Hi lovely people,

This Chapter has been fully edited as of the 21.03.21. 

I thought you might like to know that, when this Chapter was posted back in 2011 - it had reached 'What's Hot #12' - Wattpad's ranking system at the time. This was solely due to the massive amount of fan interaction on the chapters, so thankyou once again for your support <3

As always, my editing of APK is a work in progress, so sorry to first time readers who may notice a sight difference in writing style. 

Love Always,
Daisy

_______________

Chapter 5 | Gold

*

'The pain will leave,
once it has finished
t e a c h i n g
you.'

- unknown

*

CIRCE

The sound of a single gun shot woke me from slumber and I started upwards with a jolt, staring wildly around the room as I drew the covers towards my chest.

For a moment confusion clouded my mind, making my thoughts slow and dull. Where was I?

Although the bed was soft, and plush - a thin veil drawn around it, obscuring my view of the room beyond, it was certainly not my own bed.

My heart skipped a beat as a thought occurred to me and I reached up quickly, relaxing when my fingers found a slim chain. I tugged it forwards, letting my mother's pendant slip free. For a moment I stared in a daze, at the subtly glowing gemstone, it's soft light strangely soothing.

Suddenly, my thoughts caught up and I gripped the pendant tightly, my jaw clenching in horror as I remembered the occurrences from last night.

My first thoughts were not pleasant ones, and I gingerly checked myself over - fearful of what I might potentially find. However, aside from my rising embarrassment when I realized that I had been stripped down to my undergarments, I seemed to be otherwise unharmed.

The violent bang of a gunshot suddenly permeated the air, ringing into my eardrums and immobilizing my limbs. I sucked in an inward breath, freezing in place with my eyes fixed on the door.

"I thought I told you, no cannons!"

Another gun shot echoed outside and with it came the remainder of my memories. The roar of cannons echoing over the harbor, the look on my Father's face as I was dragged into the darkness, and then the words from two years back.

'I'll steal the rest of you later . . .'

I touched a hand to my lips, eyes still fixed on the the door.

"Impossible," I breathed. But my very presence here spoke of that same possibility. Was I a fool for hoping that he had forgotten? No. There was nothing wrong with praying for your own safety. However, while I wasn't a fool for hoping, I was a fool for believing, he had forgotten. I should have known better.

Outside, the speaker continued to voice his anger, his furious voice travelling closer and closer, until I sensed he was right outside of the door. My eyes landed on the door handle, waiting for it to turn.

"Get him out of my sight before I do something I'll regret! As for the rest of you, remind me why I keep you around. Did I hire you to stand there and ogle, or did I hire you to run this goddamn ship?!"

"No Captain!"

"Apologies Captain!"

And then a voice above the rest, one that sounded strangely familiar and slightly less flustered than the rest. "Orders Captain? What are your orders."

"What do you think," the first voice snapped irately, "lower the sails. Full speed ahead! We are heading for Savannah." The door handle shook slightly as whoever was on the other-side rested their weight on it and I felt myself begin to shake in reply.

Clutching the sheet to my chest, I pressed a hand over my heart in an effort to calm down, but all I could see was the door handle. It crept lower and lower, and any moment now it was going to swing open and I would be revealed to whoever was on the other side. And no matter how I prepared myself, the thought was terrifying.

"Bones, come here for a second."

"What the fuck is it now?!" Suddenly the door handle sprang back up as the weight on the other side was lifted and I heard heavy boots stomp away over the deck.

My heart beat was thunderous and I could hear the blood rushing through my ears as I swallowed, my throat uncomfortably dry. For some reason, my thoughts only now seemed to catch up with the conversation I had just over head and only now could I seem to feel the rocking of the waves beneath me.

A ship. I'm on a ship.

Well there went my escape plan.

I let rip with a few of Nathaniel's choice cuss words. "Of course you're on a ship!" I whispered furiously, swinging my legs out of the bed, "You've been kidnapped by pirates!"

