Standing with the door firmly pressed against my back for reassurance, I revaluated my reasoning. I still wasn't sure whether this was a prank or a kidnapping and keeping my cool was going to be difficult. I'd only ever had limited acting experience – I featured as the sheep in my primary school nativity once. It went brilliantly…if you'd count managing to fall off the little stage as 'brilliant'. Funnily enough, I was always chosen to be in the chorus from then on.

What chance did I have at making crazy lady Tia Dalma believe my lies? She has that look that screams 'I know everything'. When you look her in the eyes it's like she's reading your every thought. Honestly, it's quite scary. If I'm going to succeed, maybe I should just try not to look in her eyes. No, that won't work. That'll make me look guiltier.

I took a deep breath before I could psych myself out even more. Casting the negative thoughts from my mind, I began repeating over and over 'you can do it', 'you can do it', 'you can do it'.

Bracing myself, I looked her in the eye and smiled. I hope it was a sweet innocent looking smile and not a guilty grimace. I wouldn't want to fail before I'd already begun.

"You know," I began, building up my false bravado. "If you want me to do this researching business, you're going to have to do a few things for me. Sweeten the deal a little bit. Tit for tat, that kind of thing. It's a win-win situation that way." I really needed to learn when to shut up.

Tia's eyebrows rose in disbelief as she pursed her lips, deliberating whether to listen to or ignore me. I waited with bated breath for her to throw me back out into the awful wilderness.

"Go on…" Her reply was slow and full of intrigue. Well, this was going good so far.

"First, Big Yellow has got to go." I crossed my arms for added effect, attempting to draw attention away from my wince. I'd unwittingly named the snake and I was not happy with this development at all.

All she did was raise one eyebrow even higher and look a little confused. It took me a few seconds, but eventually it registered that she didn't understand who, or more appropriately what, 'Big Yellow' was.

"The snake, the snake has got to go." I clarified. The quicker this was done the better. Once he was gone I could somewhat relax a little bit. My shoulders were aching from all the tension I'd been carrying. Tension caused not only by my irregular situation but by Big Yellow himself. If I could ease that somewhat by changing something then I was going to jump at the chance.

And jump I did, about five feet into the air as he came slithering in, as if he'd heard me calling his name and had decided to investigate. I hoped he'd been fed and wasn't hungry. I didn't want to be a potential snake snack again.

With my back pressed even more so against the creaking door, I quickly pointed at him and repeatedly said "now please".

Apparently I was worthy of pity as Tia Dalma chortled and smirked slyly at me before picking up Big Yellow. She let him wrap around her arms and wandered over to the window in the bedroom I'd woken up in. I craned my head – my feet couldn't have moved even if I wanted to – to make sure that he was actually being put outside where he belonged. Once satisfied I let out a huge sigh of relief, feeling some tension slip from my weighted shoulders.

"Thank you!" I called out, slightly breathless.

In she wandered, sly smile still planted firmly on her face. I cursed inwardly as I remembered that Tia Dalma was potentially a crazy kidnapper who would use my fears against me. Pushing my growing apprehension down, I continued on as if the giant murder animal hadn't just slithered in hissing.

"Second, I really need something to eat and drink. I'm honestly shocked that you haven't heard my tummy growling. It's a full on symphony happening in there. A symphony of pain. Because I'm starving. And thirsty. And my tummy is telling not only me this, but you and anyone else within a miles distance." Smiling, I stood blinking at her, waiting for something – anything – too eat. I'd have taken mouldy bread at this point and wolfed it down without any regrets.

Tia turned round, dreadlocked hair whipping the air, without a word. The natural thing for me to do in this situation was to follow her. Keeping a slight distance, for safety's sake, I watched her curiously. Within minutes a steaming bowl of what looked like stew was thrust into my hands. Not daring to ask what was in it, I swallowed it down in big gulps until it was all gone. Tingles began spreading over my lips and tongue as I finally registered the spice. Deciding that it wasn't all that unpleasant I opened my mouth to ask for more.

