(A/N – Sigh… things are getting very interesting for Jack and I in the story and in real life. In the story, I can't tell you what's gonna happen. But here in reality, people get mail. Mail that sends them to ENGLAND and IRELAND for no apparent reason! I got the letter about a week ago, and I have been spazzing since! It's some Student Ambassador program that I didn't even sign up for, and I'm going in June or July for three weeks in June or July 2006! I Just better not have to go and miss the opening day of PotC 2…)

I can't wait to go, Reviewers!

x) Norma Jean - I'm so glad someone finally agrees with me on the music thing! LoL... And who ever said hostility was a bad thing? ;) Thanks for the review! Enjoy this long-awaited chapter!

x) Sentinel Sparrow - LoL... Let's see... I was sick, got better, and now I'm so sick from this hike I took in six inches of snow with my school adventure crew that I'm taking two medications and missed two days of school, LoL. But I'm getting better! Thanks! Enjoy!

x) Kenny - OMG! There you are! LoL... Miss you and Kitty lots, and I imagine that you miss me, too with me not being on in so long... sorry bout that, haha. Thanks for reviewing anyways, and enjoy what you can read!

x) wayunlucky13 - Aww! I'm so glad that you're into my stuff! Don't worry, everything's going to be very interesting these last few chapters. About five left! Give or take a few... Anyways, glad you're diggin' my scene, lol, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks!

.: Every cent I get my hands on is going in this huge box marked 'England,':.

CLE – "Do You Want To" by Franz Ferdinand

Ze oh-so depressing disclaimer…:-((

Ze oh-so invigorating claimer… :-))

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CHAPTER TWENTY: "What are you doing here?"

- Erica's PoV – 9:30 pm -

Sigh…

It was a hectic day to say the least. Setting up the entire fire hall, the gown fittings (which the dresses are gorgeous with the red and glitter and poofy skirt and yeah…), and the voice of reason in the back of my head screaming at me asking why the heck I'm doing all of this if it's wrong. You know, I'm not negligent towards my voice of reason except for when my friends and me are goofing off. But somehow, it's starting to control me and it's scary…

Jack popped in and out all day just like Isabelle, and so to slow us all down for a moment, the eleven of us (including Isabelle's brother and two cousins) went out for a bite to eat around eight at this local bar/ restraints type place. It was okay except for the country music blasting in my ear. After that, we headed to Isabelle's church to practice the ceremony a few times which wasn't helping my nerves. It only finalized them.

"Erica?"

Oh my god… this isn't happening…

"Erica!"

"Huh? What?" I asked after Lindsay hit me in the arm.

"Go!"

"Oh…"

I shook my head a bit and then started to walk down the aisle briskly behind Isabelle's friend Marietta who had this orangey-blonde springy head of short curls. Lindsay, Paige, and Stewie strode down behind me. Jack was walking next to Isabelle with Will behind him, and for the time being, the four of us girls had to imagine a guy next to us until tomorrow. Elizabeth and those three guys Clarke, Grant, and Andrew stood off to the side watching as we did the procession. Ugh, my stomach. And this isn't even real yet! But it will be! Ah!

"Oof!"

"Oh! Sorry, Marietta!" I said after bumping into her. "I guess I'm just out of it from all of the hard work today."

"It's fine," she laughed. "I'm dead tired, too."

"Me three," Stewie yawned from the rear.

After we went through all the vowels and where to stand for the fourth time, we were finally told to go home to rest up for tomorrow. Yeah, I wish. We get to run around the Caribbean tonight looking for people…

"You girls will have your escorts here by tomorrow?" Isabelle's pastor asked.

"Yeah," Lindsay said. "I'm bringing a guy named Thomas, Paige, you're bringing Robbie, right?" Paige nodded as she continued on. "Stewie, you've got Kourey; we can call and get him tonight."

"I am? We can?" Stewie asked in confusion.

"Yeah. And we need someone for Erica…"

"I can call a few people before we…" Oh crap, I almost said it… "Erm... before we hit the hay tonight," I said with a smile. "Josh, Nick, someone has to be free tomorrow. And plus, I think Josh is off work."

"Which Josh? Vicky's Josh or Josh Greene?" Lindsay asked.

"Greene," I said. "I'll call him when we get back to your house."

"Speaking of which, we better get rested up for tomorrow," Paige said. "See you all tomorrow!"