I shook my hands out, trying to get rid of the tremors. When that didn't work, I chose to stubbornly ignore them instead. It was all in the mindset. I could do this. I could figure it out. Everything was going to be fine.

I repeated these words, like a mantra inside my head, and gradually managed to gather some courage.

"Right," I said quietly, setting my feet down on the cool wooden floor, "first things first Circe. Where are the rest of your clothes?"

Gingerly, I pulled aside the veil that had been half obscuring my vision, and observed the rest of the room. I was alone, as I had suspected, but a sigh of relief escaped my lips anyway.

I quickly located my clothes, slung over a high backed chair by the table, my shoes tucked neatly underneath. Noticing my corset laid on the top of my dress, my eyes widened in realization. The note that Father had given me! I had tucked it into my bodice and if my corset was over there . . .

I patted over my body with increasing panic when - thank God - my fingers made contact with a small square that was wedged between the bottom of my singlet and my pantyhose.

Untucking myself, I slid out the folded envelope, now slightly worse for wear and smoothed it between my fingers, feeling my thumping heart stabilize with the action. Deciding that it was best to keep it on my person, I gave myself a moment before tucking it back into place. The corner of the envelope dug into my skin a little, the annoyance more of a comforting reminder in my current situation.

My eyes drifted around the room as I hurriedly tucked myself back in and prepared to leave the false sense of safety I had begun to feel from being concealed beneath the light mesh that surrounded the bed.

Surprisingly, bookshelves lined a lot of the walls, each shelf with a lip to prevent the books from falling out and a thin golden chain running across the center of them, no doubt to do the same thing. In all of my daydreams, I had never once imagined the creatures that my Father hated so passionately to be learned beings.

My gaze landed on the heavy wooden table in the center of the room, its surface scattered with a curling map and an assortment of metal instruments that glinted coldly in the dim light emanating from the round portholes on the far wall. I supposed that in order to navigate, some literary understanding was required.

On second thought, this did seem like the Captain's quarters, surely the rest of the crew were not treated to such finery. It would make sense then, that the Captain was more educated than the rest.

I had never seen a pirate Captain swing at my Father's gallows. Although my Father had caught many pirates, he maintained that Captains were the most elusive, and very rarely were whole crews brought in. It was mostly stragglers, or those who had miss-stepped, inadvertently handing themselves up.

I took a deep breath and was just rising up from the bed to head towards the chair where my dress lay when suddenly the door banged open, rebounding off the wall and slamming closed again.

In one quick movement I yanked the veil back in place, quickly scurrying over to the far side of the bed as the door was thrown open for a second time. There was a pause, and then:

"HOBBS!"

I pressed myself back against the wall, wishing that there was somewhere for me to run. A howling gale had rushed into the cabin when the door had opened, tossing around the thin material that hid my bed from view. I shivered and pulled one of the blankets back over myself as footsteps sounded and a second voice joining the first.

"What be the problem Captain?"

"Why is there a dress in my room?

The second voice was patronizing. "Bones, why don't you sit down and I'll get the cook ta make ya a nice cup of tea-

"I don't want a stinking cup of tea Hobbson! What I want, is for you to tell me WHY there is a whore's dress in my fucking room."

There was a heavy sigh. "Captain, it be girlies dress, from last night, remember? We brought her in, just like ya wanted."

The voice turned pondering. "A girl?"

"Aye Captain, the girl we went to get last night, she been asleep in your room all day ... we did tell you Bones."

I was not prepared for the sudden change in mood that these words would illicit. 

"You mean to tell me that there is a prisoner in my bed?" The person sounded as though they were coming unhinged at the mere thought. "Who allowed this? What happened to throwing prisoners into the brig to rot in hell! Instead you think it acceptable to give them the Captain's quarters? Why, because she's a woman?! You're all soft, you hear me? You're all fucking USELESS SACKS OF SHIT. WHERE is my SWORD? I'll fucking shank the lot of you!" 

I slapped a hand over my mouth to stifle my scream as something fell onto the floor with a deafening bang, shaking the bedframe beneath me. The sound of smashing glass had me hiding under the blankets and I felt something hit the veil around the bed before dropping harmlessly to floor. Unable to help myself, I peeped back over the edge of the covers, my hands shaking with fright. 