"No more ropa veija. You be sick if you have more. Here take this." Disappointment flooded my body as I realised that she was right. If I had more I would undoubtedly throw up, the food being too much for my empty tummy. Taking the tankard I threw caution to the wind and followed in my previous footsteps. Ignoring the dubious look of the liquid I drank the lot in one breath, gagging a little from both the taste and the fact that the drink had burnt my tongue from the heat. The familiar taste was very overwhelming. Ginger tea. Good for nausea. Handing the mugs back I thanked her.

"Have you finished with your demands now, Arabella?" Tia drawled, swishing her skirts as she went about placing the tankards on a cluttered bench. The reminder shocked me out of my food induced stupor.

"No. Lastly, I'd like to go home please and see my family before I do a single thing that you ask of me."

She stopped pottering around the shack and fixed me with a deadly look.

Busted.

"It is as I thought. You do not believe. That will change, and soon. For now, you rest." Tia pointed at the bedroom. As tempting as the offer of sleep was, I was still wary of the fact that I hadn't been given a proper answer yet again. I wasn't naïve enough to still believe that this was a prank. It had gone well past the point of it being funny and there didn't seem to be an end in sight. Amy hadn't popped up with a yell of 'surprise', so I was firmly holding onto the belief that I had been kidnapped.

Probably shouldn't have eaten the gumbo or drank the ginger tea. It didn't taste poisoned but then again, I'm sure I read somewhere that some poisons don't have a taste. At least if it was poisoned I'll die having eaten something that was actually quite tasty. Focusing back on the conversation at hand, I replied to Tia Dalma with stubbornness weaving throughout my tone.

"No. I won't rest until you give me an answer. Why can't I go home first before I find out what you want to know?" Planting my feet shoulder-width apart, I tried to look somewhat intimidating – a difficult thing to achieve when the other person towers over your 5'5'' frame.

"You can only leave this time once the job is complete. You are bound to it." She matched my stance. Out of sheer stubbornness I didn't back down, not giving a single thought to the consequences.

"What do you mean I'm 'bound to it'? Are you deliberately trying not to answer my question and keep me in a constant state of confusion? Because if you are, I can tell you now, that's not going to make me want to help you."

"You don't have a choice but to complete your task. T'is your destiny, the magic binds you to this time." Once again, I received a very unhelpful answer. I decided to try another method of gaining the information that I needed to know.

"So this 'powerful magic'," I emphasised my disbelief by using my fingers to sign air quotes, "means that I have to stay here until I've found out how to free Calypso. What if I don't find out? What happens then?"

"You die."

"What?"

"You die."

"Yeah, that's what I thought you said, but that can't be right. How am I going to die? Are you going to kill me?" Panic was making my voice go slightly higher and sending my mind into overdrive. This couldn't be happening. How am I supposed to complete an impossible task? None of this should be real and yet the threat of possible death sounds very much so.

"It will not be by my hands. The voodoo will find a way. A shipwreck, a fall, it could be anything." Tia carried on, oblivious to my inner turmoil. I'd had such an emotional wreck of a day; I don't think I could have taken much more. I felt my eyes stinging with brewing tears. Moving around her towards where I was planning on hiding, I walked as fast as I could. Before I burst through the beaded curtain, I stopped and turned my head to talk over my left shoulder.

"You're right. I should rest." I said, hoping that she'd take the unspoken hint to leave me alone.

Not waiting for a response, I parted the dangling beads and headed straight for the straw bed. Collapsing on it, I folded myself into a foetal position and let the tears fall.

Trying to process everything that had happened today was like trying to wade through the thickest mood imaginable. As soon as Tia mentioned death everything felt very real. I had no idea if she was lying or not. My gut was telling me no but I wanted so badly to say yes. I wanted so badly to believe that I had been kidnapped by a crazy lady, not that I had somehow time travelled.

