There was a sudden surge of excitement inside me. Will. Of course. Why didn't it occur to me that Will would be here? I felt so much safer. If anyone was able to answer my questions, it would be him. I sped up, desperate to reach the Dutchman. I still found it an odd thought that a ship which had once caused so much fear was now captained by one of my best friends. The ship still made me feel apprehensive, there was just some unshakable aura surrounding it that gave me a deeply unsettled feeling. I had been terrified of it for so long that it felt completely wrong and unnatural to be walking freely onto it. Everyone from the boats was lining up outside the gangplank. None of them boarded, but I couldn't see where they went after that.

James led me to the front of the queue. A man was standing with his back to us, but I could tell immediately that it was Will. He was deep in conversation with the woman at the front of the line and his father, Bootstrap, was standing not far off. It was Bootstrap who saw us first. He pointed and Will turned, a confused frown on his face. It was such a familiar look I had to stop myself from calling out to him. My face split into a grin. James took Rebecca from me and I sped up towards him. "Isabel," he said and his jaw dropped a little.

"Will," I finally let myself say it. He turned fully round to face us. There was an open book in his arms. He looked down at it.

"Isabel," he said again, running his finger down whatever was written on the book. He looked back up, utterly bewildered. "You're not on my list."

"Well Hello to you too," I said sarcastically. His frown deepened. He flicked through a few pages.

"And Commodore… you've… you've already…." His eyes flickered back to me. "You're… you're not on my list."

"Will…" I said slowly.

"You're not on my list!" he said again.

"Please stop talking about your bloody list!" I snapped. He looked back up and blinked at me. "Idiot," I said affectionately and flung my arms around him in a tight hug. I felt him laugh and hug me back.

"Isabel," he said again, disbelief written all over his face as we broke apart. "How are you?"

"Well…" I raised an eyebrow. "I've been better, but I've probably also been worse. How are you?"

"Confused," he admitted. I fought the temptation to say 'no change there, then'. Will was still frowning away at me. "Without wishing to sound… what I mean is… what are you doing here? I don't think you're dead."

"She's not," James stepped forwards, holding Rebecca. This seemed to double Will's confusion. "I think-"

"Wait! Where did the baby come from…?" Will looked utterly bewildered. I laughed.

"She's mine," I smiled. "Mine and Jack's."

Will scooped me up and swung me round in a circle. "Finally! Congratulations Izzy," he put me down, still grinning widely. "You and Jack… I knew it, well… it was Elizabeth who said you'd work it out, but I always thought that, what I mean is that I-"

"Will!" I snapped.

"What?" He blinked at me. I laughed and shook my head at his ridiculous ramblings. James handed Rebecca back to me. "Oh," Will smiled. "Sorry… what were we discussing?"

"She's not dead yet," James said again. Will was suddenly serious.

"Well… no, she can't be. She's not on my list," he checked it again. I was tempted to rip up his bloody list. All I cared about was getting Rebecca and I back where we belonged.

"I think she might be in, er… altumsomnum," James said sombrely. I had no idea what that meant. I looked to Will; bizarrely it all seemed to be making sense to him. He nodded; it was the only time during this entire conversation where he hadn't looked confused. Unfortunately it was the most confused I had been.

"Ah, yes, that would explain why she's not on my list."

Bloody list again.

"What?" I stared at the pair of them.

James was nodding along with him, "Exactly. Thing is, I don't know how long she's got."

Will studied me. "Well… she must be in pretty deep," he said eventually. "She's made it all the way here and she looks… She looks like she could almost pass as belonging to this world… but… not quite."

They were both scrutinizing me with narrowed eyes. I immediately felt self-conscious. "What!" I said again, more sharply than before.

"You're right…" James continued as if I had not spoken. "She looks a bit… opaque."

