"Giselle!" Oh no. My mother was calling. Again. Ever since three years ago, the only times she wouldn't call me back into the room she was in was either whenever we actually where in the same room or when she was, thank the Lord Almighty, asleep.

"Giselle! It's important!"

That's what she always said.

"Coming Mother!"

She was lying in her bed, which was very odd. She would either be stomping around the house (an obvious sign of her "pondering") or sitting in the chair over by the fireplace. The only thing she ever did in her bed was sleep, and sometimes she would just spend the whole night in that chair.

"Giselle," she repeated. I started to worry for her. She sounded really weak. She seemed really weak. "Come here, darling."

I stepped closer to her bed and sat down.

"You need to go search for your father," she told me.

"I can't," I replied. "I won't leave you, Mum."

"You'll have to, Giselle."

She started to cough. It wouldn't end. She had never been sick before. Why would she be sick now, when I need her the most?

"I'm...sick," she said weakly.

"You know I can't catch what you have."

"I know. But you need to find your father."

"Mum..."

"He can help you."

"I need you."

"I know you are worried about what lies ahead. But your father can help you work this out, not me."

I got up and walked around the house. I didn't know what to do. My mother needed me, but my twenty-fifth birthday was coming up. If my mother's tales were correct, I needed my father now more than ever. But I couldn't leave Mother behind.

"Where can I find him?" I asked.

Her reply was a smile and her finger pointing to the chest near her chair. "Open it." I walked over and opened the wooden chest. Mother never let me even look at the chest, but as I opened it, all that I saw inside was a silver chain. On the chain was a silver medallion with engraved crossbones.

"Put it on." I put the necklace around my neck and headed back to my mother. She gently rubbed her fingers on the medallion.

"You may only take this off when you feel you need to," she told me. "Otherwise, you are to never take it off. It will take you to your father."

There were lots of questions I wanted to ask. What was so special about the medallion? How could my father help me? How would I be led to my father? But I only asked one question. "When should I leave?"

"Today. Your father is a man of the sea. In order to find him, you need to be on the sea."

"How? I don't have a boat."

"You'll just have to find one."

"You mean steal?"

"If that's your choice of wording it."

I've stolen lots of things before. Food, wood, sewing needles, but never a boat. I guess my mother thought I could be like my father when it comes to the sea.

"Go. Now. Don't bother packing. It would just waste precious time." I bent over and kissed my mother on the forehead.

"I'll find him," I told her. "Don't worry."

"I won't."

I got up and left for the door. I turned and looked at my mother. "Bye, Mum."

"Bye, Giselle."

And that was the last I ever saw of her.

I was rowing of the dingy in the middle of God-Knows-What-Ocean. The dingy was the only ship that I was capable of taking without being noticed, and I almost did! But thankfully the guard was looking after this enormous ship and wouldn't notice if a little dingy was stolen.

I was starting to get very annoyed. I didn't know how long I had been out at sea, but I was hungry, I was tired, I was thirsty, I was ready to find my father. And then, my prayers were answered.

Mother explained to me how The Black Pearl looked, I recognized this as my father's ship. "Hey!" I yelled out. "Hello! I'm looking for Captain Barbossa!"

Next thing I saw was a bunch of men bustling around the deck. One of them motioned for me to push towards the ship. I did so and a line was cast down towards me. I grabbed it and started to climb. Thank the Lord that all these years I ran around with the boys instead of the girls.

When I got on the ship, I noticed that all of the crew members were scraggly looking. Pirates, of course. One had brown dread locks with all sorts of charms in them, including a deer bone, covered in jewelry, and a tattoo of a sparrow on his arm. If the legends were true, this was Jack Sparrow, one of the greatest pirates to ever sail the seven seas.

"Hello," I said. I didn't know how to talk to a pirate! "I'm looking for Captain Barbossa."

"What business do you have with Captain Barbossa?" he said. God, his breath reeked.

"Just tell him that Giselle is here to see him," I told him. But he didn't have to. He walked up besides Jack.

"What is it you want, Miss?" he asked. Couldn't he recognize me? Of course he couldn't. He hadn't seen me in twenty-three years.

"I've come to see you," I replied. "Father."

The look on his face changed immediately. He went from neutral to shocked. Bet he didn't think that his daughter would ever be a part of his crew.

"When's your twenty-fifth birthday?" he asked. So he did know after all.

"Three weeks," I replied.