Well aware that all that separated me from Tia was a beaded curtain, I tried to keep my crying as noiseless as possible. It didn't last long, I gave up almost as soon as the sobs began. I sounded like a wailing cat. I'd always been an ugly crier and tonight was no different. If anything it was the ugliest episode yet, a definite achievement.

How could any of this be real? Why was it happening to me? I know she said that it's my destiny but how? Had this happened to anybody else? Was I the first?

More and more questions swirled around my head. As I tried to make sense of one another question came along and confused me even more. Being kidnapped, I could probably come to terms with a lot quicker. It happens; it's been documented multiple times. There's always an ulterior motive behind it, but time travel? How on Earth was I supposed to come to terms with that? How am I supposed to get my head around the mechanics if I didn't even know it was possible in the first place? Was there an ulterior motive behind it?

I just wanted to go home, have a nice cup of tea and pretend that this was all a dream. Maybe if I closed my eyes, counted to three and then I'd be home. Kind of like a condensed Wizard of Oz version of clicking my heels together.

One…two...three.

Opening my eyes, I was still on the lumpy straw bed, in my sweat stained pyjamas. A large wet patch spread out around my face from the sheer amount of tears I had already shed. How could I have been so naïve as to think that would work? The only thing it succeeded in doing was making me cry harder.

Eventually my wailing quietened to a low keen which eventually finished in sniffles. There was nothing to be done about the steady stream flowing from my eyes. To say I had been so dehydrated today, the amount was shocking. As I lay there, I tried to think of one positive thing in a last attempt to calm my nerves.

I still had my pyjamas. Despite them being soaked in sweat and tears, they were the only reminder of home that I had and I clung to them tightly as they stuck to my body. It was a small positive but one that worked none the less. Fisting my hands into the silky material of the top, I closed my eyes and tried not to think of the fact that I wouldn't be seeing my best friend for a long time.


"Wake up. We have much to do." The sharp words pierced through my dream like lightening. Goodbye cosy sofa. Goodbye library. Maybe one day, I'll see you soon. With a groan, I opened my eyes, half expecting to see Amy stood over me with a stern look telling me that I was going to be late for work. It was one of her jobs as my best friend – to always make sure that I got to work on time. I was too lazy for my own good and having someone else to motivate me worked wonders.

Unfortunately, I was still in the same awful place as yesterday. The same run down shack, the same uncomfortable, not even worthy of the name, bed with Tia Dalma towering over my hunched form making sure that I was actually going to get up. Once satisfied she swept out of the room, making the beaded curtain click together in her wake.

With a small sigh I stretched out. I hadn't got any closer to an answer for the questions that had plagued me last night and that really bothered me. Eventually I must have drifted off but not for long if my lethargy was anything to go by. Sitting here wasn't going to get me anywhere however, no matter how much my tired body screamed otherwise. It was time to try and get some more answers to my questions.

I strode though the curtain, wrinkling my nose at the smell that I was sure was my stale sweat and tried not to think about how I longed for a steaming hot shower. If I really was in the 18th century, those were a thing of the future, and unfortunately out of my reach. With another sigh, I went in search of food and drink. I could hear Tia rummaging round for something upstairs, occasionally sending down swirls of dust and other unidentifiable substances from the ceiling. It was up to me to satisfy my needs.

Apparently, I was worth remembering, as on one of the tables, surrounded by things that I'd rather not eat my breakfast next too was a tankard filled with what smelt like warm ginger tea again and a bowl of that stew stuff. What had she called it, ropa veija? I hoped it wasn't left over from last night. 18th Century meant refrigerators hadn't been invented yet, who knew what kind of bacteria it had been growing. Remembering that I wasn't really in a situation where I could be picky, I wolfed down the food trying not to think about the germs I was digesting.

By the time I had finished the gumbo – if there was one good thing I was going to take away from this unpleasant situation, it was going to be that recipe – and had started on my tea, Tia Dalma came clattering down the creaking staircase carrying bundles of material in her arms.

"Good. You ate," was all she said before finding a perch for the fabric. Now that it was laid out, I could see that it was a dress. I hoped it was for me. I'd have done anything to get out of these pyjamas and into some clean clothes now that my immediate needs were satisfied.

