The Brightest Star in the North

by Meredith Rusu

  Meanwhile, Jack continued to flail helplessly as Salazar smashed him back and forth, in and out of the water, up against stone and coral and earth.

  “The power of the sea,” Henry murmured, finally coming to.

  Carina recited the words from the diary: “‘To release the power of the sea, all must divide.’”

  “Divide?” Henry asked.

  Jack landed in a heap at the base of the massive coral temple. Salazar stepped forward, victory gleaming in his eyes. He brandished the Trident, holding the power of a god, ready to claim his revenge once and for all.

  “If the Trident holds all the power…” Carina started.

  “Then every curse is held inside,” Henry realized.

  Carina’s eyes widened. That was it!

  “All must divide, Henry!” she cried.

  “Divide, divide,” Henry replied. Understanding flashed across his face. “Break!”

  Jack stumbled to his feet, staring death in the face.

  “Surrender to me now, and I’ll let you live,” he slurred, half-conscious, to Salazar.

  Salazar laughed. “You want me to surrender?”

  “I highly recommend it,” said Jack.

  Salazar’s eyes blazed with hatred. “This is where the tale ends!”

  With cataclysmic force, Salazar plunged the Trident straight into Jack’s chest, close to his heart. Henry and Carina watched in horror. Henry stumbled to his feet.

  “No!” screamed Carina.

  “Shhh,” Salazar whispered, eyes on Jack. He held one end of the Trident while Jack clung to the prongs piercing his chest. “Jack Sparrow is no more.”

  But for some reason, despite the blood that was spreading across his chest, Jack grinned.

  He opened his shirt wide, revealing Galileo’s diary. He had used it as a shield, preventing the wounds from being life-threatening. For a split second Carina wondered when he had taken the diary. But then something else distracted her.

  Glowing on the front of the book were the words Carina had discovered in the light of the blood moon.

  TO RELEASE THE POWER OF THE SEA, ALL MUST DIVIDE.

  “Henry!” Jack hollered.

  Henry’s face was set, determined. “Carina, I have to break it!” he said. “If I break the Trident, I’ll break every curse at sea!”

  She nodded, knowing it was the only thing they could do. With a surge of newfound energy, Henry charged forward.

  Meanwhile, Jack used all his strength to keep Salazar from removing the Trident from his chest. But the ghost captain was unrelenting.

  “Adios,” Salazar spat.

  He never even saw Henry coming, sword held high, ready to right a thousand wrongs.

  CRASH!

  In a blast of light, Henry brought his sword down on the Trident, splitting it in two.

  A ripple emanated from the broken Trident like an aftershock, roiling the very fabric of the ocean itself.

  “Nooo!” Salazar screamed in fury. He looked down at his hands and dropped his half of the Trident on the ocean floor.

  Salazar’s men began tumbling out from the curtains of water, sputtering and coughing.

  Carina stared at them in awe. Their wounds had been healed, their eyes clear once more.

  Salazar reached up to feel the back of his head. It was whole again.

  For a single confused, terrifying moment, everything stood still.

  Their curse had been lifted; they lived once again.

  Then the sea rumbled.

  Streams began to shoot out from the walls of water on both sides of the cavern as if through cracks in a glass tank under too much pressure.

  “It’s collapsing!” yelled Carina.

  Jack and Henry ran up alongside her.

  “We have to run!”

  BENEATH WHERE THE BLACK PEARL floated at the rim of the parted ocean, Barbossa waited, hanging from an anchor. He and the others had dropped it to the floor of the sea, awaiting Jack and Carina’s return.

  “Hurry!” Barbossa cried as the trio sprinted into view.

  Not far behind them were Salazar and his crew.

  Jack, Carina, and Henry dove for the anchor and began climbing as the sea collapsed around them. The swirling ocean churned, trying to suck them down. Some of Salazar’s men screamed, disappearing beneath the waves. Carina, Jack, and Henry climbed up, up, up, with Salazar and his men hot on their heels.

  The men on board the Black Pearl tried to help by pulling up the anchor, but it was too heavy with the weight of so many people. The ship tipped, dipping the anchor lower.

  The motion knocked everyone off balance. Carina slipped!

  “I’ve got you!” Barbossa cried, reaching down to grab her hand.

  He caught hold of Carina just before the force from the racing water would have dragged her back down. She dangled above the sea floor, Salazar’s men moving up fast behind them.

  “Come on!” Henry urged them from above.

  Carina scrambled back onto the rope and clung to it tightly when she spotted something odd. Something impossible…

  Tattooed on Barbossa’s arm was a cluster of five stars—the same five stars from Galileo’s diary.

  The same five stars that had guided her whole life.

  Carina gazed at Hector Barbossa, seeing him clearly for the first time. For a moment, the thundering noise of the waves and the cries of men’s voices grew muffled, distant. Time seemed to stand still. Carina locked eyes with Barbossa, feeling her heart break in a way she didn’t know possible.

