Disclaimer: I own only Laverne, Lawrence and Tom.

- Laverne.

Hi. Remember me? If not, my name is Laverne "Verne" Audrium. I'm a 21st century girl who got sucked into Curse of the Black Pearl and who is now a crewmember aboard that titular ship. My brother, Tom, came got sucked into the movie too (though he spent almost all of it from the navy's point of view), but he fell in love with Anna-Maria and left to be her first mate aboard the Razorblade.

I also fell in love. It was with a young man named Lawrence Martin, with whom a shared a curse (no, not that curse) during the first movie. We had broken the curse by falling in love (a bit of a cliche, but we aren't complaining), and Lawrence was now back in Port Royal, keeping an eye on Will and Elizabeth, but I was pretty sure we would meet up again on Cannibal Island.

Which was why I was the happiest person there when Jack decided to go into the Turkish prison. Of course, I couldn't let that happiness show on my face, or else I would very likely get accused of mutiny, but it was very difficult.

What was also difficult was sitting around and waiting for Jack to thrown out with the coffins. I even resorted to scrubbing the floors to pass the time, though I had long ago found my place in the galley. When there were no more floors to scrub, I started polishing the silverware until Gibbs stopped me because I making him nervous. I didn't even know I was a compulsive cleaner until that day.

Now I sat on the deck, watching the prison and itching to do something, anything. Why didn't he come out already? I was about to go back to polishing the spoons, when I spotted the men throwing coffins over the side. It took every ounce of self-control I possessed not to do a victory dance right then and there.

I nudged Gibbs and pointed at a coffin that I knew contained a very much alive Captain Jack Sparrow. "Does that coffin seem a little... different to you?" I asked tactfully.

Gibbs stared at it, obviously trying to tell how it was different, and nearly jumped out of his skin when Jack's gun shot a crow off the lid. I laughed so hard that I had to sit down. You know those videos where you get people really focused on it, then have an image pop up and scare them? Well, I just pulled the 17th century version of that on Mr. Joshamee Gibbs.

Gibbs glared at me, but held off on saying anything since he had to go help Jack onto the ship. He held out his hand for Jack to take, but instead got the skeletal leg that said captain had been using as an oar.

"That's nasty." I commented.

"Not quite according to plan." Gibbs said, looking with distaste at the disgusting object.

"Complications arose, ensued and were overcome." Jack said.

"They always do." I said, and got handed the skeleton leg. With a hiss of disgust, I threw it over the side. It was supposed to be Mr. Cotton who got that nasty thing, not me! "Let's stop kidding around Captain Crunch." I said irritably. "Show us what you got!"

Jack pulled out what was either a very floppy piece of parchment, or a piece of leathery cloth. The crew did not look happy with him.

"Captain, I think the crew, that includes me and Verne as well, were expecting something a bit more..." He waggled his fingers at Jack. "Shiny. What with the island of Muerta going all pear-shaped and being claimed by the sea, and the treasure with it."

"And the royal navy chasing us all around the Atlantic." Said a crewmember called Leech. I tended to stay away from him, because he reminded me of a really nasty piece of business I knew back in Lowdown, California.

"And the hurricane." Marty the dwarf put in. I liked Marty. He was nice to me, though he didn't like to be reminded of it. His good temper towards me might have been because he ate more than the rest of the crew combined, and I was the cook, but I didn't really care.

"All in all, it seemed a long time since we did a speck of honest piratin'." Gibbs said.

I could see the wheels turning in Jack's head. "Shiny?"

"Aye. Shiny." Gibbs confirmed.

"Is that how you're all feeling then?" Jack asked. "That dear old Jack isn't serving your best interests as captain? Stop hiding Verne!"

I peeked out from behind the mast and grinned sheepishly. I had seen the dangerous glint in Jack's eye and had decided to take cover, but "dear old Jack" was having none of it.

"Rawkk! Walk the plank!" Cotton's parrot squawked, and Cotton grabbed it's beak to shut it up.

Jack spun around and pointed his pistol at the bird. "What did the bird say?" He demanded.

"Cool it Jack!" I said. "This isn't a mutiny, we just wanna know what you got."

"The girl is right. Show us what is on that piece of cloth there." Leech said. That was another reason why I didn't like him. He had known my name for six months and still refused to call me anything other than "the girl". But at least he wasn't calling me "Verne", since I only allowed those I consider family to call me that.

I knew what was coming next, but I still let out a yelp of surprise when Jack the un-dead monkey dropped down and stole the piece of cloth from the Captain. Jack tried to shoot the monkey, but his pistol mis-fired, so he grabbed another one that actually worked.

"You know that does no good." Gibbs said.

"Does me." Jack grunted.

"Isn't that the same pistol you shot Barbosa with?" I asked.

"Shut up Verne!" Jack snapped. I heard that a lot.

Marty had run over and picked up the piece of cloth. He held it up for all to see. "It's a key." He said, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"No." Jack took the cloth from him. "Much more better. It is a drawing of a key." This had always been Tom and I's favorite scene, because he pronounces drawing "drawer-ing", which is fun to say. "Gentlemen..." Jack began, and I chose not to point out that I was a girl. "What do keys do?"

"Keys... unlock... things?" Leech asked, as if not sure if his answer was the correct one.

"Ah. And whatever this key unlocks, inside there must be something valuble." Gibbs said, sounding like a kid whose finally understood a math equation. "So we're setting out to find whatever this key unlocks."

"No." Jack and I said in unison. Jack raised his eyebrow at me before continuing. "If we don't have the key, then we can't open whatever-it-is-we-don't-have that it unlocks. So what purpose would be served in finding whatever need be unlocked, which we don't have, without first having found the key what unlocks it?"

"Speak English!" I snapped. I was ignored, of course. I wished Tom had stayed on board, because he was the only one who spoke the same language as I did.

"So we're going after this key!" Gibbs said triumphantly, only for his smile to fall away when Jack told him he wasn't making any sense at all.

"Any more questions?" Jack asked, sounding like Mr. Iovino, my science teacher.

"Soooo..." Marty said, drawing everyone's attention to him. "Do we have a heading?"

"It's always good to have a heading." I agreed.

"Ah!" Jack said, as if that were the first sensible question he had heard all night. Probably was, too. "Set sail in a... general... that way direction!" I peeked around Jack's arm to see the compass's needle spinning erratically, and my heart leaped at the thought that I would soon see Lawrence again. Then it leaped into my throat when I realized that I would also soon be meeting the Krakken.

I saw that most of the other crewmembers had left to get back to work, and I went to join Marty and Gibbs at the rail. After Tom and Anna-Maria had left, they had become my best friends on the ship. They both looked worried, and I knew it was about Jack.

"Have you noticed lately?" Marty asked us. "The captain seems to be acting a bit strange...er."

"Marty's right." I said. "Jack's always been a bit weird, but now..." I shook my head, as if I didn't know what to make of it.

"Setting sail without knowin' his own headin'?" Gibbs agreed. "Somethin's got Jack vexed. And mark my words, what bodes ill for Jack Sparrow, bodes ill for us all." I love that line!

Without another word, the three of us pushed away from the rail and scattered to our own stations