Starkey steered through the mist cautiously. Following the mini-storm, a stifling fog had descended upon the island. Starkey could barely see the deck, and the only way he knew that the ship wasn't flying was the sound of the water slapping the hull as the ship sliced through the icy water.

He wouldn't, he reflected bitterly, be in this soggy situation if he hadn't pointed out the little figures on the shore to the captain. They had lived for a long time believing that they were the only people on the island, but a little over an hour ago there had been noises coming from the shore, accompanied by little specks that had to be people. So the captain had ordered Starkey to get the ship to shore to investigate. And as if things could get any worse, the figures had been seen on the shores of the Mermaid Lagoon. Starkey's hands trembled at the thought.

"OI!"

Starkey jumped at the sound, jerking the wheel violently to starboard. Hastily righting himself lest one of the other crew members had seen him, he squinted vainly into the fog, attempting to see who had shouted out. His hands trembled again, wondering if maybe it was a mermaid or something trying to lure him into the water to suck the life out of him and eat his arms hole and then-

"HEY! OVER HERE!"

There was a distant splash, and Starkey hesitated. The disembodied voice didn't sound like a girl, but it didn't sound like any of the hardened crew members either. It had to be someone on shore, or even in the water.

"WHO'S THERE?" Starkey bellowed back.

"NEVER MIND WHO!" The voice hollered. "I'M ON MAROONER'S ROCK! THE BLOODY TIDE IS RISING!"

Starkey paused again. There was no way to be sure if it was a mermaid or not unless he actually sailed over to Marooner's Rock to have a look. And even if it was a mermaid, he told himself half-heartedly, there was no way it'd be able to get aboard a big ship like the Jolly Roger.

"ON MY WAY!" Starkey bellowed shortly, then hesitated once more. "WHICH WAY DID YOU SAY YOU WAS?"

"Uh…" The voice hesitated. "JUST FOLLOW MY VOICE!"

Hoping that at least most of the crew was below deck, Starkey directed the boat towards where he thought the disembodied voice seemed to be coming from. When uncertain of his direction in the shapeless fog, he called out again, and the voice, drawing ever-closer, would reassure him of his direction. As he cautiously progressed, the suffocating fog slowly rose, enough so that he could see the empty deck sprawled before him. Starkey opened his mouth to call out to the stranger again, but the marooned victim beat him to it.

"Hold up, I can practically touch the hull," The voice called out, considerably closer now. Starkey noticed that it had a slight high lilt to it. He wondered how young the stranger was.

"I'll send a rope over," Starkey muttered, hurrying over to the side and, keeping true to his word, tossed a long coil of rope over the side. For a moment, he could only see a few metres of rope before it was swallowed by the fog, but then it suddenly pulled taut and he could hear grunts of effort from somewhere within the mist. Starkey hauled the rope up, fervently hoping he wasn't about to pull a mermaid onto the deck. After a few longer moments of grunting, muttered cursing and heaving, a sodden hand appeared over the side, followed by a bedraggled head and body. With a grunt, the stranger swung a leg over the side. There was a dull thud as the momentum from the swing brought the newcomer over the side and onto the deck. Starkey watched with a mixture of amusement and suspicion.

"What you say your name was?" He demanded, scratching his head.

By this point, some of the crew, curious to see what the cause for Starkey's bellowing and their current lack of movement was, were clambering out onto deck and peering curiously at the newcomer.

He was no more than a boy, hardly over fifteen. He was tall and wiry, though not much of his body could be seen beneath his long, wet leather coat. His baggy white shirt had been saved from the water by the coat and Starkey could see a leather belt strapped around his shoulder and the handle of a sword behind his shoulder. His trousers, sporting many tinkering trinkets, were also thick and leathery, his boots made of some sort of hide. His dark brown eyes shone brilliantly beneath a thin, tangled fringe of sodden dark hair. Flyaway whisps of salty hair barely escaped the leather tri-cornered hat squeezed hard down on his head. Every visible inch of his skin was smeared with dirt and, in some places, adorned with thin cuts.

"I didn't," The boy said carefully.

The crew watched expectantly. They had all gathered now, watching curiously.

