I admired the way James could be so calm. He was so good in a crisis. He had to be, in his position. I was thankful for it. It helped me be strong in the way it had so many times before. Every time I felt the sick feeling of dread or guilt of worry about a situation I only had to look to James for comfort. When the rest of the world wavered and wobbled through salty tears he always seemed to manage to stay still.

It was as if he put on a mask of sheer determination which changed him slightly and took away any side of him that may be considered weak. It was this mask her wore when he and Governor Swann met to discuss a plan of action. I wilted in the sun as they poured over a huge map of the Caribbean. I knew I wasn't helping, but I had to be near them. It was the best was to get the first news of Elizabeth as it happened.

"They've taken Elizabeth!" A shout cut through James's sentence and announced the arrival of a disgruntled Will. James didn't even look up.

"Mr Murtogg, remove this man." James was still concentrating on the map, but Will, naturally, refused to give up without a fight.

"We have to hunt them down! We must save her!"

What did he think we were all doing here?

"And where do you propose we start?" Governor Swann was, as we all were, near breaking point. "If you have any information concerning my daughter, please, share."

Will was silent, but did not leave.

"That Mr Sparrow," Murtogg stepped forward nervously, "he talked of the Black Pearl."

The Black Pearl, the ship with black sails, even its name sent a shudder down my spine and my stomach twisting into knots with the guilt I'd been harbouring for eight long years.

"Mentioned it is more what he did." Mullroy glared at Murtogg for opening his mouth.

"Ask him where it is, we could make a deal with him! He could lead us to it!" Will said. I didn't often agree with Will, but I did on this occasion. It seemed a quicker solution than all this hanging about.

"No," James sounded exasperated under all this new strain. The mask was starting to crack, "The pirates who invaded this fort left Sparrow in his cell, ergo they are not his allies." He turned to Governor Swann, "Governor, we will establish their most likely course."

I jumped as Will slammed his hatchet into the table, creating a hole in the map. "That's not good enough!" he shouted, his face flooded with rage. James pulled him roughly to one side.

"Mr Turner, you are not a military man, you are not a sailor. You are a blacksmith and this is not the time for rash actions." His voice dropped to a whisper, "Do not make the mistake of thinking you're the only man here who cares for Elizabeth." James handed Will his hatchet back and turned around. This time Will accepted his dismissal and stormed past me.

"This is a waste of time," I heard him mutter. I watched him go and looked back to James and Governor Swann. They were deep in conversation. This was a waste of time, especially if there was a quicker way to Elizabeth. I wanted to run after Will, just to see if there was an easier way to save her, but could I go? It would be like betraying James. I would have to collaborate with a pirate. Could I do that? If it saved Elizabeth I would, but what if Sparrow tricked us and we ended up dead?

There was no harm in asking Sparrow about the Black Pearl. Just this once I wanted to be in charge of my life and not have it all planned out for me by James and others who seemed to know what I wanted and what was best for me. On a whim I ran after Will. He was out of sight, but I knew where he'd be going. I pelted towards the jail.

I caught up with him when he was just a few paces from the entrance to the jail.

"Will!" I called. He turned. "Do you really think we're wasting time?"

He nodded and my decision was made.

"Then I'm coming with you." I told him.

"But…" he trailed off under my glare.

"She's my friend too." I pointed out. He sighed, but nodded. We entered the jail. I was surprised there was no guard on duty, but the whole town was in disarray after last night's raid, so I supposed they hadn't got round to it yet, they were just beginning to set thing straight. Even the jail hadn't escaped the attack of the Black Pearl. There was a massive whole blown in the side of the first cell. Will stormed over to the second cell.

"You. Sparrow!" he said to the only man in there.

"Eh?" Sparrow looked up from where he was lying, propping himself up on his elbows.

"You are familiar with the Black Pearl?" Will demanded.

"I've heard of it." Sparrow shrugged.

"Where does it make berth?" Will asked.

"Where does it make berth?" Sparrow repeated. "Have you not heard the stories?" Seeing the blank looks on our faces he sighed and lay back down. "Captain Barbossa and his crew of miscreants sail form the dreaded Isla de Meurta, an island that cannot be found except by those who already know where it is."

I raised an eyebrow at Will. He was glaring at Sparrow, I didn't say so, but I thought that surely if we wanted Sparrow's help we should be slightly nicer to him, not glare and shout.

"The ship is real enough; therefore it must set sail from a real place." Will reasoned. "So where is it?"

