Chapter 2: Buried Dreams

"Pssst. Bobby, wake up!" came the whisper.

The young boy moaned, pulled his blankets over his head and turned toward the wall, his back to his little sister.

"Pssst. Bobby! I wanna read the story!" Kate whispered louder.

"Go away! I'm beat!" he said, tossing a soft toy at her.

She tossed it right back, then jumped on the bed, her nightgown flying about her ankles.

"I wanna read the story! I wanna read the story!"

She's been laying wide-eyed in bed for hours, unable to get the image of the pirate women out of her mind.

"Shut up, you'll wake grandma!" he ordered, sitting up and rubbing the sleepy seeds out of his eyes.

Kate sat down.

"But I wanna read the story!" she said, pouting and looking about ready to cry.

"Okay, okay. Where's the box?"

Kate pulled the tin box containing the journal out from under her bed and brought it to him. He opened the lid, turned his small oil lamp to illuminate the pages, and started to read....
__________

A deathly wailing flooded the ship.

"What in the world...." Ursula jumped out of bed and threw on her pants and tunic. Barefoot, she scampered to the deck, with Miguel close on her heels. "What's going on here?" Ursula demanded to know. She found Emerald sitting in the middle of the deck, screaming like a banshee, and Roberto sitting cross-legged in front of her, holding her hands and trying to calm her.

As Ursula charged the two, Luis stepped out of nowhere, sword in hand, and blocked her path.

"What are you doing?" Ursula yelled. "Rosetta! Stone! Telamarine!" She yelled for help, but no one came. Instead, her pirates gathered quietly around the deck and waited, their eyes on Roberto and Emerald. Ursula tried to push ahead, but Miguel grabbed her arms from behind her and held onto her.

"Wait," he whispered in her ear, pressing her back to his chest. "It'll be all right. Just wait."

She turned on him.

"You? You're in on this?"

"No, I...."

She went to slap him, but he seized her arm and held onto it.

"Just wait," he said, again.

She realized there wasn't anything else she could do, so she turned and watched Roberto. That's when she noticed the ship was moving, as the dark form of La Beltranista slipped out of sight. Slowly, Emerald's cries became softer and less frequent. Her soft blue eyes opened to see Roberto sitting across from her, soft words of comfort coming from his lips. She feasted her eyes on him.

"Take it easy. It's going to be all right. You can do it. You can get us out of here," he was saying.

She nodded weakly, understanding.

"Tell us which way -- which way is the quietest," he instructed.

Emerald stood up slowly, with his help, and turned her body in a circle, as if checking the wind, her eyes closed. Then she raised an arm and pointed.

"That way," she said. "There is the quiet."

"Good girl," Roberto said. He caught her as she collapsed, and he gently lowered her to the deck.

At least a dozen times the scenario repeated itself. Each time, Emerald would wake up in pain, face her fears, and point to a
'quiet' direction. Slowly, the schooner followed where she directed, until the winds picked up and the sea began to roil.

"Storm!" yelled Rosetta, from her crow's nest.

"All hands make ready!" Ursula yelled.

"My ship!" Roberto suddenly yelled, jumping up and running to the rail, his eyes wild. "No! No! My ship! I can't leave her here. I can't leave my men!"

"What men?" Jannie asked.

"The dying ones," Oliver said softly, batting his eyelids against unexpected tears.

Suddenly, without warning, Roberto dove over the side of the ship and attempted to swim in the direction of the now invisible galleon. Oliver would have joined him if Rusty hadn't held him back. Baby Smile screamed and clung to her nanny.

"Stop him!" Ursula ordered, without thinking how that could be accomplished, and Jannie dove in after him. As the two disappeared out of sight in the angry sea, the combined crew of the Orb Nymph held its breath and hung on for dear life.

After hours of thrashing and moaning, like a woman hard set on labor, forces in the bubble pushed and shoved them until the ship began to shake, its masts fell, its deck groaned, and its sides were suddenly split open as it crashed in thick fog upon unseen rocks. The mariners clung to life, their last thoughts on Roberto and Jannie. The only one at peace was Emerald, who had finally found silence from the ghostly voices.

When the fog cleared, they found the schooner shattered in a hundred pieces, their stores strewn about a barren and sandy beach, and themselves alive and in one piece. No one spoke, least of all Luis, who stared out at the sea with longing, pain-filled eyes.

"If they made it to the ship, they'll be there waiting for us," Rosalita said, trying to comfort him.

"And if he didn't?" he asked.

She didn't answer.

"Captain Luis?" It was Oliver, the cabin boy. He was shaking with being cold and wet, but was otherwise stalwart. "What should we do?" he asked.

Luis sighed and looked up at the sky. The sun was high.

"Break the group into teams. Some should build a large structure for tonight, for shelter. Others need to look for food and fresh water. A third group should salvage what they can from the ship and the beach. Then we need a fire to dry our things." His mind was working on the immediate problems of survival, but his eyes returned to the sea. "Aye, aye, captain," said the boy, his voice heavy with sadness. Neither spoke about Roberto. Then Oliver left to perform his assigned tasks.

Rosalita gave Luis a reassuring hug before joining her shipmates.

In the meantime, Ursula was having her own problems.

"We need to find food," she said, "and round up our stores."

