before coming aboard. A glee was in his smile as his back was to the city, his eyes sharp. He stood next to the quartermaster, more awake and alive than usually.

Close to them was the woman who he had tasked with creating the ship. A scowl was on her face as she had her arms crossed. She said something that had caused Captain Velwyn to look at her.

Wiley stood at the helm. At the front of the ship. I could only make out his back, but he had managed to make it up the steps in the time it took us to leave the building.

It seemed we were finally leaving the Island of Giants behind. As we set sail, nothing happened. Saul and Captain Velwyn went up and stood with Wiley. It seemed they already knew where they wanted to go next.

I moved from the ground and found myself in the crowsnest. A telescope was there, though the need for it wasn't there yet. The others below were sobering up slowly.

Sleeping it off. Exploring the ship.

I just knew they would be sobering up.

Days passed after that. Mixing together as everyone fell into a new routine. No conversation or plans coming forth of where we were going or what was going to happen came.

During the days I was in the crows nest. Lounging around. Looking for any ships we might come across. Searching for something besides the bold water that surrounded us.

The nights I would go to the crew quarters and rest. Hearing whispers each night. Always from the other crew members, though they tried to deny it.

Others found something as well.

Captain Velwyn and Saul were there close to the helm with Wiley. The trio left that area only for a short time, when they bothered to.

Masque stayed hidden below, working on something. I heard him say something about coming up with a new way to fix someone up.

Everyone else just lingered around. Cleaning. Or sitting and sleeping.

It was calm on the ship. Calm out in the open waters. Less hussle there than what I had found in the city.

Things were looking good as we got no signs of anyone trailing after us. As no birds appeared with strange warnings and sea beasts stayed away.

Though, the Ant Bear below caused plenty to worry about. I let the others worry about it, while being certain to stay out of its reach.

It was a day where the sun was high, scorching us underneath it. My skin heating and a few blisters appeared. It started to drier and rougher than before. Just as the sun hit the middle of the sky, when I remembered the paper.

The paper that crackled in the pockets of another pair of trousers. I knew that plenty of time had passed that any games he would have wanted to play, would already be too late. Looking at the waters and being sure that we caught sight of nothing, I made my way down the ladder and to the deck.

I spotted Jacob mulling around. The boy looked as relaxed as the pirates that surrounded him.

"Watch from the crows nest for a minute for me." It wasn't a question, far from it.

The boy nodded, his eyes reminding me of Scarlet. Of Thom. Of a pain that hit me once again.

"How soon will you be back?"

It was a good question. I knew it wouldn't take me long to find the paper. To see what words laid on it.

"Not too long. I'll grab something from the kitchen for you."

He grinned before heading up the ladder. Up to the crows nest.

I didn't know what he had done while we were at the Island of Giants. I hadn't been the one to find him or William. I wasn't the one who went searching for them.

I let them do whatever they wanted without a care.

A part of me knew that I needed to look after the two boys more. To think more about them. To care more for what they are up to.

If only so the feeble act we had going, would remain. Only if because of the guilt that hit me at the thoughts that swirled. If only because, something told me that I knew who they were, even if I still didn't want to accept that one simple answer.

I didn't want to believe they were the very kids that I had been accused of kidnapping all those months ago.

Hitting the steps, I found myself avoiding the Ant Bear that once more escaped and three others were trying to catch. I could have sworn I saw someone crock a gun and aim it at the little beast.

Reaching the crew quarters without hearing a bang feel the air, I wandered to my pile of clothing. Laundry would be done on the next day we had no or little wind. Though that could still be days or weeks ahead of us.

Digging through the pile, coins dropped to the foor and rolled. A small gem appeared. A few pieces of dried fish skin and bones as well. I wasn't sure how the bones got in my clothing but I searched for the paper instead of focusing on it.

Finally I found it and pulled it free.

Sitting on the floor and resting my back against the wall, I unfolded the paper. The words stared back at me, burning into my mind.

Burning into me.

Trouble seemed to follow us like a bad plague.

Or maybe the bad plague was just us.

Moving to my feet, I balled the paper up and returned to the deck. Ignoring the beast on the ground as the words still danced in front of my eyes. Ignoring my name that escaped from someone.

Their voice was too far out, too dull to what was happening in my head, for me to know who it was. As I reached the deck, I stared at the masts, out the world that surrounded the ship.

The world that was closing in.

There would be no escape. No leaving. No more lies.

Just the cold hard truth. No, just a cold hard truth.

The sea was always a cruel mistress and that day, that once peaceful day, turned upside down. If only I knew how the day was really about to turn.

Maybe things could have been different.

Up the ladder I went, the ball of paper in my hand. There, I found Jacob as I knew I would. There, the boy looked happy, as he stared out at the waters.

"You never told me your last name." I pulled myself up and stood before the only real exit. "Course, that's my fault. It's easier to do a job when I didn't know all the finer details. Didn't care much even after I joined the crew. All I was doing was getting you to a new place like you had asked."

My hand tightened on the paper as Jacob turned to look at me. Confusion filled his eyes, as if he was unsure what I was getting at. It made sense that he wouldn't know.

I would have to say it first.

"Jacobus Jennings, but you prefer Jacob. Short, easier to remember when you don't focus on the uss part at the end. I remember reading a letter once from your mother about that. Though it was because you had trouble with the S in your words."

He was young when I had gotten that letter. Two or three. Still figuring out how to speak full sentences. But I had never seen the kid. Only heard about him through the letter.

His expression spoke volumes. He was that same scared boy I had first seen. Only, he had no physical scars this time.

