Chapter 6: Back to the Real World

Chapter 6: Back to the Real World

The sun shone on the blue ocean, but there were dark shapes below the water. This was the ocean in Davy Jones’s Locker. It was a strange place.

Barbossa was happy because he was back on the Pearl. He started to give orders to the pirates, but then he heard Jack’s voice. Jack was giving them orders, too.

“The captain gives orders on a ship,” Jack explained.

“The captain is giving orders,” Barbossa said.

“My ship,” Jack said. “So I’m the captain.”

As Barbossa and Jack fought, Will Turner climbed down into the rooms below. He found Elizabeth sitting alone in a dark corner. Her face was wet. Was she crying?

“You left Jack for the Kraken,” he said.

Elizabeth stood up. “Will, I killed him-so I had to save him!”

“You didn’t tell me,” Will said angrily. “I thought…”

“You thought I loved him.”

“You don’t talk to me. How can I believe you?”

Elizabeth looked up into his eyes-the eyes of the man that she loved. “You can’t,” she said softly. Without another word, she disappeared from the room.

On the Pearl’s first night in the darkness between worlds, there were stars above and below them. The pirates were worried. “Which way, Captain?” Gibbs asked.

At the word “captain,” both Barbossa and Jack turned around and ran. They fought over the ship’s wheel.

Pintel and Ragetti were looking over the side of the ship. There were a lot of bodies in the water below. Old men, young women, sailors, small children … the water was filled with dead bodies.

Tia Dalma walked over to them. She looked out at the ocean. “Where is Davy Jones?” she asked softly. “Calypso gave him a job. He had to take dead people from the ocean to the other world. Then, every ten years, he could come onto the land to be with his true love.” Tia Dalma shook her head. “Davy Jones was a man, but now he is a monster.” She looked at the bodies. “Poor souls… Now they must find their own way to the other world.”

Will and Elizabeth joined them. A lot of small boats were coming toward them. Gibbs pointed a gun at them, but Will stopped him. He knew who-or what-they were.

Suddenly, Elizabeth saw someone that she knew.

“My father!” she shouted. “Father, here! Look here!”

Jack joined the group. He touched her shoulder. “Elizabeth,” he said. “Were not back in the world of the living yet.”

Slowly she understood. They were the only living people in the land of the dead. “Father!” she cried. Her voice was full of sadness. “I didn’t say good-bye to you.”

In the boat, Governor Swann lifted his head at the sound of his daughter’s voice.

“Elizabeth!” he said. “Are you dead?”

“No,” Elizabeth told him.

“I think I am,” Governor Swann said.

“No!” Elizabeth said. “Come onto our ship! Come back with us!” She threw a line, but the governor didn’t take it.

“There was a wooden box,” her father told her slowly. “And a heart… If you destroy the heart, you take Jones’s place as captain of the Dutchman.”

Elizabeth didn’t understand her father’s words, but Will and Jack did. This was important information.

Governor Swann’s boat moved away. “Elizabeth,” he said, “I’m proud of you. I’ll give your love to your mother.”

Elizabeth called, “The line! Take it!” But it was too late. The line fell into the water. Elizabeth started to climb out of the ship.

Tia Dalma spoke angrily. “She must not leave! We cannot lose her.”

Will pulled Elizabeth back onto the deck. He looked over her shoulder at Tia Dalma. “Can we help him?” he asked quietly.

The woman shook her head. “No,” she said.

Morning came, and the sun passed slowly across the sky. The Pearl was going nowhere. There was no wind, and no drinking water on the ship. The sailors were very thirsty.

Tia Dalma came up to Will. “We must escape from this ocean before night, or we shall stay here for the rest of time.”

Will went to Sao Feng’s maps and looked at them again. Jack was already there, studying the mysterious circles and words. Barbossa was at the ship’s wheel. He didn’t look worried.

Will read the strange poem again. “Over the edge, back, over again, sun up, sun down, a green light.”

Jack moved some of the circles on the maps, and suddenly saw some new words: “UP IS DOWN.”

“Up is down,” Jack repeated. Then he understood! “Sun goes down, sun comes up!” Jack said. “Up is down!” He jumped to his feet and pointed across the water. “Over there!” he shouted.

The pirates all ran across the deck to the left side of the ship. They couldn’t see anything. Suddenly, Jack turned and ran to the right side of the ship.

“There, it moved!” he called.

The pirates ran after him, and the ship moved with their weight. Elizabeth saw Jack turn quickly again.

“Over there!” he shouted, running back to the left side.

“What is Jack doing?” Barbossa thought. He went to the maps, saw the message “UP IS DOWN,” and suddenly he understood. “Untie everything on the decks,” he shouted.

The ship turned upside down, and everyone went under the water. Pirates held onto the sides of the ship. Will saw the maps in the water and reached for them.

Then they saw a green light! There was a loud noise and water fell away from the Pearl. Everything crashed back onto the deck. The ship was sailing on the top of the ocean again. But this was not the cold and empty ocean of the world of the dead. Here, the sun was coming up and the sky was getting light.

“We’ve escaped from Davy Jones’s Locker,” Jack said. “We’re finally back in the real world.”