Alison woke to a gentle knocking on the door.

"Whozair?" she heard Monica say groggily from the bed.

"Um, it's me, Elizabeth," a voice said. "Are you ready to go?"

Monica sat up, alarmed.

"Uh, can you give us a moment?" Monica called.

"Sure..." Elizabeth's voice said through the door. Alison heard her going down the staircase.

"Are y'all awake?" Monica asked tentatively.

"I am," Alison said, "but I can't say the same for Michelle."

She was sound asleep, snuggled up in the blanket Tia Dalma had given her, clutching her pillow to her tightly.

"You think she's dreaming about Will?" Monica asked, grinning.

Alison said nothing, staring down at Michelle solemnly. She wished she was still asleep, away from this crazy scenario.

"O-kay," Monica said dubiously when Alison didn't answer. "Well, wake her up, then," she said, turning to the bed.

Alison preferred not to wake her, knowing that in her dreams she wasn't worried about going on adventures with fictional characters.

Although she had stopped bitching about it, Alison was not yet ready to admit that she had been sucked through her dryer. Accepting that was like admitting her own insanity! No, it was best for her to go through the motions, as it were, and not believe anything she saw.

She knelt down to her sleeping sister and shook her shoulder gently. "Wake up," she said softly. "Time to face the day..."

Alison stood up, feeling slightly guilty as Michelle's eyes cracked open.

Michelle sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What's going on?" she said, suppressing a yawn.

"We're getting ready to leave," Monica said from the bed. She watched her sister carefully, noticing her put a hand gingerly on her back.

"Does your back still hurt?" Monica asked her, concerned.

"Just a little," Michelle replied. "Actually, I almost forgot about it..."

"Sorry," Monica said, embarrassed. "I forgot...I would've given you the bed..."

"No problem," Michelle said, smiling. "It's not that bad."

Moments later, when the Connors sisters had made sure their hair wasn't too messy and their clothes were relatively unwrinkled, they made their way downstairs.

Monica led the way, looking excited but apprehensive. Alison followed close behind, looking around warily, determined not to let the reality of her situation get to her. And Michelle trailed behind, looking at her feet, her mind elsewhere...

As the girls entered the main room of the shack, Tia Dalma stopped them.

"I tink you'll be needing deese," she said, holding up three pairs of boots.

Monica grinned at her and took the boots. "Thanks," she said happily, keeping the large brown boots for herself, handing the black ones to Michelle, and giving the smaller brown ones to Alison.

Once they had pulled the boots on, they gathered around Tia Dalma's table, where the witch had already seated herself.

"Do you all 'ave your plans?" she asked evenly, her eyes roving about the room.

Mr. Gibbs, Will, and Barbossa all nodded. Monica sudden felt worried. Was she supposed to have a plan, too? Honestly, all she planned on doing was following Barbossa around.

"We're going to Port Royal to get the heart of Davy Jones--" Will began.

"--and to save my father," Elizabeth interrupted, shooting Will a glance, which wasn't returned.

"Yes...and then Michelle and I will go looking for my father," he continued, his eyes raising to Michelle's.

Michelle swallowed hard and gave Will a little nod. Will gave her a tiny smile and turned back to Tia Dalma.

"And we're going looking for Jack," Barbossa said simply, looking at Tia Dalma. "But we need to go to Tortuga first."

"Tortuga? Isn't that kinda far away?" Monica asked tentatively.

"It's the best place we've got," Gibbs said to her. "I know people there, so if we need a crew, that's the ideal place to get one. And we can get a ship if we need it, and supplies."

"And it's relatively close to Port Royal," Elizabeth added.

Monica nodded. "So, when we're there, we'll all go our separate ways?"

Barbossa nodded. "We will need to leave as soon as possible to go looking for Jack."

Tia Dalma reached for a black bag on her table, brushing the items in front of her out of the way, revealing a chart of some sort. She opened the bag, reached in it, and took out...crab claws.

She held the claws gingerly in one hand as she tossed the bag away. Then, clasping the claws in both hands, she closed her eyes and began to chant in a different language.