"Yeah, thanks for leaving me some." Always be nice to your host, and maybe good things will come in return…at least I was hopeful that was the case. Tia nodded her head in response. Deciding now was the time to try and get some more answers I put the wooden tankard down.

"I've been thinking," I began slowly, still unsure how to approach this without getting the politician style answers I'd previously received from her. "Why can't you just go and find out how to free yourself? If the movies are really my century's history, like you said, then shouldn't you know anyway?"

Although 'At World's End' had shown Calypso freed from the form of Tia Dalma, it hadn't shown how it had happened. One minute Tia Dalma was her normal size, tied up with multiple ropes, the next she was growing at an exponential rate before exploding into a load of crabs. It was creepy as heck but left me wondering just how they'd freed her.

It was also one of the main things that I'd been wondering. She'd said Jack Sparrow knew which made sense when I remembered who his father was and his affiliations with the Brethren court, but Tia and Jack go well back if the movie events are true. What was stopping her from going herself to find out? Something about this wasn't making any sense. I was missing a crucial bit of information. Why did she need me to find out how to free her from her human form if it happens in the film anyway?

"You only know my true identity as you are from the future. If I go, people will become suspicious and will not tell me. Besides, Jack has always liked a pretty woman." She looked at me from head to toe while I blushed a little in embarrassment at the compliment.

"Ok, that makes sense at least. How did you find out in the first place though? Surely if it was me then it would have been documented?" I ignored the compliment as best as I could. Now was not really the time to indulge myself in flattery.

"Things sometimes get lost in time for a reason, or because they haven't happened yet." Tia sat down, waiting for me to come to the right conclusion. One, I could tell, would give me some of the answers that I needed.

"So, you're saying, because I watched these films before I came here that the events haven't happened yet? And until I start searching that's when the timeline will begin and history will rewrite itself?" I had no idea if I was on the right track but it sure as heck was making my head hurt trying to figure it out.

"Yes." Oh, brilliant. Why is life so confusing? Why can't it just be a nice walk in the park?

"I've seen and read enough sci-fi to know that changing history is a bad thing," I replied, noting her confused look at the word 'sci-fi'. I need to be more careful with my speech or I'll have people asking unwanted questions and probably branding me a witch. The lack of women rights was really going to be a big obstacle, I could tell already.

"You have to let all events happen as you know them to. The only thing that can change is that you go along with them. I have seen it. History has been waiting for you, Arabella Fenn. T'is…"

"My destiny," I interrupted. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. I've heard that one enough times." Rolling my eyes for good measure, I tried to hide a smile of amusement at the dark look she was giving me.

"Right, say I believe you, and I'm not saying that I'm one hundred per cent sold on the idea, but won't I need clothes? Not only that but money as well. How am I even meant to find Jack Sparrow and then get close to him? If it's such a closely guarded secret he's not going to tell it to the next woman who waltzes up to him, is he?" There were so many things that could go wrong with this, which was not a risk I was willing to take. If I was risking death to find the answers, I wanted a full proof plan before I began. I was starting to get frustrated at how little Tia Dalma had thought out this idea of hers.

"You'll be needing to watch that mouth of yours, Arabella. It may get you into unwanted trouble." She replied stepping over to the dress I had been eyeing.

"Whatever, I'll work on it. Happy?" I felt like a stroppy teenager again but I couldn't seem to – nor did I want to – help myself. I'd been put in a very unusual situation and wasn't happy about it. It was bound to come out snarky and sarcastic, it had always been my fall back.

"Here, put this on." Not only did she hand me the dress, she also gave me stays, petticoat, undershirt with sleeves that looked as though they'd reach just past my elbow and stockings. Suddenly I became very aware of the humidity and heat once again building up to its fiery crescendo in the shack. Without deodorant I wasn't sure how I was going to cope but it was something I was going to have to put up with and figure out by myself. Living in this century – even if it is only temporary – is going to be a huge adjustment. Going without my twenty first century comforts will be one of my biggest hurdles.

