When Maggie finally fell asleep that night, Captain Jack looked in on her in her cabin and smiled. Maggie might be turning eight years old in a few days, but she was still his little girl.

He walked back to his cabin and sat down trying to chart their next course. But for some odd reason his compass still refused to work, the needle spun in circles but never stopped to point in the right direction.

He sighed and went to take a drink of rum. But when he turned the bottle over it was empty, aside from a few drops that came leaking out.

"Why is the rum always gone?" He asked himself.

He got up from his desk and struggled to keep his balance. "Oh..." He said "that's why."

He grabbed his hat off the globe and put it on his head. He grabbed a lit lantern as he walked down below deck to where the crew slept in their hammock's.

"As you were, gents" Jack told them.

Jack continued his way down to the rum locker, which he kept under lock and key to prevent young Maggie from getting inside. When it came to rum, she was curious.

Jack unlocked the room and walked in, he noticed all the rum racks were practically empty. He finally spotted a bottle on the bottom rack, he pulled it out noticing it was encrusted with barnacles. When he finally pried it out, he noticed it felt too heavy to be filled with rum. Turning it over he was surprised to see sand spilling out of it.

"Time's run out, Jack" came a voice from one end of the room.

Jack dropped the bottle causing it to shatter.

Jack lifted the lantern a little higher, peering around in the darkness. In the corner of the rum locker, he could see a sailor that looked like he came straight from the sea floor. He was soaked to the bone and had pale bleached out skin. And Jack was sure he noticed a starfish attached to his face with some barnacles. Yet Jack could've swore he knew the sailor.

"Bootstrap... Bill Turner?" Jack said, finally recognising him.

                         ☠💀☠

Meanwhile up on the main deck, Maggie came out of her cabin searching for her father. She hadn't actually been sleeping to begin with, when her father looked in on her she was pretending to sleep.

When she didn't find her Dad in his cabin, she knew he had to be in the rum locker. She quietly crept down to the rum locker, but stopped and hid behind a cask of rum when she heard an unfamiliar voice talking to her Dad.

"Is this a dream?" Her Dad asked.

"No..." A deep and strong voice said.

"I thought not, if it were, there'd be rum" her father said.

The man offered Jack a bottle encrusted with barnacles. Jack wiped the mouth of the bottle before taking a gulp.

"You got the pearl back, I see?" The man observed.

"I had some help retrieving the Pearl... your son" Jack told him.

The man seemed taken aback. "William?" He asked "he ended up a pirate after all?"

Maggie's eyes widened as she stared at the man. Her friend, Will Turner, came flashed before her eyes as she stared at him. She saw the Turner family resemblance.

Will's Dad? Bootstrap Bill Turner? She thought But he's dead, isn't he?

"And to what do I owe the pleasure of your carbuncle?" Jack asked.

"He sent me..." Bootstrap told him, gravely.

Jack gave him a questioning look.

"...Davy Jones" Bootstrap said.

Maggie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Davy Jones? She thought He's just an old sailor story!

"Ah, it's you then" Jack said "he shanghaied you into service then."

"I chose it" Bootstrap said "I'm sorry for the part I played in the mutiny against you, Jack. I stood up for you and little Maggie, everything went wrong after that. They strapped me to a cannon, I ended up on the bottom of the ocean, the weight of the water crushing down on me. Unable to move... Unable to die, Jack. All I could do was think and I thought if I had even the tiniest hope of escaping this fate, I would take it. Trade anything for it."

Jack got up from his seat and tried to walk towards the stairs. "It's funny what a man'll do to forestall his final judgement" he said.

Bootstrap got up and stood in his way.
"You made a deal with him too, Jack" he reminded Maggie's father. "He raised the Pearl from the depths for you, thirteen years you've been her captain."

"Technically-" Jack tried, but Bootstrap went on.

"Jack, you wouldn't be able to talk your way out of this one" Bootstrap Bill told him "the terms what applied to me, apply to you as well. One soul bond to crew a hundred year aboard his ship."

"Yes, but the Flying Dutchman already has a captain so there's really no use for-" Jack tried again to talk his way out.

"Then it's the locker for you!" Bootstrap growled "Jones terrible leviathan will find you and drag the pearl back to the depths and you along with it!"

"Any idea when Jones will release said terrible Beastie?" Jack asked, looking terrified.

"I already told you, Jack" Bootstrap shook his head "Your time is up..." He clapped his hand in Jack's palm.

"He comes now, drawn with ravenous hunger for the man what bears the black spot..." Bootstrap said.

Maggie tried to look at what Jack was staring at on his hand, but couldn't see it. When she looked back to Bootstrap he was gone...

Then her father went completely and utterly mental.

Captain Jack Sparrow ran past Maggie's hiding spot, without even noticing her. He ran about the crew's quarter's shouting orders like a nut-job!

