I twirled my now empty teacup around my fingers anxiously. My mother and I sat at the meeting table, which was now empty with the exception of our tea setting, waiting for the meeting to begin.

"Is—" I began to ask, before she cut me off.

"She'll be here," Mother reassured me for the easily the eighteenth time. "It takes awhile to get here, and it must always be very late at night. You know this."

"I know," I sighed impatiently. "I'm just anxious for it to begin."

"Don't fret," she said, calmly sipping her tea. "This time you are here mostly to observe, so just be patient and take it all in."

I agreed, trying my best to calm the racing of my heart. This all but failed entirely, especially when Elizabeth finally arrived.

"So sorry I'm late," she apologized, rushing towards the table. She stopped in her tracks upon seeing me. "Oh," she said, her brow furrowed in confusion. "What's this?" she asked my mother.

"I'm allowing Anna to take part in our meetings," she explained, motioning for Elizabeth to take a seat at her side. "She's always been privy to what we discuss, and she has helped significantly in our search for answers. She's nearly grown now, and I think it's high time she has a say in our actions."

Elizabeth was seated, gazing at me with an uncertain look that made me feel desperate to keep my place at this table. Quickly, I blurted, "Don't worry, I won't tell Henry a thing."

"You can't," she swiftly countered in agreement. "Nothing that we say here leaves this room, understood?"

I nodded emphatically. Satisfied by my compliance, Elizabeth then turned to Mother. "Then, I trust your discretion." She then cocked her head to the side. "Upon leaving here earlier, Henry told me that you said that a man was here inquiring about the Chest? Who was this?"

Elizabeth, who had been dubbed the Pirate King nearly twenty years ago and was thereby the manager of all affairs of Shipwreck Island, was kept abreast of all developments, especially those concerning her husband, Will Turner. Surely hearing this news caused her significant alarm.

"That was a lie," Mother assured her. "Henry walked in on me telling Anna that she could come to the meetings, so I had to make something up. Clearly it worked, but I unwisely chose a sensitive topic, and for that I do apologize."

"So…no one has been asking about the Chest?"

"No one besides Blackbeard, but he's been dead for years now," she said.

Elizabeth poured some tea for herself and settled into her chair. "That's a relief. I've already had to dye my hair to prevent recognition from the British once England regained its stronghold in the Caribbean. We don't need yet another fiasco on our hands."

Mother, who had been the one to dye her natural, sun-bleached golden hair a dark brown shade a few years ago, smirked, tossing her own black curls over her shoulder. "I happen to think it looks nice."

Elizabeth snorted. "Of course you do." She took a long sip of her tea, and then said, "I asked Jefferson to chart a route out to sea that crosses the Bountiful over where the Dutchman lies. He's reported as of two days ago that the Bountiful is always veered off course every time he attempts the route, which means that the current still holds strong."

Mother nodded slowly. "I expected as much."

"Any developments on your end?" Elizabeth asked, looking between me and Mother.

Mother gave a small smile to me, permitting me to speak at the table. "Go on," she said encouragingly. "Say what you found out."

I took a deep breath, then nervously said, "Well, according to the confines of Calypso's original curse upon the Dutchman, land is a safe haven of return once every ten years, yes?" Both women nodded. I gulped, then continued, "And if we look back at the Kraken, Uncle Jack—I mean, Jack Sparrow—"

Mother chuckled. "It's just us, Anna. You aren't being tested."

I gave a breathy laugh, then calmed myself once more. "Jack was only safe from the Kraken when he was on land. Many myths and legends speak of land as a refuge from sea curses. I've found accounts from Scandinavia, Africa, one out of the Devil's triangle…"

"What she's trying to say," Mother interjected, "Is that land is at least temporary protection from evils within the ocean, it would appear. So, we figure that we will finally have answers within the month."

Elizabeth nodded. "The second Return Day." Shaking her head in disbelief, she said, "I can't believe it's already been yet another ten years."

Mother's face darkened as she cast her eyes downwards into her cup. "I can."

Elizabeth laid a hand on her forearm. "You know I didn't mean it that way. I know how tirelessly you have been working to bring them back."

I tried to encourage her as well, "Aye, and we decided years ago to wait for Return Day to provide us answers. We know that Will will be safe from whatever dangers are preventing him from telling us what is keeping them hostage once he arrives on land."

"It's just one more month," Elizabeth said, branching off of my thought. "We've waited this long, we can wait one more month."

Mother nodded after a time, then quietly said, "Let's recant all that we know so far, just to make sure that we aren't missing anything."

