A/N- Thank you all for the lovely reviews! Hope you all enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Chapter 24

Constance stared at the compass in her hand for the hundredth time. For the majority of the night, Constance had been made by Captain Barbossa to keep her hands on the compass and give directions to the pirate who was controlling the wheel. She had questioned the Captain many times before he went back into his cabin and he still would not explain why she was made to hold the damn compass.

The compass however, was doing its job and was leading them somewhere at least. It was that or they had all gone mad and were following a faulty compass. She was beginning to get a bad feeling about all this and she looked up from where she had been sat down to observe the sun beginning to rise. She felt her eyes close as she yawned but was jolted awake by the man known as Mullroy nudging her foot.

"Don't go falling asleep on the job, the Captain said that he will be coming to see you shortly".

"What is the actual purpose of me holding this? Surely what my heart desires is different to that of the Captain". She replied in exasperation. Standing up slowly and stretching her aching limbs, Constance was about to shut the compass when the sound of Captain Barbossa's golden leg caught her attention. She watched as he came up the stairs rather jovial looking and she gave him a dirty look wondering if he had managed to sleep that night.

"Ah! What a beautiful morning". Captain Barbossa laughed and she swore he was just trying to goad her. She was about to throw the compass at his head when all of a sudden Murtogg who had not been with his usual companion Mullroy, came running towards them with a telescope.

"A ship Captain!" He shouted desperately and Constance felt all her tiredness disappear as fear ran through her veins. Despite still not being totally sure of the whole ghost stories situation, she didn't really want to be proven wrong.

Captain Barbossa grabbed the telescope off the man and looked through it calmly. She squinted her eyes and sure enough there was indeed a ship but it was relatively far away.

"The English Royal Navy". Captain Barbossa muttered and almost threw the telescope at Murtogg in exasperation. She felt her shoulders drop a fraction with relief and carefully opened the compass again to see that the arrow was now pointing in a similar direction as the Royal naval ship. She showed Captain Barbossa and he seemed to be in deep thought. All of a sudden, he began to order his men about loudly and Constance had to quickly stand near the wheel before being trampled by what she thought was a stampede of very ill-mannered pirates.

She watched as Captain Barbossa pushed the pirate who had been steering the wheel out of the way and she nearly fell over as the ship turned all of a sudden and began to pick up speed.

"What are you doing?" She shouted at Barbossa above the loud noises of the crew and the sea. He managed to pull her closer so that she was holding onto the wheel and his eyes were looking at the compass.

"We are following the compass!" He shouted back. "Is it still pointed in that direction?" He asked loudly and she nodded back in reply.

"Yes! But surely if these dead men are destroying your fleet, wouldn't it be wise to go into the other direction?" She asked back, her arm suddenly grabbing the arm of Captain Barbossa who gave her a pointed look in return.

"You can't make a deal by running away from those you wish to make a deal with". He replied and all of a sudden he began barking orders to his crew causing them to bustle around again, but this time the ship seemed to calm down. They were quite near the Royal Naval Ship now and by close, she could make it out far more clearly. The officers on the Royal Naval ship looked a tad bit chaotic and they seemed to be closing the gap between The Queen Anne's Revenge and themselves at a frightening speed. Captain Barbossa noticed this and she gave a cry of alarm when he grabbed her closer and put her hand on the wheel, allowing her other hand to hold the compass.

"Keep hold". He snapped and she gave him a panicked look as he pulled out the telescope from inside his pocket and he became very still.

"They are being chased". He murmured and Constance grabbed the wheel tightly whilst glancing down the compass which was now completely still and pointing in the direction of the Royal Naval Ship. She looked back up and was in shock when what looked liked a dark shadow appeared behind the Naval Ship which was now so close she could see the officer's faces. They were desperate and they didn't seem to care that they were most likely going to collide with The Queen Anne's Revenge.

Barbossa suddenly grabbed the wheel from her, causing her to stumble back and turned the ship forcefully whilst the crew managed to keep up with the cascade of orders that he was shouting. The ship managed to barely avoid the English one and she gave a sigh of relief. But as the naval ship went past, there was nothing following it and both her and Barbossa gave each other a strange look. Captain Barbossa hobbled over to her and she showed him the compass which was now spinning chaotically.