"So what is your name, then?" Starkey pressed. The boy started, as though he hadn't realised what they asked of him.

"Jackkkkkk," He answered promptly, making a funny choking noise at the last part.

Starkey's jaw sagged stupidly. "Ja… ckkkkkk?" He repeated, imitating the choking noise with a confused expression.

"Jack," The boy corrected himself with a hasty cough. "Jack Sparrow."

His teeth were surprisingly white against his dirty face.

Jax could hardly believe that the fairy's crazy plan had actually worked.

Following a quick 'make-up' session, the mermaids had escorted her out to the rock in the lagoon and the one that saved Jax convinced her 'sisters' to keep watch in a vigilant circle around the rock in case the crocodile got any ideas, but Jax had still kept a wary and uneasy eye on the rising water. The croc looked heavy enough to crush all seven mermaids in one go, and after that she didn't particularly fancy her chances of survival. The fairy darted off and returned after a few nerve-wracking minutes with a simple message:

Now.

Jax had yelled out until she heard a reply. She knew the fairy wouldn't have given her the green light unless an idiot was manning the helm, and sure enough the helmsman appeared to be an idiot enough to comply to Jax's wishes and haul her aboard. The fairy hidden safely under her hat, she stood nervously under the scrutiny of the crew, praying that none of them would recognize her.

"What you say your name was?" The helmsman asked her again, scratching his head and looking rather like a gorilla.

Jax was trying very hard not to laugh at the sight. "I didn't," She replied, trying to keep her voice as even as possible.

The crew continued to gaze at her and for a fearful moment she wondered if they had recognized her. Then the helmsman spoke again: "So what is your name, then?"

Jax could have hit herself in the head. Of course she was meant to reply. "Jackkkk," She said, making an odd choking noise as she caught herself on the last bit. She heard the fairy's muffled tinkling from beneath her hat: Careful. Of course he was right: Jax had just come dangerously close to telling the pirates her real name. That wouldn't be so great.

"Ja… ckkkk?" The helmsman repeated, looking remarkably like a gorilla again.

This time Jax couldn't resist the grin. "Jack," She corrected herself. Then, on a whim: "Jack Sparrow."

"And where, Jack, did you come from?" The helmsman pressed.

"My ship," Jax replied almost pompously. "The Black Pearl."

"And what did you say your position was on said ship?" The helmsman continued. The questions were beginning to unnerve Jax, but she could see from the look on his face that he had no idea she was stealing from a fictional character.

"Ca… cabin boy," Jax said after a pause. She had dearly wanted to reply with 'captain', but even she knew when to draw the line. A fourteen year old captain was hardly believable. Better to just keep it simple, she decided.

The helmsman suddenly roared with unexpected laughter that made Jax flinch. Spittle sprayed her face and she wiped it away in disgust. "Cabin boy, eh?" He grinned nastily. Jax counted at least six silver teeth. "We been looking for one of them."

"Is that so?" said Jax unhappily, pursing her lips as she wiped yet more of the foul pirate's spit away from her face. Her gaze wandered unbidden to where she knew the island to be. Peter's time was running out.

"It'll be the cap'n you'll be wantin' ter see," Another pirate piped up, and with a brisk nod the helmsman gripped her arm and hauled her away harshly, not waiting for her consent. She instinctively readied herself for protest but caught herself just in time.

Keep your head, she heard the fairy's faint voice tinkle from beneath her hat, as though reading her thoughts. She disguised the sound with a fake cough.

The helmsman led her below decks and paused in front of a set of closed double doors. He knocked politely, and following a cool, collected call of 'enter', they did indeed enter. Jax swallowed and prepared herself.

The captain's quarters was a dark room, illuminated only by a shabby, flickering chandelier that swung over their heads. A fine oak table was spread with papers and an untouched harpsichord skulked in the corner, half swallowed by shadows. It took a while for Jax's eyes to adjust, but when they did she almost immediately found the dark, hulking silhouette of the feared captain in the shadows. He was sitting at the desk and poring over a book. Her book, she realized. She bit her lip angrily when she saw the hole in the cover, but held herself in check.

