Tia Dalma woke up from her daze. It was dark and she could see nothing at all, but she instantly felt that she was on a ship. The surrounding sounds gradually grew louder.

"What do we do if she wakes up?" she heard a man say anxiously.

"Get Barbossa," a second voice answered.

Tia Dalma had to grin involuntarily. What kind of fools had taken her to the open sea? She – Calypso? Barbossa must have thought he could take her on. If he wasn't mistaken about that! At the moment, she had no power over the waters – not yet. But she felt the moment was not far off. The closer she was to the water, the greater were her powers in this human form.

Hocus-pocus! – it flashed through her mind. Indeed … that's what Jack had called it. With a slight effort, she lit the lamps that hung in front of her cell.

"You can go get your captain. I'm awake," she croaked to the two men.

One immediately ran, while the other fearfully backed away. It was not long before she heard the familiar sound of Barbossa's energetic footsteps.

"Calypso, I welcome you to my ship, the Fortune," he greeted her.

"You'll need fortune too, Hector. I thought we had made a pact. You bring me the two women, and I will always bring your ships safely from one port to another, so that you need never fear a storm when I am back in my true form. You could have made yourself a pirate king with this gift from me. You could have taken back the Black Pearl."

Barbossa scowled at her. He had believed her back then when she had called him in with this strange assignment. But it had probably been wishful thinking. Tia Dalma could twist one around her finger. He had already had to experience that himself.

When he had stood with the young woman in front of Tia Dalma's hut and realised that Jack was in there, he had doubts. It was obvious that Tia Dalma had promised Jack the same thing.

He waved to his two crew members and at his behest they went to fetch the woman he was supposed to bring to Tia Dalma.

"It's her you want, isn't it? What would you think if I sent her over the plank?" he asked the witch.

Tia Dalma looked into the face of the woman who was trying to free herself from the grip of the two men. She had a hot-blooded temper, Tia Dalma knew that right away, and she started laughing loudly.

"Hector! You don't want to incur the hatred of two women, do you? You wouldn't be that stupid. You have brought ruin upon your ship. Let's see how long your Fortune will hold out."

"I don't know what part she plays in your plan, but time will tell," Barbossa explained calmly, pointing with his head towards the woman.

Her name was Temari. Temari detested Barbossa with all her heart. Before she had fallen into his clutches, she had lived with her family near Port Royal. Barbossa and his followers came one day and took her away. Her father and brother had been at the farm to take care of the animals, and her mother had only been able to watch helplessly as she was kidnapped.

Temari had learned that Tia Dalma wanted her. She needed her for a ritual, they had said.

A few hours ago, Temari had believed that she could escape with these four strangers. The one woman who had helped her free herself from the ropes had caught her interest. And the three men had held their own against Barbossa's men.

For a long time, she had briefly felt a spark of hope arise within her. But then she had not been able to keep up with the pace of the others with her injured leg and she had been left behind. In a dress, one could neither run properly nor handle a sword properly. Then Barbossa and his men had caught her again.

"What do you want from me? Why can't you let me go again?" she burst out and kicked the man on her left on the foot with her boot.

"You have your part to play," Tia Dalma spoke in her mysterious way.

Barbossa rolled his eyes and pointed his pistol at her.

"You are getting on my nerves. I'm about to kill you," he growled at Tia Dalma.

The latter only laughed mirthlessly. "Shoot me? Very unwise, Hector. I'll let you in on a secret: if the heart in this body stops beating, and it's because I'm dying of an unnatural death, I'll be free. And I will carry your ship and all the rest of the wretched pirates to the depths of the seven seas. Every last man."

Everyone present, except Temari, made frightened faces. One could literally reach out and touch the fear that was in the room and that was building up into a huge wave.

"You're all mad! There are no such things like sea gods!" said Temari shaking her head.

Tia Dalma laughed again, but this time heartily.

Several miles away, the Black Pearl was eagerly making her way through the waters.
Rachel stood on the starboard side, gazing intently at the water. She held the amulet tightly around her neck.

All she could think about was that her mother had wanted to kill her and was called a sea deity. Rachel never wanted to meet this woman again.

She didn't even know where her head was any more. First Jack, who had kissed her so … so indecorously and insensitively … who confronted her with rethinking her values and morals. Her father's message in the music box – it was too much for her. A wedding with Commodore Clayton sounded crazily like a salvation compared to the chaos that had arisen.

Since she had learned that she was the daughter of the sea goddess, the crew kept a great distance from her, as if she had smallpox. Only Jack continued to maintain contact with her. Rachel sighed.

