With Katrina

(Sequel to Including Katrina)

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean (characters, plot, dialogue, etc.). Any other tid-bits of creativity, however, are mine… in which I hope you will enjoy. Please be sure to read and review!

Chapter 12

Tia Dalma

When the boats reached the raised house among the swamp grounds, Jack was still shaking. He and Katrina were the first out of the boats and onto the platform with a ladder leading to the house above.

"No worries, mates," Jack tried to say calmly as everyone else stepped out of the boats, "I'll handle this. Tia Dalma and I go way back. Thick as thieves. Nigh inseparable, we are… were… uh, have been… before."

Katrina gave Jack an unconvinced look. After all he was still holding her hand very tightly.

"I'll watch your back," Gibbs offered as Jack and Katrina made way to begin ascending the ladder.

"It's me front I'm worried about," Jack mumbled as he and Katrina reached the porch above, the crew right behind them.

Jack hesitated for a long moment before Katrina finally pulled him into the small wooden house.

There were jars everywhere; some with odd creatures inside, others with multiple parts of a creature. There were also stringed beads and feathers hanging from the rafters and a couple of what seemed to be voodoo dolls here and there. And at the far end of the room, at a table surrounded by candles, sat Tia Dalma.

"Jack Sparrow!" the gypsy nearly cheered as she immediately left the table.

"Tia Dalma!" Jack tried to greet back with as much enthusiasm.

"I always knew de wind was going to blow you back to me one day."

As Jack opened his mouth to comment back, Tia Dalma's caught sight of Katrina. She pushed past Jack, ignoring his attempt to speak, until she stood directly in front of his wife.

"My… such a bright glow comes from widin you, Katrina…. bride of Sparrow."

Katrina looked at the woman apprehensively. "I'm sorry, have we met before?"

Tia Dalma shook her head as her smile grew warmer. She then reached out a hand to brush back a few loose strands of hair, looking deep into Katrina's eyes as she did so. "I see dat you've begun de journey of what your husband want most."

"Aye," Jack spoke up as he nearly skipped over to be next to the two women. "Which is why we're here." He then gestured with his head toward Will. "Could ye help the lad?"

Tia Dalma looked Jack dead in the eye for a long moment with great irritation before obliging and turning to Will with a sudden mysterious interest

"You. You have a touch of destiny about you, William Turner," she said as she moved closer to him.

"You know me?" Will asked in confusion, same as Katrina.

"You want to know me?" she said sweetly as she gazed into Will's eyes.

"There will be no knowing here," Jack broke out between the two before leading Tia Dalma back to the table. "We've come for help and we're not leaving without it. I thought I knew you."

"Not so well as I had hoped," Tia replied to Jack as she took a seat before motioning to Will, "Come."

"Come," Jack echoed as he gestured to the chair by Tia Dalma.

"What service may I do you? Hmm?" Tia Dalma asked as she glided her hand along Will's face. She then stopped and looked up at Jack, "You know I demand payment."

"I brought payment!" Jack said cheerfully as he took a cage imprisoning the cursed monkey from Pintel and sat it on the table. "Look! An undead monkey! Top that!"

With that said, Jack pulled out his pistol and shot the monkey.

Tia Dalma nodded and then opened the cage, freeing the monkey.

"No! You've no idea how long it took us to catch that," Gibbs whined.

"De payment is fair," Tia Dalma ignored Gibbs.

She then took a seat at the head of the table. Will immediately sat at her right as Jack took out the small piece of cloth from his pocket and placed it on the table.

"We're looking for this," Will explained, "and what it goes to."

"Dat compass you bartered from me. It cannot lead you to dis?" Tia Dalma questioned Jack.

Jack didn't reply right away.

Katrina, who stood beside Jack, nodded at Tia Dalma when the gypsy looked to her. "His compass isn't working."

Pintel, and Ragetti couldn't help but laugh a little, and quickly placed a hand over their mouths.

Jack eyed the men before announcing confidently, "My compass works fine."

Tia Dalma had a wide grin on her face as she watched Jack become defensive. "Yes, Jack your compass works. Katrina carries dat truth."

"What?" Katrina asked.

Tia Dalma ignored her question. "De compass cannot lead you to dis?" she asked Jack again as she pointed at the cloth.

"Maybe," Jack offered in reply. "Why?"

"Ahhh…" Tia Dalma smiled all the more knowingly. "I knew it! Jack Sparrow does not know what he wants!"

Jack hesitated under Tia Dalma's stare as he finally realized that she knew about his hallucinations, but he refused to admit anything.

Tia Dalma gave a wink to Jack before speaking to Will again. "Your key goes to a chest… and it is what lies inside de chest you seek, don't it?"

"What is inside?" Gibbs blurted out anxiously.

"Gold? Jewels? Unclaimed properties of a valuable nature?" Pintel asked greedily.

"Nothing bad, I hope," Ragetti added thinking back to what happened last time they went after a great prize.

Tia Dalma simply smiled to herself. "You know of Davy Jones, yes?"

The people around her stayed quiet.

"A man of de sea," she answered. "A great sailor until he ran afoul of dat which vex all men."

"What vexes all men?" Will asked as the gypsy motioned for Katrina to sit to the left of her.

"What, indeed," Tia Dalma turned to Will.

"The sea?" Gibbs asked.

Tia Dalma shook her head.

"Sums!" Pintel guessed.

Tia Dalma shook her head again.

"Dichotomy of good and evil," Ragetti offered.

Everyone looked at Ragetti oddly.

Jack rolled his eyes. "A woman."

