Pintel and Ragetti were taking turns rowing the long boat down an eerie stretch of riverbed. There seemed to be floating candles in the water, and the river was very narrow, so that you could see into the forest that lined the beds. It was almost as if there were people in there, chanting things that couldn't be heard, but if you looked too closely, they were gone.
The longboat stopped at a roughly made tilted house that was built atop of wooden poles.
Jack gestured to myself and Will. "All right, head up." He pointed to the ladder that led to the platform in front of the house's front door. It was soon apparent that the whole crew would be following us in, all but Cotton, who had been elected to watch the boat.
Jack went through the door first, and I heard her silky voice call out "Jack Sparrow! What you be doing, not visiting me more often…" and his reply "Very busy love, very busy…" they seemed to know each other very well, and I prodded Will to make his entrance next.
I heard her suddenly stop chattering to Jack and say something to Will. "My boy… you have an air of destiny about you… do I be knowing you?" and heard Will stuttering. I thought of her low cut dresses, and laughed to myself. Yes, exactly how Will Turned would respond to her.
Then I took a deep breath, and passed through the doorway of Tia Dalma's house. She immediately stopped flirting with Will (who had become very bright red) and walked slowly up to me. "Catherine Jones… be that you?" I slowly nodded my head, and she encircled her arms around me. She smelled of spices, of far off places, of warmth and love. I let myself give in, and hugged her warmly back. "Yes, Tia Dalma, it's me. I'm back." It seemed as if the Marty, Pintel, Ragetti, and Mr. Gibbs, had wasted no time entering the cabin, for they had witnessed it all, and everyone who hadn't breasts in the room was now gaping at the pair of us, who were now letting go of each other like old friends who had just found each other after a long separation, which, in fact, we were. Actually, it was more mother/daughter than friend, but the reaction would have been similar.
I heard Ragetti whisper to Pintel, "Jones. As in…" he pointed downward, "…that Jones?"
"Yes!" Mr. Gibbs whispered harshly back. "Now shut up and behave yourselves." He was obviously trying not be heard, but his gruff voice wasn't a good one for whispering.
I whirled on him. "How did you know?"
To my surprise, he actually started to tear up. "Knew your mother. You look exactly like her. She's a grand person, or was when I knew her. Really grand. You remind me of her a lot, really. The only time I was willing to cut Jack Sparrow's throat, when he took you away from her."
"Excuse me? I'm right here!" Jack said indignantly. But Mr. Gibbs turned on him. "Jack. C'mon. Don't you stand there and try and convince me that there was one good thing that came out of that whole business. Why even you're…" But Jack had brought his hand past his throat in a cutting motion.
Tia Dalma had caught it, though. "Jack? Hold out your hand." She said reprovingly. He held out his right daintily, and she slapped it away. "De other hand."
And Jack Sparrow held out his right hand, which had been bound several times by a piece of white linen (my bindings!) and badly. She took it, roughly, and unwound it, then held the hand up for all of us to see. A bit of skin had just rotted away, to reveal nothing but blackness.
"The black spot!" I heard four voices cry out, as Marty, Pintel, Ragetti, and Mr. Gibbs suddenly spit and turned around three times.
"What rubbish." I said. "D'you really think that's going to help you? It's not like it's contagious or anything. Just spreads really, really quickly to the one who has it. Plus there's the whole matter of the Kraken. But I don't really need to tell you about that, do I Jack?" I smiled sweetly at him, who stuck his tongue out at me.
Tia Dalma, who had left the room briefly, now reentered, carrying a jar in her hands. She pressed it on Jack.
"Um… what is it?" He asked suspiciously.
"It be a jar of dirt. Davy Jones can't set foot on land once but every ten years. You carry land with you, he can't set foot… or tentacle… on you."
"A jar. Of dirt."
"Do you want me to take it back?
"No." He hugged it firmly to his chest, while Tia Dalma winked at me. She and I both understood the concept of "comfort medicine," it seemed. "Now, Tia Dalma?"
"Yes."
"Can you tell us where the Dutchman is?" Jack asked eagerly.
"Yes," she sighed, though, as if she didn't really want to. She brought out a large jar of claws, and began to chant. Then, "The Dutch, the Dutch!" She cried, and released the claws onto a map of the ocean.
Jack looked hard at the map, and appeared to be memorizing the location of every claw. "That one's the closest." He said, finally. "Let's go."
We began to file back out of the cabin, but I lagged behind. I believed I had just found my use for all the gold from the Island of the Dead. Quietly taking off my rucksack, and keeping in mind all pirates' keen sense of treasure, I walked into Tia Dalma's back room, and handed it to her. She looked inside, curiously, then gasped.
"Catherine Jones, I don't be needing…"
"Yes, you do. At least take it as payback for when… for when you helped me." She studied me, hard. Then lifted the gold chain out of the rucksack, put it around her neck, and handed the rest back to me.
"I thank you for de gift. It matches, wonderfully, do it not?" She gave me another warm embrace, and then I heard a call from the longboat.
I headed out the door. This time, Jack had the oars. And I knew what he was thinking. They were going after the Flying Dutchman. Tonight.
The longboat made magnificent speed back to the "Pearl," and Jack ordered full speed ahead in a northeasternly direction. We had been going only about fifteen minutes when we slowed to a drift, and Jack order the anchor weighed.
The devastation we were looking at was horrible. Clearly, a seastorm had recently been through, and the sailors had had no time to prepare. It was an ideal target for "The Flying Dutchman," as most of its sailors would just be freshly dead, and not yet gone to their eternal resting place.
