Chase the Stars

Mila and Charlie were being followed. Charlie had noticed a figure in their shadows while they were walking around town, and as far as he could tell, Mila hadn’t noticed. She’d been acting a little strange lately, too. Off her usual guard, even. He had to admit, she was much easier to be around this way. He thought she was an attractive woman from the start, but when she was being nice to him, she became ten times more attractive.

They had one more day before they could leave Maryport, but Charlie found himself concerned about the figure following them. It didn’t make sense for them to be working for the law. Mila and Charlie would have long been arrested. They could have been another associate for Crawforde, but what else could Crawforde possibly want from them? Charlie was shaken from his thoughts when an apple nearly collided with his face. He caught it just in time, seeing Mila smirking at him.

“Breakfast,” she said.

“Sorry, I exclusively eat fresh, gourmet omelettes for breakfast,” he said. “Your peasant food won’t cut it for me.”

“You’ve already got scrambled brains,” she teased. “Isn’t that close enough to scrambled eggs for you?”

“Ha. Very funny.”

“Hey idiot, what time is it?” Mila grinned.

Charlie made a grand show of taking out his new pocket watch, which made her laugh softly.

“It is time for you to to treat me with some respect,” Charlie retorted.

Mila just shook her head but she was smiling, organizing the boxes and barrels of supplies on the deck of the ship. Charlie leaned against the railing of the ship and looked out at the docks as he munched on the apple, observing the people below. He frowned when he spotted that figure again, in a dark green cloak to obscure them from view. They were watching Charlie, specifically.

Charlie looked away, tossing the apple core into the water as casually as he could. Mila was impulsive, and he didn’t need her panicking and doing something crazy if she knew they were being stalked. They just needed to get to South Plymm and they’d get away.

“Do you want to take a break from your busywork?” Charlie called out to Mila. “It’s a nice day, after all. I was going to go for a walk.”

“It’s not busywork,” she protested. “You go for your walk, I have things to do here.”

“Alright,” he said, taking a few steps back. “You do your chores. I probably won’t be long.”

She nodded and he headed for the gangplank.

“Charlie?”

“Yes?” he answered, turning on his heel to face her.

He was a little surprised to find her looking mildly concerned.

“Be careful, okay?” she said quietly.

“I’ve gone this long without getting arrested,” he said with a half smile. “I think I can manage a walk around town.”

She smiled back and he headed off, making sure she had turned back to her work once he was on the docks. He pointedly looked at the cloaked figure and nodded slightly, letting them know that he knew what was up. The figure understood and followed him into town, where he ducked into a secluded alleyway. When the figure approached him, Charlie snapped his hand out and yanked the hood off.

Standing in front of him was a young man who looked at him like he was a funny little kid acting like a goofball. Clearly he wasn’t with the Empire. It almost intimidated Charlie more than it would have if he had been.

“You’re not a Regulator,” Charlie said sharply. “What are you, one of Crawforde’s men?”

“No, nothing like that,” the man said. “I’m not here to bring any harm to you.”

“Don’t lie to me,” Charlie snapped. “You’ve been following and watching us for two days now. I’ve been paying attention. What do you want?”

“I needed to make sure you were the right people,” the man said simply.

“Why?” Charlie demanded.

“You’re Charles Graham,” he said. “Your ‘companion’ there is Mila Beckett. Am I wrong?”

“I need to know what you want,” Charlie repeated. “Are you trying to turn us in?”

“No,” he said. “Actually, my employer would like to have a word with you.”

“Employer,” Charlie smirked, shaking his head. “No, I’m done with that sort of business. Last time I met with someone like that, I got my face on the list of the top ten most wanted in the empire.”

“It’s not for a job,” the cloaked man said. “It’s about the future. Specifically the future of Miss… Beckett.”

He seemed uncomfortable with saying the name, but he had Charlie’s attention now and it put a smile on his face.

“Come with me,” he said.

“And if I don’t?” Charlie questioned.

“Well, then I suppose you’ll always wonder what he wanted to talk to you about,” the man shrugged.

Charlie thought for a moment, checking over his shoulder briefly. “What’s your employer’s name?”

“Harkness,” he said. “Stanton Harkness.”

