At first, all the boys just stared at them like they were crazy. That wasn't weird, their friends just told them they were in a fictional world, about four hundred years back in time. "Tortuga as in Pirates of the Caribbean Tortuga?" Aaron asked, standing up slowly.

Mary nodded. The boys went silent again, until Achmed stood up too, and walked closer to Mary.

"That's enough." He stated, taking another step, so he was almost nose to nose with her. The girl almost took a step back, but thought better of it. If she backed away, she would show she was intimidated, and she wasn't going to let that happen.

"What are you talking about?!" Collin stated, defending his friend. There was a slight hint of anger in his voice, but Achmed ignored it.

"You've had your fun. Now tell us the truth!" He said, raising his voice. "We're telling you the truth!" Collin almost yelled. "Oh please," was Achmed's answer, "Do you seriously want us to believe we're in a movie world? Get real, and tell us where we are!" By now, both the boys were shouting. They never got along well, and this situation wasn't helping much either.

Fortunately, Arvin decided to step in. "wow, calm down." He said, shoving the two boys apart. "Can you prove it?" Yuri asked when Achmed and Collin finally stopped yelling at each other. Collin shrugged.

"of course we can!" he stated. Levy raised an eyebrow. If they could prove it, why didn't he say it right away? Collin took the other boys to the end of the ally, but Ann and Mary stayed behind, They knew what their friends would find their already.

"So… What can we do now?" Mary asked, trying to break the silence. "I don't really know, to be honest. We don't have many options, do we?" Ann said softly. Mary just shook her head. "No. we don't…" she whispered.

Mary was the kind of girl who liked to have patterns in her life, she hated it if things didn't turn out like she thought they would, or if her schedule suddenly changed. So in this world, were she couldn't predict what was going to happen, she felt a bit miserable.

"Mary? Mary, are you okay?" the sound of Ann's voice pulled Mary back to earth. She tried to say something, but her voice blocked, so she just nodded. Ann looked at her skeptically. "you might be able to fool the boys with that, but I'm your best friend, remember?" she stated. Mary nodded again, and took a deep shaky breath.

"I'm okay, let's go check up on the boys." She stated, a bit harder than she had intended. "if you want to." Ann replied. The girls got up, and Mary stretched, raising her hands as high as she could, trying to clear her thoughts, but a tinkling noise interrupted her.

"What's wrong?" Ann asked, when she noticed her friend wasn't coming with her. When she turned around she saw the brunette on her knees, gathering silver coins with her hands. She quickly sat down, and started to help Mary gathering the coins. Her eyes widened when she examined the piece of silver.

"where do those come from?" Ann asked, flabbergasted. "I don't know," Mary whispered, she was confused, but interested in the coins. "I stretched, and they fell out of my dress…" Ann nodded again, and stared at the coins again.

"They are pieces of eight…" the girls both stated at the same time, looking at each other. Ann grinned. "Perfect!" she cried out happily. She dropped the coins in Mary's skirt, and Marry immediately folded the fabric over them, so she held them in a small bundle.

Mary and Ann ran to the boys as fast as they could in their dresses. "And here I thought Elizabeth was exaggerating when she fainted in the dress." Ann grumbled, leaning over trying to catch her breath again when they had reached the boys.

Yuri looked at them. The girls trained a lot, and they were in good shape, so when he saw they looked exhausted after a short sprint, he felt worried. He looked back at Collin and Achmed, who were still glaring at each other furiously. Levy, Arvin and Aaron didn't seem to notice anything either.

"Are you okay?" he asked the two. Mary looked up. "It's because of those dresses." She answered. Speaking a bit harder so the others could hear her too, she said: "We really need different clothes."

For the first time since they'd arrived, the atmosphere became lighter, and the boys cracked a smile. Mary grabbed a few coins out of her dress, and passed them too Levy. He looked at them, a bit surprised.

"I think this is enough to buy two outfits, and maybe even more, so could you please go buy some male clothes for us?" She asked the boys.

Achmed and Levy locked eyes. "Out there?" Achmed asked, trying not to let the fear in his voice be heard, but Collin noticed it anyway. Even though the two of them didn't get along, Collin didn't rub it in, and offered to come with Levy and Achmed. The black-haired boys nodded gratefully.

The three of them left, and the others stayed behind, half hidden in the shadows of the ally. Arvin and Yuri sat down on some old barrels that had been left in the ally, and Aaron and the girls set back against the wall on the other side.

There was a silence between the five of them, but no one minded, since it felt really comfortable. They sat like that for a while just enjoying the quite, until they heard two men talking.

Aaron was about to say something, but Ann put a finger against her lips, and shushed him quietly. The two men stopped in front of the ally, And Mary slowly crept a bit closer, until she could hear what they said clearly. She had a feeling that the information they could give her was really important.

"- And he's docking in the port?" The first man asked. The other man nodded in response. "yeah, apparently it's his first time around here. They say his ship is the fastest ship sailing the seas." The men stayed silent for a while, until the second man decided to ask: "so why is he here, is he recruiting crewmembers or something?" "I heard he needs men so he can get to some sort of swamp witch, why, are you going to join his crew?" Was the answer he got. The two chuckled silently. Mary couldn't help it, she rolled her eyes. 'They sound like gossiping women.' She thought.

The next sentence caught her attention. "I think his name is Jack Sparrow, a captain in his early twenties." And with that, the two men walked away, apparently they had had enough of the gossip.

Because Mary wasn't able to hide the smile on her face, the others new she had good news. Mary's eyes shone brightly when she started to tell what she'd heard. Ann gave her friend a quick hug. "you are awesome you know that?" She asked. Mary just giggled a bit in response. "Don't exaggerate so much!" She smiled.

Ann ignored her friend, and started to form a plan. "So Jack is in town, recruiting a crew, for his voyage to a swamp witch." She repeated the facts she'd just heard from Mary, who just nodded in response.

"And they said he's in his twenties at the moment?" She asked. Mary nodded, she already put the facts together. "I think this swamp witch is Tia Dalma." She said. "And that means she hasn't turned back in to Calypso, because Jack is only twenty." The girls smiled widely, and high fived each other.

The boys had watched the interaction between Mary and Ann amused. Arvin raised an eyebrow. "So can you two explain what you just figured out?" He asked. Ann flashed him a grin and answered: "A way to get home!"

But before she could explain herself any further, a loud sickening thud was heard behind them. The five of them quickly turned around, and what they found surprised them.

Hey guys, first of all, thanks for the reviews. I hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoy writing it. I know you had to wait long for this chapter, but I hope the first POTC character mentioning makes up for it a bit.

Love, Piuletta