In the room beyond the veil, the open door allowed a thin stream of light to enter the room, illuminating a bookshelf that had fallen to the floor, it's contents spilling from it's broken shelves, like the innards of a dead animal. 

In the center of the room stood a man, shrouded in shadow. His hands were clenched into hard fists by his sides, his face hidden under the brim of a hat. The billowing cloak that clung to his shoulders, floated around his feet as he stormed across the room and I watched with a sort of fascinated horror as he picked up a discarded glass from the table and threw it towards the door. 

Whoever was standing outside managed to snag the door handle just in time, and closed the door briefly to defend against the flying glass. The glass exploded on impact with the wood, and the door opened slowly once more. 

"Bones, would ya just calm down for a second?" 

"Calm down?" The man who dominated the room beyond seemed even more infuriated by the suggested. "Telling me to calm down?! Who do you think I am!"

Abruptly several more figures burst into the room as though alerted by some invisible signal, and rushed towards the man in the center. A shorter figure appeared to join them, shouting orders and I recognized him as the second voice that had been speaking just beyond the door.

"You know the drill Samson, get them to hold him down. It'll pass soon enough."

The group surrounded the now wildly thrashing person in the center, latching onto his arms and restraining him as he tried to lash out at the short man. Slowly, they forced him back onto the high backed chair and he fought them the entire way, a stream of profanities escaping his mouth. Something glinted at his neckline, catching the dim light from outside, but I was more interested in watching as my clothes - still sitting on the back of the chair - were unfortunately strapped down onto the chair with the wildly struggling man. 

"Get your filthy hands off me!" He roared out, his voice sounded rather inhumane, "Just you wait till I get a hold of you Hobbs, I'll teach you a lesson you'll never fucking forget." 

"Bones! BONES!! Look at me. Look at me," the shorter man roared, struggling to be heard above the yelling as he yanked the snarling figures head back by his hair. The shorter man was eye level as he leaned forward, ignoring the teeth that were bared in his face. 

"I am looking you filthy piece of shit."

The short man ignored this jab, his voice calm. "Bones. It's me. It's alright, it's me. Calm down and come back to us. You are not your Father. This body is not his - it's yours, you hear me? You need to take that thing off, just for a bit. Just take it off." 

I watched as the short man - Hobbs, continued with this line of speech for some time, his words smooth and persuasive. Strangely, it seemed to be working, and gradually the figure in the chair relaxed, slumping back into the deep backrest, his head drooping forward lethargically. 

There was a moment of silence, and then the man called Hobbs let out a quiet sigh. Reaching forward, he appeared to lift something from around the man's neck, and when the chain caught the light, I realized that it was a necklace. I couldn't see it for too long before Hobbs appeared to stuff it into the unconscious man's shirt pocket, hiding it from view. 

The action seemed to signal the end of the ordeal and I heard everyone release a collective sigh of relief. Hobbs straightened, his words taunt and curt. 

"Right men, back to work, you don't want ta be seen idling when he wakes up. Trust me. Jacob, dump Dodger's body over board and then go and do a stock take. Who knows how many blasted cannonballs that idiot used before he carked it. Samson, take the helm and set a course for the nearest friendly port, I think it's Savannah. With the amount of fits he's been throwing lately, we be getting low on crew members as well." He said, jerking his head back towards the sleeping figure in the chair. "We will be lookin' for the gullible easy to dispose of ones."

The man called Samson chuckled deeply. "Aye-aye Hobbs, come ta think o' it, I think we are almost out of liquor as well."

The shorter man laughed. "I wouldn't be the least bit surprised" he said ruefully running a hand through his hair as Samson and the rest of the men in the cabin walked out of the room. I heard a deep voice call orders and the ship swayed slightly as it changed course.

There was silence in the room and my eyes remained fixed on the figure of Hobbs, who had not moved since the other pirates had exited the room. I felt as though my heart was beating loud enough to reach the ears of the person on the other-side of the room, and sure enough, just when I thought he might leave, he turned towards me instead, staring at me through the darkness. 