Monica remembered that she had done nearly the exact same thing in Dead Man's Chest when Jack was looking for the Flying Dutchman.

Suddenly, Tia Dalma's voice rose and she tossed the claws onto the chart. Opening her eyes, she studied the chart carefully, then reached for a pile of maps that littered her table. She picked through these, careful not to disturb the crab claws.

Finally, she took a map from the pile and pointed at it, looking at Barbossa. He moved to her side, studying the map intently, then tucked the map into his jacket, nodding at Tia Dalma in thanks.

When he moved back, Tia Dalma stood up. "I 'ave a boat you can use to get to Tortuga," she said. "You and da girls can use it, and da uddders can go in da boat dey came in."

She led Barbossa to a back room to help him with the boat. When the two were gone, the rest of the group moved to the porch to await the boat.

Monica heard a splashing and looked around to see Barbossa rowing towards the porch in Tia Dalma's boat. It was smaller than the one from the Black Pearl, but large enough to seat four people comfortably. Monica moved forward mutely and stepped into the boat, reluctantly taking the seat closest to Barbossa. Alison came in next, taking the middle seat, and Michelle entered last, shaking. She had always hated boats.

Barbossa rowed a little ways away to let the rest of the group load up. Gibbs grabbed the rope that was tied to his boat and pulled it in. Once they were all in, he shoved off.

Monica turned to take in Tia Dalma's shack one last time, but she was surprised to see that the voodoo woman was no longer there.

She turned her head forward, eager to see what adventures awaited her in the future.

It took seven days to get to Tortuga. Early on in their journey, they had managed to alert a passing ship of their presence, and the captain had been kind enough to let them on. He seemed oblivious to the fact that most of the group were pirates, not questioning what they were doing in the open ocean in a couple of longboats.

There wasn't much to do on the ship, as it had a full able-bodied crew, so Alison took the oppurtunity to talk to Elizabeth.

I'm going to be helping her save her father--who doesn't even exist! she thought once as she looked for her. We might as well be on speaking terms.

Alison finally found her one clear, breezy afternoon. Elizabeth was leaning her forearms on the side of the ships, staring out to sea. Alison hesitated, wondering if she should bother her. Finally, she decided to just go for it.

She moved next to Elizabeth, taking the same position. When she didn't protest, Alison began a conversation.

"So...looks like we're in this together, huh?" she said, smiling. She cursed herself for sounding so stupid.

Elizabeth nodded. "Yes," she said, still staring out over the ocean.

Alison sighed and continued talking. "Look, you obviously know more about fighting than I do, so I was wondering if you could..."

She trailed off, thinking about how silly she felt. For crying out loud, this girl wasn't even real!

"Train you?" Elizabeth said, finally tearing her eyes from the sea. Alison nodded, relieved she had gotten her to look at her.

"Yeah, but I don't think I'm so good with a sword," Alison said, smiling. "That's why I asked so early on."

Elizabeth considered for a moment. Then, "How are you with a pistol?"

Alison grinned. "I'd say I'm a pretty fair shot," she replied. "I've had experience with guns before."

Elizabeth was silent for a while, staring at Alison as if sizing her up.

"Alright," she said eventually, finally showing some interest in her companion. "Let's see what we can do..."

She led the way below deck to the quarters she shared with the Connors sisters. Once inside, she knelt to a small trunk at the edge of her cot, opened it, and began searching through her belongings.

"Here," she said, producing a rusty, long-barreled pistol.

Alison took it. "Thanks," she said as Elizabeth closed her trunk and stood up.

"And now..." Elizabeth appeared to be thinking, and then abruptly left the room. Alison followed obediently.

Elizabeth looked about the larger room, searching through the crates. Alison waited patiently for instruction, holding the pistol gingerly.

Finally, Elizabeth returned, holding a lot of old cans and a couple of ratty old mismatched boots. She lined these up on a shelf next to the wall of the ship.

"Ah," said Alison, grinning. "Target practice."

Elizabeth said nothing, but continued straightening up her targets. When she was done, she returned to Alison's side. "Alright, cock it," she said.