Elizabeth and I exchanged a glance, both knowing the tale by heart at this point. I was certain that at every minute of every day, my mother was recanting the story in her head, trying to think of any other explanation as to what happened and coming up with the same fruitless results every time. But if it made her feel better to discuss it aloud with us for what must have been the thousandth time, we would take part.

The story, with all of its many unsolved facets, went as follows:

James Norrington, my father, was an undead soul sailing with about two dozen other undead souls aboard the Flying Dutchman, serving beneath the command of Captain Will Turner, Elizabeth's husband and Henry's father. My mother was at one time an apprentice to a woman named Tia Dalma, a bayou soothsayer who was later revealed to actually be the sea goddess Calypso, bound in human form by her jilted lover and previous captain of the Dutchman, Davy Jones. Upon being freed by Hector Barbossa as a strategic move for the pirates to win the War on Piracy, Calypso split her powers with Rose in order to never again be bound in human form, rendering her immortal and with the ability to control the seas. When her true form was realized, she agreed to serve aboard the Dutchman, finally uniting the powers of the soul ferrying Captain (now in the form of Will) and the sea goddess Calypso (Rose).

While onboard, Rose fell in love with James. They married and produced me. Though they were immortal, I was not. Thankfully, many of the rooms within the Dutchman were water-resistant, thereby allowing for my survival when the ship would travel through the depths of the ocean to reach Davy Jones's Locker or return to Earth. For three years I lived with my parents aboard, until the first Return Day, as it had been dubbed by a young and eager Henry. On Return Day, which occurred once every ten years, Will could go ashore to be with Elizabeth and their son, as was the original accords of the curse laid out by Calypso to Davy Jones. Was it fair? Absolutely not. But it was the only way for Will to remaining living, and he humbly took whatever opportunity he had to be with his family, however limited.

Mother, Father and I also went ashore that day, basking in the celebration of our families finally being united. Though I cannot remember it, it was spoken of as a joyous time, especially as it was the first memory Henry had of meeting his father. When sunset called us back to the Dutchman for another ten year-long engagement, we made sail out of Shipwreck Harbor and back towards the horizon to disappear with the setting sun into the Locker, as was custom.

But something was lying in wait for us as we ventured out further and further. Never would we make our descent, for something or someone had taken control of the Dutchman and began to drag the ship to the bottom of the ocean floor. The crew desperately tried to break themselves free. Father, as First Mate to Will and a former Navy Admiral, led the crew into every defensive strategy he could think of, but it was as if the ship was acting on its own volition. As the seawater began to pour over the side of the ship onto the deck, all looked hopeless. Father retrieved me, placed me in my mother's arms, and ordered us to leave the ship to keep me safe, as there would be no way I would survive being dragged beneath the waves.

Mother instinctively obeyed, using her powers to envelop us inside a pocket beneath the waves to steer us as quickly as we could back to Shipwreck Island. The sun had fully dissipated by the time she was able to carry me to a high enough bluff towards where the ship had tried to sail, and the Dutchman by that time was fully submerged beneath the ocean. So sudden was our retreat that Mother couldn't recall just where the Dutchman was taken down. We sought refuge at the fortress in Shipwreck Cove, where Elizabeth and Henry had just returned from seeing us off. Together, they plotted to find the Dutchman and find any means by setting them free by whatever was keeping them.

I was left with Mathilde Davis, who had by that time become Henry's regular yet increasingly bitter nanny whenever Elizabeth or Rose was preoccupied with other important business, while Mother, Elizabeth, Henry, and a few trusted men from Elizabeth's commissioned ship the Bountiful took a small frigate to look search for the ship. Mother would channel her energy into pushing aside spots of the ocean as deep as she could to try searching for any signs of the Dutchman. Finally, after days of futile searching, Mother caught a glimpse of just the tip of the Dutchman's mast protruding from the ocean that she was able to blast back. She then tossed herself into the waves, using her powers to lower herself downwards towards it, then manipulating the water to force it up to the surface.

As water poured off the deck and Mother caught her breath, she was raised to her feet by none other than my father, who immediately began firmly yelling at her to return to shore at once. The Dutchman had been raised within just a few meters of the frigate where Elizabeth and Henry stood watching this all take place. Chaos erupted on deck once Will saw his wife and child onboard, and he immediately ordered Elizabeth to take Henry below deck where he would be safer. Elizabeth obeyed, but Henry resisted, crying out to his father that he would someday find him again before Elizabeth's strength ultimately bested his and he was forced below deck. Will then joined my father by my mother's side and began to insist that she take the frigate back to land at once.

