Dark Tides

Percy wasn't sure if he believed what had just happened. In just a few minutes, they'd escaped The Serpent and sent the ship speeding off who-knows-where. At least, Emily had sent the ship away. Percy stood there and looked pretty, mostly. Now they were left bobbing up and down at night in a boat barely big enough for the both of them, with the thrusters out of order. Emily had dug around until she found a bag of supplies and a pair of oars. Much to Percy's disappointment, they'd have to do this themselves. Well, he had to row the boat.

He had to hand it to Emily for trying, but the oars were a bit too heavy for her, and they really weren't getting anywhere. Percy dug through the emergency supplies bag until he found a compass, pointing it in the direction of land based on what he'd seen from the maps in the control room, and leaving Emily in charge of the compass. She seemed reluctant at first, but Percy managed to convince her that he couldn't row if she wasn't in charge of the compass, though it was far from the truth. If anything, he probably would have had an easier time if he had the compass with himself, but he didn't bother trying to take it from her. He hated to leave her without a sense of purpose.

Emily talked a lot while Percy rowed. A lot. After about an hour, he was sure that he knew all about Emily's childhood, family, and every pet she ever owned as a child, including a canary named Socrates who could sing lullabies. She then went on to go off about Gregory Harrington again, and how the man paid her little to no attention until her name became part of such a "scandal". Part of Percy wondered if the Harringtons had noticed his disappearance the last couple of days. Mr. Daly surely would, and Percy was almost certain the gardener would try and cover for him, but he wasn't sure of how effective it would be. Gregory did have something against him, and Percy had come to peace with the fact that after his little stunt with the itching powder and his disappearance soon after, if Gregory noticed, he could kiss his job goodbye.

Percy stayed silent as he focused on rowing, letting Emily talk as much as she liked. His arms and back hurt, but he refused to show it. He didn't need Emily worrying about him. He wasn't so lucky though, glancing up to find that Emily was staring at him blankly.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I was wondering the same thing," she said. "I asked you a question, and you just stared at me and nodded."

"I did?"

"Maybe we should trade places for a little while," she suggested.

"No, I'm alright," Percy insisted, as sick as he felt from rowing so much. The truth was that they wouldn't get anywhere for weeks if Emily was rowing, but he didn't want to tell her that.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. What was your question?"

"I asked why your father seems so obsessed over your brother," she repeated. "He mentions Colt almost every time you two see each other. He seems bitter about Colt not joining him."

"Bitter," Percy smirked as he rowed, the movement now repetitive and something he thought little about how to word it. "He's more than bitter. Colt was his favorite. That was no secret. Colt was... everyone's favorite..."

Percy's voice trailed off slightly, his smile fading as he remembered how hard he always tried to be like his older brother. Colt was smart one, the handsome one, the charming one... He could win anyone over in the blink of an eye. Ever since Percy could remember, he followed his older brother like a puppy. Like his mother said, he'd always been smaller than everyone, which led them to easily forget he existed. His father was no exception.

"Anyways, Nathaniel gave up on the three of us when I was thirteen," Percy continued. "Colt was as old as I am now. He took it the worst, out of all of us. A year later, he met Phineas. I don't know if you remember, but Phineas was the captain of The Silver Spirit, before Scarlett was. Back then, Phineas had two people about Colt's age as apprentices of sort. One was our very own Madeline Triggs. The other was Abram. Pretty girl and another man his age? It didn't take much to convince him to join the crew. I followed him, like always."

"Abram?" Emily repeated, eyebrows shooting up. "I didn't know he was part of that crew."

"He was," Percy nodded, letting go of the oars to rest a few minutes. "It's why he despised Scarlett so much. I remember when Phineas died. The whole ship went to chaos looking for a new captain. Abram felt it should have been him. He'd been there since he was far younger than Scarlett. On the other hand, Scarlett had won the crew over easily. The crew and, well, my brother. So you can imagine how furious Abram was when Colt sided with her instead of him, and she became captain. He refused to be a part of it, so he went off and got his own ship."

"But what does this have to do with Nathaniel?" Emily asked.

"Nathaniel was an old friend of Phineas," Percy explained. "He heard about Phineas's death and Abram's ship, and so he went looking for answers. He found Abram and joined the crew, and that's how he found out Colt was on the ship. He wasn't happy about it at all. Apparently he'd tried convincing Colt to come with him, but Colt said no. So when Colt went off and did it anyways, Nathaniel couldn't stand it anymore. I suppose he decided that if his son wasn't joining him, his son wasn't going anywhere."

"That's why Colt tried running away, wasn't it?" Emily suggested.

"I suppose it was," Percy shrugged. "I always thought he was just trying to get away. You know the rest. He ran, Nathaniel went after him, and I suppose he ended up killing him in his rage. He blamed it on Scarlett, and she took the blame for years. For my sake."

Emily nodded, watching in silence for a few minutes as Percy started rowing again. It took another hour and a half before they finally made it to the docks. At that point, Percy could barely breathe. His arms felt like limp noodles. Emily had to help pull him out of the boat, where he collapsed and lied down on the dock for a few minutes to catch his breath. Emily watched him with concern, speaking slowly and hesitantly.

"It's a bit of a walk to get home..."

The sound Percy made was barely human.

"Or we could stop by that inn for the rest of the night?" Emily suggested.

The sound Percy made this time wasn't human either, but at least it sounded a little bit more affirmative. Emily helped him get up and walk to the inn by the docks, which was lit up with a warm glow. The bottom floor was a small pub, full of drunken sailors lazily stumbling around. They went up to the innkeeper and Emily gave him a bright smile, while Percy swayed slightly where he stood behind her. The innkeeper looked between the two of them, raising an eyebrow.

"Could we have a room for the night, please?" Emily asked politely.

"You have the money for it?" he asked.

"We... Well..."

Emily shifted awkwardly, realizing that everything either one of them had on them was gone. Emily was dressed plainly so she could move easily, and Nathaniel kept all that jewelry she offered him to leave. Percy didn't have much either. He had a thin gold hoop in one of his ears, but that probably couldn't get them more than a half a drink. He nudged Emily out of the way, stepping up to the innkeeper.

"I've been through hell today," he said through clenched teeth. "I just landed here after hours of slaving away in a rowboat. A rowboat. How many miles have you rowed a rowboat? I've just finished about five or six. And if I don't get in a room soon, I will pass out right here, on your floor. And I'd like to see you try and carry me out."

The innkeeper seemed stunned, slowly opening a door and fishing out a key. Percy snatched it out of his hand.

"First on the left side..."

He turned with his key and headed for the stairs, while Emily quietly thanked the innkeeper and promised to come back and pay him double what it was worth. Percy was just about dead by the time he finally made it up there, flopping face first onto the bed. Just moments later, he was snoring loudly.

Emily watched him sleep, pushing him into a better position on the bed and pulling his sweat-soaked shirt off over his head, dropping it with two fingers as she pulled the sheets over him. She was careful to keep some distance between the two of them when she crawled into the other side of the bed. She fell asleep just as fast as Percy did.