Rose found herself in a quiet moment for once…the first in many months. This was not only due to the widespread epidemic on Shipwreck, which had now proliferated and had begun to claim lives of those in poorest health…Rose hadn't stopped moving since her father died. It accompanied the disappearance of her only child, and made her feel a helplessness that she hadn't felt since her days spent blind in the dark, dreary bayou in her youth. Her grief and heartbreak and stress and panic and fury at being unable to find Henry and Anna was enough to drive her mad were she unoccupied otherwise. So in a way, she was glad for the diversion, though inwardly paralyzed with fear that she still hadn't found a remedy for the disease.

She finally allowed herself to stop moving as another sunset approached…another sunset without the green flash which had once been of so much comfort to her. She stood out by the docks of the Cove, her eyes unfocused ahead at the tunnel which led to the rest of the ocean. Beneath it, Will, alone and trapped. Across it, somewhere, her husband and her daughter. Anna hadn't touched the water since yesterday, so she hadn't any way of knowing if James found her…and if he did, how would she react?

Rose closed her eyes, wincing at the pang she felt in her stomach when she thought of him. After realizing where Anna was, Rose transported herself to the beach, emerging from a nearby boathouse. She walked to the tides and waded in up to her waist. She set her eyes dead ahead in the heading where she knew the Dutchman laid. Taking a deep breath, she lifted her arms, creating an envelope of sea water around her that took off, darting through the ocean like a bullet. The envelope broke upon hitting the current which concealed the ship, as was to be expected. She was now fully submerged, her hair floating wildly around her. Focusing in, she tensed her arms and hands, forcing them in front of her and holding back the current. As soon as she did, her arms began to quake with the force and she opened her mouth, releasing an unheard scream into the sea. She thought of Teague. She thought of James. She thought of Will. She thought of Henry. She thought of Anna…Anna.

That did it. The current gave enough for Rose to propel herself inside. Seconds later, she landed on the deck of the Dutchman, her eyes darting wildly around. She knew she had only a brief window of time before the current wall was built up again, or whatever was imprisoning the vessel came for her as well. She saw movement out of the corner of her eyes and spun around, jumping at the sight of her husband, his eyes wild with equal parts fury and fear that she was back here again despite his protests. Without hesitation, she threw her arms around him, using all of her concentration to reform the envelope and together they soared off the Dutchman, through the current, past the ocean floor and burst to the surface of the water with an incoming crashing wave onto the beach of Shipwreck Island.

Together, they gasped for air upon breaking the surface. James was completely disoriented as they washed up on shore, so Rose quickly found her footing, grabbed him by the back of his collar and hoisted him away from the water's edge.

Sides heaving, James struggled to sit up, his eyes blinking and squinting after over a decade of not having seen the sun. "R…Rose…" he gasped, reaching out for her.

Pushing her hair from her eyes, she shifted away from him. "Don't touch me!" she cried, perhaps a bit too forcefully. "This entire island is infected. The longer you're here, the greater risk you run of spreading it."

He recoiled his hand, using it to wipe some of the seawater from his face, then noticing the grey-green hue of his skin, he winced. Blinking a few times, he then sat straighter up on his knees, looking at his surroundings, then at his wife. "Why did you do this?" he asked. Then, rising, he marched back towards the sea. "I have to go back—"

"No!" Rose cried, tossing herself in the middle of his path. "This is not a negotiation. Our daughter is in peril."

Though this stopped him briefly, he shook his head. "I cannot help her."

"YOU WILL HELP HER!" Rose shouted, her rage causing the incoming tide to recede when she raised her voice. "She and Henry have both run away. They've been missing for months, James. I have had no way to find her until now. She touched the water, I have their location now, and yet I cannot get them myself, lest I spread this plague and leave the island to die. It will take weeks to bring them home!"

"Rose," he implored. "Look at me! I'm inhuman. Do you honestly think I could get anywhere without someone trying to hunt me down?"

"Says the man who cannot die," Rose spat, pointing her finger into his chest. As she did, James silently noticed that her hand was bare…just as he had ordered, gone was her ring. Rose saw him see this, and shifted, lowering her hand and her voice. "You don't concern me a bit. Our child, our mortal child is gone. I need you to bring her back to me. And Elizabeth needs Henry."

His gaze leapt from one of her eyes to the other, searching them, calculating his options. "They aren't safe with me," he warned.

"They're worse off with me!" she cried, "And I wouldn't know what perils you face, would I? As you still have yet to tell me anything?" When he said nothing to this, she leaned closer to him, murmuring, "I got you out, James. You're on land. You could end this ridiculous game now and tell me and I would be able to calculate our fight to free Will once you return with Anna and Henry."

