Song of the Sea

Chapter Eight: The Question

"So, our dear nutter boy happens to be a demon. Just what I needed to make my day complete," said Jack dryly after several minutes. "Any ideas? Wizard nutters aren't my area of expertise."

Diane shook her head. "In all honesty, I have no idea. I never learned anything about demons--that was old magic. Druid magic; the kind that Merlin did. Supposedly, it died out ages ago."

"Well, it didn't and it hasn't. There's a difference between dead magic and magic that can trap a pirate crew. Even I know that. Any ideas on what kinds of powers he might have?"

"Necromancy...he just gave us a demonstration on that."

"Are you any good at that?" he asked urgently. Diane shook her head.

"No. It's been banned in Britain since the reign of Elizabeth I. They don't teach it anymore, and even my father and uncle didn't know much about it." She took a sip of water and continued, "They taught me as much as they could, but necromancy wasn't an option."

"Well, what do you know about it? We can always just use that, savvy?"

"Just the Patronus Charm--the thing that I sent at those dementors." At his confused expression, she elaborated, "Those things at the end of the tunnel...the ones that made it go all cold and icy--"

"And you felt as though you'd never be cheerful again..." said Jack quietly, his voice trailing off at the end. A haunted look came into his eyes and despite herself, Diane was rather curious. What memories could this pirate have that would haunt him that badly? She rubbed her temples in frustration at her lack of ability to cope with this.

"You got any spellbooks in that little library?" she asked out of sheer desperation. She didn't think for one minute that he'd have anything in there worth reading now. He started to shake his head, then paused. "What? Don't tell me you do have spellbooks?"

"I thought you were the wizard. Isn't there always the possibility that there's books of yours in disguise down there?" he retorted with a little of his usual good humor. "But I think you need some rest before we head down there."

Diane furiously shook her head, making the wound throb harder than ever. She stopped herself and said, "It's not as though looking through a few dozen books is hard physical labor."

Jack chuckled slightly and helped her up out of bed. She was still unsteady on her feet and was forced to let him half-support, half-carry her out of the room. As soon as the door had closed behind them, he heaved a great sigh. "What--" she began, but yelped in surprise and indignation as he picked her up bodily and carried her down corridor.

"Sorry, Miss, but it's easier on me shoulder this way," he said with a devilish grin. She scowled after getting over the initial shock but didn't struggle. Just before they reached the door, he gently set her on her feet and bowed her gallantly into the room. Despite everything, she had to giggle slightly as he took her hand and pressed it to his lips.

"Stop acting like an idiot," she said, but couldn't help laughing at his antics. She sat down and he started moving all the books from the shelves, unceremoniously flinging them off of the shelves. Diane winced as several rather valuable books were tossed around. "Easy on the books."

"Yes, Milady," he said, and he immediately began removing them with ridiculously great care. She laughed even harder and pushed him over as he sat down next to her. "What was that for?" he asked indignantly.

"Being Captain Jack Sparrow." He took a mock-bow and handed a stack of books to her. She pulled out her wand and tapped a few of them. Nothing happened. She bit her lip and said the same spell that she'd used in the cave. Still nothing.

"Well, I guess that's that." Jack started to stand up, but Diane grabbed his arm.

"What makes you think that that's all? These things could have cloaking spells on them." She then paused and said, "Wait...I forgot. You can't read."

"No need to rub it in."

"You can go explain to your crew, if you like. I'm going to try to see if there's anything in disguise in here." She grabbed the nearest book and started paging through it.

"I'll stay here...keep you company," he replied vaguely, and he pulled over a bundle of blankets for them to sit one. He wrapped a few around her shoulders and pulled her a little closer. Mentally, she squirmed a bit at being so close to him, but she said nothing. With an immense force of will, she forced herself to focus on the books.

An hour later, she'd gone through almost all of the books with every single spell for revealing that she knew. A small book in the far corner of the room caught her eye. Jack had fallen asleep, so she carefully moved herself out of his grip and headed over, using the wall for support. When she picked up the little book, she recognized it immediately. It was the blank diary that she'd thrown here in a fit of temper...it seemed like a lifetime since they'd briefly docked in Tortuga. She sat down and tapped the book. Still nothing, but something was distinctly odd about the book, something that she hadn't noticed before.

