HDA - Living in Darkness Trilogy - Pt 2 - The Search

Joe felt a chill in the wind that hadn't been there before. He turned to look behind him and saw Jack Sparrow talking with a scrawny man who looked ancient. Sparrow gestured to his left and then to his right and plopped a gold coin in the old man's hand.

Will Turner arched an eyebrow as Sparrow walked out of the pub. Sparrow nodded and headed for the dock where the Black Pearl sat at anchor.

Elizabeth looked rather disgruntled and Joe turned to her. "Is something wrong?"

She shook her head. "Just Jack being himself. He's after more treasure."

"Isn't that what pirates do?" asked Joe. For a brief moment, he wished for clothes to help him blend in. Maybe it was just his imagination but he felt as if everyone was staring at the jeans and T-shirt.

Elizabeth dodged a wet patch on the cobblestones, holding her skirt above the stones as she walked. Now that her hair was dry, Joe noted it was a dark blond and wavy. She took a careful breath. "According to some scrap of parchment, there's a vast treasure out there and Jack is sure he can find it."

Joe glanced around Tortuga, took a deep breath--and wished he hadn't. Obviously, there was no such thing as street sweepers in Tortuga.

"You don't...sound pleased."

"I wish mainly to return to Port Royal. Will and I were about to be married when..." She cleared her throat. "When Will had to go hunt down Jack." A delicate flush spread from her neck up to her cheeks. "It seems we were amiss helping Jack escape the last time and..."

Joe nodded. "I see. You got in a bit of trouble, hmm?" He flashed back to certain encounter with a bounty hunter and nodded. "Sometimes it seems like you're doing the wrong thing but it's really the right thing to do."

"Sounds like you've been in that situation too." Elizabeth gave him a faint smile and sighed. "I wouldn't mind the adventure--once we were married. I first met Will on the voyage from England. I was singing this pirate song..." Her smile grew wistful. "And then I meet a real life pirate..."

Joe blinked and stared at her. For just a moment, a memory, an image flashed through his mind and he shook his head. But that had been just a movie, he thought.

"I know, astonishing, my first sea voyage and I'm fortunate enough to meet a pirate." Elizabeth shrugged carefully. "And then...well, Barbossa and the Black Pearl came to Port Royal...I invoked the right of parley and negotiated for them to leave and never come back."

As she spoke, more images came to mind and Joe felt a sense of deja vu mixed with surrealness. How was it possible that the movie could have been true? he wondered, somewhat dazed.

"Elizabeth, are you coming?"

Elizabeth nodded and let Will help her on board the ship. Joe followed after her and he heard Gibbs shout orders to get the ship ready to move. "So...how did you find me?"

Sparrow looked over at him. "You don't remember?"

"No. One minute I'm..." Joe blinked and he felt a chill more inside than out. "I remember the Jetski, the explosion--waking up on board the Black Pearl..." He looked over at Sparrow. "This is too weird."

Sparrow arched an eyebrow. "You don't know the half of it, boy."

Joe shook his head again. "Time travel doesn't...." His voice trailed off as he remembered something. Three months ago--the faint blue glow--the weird thing, almost a dream but he and Frank still remembered. Did that have something to do with this?

"Are you all right, lad?" asked Gibbs as he came to stand by Sparrow. "Ye look a bit pale."

Joe nodded as the ship moved away from the dock. "Um, yeah but I think we're in some sort of time...time...um...." His voice trailed off, trying to remember what all those science-fiction movies called it. "Ah-ha!"

Elizabeth jumped and moved closer to Will. Sparrow gave Joe a narrow-eyed look. "What?"

"Time loop. We're in some sort of time loop."

"And what kind of trickery would that be?" asked Jack Sparrow, as he took a step away from Joe, looking rather unsettled. "You all right, boy?"

"We--um, me--I mean, somehow I wound up here, on the Black Pearl. I mean now. I mean..." Joe groaned. "This is the past. I'm in the past. I'm from the future."

"Future, are you?" Gibbs let out a long grunt that almost sounded like a laugh. "Next thing ye'll be tellin' me is that this isn't Tortuga."

"Oh but it is," said Joe. "I'm not supposed to be here. I think the time loop started when I ended up here."

Will Turner didn't look as if he believed Joe but had decided to humor him. "Then...how do we make it right?"

"I don't know. Send me back to my time, maybe? Would work for me."

"How would we do that?" asked Elizabeth, looking as if she were humoring Joe too.

Joe let out a disgruntled sigh. "I'm not even sure how I got here."

Sparrow took another step away from Joe. "I'd be wagerin' twas on the Black Pearl. How else would ye get here? Or have you forgotten that already?"

"I meant the past. The last thing I remember was the explosion."

Gibbs patted Joe's shoulder. "Whatever explosion it was, just rattled your brain, lad. You're not thinkin' straight, my boy."

Joe shook his head slowly, more so because he realized no one was taking him seriously. There was a rather awkward pause, and then Will turned to Jack. "Well?"

"Only a matter of time now." Jack took hold of the ship's wheel and focused his gaze on the ocean before them. Overhead, stars glittered, reflected in the calm waters as the ship sailed toward the west.

Elizabeth shook her head. "I truly hate it when he gets cryptic."

Joe watched as the ship moved away from land. The port was a hazy glowing smudge tha dwindled toward the horizon. The darkness was intense, almost as if it were a physical entity. Joe swallowed hard, noticing the multitude of stars; out here far away from street lights, he could see the constellations in all their brilliance.

"Makes one feel a bit small, don't it."

Joe jumped and turned to see a tall skinny man gazing up at the night sky. The man shifted his gaze to Joe and Joe couldn't help his reaction. The man's right eye was carved from wood. Joe cleared his throat. "Um, doesn't that hurt?"

"It does splinter if I rub it." The man sighed and shrugged. "One day I'll get a glass eye."

Joe took a deep breath. "Oh..well, that's good."

"Ragetti! Finish coiling those lines!" shouted a short man with long stringy hair.

"That's Pintel," whispered Ragetti in a confiding tone, "He's a bit grumpy." With a sigh, Ragetti wandered back to his job. Joe followed the man with his eyes for a moment only to see Willl Turner talking to Elizabeth.

Watching Will and Elizabeth, Joe was reminded suddenly, sharply of his brother. A cold chill washed over him. If the explosion had destroyed the Jetski...and he was here..."Oh God, Frank." Joe went completely white. What was his family going through right now?

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.