The pirate tightened the chain around her neck to stop her struggle and for a second Charlotte was accidentally pulled off of her feet. The sound of her choking brought an unconcerned but sincere apology from the pirate. Everyone was staring at her in panic. The Commodore was furious. She could feel the noon sun beginning to burn her forehead where her hat had abandoned her during her sprint through town.

It was all unbearably humiliating.

"My pistol and belt, plea-"

Charlotte suddenly kicked off the wooden pier with all the strength she had. The pirate stumbled backward, yanking the girl again by the neck. She choked but followed by seizing the chain with both hands, ducking under just enough. As her forehead scraped chain, she lowered one arm to give him a panicked elbow to the stomach.

She felt his arms brush her back as he tried to catch his balance, both of them following her momentum back toward the dock's edge. He was already falling as she looked back over her shoulder.

She heard the splash as her own heels tilted over the edge of the dock.

Her body twisted as she fell, desperate not to land beside the surely very angry pirate. Her arms grasped at the air as her eyes found the ripples where the man had disappeared, already being erased by the waves.

A wave of dizziness joined the adrenaline, then calmed it, then swallowed her whole.

She slammed her eyes shut but she could still see the fuzzy reflection of her face, it wouldn't leave her mind. Then the world shifted-she was still falling, she hadn't turned her head but she was looking straight west into a sun that was suddenly setting.

A voice whispered a name.

The vision moved toward the sun until all she saw was bright light. When it vanished she was somewhere open with only the sound of the sea and Will Turner was beside her. She had just enough time to recognize his face and then it was the Commodore's face and he was shaking his head and telling her-

Then she was yanked back into another set of arms.

There was a lot of yelling and footsteps thundering away down the pier but Charlotte was shaking too hard to worry about that.

Or she was until she recognized the voice yelling and it began to ask her in softer tones if she was alright. She peeked one eye open. Then the other.

"Miss Swann, are you hurt?"

"James?" Charlotte's voice was dazed. It took her a moment to realize what she'd blurted, her mind moving too slowly to even feel too embarrassed.

He looked surprised but nodded. "He's gone. You're safe. Are you hurt?"

"I.. No." Charlotte shook off the strange vision but instantly brought the dizziness back as she jerked her head toward the end of the dock. "How is Elizabeth?" She asked, letting his hands steady her at each elbow-she would have fallen over if she hadn't.

He turned to look and she followed his gaze to a spot a little nearer then she'd been searching, her hand tightening on his jacket sleeve as she fought for steady knees.

"Murtogg, Mullroy, escort Governor Swann and his daughters home. Stand guard until relieved." He handed Charlotte off to one of them and frowned at her. "Is that alright, Miss Swann?"

She was still holding onto his jacket sleeve.

"Oh. Yes. Thank you." She leaned into the guard's elbow and uncurled the white knuckles of her other hand, her fingers numb from holding on too tight.

"We'll find him." The Commodore followed the direction the footsteps had taken earlier, most of his men marching briskly after.

Right. There'd been a pirate.

Charlotte glanced nervously up at the sky to find the noon sun right where it should be. The sounds of Elizabeth approaching and their father trying to fuss over her snapped Charlotte back to reality and she gave a shaky laugh and murmured apology to her soaking wet sister.

In the back of her mind she was desperately trying to remember the name she'd heard, desperately searching for where she'd heard it before; it must have been a memory, mixed with what she'd seen today. It must.

But as they walked home, Charlotte staring at the cobblestones of the road the entire time, she couldn't think of any story or book where'd she'd read that name before. They arrived at the house and Charlotte went straight to the library, scanning through books of history and stories but nothing her father had bought had anything she needed. And it was becoming an itch she couldn't scratch.

Who was Eos?

...

Charlotte ate supper in the library but had no further luck. She was beginning to feel ill with worry by the time the sun actually set and went so far as to ask her father if he'd ever heard of a place or person named Eos. His blustered reply eventually turned into a no. She thanked him, declared that she was tired, snatched her cloak from the unwatched front hall, and snuck out a back door into the dark.

At some point the guards had left, the pirate having been captured in town. Still, she wasn't sure her father wouldn't have kept someone just in case his daughters were worried and so she kept to the back of the house and continued off the path until she neared the town. Charlotte was sure this was going to be fruitless but she couldn't think of anything else. And so she made her way through side streets and alleys to the blacksmith's and cautiously opened one of the double doors.

"Will?" Charlotte whispered. She crept through the door, keeping an eye out for Will's master. "Will?"

Nowhere in sight. Charlotte picked up her skirts, wrinkling her nose as she made her way across the straw and dirt of the blacksmith's floor. Her eyes cast over the rows of swords lining the wall, absentmindedly picking out her favorites based on which seemed most glittery. Will had scolded her for that when she was younger, before she'd decided it was scandalous for a young lady to be quite so curious about swords. It still seemed too beautiful though, sword fighting-like dancing.

Dancing that could leave you scarred.

Or dead.

Blast it, where was Will?

She hissed his name again and then spun around with a cry of alarm as the door opened behind her.

"Miss Swann?" Will swung the door closed behind him, a bundle of tools in his arms. He looked around the room as he dumped his things on a table. "What are you doing here?"

"Could you answer a few quick questions?" Charlotte waited for his answering nod but found she didn't quite know what to say. Will began setting out his tools and organizing the shop. She walked the wall, frowning at the rows of swords and straightening a few before asking casually. "Have you ever heard the name Eos?"

She looked over her shoulder. Will was giving her a puzzled look.

"No? Interesting." She turned back toward the door, pulling a cloak tight around her shoulders.

"Is that all you wanted to ask?" He moved toward her and she worried he was going to stop her but he simply stopped beside the door. "Who is Eos?"

"I'm not sure. I just... heard it today."

"Why would I know?"

"Oh." Charlotte had been prepared for a different interrogation. She had not thought of this avenue of conversation and hadn't rehearsed it. "They mentioned you too. It must have been a coincidence."

"Someone was talking about me?"

"No. Not exactly."

A scream rang out through the night.

Another.

Then another.

Will and Charlotte both reached for the doors, swinging them open an inch to gaze out into the street and then slamming the doors right back into place. Their eyes met, Will's narrowed and Charlotte's wide.

Port Royal was under attack.