Andrew's sailboat slid across the moonlit waves, easy as a scalpel parting flesh. He stood at the stern, one hand guiding the sail and the other on the tiller. Gently, he steered the boat silently into deeper currents.

The night was cold. The sisters sat in the hull, chatting to each other about mundane things. Both of them had their backs to him, but Andrew didn't dare go near yet. They were still too close to the shore. He listened in to their chitchat for a while, learning of life in the little seaside town of Minerva.

It soon became clear to Andrew that it was mostly Constantia who did the talking. Victoria would give the occasional acknowledgment, but the silence between her words was long. Andrew had no doubt she was keeping quiet because of his presence, but he didn't mind. He could listen to their tales after their transmutations, if they still remembered anything then.

And, obviously, if neither of them died from it.

Andrew's fingers grew stiff around the tiller. The thought of the sisters dying was a chilling one. And it surprised him. Ever since he could talk, he'd been helping the Doctor get experimental subjects and perform on those subjects. He'd seen all sorts of people laid out on that marble slab, not all of them breathing in the end. Like that woman.

The wind picked up. Waves lapped against the sides of the boat. Constantia's worried voice rang out. "How much further do we have to go?"

"We've passed the halfway point," Andrew answered. "The waters will calm as we get closer to the island.”

Victoria spoke up after a long period of silence. "What is your island called?"

"It has no name," Andrew said.

"Is that why it isn't on any maps?"

"Correct."

Victoria turned around, the moon glowing in her doubtful eyes. "Didn't you say it was a few hours away? If it's really that close and large enough to house a castle, shouldn't it be logged?"

Andrew kept his gaze on the dark horizon. "That is a short answer requiring a long explanation," he said, pulling out the preplanned speech he'd relied on for so many years. "Nearing the end years of the War, the Mad King wanted a seaside fortress to ward off against invaders in the north. Minerva was a series of hills then. So, the King gathered his best engineers in the land to come up with a way to move-"

Something crashed against the side of the ship, startling Andrew out of his speech.

Constantia screamed. "What in the heavens is that!"

Andrew turned the boat to let whatever it was float past, doing it on instinct more than anything else. He immediately knew his mistake. They were close to the island now. And the thing that had hit the boat was a ball of human remains thrown off that same island.

"It's just a fish," Andrew said quickly, yanking on the tiller to turn the sailboat further away. But he was too late. The ball was simply too big. It bounced and bobbed and caught the moonlight on its hairless surface.

"It has a face!"

Constantia lurched from her seat and crashed against the edge of the boat. "Vic! There's a face! Oh, gods, it has a face!"

"It's trash from the castle!" Andrew shouted over the noise. He was wrestling with the wind now. It was pushing him back the other way, towards the passing horror. "We throw our waste off a cliff and sometimes it gets smashed together." He tried desperately to explain but he knew his words rang on deaf ears. Victoria had raced to her sister's side and now both girls were shouting. The shift in weight caused the sailboat to rock, forcing all of them even closer to the ball.

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Andrew knew he was running out of time then. He reached into his coat pocket. The drugs might not last if he used them now. But he had no other choice.

"I want to go back," Constantia wept as she clung to her sister's arm. "I'm scared, Victoria."

Andrew let go of the tiller.

"We're going back," Victoria said, facing Andrew as he stepped into the boat's hull. "Turn us around. Now."

Andrew said nothing. He took out the leather case from his pocket and held it in both hands.

"What do you think you're doing?" Victoria demanded. She stepped up to meet him and Andrew took the opportunity. He clicked open the case. A silver syringe fell into his waiting hand.

"Watch out, Vic!"

At the last moment, Constantia threw herself in front of her sister. It was too late for Andrew to pull back. He felt the needle jab into the blonde girl's chest, the syringe pressurizing as the chemical inside released into her.

"What..." Constantia stepped back. Her mouth fell open as she looked down at the needle. She turned to Victoria, making it only halfway before collapsing.

Victoria screamed so loud Andrew's ears rang. "What did you do?!"

Andrew expected the girl to run or leap out into the water, as many tried to do over the years. But she did the opposite. She came at him with furry unlike he'd ever seen. Nails racked across Andrew's face, drawing bloody lines through his vision. He reeled, arms over his head, the syringe case slipping from his fingers. He heard it clatter, felt fists connecting against his flesh. Each blow reminded him of the Doctor's punishments whenever he failed to bring people back.

"You evil thing! You scoundrel!"

Victoria kept screaming and kicking and punching, her attacks so erratic that the boat began to swing as if they were in a storm. Chained near the bow of the sailboat, Andrew heard his mare begin to scream. He dropped to a crouch and tried to roll away, but Victoria wasn't letting him breathe. With a resounding war cry, she tackled him and sent him sprawling. Andrew's head crashed into wood. He tasted blood and strangely enough, metal.

"You'll regret this, I swear it!"

In the chaos, something pressed up against Andrew's arm. It was the box. He twisted away from razor-sharp nails, feeling along the deck with one hand while still trying to protect his face. Victoria was strong with furry but her body wasn't nearly as heavy as his. Andrew's fingers closed in on the box. He swung it in an arc above him, knocking Victoria off.

The girl crashed against the side of the boat and was up immediately.

Andrew fumbled at the box, trying to get the second syringe out. This time, He felt the force of all of Victoria's weight as she threw herself at him. Boy and girl went down once more, but this time Andrew was ready. He yanked the syringe and pushed it upwards, straight into Victoria's belly as she fell on top of him.

There was a single moment where no one moved.

Andrew felt Victoria stiffen above him. Her hands were around his throat but there was no pressure. He looked into her eyes. They were large, and scared. Her mouth was opening and closing as if she was talking, but no sound was coming out of her. Then she got off him and stumbled over to the mast of the boat. She leaned on it and grasped at the syringe. She pulled it out of her midriff, let it fall, and stared back at Andrew.

"You..." she said, her voice already weak. "You're a monster." Tears fell down her cheeks, dropping onto her blood-stained dress. She was smaller than Andrew first noticed, maybe even younger. Her blue eyes held not the fire that was first in them, but a helplessness that reminds Andrew of the rabbit he'd caught for the Doctor's previous experiment. The one he'd intentionally botched.

Andrew found himself reaching out for Victoria, but he doesn't know if it's to comfort her or help her or hold her down.

"It'll be quick," was all he managed to say before a gust of wind whipped past them. The sail, no longer controlled by anyone, swept sideways across the boat. Andrew saw it coming in time and threw himself down onto the deck. He heard the whoosh of the boom as it flew past, followed by a crash and then a watery splash.

"Oh no."

Andrew got up and looked around. He couldn't see Victoria. She wasn't there. Or anywhere. But one side of the boat was wetter than the other. Andrew scrambled over there, leaning over the side just in time to see the last wisps of red hair vanishing beneath the waves.

Twin thoughts crossed through Andrew's mind. One red, the other green. On the red path, he could see the castle coming towards him. He would be safe, dry, and fed within the hour. And if he didn't say anything, Doctor Davis would never know that there were three people who got on this boat, only two.

But then, down the other path, Andrew saw Victoria. Her sharp blue eyes seemed to be watching him, daring him to approach. One corner of her pink lips twitched into a smile, no, a smirk. It's as if she knew.

She always knew.

As he stood there, Andrew could feel all the lies, the made-up stories, fall away with the realization that Victoria never trusted him in the beginning.

And yet, she got on your sailboat. She took your hand. She wanted to trust you.

Andrew turned in the direction of the castle, then back down at the water.

"I guess we're all fools here," he said, and started taking off his coat.