"Maybe it's broken?" She offered and Captain Barbossa shook his head quickly before watching the naval ship get further and further away.

"No…" He replied but was stopped when the crew began to shout for the Captain to look. Glancing in the direction that the crew were pointing at, Constance stumbled back as there was a series of bangs and screams coming from the naval ship. A dark mist had surrounded it and the shouts of pure terror were soul destroying to hear.

"I think we may have found the dead Captain". Murtogg laughed nervously, causing Barbossa to give him an annoyed look. Constance couldn't keep her eyes off the scene which was unfolding as it looked as though the crew had resorted to shooting whatever had attacked them as the odd flash could be seen through the smoke. She grabbed the compass closely against her chest and turned to the Captain with frantic eyes.

"Ok, so now that you have found them, what is your plan?" She asked hoping to god he had one. He began to walk down the ship and she heard him ordering his crew to remain still and to not move unless he told them so. He then walked back towards Constance and gave her a very serious look.

"Now ye listen to me. Hide in me cabin and whatever you hear, do not come out. Only come out on my orders". He demanded and she nodded her head, deciding that she wanted to survive this whole ordeal.

"May I ask, why will they not hurt me?" She asked hoping to finally solve that mystery, as so far she had been made to look after the compass and from how Barbossa treated her, she gathered that she may have been pretty significant in his plan.

"You will find out in a few moments, now go and hide". He snapped and she ran down the stairs towards his cabin, but not before looking one last time at the English Royal Naval ship which looked as though it had been completely destroyed. However, her eyes moved from the amount of debris littering the water to the silhouette of a large ship emerging out of the mist. Not wanting to stay around, she opened the Captain's door and looked around frantically for a sufficient hiding space.

She felt her heart rate increase as she heard what she thought was Barbossa telling everyone to remain calm and quickly decided to hide underneath the Captain's large eccentric desk.

With her eyes glued on the compass she watched as it spun around again and suddenly stopped, its arrow pointing in a particular direction. Holding her breath, there was a series of loud thuds from above and outside the cabin and it sounded as though people were jumping.

The air had gone icy thin and there was hardly any noise on the usual lively ship. Closing her eyes, she tried to tell herself it was all going to be ok. But then she heard a loud thump as though someone had stamped something hard into the wood. The odd noise was quickly replaced by what sounded like a cry and she placed her empty hand over her mouth to stop herself from making any noise. This series of events repeated itself until the thuds were being repeated even faster. The shouts and screams followed by a soft bang were followed shortly after and she could only assume that some members of the eccentric crew were most likely dead.

The voice of Captain Barbossa was awfully quiet and she guessed he was at the other side of the ship but she could also hear another voice which sounded hollow. But the distance was too far and she could barely make out what was being said. She looked down at the compass hoping to see it in the same position but to her shock it was swaying ever so slightly. As though it was imitating someone's walk.

As the compass moved, she began to hear something scraping across the deck and it was followed by footsteps which began to get increasingly louder. Her heart beat faster as the noise became inevitably louder. She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed to god it was all a horrible dream. But as she closed her eyes she imagined Armando and hoped that she would live through this to see him again. As although she had been told that the dead did not want to hurt her, just the idea of the dead coming near her was enough to terrify her.

Abruptly the doors to the cabin behind her were slammed open and Constance tried her best to not jump and make herself known. The air had gone even colder and she watched as her hair on her arms all stood on end. Looking down at the compass she watched with wide eyes as the pointer began to agonisingly turn as though it was following the person who she could here walking around the cabin. The sound of metal scarping the floor caused her to wince and she was sure that she would die from shock at this rate.

The compass then turned and she looked at it with despair as the pointer was moving so that it was following the footsteps that were coming around the desk. She bit her tongue harshly and tasted blood when a bang came from above her as though a hand had been placed on the desk. Staying as still as she had ever been in her life, Constance looked away from the compass and watched as something began to appear from the opening of the desk in which she was hiding in.

Her mouth opened to release a silent scream as she watched with absolute terror as long black hair became visible from above. It was as though it was in liquid by the way it moved and she felt herself mover further back into the wall of the desk. She had no idea what to do but all she could do was stare at the scene which was unfolding.

Looking down quickly she glanced at the compass and observed as the arrow was now pointing directly in front of her and as Constance looked up again, her eyes met with a very familiar set of dark eyes.