Tia Dalma smiled at the pirate's correct answer.

"A woman," the gypsy nodded, taking Katrina's left hand and eyeing her ring for a second before looking directly back at Jack. "He fell in love."

Jack began to feel uneasy again under Tia Dalma's gaze as she said this.

"No-no-no-no," Gibbs spoke up. "I heard it was the sea he fell in love with."

"Same story, different versions, and all are true," the mystic declared before gesturing at herself as she continued, "See, it was a woman, as changing, and harsh, and untamable as de sea. He never stopped loving her, but the pain it caused 'im was too much to live wid… but not enough to cause him to die."

All the men in the room, including Jack and Will, nodded knowingly at what Tia Dalma had said before turning to look at the captain's wife. Katrina shrank under the men's gazes. She knew she didn't fit all the characteristics Tia Dalma had just listed, but she couldn't help but feel as if she had done something wrong from how everyone looked at her.

"What… exactly did he put into the chest?" Will started speaking again.

"Him heart," Tia Dalma answered.

"Literally, or figuratively?" Ragetti asked, unsure of what the gypsy was saying.

"It was not wort' feeling what… small, fleeting joy life brings, and so… him carved out him heart, lock it away in a chest, and hide de chest from de world," Tia Dalma explained. "The key… he keep wid him at all times."

"That was a roundabout way to get to the answer," Jack commented.

"You knew this," Will said with realization as he stood up to Jack.

"I did not," Jack recoiled. "I didn't know where the key was."

Will rolled his eyes in disbelief.

"But now we do," Jack said brightly. "So all that's left is to do is climb aboard the Flying Dutchman, grab the key, you go back to Port Royal and save your bonnie lass, hey!"

Will said nothing as he sat back down with his arms crossed, contemplating on what to do.

"Katrina," Tia Dalma turned to the young woman beside her as Will continued to sit in quiet thought. "Let me take anot'er look at you."

"Why?" Jack asked as the gypsy looked deep into Katrina's eyes again. "What's wrong wi' her?"

"What is it dat you want most in dis world?" Tia Dalma returned in question to the pirate as she stood from the table back to another room.

Stumped at the trick question, Jack took a long moment before solidly answering, "The key." However, after another moment of thought, Jack added, "Then the chest. Eventually me life back wi'out any debt t' settle." When he finished answering, Tia Dalma walked back into the room with a small glass filled to the brim with blue liquid.

"Drink dis," the mystic told Katrina as she handed the glass to her.

Katrina hesitated as she looked to her husband.

"Uh, one moment," Jack intervened with a raised index finger.

Tia Dalma glared at Jack. "'ow bad do you want what you want most?"

Jack eyed Tia Dalma silently for a few seconds. "Terribly bad."

"Enough to 'ave your bride do as I say?"

"Like what?"

Tia Dalma grinned. "Like 'ave her drink dis and--"

"And?"

"And aft'ward no more alcohol?"

Jack went on eyeing the mystic suspiciously. "This ritual o' yours will help me get the key?"

Tia Dalma's grin widened all the more. "De key to what you want most in all de world."

Jack's eyes narrowed. "Is that so?"

"Yes. I promise."

"Very well," Jack, more or less, accepted. "But at least tell me this… what is that in the glass?"

"A chill tea dat will 'elp her be strong. Believe me, Jack… a fierce pat' is laid b'fore you in your quest for de key. Your bride need to be strong for all dat is coming."

"What about the rest o' us?" Pintel spoke up.

Tia Dalma smiled. "You all men. You 'ave strength enough."

Ragetti shook his head fearfully. "Are ye sure?"

Tia Dalma turned her gaze back to Jack. "You do believe in me, don't you, Jack Sparrow?"

Jack caved. "Aye."

Receiving a somewhat approved look from Jack, Katrina hesitantly took the glass to her lips before quickly downing the blue liquid.

"Now, let me see your hand," Tia Dalma said, extending her right hand expecting Jack to obey her.

The pirate captain first gave her his right hand but eventually switched hands knowing he couldn't trick the mystic. Tia Dalma slowly unwrapped his hand and nodded as she recognized the black spot.

Gibbs, however, immediately began dusting himself off, turned in a circle, and then spat on the ground. Pintel and Ragetti quickly did the same.

"My eyesight's as good as ever, just so you know."

Tia Dalma ignored Jack's comment and instead walked over to the back of her shack into another room.

As they waited for Tia Dalma's return, Jack's light fingers, snatched up a ring that lay next to a silver heart-shaped locket on a nearby table.

"Davy Jones cannot make port. Cannot step on land, but once every ten year," she said to Jack as she re-entered the room with a large jar of dirt. "Land is where you are safe, Jack Sparrow, and so you will carry land wid you."

Jack looked at the contents of the jar.

"Dirt. This is a jar of dirt," Jack said dissatisfied.

"Yes," Tia Dalma confirmed.

"Is the… jar of dirt going to help?" the pirate captain asked dubious.

"If you don't want it," Tia Dalma replied in annoyance as she reached out for the jar, "give it back."

"No," Jack cried out, keeping the jar very close.

"Den it helps," Tia Dalma smiled.

After a quiet moment, Will stepped in between the two; he had made a decision about the key.

"It seems we have a need to find the Flying Dutchman," he said to the gypsy.

Tia Dalma nodded and took a seat at her table again. She then collected up a number of crab claws, shook them in her hands as she whispered a spell, and finally dropped them down onto the table. The casting of lots using the crab claws revealed the location of where to find Davy Jones.