  This old man from the islands was suddenly so real. More than a diary, more than a birthright. A worn, weathered sea captain, who nineteen years earlier had hobbled up to a children’s home with a basket, a baby, and a book.

  “What am I to you?” Carina asked Barbossa.

  Salazar was just feet behind her, dagger in hand, ready to strike.

  And yet Barbossa smiled.

  “Treasure,” he answered.

  From above, Jack dropped his sword. In one smooth motion, Barbossa caught it—and let go of the rope.

  He dropped on top of Salazar, plunging the sword deep into the now living captain’s heart. Salazar screamed while Barbossa continued to fall, his sword taking out more of Salazar’s men as he went.

  Carina watched in disbelief, tears in her eyes as Barbossa disappeared beneath the swirling water, lost to the collapsing wall of waves. But she could have sworn that before he vanished, he smiled at her—at peace.

  As quickly as she had come to know Barbossa as her father, he was gone. And the sea was closing upon them. There was no time to grieve—only time to climb.

  “Hang on!” cried Henry.

  The men aboard the Black Pearl put everything they had into hauling up the anchor as the sea swelled around Jack, Carina, and Henry. They climbed with all their strength, the roaring ocean swelling up around them…

  And they broke through the surface just as the walls collapsed completely!

  A moment later, the ocean was restored. The Black Pearl righted itself with a mighty splash.

  Jack, Carina, and Henry dropped to the deck, coughing and sputtering. Darkness lifted from the ocean, revealing a perfect, calm sea.

  Jack walked to the rail as sun sliced through the clouds. The crew joined him, and they all removed their hats in a moment of respect for their lost captain.

  “A pirate’s life, Hector,” Jack said.

  Henry helped a shaky Carina to her feet.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  Carina felt inexplicable emotions welling up inside her. A life of questions finally answered—but at what cost?

  “For a moment, I had everything,” she whispered, “only to lose it all again.”

  Henry handed her the diary that had always meant so much to her, and then held her close. “Not everything, Ms. Smyth,” he said.

  At that, Carina smiled through her tears. “Barbossa,” she said, embracing Henry so tightly it felt like she might never let go. “My name is Ba
rbossa.”

  A FEW DAYS LATER, Carina and Henry stood at the edge of a cluster of island cliffs, gazing out at the calm sea.

  “Do you think it worked?” Carina asked Henry. “Do you think your father’s curse has been broken?”

  Henry looked down at a small piece of the Trident Jack had left him after their adventure. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “But if it did, then this is where he’ll be. This is the one place he always swore to come back to.”

  Carina took Henry’s hand. All her life she had felt alone. But not anymore. She now knew the truth of who she was and where she’d come from. And yet, in seeking her birthright, she’d discovered something completely different: a companion on the same quest—two hearts so similar they couldn’t help joining after such an adventure.

  “Then I am glad to be with you here, Henry Turner,” she said.

  Henry smiled. “Maybe Jack was right.”

  “About what?” asked Carina.

  “About you and me,” Henry replied.

  Very slowly, Henry leaned down to kiss Carina…

  And she slapped him in the face.

  “What are you doing?” Henry asked, stung.

  “Just making sure it’s truly you,” Carina replied.

  “It’s me!” Henry insisted. “It’s still me!”

  “Then I guess I was…” Carina started.

  “Wrong!” exclaimed Henry, grinning. “The word is wrong.”

  “Slightly in error.” Carina smiled back. “Although, one could argue—”

  With that, Henry did kiss her. Carina held him close, feeling as though her heart might burst.

  When they finally parted, Henry gazed tenderly at Carina and brushed back her hair.

  “Apology accepted,” he said.

  Suddenly, something on the sea horizon caught his eye.

  “Do you see that?” he asked Carina excitedly.

  She and Henry looked through a spyglass to see a ship coming toward the shore.

  “The Dutchman!” Henry breathed. “My father’s ship!”

  Henry and Carina raced across the cliffs when the ship arrived. A man climbed up the rocky shore—Will Turner. He was tall and handsome, bearing a striking resemblance to Henry, Carina thought.

  But he had the older, wiser, loving look of a father.

  “Let me look at you, Son,” Will said.

  Henry threw his arms around his father, and the two embraced for a long while. Carina watched happily, letting her tears fall freely. Father and son were reunited. Henry and Carina had both found their fathers, really.

  “How did you do it, Henry?” Will asked in disbelief. He looked from Henry to Carina. “How did you save me?”

  Henry took Carina’s hand, beaming. “Let me tell you a story,” he said, “a tale of the greatest treasure any man can hold.”

  Will placed his arms around Carina and Henry. “That’s a tale I’d like to hear.”

  Carina beamed, too. She looked up to the sky, knowing that even though she couldn’t see it, the star was there. Her star. The star that had finally, after so many years, guided her home.

  The brightest star in the north.