I wordlessly took the clothes, wondering how I was going to get them on, particularly the stays. I didn't really want to ask for any help doing it up; I didn't really like the thought of relying on someone else to help me get dressed.

"Clean water is upstairs, and mirror."

Nodding, I stumbled my way up the stairs. The room looked exactly the same as the one below, vines hanging from the roof, along with other questionable things in jars. Chaos seemed to reign everywhere I looked.

Noting the mirror with bowl of water and a rag beside it, I peeled off my pyjamas and did my best to wash myself, finishing with splashing my face. There was nothing to be done about my hair however. I'd have to root around and maybe I'd find a hairbrush.

Finally it was time to attempt getting dressed. I felt like I was playing dress up. I managed fine by myself until the stays. After so many failed attempts at tightening I gave in and asked for Tia Dalma's help.

"You'll have to learn to do this by yourself. You leave today, I do not have time to teach you."

"What? I leave today? Please tell me that you're joking!" I panicked. The only response I got was a sharp tightening of the laces knocking the breath out of me slightly.

Once Tia Dalma had left the room I carried on. The cotton pale blue dress turned out to be a skirt and a separate off white blouse style jacket - they were easy enough to put on once I figured out how to pin the jacket into place. I bent down to pick up my sweaty pyjamas, planning on scrubbing them as best as I could in the bowl of water, only for my hand to hit the rough wooden planks of the floor. Looking round wildly I tried to find them. I couldn't have lost them; they were the only thing I had from home. Bounding down the stairs I ran into Tia Dalma bent over my now wet pyjamas.

"Oh thank goodness! I thought for a moment, I'd lost them." Tia rolled her eyes at my dramatics, before hanging them over a piece of rope draped from the rafters.

"Here," she handed me a fairly heavy cloth purse. Money, another item checked off the list. She motioned with her hand for me to look at what she's laid out on the table: a battered leather suitcase, black shoes that were in the fashion of the time, a straw hat, hairbrush –I nearly swooned when I saw it, I'd finally be able to tame the ginger mess dancing on over my shoulder blades – another set of clothes, cloak, hair pins and a couple of parchments.

As I struggled to place the shoes on my feet – the stays making bending over difficult - I tried to make conversation despite knowing that she didn't really talk all that much.

"How do women style their hair here? It's not like I'm an expert in history or anything." After this I probably would be for this time period.

"Pinned back." Short and to the point, at least I got something useful out of it.

"Whatever you say, chatterbox," oh the irony, I just couldn't resist.

Occupying myself by attempting to pin my hair back into a low bun, I tried again. "What's the date? That's something I should probably know."

"March, 1728." She began packing the items into my suitcase. "I've arranged passage for you to Port Royal – they should arrive soon."

Realising that there was no way that I could stall my leaving of the dilapidated shack, I sighed. I was nervous to go outside. In here I could pretend that everything isn't real, that I'm not really in 1728, but out there…no, that's what I'm most afraid of. Out there I won't get the chance to pretend it's not real.

I placed the purse in my pocket – a hidden bag underneath all the petticoats – and fixed the hat on top of my head. There was nothing to do now but wait.

Eventually, after what I estimated to be a couple of hours, the sound of footsteps drifted through the shack. They stopped before the door, paused and three sharp knocks rapped against it, each one stabbing at my nerves like a knife. Taking a deep breath I stood up, smoothed my skirts and moved to open the door to meet the person who would be taking me on my journey.


A/N: Hey everyone! I'm aware that this one is a fairly boring chapter but it's very necessary for the development and build up. I was originally going to split it into two but I figured it was better to keep it as one whole so that there aren't as many filler chapters. I also tried to stay as accurate as I could to the clothing of the time and the food. Finally it was necessary for the purposes of this story to make sense that Arabella doesn't know how to free Calypso. I know it was shown in AWE but in this time line that bit was glossed over. Thanks again for reading!