"Excuse me!" I said indignantly, looking down at myself to see if I see what they were talking about. Now that he had mentioned it, I did look… just a tiny bit different to the other souls around me. It wasn't that I was see-through exactly… or that I wasn't solid in the way that 'ghosts' are depicted to be. It was just that I was paler… and had less substance. It was very slight, but now it had been pointed out I could see how I differed to those around me. Everyone else's colours were vibrant and solid and colourful and I was a bit… faded. Now I'd noticed it, it was strange that I hadn't realised it before.

"Not to mention," James said, I looked up, alarmed as to what else I might have missed. "Her hair's a complete mess."

He tried to keep a straight face as I pulled my most disgruntled looking one at him. Will laughed as I ran my fingers through my hair to sort it out and did my best not to smile at my brother's teasing. We hadn't had an argument like this since we were children. It was nice to see him in a state where he was relaxed enough to do so. "Will one of you please explain what is going on?"

They exchanged a look; James nodded to Will to explain. I looked at him expectantly. He took a deep breath. "You're in 'altum somnum', it's a state of very deep sleep. So deep that they won't pick up on it in the Living World and to them to will appear to be dead. Your body is alive... technically. You are so far past the point of dying that most of your soul has come here in preparation. So much of your soul, in fact, that you will not even be aware of your physical body anymore. And your physical body will not be giving off any visible signs of life- your heartbeat is at the slowest it can possibly be, you will hardly be breathing. There really is very little of you left there, but it's enough to get you back if you want to."

"Yes," I said immediately. "Yes! Will. I need to get back."

Will's expression did not change in response to my sudden enthusiasm. "To get back you have to travel through Limbo," he said.

"Ok," I nodded. "So let's do it."

"It's not quite as simple as all that, Isabel," he said seriously. "If your physical body dies while you are still travelling back there you will remain in Limbo for an eternity."

I gulped. "Eternity?"

"Yes," he nodded. "There would be no way back for you, since you have neither crossed over, nor left the physical world. Although, should you choose to end your journey you can turn back at any time and cross over, provided that your body remains intact."

I bit my lip. This was a lot to process. I felt myself getting nervous, but I knew what my answer would be. I had to try. I had to. How could I possibly live with myself if I did even try to piece my family back together? "I'll do it," I said.

"Isabel," I knew it would be James who spoke out, at first I was automatically annoyed by it, but then I saw the concern in his eyes and I couldn't stay angry at him for looking out for me. It was all he had ever done… even if his judgement hadn't always been right. "It's a lot to take on. Nobody knows what is in Limbo. People seldom come back."

"I have to try James," I said. "I have to."

"I know, Izzy." I could tell by the look in his eyes that he had been expecting to hear this. "I'm coming with you," he said. I was touched.

"James…"

"Don't argue," he snapped in such a familiar way that it made me smile.

I looked to Will, "Can he?"

Will nodded, but he seemed pre-occupied by his stupid list. "James has already crossed over, so he is in no danger…" I saw his eyes flicker briefly to Rebecca. "I… um,…"

"William," James said quickly. "A word?"

He nodded, still looking concerned. James grabbed Will by the arm and pulled him into a heated, but hushed discussion that was well out of my earshot. Under any normal circumstances this would have infuriated me to the point of madness, but now it didn't bother me. I was actually feeling pretty upbeat... considering that I was surrounded by dead people and was, not for the first time in my life, facing something completely unknown. I was still nervous about the whole thing, but overall I was feeling positive. I had my one of my best friends near me, I had a chance to spend time with my darling brother, I had my beautiful baby girl and I had a chance to get us both back… back to my baby boy and back to Jack.

"We're going home, darling," I looked down at Rebecca and smiled, "Back to daddy."

At the thought of her father my smile faltered a little. I hoped he was doing all right. It was then that I felt that old, familiar wave of drowsiness wash over me. I saw Will and James turned to look at me, but they felt so faint and far away. I guessed what was about to happen before it did. I was about to find out exactly how Jack was doing.

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