Nerdy and the Beast

Liam stood in the corner of Kamon’s quarters, wishing he was somewhere else. Kamon and Natasha had Emma fairly cornered beside the huge wooden desk, which was littered with the maps and charts Emma had brought with her. Natasha barely even paid attention, even if she was supposed to be their navigator. She mostly just drummed her red nails against the countertop and looked bored. Kamon would sharply ask Emma a question and barely let her finish answering before moving on.

They‘re doing a fine job of keeping up their ruse, Liam thought, rolling his eyes.

“Have you worked with Liam before on his expeditions?” Emma asked, trying to keep up some semblance of polite conversation.

“You could say so. We and Liam go way back,” Natasha smirked.

“Yes, and Natasha is very experienced. She’s worked under many treasure hunters,” Liam quipped. Natasha shot him a dark sideways glance. Kamon was apparently too engrossed in looking at the maps to notice their sniping. Emma just glanced between them with a questioning look.

“I think Emma has explained enough, and we have the maps and journals to reference if we have any problems. Perhaps we should take our leave now,” Liam said. He was already moving toward the door, grabbing hold of Emma’s elbow and steering her out ahead of him. For all Kamon’s worrying about Emma suspecting that they were all lying, he and Natasha were doing a rather unimpressive job of seeming like professionals.

Liam had briefly spent time working for a man at the docks before Natasha and Kamon had come along to ruin his life, and he had picked up the general workings of a ship quickly. Only some of the men Kamon had brought aboard had sailing experience; the others were simply more of his most dedicated thugs. Liam thought it would be quite a show if they were attacked by pirates.

He went to inspect and then re-tie some knot work that had, unsurprisingly, been done wrong. When he turned he discovered that Emma had followed him and leaped back.

“What did I say about the sneaking?” he complained and she flushed.

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I didn’t mean to creep up on you. It’s just...well, I feel a bit useless on this ship, to tell you the truth. I don’t want to be in the way and everyone is so...busy, with their duties. I’m not sure where to go or who else to talk to.”

Liam suppressed a heavy sigh of resignation as a spark of sympathy wormed its way into him. He was supposed to be keeping her occupied anyway, and there was no chance of the crew being any friendlier toward her. Not unless she started behaving like Natasha, which he was fairly certain wasn’t going to happen. She was currently standing there looking at him with an expression that reminded him of the puppy Natasha had kicked.

“I can teach you some of these knots, if you like,” he said. She immediately flashed a relieved smile and nodded. Liam waved her closer and undid the knots he’d just fixed, showing her how to tie it. She watched him do one and he helped her with the next, and eventually they’d gone all around the ship tying different kinds of knots. It was past dinner time by the time they were done.

“That was sort of fun,” Emma said. “And I can’t believe you know who Yelchin Gordewahl was. We have some of his original invention designs at the museum, and most people just stare blankly at the docent when they mention his name.”

“Well of course they do. Edward Hamboldt took all the credit for inventing the steam-powered carriage. Completely stifled Gordewahl’s contributions, even though he never would have been able to get the damn thing to work without him.”

“Do you think it’s true that Hamboldt murdered him?” Emma asked. “Do you suppose he could’ve done such a thing?”

Liam straightened from his last knot and thought about why he was really here in the first place. He thought about the crew, Kamon, and Natasha; of all the things they’d done to get where they were now. “Yes,” he replied wryly. “I absolutely think he could’ve done such a thing.”

“Liam, are you down here?”

“Speaking of sociopathic traitors,” Liam muttered under his breath. Natasha came gliding down the stairs into the hold, where Liam and Emma had been securing knots on the supply barrels and on the cannons. She paused at the sight of them, green eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

“Little mice rummaging in the grain?” Natasha said with a laugh. “What on earth are you going down here?”

“We were fixing the knots,” Emma replied. Natasha regraded her like a bug that had scuttled across her boot and Emma shrank back slightly under her cold stare.

“They’re very sturdy knots,” Liam said, annoyed with Natasha’s presence. “Here, why don’t we tie a rope around you and toss you over the side. You can see for yourself.”

Natasha opened her mouth to reply, but all that came out was a startled shriek as the ship lurched rather violently. Liam stumbled back and Emma nearly toppled headfirst over a barrel of oranges.

“What the hell is happen-“ Natasha was cut off again as the ship jerked the other way. All three of them were forced to stagger into the middle of the room. The ship rolled again and Natasha and Emma both yelped this time as they both lost their balance. Liam reached out and caught Emma’s arm as he fell back too, and her fall was broken when she fell on top of him. He winced as their foreheads collided and her elbow jabbed him in the ribs.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she gasped. Natasha went sailing past them, quite ungracefully. There was no one to break her fall and she rolled across the hold and landed in a heap. Liam could have grabbed them both before he went sprawling, and he felt a twinge of vindictive satisfaction that he hadn’t. He and Emma climbed to their feet, and he waved her up the steps ahead of him so they could find out what was going on. She fell back against him twice before they made it topside; if he hadn’t been braced against the stair railing they would’ve gone tumbling back down the stairs.

“Where did this storm come from?” Emma exclaimed. A freak storm had come upon them; Liam could barely hear Emma over the howling of the wind and rain. They were instantly soaked, pelted with sharp stinging raindrops.

“Good thing we secured everything with the ropes,” Liam said, spitting out the water that blew into his mouth. A strong wave crashed over the deck, nearly taking several people with it. Another wave quickly followed, and this time it took a man’s feet out from under him. As he washed by he flailed his arms and caught hold of Emma’s skirt. She screamed as he started to pull her down, trying to save himself from being sent overboard. Liam sprang forward and caught her around the waist. They were all dragged to the side of the ship, and the man scrambled to his feet. Another violent wave splashed over them. This time it did knock the man clean over the side; he made a grab for them again but Liam’s grip on Emma allowed him to pull her back and spin around to keep her further from the rail and block her view of the man being whipped into the churning sea.

“Kneel down!” he shouted over the wind. They crouched as another wave rolled in. Liam’s head hit the side of the ship and he grimaced as the pain jolted him. He ignored it and ushered Emma to Natasha’s quarters, which were the closest.

“You need to get inside,” he said. The waves were getting bigger. They forced the door open against the wind and Liam fairly shoved her inside, wrestling the door closed behind them. Emma looked pale and a bit shell-shocked as Liam heaved a heavy trunk in front of the door in case the water tried to blow it back open. The ship was pitching and rocking as it was battered by waves, so Liam instructed Emma to huddle in the corner. He sank down next to her, rubbing his sore head.

“We can wait here until the storm passes,” he said, awkwardly patting her shoulder in an effort to comfort her. “It’ll be over soon.”