"No!" she protested. "Not until you tell me what's happening. What's keeping you here?"

"We're tethered to the bottom of the ocean," Will replied. "Go! It's up to you to find a way to free us."

Mother shook her head, not understanding. "What do you mean? Who could have possibly tethered you?"

"We cannot say," Will barked. "Please just go before they capture you as well."

"Who?!" she cried. "I can't help you unless you tell me who did this!"

"Rose," my father said, cupping her face with his hands. "You must obey orders and go. Do not return to us until you have a thorough plan of rescue. Do you understand?"

"How will I know where to begin?" she asked.

James and Will exchanged a glance, then Will said cryptically, "Begin at the end."

Just then, the ship's body shuddered, and Father then tossed my Mother overboard, knowing that with her powers, she would be safe. The Dutchman once again was lowered into the waves below, out of reach of my mother's help. She defeatedly climbed back aboard the frigate, and reluctantly turned the ship towards land, where she poured into research to try to figure out who could have possibly taken the ship and the meaning behind Will's words; Begin at the end.

For months, Rose, Elizabeth, and Henry worked seemingly without end. During this time, Teague came to visit his old haunts, and was astonished to find his daughter and granddaughter ashore. Mother opted not to tell him about what had befallen her ship, and waited until he left on another voyage to continue her studies. This was much to the chagrin of Henry as well, who was passionate about adventuring with Rose's half-brother, the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow. Rose hadn't seen her brother in years, but she decided that even if he too one day came to Shipwreck, she would keep the situation a secret from both members of her family. She knew these two men, both of whom shared a passion for acting completely on impulse, or, as they liked to say, "improvisation," and also shared a keen adoration for Rose. If either of them knew about the danger the Dutchman was in, they would instantly launch into a full rescue initiative. She would instead never let on that there was anything wrong and heed Will and James's advice to fully put together a plan before attempting a rescue.

A year passed, and Mother began to grow desperate as nothing changed. Her research led to dead ends, and her crew, Captain, and husband were still trapped and completely powerless. Feeling as though she was letting them down, she one day decided to adopt her brother and father's methods of improvisation and make an attempt to save the Dutchman, despite having no plans whatsoever.

"I can't just sit here and watch as Anna gets another year older without her father. I've got to do something," Mother had tried to reason with a reluctant Elizabeth.

"You are doing something," Elizabeth reassured her. "Just stick to the plan. I will work twice as hard to help you find a solution, I promise. I just can't help but feel that Will wouldn't have given those orders for you to stay away unless it was incredibly dangerous."

"What could they possibly do to me?" Rose asked. "I have the powers of Calypso! Nothing can harm me."

"And you think Will doesn't know that? Rose, they wanted you off that ship for a reason. They must know something."

But Mother refused to listen. "Maybe if I go by myself, not putting any other living souls in danger…"

"Rose, stop!" Elizabeth ordered. "Why won't you heed their warnings?"

"Because I can't raise Anna by myself!" she blurted, her shoulders suddenly shaking as sobs overtook her.

"I'm raising Henry by myself." Elizabeth took a moment, then placed her hands on Rose's shoulders encouragingly. "You can. And you must. I know you lived a parentless life that you would never want for your daughter. I know how painful this is, believe me, more than anyone. But our first and foremost role now are as mothers. It kills me to say this, but at the end of the day those men out there can defend themselves. Anna cannot. Henry cannot. One parent is one parent more than you had. If you rush into danger, you might be denying Anna even that much."

Mother finally conceded, telling Elizabeth that she would continue the slow journey towards uncovering the truth, though this was a boldfaced lie. Her confidence still elevated by her immortality and powers, decided then to go behind her back and take the same frigate and few men back out to the ship's resting place that night. They set sail, despite an impending storm creating rough, choppy waters, and only when the ship was far enough out to sea did Henry make his presence known; He had stowed away upon following Rose out to the docks to board the ship that night.

