The Magic Porthole.

CHAPTER 23 – The Adventures Begin

Adrian's POV -

Night has fallen. I'm in the middle of the ocean on a broken piece of a ship with an oar. And I'm so terribly thirsty. Seawater did not suit me at all, so I decided to just sit and wait to die.

I didn't realize how long I had been asleep, for the strong Caribbean sun was shining like burning hell into my eyes and face. I shielded my eyes with my arm as I sat up and looked around. A good distance away was a small island, and a black ship with black sails docked right by it. The strong waves were taking me straight towards the island and ship... I squinted at the ship to see if it was flying any flags for identification.

My heart skipped a beat. Dread surrounded me, causing a feeling of sickness to churn up my stomach. Or was it the strong waves moving me about?

It is a pirate ship!

I held tightly onto my makeshift raft, prepared to meet my end.

Jade's POV:

The conversation I had with Linda repeated over and over in my head as I brought my stuff back to the East Wing room. She wasn't mad at all! In fact, she was elated! She went on to explain to me about things about Beckett, but I stopped her. Other than that, I began to feel a bit adventurous. I also had a feeling that Beckett was up to something, and it was something big.

I laid out the things I brought on my new bed as Mr. Mercer stood right next to me to approve of the things I had.

My laptop. My Ipod. My Twilight series. My 'personal belongings' both hygienic and...personal. The things he questioned my the post about was my nightclothes and my underwear. He kept saying that 'His lordship would not approve' of this or that.

"He said 'clothes'!" I had protested. "He didn't specify pajamas or underwear!"

"But they're clothes!" he had insisted.

I just groaned and shook my head. I really don't want to show Lord Cutler Beckett my underwear for Pete's sake! But...oh well.

Adrian's POV:

I was very close to the sand bar section of the island, when I noticed a man swimming towards it about twenty feet away from me. I paddled towards him my hands until I was close enough for him to notice me and stop swimming.

"Need a lift, mate?" I shouted at him.

"We're only twenty feet away!" he replied. "But I suppose it will be twenty feet less for me to swim!"

We paddled (he swam) towards each other until he pulled himself aboard with my help. The raft tipped to and fro, but settled down as soon as we did.

"Thank you, sir," he said. "My name's Will Turner."

"Adrian Fraser," said I as we shook hands. "Do you know who that pirate ship belongs to?"

He looked over at it. "Of course I do! It belongs to Captain Jack Sparrow! Do you know him?"

"No, but I'm distantly related to a sworn enemy of his," I replied without thinking. Oh well, this could be of some use to me telling someone I don't know that I'm related to Beckett.

He looked right at me for a moment, as if he could identify my distant relation. "I look nothing like him, thank goodness!" I added with a laugh.

"Why, who is he?" he asked.

"Lord Cutler Beckett," I answered. He looked quite surprised and rather puzzled as well.

"But...what are you doing here?" he finally spoke again after a long pause to get over his temporary shock.

"I tried to kill him, and his little trollop saved his life, and I was thrown in prison," I explained. "There I managed to escape."

"Trollop?" he exclaimed. "But Lord Beckett has no women in his life!"

"He does, now," I said. "And a young and pretty thing she is, too!"

Will shook his head. "So much has changed since I left, am I not correct?"

"You are," I answered, knowing full well how shocked he would be if he ever found about the mirror. "Even the very fabric of time has interfered, and that is where Beckett's new toy and myself come in."

Will's eyes grew wide. "How?"

I smirked at him. "You will never believe me, Mr. Turner."

Jade's POV:

It had been a few days before Beckett allowed me outside my room. Maids have been coming in and measuring me for my new dresses and such. Day after day, they would come in with bolts and bolts of fabric, and yards and yards of trims and lace. Seamstresses would come and measure me some more, and would match fabric colors to my face and shape, and would show me the fashions that suited my face and frame.

I was impressed how lovely the dresses were, and was excited to be wearing the real thing instead of a simplified costume. How incredible!

The cobbler came in this afternoon to measure my feet, and I explained in great detail about arch support and how they keep feet from hurting. He took my advice into consideration, and headed out to make me three pairs of shoes with those arch supports that I can't live without.

Beckett told me that after my clothes were all done, then he was going to bring in teachers to teach me etiquette, dancing, and the harpsichord. How shocked my mom would be when she finds me acting like a lady, dancing and playing music after a day (or so the thinks, heheheheh.)

Anyways, I think I'm ready for an adventure. That is, if there is going to be one; it's up to Beckett to decide about that.

Oh, by the way, I don't hate him anymore.

Short. I need to watch DMC and AWE again to sharpen my fuzzy memory of these movies!