Dark Tides

The letter she left for her father was stained with teardrops. Emily left it on her pillow and picked up the bag she had prepared to take with her. She didn't know yet where she and Percy would go, but she knew they couldn't stay. Nathaniel would come for them, and slaughter anyone who stood in his way. Besides, Percy needed I get out of that house. He would just be plagued by sad memories there. Emily felt responsible for everything that had happened in the last few weeks; she figured she could at least take care of Percy. She
owed him more than he would ever realize.

She gave her room and her kittens one last lingering look before stepping out onto her balcony.

"Behave yourselves, understand?" she whispered. "Don't give Mrs. Browne too much trouble." Her voice cracked and she swiped more tears from her eyes before climbing down into the garden. She stood at the garden gate, nervously toying with the end of her braid. She was almost worried that Percy wouldn't come; that he would still be lying on the floor of his house or that he'd gotten angry again and went off in search of Nathaniel. The relief she felt at seeing him was almost overwhelming. She rushed forward to meet him, hugging him fiercely.

"Emily you really don't have to do this," he said in a quiet voice. Emily shook her head.

"I do have to," she whispered back. "I can't let him hurt my family, and I definitely can't let him hurt you anymore. I'd die before I let that happen."

"But your life here...you're surrounded by people who love you. You're probably safer here with your family than out on the run with me."

"I'm going with you," Emily said firmly. "Don't bother trying to talk me out of it."

"Then perhaps we can talk you out of it."

Emily jumped nearly here feet in the air as another voice whispered out of the darkness. She spun around, expecting to see her father or maybe authorities. Instead, two familiar figures she'd thought she would never see again melted out of the shadows.

"Ben?" Emily gasped. "Scarlett? What are you doing here?"

"Rumor has it you two kittens have gotten yourself into quite a mess," Scarlett said. She let out a startled oomph as Emily hugged her. Emily was starting to cry all over again as she embraced her older brother.

"Em, I know I'm immortal now, but I still like breathing," he said. He smiled gently when she released him. Scarlett pulled a stunned looking Percy into a hug too.

"Look at you two, sneaking off together in the middle of the night," she said coyly. "How romantic."

"It's not romantic at all." Ben scowled.

"It's what we did," Scarlett retorted. "Are you implying our love affair is lacking romance?"

"I didn't say-that's not-dammit Scarlett stop that this instant."

Scarlett rolled her eyes while Ben continued making a face at her. Then he turned to Emily and Percy.

"Imagine my surprise to hear that my little sister had been kidnapped by pirates again, and by Nathaniel Everett no less. He paid a pretty price to get whatever damage you did to his ship fixed in record time. And he's on his way here. To kill you both, I presume. So naturally Scarlett and I suggested to the crew that we pop by and help save you and they were more than willing. And now here I find my little sister running off into the night with a man." He crossed his arms and frowned.

Emily let out an exasperated sigh as Percy shifted awkwardly beside her.

"So what are we going to do?" Percy asked, seemingly trying to change the subject.

"Well for starters, Emily is going to go back to her room where it's safe. And then we're going to go thwart Nathaniel."

"What?" Emily yelped as Ben steered her back into the garden. "You're going to make me sit at home while you're off fighting?"

"Of course."

"Ben, give the girl some credit," Scarlett snapped. "She's not helpless."

"I'm aware of that. I did live with her for nearly a decade. But she's not immortal like the rest of us, or the size of a small country like Percy."

Percy scowled, his expression looking eerily similar to the one Scarlett wore. Everyone froze as another voice spoke.

"Emily who on earth are you talking to out here at this hour?"

Emily knew the voice instantly and she grimaced as none other than Mary Griffith stepped into the garden and approached her. When she drew nearer and saw who was standing in the garden she stopped dead, her hand flying up to her heart. Ben's eyes, identical to Mary's, had gone wide as saucers. Then he managed a weak smile.

"Hello, mum."

Mary took a tentative step forward, eyes locked on her son.

"We should probably move back," Emily whispered in warning. Mary took another few steps until she was standing directly in front of Ben.

"Ben," she whispered. Then her blue-green eyes went livid and she smacked Ben in the head. "Benjamin Thomas Griffith, how dare you!" she whisper-yelled. She continued striking him, smacking her hands against his chest.