Goodbyes were exchanged between Isabelle, Marietta, Clarke, Grant, and Andrew and ourselves. Jack said he was going to stay with Isabelle til around midnight, and by then he was implying that we should 'be in bed' by then. We caught on and left out the back of the sanctuary, myself so blah and weary I felt like I wasn't alive.

Lindsay drove home and we were mostly quiet. We listened to the radio, one of my favorite Christmas songs being played by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. In the middle of it, I pulled out my cell phone and started to punch in numbers.

"Who are you calling?" Liz asked me.

"Josh, I said. "See if he can come tomorrow."

And it rang… and it rang… and it rang…

"Hello?"

"Is Josh there?" I asked.

"Uh, yes, but he's sleeping right now. Can I take a message?"

"Yeah, it's Erica," I said. "Just have him call me back tomorrow."

"Is it urgent? I can wake him up."

"No, I just wanted to see if he wanted to come to a friend's wedding tomorrow over at the Monarch church is all. Thanks, anyways."

I hung up somewhat angrily and put my phone back in my purse.

"This sucks," I said out loud. "No one's gonna be ready for a wedding by tomorrow on such short notice. No one I know, at least…"

"Don't worry," Will said. "You'll have an escort."

"Yeah. Even if it's gotta be Gibbs," Stewie said right before she ducked behind her seat. I sighed, ignoring it. Grr…

When we got back to Lindsay's Dad's, it was about a quarter after ten. I flopped down on the couch facedown as Lindsay and Stewie made a quick phone call to Robbie for Paige (he was coming) and Kourey's cell phone, me and Lindsay's sophomore buddy from Geometry seventh period. It took about ten minutes for them to convince him, and I moaned into the couch as the hung up.

"Okay, Kourey's a keeper," Lindsay said. "But we have to pick him up tomorrow on the way out to the church."

"Lindsay, there's a limo coming to pick us up tomorrow," I said, standing up. "We cannot fit the entire world in that limo!"

"We can sure as well try!" she said. "Which reminds me, speaking of other worlds, where's the ruby, Stewie?"

"Up on your nightstand beside the stack of CDs," she said immediately with a laugh. "And I made sure I'd remember that."

"Good," Paige said. "Come on. You two coming?" she asked Will and Liz. "It'd be helpful and all."

"I don't know if we really should," Elizabeth said. "The more people that use the ruby, the more it shrinks. It doesn't just apply to how many times you use it."

"Man, this thing should come with a manual," I said as well all went through the kitchen and up the stairs. Once we were in Lindsay's room Paige picked up the ruby and stood apart from us all.

"So who's coming?" she asked.

"I am!" Stewie said immediately.

"Me too!" Lindsay said. "Erica, come on!"

"Well, shouldn't one of us stay back just in case Justin or someone would show up early?" I asked. "I mean, you leave these two here and then Jack comes back and finds out they didn't go with us to help? Then what?"

"Erica, Jack obviously thinks we're capable. He wants us 'asleep' by the time he gets back. Which means we have to be out of here. And you have to come, savvy?"

I rolled my eyes. "Fine," I said.

"Good," Lindsay said. "Will, Liz, food's in the kitchen, remote's on the couch, toilet's back there, but you probably already know your way around enough, right?"

"Yeah," Elizabeth said. "Please be careful, though."

"If you don't end up in Port Royal or anywhere familiar, just come back, alright?" Will said. "I'd go with you, but you seem persistent as to do this yourselves."

"Kay," Paige said as we linked our arms.

"And don't get yourselves captured or anything stupid like that," Will said.

"Will, come on," Stewie said. "It's us. If we do get captured, we just go psycho and freak them all out and trick them into believing that we're gods or something!"

"Right," Will said with a humoring smile to Elizabeth. "Well, be back in about seven hours maximum. Then at least you can catch a few hours of sleep before we get ready."

"Okay," I said. "We'll shoot to be back for around five or six. See ya."

Will and Elizabeth stepped back away from Me, Lindz, Stewie, and Paige, both of the trying to hide their uneasy looks from us. I sighed heavily, excited and still freaked out about how this who thing was gonna turn out.

"Ready, guys?" Paige asked as she wrapped her hand around the ruby.

"More ready than we'll ever be!" Lindsay said.

"Okay, here we go…"

We shut our eyes and started the counting in unison thingy.

"One…"

"Two…"

"Three."

