By: Bryant R. Haake, Honors College, Presidential Honors Student, English Major
Seraph set off quickly, unaware of the discomfort he’d left behind. Jacob stared at Georgiana. He felt like buckets of sweat were pooling at his feet. The sounds of the room were muffled. He knew he was taking too long to respond, but his lips wouldn’t move, nor would his voice speak. Why was he nervous? Was it the right time? Was he right for her? Was it really a good thing for him to–
Jacobson, say yes. Ren’s voice had taken on that same worried tone as before.
His voice sounded muffled to him and he couldn’t quite make out what he said, but Georgiana finally relaxed her smile, grabbing his arm and leading him to the middle of the room. She put her hands around his waist, and he felt his hands move around hers in turn. They danced slowly for a few minutes, not on beat with the music, but enjoying it nonetheless.
“Hey,” he whispered, heart rate slowing down for him to make comprehensive thoughts, “not to ruin the moment, but were you hiding this event’s theme from me? You’ve seemed uneasy all night, and then this… it’s great, but you know you didn’t need to hide it, right?”
She blushed and averted her eyes.
“I didn’t know how you would react to me asking you to come if you knew it was a couple’s event, so… yeah.”
Jacob gave a small nod and smiled. “Aye, honestly I’m not sure how I would’ve reacted, so I guess I’m glad you did as you did.”
He looked at her eyes, amber with slits like those of a snake from her gift. Some may find something like that unnerving, but he could spawn tentacles from his arms; who was really the weirder of the two in that scenario?
“What are you staring at?” Georgiana asked with a smirk.
For the first time, he realized just how close he was to looking at her eye-to-eye. He’d gotten taller since last he’d seen her, before the whole debacle with the pirates and Brokenbeau, so much so as to nearly be her height, despite the still-noticeable difference of at least a couple inches.
“Nothing,” Jacob blushed. “You just… have pretty eyes.”
This is the most entertainment I’ve had in years, Ren said, his own smirk evident through his tone. Seriously, it’s like watching one of your mortal theatrical productions. Plays, I believe they are called?
“Does Pep ever talk to you about… this?”Jacob asked to change the subject. “‘Cause Ren is overly enthusiastic about messing with my every move.”
Georgiana leaned down and laid her head on his shoulder, causing him to briefly tense up before relaxing. He could feel her breathing.
“Yeah, she told me to do that,” she whispered with a giggle. “Specifically, she said it would make you shiver and relax. Looks like she was right.”
“Hey!”
“Oh, calm down, Jakey. I’m only messing with you.” She pulled her head back up. “Not about her telling me things, but just… you know.”
They danced in silence a bit longer, still fairly awkward, but a little more comfortable now. Georgiana pursed her lips.
“So, do you like me?” She laughed weakly. “I mean, like I like you. Do you like me like that?”
Jacob’s mind raced, heart fluttering. It was the question he’d both wanted to hear, and dreaded being asked. Even still, he’d known the answer for years now, even if he hadn’t truly admitted it to himself until recently.
“I–”
“C’mon, boysh, I can ‘old ma’ liquor,” Crimson slurred across the inn. “None of yeh lilly-livered land-lubbersh can even compete with ma’ conshti-tu-shun. I could drink yous all under the table, like… like… I could drunk you all!”
One of the men around her reached for the bottle of alcohol in front of Crimson, but she reared back and drew a cleaver on him. Yelling echoed through the whole bar, causing some of the other couples to stop dancing and move further from the small—soon to be much larger—tavern brawl.
Georgiana moved towards the brawlers before Jacob could ask what they should do. He could see red and green tendrils of smoke wisp from her hands, but none found perch on anything. Georgiana cursed under her breath in her own Georgiana-like way and instead just turned back to Jacob, giving him a tired glance which clearly meant, “Come on, let’s take care of this.”