The cover wasn't made of leather, like she'd thought it to be, but some other kind of animal skin, almost like dark suede. The pages themselves weren't Muggle processed paper, nor were they parchment. They were made of papyrus paper--Egyptian paper, and the binding was of a sort that was totally alien to her. Diane cautiously tapped the paper with her wand again. "Aparecium!"

Still nothing, and the book didn't respond to any of the other revealing charms she knew. Suddenly, she was struck with an odd idea, one that just seemed to pop out of nowhere. She tapped the cover of the book, saying, "Alohomora!"

As her wand touched the cover of the book, it started to glow. She hastily put it down as the pages grew hotter and hotter under her fingers. It glowed brighter and brighter, to the point where she backed away and had to cover her half-blinded eyes. The light from the book turned into a sickly blood-red, then an utter darkness fell over the room for a split second before everything returned to normal...almost everything. Diane opened her eyes and stared at the book. It was still gently pulsing red. Her wand was lying on top of the book and she stayed frozen, watching it pulse until the light slowly died away.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and stifled a yelp. But it was only Jack--he'd woken up at the flash of red light and was looking at the little book with a curious expression. "Looks like you've found something." He reached out a hand for it, but she stopped him with a hand.

"Are you out of your mind? Not to say that you aren't usually, but that book could be dangerous!"

"Never know till you try, Diane," he said in an annoying superior tone of voice. He ducked around her and reached out for the book. But the moment his fingers touched the cover, he pulled his hand back and swore a round oath. "Damn thing burned me!" His fingertips were already red and starting to blister. Diane grabbed her wand, careful not to touch the book, and shot a stream of cool water over the hand. Jack sighed in relief and gave her a grateful smile.

"And now, we know," she said wryly. "That book apparently doesn't like Muggles, if anyone." She poked it cautiously with her wand and it glowed blood-red for a brief moment before becoming its usual black. But now that she noticed, the black of the cover of the little book didn't seem to be like black dye. It was an all-absorbing, all-consuming black that seemed to swallow whatever light hit it. "Lumos," she whispered, holding the wandlight above the book. Sure enough, it didn't illuminate the book. It stayed as dark as ever, almost as though a piece of night had been sewn onto the cover. She put out the wandlight and shot a spark at it. Again, it swallowed the spark.

"Maybe we should just leave it be," said Jack warily. Diane rolled her eyes and gently pushed him in the shoulder.

"That's what I was telling you, Captain Jack Sparrow." He scowled briefly--then put an arm around her in a quick one-armed hug. She flinched a bit and he gave her his trademark lopsided grin.

"Why are you so skittish?" he asked. She gave him a cold stare. Who was he to ask her stuff like that?

"Why does that matter?" she said icily. "That's none of your concern."

"Ah, but it is my concern, love," he said, and he touched her shoulder. She couldn't repress the instinct and flinched again. "Why so cold, eh?"

"And why is it any of your concern?" she asked in a chilling tone of voice, all affection and levity gone from her expression.

"Well, like I said when you first came on board. We're going to be stuck with one another for quite some time. Now with nutter boy on the loose, I'd have a lot more peace of mind if I knew that you wouldn't curse me whenever I pull you out of some sticky situation." He grinned again and tousled her hair. Diane forced herself to remain still, even though she was longing to push him away. "Still tense," he said as he played with a few stray locks of her coppery hair. "Looks as if Daddy wasn't around much at home."

"Alright, so maybe my father was a hard man, and maybe he didn't give a damn about me," she retorted with a glare. "But what he taught me has saved my skin more than once while I've been aboard this ship. So don't dare to criticize my father."

"When's he saved your skin?" asked Jack vaguely, still playing with her hair. "I recall you calling him a bloody bastard on more than one occasion." She shoved him away and stared him in the eyes.

"Answer me this, honestly. Had you not known that I could curse you and your crew, would you still have treated me with the same courtesy? Had I been just an ordinary girl, would you have taken my initial offer?" When he didn't reply, she added, "I owe all that to my father. I don't love him, I think he's a snotty bastard, but I owe him my life. I owe him all of my magic, all of my training, everything that's saved my skin."

