Dislclaimer: I don't own POTC. Title is a poem by A.R. Ammons.

Chapter 51: Expressions of Sea Level

"Captain, there's something beneath us!" Wynona yelled, looking over the edge. And glowing through the water was the same color of the Devil's Dowry, the same deep red that was spreading around them. Camille grabbed for her cutlass, knowing that this escape could only be performed with a struggle.

Her mother looked at her. "What is it?" she asked.

"Something is still following us. Look at your ring," Camille said. Morgan's green ring was glowing almost as brightly as the water that was just below them. Not only was it glowing, but The Mark was in it.

"Adrienne? What does your ring look like?" Morgan asked.

"It's got some sort of mark in it. I think that it may be the Devil's Dowry," said Adrienne, casually coming over to them. She extended her hand out to Camille. "It's a pleasure to meet ya, by the bye. I've only got one question regardin' the captain."

Camille sighed. "I don't even want to go into it right now. Let's just solve this first. If Jack gives you any trouble, I'll handle it." Adrienne seemed to be content with this answer, and turned her attention back to Morgan and their rings.

"Everybody, hold on!" Gabriel called. Before anyone could react to his warning, The Pearl began spinning. As Camille tried to keep her stomach and her head from spinning too much, she could feel the ship suddenly sinking. Not again, she thought. But this time they seemed to be inside a whirlpool.

"Impossible," Ana Maria murmured. "A maelstrom!"

"A what?" Gretchen asked.

"A maelstrom? My God, he must still be in control of the seas," Morgan said. They were inside of a huge maelstrom, with bits and pieces of other ships around them. Jack was doing his best to keep control of the ship, but since it was surrounded on all sides by water, the effort was pretty useless. They could hear laughter around them, and it was unmistakable.

"Silver!" Jack bellowed, echoing through the tunnel of water. "Leave my ship alone, I'm warning you!"

But the laughter only ensued. And then Priscilla uttered a piercing cry. It looked like a decomposing arm had reached out of the blood-red waters of the maelstrom and grabbed her. Adrienne was quick to react with her pistol, but now there was the problem of a decomposing, moving arm on the deck of the ship.

More continued to surround them, not only arms, but attached to them were the remains of what used to be people. They all slowly pulled themselves out of wherever it was that their corpses had lay at rest in the sea.

The crew of The Black Pearl was more than ready to handle these things. All of them put up a very good match against the creatures, but there were so many of them that surviving was beginning to look grim. And amidst all of the excitement, they were slowly starting to notice that their captain was no longer among them.

"Ana! What happened to Jack!" Will called out as he evaded two dead men.

"I don't know, I think that he got pulled overboard!" Ana Maria called back, racing to the stern of the ship. "He's still got his own score to settle with Silver, don't you forget!"

Wynona wasn't doing badly, and with the help of Priscilla the two young ladies were untouchable. Above all else, they had speed to their advantages. That, and being so small and agile. They could both slash at and ambush the creatures before the creatures could realize that they were being attacked in the first place. (Gabriel and Will were completely hardcore. That pretty much goes without saying, though.)

Camille was having difficulties, because most of the creatures were after her and Morgan. It had been a quarter of an hour now, and they were still coming strong. Camille was getting tired of fighting, and she was getting worried that this curse would never be broken at all.

She and Morgan were surrounded by dead men. Finally, their weapons were rendered useless. There were way too many of them around, and one of them grabbed Morgan by her long hair and yanked her head back, exposing her neck. "Mother!" Camille yelled, reaching to help her but being held back. Neither of them was able to break free from the stone cold grips they were being held in. A sword was being held to Morgan's throat, and she was shaking.

As the sword drew nearer, a pistol shot sounded and the corpse that had been holding Morgan reluctantly let go of her. The bodies remained standing where they were, but now there was a new addition to the creatures. Camille and Morgan stopped, slowly picking up their pistols and looking around. They both saw a very unrecognizable Long John Silver, climbing up over the side of the ship and looking very upset. He looked like he had spent years slowly rotting at the bottom of the sea, and it was quite obvious that among being wet he had previously been covered in blood.

Morgan held Camille's arm, a bit more gently this time. They were both terrified of the sight of that man. He had and expression of pure hatred on his face as he approached the two of them. "Well, well," he said as the creatures surrounded them, holding them still and removing their weapons from them. "The Sullivan women at last," he mused, rubbing his disgusting hands together. "Hello, Morgan."

Morgan said nothing, but spit in his face. At this, Long John cried out angrily. He grabbed her by the arm, and the creature that was holding Camille knocked her unconscious.