Gibbs and Jack were sitting in the captain's cabin. The rum flowed freely and Jack was obviously in a great mood. He sang softly to himself as he handed out another round of rum to himself and Gibbs. Gibbs didn't quite share the high spirit.

"And once again my unerring acumen proves invaluable," Jack said, toasting Gibbs.

"Jack? You're the best captain I've ever served," Gibbs said maudlinly, no longer looking quite so despairing at the situation given the amount of rum that was flowing.

"Always surprises me how few see it that way," Jack returned, gesticulating wildly with his arms, scattering some contents of his rum bottle around the room.

A fit of sobriety overcame Gibbs and he stared at the tabletop. He didn't like what his experience was telling him was happening to Jack.

He had watched his captain kiss Tia Dalma's daughter to make her angry, and Gibbs had felt relief at that. Jack liked to keep private things … private. So it couldn't be anything serious, right?

Only … Gibbs ran his hand over his head and glanced surreptitiously at Jack from the side. He had noticed a change in the way the two of them interacted before. Jack was less misbehaving and Ms. Swann was less dismissive, less likely to run away from him. That had been the first change, but not the last.

At the moment, Jack was often looking for a conversation with her and found it. She hadn't fled for a while, but Jack had. Not only once had Gibbs observed them talking gaily somewhere on the deck – to all appearances – and then Ms. Swann became angry, they argued, and Jack Sparrow took to his heels and left her alone.

When Gibbs was at the helm and Jack hurried towards his cabin below the quarterdeck during or after an argument, he could see the look of bewilderment on Jack's face.
It reminded Gibbs too much of how Jack fled from the women on Tortuga and their slaps. Only he looked more thoughtful.

Jack sometimes suffered from his overconfidence. Did he realise he was messing with Calypso's daughter and that's why he fled? Gibbs doubted it, and that worried him.

"Jack, what good does it do us to keep Ms. Swann here? It is possible that we are in danger while she is on the Pearl. Or do you really think Tia Dalma will let us get away with it? Barbossa will stop chasing us?"

The captain looked at Gibbs intently. Gibbs knew what he was saying: Are you really trying to take away my good mood right now? And yet, Jack's eyes darkened briefly. All too soon, they shone again. Whatever Jack had been thinking, he considered it unimportant and had pushed it aside.

"A touch of destiny, don't you think?" asked Jack, imitating one of Tia Dalma's most used phrases.

Gibbs laughed and toasted again. "What?"

Jack grinned wryly, finished his rum and said, "That Calypso's daughter, of all people, can't swim."

Gibbs gathered his courage and ignored the experience he had had with Jack. "Jack … watch out, don't let her get you wrapped around her finger."

"Not at all," Jack said, leaning towards Gibbs with a conspiratorial look. "It's my finger I'm wrapping her around, Master Gibbs," he corrected, letting said finger circle around in the air.

"I know … be careful not to get your head twisted in the process."

Jack Sparrow was capable of such madness – indeed, he was ideally equipped for it.

"Master Gibbs …," Jack admonished, and Gibbs pulled his shoulders up apologetically.

No, he shouldn't have mentioned that. Jack sent Gibbs out the door with a nod and followed him.

Gibbs ran up the stairs to the quarterdeck to take the helm. Jack looked around the ship and spotted Ms. Swann at the front of the bow. He went to her.

Gibbs sighed.

Rachel first noticed the strong smell of alcohol and looked at the pirate with some disgust.

"Dearie, what are you doing here?" asked Jack, mumbling.

Rachel regarded him with a sceptical look before explaining that she was practising.

"I'm curious," Jack asked her to demonstrate something.

"That's just it. Almost nothing happens," Rachel admitted meekly.

She didn't mention what had happened between her and Jack, and he didn't talk about it either. It seemed as if they agreed to keep quiet, even if the reasons couldn't be more different.

Rachel concentrated on the water again. But only the wind freshened a little and made the waves rise minimally.

Jack's grin froze and his expression remained petrified for a while. Without warning, he picked Rachel up in his arms and threw her unceremoniously overboard.

Now the wind was getting stronger and the waves were getting bigger.

"What are you doing?" cried Rachel, scared, as she came up to the surface of the water.

"See? It's related to your emotions and I thought that maybe you have more control in the water – about the water – if that makes sense," Jack explained his action.

Rachel paddled madly, but it did her no good.

She shouted to Jack to help her out, but he only replied, "Shouldn't you now be able to create a water fountain that will transport you onto the deck? If I were the sea god, I would be able to do that. But unfortunately I'm not, and so I'm content with teaching the future goddess of the sea how to swim."

He grinned smugly at Rachel.

Her strength dwindled, and the wind and the sea became calm again.