A/N: Just to let you all know, the reason the pirates don’t sound “pirate like” is because I’m trying to make Charity and the others sound like every other person so I can show that pirates were real people too. Thanks for the reviews everyone!

Chapter 7

Jarken’s Secret

Charity walked out into the woods for some alone time. Her mind was filled with all sorts of ideas about what Jarken wanted to tell her. Her first idea was that he knew something about where her parents were from, which seemed to be the most ideal reason. Maybe he knew who her real parents were. Just maybe, this time tomorrow, she might know who she truly is.

All of her life, Charity had always imagined who her parents. When she was little, she imagined them as pirates, as she was, who were famous swordsmen and owned the fastest ship of the seven seas. Then, when she got older and realized that her fantasies weren’t true, she imagined them as pirates still, but they were more like Silver, comforting and reliable. Now, she just didn’t know what to think.

The sun began to set over the sea’s horizon. She sat on a log right next to the beach line and watched the sky turn from light blue, to gold, to pink, and finally to a deep blue. The sunset had always been her favorite thing in the world to see. Just staring at the sky’s art display made her feel relaxed and, well, like a normal teenage girl.

The stars began to appear out of the dark blue blanket in the sky. Charity figured that it was about time to go back to Jake’s cabin. Silver would probably think she got herself in more trouble if she didn’t come back soon. So, with a questioning heart and mind, Charity picked herself up and walked back to the cabin.

She slipped silently into the dark cabin. Except for a few squeaky boards, she was unheard by anything or anyone. Charity climbed into her room with Silver, Goldwin, Goldrin and Calico. Taking the blanket next to Silver’s, she curled up into a semi ball and shut her eyes, too tired to think anymore.

“Wake up, Charity!”

Charity moaned and turned over on the floor. Silver was nudging her with his foot while pulling his tan vest on over his torn, dirty white over shirt.

“C’mon Charity, we’re going to be late for your meeting with Jarken!”

This woke her up more than anything else. She sat up so fast that she got a head rush. As soon as the room stopped spinning in front of her, she jumped to her feet to get her over coat and cravat.

“Jake, can you stay here and watch over Toper while we go back to the ship?” She asked him while tying her cravat around her neck. “We should be back by tonight at the latest.”

He nodded sleepily and walked back to his room to sleep. She shook her head at his exhaustion and went with the rest of her companions to Toper’s room.

“Say hi to Jarken for me, alright?” Toper said with a slight smile.

“Sure.” Charity said back. She gave Toper a quick hand squeeze and walked out of the room with the others.

After a ten minute walk to the shore and a quick boat ride out to the Revenge, they climbed onto the ships deck and after greeting the rest of the crew, Charity and Silver walked slowly down to Jarken’s quarters.

“Come in.” Jarken called after Silver had rapped on the door.

The pair walked into the room to sit in front of Jarken’s gold strewn desk. Covering his wall were pictures of random Kings and Tyrants that they had stolen from passing ships before. The floor was covered with pieces of parchment and a bit of water from a small leak in the far corner. Charity and Silver sat down on the tall chairs in front of Jarken and looked at him expectantly.

“Well, Charity,” Jarken said heavily, and to Charity, suddenly looked very old, “We’ve known you for fifteen years now. And to me, fifteen years seems like a very short time. But eventually, you would have to know.”

Charity leaned forward a bit, still staring expectantly at the captain.

“Anyways, I knew from the moment we found you who you were and what you were to become, for that tattoo on your shoulder is quite familiar to me. For you see, I knew your father, oh yes. I knew him very well indeed. For you see, before I was the captain of the Revenge, I was the right hand man to the captain of Queen Anne’s Revenge which your father was captain of. We worked extremely well, we did. I was like his advisor, believe it or not. However, it became time for me to own my own ship and crew, which is how I ended up with the Revenge. Your father and I still worked together often, but we grew distant from each other over the years apart.

“One day, after I had gotten my own crew, I heard of a ship wreck off of the coast of Golden Cavern.”

“Wait,” interrupted Silver, comprehension dawning on his handsome face, “that’s the same cavern that we found Charity on!”

“Yes, it is. However, once I heard of the ship wreck, I headed directly to the cavern, only finding it by accident thanks to Silver here.

“Once we set out looking for Charity’s cry that we had heard, I heard a separate noise. There was a moan coming from a dark cave ahead of me. I told the rest of the crew to continue looking for the cry while I went to explore the second noise. The moan had come from Charity’s father. He had been slashed across the chest and was lying, almost dead. He recognized me and we tried to talk, but as I said, he was practically dead. So, I asked him if he knew what the sound was that we had heard in the cavern. He told me it was his daughter, who had been taken from him after the ship wreck to die in the caves. He asked me to try and find her, for she would have a great future. Then he told me to look at her left shoulder, he said I would know what it meant. Then, he died.

“Of course, he was right. When I looked on your small shoulder, I found the tattoo that he had described. And as he had said, the tattoo marked your future to be a great and powerful one.”

“What does my tattoo mean?” she asked, rubbing her shoulder where the mark was.

“The skull and cross bones stand for a battle, a vicious one at that. However, the coins stand for luck and light in the darkness. These are never combined unless there is an important purpose for doing so. Its purpose has not yet been revealed but I feel that it might be soon enough.”

Charity and Silver thought about this for a minute. Then, Charity asked the question that had been burning within her for the entire talk.

“Captain, who was my father?”

Jarken looked across at Charity with his strong silver eyes before answering in a low voice.

“Charity, your father, was Blackbeard.”