"I know you're awake, Dear."

I gasped and hid under the blanket. 

The voice chuckled and I heard footsteps grow nearer to my bed accompanied by a sound that sounded like a dead body being dragged over gravel. I huddled up in my blankets, trembling in terror. This was the end. He was probably going to tie me to something heavy, like cannonballs, to weigh me down, and then throw me over board. 

The corners of my eyes felt hot with suppressed tears. This was just too much! What had I done to deserve this? Okay so I wasn't particularly nice to my half brothers and sisters, but then again they weren't terribly nice to me, and seeing how there were more of them, I had figured that we were about even!

"You can hide under there fer as long as you want. I won't be going anywhere." 

The blankets were stifling and the small space I had hidden in quickly heated up with my labored breathing. There was no other way. I was going to have to do it. Mustering up my courage, I peeked out from under the blankets. 

"Well, nice of you to join us." 

The face that was abruptly in my personal space was too horrifying for words. In the darkness, their features were barely perceivable, and all I could see was a grizzled face with deep pools of shadow for eyes and a leering, crooked smile that widened upon my appearance.

I screamed. As loud as I could. Part of me noticed that I wasn't really stirring any reaction from the person in front of me, in fact he seemed to look almost annoyed. The other part of me was just happy to go on screaming, which is exactly what I did until a rough hand clapped itself over my mouth. 

The face loomed forwards again, looking oddly familiar and rather pissed off. "Would you shut your trap already? You'll wake up the Captain, and trust me," he said, waving a finger in front of my nose, "that is not something either of us want."

I stared at him for a second, my eyes wide like saucers. And then losing my mind completely, I bit down on the finger he was waving in front of my face. Hard.

"AAARRGH!! YOU LITTLE-

The metallic taste of blood entered my mouth and released the finger in disgust, spitting out onto the bedsheets. The figure in front of me was still howling as he clutched his finger in disbelief, and I wasted no time in pulling my fist back, thumb on the outside -  just like Naddy had taught me - and . . . release.

My fist connected, straight into the center of his face and I squeaked as pain shot through my hand and blood suddenly spurted out of the man nose, making him stumble backwards, clutching at his face.

He yelled again, but this time it sounded more like a roar of fury and taking my chance, I leapt out of the bed and ran, ran for my life.

My numb fingers latched onto the door knob, rattling it helplessly. It was locked - he must have done it when I was busy hiding like an idiot under the covers. 

Behind me, the man - Hobbs - rose from the ground, holding his nose and grunting as he crunched it back into place. He then turned to where I was pressed up against the door, and slowly advanced towards me, his smile stretching back across his face, possibly looking more terrifying than before due to the amount of blood still dripping from his nose onto his shirt. 

I looked desperately around the room for anything I could use as a weapon and my gaze skimmed over the high backed chair that was now empty, before landing on a tall thin cylinder just to the left of the door, that seemed to be used for holding swords.  The tiny part of my brain that wasn't completely terrified took the time to laugh. How convenient.

"Come on Dear," Hobbs was crooning as he carefully edged closer. I realized again how familiar he sounded, but my fear of the current situation had rendered my mind blank and I was unable to think rationally. "Nobody is going to hurt you. So if you would just -" 

In one movement I spun around, grasping one of the handles in the cylinder and drawing out a sword. The silver of the blade glinted in the dim light of the room and my hands shook as I pointed it straight at the man in front of me.

"Don't move," I threatened, the effect ruined somewhat by the tremor in my voice, "or I'll use this, and .. and I'll run you through!" 

Hobbs seemed taken aback for all of one second, before he let out a light chuckle. "Nice try."

Abruptly, my hand that was on the hilt of the sword was covered by another set of fingers, and my own blade was pressed up against my throat. I shrieked as a hand snagged my waist, tugging me back against a firm chest, but a dangerous voice in my ear had my mouth shutting instantly.