Ninth looked up and Jax saw his dark eyes roll from the helmsman to Jax, at which point they flickered with curiosity. "And what do we have here, Mister Starkey?"

"Found 'im on Marooner's Rock, sir," Starkey explained dutifully. "Says he's a cabin boy."

Ninth's gaze did not waver from Jax's face and for a petrifying moment she wondered if he could see beneath the layer of hair and muck that hid her face. "And what did he say his name was?"

Perhaps it was her imagination, but Ninth seemed to say the words 'he' and 'his' with a sort of sarcastic tone.

"Jack Sparrow, sir," Starkey replied.

"Thank you, Starkey," Ninth murmured, putting his book in a drawer beneath his desk and resting his chin on his sausage fingers, eyeing Jax with something almost like amusement. Jax swallowed. "That will be all."

Starkey saluted and marched out. Jax stood awkwardly for a moment before Ninth gestured silently for her to sit. She was careful to make sure her every move was distinctly masculine, afraid that his sharp eye would pick up the slightest hint of anything feminine about her.

"So," He said in a voice so soft it was almost a purr. "Tell me, Mister Sparrow. How did you end up on Marooner's Rock?"

Jax's tongue jumped to the most familiar tale she knew. "Mutiny, sir," She explained darkly.

"Mutiny?" Ninth repeated, thick eyebrow shooting up in surprise. "Against a cabin boy?"

Jax shook her head hastily. She had forgotten that. "No, sir," She said hurriedly. "Against our captain, Barbossa. I argued that the mutiny was wrong so they marooned me."

"So basically," Ninth said critically. "You managed to get your ship here of all places and then your crewmates marooned you for having a conscience, is that right?"

"'Here of all places'?" Jax repeated innocently. "What do you mean?"

Ninth's eyes narrowed suspiciously, as though only now contemplating that this stranger might be telling the truth. "Do you know where we are?"

Jax looked at the captain as though he were crazy, enjoying this opportunity to patronize him. "We're on a ship, sir."

Ninth shook his head irritably. "Do you know what seas we're sailing?" He pressed, apparently annoyed.

"Blue ones, sir," Jax replied innocently.

Apparently having given up on this useless new young charge, Ninth shook his head again and stood, hands clasped behind his back as he casually swaggered towards her. She had to tip her head back to see him properly. "So tell me, Mr Sparrow," He purred softly. "How is it that you saw the ship when it is barely possible to see five feet in front of oneself in this troublesome fog?"

Jax allowed herself a small moment of satisfaction: she had thought of that while Starkey had made his blind way towards her. "Heard the water on the hull, sir," Jax smiled knowingly, tapping her temple. "Thought there must be a ship nearby so I screamed myself hoarse trying to get its attention."

"And how," Ninth continued, now pacing in circles around her. "Is it that we never noticed you on the rock before?"

"Well, see, at first I was just dropped off on the island," Jax explained. "Hid in the jungle, things went iffy and I thought I might be able to get out here if I got to that ship I always saw in the distance."

"How did you not drown while swimming?" Ninth demanded, eyeing her heavy coat pointedly.

Jax supressed a grin: she had been looking forward to this bit. "Sea turtles, mate," She flashed a grin. "I found two in the water. Weak little fellows, barely alive, but they had enough energy to swim me out to the rock after I strapped them to my feet with some leaves."

"Do you know what lies in these waters?" Ninth continued.

Jax shook her head. "I don't trust water I can't see my own feet in."

"How is it you survived in the jungle?"

Jax felt her fingers twitch with nerves. She had to get this part right. "Met a bloke," She shrugged simply.

Ninth stopped his pacing and paused behind her. "A bloke," He repeated softly. "Man or boy?"

"Boy," Jax agreed. "'Bout my age."

"Normal boy?"

"Nah," Jax snorted, fighting the urge to grin.

"Wonderful boy?"

Jax shrugged, gently toying with an ornament on the desk. "You could say that."

"I give in," Ninth said almost testily. "Who is he?"

Jax shrugged again. "Called himself Peter Pan, sir." She nodded at the desk. "I understand you're looking for him."