Dazed and Confused

All he did was stare and assess my every move as if I were some wily venomous serpent slithering around quietly waiting for the right moment to strike. The man’s insistence that I was nothing short of a scheming untrustworthy woman was exhausting. I took a sip of the tea and looked towards the mess in the room. In my mind I tried to formulate words to help the current silence but I couldn’t think of anything. What was I going to say to convince him to actually help me?

“You can think I am crazy or whatever you like but the truth of the matter is that we both want to outsmart Moriarty. I‘d like to go back to my own time and you would like to take Moriarty down. Is that not enough?” I finally spoke.

“And where does Mister Price fit into this picture?”

“Mister Price?”

“Mister David Price, a very wealthy bachelor in England that you seem to be taken with.”

“I was being polite and my grandfather requires that he keep up with appearances, this has nothing to do with Moriarty, Sherlock. I don’t even see why you would bring it up,” I argue giving him a dubious look.

“You require me to give the appearance that I am interested in your relations, I am merely adhering to your requests,” he spoke as he gave a forced smile. I stared at him for a long while, deciphering his body language that was borderline uncomfortable and irritated. So much of me hated this game, I didn’t have much patience left for it and the constant analysis exhausted me. I gave a tight lipped smile back at him then took a sip of my tea.

“I assume you won’t be letting me in on your plans no matter what I say.”

“You assume correctly, but that does not cease the need for you to play the part Moriarty has given you.”

“Fair enough just do me a favor and don’t get yourself killed, honestly don’t think anyone else could match Moriarty in his games,” I state as I set the tea cup onto the tray. Getting up from the seat I turned to face him with a weak smile. I extended my hand to graze his shoulder lightly and he looked up at me with his dark eyes. “I should get back before my grandfather wonders where I went.”

“Why is he here?” Holmes questions referring to my grandfather. He reached out and grabbed my wrist to stop me from leaving. A sigh escaped my lips and I looked down at the hold he had on my wrist.

“My grandmother died, he wanted to stop it from happening. The men in my family tend to show great deals of devotion to the women they love. I don’t think I‘ll ever understand their actions.”

“You truly believe you are from another time.”

“I don’t believe, I know and it‘s about damn time you start to know as well, Mr. Holmes,” I respond with finality. He said nothing merely watched as I turned to leave. Honestly there was nothing left to do or say to him, I checked on him gave the appearance and tried to see if there were any new developments. There were none to be told by Sherlock Holmes and I would bet good money on him having a plan that he just wouldn’t tell me about. Perhaps I was impatient or perhaps I didn’t entirely trust Sherlock to get the job done. Never was I one to wait for someone else to clean up my messes, I always tended to do my own thing because then I would only let myself down not someone else. What there was to be done was to somehow gather the information my grandfather had collected regarding his work dealing in time travel.

Granted I wasn’t some sort of genius ninja that had the capacity to outwit or obtain those notes but damn it I had to at least figure out what the hell was going on. There was no way that I could be so useless, I knew that much to be true. Something touched my shoulder as I walked and I turned quickly reacting defensively. My hand balled into a fist I was prepared to fight but I met the eyes of the surprised Mister David Price. He seemed to look from my face to my balled up fist that was ready to hit him. I lowered my fist and gave an apologetic smile.

“Miss Francis, my apologies I did not mean to frighten you,” he spoke.

“It’s alright, I just don’t like being snuck up on that’s all,” I state as I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

“A lovely young woman such as yourself shouldn’t be walking the streets with no escort, I should think one would benefit from such an aversion to be on guard.”

“It does come in handy.”

“I hope I am not being too forward Miss Francis but perhaps I could escort you back to your grandfather’s residence?”

“Its broad daylight, I don’t think it’s necessary for you to walk me back.”

“Perhaps I should rephrase, I would like to walk with you for the company,” David replies with a charming smile. I looked at him slightly dubious and my eyes looked over his shoulder to see a scruffy child approaching quickly. The young boy stopped short looking up at me with a toothless smile.

“You dropped this madam,” he states as he handed me a sealed envelope. I had not dropped a single thing but I took the thing regardless while the boy ran off quickly. Tucking it under my arm, I decided it best to not act unusually to a woman should react. David Price looked after the young boy before turning to look at myself.

“Scrappy little lad, ran off before you could thank him.”

“Maybe he had some place to be.”