"Shut your mouth or I swear I will shut it for you. I have a throbbing headache and now is NOT the time to get on my bad side." 

I swallowed, my hand trembling on the  hilt of the sword as I struggled against the stronger grip, trying to force the cold metal back from where it kissed my throat.

"Well, well, well. You were always the feisty one weren't you, sweetheart?" The harsh voice suddenly lowered, becoming enigmatic as the endearment whispered across the skin of my neck, raising goosebumps in its wake. 

Suddenly I was certain. 

"Your the Pirate, aren't you?" I whispered. "The one who came for me? The one who-

"Kissed you?" The voice said, turning tender and suddenly sounding a lot more familiar. "Didn't I say I would be back for the rest of you later? Did you think I would forget such a taste?"

My eyes stared straight ahead, noticing that the short man was still advancing towards us. "I didn't think you would remember" I whispered softly, scared at the confliction I heard in my voice. The sword around my throat fell away just as the short man stepped into the sliver of moonlight, finally letting me see his face. I gasped.

"Mister Hobbson?"

His face was disgruntled. "Aye, that is my proper name Miss Circe. But most round here simply call me Hobbs."

"But," I stuttered, "you were at the ball, and you were so normal, and you were wearing . . ." I glanced down to his loose fitting clothes that were a lot more casual than the attire I had last seen him in. Hobbs chuckled ruefully. "Aye, it's been a while since I stuffed this here frame into a monkey suit. I must say, it was most uncomfortable, but it was a requirement - or so your Father said."

I stared at him, dumbfounded. My thoughts, his words ... my Father - none of it made any sense. "I don't understand," I found myself saying stupidly, "and if you're here, does that mean he's here too?"

A hand gripped my wrist, spinning me around suddenly to face the person still hidden in shadow behind me. From within the darkness, his eyes appeared, staring down at me thoughtfully, one as silver and luminescent as the moon, the other as golden as the setting sun. 

The eyes moved closer, and gradually the rest of his face was revealed. Dark lashes blinked closed over the godly eyes, his brows pulling together slightly as he raised my hand to inspect a cut on my finger that I hadn't even realized I had gotten. High aristocratic cheekbones defined his full lips, lips that were currently pursed as he wiped my small wound with the edge of his sleeve and tsked lightly. 

I barely noticed his actions however, too absorbed I was, in the familiarity of his features. 

"Cobalt?"

The man in front of me looked up from my finger, to shoot me a wicked smile. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, the door handle rattled and a voice echoed out from the other side. 

"Bones! Bones, unlock the door!" 

Rolling his eyes, the person with Cobalt's face sighed and reached behind him to unlock the door with a click before moving out of the way and pulling me with him. 

As soon as he heard the lock, the person on the other side rushed into the room, staring wildly around before locating me and hurried over to take both of my hands in his own, his expression concerned.

"Circe are you okay? Did he hurt you? Did you hurt her?" He turned, glaring at the man beside me while I merely gaped at him, looking between the two people who were exactly identical in every way. 

The one with the mismatched eyes spoke then, studying me as though he was weighing my reaction. He gestured towards the other man who was still grasping my hands in his own. 

"This right here, is my brother Cobalt."  His smile widened, even though there was nothing friendly about his expression. "My name, beautiful," -he paused, reaching out to snag one of my hands from Cobalt, raising it to his lips in the lightest of kisses as his eyes danced with deadly mirth- "my name is Obsidian Bones."

Too late, I realized that somewhere during the entire exchange, I had forgotten to breathe, and so, much to my chagrin, for the second time in two days I fainted. 

*

Authors Note: This Chapter has been fully edited on the 21.03.21! For re-readers, I hope you are happy with the changes. For first time readers, I had hoped to make the happenings in this Chapter a little more easy to follow, while still retaining the good mysterious bits. 

For those of you still confused, Obsidian and Cobalt are twins, and Obsidian is the Pirate that kissed her two years ago. He has a bit of a split personality situation going on, which will be explained in due time - but explains the outbursts. 

As always, thankyou for reading!
Love Daisy x