James considered this, then gave a slight shake of his head, tightening his jaw resolutely. Rose only sneered at his stubbornness, "Then I have no further use for you," she growled, brushing past him and stomping towards a nearby palm tree. He turned with her, but stayed put.

She pointed down at the spot next to her, ordering him to come to her side. "You can go straight back to your beloved ship once you come back and stay there for all eternity if that's what you so desire," she commanded. "But for now, you will do as I ask."

James kept his eyes focused on the ground. "Rose…your father…" he said. "Did he…?"

"He's dead," she said simply. "And though that reality kills me, I cannot afford to dwell on this with you. Our daughter is alive, James. Go get her..

He shook his head. "I can't do this," he protested again, walking towards her. "If I'm discovered missing, there will be hell to pay."

"If you love our daughter, you will do as I ask!" she repeated insistently.

This made him stop, and though his jaw was clenched in silent fury, he conceded. "Where are they?" he muttered.

"Focus on me, I'll send you there," she said, locking eyes with him. After a moment, she asked, "Can you see it?"

"Yes," he answered her.

"Good," she replied. "Find Henry. Find Anna. Bring them both back to Shipwreck safely. The journey will take weeks, and by that time the illness should have passed. Now go," and with that, she shoved James back into the tree, and he vanished right to where Rose knew Anna was.

Once alone, it took all Rose had in her to keep from collapsing on the beach and sobbing tears of both sorrow and relief. But there was no time for that now. Though she resented the way she now felt about her husband and how he had thrown away their marriage, she felt overwhelming relief. James would find Anna immediately, and she would be safe with him.

Back in the present moment, Rose was stirred from the memory by a coughing fit behind her. At the doorway to the storeroom full of sick patrons stood Elizabeth holding onto the frame weakly.

"Go back inside," Rose scolded her gently, "You shouldn't overexert yourself."

Elizabeth shook her head, then hoarsely replied, "Am I not speaking to the woman who hasn't slept a minute in over two weeks?"

"I don't need to sleep," Rose said. "And even if I did, I'm not sure I could."

Elizabeth read her expression. Knowingly, she replied, "They'll be safe with James. Whenever he has an order to protect, you know as well as I that he will deliver."

"I know," she said, keeping her gaze ahead at the ocean as she absentmindedly brought her hand up to her neck, where she had looped what had once been her wedding ring around the chain that held the vial with the note James had written her so many years ago. "Consider this a promise fulfulled…" Rose knew that James would never go back on his word, and it was that very thought that made her reluctant to ever fully give up her ring, lest he one day decide to fulfill his promise to love and protect her forever once more. "It's not James I'm worried about," she said.

Elizabeth furrowed her brow. "But James is all Anna's talked about since…well, since she could talk! I'm sure she'll be overjoyed to meet him."

Rose crossed her arms and shook her head sadly. "Not as he is now," she replied. "Seeing her will cause him pain." She looked up at Elizabeth. "And we both know how he reacts when he's in pain."

Elizabeth closed her eyes. "Cold and cruel? Aye, I know that all too well."

Rose nodded. "And if I know my daughter at all, I know she will fight that coldness every step of the way."


"Stop lagging behind," Father barked from in front of me along a dirt path we were walking.

I felt my face grow red with rage. "Well maybe you should stop walking so stridently ahead!" I countered moodily. "Where are we even going, anyway, Mr. 'I Don't Even Know Where the Nearest Inn on the Island is?'"

His shoulders dropped in exasperation as he stopped walking, spinning on his heel to face me. "I was only the founding Commodore of the largest British settlement in this ocean. Do you really think that I wouldn't have come to St. Martin before?"

We kept walking, and I jogged to keep up with his pace. "Well if you knew it so well," I prodded, "That doesn't explain why you didn't know where the inn was."

He rolled his eyes. "When I was here, the township was just being founded and was barely constructed. It has since grown considerably and is therefore unrecognizable to me. I rather doubt the location of their ship yard has changed since I was here."

I furrowed my brow. "You don't think they could have relocated in forty years?"

This caused him to stop once more in his tracks, peering down at me with eyebrows raised. "How old do you think I am?" he asked.

"How would I know?" I shrugged. "You can't very well age, now can you?"

He shook his head in disbelief as he continued his stride. "I'm not sixty years old, but thank you so much for the assumption," he muttered sarcastically. "And no," he said. "A shipyard isn't easy to move and is heavily reliant on an ideal location." He then froze, his eyes narrowed as he craned his neck. "Like that!" he said, pointing ahead of us to a bluff that overlooked a shoreline with five rows of intersecting docks where small fishing boats were all anchored and tied up.