No one in her crew moved. They were standing around her, staring her down, fingering their weapons. In the middle were Eva and Baby Smile.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Ursula yelled.

"Sorry, Captain, but I think we've taken one too many orders from you," said Stone, glancing at Eva for support and stepping forward.

"Yeah," said Telamarine. "You ordered us into limbo, all because you had a score to settle. And then you ordered Jannie to her death!"

"I didn't think she'd jump into the ocean!" Ursula retorted.

"That's the problem, you don't think," snapped Wickeddoll. "We need someone who will think to lead us, someone who will think about our needs instead of her own. Someone like Rosetta!"

All eyes turned to the first mate, who'd been hiding in the back, trying to go unnoticed.

"Hey! I didn't ask for the job!" Rosetta countered.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, then Ursula sighed. She felt a great weight lift from her shoulders. She resented what they were doing, but she also wanted to be done with it all, to no longer be responsible for everyone's life and limb.

"You're right," she said, feeling fatigue seeping into her bones. "Rosetta, I surrender command to you."

With that, Ursula ambled away, defeated and exhausted. Miguel followed her.

"Geez, that was easy," said Stone. "Now, what?"

Rosetta glared at Wickeddoll.

"Hey, like I said, it wasn't my idea!" said Rosetta. "Now what do we do?"

"We talk to the men, for starters. Why work at cross purposes? We combine our efforts," Wickeddoll said.

"Good idea. Let's do that," Rosetta answered, and the women headed across the beach to Luis. In route, however, they were intercepted by
Oliver and Rosalita.

"Leave him alone," Oliver ordered, pulling his knife and blocking the path.

"Look, we need to combine our resources and figure out what we're doing," Wickeddoll explained. "We just need to talk to him."

Oliver nodded but still wouldn't let them pass. Instead, he gave her Capt. Luis' instructions. Then the group headed off to join the
men and prepare for the night, leaving Luis sitting alone on the beach, his head buried in his hands and a sense of loss and guilt weighing
heavy on his shoulders. It was the psychic Emerald who picked up on the depth of his grief. Whatever he saw in his head, whatever memories and feelings Luis had for Roberto, Emerald saw and felt the same, and she felt the agony of his loss combine with her grief over losing Jannie. But something in her heart told her they were alive.

When Oliver wasn't looking, Emerald slipped up to Luis and sat down beside him. Taking his hand in hers, she said, "They're all right. I know it. Trust me." He didn't respond.
__________

Roberto awoke to cold lips against his and the taste of salt air being forced into his lungs. He coughed and doubled over as water spewed out of his lungs. Wiping his face and looking up, he saw such a vision that he was convinced he was either dead or hallucinating.

There, seated on the sandy beach next to him, was an ethereal creature of extraordinary beauty. She was a woman, and yet
something else. Her skin was soft and smooth and the golden color of a summer sunset. Her hair was thick, wild, jade green and fell discreetly over her unclad body. Her eyes, barely slits, were white on a blue background. And something else. Roberto slowly reached up and gently brushed back part of her hair. There, on her neck beneath the tresses, gills fluttered as they breathed. Roberto's heart stopped.

Suddenly afraid, he jumped up and backed away, seeing, for the first time, that from the waist down she was made up of sleek and shiny iridescent scales and fins. As she smiled up at him, he continued to back off, until he tripped over Jannie's unconscious body and fell into the sand next to her. He didn't know if he was still dreaming or not, but he knew he had to save the pirate.

Knelling over Jannie's body, he glanced up at the mermaid and saw her making a strange face, as if trying to communicate. He remembered
something he'd heard as a child -- mermaids can't speak. He nodded and motioned for her to continue. Then he realized what she was trying to do. She wanted him to breathe air into Jannie's lungs the way the mermaid had breathed air into his. He nodded.

Roberto rolled Jannie onto her back and brushed the beach sand from her face. He took a deep breath, sealed her lips with his, and blew.

Jannie awoke to warm lips against hers and the taste of sweet air being forced into her lungs. Without thinking, she reached
up, wrapped her arms around Roberto's neck and turned the breath of life into a long, deep kiss. When he finally pulled away, they were both blushing. Then he remembered the mermaid. He looked for her, but she was gone, and he was left to wonder if she had been real or a figment of his imagination.

"Where are we?" Jannie asked, sitting up and looking around her. There was nothing and no one to be seen.

Roberto shrugged.

"The others?" Jannie asked.

He shook his head.

"I don't know if they made it or not."

He got up and stretched, brushing sand off of himself.

"Let's see what we can find," he said, taking Jannie by the hand and helping her to her feet.

Together, they wandered down the beach, until they rounded a rock outcropping and came upon the remains of La Beltranista. Roberto's three seamen, the men he had risked his life for, were cast upon the shore, lifeless. Carefully, he rolled them onto their backs and pulled them further inland. Then he sat down in their midst and silently wept.

"What are you doing?" Jannie asked.

"Waiting," he said, wiping the tears from his face. "If they don't rise again tomorrow morning, then I'll know they're free, and we can bury them."

She understood, and as he sat in the late afternoon sun, keeping guard over the bodies, she gathered fruit for them to eat and began a small
fire, in preparation for a chilly damp night. That night, she slept in his arms, comforting him; and in the morning, they buried the men.