We were forced to leave Tortuga with rather fewer new crew members than Jack wanted, but we would never have been able to convince a hundred souls to come with us in three days, anyway, so hopes hadn't been up in the first place.

Time was running short, so we gathered what crew we did have and began to re-stock the Black Pearl's hold with supplies. There was a chill in the air down by the docks. The area smelt strongly of filth, seaweed and fish, as well as the various smells normally associated with drunk people. It was very dark, with only a few torches and lanterns hung about, their light shining on the dark, wet wood of the ships and jetty. The shouts from the tavern and the ominous sound of creaking ropes and ships added to the slightly foreboding atmosphere. It was like there was something telling me to stay there, 'don't go out on the open sea where it's dangerous'. I hugged myself as I walked down the dock towards the Pearl with Jack and Gibbs.

A voice I instantly recognised called out from behind us. "Captain Sparrow!"

Jack briefly glanced behind him as he sauntered up to his ship. "Come to join me crew, lad?" he assumed. One more soul to help save his own. "Welcome aboard."

"I'm here to find the man I love," the voice said. I had to smile and giggle a bit as Jack stopped dead in his tracks with a gulp and a disturbed look on his face. The last thing he really needed was the affections of who he assumed to be a young man.

"I'm deeply flattered, son, but my first and only love is the sea." Jack made a gesture for someone to get the boy out of there ASAP.

There was some rapid movement, but it wasn't to get the lad off the docks. It came from Norrington, who had also been making his way towards us. He ran to the edge and threw up into the water. I closed my eyes in disgust, still finding it hard to believe that this was the same man who had once been a noble, straight-laced Commodore.

The 'lad' took the chance to be specific. "Meaning William Turner, Captain Sparrow."

Jack whipped around and finally recognized her. "Elizabeth." He looked her up and down, genuinely surprised, both to see her and at her state of dress. She had done a good job passing as a boy. I smiled a little, thinking of Viola from Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night.' Gibbs also gaped at Elizabeth, perhaps remembering the pretty little girl in her fancy dress looking out over the fog-bound sea and singing about pirates. My, how she'd changed…

Jack turned to Gibbs and handed him the bottle he had been carrying. "Hide the rum." I put my hand to my mouth to prevent another giggle from escaping. Jack was obviously having bad flashbacks of the night we spent on the Isle of the Rumrunners. Gibbs quickly scurried off to follow his Captain's orders. He loved rum just as much as Jack did, and he would have heard the tale of the rum-fuelled bonfire Elizabeth had created.

Jack turned his attention back to the disguised woman. "You know, these clothes do not flatter you at all. It should be a dress or nothing." He gestured to the ship behind him with a smile. "I happen to have no dress in my cabin." I rolled my eyes and hit Jack in the arm. It was my way of saying "dude, that is so not cool!"

"Jack," Elizabeth said in a tone which meant she likewise had no time for Jack Sparrow's sleazy wit. She paused, perhaps not believing she was going to be asking Jack for help again. Her face and tone radiated the fact that she didn't want to put up with him any more than absolutely necessary. Elizabeth sighed, deciding to get straight to the point. "I know Will came to find you. Where is he?"

Jack sighed. There was no easy way of telling her about what had happened to Will. "Darling, I am truly unhappy to tell you this, but…" he took a few steps towards her. "…through unfortunate and entirely unforeseeable series of circumstances that had nothing whatsoever to do with me…" I rolled my eyes again. "…poor Will has been press-ganged into Davy Jones' crew."

Confusion flashed across Elizabeth's features. "Davy Jones?"

The sound of Norrington heaving interrupted them. Jack looked alarmed at him as he paused from his spluttering and looked up at them. He breathed heavily and had to lean on some barrels to keep upright. He looked like death, slightly warmed over. "Oh please. The captain of the Flying Dutchman?" Norrington's tone was full of disbelief and disgrace, like he was really one to talk.

Jack seemed to echo some of my thoughts. "You look bloody awful. What are you doing here?"

"You hired me," Norrington reminded him. "I can't help it if your standards are lax."

"You smell funny!" was Jack's witty reply.

"Jack!" Elizabeth shouted, wanting to keep Jack's attention on Will's plight and what could be done about it. Jack looked back at her, slightly startled. She spoke very carefully so he would understand. "All I want is to find Will."