"On deck! All hands! Lift the skins up! Make fast the bundt gasket! Keep your loof! Have care of the Lee hatch! Scurry! I want movement! MOVEMENT! I WANT MOVEMENT!"

The crew jolted awake and dressed themselves quickly to follow his orders.

Maggie followed close behind the crew. As her father was distracted wrapping his hand in a rag, Maggie snuck back into her cabin and closed the door. She tried to contemplate all she heard her father and Bootsrap Bill talking about.

Davy Jones? Deals? A leviathan? And what was all that about a black spot? Maggie couldn't understand any of it, Davy Jones was a myth... wasn't he?

She rubbed her eyes tiredly and that's when she noticed it. Something that wasn't there before: A big black festering spot on the palm of her right hand! She knew it could only be the dreaded black spot Bootstrap Bill had warned them about.

Maggie went to her book shelf and pulled out a book called The History of Pirate Folklore. She turned to the chapter called Curses and supernatural elements at sea.

"The Black Spot" she read in a whisper "is only presented to pirates as a verdict of guilt or judgement. It has also been known to appear on a pirates hand as a... death sentence? In rare case's, it can appear on a pirates closest family member's hand as well. Spouses, Parent's or children of the marked pirate may also carry the spot until the first one marked dies..."

Maggie suddenly realized the reality of the situation... her father was going to die because he made a deal with Davy Jones!

Maggie didn't want her dad and the crew to find out she was marked with the Black spot. She took a scarf out from her drawer and wrapped it around her hand to cover it.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. "Maggie?" Came her father's slightly panicked voice. "Are you awake, Luv?"

Maggie ran to her bed and tried to make it look like she had been sleeping. Jack opened the door, came in and sat on the edge of her bed.

He shook her slightly. "Maggie?" He whispered.

Maggie opened her eyes. "Yeah, Daddy?" She asked, trying to make her voice sound sleepy.

"Change of plans, Luv" he told her gently "we're making port, hopefully by morning."

"Alright, Daddy" she nodded.

Jack smiled at her, but it faded when he noticed her hand was wrapped in a scarf.

"What happened to your hand?" He asked her.

Maggie's breath hitched. "Oh, That?" She said "I... I got another splinter on the railing. It's fine now, it's just healing."

"We really need to fix that railing" Jack said, kissing her hand. "Well, goodnight, dear."

"Goodnight, Dad" Maggie said.

Jack walked back out to the main deck, leaving Maggie to wonder. Why didn't he tell her about Bootstrap Bill or Davy Jones or the Black spot? Why was he keeping secrets from her? He usually told her everything and she told him everything.

Why was her Dad trying to hide things from her?

                          ☠💀☠

Around seven a.m the next morning the crew of the Black Pearl came to an island they were sure was deserted. Yet as they trudged through the lush jungles, the frequently superstitious Mr. Gibbs kept trying to get Captain Jack to turn around and head back to the ship.

"I'm serious about this, cap'n" Mr. Gibbs told him "this place has an eerie feel to it..."

"Mr. Gibbs, ye once thought that the Pearl herself was haunted and it was nothing more than a rat scurrying about" Jack reminded him "besides this is clearly an uninhabitable island, unless ye believe the trees are watching you."

As much as Maggie wanted to agree with her father, she could not escape the dreaded feeling that they were not alone on this island. She could feel eyes on her but she was unaware of where they were. It made her feel uneasy.

Maggie took a few steps closer then she felt something tighten around her right ankle and found herself being pulled into the air hanging by her right foot. She let out a yell as she had been ensnared by a rope trap!

"Dad!" She yelled to Jack "Daddy!"

"Maggie!" Jack yelled back, coming to her side. "Hang on, Luv! Daddy's here!" He turned to the crew "cut her loose!"

Marty climbed up the tree and sawed at the rope holding Maggie up. Finally the rope snapped and Maggie landed back in father's arms.

Almost instantly after Jack put her down, the entire crew of the Black Pearl was surrounded by natives in loin clothes. Colorful war paint was smudged on their skin and some appeared to be decked out in what looked like...

Maggie gulped ...human bones! she thought.

"Jack..." Gibbs whispered to Maggie's father "I think the inhabitants of this island might just be cannibals!"

"Really Gibbs?" Maggie said sarcastically "I thought they were trying to start a new fashion trend with the war paint and human bones!"

Suddenly Maggie felt a sharp pinch on the side of her neck.

"Ow!" She cried "Alright! Something just bit me!"

Her father reached over and pulled a blow dart out of her neck.

"Wow!" Maggie said, staring at the dart as her vision began to blur. "This island has big bugs! That's the biggest, most colorful bug I ever..."

Maggie passed out before she could finish. Her last sight was her father's face going blurry, before she blacked out.

AN: Oh Bugger! Well, looks like the Pelegosto's will being having roasted Sparrow! 🍗 Unless my faithful readers vote and comment! ❤