Only emotional ones. Scars I could only guess at. Scars that were hidden underneath.

"Don't." I didn't know what words were about to escape him as he opened his mouth. "I'm not done."

I didn't have much to say. Not to him, anyways. But I didn't need him to try and cover himself if that's what he planned.

The boy had changed. Before he seemed so innocent. So willing to blindly trust.

Maybe I just wanted to see that and I did.

"Just nod when I get something right." He nodded before I continued. "You and William are brothers. You have one older one. Thom."

He nodded, a look flashing in his eyes. Fear. He was afraid of Thom.

He didn't know that Thom was dead. Or that I was the killer.

What happened on that deck that day, wasn't talked about. Wasn't hinted about either. Whatever the pirates saw, a peep never escaped from their lips.

Never reached the boys.

If it had, I would have known.

"Your mother is Scarlet Jennings and she's a Admiral." He nodded. "You left because Thom was abusing you?" He nodded. "You left because Scarlet was never home and you wanted to protect William?" He nodded once again.

My stomach twisted. Sometimes it takes a lot for a person to change. I knew Scarlet valued her job. That she tended to put it first over everything else.

Yet, I didn't want to believe that Thom could have turned that way. Or that Scarlet wouldn't have been able to see it. She had to have known.

Didn't she?

"Did she know?"

He shook his head. No, she didn't.

"Do you want to see your mother?"

The seconds ticked and I got nothing. He didn't move his head an inch. But he didn't need to. The boy was easy to read.

He did. He wanted to see her. But he was also afraid to.

"Did she ever hurt you physically?"

He shook his head, but there was something else there. The air changed. His mood shifted.

"But she was never home, was she?"

He shook his head. That was it. I knew that feeling from when my parents weren't there.

I sighed as I looked away from the boy.

The pain and betrayal. The hurt and anger. The underlying pain that he won't show on the surface. Only, he has a younger brother to worry about.

The paper was heavy in my fingers the longer the second grew to pass us. I stared at the silver seas.

"Would you have still wanted to be a pirate of the silver sea?"

Doubt. Hesitation. Brief anger. Than he nodded, slowly and still uncertain.

"We've learned a lot," he said. "William is more open and more happy. William is better with being here."

William. I didn't know where the younger one of them was. Not at that exact moment. Just that he was on the ship.

I lifted the note as I looked back at him. But I didn't unfold my fingers to reveal it.

"Tell me why you wanted to leave Carlisle. My head is on the line here and I need to know everything." There was no room for argument, though that wouldn't have stopped him from not sharing.

He nodded sitting. His head looked at his hands as he fumbled with them.

"Mom doesn't come home often," he begins in a small voice. "She hasn't since Jacob was three. He doesn't even remember her."

I flinched on the inside at his words. Oh Scarlet, I know you love your sons. So how did this come to be?

"Thom looked after us for the longest times, but something happened one night. He changed. He became different. Even Nana noticed it."

As he talked my eyes flickered between him and keeping an eye out on the sea. I had to make sure no ships were coming, especially now.

"He..."

I let him take his time in telling the story about what made them leave. I knew that it was something that wouldn't be easy for him to share. Even if I never fell victim to the hands of someone who was supposed to protect me.

I had helped many families. Many individuals escape from it. Some would spill everything, without me needing to ask. Some would hide behind the facade they wanted when they came to me.

Questions. Getting to know them. Involving myself. It was something I avoided. 

Bits and pieces were left out, but I didn't push for more information. I didn't push to know if anything had happened for Thom to snap. Or if he tried to get a hold of Scarlet.

I listened. I nodded. I didn't give him a look of pity, as I knew all too well that pity was something that he would not have wanted.

For years, it seemed, Thom had abused them. More William than Jacob. The marks they had the day he came, he said, was one of the less extreme moments.

After their older brother had become a saylor, following their mother's footsteps in a way, it had lessened some. And it also than Jacob knew they had a better chance at running away. At avoiding their older brother.

Something in the story felt off. Something didn't seem right, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was.

Or maybe it was just me hoping there was something off. Me hoping that Scarlet family couldn't have gone like that. Me hoping she wouldn't have let it happen.

As he ended, his voice trailing off as he reached the part I already knew, we stayed in silence. I stared not at him, but the waves. They crashed against the ship as it moved easily through.

I moved from blocking the ladder and to bend in front of him. Once more I held out my hand, but this time I unfolded my fingers.

He could see the note.

"I got this before we left. Didn't look at it until today."

His hand reached out, grabbing it. His eyes widened. I already knew what he would see on the paper.

She's coming for her boys.

Scarlet was coming for them. We might already have had one saylor, one post-captain, chasing after us. Now, we had an admiral. That meant more ships. That meant more danger.

"Your mother wants you and William. She does love you boys," I said, hoping that it was true. Hoping my words didn't sound as false to his ears as they did to mine.

She had to love them. I couldn't be wrong about that.

"She's coming for us?" A tear slid down his cheek as he asked his question. "She really is?"

I nodded, searching his brown eyes for anything that could make what he told me just a mere tale. That everything that happened to them from Thom was nothing but a nightmare.

I didn't find the answers I sought.

"Yes. She's coming and now I have to decide what to do." A weight pushed on me as I sat on the ground next to him. "The story that we had once told, through feeble and something they probably already figured out was a lie, is still there. No one has questioned it. Not out loud."

"What do you have to decide?" His voice was still weak. A squeak to what it had been.

I looked at the sky.

"To tell the truth to Captain Velwyn who already wants my head because of the Island of Giants, or to continue this lie and risk the truth being revealed."

A decision needed to be made.