“He just may have, now about that stroll,” he responds as he held out her arm towards her as a gentleman would. I had no choice and I linked arms with him to walk back towards the home of my grandfather. David turned his head slightly to smile down at me. “You are most interesting Miss Francis.”

“I wouldn‘t dwell on it.”

“I‘m not sure whether you are a sphinx without a secret much like the great Oscar Wilde tale or a sphinx with many secrets.”

“Then you know the lesson of that story.”

“I’m curious as to know what you gathered from it.”

“Distrust can be a terrible thing regarding personal relationships,” I answer.

“Really? What I gathered was a curiosity.”

“Distrust is just a destructive version curiosity.”

“Well I admit I never looked at it in such a way. Truly refreshing take on distrust,” David comments with admiration. The more time I spent in this time the more I adjusted with the vernacular in which was spoken and the way I should be acting. However much I was adjusting, there still lingered my impropriety and general insubordination. David Price was seemingly drawn in by my strange behavior and taste in literature, something many in my own time didn’t quite appreciate. I would attract a handsome aristocratic type like David Price while being held captive in another time. It was sort of nice though, this was so proper and gentlemanly that I really couldn’t help revel in it. Men of my time weren’t exactly coy or very proper when approaching women.

“I’m glad you enjoy my commentary, I am no academic scholar but I do like partaking in discourse. Literature should always prompt some form of discussion,” I reply with a small smile.

“I couldn’t agree more Miss Francis.”

“You know Mister Price, I don’t think I mind being around you.”

“It pleases me to hear this Miss Francis,” he counters with a bright smile. It was time for the awkward in me to creep up and say something weird. Bite your tongue, don’t be weird, try to be proper, you are almost to the building. I was quiet the rest of the walk and he took me to bottom of the stairs. He kissed my hand once again. “It would honor me to be in your presence again in the near future.”

“ Oh- wow, that would be fine I suppose,” I stumble to say. What does a person say in reply to something like that? “Thank you for escorting me this far Mister Price.”

“Would it be improper to request that you call me David?”

“No, I wouldn’t mind calling you David, sometimes all this propriety seems too illustrious for my tastes. You may call me Amber.”

“It was a pleasure as always Amber.”

“Likewise David, I hope you have a nice day,” I respond with a smile. His smile seemed to grow upon hearing me call him David and he bowed his head. I waved him goodbye and headed up the stairs to enter my grandfather’s household. Somehow I had forgotten about the envelope under my arm and I had to avoid my grandfather so that I may inspect the contents of the package. When I entered the place I managed to get to the room my grandfather had set out for me. The envelope wasn’t bulky and I looked at it rather cautiously because Moriarty was not exactly one to play fair. Better safe than sorry I approached opening the envelope with extreme care. Sliding on a pair of gloves and wrapped a scarf around my mouth, I began to run a letter opener across the edge. It was unnerving just waiting to look upon the contents. I recognized the papers that had my grandfather’s handwriting on them. My deal was paying out apparently but how would I explain how I received this payment to my grandfather? Instead of explaining it, I just figured I could just leave the pages in his office. Yes, no words needed, just piece together our escape. He didn’t notice me slip it into his office and just assumed Moriarty was merely throwing a hungry dog a bone. The next couple days he spent them trying to chart everything out and attempt to recreate time travel conditions. These calculations were not easy to understand, mathematics were never my strong suit but I watched regardless, offering all that I could offer. We had spent hours trying to figure things out and after a while my grandfather put down his pen then rubbed his eyes in a tired manner. A knock at the door alerted us that there was company waiting. My grandfather was the first to get up to answer the door. I remained seated on the lounge chair in the office. He arrived in the office holding a rather ornate envelope and an equally ornate card from it.

“It seems you have been invited to the aristocrats’ masquerade ball by Mister Price.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” I reply with a hitch of hesitation.
“You should go, it will do you some good to socialize, have a little fun maybe. I’ll arrange for a carriage and a dress for you.”

“Maybe I don’t want to go.”

“We should keep up with appearances in case we do not get out of here. There is no sense in you hanging around here being bored Queeny.”

I looked back at him not entirely convinced with the notion of going to some masquerade ball. After all I had never been to or even invited to such an event. It wasn’t that I was bored with what we were doing, it was the fact we had a dead end on the research. A sigh escaped my lips, he was right; we didn’t know whether or not we would get back home. The least I could do was go to this damn ball, who knows it may be mildly enjoyable. My grandfather saw that I was giving in and he gave a smile.