Father motioned for me to crouch low, and together we silently crawled behind a large piece of foliage that he quickly pushed aside, creating a window through which we could look through without being seen.

My eyes scanned the docks until finally finding her. "My ship!" I exclaimed. "There it is!"

His gaze followed where I was pointing, then his eyes narrowed once more as though he was considering something, calculating carefully. All of a sudden, movement entered both of our peripheries, and he threw his arm in front of me, ordering, "Get down!" as he crouched so only our foreheads and eyes were peering through the opening.

Below, paced two guards on duty, guarding the yard with their bayonets perched vertically and balanced on their shoulders. I squinted, sitting a bit taller to see them, "Hey!" I whispered incredulously. "That's my pistol! That bloke down there took it along with the boat! I knew he was hiding around here somewhere!"

Once again, my father followed my gaze to the bigger of the two men, who had my pistol in his own holster, attached to his waist. "And why was your pistol not on your person?" Father asked skeptically.

I glared at him. "Oh, I just offered it up freely. Thought I'd tack it on for a bargain price. What do you think?"

But he only held up a dismissive hand, silencing me once more as we both saw a group of men approach the docks, causing the patrolling two to stop and salute, listening reverently to the leader of the new group.

I once again sat a bit taller and peered down. I gasped when I recognized the leader. "There he is!" I told my father. "The authority on the island!"

Father too sat taller, squinting. "That isn't…" he began.

I turned my attention to him. "Do you know him?"

But he was still in his own consciousness. "Scarfield?" he asked aloud. "They promoted Scarfield?"

My mouth fell agape. "You do know him!"

"Know him?" Father scoffed. "I trained him. I deferred him back to England because he was clearly unprepared to handle his own command. And yet, here he is, commanding the forces of an entire island." He snorted in disgust. "Clearly, the Navy's pulled their best out of the Caribbean."

"What made him so unprepared?" I asked.

"Oh, not much, besides the fact that he's rash, unstable, and manipulative. For God's sake, his name is 'Scarfield!' How much more sinister can one get?"

I snickered, but soon peered back at the Dauntless. So close, and yet so far away. As though reading my thoughts, father muttered, "We can't very well fight them off on our own. Perhaps the two alone, but not against Scarfield and his henchman."

"Shall we return to town and devise a plan?" I questioned.

He nodded. "Precisely my thoughts."

So quietly, I led the way to the abandoned stables where we could scheme in privacy and far away from Scarfield.

"Alright," he said, pacing across the floor, scattered stray straw with every step as I remained seated on a nearby bale of hay. "Those two are likely the only two stationed at the shipyard, with the occasional relief breaking them every now and again. But never more than two guards at a time…"

"So we go at night?" I suggested.

"One might assume that," he said, "But no. Those men are trained to be more on alert for attacks at night when they are most vulnerable. Then, come dawn, they will trade shifts with alternates. They'll never anticipate a mid-morning attack. That would be ideal." He stopped, looking at me. "How good are you with a sword?"

"Um…" I squeaked uncomfortably, "I'm pretty good?"

He sighed, continuing to pace. "So you're horrible."

"I can hold my own!" I protested.

Ignoring me, he muttered, "Alright, so I'll fend them off while you ready the vessel…"

"Two against one?" I asked. "That's ridiculous."

"We have little alternative, don't we?" he snapped.

I exhaled through my nose. "I've got one. Jack! He has a ship and a crew of several who are willing to help us if we but ask!"

"Not an option," he merely barked unhelpfully at me over his shoulder. "We only have each other to get your boat and get off this island."

Furious, I fumed, "That'll never work."

He turned to me, crossing his arms. "Then what will work, pray tell?"

I set my jaw firmly, glaring at him as I carefully began to explain the full details of Henry's and my plan to secure the Dutchman's freedom."The trident is our only hope…"

"Oh god," he interrupted, standing domineeringly over me. "You're not on that drivel again, are you? Your mother searched for ages back even before our capture! It doesn't exist!"

I stood to better defend myself. "That's why we were in St. Martin at all! We're searching for the—"

"'Map No Man Can Read,' yes, I know. Your mother already looked. For years."

"But what's the harm in Henry and I searching together?" I asked. "Even if you leave me here, he and I can voyage with Jack and the Gull— "

"Given that Henry's even alive, given that Jack's ship even stays afloat…"

"LISTEN TO ME!" I cried. "We're willing to do this on your behalf!"

His voice shook with intensity. "Do you not know the myriad of dangers that await you? Especially with me aboard?"

