Chapter Three~ At the Dock
The moon was nearly half full as Will and Elizabeth hurried toward the dock. Annamaria was nowhere in sight.
"Will..." whispered Elizabeth. It was one of her favorite words. She could go for several hours saying nothing but "Will", expressing her feelings by her tone of voice. This time, it was an "I'm not so sure this is a good idea" voice.
"What?" he asked.
"Will..." Elizabeth reapeated, and then realized that she was going to have to speak in semi-complete sentences. "Will, do you think... don't you think this might just be another scheme of Jack's? I mean... he's not an honest person. He could be plotting something."
"Even if he is, we have to see. This is my father he's saying he can help me find. My father... he's the only family I have left. Except for you, of course." He kissed her on the cheek and gently took her hand.
"But Will..." This time Elizabeth's voice was pleading.
"I have to find out, Elizabeth. There is no other choice."
Elizabeth felt his had tighten around hers. She sighed... he had such a cute determined face. She wondered if he had looked like that when he was trying to save her. Oh... she hoped he had. It was adorable.
"Will..." Now she used her best admiring and loving croon. She wanted to kiss him... she would have... but a sharp voice interrupted her before she could really make a move.
"William? Follow me."
Will whirled around in the dark until he saw Annamaria, who had emerged from behind a stack of crates. She nodded curtly when she saw that she had caught his eye, and strode away, toward a tall cliff that served as a wall around a small natural harbor. Will hurried after her, with Elizabeth at his heels. She was still unsure about all this, but it was starting to feel like one of her adventurous daydreams, and she began to wonder if she might actually enjoy it.
Annamaria led the Turners to the cliff.
"You might have to get your skirt wet," she said scornfully to Elizabeth. Elizabeth sighed. Annamaria was just jealous, that had to be it. She was still acting like Elizabeth was some pampered little princess, despite her curren occupation as cook/maid/butler of her own house. And even when she was rich and pampered, she hadn't been afraid to get her skirt wet. Or to fight with hideous skeletal pirates that couldn't even be killed.
Elizabeth could hardly see Will and Annamaria as they clambered over rocks that rose like miniscule islands in the shallow water. The moon had been covered by a thick wall of cloud, and it didn't look like it would be returning that night. Finally Annamaria whispered,
"The Pearl is just up ahead. I don't know if you can see it. Wait just a minute."
She picked up a flat stone and skipped it so that it skipped across the water three times. Then she threw a handful of pebbles into the water. In a few seconds, a small light glowed over the water, illuminating the front deck of the Black Pearl and the wary face of Captain Jack Sparrow.
"Annie?"
"Aye."
"Come aboard."
Annamaria grabbed Will and Elizabeth by the elbows and pulled them to a shabby little rowboat that was pulled up on the sand.
"Get in," she ordered. Elizabeth obeyed, but she didn't like the aura of that voice. It sounded too much like they were Annamaria's prisoners.
Annamaria rowed silently to the Pearl. It was hard to see, but by faint starlight Elizabeth and Will could make out the shape of the dark hull of the ship. The end of a rope ladder splashed into the water.
Once Will and Elizabeth had climbed onto the ship, Jack blew out the candle stub he had been holding.
"Come on,"he whispered, and swaggered across the deck, pausing next to a trapdoor to see if anyone was following him. No one was. Annamaria was glaring at Will and Elizabeth, who were staring at each other with a dazed look in their eyes. It was rather sickening for Annamaria to watch.
"Come on," Jack repeated, lifting the trapdoor and dissapearing into it. Annamaria followed. Will broke his gaze away from Elizabeth just in time to see the top of Annamaria's head bobbing under the trapdoor. He grabbed his wife's hand and scurried down after the pirates.

"Alright, I think Annie's told you most of the important facts," said Captain Jack, glancing meaningfully at his first mate.
"Er... well, I told 'em that Bill was alive... that's what matters, right?"
The captain looked sternly at her, but then smiled. "Aye, that's what matters. So... are ye coming with us?" Jack asked Will.
Elizabeth cast Will one last warning look, but he wasn't paying attention to her.
"Yes," he said, "we both are." Annamaria's smile, which had grown when Will agreed to come, slowly died away. She sighed. Will really was a stick in the mud, no fun at all, but he was nice to look at, and with that protective little priss prowling around him every minute of the day, she'd never even get to feast her eyes. Jack Sparrow was good enough to stare at for a few months... but after a while it would have been nice to have some change. She couldn't wait till they found Bootstrap. Of course, sitting in the ocean for a few years might have disfigured him slightly, but that was still to be found out. In the meantime she could always hope.
"Excellent! So, I'll tell ye what I know. I'm pretty positive that Bootstrap was dropped somewhere off the coast of Puerto Rico. So that'd be the first place to look. But chances are he got himself hooked up with another pirate crew, so he could be anywhere. But we can start asking around in the area where I've heard he was last seen... a bar in Abago, a small town on Cabo Rojo. So we're leaving tomorrow for Cabo Rojo. I suggest you two scurry back home and pick up some clothes, and then meet back here around four. We leave at dawn, and if yer late, we leave ye, savvy?"
"Savvy," muttered Elizabeth. She was beginning to feel tired, and the adverture mood was fading quickly. All she felt like doing at the moment was falling into bed, but when she and Will reached home, he insisted that they pack before getting any rest.

~~Sorry, I'm making Elizabeth all dumb and repetive. It's not on pupose. I'm kinda making this up as I go, so if it turns out really stupid, I'm sorry. Hopefully it won't though. I don't really know why I'm bothering to type this down here. I am actually a very clueless kind of person, if you haven't noticed. That's ok though, because I don't know that I'm clueless so I kinda live in this happy little oblivion. (Big word!!!) Well, I think that's enough wasted space. I hafta decide what's gonna happen in the next chapter now... the part I planned is over, I'm just winging it from here. Bye.~~