The moon shone down through the opening in the cave above them, signaling the beginning of the night. Which was wild, because Cherry was pretty sure that the moon wasn't supposed to be directly overhead at this time.
Hell, even at its highest point, the angle shouldn't be right. Clearly some metaphysical nonsense was happening here, but it wasn't something that Cherry would be able to work out at the moment.
"Quiet!" Barbossa shouted as if he hadn't instigated the bickering amongst his crew. His bones wreathed in moonlight and the evil glare peering out from his skull struck an ominous visage that helped him take back control through fear.
Nevermind that all of the pirates were skeleton dudes too.
"Night has fallen and the moon has risen. We can root out the traitors after reconstituting our lost and fallen," Barbossa spoke in a more even tone as the crowd stopped making a racket.
Vague murmurs of agreement sounded out, though paranoia and suspicion were still thick in the air.
Cherry just wished that he'd get on with it. She wanted to see!
And see she did.
It wasn't exactly an esoteric ritual; these were pirates, not shamans. There was a lot of chanting of "Return to the fold", and Barbossa muttered beneath his breath as she traced the designs on the outside of the stone chest, which was now refilled with the coins they removed to count earlier.
Cherry felt the hair all over her body stand on end first, then goosebumps crawling over her skin. The air chilled and became unnaturally still; even the sound of the crowd's chanting became muted.
Her supernatural senses failed to catch anything until the first skeletal hand pushed up and out of the stone chest, displacing the coins with hundreds of clinks of metal on metal. This sound was perfectly clear, drowning out all others completely.
Then the screams began. Cherry couldn't suppress a wince as the skeletal man clawed his way out of the chest, giving the impression of a damned soul climbing out of hell.
Perhaps because he literally was. The metaphysical chill in the air was reminiscent of Brook's freezing attacks, and Cherry didn't believe that was coincidence.
Although, that was where the similarities ended. Brook's return to life from the other side was anecdotally smooth, aside from getting lost along the way. This poor sap was experiencing something torturous.
"Quit crying, you big baby," Barbossa chastised, grabbing the man by the next once he was half out. He gave him a tug, pulling his waist and legs free from the coins then dropped him unceremoniously onto the floor. "We've got more coming in behind you, so hurry up."
The man coughed with absent lungs and nodded stiffly before shambling over to the rest. Cherry recognized him as soon as his flesh appeared out of direct moonlight as one of the pirates she had obliterated at Port Royal.
As a test, of course. Know your enemy and all that. Not because it was fun to chop up a guy who can't die or anything.
The ritual continued until the chest spat out another half dozen skeletons and the air returned to a more normal nighttime chill.
Cherry didn't think she'd be replicating anything like this any time soon, or ever, but she learned a bit about the workings of the curse. Perhaps she could tell Brook about her observations later and he could figure something out from them, perhaps not. Either way, it was educational.
"No more delays," Barbossa announced. "I don't know if someone has tampered with the chest or the coins, but I'm willing to try to end the curse as is."
Cherry almost laughed. The truth was that the two coins she sent to him via burning monkey were both fakes. The one true coin she had in her possession was the one she slipped into the stone chest.
If they had Will here, they could end the curse right now, provided his blood was indeed what they needed to do so. However, who they had instead was Cherry disguised as Elizabeth, neither of whom were related to the man who betrayed them.
Barbossa gave a hand signal and two pirates grabbed her by the arms and lifted her.
"I can walk, you know," Cherry complained.
"I know, but I haven't the patience to convince you," Barbossa shot back.
That was fair enough. Cherry was planning to be a nuisance.
Her hand was forcibly yanked forward and the sleeve of her dress pulled back. "A shame I can't risk spilling every drop. Alas, we can't end your obnoxious life until we're well and truly free."
Barbossa tossed the two fakes into the chest, grabbed a handful of coins, then sliced open Cherry's palm.
Cherry allowed the blade to draw blood. If she didn't, then the knife wouldn't even give her a light scratch.
Her blood coated the handful of coins, then Barbossa let them drop into the chest without any further ado.
Aaaaaand… nothing.
"You should eat something. You need more meat on your bones," Cherry snickered.
Barbossa snarled and slapped her. "The real coin is missing! Strip search everyone, then search the entire island! Leave no stone unturned! Tear the ship apart if you must!"
"Er, Captain?" Pintel chimed in. "What if the traitor already squirreled a coin away? What if they aren't all here in the first place?"
Barbossa didn't answer for a long moment. "You had better hope that isn't the case. None of you will like the alternative."
A collective shiver swept through the crew and they set about scouring for the missing coin. It was clear that they had no confidence contending with Barbossa, even with numbers on their side, if they didn't dare to oppose him after such a vague and ominous threat.
Or perhaps they were more devious than they looked, and would plan a real mutiny where he couldn't listen in.
"You, girl," Barbossa addressed her as she lay on the ground, hand against the cheek he struck. "Are you certain that your coin was not a fake?"
"It was sent to me by my father, and he bade me to keep it secret. No one even knew that I had it before you abducted me," Cherry lied to him, letting her genuine disgust for the captain flood her tone.
Barbossa grunted, but seemed to take her words at face value. At least as much as he did anyone else's for that matter.
"I'll be watching you and the chest personally. Clearly I was a fool for having trusted anyone else with anything important," Barbossa declared.
"Captain," one of the reconstituted pirates called out.
"What do you want, Monk? Why aren't you searching?" Barbossa growled.
"I thought that you'd want to know what happened when I was attacked," Monk stated simply.
Barbossa's eyes lit up. "Do tell!"
He had apparently forgotten all about Monk's short lived babysitting job with all of the excitement.
"I heard someone unlock the door to your quarters," Monk began. "So I naturally turned to see who."
Barbossa nodded. That narrowed down the list of suspects a bit. Only Barbossa had a key to his quarters and lockpicking was surprisingly not the most common skill amongst his crew.
"But nobody was there. It just seemed to open by itself," Monk said, clearly confused himself.
Barbossa frowned, but motioned for him to get on with it.
"Then my head was grabbed from behind by slender hands. After that is only darkness," Monk finished, his eyes flicking towards Elizabeth.
There was only a single pair of slender hands on the whole ship, after all.