AN: So I started this chapter immediately after finishing the last, I hope that's quick enough for you. I've been thinking of adding more references to Johnny Depp movies, let me know what you think about that. I won't keep you waiting much longer.

Chapter 6: At Upperland's End

As I climbed the rope ladder at the side of the ship, I got one of the biggest scares of my life. Staring down at me were those piercing, twinkling green eyes from my dream. The man I was looking up at wasn't the man from the dreams, he had long dark dreadlocks instead of the fiery red curls, but I was sure the eyes were the same. As I met his gaze, I almost lost my grip on the ropes, but he reached out and pulled me up by the wrist. My dad and the captain followed after me closely.

The green-eyed man looked me up and down, and did the same with my father and our hairy/hare-y friend. Blushing, I realized he was still firmly holding my wrist. I looked down at his hand, and saw a tattoo of a sparrow embedded in the skin of his arm. Seeing what I was looking at he quickly released my hand and introduced himself. 'Captain Jack Sparrow. Who is this beautiful young lady?' I blushed again and answered shyly: 'I'm Alice.' His impossibly green eyes seemed to widen as he asked: 'THE Alice? Again? Oh, I can't wait to tell my brother about this. But I assume you're going to see him?' He looked at me expectantly, and I couldn't stop the blush to creep up my cheeks again. This was starting to get embarrassing.

The startling, unnatural green eyes had a unnerving effect on my body. I was sweaty, my heart rate sped up and my legs grew weak. It was a feeling similar to the one the redhead in my dreams gave me, but not half as strong. The eyes gave me this feeling, but it wasn't quite the same as it had been with the red curls. I had an idea what those feelings were, but it was all new at the same time. Butterflies in my stomach and all that. It were symptoms I associated with descriptions of love I had only read about in books. I was sure I wasn't in love with Mr. Sparrow. It were the eyes only. I was in love with the stranger with the tall hat. The one that seemed so familiar yet unknown. I sighed at my bad luck. Falling for a stranger. Not very handy, was it.

Jack was still staring at me intently, but I couldn't bring myself to meet his eyes. Those eyes. I murmured: 'I'm not sure what you are talking about. We're going to Underland. I'll live there with my dad, happily ever after. The captain looked away from me, only to steal a glance at my dad. I was relieved to be free of his stare, but at the same time I had the feeling a silent conversation was taking place between them. Finally Jack whispered: 'She doesn't know, does she?' His voice was soft, not half as loud and cheerful as it had been introducing himself, and sounded almost pained. This frightened me. What didn't I know about? Why did it seem so vitally important?

'Dormouse!' Jack yelled. And his voice was full of authority. 'Get the Oraculum!' I was surprised to see a grown man walk up with a roll of paper. With a name like dormouse I had expected more of a young ship's boy. 'Excuse me, sir.' He said timidly. 'But when in human form I would like to be called Marty.' Jack looked back at him, surprised, and nodded his head. 'Ok dormouse, you may leave.' Marty opened his mouth to protest but turned around and left. A wise decision. Jack unrolled the Oraculum, and my mouth hung open in surprise.

The paper was filled with images, detailed drawings of things. There were some curious things displayed on those drawings. An airplane flying into a pair of buildings, a guy with a nametag: president, who looked like an ape, and something called a movie, with a pirate that looked remarkably like the one standing in front of me. And I haven't even mentioned the weirdest thing yet: all the images were moving. Like, actually moving on the paper. It was impossible, but I saw it anyway. I tried to take in as much as possible, but Jack quickly rolled to a set of drawings, of me. Seriously. Some recognized, like Hamish proposing to me, my voyage to China, and reuniting with my father. Entering this ship, even. Then I understood. The drawings told you the future. I immediately wanted to yank the thing from the Captain's hands, but it didn't seem like a good idea. It looked really fragile. Mr. Sparrow covered part of the pictures with his hands, so that I couldn't see everything, but I saw enough. On the images displayed before me I could decipher the following events:

Our ship tumbled down a waterfall, but it didn't go underwater. I was thankful for that. We entered Underland, and I immediately recognized several landscapes and strange people and animals. I sighed. I couldn't wait for all those things to happen. The next few images shocked me. I had expected my father and I to live in a cottage or something, but the pictures told an entirely different story.

First, I saw a tea party on a long table and dozens of kinds of china and kinds of tea. I was there too, casually sipping from my cup while talking animatedly to a man with a disarray of red curls and a tall hat. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was him. The feeling of nervousness and longing crept up my stomach again, and I sighed. The next picture shocked me even further. I was kissing him. The picture was moving, and very detailed. It made my blush return tenfold. I quickly looked away, hoping to save myself from any further embarrassment, but the look on this known stranger's face as I kissed him was etched into my memory.