He nodded and scooted over to her, summoning just the smallest of pinpricks of tentacles from his arms. When he’d gathered about twenty, he shot all of them forth, grabbing each man with two and Crimson with the rest. Even still, he barely restrained her from tearing away and murdering her opponents in cold blood.
Seraph came over with the barkeep at his side, sighing to himself and pulling out small sheets of parchment. “You all are lucky I got some rest before this event; otherwise, I couldn’t do this.”
Seraph went one by one to the two men and Crimson, placing the piece of paper on their heads before muttering a word and flicking each one. As he did so, each turned into a small fuzzy animal Jacob didn’t recognize.
“You can turn people into gophers?” Georgiana asked.
“Yes, though it won’t last for long. Leave the two men to us; they’re regular trouble-makers here. Take your captain outside to let her cool off. The rain is back in a softer form; it may be efficient to take her out in that.”
Jacob nodded and released the two gophers which had been the men. He took the last one in his arms and began to head outside, followed by Georgiana. The gopher squirmed recklessly in his arms, reddish fur bristling against his skin.
“Too bad I don’t have my alchemist’s sash, huh?” Georgiana joked halfheartedly. “I could put her out cold.”
“I’ve never seen a gopher before,” Jacob replied. “I think I’m starting to realize just how many things I don’t know. I really haven’t travelled very far at all, have I?”
They sat down on a bench a good distance from the inn, just on the edge of this layer of the cavern, watching the rain in the distance as it rocked their boat. The Crimson Crew was gone, dispersed by the distance of Georgiana’s power. They had seemed connected to the boat in some fashion.
“Thanks for helping me with… her,” Georgiana said awkwardly. “I knew we couldn’t just let her trash the whole inn; we’d surely get kicked out for that type of behaviour.”
Jacob chuckled. “Aye, we definitely would’ve.” He sighed, leaning back and letting the Crimson Gopher jump from his lap to stumble around the cobbled street. Whatever Seraph had done didn’t clear up her drunkenness. “About what I was going to say–”
“You don’t need to,” Georgiana said with a small smile. “I’ve heard it in my head dozens of times.” She leaned over onto his shoulder. “It’s weird, you know. Despite everything that’s happened in the last few days, I’m still…happy somehow. I’ve read all these books before that say you’re supposed to be chronically sad after a stressful event like that, at least for a while, but I don’t think that’s happening to me. It’s supposed to go on for weeks on end, but now that I’ve left, I feel more peaceful. Is that weird?”
“A little, yeah,” Jacob said with a grin, earning a light punch on the arm from Georgiana. “I don’t know about any of that stuff you’ve read, but I know you have seemed a bit better. Maybe you just needed to get away from it all?”
Georgiana sat up straight, stretching and leaning over to pick up the Crimson Gopher. She scratched her behind the ears, seemingly forgetting the gopher was still Crimson.
“I think you’re probably right. Too many memories back there, and I don’t know if I could’ve lived with having to move houses after that. The manor was my home… It’s hard to imagine anyone else living there but my father and I.”
Jacob nodded. “Aye, I get it. Sailing on this new ship has been strange to say the least. I’ve spent my whole life on the Forsaken with Captain Vexx, Heilyn, and the rest of the crew… I don’t feel right sailing without them, not to mention sailing without a captain.”
“Crimson is our captain, Jacob,” Georgiana said. “She’s gotten us this far, right? We might as well accept it now.”
“What? Of course not,” Jacob exclaimed, trying to keep his voice quiet. “Captain Vexx and Heilyn had something against her, and I trust them enough to know that means she’s done something wrong. We can’t trust her.”
Georgiana covered the Crimson Gopher’s ears. “Hey, she’ll hear you!”
“I don’t care,” Jacob muttered. “It’s not like she likes me anyways. She clearly favors you out of the two of us, and that’s perfectly fine by me. I just have to deal with her until I find the rest of my crew.” He straightened up and looked Georgiana in the eyes. “You could join us, y’know. Heilyn’s probably acting as captain now, and he’s probably made Deighly his first mate.”