Alison fumbled with the switch a bit, going off what she had seen in movies. When she figured it out, she pressed hard on the switch, adding extra pressure because of the amount of rust on it.

"Uh, are you sure this is safe?" she asked nervously. She was, in fact, thinking about Monica's adventure--about the time Decklan had grabbed her gun to shoot Jack, but the gun had backfired, killing Decklan instead.

"Yes, yes, it's fine," Elizabeth said calmly. "Now, you want to aim it, nice and slowly, and breathe slowly, too--"

Alison aimed and fired.

Her bullet made a clean hole through one of the ancient-looking cans.

Elizabeth's jaw dropped. Alison looked quite pleased with herself.

"What can I say? I'm a natural!" she said, grinning.

"Beginner's luck," Elizabeth muttered. "Now, try again, but this time, try--"

Alison fired again, this time knocking a can over. Then again and again, knocking over a can and shooting a hole through one of the raggedy boots.

Elizabeth, thrilled, gave Alison another pistol she had found in one of the crates. Alison took it in her left hand and started firing both pistols, one at a time.

She quickly emptied the one in her right hand, all of her bullets hitting their targets. She shot the rest of the cans with her other pistol until it was empty.

Elizabeth stared at the damage done to the cans and boots. Alison blew the smoke away from the barrel proudly.

"Well, it doesn't look like you need a sword," Elizabeth said, grinning for the first time in a while.

Michelle took advantage of the long time spent on the ship, too, seeing it as a time to talk with Will. It was easy enough to find him—wherever Elizabeth was, he wasn't.

Michelle found him one night sitting on the deck on a crate, sharpening his sword. Michelle walked up to him, suddenly nervous.

"Hi," she said shyly. "Do you mind if I join you?"

"No, not at all," Will said, giving her a warm smile.

Michelle took her place next to him on a nearby crate.

"How's your back?" Will asked, sounding concerned.

"Oh, it's okay, thanks," Michelle said. "To tell the truth, I haven't been thinking about it much...I've had a lot on my mind..."

"Mm-hmm," Will said distractedly. Michelle looked up curiously to see what the matter was.

Elizabeth had just walked across the deck, hurrying to go below to her quarters.

Michelle, sensing Will's discomfort, thought quickly.

Should I bring up what Elizabeth did? she thought, watching Will's face carefully. No...it wouldn't be right...I'm just a stranger from the future, after all...it's not right for me to talk about personal things.

She kept silent, thinking Will would say something when ready.

Sure enough, he did. "Do you have any weapons?" he asked, his eyes flickering across the deck.

Michelle shook her head mutely, watching Will's face carefully, but he seemed to have gotten past Elizabeth for the moment.

"We'll have to get you some in Tortuga," he said thoughtfully, sliding the whetstone down the edge of his sword. "If we ever get there, that is..."

Michelle's face broke into a smile. "Really...at the rate we're going, it'll be weeks!"

This began a conversation about the speed of certain ships, pirate or not. The two of them talked late into the night, neither of them feeling sleepy.

Monica poked her head around the corner of her room, looking around warily. She had been avoiding Pintel and Ragetti for the past few days, sure they were conspiring with Barbossa against her and Jack.

Seeing no one around, she took a few large, cautious steps towards the stairs, ready to dart forward and run to the deck. But before she got very far, she heard an all-too familiar voice behind her.

"'ello, poppet."

Monica froze, then turned around slowly to see Pintel and Ragetti standing between her and her room, the very last people she wanted to meet. Well, besides Barbossa.

"Hey, guys," she said, plastering a weak smile on her face. "What's up?"

Pintel gave her a condescending look, clearly amused at her nervousness. "Don't worry, poppet. We're not here to hurt ya." Monica heard Ragetti echoing his words behind him.

"I'm not worried!" Monica squeaked, her voice clearly saying otherwise.

Again with the look. "You're trembling," Pintel smirked.

"I'm...tired. Yes! I'm very, very tired, and I just want to get to bed, so if you'll excuse me--"

She began to push her way through the two pirates to her quarters, but they each grabbed one of her arms and pushed her back.

