Rising Shadows

Percy could barely sit still in his cramped little cell, knowing Emily would be arriving home at some point during the day. He hadn't been able to speak to her since she caught Catarina, and he wasn't even sure Cat would have come all the way back. What worried him most, however, was what he'd do if she did come back. It had been about ten years since he'd last seen her, and they didn't exactly part on good terms. Atticus watched Percy pacing back and forth, chuckling and shaking his head lightly.

"Calm down, boy, you'll give yourself a nosebleed," he laughed.

"I knew a man called Nosebleed once," Percy said quickly, without thinking much of it. "He was likely one of the most disgusting people I've ever met. But not fhe most disgusting. The most disgusting person I've ever met happens to me Mr. Gregory Harrington III, who is hell bent on ruining my life. And ending it too, it would seem. So with your permission, I'd like to be a little nervous."

Atticus raised an eyebrow, but held his hands up in surrender, letting Percy beat himself up a little longer until Emily's voice echoed from upstairs. Clearly, someone wasn't letting her come see him. There was some muffled yelling, and a male voice cried out in pain. Not long later, Emily came running down the stairs. Percy shot up from his seat to reach through the bars and grab her hand at the most, since the barrier between them wouldn't let him sweep her into his arms and kiss her. He knew he must have looked terrible from the way she reached through the bars and touched his face, pushing his hair back and running her fingers down the overgrown scruff on his cheek.

"I missed you," she whispered, holding on to his hand so tightly, he thought it might break.

"Did you hit someone up there?" Percy asked her.

"In my defense, he was being stubborn, and you're the one who taught me how to inflict a black eye like a lady," she said firmly. "How are you?"

"Fine, fine," he lied. "How are you? You look tired."

"I haven't been sleeping very well," she admitted. "I'll be alright, though."

"Is Catarina with you?"

"She's up there with Luke," she shrugged. "He's trying to convince her to come down. I'd help, but I needed to see you. I needed to make sure you were alright."

"I love you," he murmured, brushing away a loose lock of her hair that had come undone from her up-do.

She looked like she'd been running. Her hair was a little disheveled, and the laces of one of her boots had come undone.

"I love you, too," she said breathlessly. "You won't be in here much longer, I promise. We're going to go home and curl up by the fire after the best dinner you've ever tasted and a nice walk, and I'll make you read to me even though you complain about it, and we'll sit there and talk about our wedding, and it'll be like none of this ever happened-"

Percy shushed her in the middle of her rambling, before tears started to well up in her eyes, and took off her white gloves so he could kiss her hands.

"I promise we'll do all of that," he said slowly. "Right now, I need you to stay level-headed. Can you do that for me?"

She nodded, looking towards the door as Luke came in, looking a little frazzled. Behind him was the most terrifying, familiar stranger he'd ever seen. He should have assumed that Catarina would have grown and changed as much as he would have in the last ten years, but seeing her as a grown woman made him uneasy. She looked like her mother, and thus, her aunt. It was like Percy was looking at his own mother, when she was much younger. He didn't expect Cat to be happy to see him, but he didn't expect her to be this annoyed, either. Several looks flashed across her face, and he assumed she must have been just as shocked to see him grown up.

"Percy," she greeted coldly. "You've gotten taller."

"So have you," he said, equally cold.

Both Luke and Emily seemed to shrink back a bit, unsure of what to say and do in the situation before them. No one had anticipated this level of tenseness between the cousins.

"You look terrible," Cat told him, crossing her arms over her chest and taking a few steps towards him.

"Well, you look like a street whore, but I intended on keeping that one to myself," Percy shrugged.

She just laughed, shaking her head as Emily cringed slightly. She was trying so hard, and Percy wasn't helping her in any way.

"You have a lot of nerve, saying something like that to me when I'm the only one who can save your sorry behind," she pointed out.

"From what I hear, you don't intend on helping me, anyways," he snapped.

"I might," she said. "Not for free. And I'm not talking about money, either."

"What do you want?"

"I want you to apologize," she told him.

"For what?" Percy laughed in disbelief. "I didn't do anything!"

"You put me in the worst situation of my life," she snapped, lowering her voice to a sharp whisper. "I couldn't leave them, I wasn't allowed to come home, and the where were you the whole time? Not by my side, like you promised. My 'brother', you said. Some brother. You left me to fend for myself the first chance you got."

"A better opportunity arose," he growled. "A human would have understood that."