"But mum, I-"

"Don't you give me sass, Benjamin! How could you leave and let your own mother think you were dead? What on earth could possibly possess you to do something so thoughtless?"

"Her," Ben said, pointing at Scarlett while he tried to dodge Mary's blows. Mary turned to face Scarlett, who gave her a nervous little wave. Mary's face softened.

"Oh my word, you are truly gorgeous my dear. It's wonderful to meet you." Then she rounded on Ben again, furious again. "So you met a girl and you weren't going to tell me that either?"

Ben sighed. "Mother it's really a very long story. You can ask Simon or Edmund Triggs to explain it all-"

"They knew too?" Mary gasped. "Those two are in so much trouble! Why does Edmund Triggs know about this?"

"Because...well because she's Madeline Triggs." Ben gestured to Scarlett again and now Mary took a moment to really study her.

"You are little Madi!" she said in wonder. "Good heavens. I always knew you two would grow up and get married."

"Mother please," Ben groaned. Mary slapped his arm.

"Don't sass your mother." Then she quite without warning burst into tears and hugged him tightly. "Don't ever do that to me again, Benjamin. Oh my darling boy I missed you so much!"

Ben hugged her back. "I missed you too. I'm sorry mum. But there's trouble now and we really need to be going. You need to take Emily and-"

"No one is taking me anywhere." Emily had slipped back to the garden gate during the dramatic reunion. Now she gripped the bars tightly. "I'm sorry, Ben. But this is all my fault and I have to put it right." She slammed the gate and turned the key in the lock, tossing it away into the shadows.

"Oh, blast it all! Emily Marie get back here!" Ben hissed but Emily was already gone, pelting across the lawn and out to the street. She knew they'd all get out eventually, but it would take time and Ben would never guess where she was headed. She practically ran down the street until she spotted a hansom cab. She flagged it down and gave the driver Lionel's address. Lionel was quite flabbergasted to find Emily banging on his door in the wee hours, but he didn't question her as she bolted inside and started rummaging through her bag and through the various supplies and inventions she let with Lionel for safe keeping.

"You know that contraption you made that's been needing a test run?" she asked, pawing through her things until she found what she was looking for.

"Of course I do I made the damn thing."

"Well I'm going to test it for you right now."

"What's going on Emily?"

"There's trouble, Lionel. I made a terrible mistake and now I need to fix it before people get hurt."

He nodded once and went to get the machine in question ready. Emily stared down at the gun in her hand. She had designed it and put it together. It had special bullets that shattered on impact and released the acid inside. Emily strapped it to her calf, making sure it was hidden beneath her skirt. She took one more thing. It was a device so small you'd need a magnifier to see it, and it was contained inside a syringe. It was the single most important part of her plan.

"It's ready!" Lionel called excitedly. He stopped her as she scrambled inside the huge orb. "Be careful, darling girl."

"I will. Thank you Lionel." She kissed his cheek and closed the hatch. Lionel turned a huge crank and the roof of his lab lifted up. Emily pressed buttons and levers, remembering how Lionel had showed her it worked before. It shuddered to life as mechanical wings unfurled from the sides, and she rose into the air, accidentally banging against the edge of the roof before righting herself. She activated the cloaking mechanism on the orb and shot off toward the harbor. She careened into a few buildings, knocking bricks off the roofs and cursing in a most unladylike manner before she got the blasted thing moving in a straight line. She shot out over the docks, spotting Ben, Scarlett and Percy talking to another member of the crew as they climbed into a lifeboat. They must have escaped the garden while she was undergoing preparations at Lionel's.

Ben and Percy kept glancing around, no doubt searching for a sign of Emily, unaware that she was hurtling right over their heads at that very moment. She didn't see the Silver Spirit, and assumed Ben had convinced Scarlett to obtain cloaking capabilities for it. Immortal or not, Ben was still cautious. Emily did, however, see The Serpent as she went further out over the water. She hit a button and a small cannon dropped out of a compartment on the bottom. It took a small part out of the bow and the crew shouted in alarm before going to see what had happened.

Emily fiddled with the various knobs and levers, pulling the wings in and maneuvering down into the water near the ship. It was not a gossamer landing. She hit the water harder than anticipated, rolling unpleasantly before the orb stopped, upright, just a few feet from the ship. Emily sat for a moment, dazed from slamming her head into the roof and the control panel during her wild ride.