Jack frowned and looked away, knowing that would be next to impossible and feeling a bit sorry for Elizabeth. Then an idea blinked into life. It was because of what Elizabeth had said about what she wanted. Here was someone who, right then, was dead-set on that decision and that had little chance of changing. Right then and now, she wanted to find Will, and therefore make sure he was safe. I could almost hear the connections in Jack's brain firing off. I smiled slowly. I never even had to say a word to my assignment as he came up with a way to finally find the chest of Davy Jones.

"Are you certain? Is that what you really want most?" he asked her.

"Of course," Elizabeth replied. This was a good answer. Jack began to weave his plan into action.

He began to shepherd her towards the Pearl. "Because I would think you would want to find a way to save Will most."

Elizabeth stopped, still slightly weary of Jack. "And you'd have a way of doing that?"

"Well… there is a chest."

Norrington, who was still eavesdropping, moaned "oh, dear." He had a bad feeling about where this story was heading, and rightfully so.

Jack ignored him. "A chest of unknown size and origin."

Pintel and Ragetti, carrying a crate of rum bottles, shuffled past and heard Jack talking about the chest. "What contains the still-beating heart of Davy Jones," Pintel hissed. Ragetti snickered and mimed taking out his own heart and holding it, still beating in his hand, up to Elizabeth's face. They were trying to scare her, and I scowled at them. Elizabeth gave the pair a double look, recognising them as the ones who had kidnapped her from her home in Port Royal the year before.

"And whoever possesses that chest," Jack continued, "possesses the power to command Jones to do whatever it is he or she wants, including saving brave William from his grim fate."

"You don't actually believe him, do you?" Norrington scoffed to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth's eyes darted from one man to the other. Jack gave her a look that was powerful enough to sway Elizabeth to his side. I have no idea how he did it, but it was a talent. Jack became irresistible.

"How would we find it?" Elizabeth asked, considering.

Norrington shook his head. Jack paused for dramatic effect and showed Elizabeth his compass. "With this. My compass…" he opened and closed it quickly, "… is unique."

"'Unique' here having the meaning of 'broken,'" Norrington interjected. He was going by what he remembered about Jack's seemingly unimpressive effects from the time he and the pirate first met. Jack gave Norrington a glare, and the ex-commodore went off to throw up again.

Jack continued explaining to Elizabeth about the compass. "True enough, this compass does not point north."

"Where does it point?" she asked.

Jack made direct eye contact with her. "It points to the thing you want most in this world," he said slowly and deliberately.

Elizabeth shook her head slightly, with an unsure smile. She was suspecting Captain Sparrow was up to his old tricks again. In truth, she was right to be weary. "Oh, Jack," she breathed in a slightly disappointed tone. "Are you telling the truth?"

"Every word, love," Jack assured her. He took her hands and placed his compass securely in her grasp. "And what you want most in this world is to find the chest of Davy Jones, is it not?"

"To save Will," Elizabeth insisted, making sure Jack's goal and her goal still had some sort of match.

"By finding the chest of Davy Jones," Jack repeated, wishing Elizabeth would stay on the track he had pushed her towards. He pulled a face and took a deep breath, fearing for a moment that it may not work, then he pulled open the lid and scuttled backwards.

Elizabeth stared at the spinning compass needle. I bit my lip, and then smiled as her face changed to show the arrow had finally settled, pointing steadily in one direction. "I think it's worked, Jack," I announced.

Jack crept up from underneath and peered at the compass, not daring to touch it least he somehow cause it to spin out of control again. When he saw that the needle was still, he could scarcely believe it.

"Mr. Gibbs!" Jack called.

Gibbs lumbered down from the Pearl to the dock. "Cap'n."

"We have our heading," Jack told him, still bent down to the level of the compass.

"Finally!" Gibbs declared. He called to the rest of the crew on the ship. "Cast off those lines. Weigh anchor and crowd that canvas!"

As Gibbs continued to shout orders at the crew, Jack straightened up and gestured to his ship, inviting Elizabeth aboard. "Miss Swann."

She gave the ship a look, determined not to be afraid and to achieve what she set out to do. She slowly walked aboard, with Jack and me following. I felt a bit of admiration her just then. Elizabeth was a brave woman. Behind us, I saw Pintel shove a goat into Norrington's arms and welcome the former Commodore to the crew, and I had to laugh.