Monica sighed, sure they were about to beat her up or something. "Look, guys, I don't have any money or booty or anything--"

Pintel chuckled, and Ragetti let out a little giggle, which made his eye fall out. He dove to the ground to retrieve it, Pintel rolling his eyes above him. When Ragetti stood up, he had stuck the false eye back in its socket, but it had gone in backwards. Monica watched, revolted, as it rolled slowly to look at her.

"Ugh, that is so much more disgusting in person," she grumbled. "So, what do you want?" she asked Pintel.

"Just to talk," he said vaguely.

"About what?" Monica asked warily.

"Loyalty." ("Loyalty!" Ragetti whispered happily behind him.)

"Loyalty?" Monica repeated. "What could pirates possibly have to say about loyalty?"

"Just that you better give yours to the right person," Pintel said menacingly.

"And if I don't?" Monica asked coolly.

Pintel drew his hand across his throat, making a sickening slicing sound.

"Oh," Monica said, looking mildly surprised.

"Right, so you'd better choose the right side!" Ragetti said threateningly, his eye nearly popping out of the socket again.

"Right...and I wonder who the right guy is," Monica muttered under her breath. "Well, I certainly wouldn't want to make the wrong choice," she said, feigning innocence. "Because I wouldn't want to end up cursed or something...wait! Didn't that happen to someone?" She tapped her chin, pretending to be deep in thought. "Oh! It was you!" she exclaimed. "Oh, I remember now...you picked Barbossa over Jack, and you ended up cursed, unfeeling pirates! Good job, boys! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to find something to eat."

And with that, she turned on her heel and ran up the staircase to the deck, leaving Pintel and Ragetti looking furious behind her.

When the ship reached Tortuga, the group thanked the captain and crew and gathered on the docks.

"So what now?" Will asked Mr. Gibbs.

"Supplies," he answered. "Weapons, clothes--"

"Food," Ragetti said quickly.

"And rum!" Marty added.

Gibbs grinned. "Well, that was understood."

Barbossa interrupted their chuckles. "Pintel, Ragetti, Miss Connors and I are going to get a ship," he said matter-of-factly.

"What--commandeer one?" Monica asked stupidly.

Barbossa nodded slowly, as if losing his patience.

"Sweet! I'm there," Monica said, grinning.

"That was already established," Barbossa growled.

"What about a ship to get to Port Royal?" Elizabeth asked quickly.

"I've already settled that," Gibbs said. "The captain of the ship we were just on has agreed to take us to Port Royal."

"And how much persuasion did that take?" Will asked, smiling.

"Uh, not that much," Gibbs said, glancing at Barbossa, who was smirking to himself.

"Anyway, we'll get supplies," Gibbs said, gesturing to Will, Elizabeth, Michelle, Alison, Cotton, and Marty. "We used up a lot of the captain's supplies--he wasn't too happy about that--but, anyway, it may take us a while to get what we need."

"True dat," Monica said.

Everyone stared at her.

"And we need to get weapons," Alison said quickly, drawing the attention away from her eccentric sister to herself.

Michelle nodded earnestly, grateful for Alison's intervention. Barbossa looked like he was seriously regretting Monica come with him.

Barbossa shook his head as if to shake away the thought of the strange fifteen-year-old. "Well. Let's go to the tavern," he said, looking at Pintel and Ragetti.

"Why?" Monica asked, frowning.

"We need to hear about any new ships coming into port," he explained. "And I need a drink anyway...let's go."

And without another word, he turned and left. Pintel and Ragetti looked at each other, shrugged, and followed.

Monica turned to the rest of the group.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye, then," she said, eyebrows slightly raised.

She turned to her sisters. "See ya," she said, grinning. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do, but if you do--"

"--name it after me," Alison and Michelle said in unison with their sister, reciting one of the sayings Monica adored.

Monica hugged Michelle briefly, then Alison, then, grinning, brought a hand to her head as if tipping her hat to the group, and then ran up the path to catch up with Pintel, Ragetti, and Barbossa.