I suddenly heard a big thump. I looked down to see that Jack had fainted. Guess that he thought my father would be the same as a majority of the pirates: lonely since the day they were born.

That night, I was up in the crow's nest. I always loved to look at the stars. It felt even better, hearing the waves beat against the boat. It was so calming, so relaxing. Then I heard somebody climbing up the ladder to join me in this peaceful moment.

It was the same pirate who motioned me to paddle towards the ship. He had blonde hair, but I'm sure you would see more of it if the grim and the grease hadn't taken over. He extremely tall and very skinny. I noticed that he had an eyepatch on and wondered if he lost his eye before or after he joined my father's ship.

"Sorry," he said. "Oi didn' realize someone wa' up 'ere."

"It's okay," I told him. "I could use the company."

He hesitated for a moment. I didn't blame him. If my father caught us both on the crow's nest, who knows what he would do to him. Eventually, he sat down besides me and brought his knees up to his chest.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Ragetti."

I held out my hand. He shook it. "Nice to meet you, Ragetti. I'm..."

"Giselle."

"You know me?"

"Ev'ryone knows who you are. It came as a shock, findin' out tha' Barbossa had a daughter, but it came even a bigger shock to find he had a..."

He suddenly stopped and looked out into the ocean. A smile spread across my face. "A young and decent-looking daughter?" I asked.

"Uh..." he began. "Yeah."

I had to laugh at this.

"Wha's so funny?"

"Just the fact that you're scared to admit that I'm Barbossa's daughter."

"I's not tha', you don' know when Barbossa's lurkin' 'round these parts."

Again, I had to laugh.

"Are you scared of him?"

"Ev'ryone is. Even Jack."

"That's hard to believe."

We went silent for a moment. It was obvious he wasn't going to break it. I guessed that I had to.

"What remarkable thing have you done?" I asked.

"Wha'?"

"Everyone's done something remarkable. What's yours?"

"Nothin'."

"Nothing? You've never done anything remarkable."

"Not tha' I can tink of."

"There's got to be something."

"Well...I did once release a goddess from 'er human bonds."

I didn't know whether to believe him or not. "Which goddess?"

"Calypso."

Calypso? The goddess who broke Davy Jones heart? Mother told me all sorts of stories about their heartbreak and how the first Pirate Lords brought Calypso into human bonds and that she would eventually have to be released. I was starting to believe Ragetti more and more.

"How did you release her?"

"Well, all o' the Pirate Lords put their nine pieces o' eight into a little bowl. Your father set the items on fire and say 'Calypso, I release you from your human bonds'. But you had to say it like saying to a lover."

This brought me over the edge. I had to laugh at this. My father? Speaking to a goddess as if speaking to a lover?

"How did he say it."

"Basically like he was praying to a God."

"If that's how he would talk to my mother, no wonder she let him leave!"

He laughed at this.

"So, how did you release Calypso?"

"Well, obviously, your father didn't say it right. So, I said it to Calypso, an' she was released."

"How did you say it?"

He looked kind of embarrassed when I asked him this. He obviously did more than just say, "Calypso, I release you from your human bonds." There was obviously physical contact and my father would probably kill him if he even caught us on the crow's nest, let alone him being only inches apart from me. But I felt that my father didn't rule my life.

"There's nobody out here but us," I told him.

"All right," he said. "I'll show you."

He moved to where he was sitting right next to me. "Calypso," he said. I had to smile at this, him calling me a goddess. He cupped his hand and lightly touched my hair with it. He leaned in closer, to where I could feel him breathing on me. I felt loved, and he hadn't even said the rest yet. "I release you from your human bonds," he whispered.

I was absolutely shocked. I couldn't believe that this pirate could speak to her as if he was speaking to the one he always loved. "Who did you think about when you said it?" I asked.

"No one," he answered.

"You never fell in love?"

"No. Never. But, when I talked to her, I felt that I would love soon."

"How soon?"

"Very soon."

I smiled. I always believed that everyone had a special person in their lives and the reason some people died without that special someone was because they already met, but they were just too scared to admit it. It was great to know that this nice pirate would find love, even if he was pretty gruffy-looking.

I looked out and noticed that a ship was approaching. I stood up to get a better look at the ship. A look of horror spread across my ship.

"Wha' is it?" Ragetti asked.

"Go get my dad," I said. "Tell him that The Ghost Ship is here.