"You also owe him your mistrust of people," said Jack quietly. Diane crossed her arms and stared incredulously at him.

"Look who's talking. I learned early on that people had to earn my trust. And I never had to take a fall to learn my lesson." Jack paled slightly at the reference to Barbossa's mutiny, but he didn't say anything about it. She returned to her examining of the little book, poking it with her wand, occasionally poking it with other objects. Funnily enough, it only glowed when it was prodded with the wand. When she poked it with the tip of a stick, it scorched the tip of the stick, just like it had burned Jack's fingers.

Finally, after a long period of silence from both of them, Jack spoke, as though he were forcing himself to talk before he felt like an idiot. "Have I earned your trust?" She looked up from the book and looked at him as though for the first time. He paled under her intense stare and added, "Be honest."

Diane, for the first time, looked carefully at this man. Did she trust him? If she were to hand him her wand right now, could she trust him not to break it? For the first time in her life, she found herself feeling something other than anger, amusement, or indifference toward a fellow human being. She bit her lip and really looked at him carefully. Yes, he was a pirate, but he had treated her better than she had any right to be treated. She had saved his life for no reason whatsoever, and he had returned the favor.

"I...I really..." She couldn't bring herself to say the words in her head. Something of her inner turmoil must've shown, because Jack sighed and raised his hands in a pacifying gesture.

"You don't have to answer that, you know. I haven't answered all your questions either."

"Right," she said awkwardly. "Can we get back to the problem at hand?"

"Of nutter boy and that book? Sure can," he said lightly. "Actually, I've been wondering something. You said that nutter boy looked through the surface of the Pensee, right?"

"It's called a Pensieve, and yes."

"Then isn't there a possibility that he can use charmed stuff to work for him? I mean, you said that the actual nutter saw through the surface." Diane thought for a minute, then a memory hit her. She swore an impressive string of profanity as she picked up her wand and tried to stand up. "What's up?" asked Jack, looking at her with some concern.

"Damn! Dammit! This whole ship is rigged with spells! Identification Spells, Impervious Charms, everything!" She started to try heading for the door, but was still rather unsteady on her feet. She overbalanced and Jack caught her around the waist.

"Easy, love," he said soothingly. She scowled at him, but he didn't let go of her. "You can't even walk, let alone undo all those spells." He pulled her into a sitting position next to him. "You are a little highly strung."

"Shut up," she said, but there was no anger in her voice. He grinned and tousled her now-messy hair. She poked him in the side and he squirmed a little. A grin spread across her face. "Don't tell me the great Captain Jack Sparrow is ticklish?"

"Whatever gave you that idea?" said Jack hastily, letting go of her immediately. She laughed and poked him a few more times. When he squirmed away from her, she laughed even harder and started tickling him. Before he knew it, he was on the floor, squirming as her fingers dug into his sides, gasping for breath. "I--please--stop!"

"What was that? I couldn't understand you," said Diane teasingly. She tickled him furiously for another thirty seconds before both of them finally collapsed next to each other, laughing and gasping for breath.

"I give up. You win. Do as you will," he groaned, still struggling to breathe. She laughed and rolled her eyes at him.

"Not so skittish now, am I?" she asked. Something very odd sparked in his eyes. Jack suddenly reached out toward her and pulled her into his arms. Her first instinct was to flinch and push him away, but that was almost immediately drowned by a rush of warmth. Her cheeks flushed and she squirmed a little, but she didn't try to break out of his grip. He was so close that she could feel his breathing before she heard it, so close that she could smell that somewhat spicy scent from his flesh. He gently brushed her hair away from her face, and she felt his fingers touch her skin as though they were burning into her.

"So? Do you trust me now?" he asked, looking dead serious for once.

"You've earned it," Diane replied. He smiled, but his eyes were still serious. He gently hugged her, but she didn't fight it. She tensed for a few seconds, then relaxed as he let go of her. "Now," she said, trying to retain some dignity, "let's try to figure out that book."