Before I even opened my eyes, I immediately heard the ocean, but no surprise there. I mean, come on, seriously…

When I did open them however, there was like no difference at all from them being open or shut. I panicked a bit and blinked more and more and more, but no change at all.

"Um…guys? Where are you?" I asked nervously.

"Right next to you, where do you think?" Stewie asked.

"Paige, Lindsay, you guys there?"

"Present and accounted for," Lindsay said.

"Aye," said Paige.

"Okay… where the heck are we?" I asked.

"We're trying to figure that out," Paige said, shuffling her feet about on what sounded sand. "Hmm… the floor's not wooden or rocking, so we can't be on a ship… and we surely can't be on an island. We'd see the sky…"

"Then where on earth…"

Suddenly, a cellar-type door opened above me, and the four of us spun around and looked up. Moonlight came inside this room/ space we were in, and we saw these two corky people entering. Each of us let out some sort of screech, surprised gasp, or word as they saw us and each whipped out a sword, the thin lanky one quite sloppily.

"Guys, I can see the sky now," Stewie said, throwing us totally off.

Anyways…

"Hey!" the short fat one said. "What're you doing here?"

I started laughing nervously as we backed up just a bit, but then I stood up a little taller and made my laughter more pronounced. I knew who these people were! And after that terrific scene with Jack in the cave, how could I not resist? The short guy (if you can guess who he is) looked up at his tall partner (hint hint wink wink) in confusion, but the tall one only rubbed his eye, which started to make an unpleasant creaking sound. I cringed a bit as they came down the stairs until the squeaking and creaking stopped. The drenched us in light from a torch, and I winced a bit.

"Um, lower the light some… thank you," I said quietly. "Uh… We are here because we were… put here," I said thinking off the top of my head. "Your captain trapped us here long ago when we were young."

"Our captain's dead," the short one said in this somewhat offended voice.

"Yeah," the other said. "And we've been here loads of times over the years and you four were never here…"

Crap.

"Well that's because we've been hiding," Lindsay said. "Sorry 'bout your captain, too, old chum. He was a greedy swashbuckler when he picked us up in Tortuga twelve years ago, and I'm sure we was when he died, too. But now that you're here, something bad's going to happen to us, huh? Shot, stabbed, raped… the usual?"

They looked at her in confusion a moment.

"You're comin' with us, that's all you got te worry about," Shorty said. "Get them to the ship, Ragetti. I'll get the supplies."

- Jessica's PoV -

Ragetti and Pintel! Oh my gosh! I love these guys! Even if they're evil…

Well, on the way out of the sandpit supply cellar thing, I was walking behind Ragetti with a really big smile. I mean, it hurt my cheeks. Haha… Paige, Erica and Lindsay were behind me (in that order, hehe), and when we got out of the sandpit supply cellar thing, the moon hurt my eyes and it was really bright.

"Ow…" I moaned, covering my eyes. "It burns!"

Then Paige hit me in the shoulder rigidly. "What?" I asked, turning around. She looked passed me, so I looked next.

"Oh! It's a big ship!" I said with a laugh. "Hey guys! It's a big ship!"

"Well I don't see a thing, Stewie," Erica said sarcastically. "Duh there's a ship! And not just any ship either! Look again."

"Well sorry," I said, twisting up my face and turning back around. I did look back up at the ship not just because Erica told me to, but also because it was just too exciting and creepy.

Oh no. I know that ship!

It's hard to see because it's dark, but I know that ship!

"The Pearl," I said quietly with a small smile. But wait. Ana and Gibbs and Thomas had it. What happened? "Hey Paige?" I whispered.

"Yes?"

"Barbossa didn't have another evil daughter, did he?"

"No."

Dang it. Then what's all this about! What happened to Ana and Gibbs and Thomas? NO! The fiends! I shall vanquish them and reclaim the ship and-

"Hush it up back there," Ragetti said, leading us onto the ship and along the port side to the stairs. "Down in you go til we come a-callin'!"

Down, down, down into the dark spooky ship we went…

"We're goin' DOWN DOWN in an earlier round-!"

Lindsay and Erica were giggling, but Ragetti grabbed my face and told me to shut up or he'd cut me into thin little slivers. I pushed him back off of me, and he opened up a cell door, disgustingly trying to be all gentlemanlike.

"After you, miss," he said with this rotten smile.

"Dude, use some mouthwash," I said, walking into the dark little cell. Paige, Erica, and Lindsay shuffled in next, and Ragetti locked us in.