"A safety restraint might be a nice addition," she muttered. She opened the hatch on the top of the orb and launched a rope ladder out of it. It sailed through the air and stuck to the side of The Serpent with a funny squishing noise. Emily scurried up the ladder, peeking over the railing to find that most of the crew was still assembled at the broken bow. She took advantage of their distraction to climb aboard and sneak again into the control room. She went straight to the navigation system, kneeling beside it and setting to work. Her plan called for the utmost care; if she punched something into the controls wrong the entire ship would blow right then and there.

She was absorbed in her delicate work when the door opened. It was the same man who had caught her and Percy before. His eyes grew wide but then he seemed to relax when he saw Emily was alone. She felt rather insulted. She pulled her gun out of its holster on her calf and the man chuckled.

"You won't shoot me, pet. You don't have the stomach for it."

"Really?" Emily shot him in the leg, and then shot him again just because he'd doubted her. He howled as the acid began melting away a small bit of flesh at the point of entry. He tried to flee the room but stumbled and hit his head on the edge of the door and fell to the floor, once again unconscious. Emily rolled her eyes, his the gun under her skirt again, and returned her focus to the navigation system. She had to move a little more quickly now; if someone didn't hear the man's bellowing they'd likely come searching for him soon.

She had just finished her task and was feeling triumphant when the door banged open and the shape of Nathaniel Everett fell over her. He yanked her up from the floor by her elbow, making her wince.

"Well well," he said, eyes glittering with hatred. "Looks like I have a little mouse in my wires again." He dragged her out of the control room and onto the deck. With her free hand, Emily pulled the syringe out of a hidden pocket on her dress. She jammed it roughly into his arm and hit the plunger. Nathaniel fairly snarled at her, physically throwing her halfway across the deck.

"You're a thorn in my side," he informed her.

"How clumsy of me. I meant to be a dagger," she replied flippantly.

"Nathaniel!" Scarlett's voice carried clearly across the water as the Silver Spirit turned off its cloaking and sailed smoothly up beside The Serpent. Nathaniel just sneered.

"Hello again, Scarlett. Come to save your little blond rat?"

Emily climbed to her feet, waving at Scarlett. Ben and Percy were standing beside her and seemed quite taken aback to see Emily there.

"How the devil did you beat us out here?" Ben demanded.

"Oh Benjamin." Emily shook her head. "You should know by now I'm resourceful. And frankly so should you, Captain Everett. I was hoping you'd gotten a little more clever," she said, spitting back the words he'd said to Percy. "But there you go again, underestimating people. I let you catch me, you great stupid buffoon. Of course, not before I caused more permanent damage to your ship."

"What are you talking about?" Nathaniel's voice held a dangerous edge but Emily didn't even blink.

"I'm giving you one last chance to leave London, for good," she told him. He laughed.

"Is that so? You came here to run me out of London, and stabbed me with a little needle. Your planning needs some work, love."

"Don't be ridiculous. That's not all I've done. I've tampered with your ship's navigation, adding an irreversible command. If this ship comes within five miles of London, it will self destruct."

She folded her hands and smiled sweetly as Nathaniel blinked.

"Well that's all very grand, lass, but I don't need the ship to enter London."

"I covered that too. That little needle I stabbed you with? I used it to inject a small device into your bloodstream. It's incredibly tiny but it packs quite a wallop. If you physically step foot within five miles of any part of London, you will self destruct. It's sort of the crown jewel of all my tinkering. After finding myself repeatedly kidnapped, and receiving a marriage proposal in the form of an assault, I decided a girl really can't be too careful." Emily jutted her chin out defiantly while Nathaniel's eyes grew hard and dark and his crew gaped. Even the crew of the Silver Spirit was staring with raised eyebrows.

"Then I suppose, love, it's fortunate for me that I don't need to go to London to kill you," Nathaniel said in a low, menacing voice. The pain didn't come right away. First she just felt pressure against her side, and then something wet. Then the pain came, shrieking up into her brain. She couldn't even scream, her breath just caught sharply in her throat. Nathaniel stepped back, taking with him the knife he had buried up to its hilt in Emily's side. She looked down and saw red blooming across her dress like a macabre rose. As if in a dream, she raised her hands to try and staunch the bleeding.

There was a heartbeat of silence as everyone registered what had happened. Then the ship erupted in chaos.