The name seemed vaguely familiar, but Charlie still didn’t trust it. However, the cloaked man seemed to know about Mila, and that concerned him. He reluctantly decided to follow the messenger. They walked in silence out to the nearby inn, walking through the crowd of the pub downstairs and to the rooms above. The largest and most comfortable of the rooms was at the end of the hall.

He entered the room and found a large, intimidating looking man sitting in an armchair inside. He smiled at Charlie and stood to politely greet him, which caught Charlie off guard. The man looked a little familiar, though Charlie was sure he had never seen him before.

“I don’t have a lot of time,” Charlie told him, refusing a handshake.

Stanton Harkness sighed, nodding and sitting back now. He gestured to the chair by him and Charlie hesitantly sat down. The messenger was instructed to leave, which he did right away. Considering Stanton’s authority over this man and his expensive-looking choice in clothing, he was clearly some kind of upper class.

“I know you’re a… busy man,” Stanton told him with an apologetic smile. “I promise, this won’t take long.”

“Five minutes,” Charlie muttered, sitting back in the seat.

“Would you like a drink?” Stanton asked, picking up a bottle of whiskey and pouring himself a glass.

“I would like to know what the hell you want,” Charlie answered.

“I know you’ve been through a lot,” Stanton said. “I understand why you feel so on edge around me. And no matter how much I promise you that I am not trying to cause you any harm, you aren’t going to believe me until I prove it. For this reason, I will get straight to the point.”

“I’d like that,” Charlie said.

“Let me start by apologizing for how I brought you here,” Stanton sighed. “That man was someone I hired in the pub right downstairs. I asked him not to be intimidating, but I suppose shady is in his nature. I just didn’t want to cause any trouble by going out myself, and I thought he would be easier on you than he was. Had it been in my hands, I wouldn’t have wanted you to be so frightened.”

“You said you were going to get to the point,” Charlie reminded him.

“Right,” he nodded, continuing. “The point. This is actually about your friend. I had my friend follow the two of you just to make sure it was really her before I bothered you. You see, you know her as Mila Beckett. I know her as Amelia Harkness. The name that her mother and I gave her.”

Charlie felt his stomach flip. Her name was fake? Stanton stood and walked over to a drawer, opening it and taking out a small painted portrait in a delicate golden frame, handing it to Charlie. The girl in the portrait looked remarkably like Mila, but at the same time, it didn’t. Her wild curls were elegantly pinned up and she was wearing an expensive looking blue dress. Her diamond necklace alone looked like it was worth more than everything Charlie had ever owned put together, his life included. Her cheeks and lips were a rosy pink, but her smile seemed tired and bored.

“She’s my daughter,” Stanton explained, looking crushed and heartbroken upon seeing the picture. “It’s been… years since I’ve seen her. When I heard that she was in Maryport, I had to come see if I could catch her this time.”

“This time?” Charlie asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It took me a long time to find out what she was up to,” Stanton told him, sitting back down and sipping the whiskey. “With the criminal activity and all. I nearly went out to get her myself when I first realized that she was the one the papers were writing about, but I am a man with a very influential name. If I went after her, people would talk, and she would be sent to prison. And I can’t see my child go to prison. She’d go away for a long time, too. She doesn’t deserve that. She’s such a wonderful girl, and I can see in your eyes that you know this, too. You like her. Quite a bit.”

Charlie didn’t say anything, keeping his eyes down on the portrait. Stanton reached over and patted his shoulder comfortingly.

“How did it all happen?” Charlie asked.

“Her separation from us and the start of the illegal hobbies?” Stanton sighed. “Well, it all started with the death of her mother. It didn’t sit well with her. That’s when she began acting recklessly, but she was still a good girl. Several years later, my work became a bit of a burden, and I was spending time away from home. While I was away one time, she decided to sneak away for a nighttime walk. That’s when she was snatched by the kidnappers. As soon as I got the message that she had been taken, I rushed home, but it was too late. She was gone. I searched all over Curis. I sent everyone I knew to look for her. I had people searching all over the empire. Someone found the kidnappers with her, and the kidnappers panicked and threw her to the ground before running. She hit her head. My friend decided to run after the kidnappers, but he lost them. When he returned, Amelia had wandered off. The head injury messed with her memory, which is why she only recognizes ‘Mila’ from her name. She must have adopted the last name along the way. I can’t reveal her real name while she has this criminal record, Charlie. Regulators will come for her, and they will take her. This is why I brought you here. To ask- no, to plead for your help.”