“You really don’t think Vexx survived?”
“Captain,” Jacob responded on instinct, making Georgiana giggle. “And… I don’t know how he could have. You saw his injuries, and he’s never exerted himself so far as he did that night, blood moon or no.” She shut his eyes tight and hung his head. “No, there’s no way he’s alive. I know it.”
“Oh.”
They sat in silence for a moment.
“How are you going to find them?”
Jacob glanced up at Georgiana. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, you don’t actually know where they are, right?” she asked with an inflection of concern. “I’ll help you find them if that’s really what you wish, but do you even know where to look?”
Jacob nodded. “Aye, there’s a few places I could look. Even if we miss them a couple times, the Forsaken isn’t really known for speed, so we could eventually catch up with some luck. It’s just a matter of choosing the right place to ask around.”
The Crimson Gopher squirmed in Georgiana’s arms. She tensed her muscles to keep it in place, but it wriggled out and began to change, stumbling around the cobbled stonework on two legs, then three, then two, then two feet and two hands as Crimson lay there bent over, hurling up her dinner over the platform. When she finished, she collapsed onto the ground, turning slowly onto her back and peeling the now-blank piece of paper Seraph had used to cast his spell off of her forehead.
The three sat in silence for a few minutes, Georgiana and Jacob staring at Crimson as she heaved out one shaky breath after another.
“I’m sorry, you two.” Crimson’s voice was hoarse in the way Heilyn’s got when he went overboard on whiskey and rum. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save your village, Georgie. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you two from that tiamat by myself. I’m sorry the plan against Captain Leafy went wrong. I’m sorry I couldn’t save…” She covered her face with her hands. “I’m sorry I’m not a good captain. You two should travel without me, and I’ll stay on land, serving dinner at a diner or somethin’.”
The two young adults sat in shock at her proclamation. Her voice kept cracking as she spoke, almost as if she was close to tears. Despite his dislike of her, Jacob couldn’t help but almost feel… pity. Ren, as well, despite his constant disapproval of her actions and words, stayed silent.
“Crimson, you’re not a bad captain,” Georgiana offered. “You just… made some mistakes, that’s all.”
“Cut the act, Sweet Cheeks,” Crimson groaned. “I couldn’t even stay sober long enough for my crew to have a good night, whatever that means to you two.” She chuckled halfheartedly, but there was no smile behind the noise. “I’ve failed as a captain, and it’s time I realized that.”
Crimson slowly picked herself up and started walking back to the ship, leaving whatever was left of her personal items behind. Jacob watched her for a second and, remembering Georgiana’s words, sighed deeply.
“Crimson, you’re not a failure, ye’ daft guinea pig, so stop your sulking and get your blubber back inside.”
Crimson kept walking.
“I’m serious!” Jacob yelled. “Rivers, if I thought you were a bad captain, I never woulda hopped in the boat with you in the first place.”
Crimson shook her head, stopped for a moment, then kept walking. Jacob sighed, annoyed, and got up to chase her. He walked a few paces then slung out a few tentacles, grabbing her and stopping her. Jacob hoped that was a good sign since she could normally easily tear away from his grasp.
“Look, if you don’t think you’re a good enough captain, then fine. But, there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that you’re not a half-decent sailor—better than half-decent, some may even say. So, if you really just don’t think you’re cut out for leading a crew, at least come join the Forsaken. I bet Heilyn will–”
“I can’t.”
“W-what?” Jacob asked, confused.
“I said, I can’t, squido,” she spoke up. “Once you leave a crew, you can’t go back. Company law, right? Keeps us from leaving and rejoining crews at our leisure, and keeps the power of each individual crew under check. Once you leave a crew, you can’t rejoin ‘em.”
“Why is that an issue?” Jacob asked halfheartedly, a sour taste filling his mouth.
“Because, before Heilyn, it was me. I was the first mate to Captain Edmund “Sunspot” Vexx, heir to the Forsaken.”