Ice-cold dread hit me like a wave crashing against the hull of the Pearl. I ran to the window. The already fragile city was trembling. The buildings were shaking and a few of them, which were already crumbling, seemed to start disintegrating before my eyes. I could see the occasional flash, accompanied by the faint crack of gunfire. People began to emerge from the trembling buildings, armed with things I've never seen before. A lot of them were just children. I felt sick to my stomach. "They've caught up," my voice was barely a whisper. "…how? Why?"

I felt weak, full of certainty that this was not going to end well. I turned to look at Jack. He grabbed his sword and pistol. His mouth was set, fury burned behind hind eyes and he gripped the hilt of his sword so tightly that his knuckles went white. "I'll kill him," he said shortly. I wasn't sure which 'him' he was referring to, but I fully believed in the conviction of what he said. The door burst open again. Isaacio strode in, his face flushed with anger.

"You said you didn't mean any harm!" he marched right up to Jack. The two men stood nose to nose, staring each other down. "Yet here you are, leading others into this City with their weaponry and their New World technology!"

Jack didn't even flinch. "Trust me, mate, we want them here even less that you do."

Isaacio looked distrustful. "You'll help us fight them?" he challenged. "You'll protect our City?"

"I'll do whatever it takes," Jack replied fiercely. Isaacio studied him for a moment, clearly unsure about how trustworthy we were.

"Fine," he said eventually, stepping back. "Gather your men before the City is destroyed."

The door shut behind him. Without wasting another moment, Jack barked orders at Marty to get the crew together. Marty ran off and Jack was immediately by my side. I knew what he was about to say before he said it.

"No!" I protested automatically, before he had even said a word.

He sighed. "You have to stay here," he said. My heartbeat immediately sped up at the thought of him fighting without me. I clenched my hands into a tight fist to stop them shaking. Jack and I were a team. I didn't like to be split up from him, it had happened too many times.

"Belle," his eyes were glistening and he looked like he couldn't decide whether to laugh at me, or start crying. "Your body is eight months pregnant. Down here you are one day away from having a real-life baby."

"But…" I knew he was right; I just didn't want to agree with him. "I can… I want to…"

I was struggling to find He pressed a finger to my lips. "Darlin', I love you. So much," he said gently. "And I know you're not one to do as you're told." We both smiled at that. His hand was in my hair, brushing it away from my face. He looked me dead in the eyes. "But please, love, just this once… keep yourself safe. Keep our baby safe."

I could only nod. He looked at me for another moment longer. He didn't want to leave me and I wanted to go with him. We refused to say goodbye out loud, but I could see in his eyes that we had reached a mutual understanding. No matter what happened, we loved each other and that was all that mattered. He let go of me and walked swiftly to the door. I wanted to call him back, but I knew better than to be selfish. When the door shut I turned back to the window. I wanted nothing more than to be out there, defending Atlantis and fighting to protect everyone I love. I could only watch.

It was chaos out there. Part of me didn't want to watch, in case I saw something I didn't like, but how could I turn away from them when I was already so useless? I would rather fight and face death than sit with this kind of worry. It was unbearable.

The all too familiar sight of a red coat marched in to view with his musket raised and ready for action. I heard the handle of the door rattle behind me and I almost screamed. I reached for something to defend myself with and realised I had nothing. Jack had taken everything. My heart was in my mouth. The door swung open slowly and I clamed up. What was I supposed to do?

A little girl, who couldn't have been more than five or six, popped her head around the door. I relaxed slightly. "Isabel Sparrow?" she inquired. I nodded and she walked in, closing the door behind her. "My name is Nyssa. I've been sent to look after you."

I wasn't entirely sure how to respond to this. She was a child; surely it should be the other way around? Perhaps someone had sent her up here to keep her safe and told her that it was her job to look after me in order to make her feel important. Children enjoy those kinds of lies. In any other circumstance that would have made complete sense, but not now. Not here. Not in a place where every other child was being sent out to fight. This was all wrong. There was something really odd about her to. There was something about her dark eyes that just didn't quite fit with the rest of her. I couldn't work out what it was.

"Um. Hello," I smiled, feeling more than a little unnerved. She joined me by the window and had to stand on her tip-toes to peek out. We both looked down to where the Redcoat was turning away from an Atlantisian child who was lying in a pool of his own blood. I screamed.

"Don't be distressed," Nyssa said calmly, turning away from the window. "He'd had a long life, he was ready to die." She walked over and sat down on the bed. I started at her.

"You… you knew him?"

Why wasn't this little girl more upset? She nodded, "I'd known him for years. He was getting a little old."

"He looked about seven!" I said incredulously.

"His body was, but he was about two hundred and three," she said casually.

"What…?"

She smiled at my confusion. "Of course, maybe you don't know. The Fountain, the one you all came here for, do you know what drinking the water does to you?"

"It makes you immortal," I replied. She shook her head and some of her brown hair fell from her bun.

"No. The Fountain of Youth makes you younger. The more you drink, the younger you get. In body, but your mind stays the same. The more you drink, the younger you get. A drop can be enough to turn your bodyclock back and heal a wound. It can bring you back from the brink of death and give you a second chance. That was what it was originally used for, but when Atlantis sank we had to change that. When we get to the point where we are dying of age, we convert our bodies back to being children. Just to keep the City safe. It's tiring."

As she spoke I realised what it was about her eyes that wasn't right. They were far too old for her face. They held too much wisdom and experience for someone aged six. My head spun with the confusion of it all. This little girl was older than me. If time moved differently for people here and she'd been using the Fountain, she was thousands of years old. But when I looked at her, all I could see was a six year old girl. I wasn't too sure how to treat her, or how to speak to her, or how to respond to what she had told me. I wanted to ask exactly how old she was, but I thought that might be rude, so I didn't.

She smiled, "It's alright, I know it's a lot to take in."

I nodded. "Yeah, you could say that."

Her eyes fell on my baby bump, "So, you're expecting?"

"Yes," I smiled, feeling a little nervous. "Tomorrow, actually."

She saw my fear. "I know it may not seem it, but this is a safe place."

"It is?" I raised an eyebrow disbelievingly, as the building we were standing in started to shake. She laughed.

"We've protected ourselves for thousands of years, we are educated people, our medicines are different and we can do things that people in the New World cannot. You are in safe hands."

I felt reassured. "Thank you," I said. I looked away from her and back out of the window. By now many more people were on the streets below us, either fighting or preparing to. Some of the Atlantisians seemed, at first glance, to be unarmed, but when they were under any kind of danger I saw that they could do the most incredible things. Tiny sparks flew from their fingertips in a whole array of colours from blues and purples to yellow and reds. Some of them would knock their opponent right back, others froze them and some just made them crumple to the ground. I didn't want to watch, but I couldn't look away. High above the roofs of the city a flash of fire caught my eye. I looked up to see two giant silhouettes in the sky flying with huge wings towards us. I was filled with awe at the thought of what this city could bring out to defend herself with.

Raised voices in the corridor made me turn. Nyssa and I exchanged a worried glance. I slowly moved towards the door and pressed my ear to the wood.

"Where is she?" a familiar angry voice was unnervingly close.

George.

"Give up," Jack's voice was tense.

I heard their swords clash once, twice… and then a gunshot.