Nelle07: Yes, but blood is thicker than... er, schemerism.

SaveroftheSun: I know, I do love that bit!

callieandjack: Yeah, she's not having the best of days.

nineteennitytwo: Yeah, but for how much longer?

Fairy Skull: Miss James already!

keiraliz:She belongs with Will and Sparrabeth doesn't sound righ coz it's a mix of first nd last names. Not like Willabeth! I love Lizzy rants!And ye, I still luv u! I love mad things!

bmdrose: It is kinda hard to tell, but I'm sure they are green!

Valor: Bb-b-b-best not dis-t-t-turb him-m-m if he's with pleasurable comp-p-p-p-any! Wait! There he i-s-s-s-s-s-s!

Klutzygal12: y feeling egshmactly!

I was still in a daze when we arrived back at the Pearl. It didn't matter that we were off the island because James wasn't with us. The boat stopped, but I didn't want to get out. I wanted to stay where I was. I felt safer there than I would if I got out. Jack held me at arms length as everyone else climbed out. He looked into my eyes and I knew that even though he and James had never been on the same side, Jack was one hundred percent on mine.

"Isabel, love, you have to hope for him. He may get out of this," he said softy. "He's intelligent… enough. He might have a plan, darlin'."

I nodded. Jack wiped my eyes with his sleeve and I stopped crying. I would hope and pray that James would get out of this. He would, he was clever. I couldn't give up on him; I wouldn't give up on him. We could find him again. I would find him again. I climbed onto the Pearl a head of Jack. We both went up to the top deck where Gibbs greeted us.

"What happened to the Commodore?" he asked. Jack shot me a concerned look and put a comforting arm around my waist, but I managed to hold back the wave of fresh tears that threatened to engulf me.

"Fell behind," Jack replied.

"My prayers be with him," said Gibbs, which was nice of him. "Best not wallow in our grief. The bright side is that you're back and made it off free and clear."

As if they had heard him a ship rose up out if the waves and bobbed alongside the Pearl. It was the Flying Duchman. Jones was still on our case.

"I'll handle this," said Jack. He strode forward surprisingly confidently. He faced Jones and held out his jar of dirt. What was he playing at? "Hey fish face!" he shouted. "Lose something? Congealy…" He stopped talking as he tumbled down the stairs. He hadn't been looking where he was going. I peered over the side of the rail onto the bottom deck to see if he was alright. He sat up, holding the jar above his head. "Got it!" he said cheerfully, springing to his feet. "Come to negotiate, eh? You slimy git! Look what I got! I got a jar of dirt! I got a jar of dirt and guess what's inside it?"

I didn't think that Jack was going about this the right way. Did he even understand what he was doing, because nobody else did? Not even Jones. He looked a bit cross. "Enough!" he snarled.

The call of "Hard to starboard!" rang out across the Pearl as those aboard the Duchman began to prepare to fight. Could the Duchman take the Pearl? I hated to say it, but it probably could. I suppose that's why we opted to run away form a fight against her. The Duchman began to fire, but we were getting a head. The crew were working like mad to get as much speed as possible and it was working. Soon we were so far a head of the Duchman that her cannons were just splashing into the sea with no effect on us what so ever.

I approached Jack. There was one thing that was bugging me, even through the numbness and confusion of losing James. "Jack," I called to get his attention. He grinned at me, his eyes shining with excitement.

"I think she's falling behind, love."

"So I can see," I replied, but that wasn't what I was here to discuss. "What make you think that we're going to win? What's in that jar?"

He lifted up the jar, "What, this jar? Dirt."

"Why would you rub it in Jones's face that you have a jar of dirt? What else is in there," I pressed. He smiled at me like a cat that'd got the cream. I think I knew the answer before it came out of his mouth, but I couldn't bear it to be true.

"Jones's heart."

His smiled faltered when I didn't return it. My hands were actually, physically shaking. I had to clench my fists. "You killed my brother."

"What?" Jack looked completely lost.

"You have the heart? The chest James took to draw them off was empty?! He died to save us while all the time you had that bloody heart?"

"But, Isabel, we can… we can live…" he stammered, completely thrown by my reaction.

"But James didn't!! You could have gone in his place! You had the heart! It's you Jones is after! James was innocent and you let him sacrifice himself, knowing all the time that you had that heart!" My voice was getting higher with my rising anger.

"Isabel…" for once in his life, Jack looked lost for words. He reached out to put an arm around me. I pulled back.

"I hate you," I said and once I'd said it I couldn't seem to stop. "I hate you! I hate you!! I hate you!!"

I turned away from him, too angry to face him anymore. He grabbed my arm, tried to pull me back. I punched him. My hands were already clenched into fists, so it didn't take much effort. It wasn't the feeble slap of a girl, but a proper punch that at the time I felt quite proud of. I put all my anger into that one blow. It hit him square in the jaw and sent him reeling backwards with an "Ooof."

I didn't turn back to see if he was alright because I didn't really care. I ran back down onto the lower deck to check on our progress against the Duchman. She seemed to have given up. As my hands touched the rail the whole ship moved and jolted. There was a smash from behind me. Just like that, the Pearl stopped moving.

"Must have hit a reef," someone suggested, leaning over the edge.

"No, it's not a reef!" the fear was apparent in Will's voice. He pulled Elizabeth away from the edge. "Get away from the edge!"

I sprang away from the side of the ship, as did the other crew members. We all looked to Will. "What is it?" Elizabeth asked him. His answer send a shudder of fear coursing through me and a terrible silence fell on the Pearl.

"The Kraken."

It had found us. Jack's selfishness had doomed us all.