"Then don't come aboard!" I spat. "Go home, to mother. She needs you! I can't bear seeing her in pain any longer!"

"She doesn't want me, Anna!" he shouted. I recoiled, my eyes wide upon hearing this. He took a breath, keeping his eyes averted as he admitted, "She only retrieved me because I was her only hope at saving you. When she gave me the order to find you, there were no sentimental attachments. There was no warm reunion, no 'loving embrace.' She…shockingly obeyed my orders for once and lost…anything that she felt before."

I could see that he was distraught at this revelation, so hesitantly, I told him, "…she hasn't been the same since you said those things to her."

"Perhaps that's for the best," he replied briskly once again, returning back to his stoic, cold demeanor. After a moment, he said, "My point is, if I go back without you, I will truly have exhausted my last purpose in her mind. That is why I propose we wait out the night, then at dawn, we prepare to make our attack and make sail."

However, just at that moment, something occurred to me. Carina! I had promised myself that I wouldn't leave the island until I freed her! That left me only a small window tonight to perform my task. "Wait!" I exclaimed.

"What?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but quickly knew that he would swiftly deny me if I stated my true intentions. So carefully, I said in code, "Before we leave, there's something that I need to do first."

I paused, waiting for him to question me further, but I was stunned when he skipped right ahead and swiftly replied, "No."

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"You're stalling, and it's not going to work any longer. We leave now."

"I'm not stalling!" I insisted. "I genuinely have…something to do before I leave!"

"What is it then? And unless it is somehow life-changing, I will deny you."

My face flushed in anger. "It is life-changing, I'll have you know."

He moved his hands outward, saying, "Well? Speak!"

I swallowed. "I can't. I can't tell you. Just…give me some time to get it done. If you let me do this, I'll let you take me, I promise."

He huffed, stomping away. "This is ridiculous. I'm not wasting any more time with this!"

Furious, I stomped in pursuit of him. "You try to deny me, and I'll run away. And this time, I'll assure that you never find me!"

He spun around, glaring at me through narrowed eyes. "This is how Rose raised you to behave? To deliberately disobey commands?"

Without a second thought, I blurted, "She raised me to never take commands from strangers!"

I then witnessed the impact of my words firsthand, seeing the pain ripple across my father's expression. I myself was taken aback by that instinctive retort, but the damage had already been done. So I stubbornly clenched my jaw and let my eyes drain of all emotion.

After the initial shock of the pain had passed, I watched the fury set in within my father. "Perhaps that was the parenting of your mother, but I am your father," he growled, suddenly grabbing my wrist forcefully. "And as such, you will be taught to obey your superiors."

I pulled back against him and eventually wriggled free. "IF YOU WERE A FATHER YOU WOULD HAVE FOUGHT FOR US!" I shouted, hot tears streaming from my eyes. "You gave up! ALL of you gave up! Mother, Will, Elizabeth… you all left me and Henry to fix the problem!"

His eyes were wide. "None of us wanted you to—"

"How else was anything supposed to change?" I sobbed. "All our lives Henry and I got to hear story upon story… How Elizabeth faced Barbossa to protect Port Royal, how Will undermined you to save her! How Mother went off on her own to find Jack, how she escaped to Shipwreck, all the lives she saved with her powers. Even Jack and all his antics." I paused, looking him up and down. "Even you. How you betrayed everyone for your own sake." He looked at the ground when I delivered this cruel blow. "All of my heroes disobeyed authority to make a difference," I whispered intently. "How could we sit by idly and let this happen, as you are all so content to do? You stopped fighting, so we stepped up." I spent a moment in silence, then wiped my face. "I needed you," I said with voice trembling. "All of us needed you, and you betrayed all of us by saying and doing nothing. My father would have never given up. My father would have never rested until he found a way home. I liked you better in my imagination."

His eyes still averted, he muttered, "Well…we have that in common, don't we?"

There was nothing more to say. So I only wiped my cheeks once more and sidestepped him out of the barn doors.

"Anna…" he began, trying to stop me.

"No!" I yelled. "I'm not going anywhere with you until I complete what I have set out to do.

"You think I'm just going to let you walk away?" he called after me.

"Not at all!" I called back over my shoulder. "That's why I assure you I will keep to only the most public places where you cannot approach me if that's what it takes! Don't you dare follow me!"

I then broke into a sprint as I raced into the heart of town, now unsure of where to go. Do I race back to the docks and beg my uncle to take me back? No, he would only return me back to my father once more, I was certain. Plus, Carina still needed to be freed. Setting my gaze straight ahead towards the prison, I walked purposefully, determined to complete my task entirely on my own, even though I hadn't the slightest idea how to.