"Better opportunity?" she scoffed. "Percival Benedict Everett, you are on your way to the gallows thanks to this 'better opportunity'. Don't try and tell me you left because you wanted to become a respectable man. All I see is a filthy pirate, and a traitor. A traitor destined for damnation."

"Excuse me, may I ask what all of this is even about?" Emily interrupted.

"Ask your fiancé," Cat spat. "After all, he's just so honest and wonderful."

She turned on her heel, flicking Luke's nose on her way past him.

"You own a tavern and an inn, don't you?" she asked him. "Get me a room I can actually live in."

Luke blushed hard, then looked at Percy and shrugged apologetically, following her out. Emily sighed and moved back to Percy.

"Why didn't you just give her what she wanted?" she asked him.

"Because I refuse to give in," he said. "She's awful. I told you she's awful."

"Percy," Emily said gently, "I need you to tell me what you did."

"It's not important," Percy grumbled.

"If you're going to be my husband, you can't keep secrets from me," she warned him.

"It was a really, really long time ago," Percy sighed. "When my father really started to get violent, my mother got worried. My aunt, Catarina's mother, came to visit us often. My mother wanted her to take me away, since Colt was too old and a little too attached to her and our father to leave. Cat already called me her brother, but my aunt refused to take me. She said tearing me away from my family was going to set me on the wrong path as I grew older. Cat and I still considered each other brother and sister."

"So you used to be close?" Emily asked.

"When we were children, yes," he shrugged. "They only visited us when Nathaniel was away. He didn't like my mother's family, especially her sister. One day, Cat's father passed away and her mother remarried a man much like my father. The next time she visited, we were both so battered and bruised, we agreed to run away together as brother and sister when I was fourteen years old, and she was eleven. MacDuff's circus was in town at the time."

"You were going to join the circus with her!" Emily realized.

"I did join," he admitted. "We practiced a lot. She was the talented one, of course, but in the end we were a package deal. We were going to leave with them."

"Why didn't you?"

"Well, Colt met Scarlett that same day," he said.

Emily thought for a moment, then seemed to understand.

"You left with Colt, instead of with her,” she finished. “I don’t understand, couldn’t she just leave, like you did?”

“Well, that’s the part that gets a little… bad…”

“What happened?”

“Well, I, uh,” Percy mumbled, struggling to get words out. “Well, it was a contractual deal. And she left those contracts up to me, because I was older. I thought I was being smart about it, and I knew they wouldn’t let her onto the Spirit with us. So I signed under her name, but not my own. So I suppose the reason she’s mad is because-”

“You sold her to the circus,” Emily said in a flat tone, looking a little disappointed with Percy.

“No, it’s not exactly like that,” he said quickly.

“How is it, then?” Emily pressed.

“Well… I…,” Percy struggled, then sighed in defeat and hung his head. “Yes. I sold her to the circus. And by contract, she can’t leave. Because of me.”

There were a few moments of silence before Emily reached out to tilt his head back up so he was looking at her, giving him a gentle smile and placing a hand on his cheek.

“Well, thank you for telling me,” she said softly. “Percy, I’m not going to tell you that you did the right thing. Because you didn’t. Actually, you might have just done the worst thing.”

“I know,” he grimaced. “I was young, and to be frank, I didn’t want her coming with us. It was terrible, but she’s made it a hundred times worse than it has to be.”

“I agree, but Percy, is she the only one at fault here?” Emily asked.

“No,” he said sheepishly. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t tell me you’re sorry,” Emily told him. “Percy, I love you no matter what. And I haven’t lost respect for you, because of something you did ten years ago. I do, however, fully expect you to talk to Catarina about it. And you’re going to admit you were wrong.”

“I don’t want to talk to her.”

“Percy.”

“Fine,” he scowled. “If she even comes back. She’s probably looking for a way back to France now, as we speak.”

“Oh, trust me, I’ll make sure she hears you out,” Emily promised, in a sort of intimidating tone that surprised Percy. “You just worry about doing your part. Promise?”

“Promise.”

She gave him a fond, but sad smile, lingering a little while longer in silence. Percy tilted her chin up, giving her a reassuring smile.

“Don’t be sad,” he told her. “Just pretend I’m at home, catching up on the heaps of books you’ve given me. And you just can’t come visit me, or I’ll never get it done. But you know you’ll see me again soon.”

“Alright,” she said softly. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Percy kissed her hand once more before holding her glove out so she could slip her hands back through them. She stopped by the door to look at him one last time before hurrying up the stairs. Percy loved the way she looked when she was on a mission. When she was on a mission, he was going to complete that mission.