"Will, please don't go aboard that ship. This is the last time- I'm begging you." I grabbed his arm and wrapped it between my own two, as if just holding on to him would make him stay.
"Catherine, I've got to. I've got to get this damned key." At the mention of the key, my mind went into panic mode. Before I could say anything, Jack had come up to the pair of us, and handed Will the oars to one of the rowboats. It was too late. Jack had already got Will mixed up in this plan… and I was helpless to anything about it. Resisting the urge to stab Jack Sparrow with his own sword, I walked with Will to the rowboat. I only had a few seconds left, so I had to make them count. "Will. If you use your sword, go for the gut, not the heart. Also, they're terrified of fire. Please, don't get yourself killed!"
He started to lower himself. "I won't, Catherine… I'll just go in, get the key, and be right back, I promise." It was futile. He had no idea. I reached my hand out to him trying to touch him, anything. This would probably be the last time I saw him. He paused the lowering process, grabbed my hand, and kissed it. Then he let himself drop the rest of the way into the ocean, and rowed at a furious pace toward the shipwreck.
I held my hand up to my own lips, and back up a few paces. I wanted to go below deck, but I couldn't. I had to watch this, some strange perversion in me wanted to watch Will's death…
I watched as the "Flying Dutchman" emerged from the sea. I watched as the mutated crew began to go through the boat. And then I watched, as, miraculously, a blaze of fire lit up the night. I laughed with glee. He was going to win! By God, he was going to get out of there! The blaze lasted for a few minutes, then went out, along with all my hopes of ever seeing Will Turner ever again.
I ran to the edge of the ship, and howled to the wind, "NOOO!" The wind carried my scream all the way around me, all the way to the shipwreck, all the way to "The Flying Dutchman."
I saw the familiar process begin. All the dead men were being lined up, and asked whether they were to be sent to their resting place, or to delay it for a while and work for Davy Jones. I wanted to shout to them "Don't choose him! Even hell is better than him!" But so often, too often, the sailors chose to delay their judgment. I saw one splash, and felt hopeful. One brave soul had chosen to die with honor. But there were no more. Minutes went by, and there were no more splashes.
Then, suddenly, the deck of the "Pearl" was overcome with a great fishy odor. I gagged and turned around to see the back of my father, Davy Jones. Beside him, stood a dazed Will Turner. In front of him, a terrified Jack Sparrow.
The voice was deep and gurgly. "This boy has just said he was to be your replacement, Jack. What did you say to weasel him into it?"
"Hardly anything at all. He did it for love."
Davy Jones spat. Love. He hated the concept. He had personally torn his own heart out because of it. Because of my mother. Jack was now being clever, associating Will with love. I sidled around the edge of the ship, slowly, to where the crew was gathered, and stood by Mr. Gibbs. He squeezed my hand encouragingly, but I knew there was no real hope in him.
"As much as I'd like a young, fit man like this for my crew, Jack Sparrow, it is you who's debt must be repaid. Not his." Davy's tentacles moved threateningly.
"Ah, see? That's what I thought we could talk about. Exchanging one? For the other."
I gasped, and Mr. Gibbs put more pressure on my hand, warning me to stay silent. Especially me.
"One soul is not worth the exact same as another, Jack Sparrow. I'd say you'd run for, about… one hundred. This boy here? Three. So that makes…" He made a popping noise with his mouth, "ninety-seven souls to go. Am I right?"
"Well then, I suggest this. You pull your little beastie off me, and give me three days to come up with the rest of the ninety-seven. Plus, you get dear old lover boy here."
It was that word, love, again, that did it. "Jack Sparrow? I accept." Davy shook hands with Jack, leaving his completely covered in fish slime. Then Davy laughed. "Although, I do think I'm getting the better bargain. I get to corrupt a loved one, get one hundred souls instead of one, and set Jack Sparrow on the rest of the world." He laughed heartily, and prepared to take leave of the "Black Pearl."
My mind was racing, my heart was too. I couldn't let this happen. Perhaps I had spent too much time in a boy's disguise, perhaps I was getting too overconfident now that I had people who cared about me. But I would not. Let. This. Happen!
Mr. Gibbs seemed to sense what I was about to do, and tried to restrain me, but I broke through even his strong arms.
"Jack Sparrow, you BASTARD!!" I screamed, breaking through the entire crew, who it seemed were all trying to hold me back. I rammed through them all, my adrenaline pumping fast now. "Who the HELL do you think you are? Who made YOU God and gave YOU the right to contract other people over to eternal suffering?!?! Who gave YOU the right to RUIN people's LIVES?!?! You did it to ME, Jack Sparrow, but you're sure as HELL not going to do it to WILL!!"
I froze, then. I remembered where I was, and who was behind me. Davy Jones had turned around, and Will had awoken out of his daze. Davy Jones' entire crew was back on the "Pearl." The adrenaline suddenly left me, and I stood there, still staring into Jack Sparrow's face.
"Davy, old chum, what say I only owe you, two, maybe three now?"
"I say twenty Jack Sparrow. And I also say, you are one lucky man. Devious, but lucky. I almost wish you were on my crew."
I felt a gruff pair of arms take hold of me, and being to drag me backward. "NO! NO! NO!" I screamed, feeling furious at myself for being so stupid. My hands were then tied in front of me, as well as my feet, and I was soon set in a boat, opposite Will Turner, who was similarly tied.
"Catherine?"
"Will, it would probably be best if you didn't talk to me right now."
He nodded, then said. "You were right."
I stared at him. "You kissed my hand."
He stared back. "You defended me."
We both said at the same time, "No one's ever done that before."
We were on the way to facing the horrors of our lives, but were both blushing furiously.