I went to sit, a bit flabbergasted, and asked in a small voice: 'What do all those pictures mean?' Jack answered me as if he had contemplated it a thousand times before, like he was reciting his lines. 'Yu will safely go to Underland, to fulfill your duties there, and if you do everything right, there will be a happy ending, and possibly rum involved somewhere.' He looked as if he just made up the last part to confuse me. That wouldn't have been necessary, as I was already confused beyond return. 'What duties? I thought we were just going to live there?' I looked up at my father questioningly. 'Well, dear. Uhm,' He seemed to hesitate. 'Do you remember how I told you Underland sucked you back in ten years ago in order to save itself?' I nodded, understanding creeping up in my brain. 'Well, the only way of getting you there would be if you saved us yet again, only you would opt to remain there for eternity afterwards. It was very selfish of me to pick you as our champion yet again, and I'm sorry for doing so. I just couldn't bare seeing you in that other world, wondering if I would ever speak with you again.' I sat completely still, too shocked to form words. On one hand, my stomach recoiled in terror at the memories I had of the horrible monster I'd had to fight, on the other, it felt good to be needed. I dug courage from the fact Jack had assured me of, that if everything went well, I would be able to find my happy ending eventually.

But what had to go well to get me to my happy ending? What would I have to do? Fear gripped at my throat. Oh no. My dad was looking down at me with concern, and I got the feeling he could read my mind again, because he petted my shoulder and whispered: 'You're going to do great, I'm sure of it.' But just this once, I didn't believe him completely. Doubt was eating away at my insides, and I took a deep breath to keep myself from shaking, or worse, crying.

Jack obviously mistook my distress for worries about something completely different. 'It won't be a problem to get you to Underland, sweetheart.' He said in a husky voice. I looked up at him skeptically. Really? He was trying to seduce me? My dad obviously noticed the same thing, and gave the captain a scolding look. It was probably just an unbreakable habit for him, he gave me the impression of a real ladies man. I snickered.

I decided to redirect my attention to what he had said, and not pay the way he had said it any more thought. 'How?' I asked, indifferently, I hoped.

His eyes started to glisten. 'We just…dive off.' This panicked me. I was afraid of heights. I hadn't really thought about the image with the ship, but now that I did, the concept frightened me to death. But I was sure it was going to happen. The Oraculum had proven to me it was always right. I thought about the other things it had foretold. Well, one event in particular.

One I was ashamed of admitting I was already looking forward to. I blushed furiously again, and thought of other things. My eyes squeezed tightly shut. Cookies, I thought. Cookies come with tea, a tiny voice said. Uhm, my dead grandma. She used to love tea. People drink tea at tea parties. Whatever I thought of, it seemed to get back to him and his mysterious tea, his hats, his hair, his eyes. You'd be surprised how many green things there are in the world. It was like the circuit of my mind inevitably led back to him. I was in love. With a total stranger. The more I thought about it, the surer I was of it. Damn.

I couldn't control myself. 'What is your brother's name?' I asked Jack, curiosity clear in my voice. That cocky smile spread all over his face again, and I wanted to wipe it off with my fist for his smugness. He knew. But I also knew no matter how playful and annoying Jack was, he could and would keep it to himself. I hoped. 'Tarrant Hightop.' He answered. Just the name made my knees weak. I hoped furiously in that moment my father couldn't read my thoughts, which were randomly screaming: 'Tarrant. Tarrant! His name is Tarrant.' Such a beautiful name. It had a good ring to it, don't you think: Alice Hightop. Or Alice Hightop Kingsley. Warmth spread through my body at the idea. I said a quick 'ok' to Jack, before going to sit down somewhere on deck, the sun shining into my eyes. It was already dawn. I was tired, and decided to take a nap, right there.

The shaking ship woke me up. It was raining, I heard the clattering noise, but I wasn't getting wet. It took me a while to realize I must have been moved below deck. My father was sleeping in a bed next to mine. Frightened by the consistent shaking, I woke him up and we went up the stairs, to see what was causing the ship to shudder like that. Captain Jack was standing at the wheel, and tried to stir the ship like a madman. I followed his gaze to the far end, right where the ship was going. I almost fainted. A great, dark abyss. Seriously. He was going to kill us all.

Ok, so it's a bit short, but it took me long to update this time, and I figured it was better than nothing. I'll slow down the updates from now on, school is starting again and I have a lot of homework, too. I do love you guys! So please, R&R, it inspires me. And hopefully, Johnny too.