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"No questions," Louis replied "The captain’s given his orders"
Burning with curiosity, but knowing he would get no answers from these pirates, Jack set the wine and the plate of cheese and fruit onto the table For several long seconds he studied the roorew restless and seemed about to co what other secrets the Larsen was hiding
The stor the with the theh in the hands of soht, but Jack kneould not see it The moon and stars would be sed
As he cleaned the galley after dinner, Jack was troubled by the amount of food the crew had left in their bowls He had tasted it, as he tasted everything he cooked, and though he had no affection for cabbage, he thought the beef stew had come out quite flavorful You don’t want to see this crew if they’re not fed properly, Ghost had said There had been an uneasy silence in the mess; cal that they had left so one to earlier to put together a ive the seven captives in the hold another s in their bowls
Jack collected the uneaten stew in a large pot, trying to decide how best to fra the deck above hi the rest of the pots and the cooking surface Finn see his tialley three times a day for a month and still not strip all of the filth away Still, it was good to keep busy To keep distracted All day Sabine’s words had been echoing in histhe sky, it would be iht had truly arrived, so he tried his best not to think about it The predictable result was that he could think of nothing else He didn’t like the idea of being locked away, but if Sabine and he were together, it would give him the opportunity to learn more about Ghost and his crew
Every creak of the planks above his head, or rustle beyond the galley door that id orried anticipation The ship rose and fell on the heavy swell, but the roll and pitch did not trouble him He had other concerns
When they came, it ithout stealth or caution Boots trore ducked his massive head to step inside, with Louis behind hilinting smile
"Louis," Jack said with a nod Neither of there in the galley with theht," Louis said, his French accent soh he had a desperate itch he had no wish to scratch where othershis breathing steady, his heart calhed "Not there either Non, non, mon a, you will have other accolowered at hi, not fear of the giant He led the way out of the galley and into the h the mess and directly to the previously forbidden door A certainty gripped Jack He knehere theyhim Not to the locked rooest section of the hold where the food was stored
They would lead him to that first room in the hold, with its iron locks and reinforced frame Jack was startled by the realization that the food he had left in that padlocked room earlier in the day was for himself As he followed Louis into the belly of the ship, with Ogre looan to race He breathed evenly to steady hi to use as a weapon, afraid that if they locked hiet out alive And what of Sabine?
"What’s this about, Louis?" he asked The littleshadows of the hold Ogre carried a la their silhouettes into strangely s
"Survival, Jack"
"I don’t understand"
Louis’s breathing had beco with him
"No more questions, Jack Pause for answers, and you’ll be dead It’s twilight now"
Louis trailed off with a soft grunt He drew in a long breath and stood up straighter Behind Jack, Ogre had also begun to breathe strangely, but now another sound cah
"It’s the locks on the inside that really ed the door outward, light washing into the corridor frohtness, blinded for a ht, he could only blink in surprise
Sabine waited inside, seated on a tiny love seat, her hands clasped before her in worry She looked up sharply, her eyes glistening, and when she saw Jack, she leaped to her feet and rushed toward him
"Stay there, woman!" Louis barked, and Sabine drew up short, terror in her eyes
The bottle of wine and the plate of fruit and cheese Jack had retrieved only hours earlier froed on the table where he had left theh it was
"Louis?" Jack said, turning toward the re clubbed hi hian to rise, but the heavy door sla as they were secured
"Sabine," Jack said, staring at her pale face "What is this? What do they plan to do with us?"
Sabine ca their door from the inside with bolts, clasps, and padlocks--it was now locked both from within and from without Then she resuaze Long h he proh she had shut him out completely, traveled elsewhere within the infinite real scratched at the door Jack stiffened and held his breath He stared at the door, thenout in the corridor, the snuffling and snarling of beasts The animal stink he had encountered outside the door when he’d first approached this rooer, and he knew that whatever beast had left that stench behind had now returned
"What the hell is this?" Jack whispered
Fro the corridor ca For a quietof boards and the rush of the sea against the hull--seerowl