“Whatever you like,” I say walking out of the office. I was tired and I headed back to my room. Sleep would do me good if I were to go to some fanciful masquerade for the sake of appearances. When I woke the sky had begun to darken and a dress rested on the chaise. It was a very ornate dress; silver hues decorated the corset and glittered when it caught the lights. The sleeves were exaggerated as with the skirt both voluminous. A matter of immense work went into getting into the dress. I had to get ready for my first ball and somehow I knew this particular outing was going to be of great significance to my life in this time. When I emerged from the room having pinned my hair back my grandfather looked at me with a bright smile. He got up from his seat and took with him a glittering object in his hands. I stood looking back at him as he placed the tiara-like object on my head. The white lace of the headpiece covered my eyes, resting upon my cheeks where it lied flat. He smiled proudly and I could not help but smile back.

“Now for the necklace and you will look complete,” he spoke with a smile. He brought out a necklace, one I knew all too well. It was a necklace my grandmother often wore for special occasions and now he was putting that necklace on me. My grandfather placed his hands on my shoulders and kissed my forehead. “You look beautiful.”

I hugged him without saying another word. There weren’t words that could be said, I missed my grandfather. This was his way of saying that he was indeed back and ready to help however he can. I bid my adieu to him as he helped me into the carriage.

“If I don’t come back by midnight, I hope this carriage won’t turn into a pumpkin,” I comment with a teasing smile.

“Never let up those fairy tales have you my dear?”

“Try to get some rest.”

“I will Queeny, now you go have yourself some fun,” he says before closing the door of the carriage. The thing jerked forward and the sound of the horse’s hooves clicking on the cobblestones soon filled the void of sound within the cabin. Was I a little nervous about this ball? Yes, the answer was definitely yes. What was I going to do? How long would I have to stay? When would it be appropriate to leave? God I hoped it wouldn’t be too crowded, large crowds were a little too much to deal with most of the time. When the carriage stopped nearly an hour later the door was opened by the driver. I gave a small smile and picked up the skirt of the dress so that I would not trip on it. There was a procession of stairs that lied ahead of me that I would have to climb in order to reach my destination. Once I reached the top of them I was a little winded considering the size of the dress I was wearing and the restrictions it put upon my breathing efforts.

The place was decorated lavishly and I was pleased to know I wasn’t over dressed for such an event. The architecture of the building was stunning and held a blend of roman and rococo eras. I had made it to what looked to be a ball right out of the story books and now I had no clue what to do. As I went down the small set of steps to join the group, I couldn’t help but feel the stares. My dress surely stuck out in the sea of color that the other women chose to wear. It only held white and silvers in it which made me think maybe it was too bridal. At the bottom of the stairs waited someone I couldn’t help recognizing, Sherlock Holmes managed to clean up quite nicely. He held out his hand out to me and I suddenly felt better about the given situation. My hand met his lips as he bowed to me before leading me to the dance floor wear many couples did the waltz.

“Holmes is there a reason you are here?” I question as he placed his hand on my waist taking a proper dance stance.

“I thought I’d see if you were up to something nefarious by attending this event.”

“Nefarious? No, only obliging to this era’s social standards.”

“You were given an envelope by a boy, what was in it?”

“What do you think? Payment.”

“Your grandfather’s notes.”

“Part of them,” I state.

“And when do you suppose you will get the rest?” Sherlock inquires.

“Well I just don’t know, I suppose it depends on how well I play this off with you.”

“You look positively fetching,” he states looking down at me. Even though he wore a mask I could see his eyes gaze upon me. I didn’t know whether he was playing along with the charade or actually saying I looked nice. “I hope it wasn’t all for Mister Price.”

“Sherlock Holmes, I wasn’t aware that hope was in your vocabulary that centers on reason,” I counter with a small smile. There was a twitch of a smile on his lips and I turned my gaze to watch our surroundings. “I don’t think you should be squandering your time following me around Sherlock.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because that’s what he wants you to do, I’m the distraction remember?”

“And the collateral,” Sherlock replies. “Enjoy the party, Mister Price has spotted you.”

No sooner did he say those words, he left me standing alone in the crowd trying to figure out the meaning behind his words. My thoughts were interrupted by David Price and I gave a feeble smile as he took me by the hand to press it to his lips. His compliments of how I looked were unheard by my ears because I didn’t understand what was to happen in this dangerous game with Moriarty. Collateral? What had Sherlock meant by collateral?