"What makes you so certain that I know?" Sparrow asked us.

"You're a pirate." said Will.

"And you want to turn profit by becoming pirates yourselves, is that it?" Sparrow smiled.

"No! Never!" Will thumped his hand down on the bars. Sparrow stared at us expectantly. Eventually Will admitted why we were there. "They took Miss Swann."

"Ahh, so it is that you've found a girl." Sparrow had a triumphant gleam in his eye. "But I'm afraid you're going to have to go it alone, I see no profit in it for me."

"We can get you out of here." I offered. He looked at me with curiosity.

"How's that? The keys ran off," he smiled. He was referring to the dog (I had named him "Rover" as a child) that stayed down here with a ring of keys in his mouth.

"They do that a lot." I said. Sparrow laughed.

Will was studying the cell door, "I helped build these cells, these a half pin barrel hinges. I f I apply the right amount of force the door will lift free."

Sparrow looked at Will, "What's your name, lad?"

"Will Turner."

"That would be short for William I presume," Sparrow mused, "Good, strong name, no doubt the name for your father, eh?"

I looked at Will. He, understandably, looked confused. "Yes."

Had that just been a lucky guess? Will's father had left Will and his mother years before we'd known him. Sparrow was thinking things over.

"Tell you what," he said, standing up, "I've changed me mind. If you spring me from this cell, I swear on pain of death I will take you to the Black Pearl and your bonny lass. Do we have an accord?"

He stuck out his hand for Will to take. They shook on it and then Will used an upturned bench to lift the door free. There was a horrible grating sound and a clang. "Hurry," Will urged, "Someone will have heard that."

Sparrow grabbed his things from where they hung outside his cell. Will turned to me, "Alright Isabel, you can leave now."

"What!" my mouth dropped open.

"That's not very nice." Sparrow commented.

"I don't need you anymore, go home." Will told me.

"No! Why can't I come to? I'll be more useful than you!"

"But we-"

"If may interrupt with my professional opinion," Sparrow said, "you two are wasting a lot of time and Ms Norrington could be useful, as we have a distinct lack of crew members, plus she is willing to come and as she seems like a feisty one I would advise you not to disagree with her, I'm pretty sure she could win this argument."

I smirked. Will's eyes hardened, but he nodded. "Fine then. We'd better get a move on."

He turned and began to storm out of the jail. Sparrow looked at me and smiled. I whispered a "Thank you" before we headed off after Will.

We hadn't thought about how we were going to get Sparrow out of Port Royale without being noticed by someone, but nobody took much notice and we made it to the docks undetected. We stopped while Sparrow surveyed the ships. "Ms Norrington," he said, "what can you tell me about the Dauntless and the Interceptor?"

"The Dauntless is big and powerful, with many guns, but the Interceptor is the fastest ship in the Caribbean." I told him. He would have got the same answer if he'd asked me in my sleep.

"I could have told you that." Will huffed.

"Well, I thought that being a Norrington, she would know more than you," Sparrow said, "and I was right, now shut up."

Will was silent for only a few moments, probably a bit taken aback by Sparrow's bluntness. I looked at him sideways and saw that he was following Sparrow's line of vision. Directly to the Interceptor.

"We're going to steal a ship?" he asked, "That ship?"

"Commandeer," Sparrow corrected him, "nautical term. We're going to commandeer that ship." He pointed to the Interceptor. He turned to Will, "One question about your business boy, else there's no point in going in. This girl; how far are you willing to go to save her?"

"I would die for her!"

Sparrow brightened, "Oh good."

This worried me a little, but I didn't say anything as we were on the move again. Sparrow lead us to an upturned dingy. He made us crouch underneath it, which was a little odd, but I went along with it. He revealed his plan and it was a pretty impressive one. Then, on his signal we lifted it up and walked into the sea. The water was freezing. We walked along the sea bed, but we could breathe in the air that was trapped in an air bubble under the boat.

"This is brilliant!" I grinned.

"This is madness." Will grumbled.

"Remarkable how often those two traits coincide." Sparrow commented dryly.

When we were under the Dauntless, Sparrow made us float up. We climbed up the side of the ship and Sparrow swung himself onto the deck. Will and I followed, although not as agilely.

"Everybody stay calm!" Sparrow shouted, pointing his pistol at them. "We are taking over the ship!"

Will drew his sword, "Aye, avast!"

Jack gave him a scathing look as the crew of the Dauntless began to laugh.