“To get her home to you?” Charlie asked.

“Yes,” Stanton nodded. “You see, if you help me clear her name, I can bring her home easily. You know her story, now. You can explain it to the Regulators, and they will clear her name without anyone else hearing about it since you’re... well, I don’t mean to offend you, but your name is a little less known than mine.”

“No offense taken,” Charlie said quietly, finally handing the portrait back.

“See, if you go to South Plymm, there will be Regulators there,” Stanton continued. “All you have to tell them is that Mila was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She wasn’t committing a crime. She was being held hostage, and used as a sort of human shield by her captor. That’s what she was at every crime scene. Have them contact me, and I will vouch for her and claim her as my daughter. They will release her to me, without a scratch.”

“If I do that,” Charlie said slowly, “They will not only catch me for the theft at the Archives, but they will assume that I am her kidnapper.”

“You’re right,” Stanton stammered, grinning. “You’re completely right, Charles. I... I’m sorry. I’m asking far too much of you. You don’t even know me. I didn’t think this far. I just thought that there was an opportunity. I will take any opportunity to get my precious daughter back to me, even far-fetched ones. I am so sorry to bother you. This was a stupid idea.”

Charlie just stared at Stanton. He’d never seen such a powerful looking man look so absolutely broken before. There was no way he could’ve been lying, with that kind of heartbreak. Charlie looked down at his hands, taking a deep breath. Stanton was right. Charlie did care about Mila. A lot. The story made sense, and Mila deserved that life in Curis, with all the riches and luxuries in the world. And a father. What more did Charlie have to live for? A broken clock tower in a town with nothing to offer him?

“I’ll do it,” Charlie said with a sigh. “I’ll take the fall for her.”

“No,” Stanton said firmly. “For those crimes, including kidnapping of an upper class girl? A crime you didn’t even commit? That can put you away for life. Maybe even worse, considering Amelia’s family. I can’t let you throw your life away like that.”

“I have no life to throw away,” Charlie told him. “I’ll do it. Send a tip for the Regulators to catch us in South Plymm. I’ll let them take me, and I will take all the blame. And I’ll make sure Mila… Amelia doesn’t know we met.”

“Your sacrifice means so much,” Stanton said, standing when Charlie did and shaking his hand with a wide smile. “I promise, I will do everything in my power to get you out of prison.”

Charlie nodded and left, using his walk back to the docks to get his head back on straight and act like nothing happened. He was doing the right thing. He’d be eating prison slop for the rest of his life, if not be forced to say goodbye to his head, but Mila would be home again. When he came back to the ship, Mila looked mildly annoyed.

“You said you wouldn’t be long,” she said accusingly. “You were gone for hours. I almost went out looking for you.”

“Aw, were you worried about me?” Charlie teased.

“No,” she snapped. “I’d be glad to lose dead weight like you.”

“That’s adorable,” he chuckled, sitting down on a crate.

She sat down by him, toying with the ends of her hair absentmindedly.

“Listen,” she said quietly, “I was just wondering about where you were headed, now that you’re not going back to Etherport. When we get to South Plymm, I mean. We’ll be there by tomorrow afternoon, so I thought that maybe you’d have it figured out.”

“I’m not sure,” Charlie lied.

“Because I was thinking,” she said, cheeks turning a little red, “Maybe we wouldn’t have to split up there if you were headed in the same direction as me. It just seemed a little stupid for me to dump you at the docks if we were going the same way, you know? And I guess you’re not totally useless since I showed you some of the controls and stuff.”

“Do you mean that?” Charlie asked, raising a brow.

“Yeah.”

She blushed slightly when he just stared at her. He leaned in, putting a hand on her cheek and running his thumb lightly over her cheekbone. They were only inches apart, but she didn’t pull away from him. But Charlie did, dropping his hand into his lap. She seemed a little bit stunned, but she didn’t say anything about it. Charlie was quiet for a few moments too before he could say anything.

“I guess we’ll see when we get there.”