"Got you some company, you slimy ninnies," he said to the dark shadowy corner. With a look back at us, he turned to go, but then, before I could comprehend it, this raging mass of person came flying out of that dark shadowy corner, gripping the bars angrily. Ragetti leapt back in surprise, as did we all. Sheeze!

"Back! Get back!" Ragetti said.

"You open this door or I'll kill you," this crazy woman said in this snarling voice. "Open it. NOW!"

Ragetti didn't answer. He just ran up the stairs like a sissy.

"You bantling! Come back or I'll have your head while you sleep!"

I watched this crazy person as she flung her arms off of the bars angrily. She let out this shriek and then continued to mutter evil and nasty things as she returned to the corner.

Wait…

"Ana?" Paige asked, beating me to it. "Is that you?"

The wild woman stopped and turned her head to look at us.

"Who are you?" she asked, keeping her distance.

"It's Paige," she said. "And-"

Before she finished, Thomas and Gibbs came out of the corner!

"Whoa," Erica said.

"Thomas! You're okay!" Lindsay said, running up to him and hugging him. Ana looked over at them, Thomas totally confused. But after looking at her a few seconds, he smiled.

"Jane! What are you doing here?"

Then Ana looked slowly back over at us, Gibbs lost in the moment.

"You," she said. "You're here? Now? Why? Do you know what's become of Jack since he took off after the Governor went missin'?"

"Ana, you just might wanna sit down," Erica said. "Or stand… your preference… but anyways, Jack, Will, and Liz came to hide in our time," she said with a low voice as Thomas and Gibbs leaned in to listen. "Something's about to happen with Jack, so we came back to get you three. But you're here, not in charge of the Pearl… what happened on your end?"

"The rats got a new captain and took us," Gibbs muttered. "Three to thirty-so, we didn't have much luck as you could imagine… Their new captain's not even worth a grain of salt if ye ask me. He knows nothin'."

"Well, details, details, we'll get it back afterwards," Paige said.

"Yeah, we need you to come with us now!" I said. "Jack's getting married!"

"What?" the three of them asked sharply.

Erica, Lindsay, and Paige each gave me look, and I shrunk a little.

Oops.

"Married?" Anamaria asked. Then a dark look came over her face. "Off in hidin', my arse…"

"Exactly," Erica said, getting excited at her anger. "We don't want him to get married either, especially so soon and to our history teacher! That's why we came and got you guys! Can you please help us?"

"Please!" I begged.

"You can get up, lass," Gibbs said. "No need for that."

"Plus, I need a date for the wedding tomorrow," Lindsay said, looking up at Thomas. "You're my escort."

"What?" he asked lost.

"Once we fix you up, you'll look fine!" I said.

"Yeah," Erica said. "Thomas, you're part of the wedding we're going to stop. I know it's confusing, but chill. Ana and Gibbs, if you two come back, Jack can't see you until the moment's right. But we have to stop this."

"Stop it we must, aye," Ana said. "But goin' to your future place is got me a little on the cautious end."

"Everything'll pan out, promise," Erica said. "We have the ruby here, and once you guys come back with us, we'll tell you everything you need to know. But right now, we just have to get out of here, okay?"

"What about the ship?" Thomas asked. "You're going to leave it in the care of these crazy blighters?"

"Well, if he's as stupid as Gibbs says, no biggie," I laughed. "What's his name? Does Jack know him?"

"No," Ana said. "Name's Rankin. Never heard of the man."

"Okay, so obviously, Jack's gonna be mad that we left him with the ship, but we've got to go," Erica said. "Please come?"

Ana gave an unsure look to Gibbs and Thomas.

"What's say you, boys?" she asked.

"Aye," Thomas said happily. "As if we had a choice."

"Aye," Gibbs said. "Ain't about to let Jack go and do somethin' like that!"

"Great!" I said. "Paige, the ruby! Come on!"

"Okay, okay! Everyone grab on, make sure you're touching, close your eyes, and count together!"

"One…"

"Two…"

"Three."

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- Sorry for the long wait, ladies and gents! I've been slammed with lots of stuff, including the founding of my very own chorus group to be in charge of for the concert Dec. 4th and the announcement of the new musical! The Wizard of Oz! LoL… Bomb threats in school, report cards, work, a bunch of homework, and teaching myself piano and how to read music now, too. But just know that Jack and I haven't forgotten ye! I'll update sooner, promise!

Jack: Ye better!

Chill, I will…

Please Review!