"This ship can't be crewed by two men." Gillette sneered his eyes fell on me, "and a girl. They're no use, does your brother know you're here?" He turned his attention back to Sparrow, "You'll never make it out of the bay!"

"Gentlemen, who am I?" Sparrow asked calmly. They all looked confused. I felt confused and even though I was not on the receiving end of the question, I still felt pressured to come up with an answer. In the end he answered his own question,"I'm Captain Jack Sparrow."

He motioned with his gun for them all to climb into a dingy. He stopped one and forced him to remove his sword in its sheath, he then handed it to me. "Wouldn't want you to go unarmed, love," he winked at me, "apologies for the quality, but what can you expect from the King's navy, eh?"

Gillette's lip curled in disgust as he glared at Sparrow from his seat in the dingy. I reached out to take it and felt myself automatically recoil as the pirate's fingers brushed against my own. I know he noticed and my face grew hot.

"Erm… thanks." I muttered, not entirely sure what I was meant to say. I'd never been given a stolen sword before. I'd never been given a stolen anything before. The crew of the Dauntless departed, shouting as they went and now all that was really left to do was wait. Sparrow disabled the rudder-chain of the Dauntless and Will and I kept an eye on the Interceptor.

"Isabel," Mr Sparrow approached me. I frowned. "Can I call you that? Isabel? Or do I have to continue calling you Ms Norrington until the day I die?" I hesitated, thinking first of all that I hoped not to know him until the day he died. "I'll help you with this difficult decision," he said, "I'm going to call you Isabel anyway."

"Well then, I guess I have no choice, Mr Sparrow." I said, wondering why I wasn't more annoyed at his complete disregard for manners.

"It's Jack, love."

I nodded. There was a moment of silence. I wondered if he was finding it awkward too. He looked completely at ease. Did I look nervous or awkward to him? What was I doing with my hands? Don't fidget... but don't just leave them hanging there... that's not very-

"Isabel, what relation are you to the Commodore?"

Oh good! A distraction from the awkward ugliness of my hands.

"I'm his sister." I replied. Jack's face split into the widest grin I've ever seen. I frowned, "What?"

"I thought you were married to him!" he chuckled. My disgust must have showed on my face because he laughed louder. "Alright, I'll take that as a no, love."

"Jack!" Will appeared suddenly beside us and the laughter fell short, "They're catching up."

Jack's lips parted in a smile and there was a beautiful moment where the realisation that everything was going right was all we could smell. Then there was the mad scramble to get into our positions and be ready for them without being seen. It didn't take long for the Interceptor to draw up alongside us, a long shadow of the mast creeping along the deck as it slowed beside us. I heard James shouting orders to the crew and I felt a twinge of guilt at my betrayal. As James sent his soldiers swinging over to the Dauntless, Jack handed Will and I a rope each and one by one we swung over, unnoticed. We landed on the deck of the Interceptor. James had sent all of his men on to the Dauntless to find us. All but one. Jack strode over to him.

"Can you swim?" he asked the sailor.

"Like a fish…" the sailor promised.

"Good." Jack smiled and pushed him overboard.

The Interceptor was already ready to set sail. Once the ties between the Dauntless and Interceptor had been cut we were free to sail away. The ship began to move away. James noticed and shouted to his crew to get back over to the Interceptor. They tried to swing across, but the distance between the two ships was too great and they just splashed into the water below. James saw us aboard the Interceptor. Jack shouted to him, "Thank you for getting us ready to set sail, we'd have had a hard time of it by ourselves."

James's eyes fell on me and they widened. "Isabel!" he shouted "Isabel! What are you doing?"

He looked more scared than angry. I felt an arm slip around my waist. Jack pulled me closer to him. His side connected with mine and I looked up at him. What was he doing? He looked down at me and smiled. He bent his head until it was close to mine, close enough to kiss me and for a minute I actually thought he was going to. I started to panic. His eyes slid from mine to look up and his smile changed. I glanced at what he was looking at and watched James's face fill with horror at how close we were. Once it had become clear it was all to wind him up, I couldn't help but laugh. I loved seeing that look on my brother's face. There was something so childishly funny about it.

"Don't worry Commodore; I'll bring her back in one piece," shouted Jack, his grip around my waist tightening.

James's various threats and insults were swept away by the wind and I couldn't hear them over Jack's laughter.

"I am in so much trouble when I get home." I giggled, but at that particular moment, even though I had put myself in the most danger I'd ever been in, even though I was with a pirate, I couldn't have cared less.