Though Rose was furious at his persistence and certainly didn't want to endanger him, she ultimately allowed for him to stay instead of turning back, telling him to stay below decks. She then raised the Dutchman again, though this time was another matter entirely. She was able to raise it from her position on the frigate's deck, and as it crested the surface of the waves, the ship began firing at the frigate immediately. Rose struggled to see any member of the crew aboard through the chaos of the smoke and flying cannonballs. The frigate, completely undermanned and inept to take any significant hits from the Dutchman, sank within minutes. The lower decks filled with water first, and as Rose scrambled to try to keep the vessel afloat, she had completely forgotten that she had ordered Henry to remain below in these now-completely filled compartments of the ship. She let go of her resistance to race to find him, thereby allowing the ship to continue its decent into the ocean, where it broke apart due to the pressure of the waves and the damage it had procured during the battle. Frantically, Rose searched for Henry in the pounding, chaotic waters. When she finally did locate him, he was unconscious, having taken in a significant amount of seawater when he was trapped in the decks below. The Dutchman, having attained its objective, lowered back into its watery prison, and Rose was left no choice but to own up to her failures and return to Shipwreck. She, Henry, and the only surviving man of the three she brought aboard were transported back to the Cove, where they were treated at her storeroom.

Henry, blessedly, was revived, but not before a frightened and furious Elizabeth found them within the storeroom. Although Henry fully admitted his fault, Elizabeth was so livid with my mother's stubbornness that she could barely look at her. Upon putting Henry to bed, she returned to the storeroom, where Mother sat, despondent, discouraged, and still sopping wet.

"I thought I could do it," she said. "I never anticipated…"

"What. That what Will told you could possibly be correct?" Elizabeth shook her head angrily. "You're a fool." After a moment of tense silence, she then quietly stated, "This is getting to be too much. All that Henry ever talks about is Will and plans to get Will back. He loves him so much…but, when I at one time asked you if I should have been keeping Will's identity mostly a mystery to Henry…I now see that the answer was yes. I should have listened to my own intuition. This was a mistake."

"Elizabeth, no…"

"Yes," she insisted. "Rose, for once, we are equals. We are both mothers who have lost our husbands and are trapped on land, relatively powerless to save them. I have just as much at stake as you do. I am the sole parent of my child at the moment, and it is my job to parent. And as a parent, I choose to keep my son safe. The only way I can keep him safe is to keep him out of this. That's why…that's…why I am moving out of the fortress."

Mother's eyes went wide upon hearing this. "You're…what?"

Elizabeth stood, grabbing a roll of parchment and laying it on a crate in front of where Mother sat. She rolled it out, revealing a plan for a building. "On the westernmost point of the island, I will commission a lighthouse to be built. That's what I can do to help. It's not much, but I pray that Will can see its light each night and know that he is not alone. I will be his lighthouse. It will be his beacon when things get most dark. And there, I will raise Henry. Away from…all of this," she said, motioning around the storeroom. "I will keep my own research going, I will help you as much as I can, and we can meet once a week here to discuss whatever we discover. But I choose not to speak to Henry about Jack, or Will, or any sort of rescue attempt to Henry any longer. He's reckless, like both me and Will were. He's all I have left. I cannot risk him doing something foolish and losing his life. And I hope that you also respect my wishes. Don't involve him. You may raise Anna however you see fit, just leave my son out of this."

The lighthouse was built, Henry and Elizabeth left, and business continued as usual as the years passed. The Cove remained a pirate supply and safe haven, the town continued a steady growth in its economy, Elizabeth presided over it all, and Rose kept her storeroom and hospital going. Research took place in the meantime behind Henry's back, and the weekly meetings between the two women regularly occurred. Mother visited the Dutchman's resting place on her own in a dinghy only one time three years the shipwreck, finding a powerful current surrounding the area of the imprisonment, keeping all passersby unable to get close.

Every development once again lead to dead ends, the truth remained concealed from Henry and Teague, Jack remained missing, and mother continuously kept me abreast of all of it. Henry and I continued to grow towards adulthood, and the stagnancy of the Dutchman's trapping had become a common part of our lives, though it continued to eat away at all of us in our own ways.

I sometimes thought I could I remember him. My father. Mother would tell me everything she could about him, as though her words would keep my very basic memories of him from the age of three alive. But for the most part, he was just a hazy memory from the past that was more abstract than literal. Mother would say that my face resembled his, and that I shared his green eyes, but when I would look at myself in a looking glass to try and find some trace of him, I could only see a stranger. James Norrington was just a name of man who shared my blood, nothing more, and I know that this fact would have killed my mother were she not already immortal.

After we together recounted all of this, there was an uncomfortably long silence, as once again we had hit a dead end. In these moments, I debated on whether or not to tell them that Henry might have stumbled upon a solution. I didn't know this to be completely true, and if for some reason our meanings had gotten crossed, I couldn't risk accidentally revealing to him that the rest of us together had been plotting a rescue, concealing information from him for ten years now. So…I said nothing.

Elizabeth sighed, then finally said, "So…we wait for Return Day?"

"Aye," Mother said sullenly. "We wait for Return day."