Adelaide Springett

Louis and I sat in the cell. I think he was daydreaming. I thought I was pretty calm, though I found myself biting my fingernails. What was Sydney’s plan? We quickly reacted when Barry was dragged in, his head a mess of clotting blood.

“Cale? Hallie? You too?” I asked in disbelief. Cale didn’t meet my eyes, but Hallie mouthed something to me. Too bad I can’t read lips.

The two jailers left, and then it was just the three of us. Barry laid on the floor, unconscious. “Oh, Barry,” I groaned. “What happened to you?”

“I have a little water,” Louis said. “We can get him cleaned up at least.”

“That’s great. Here, could you get my handkerchief a little wet?” I passed him the square of fabric. “Thank you.”

“I think Hallie was trying to tell you something,” Louis told me.

“I saw her, but I don’t know what she said.” I gently wiped Barry’s forehead, mindful of the fresh scabs. The wound wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. Just a big bump with broken skin, already clotting.

“Well, if my educated guess is correct, she said, ‘I’m going to help you.’”

While I thought of my response, I noticed Barry’s eyelids fluttering, and slowly confusion filled his face as he came to. “Adelaide?” He muttered.

“Oh, Barry!” His hand reached for mine, and I held on tightly. “What happened to you?”

“Cale hit me,” he said slowly.

“Cale hit you?” Louis asked.

“That’s what he said,” I snapped. “Louis, give me your jacket.”

I can’t believe I have to put up with this chronic daydreamer. I would’ve transferred him to another ship a long time ago, except that his father is the Mapmaker’s Guild committee chairman. He would not take kindly to his son’s relocation.

Louis gave me his blue navigator’s jacket and I folded it, buttons inward. I lifted Barry’s head and placed the jacket underneath. He thanked me.

Pretty soon after that, Jemmett and Paul came to the brig, bringing Bly and Daisy with them. They locked Bly and Daisy in our cell and left without a word.

“Are you two hurt? Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’m fine. Just shocked is all.” Bly replied.

“Me too,” Daisy said. “Barry, what happened to your head?”

“Cale happened,” I told them. “Sydney’s little rebellion went further than I thought it would.”

“What will we do about it?” Bly asked, slumping on the bench.

“We’ll have to wait and see,” I told him. “I honestly don’t know what Sydney’s plan is.”

Boatswain Jemmett Mainwaring

Taking Daisy and Bly to the brig was harder than I thought it would be. Not physically - they didn’t struggle - but mentally. I worked hard to pretend that I supported Sydney and hated Adelaide. And then seeing the former captain in the brig, scared, still wearing half of her dress uniform, knocked something loose inside of me. And poor Barry; I hope that he’s okay.

Paul patted me on the back as we walked back through the passageway. I stumbled, for the unexpected blow reminded me of how my father used to start his rages. “This sure beats picking oakum, doesn’t it?”

“Well, we have to continue with that tomorrow, don’t we?”

“Yes, but Sydney is so generous in giving us a reprieve today. I’ve really needed it. Hey, what’s that smell?”

“I think Kiona said she would make some bread today.”

We parted ways at the junction of the corridor; he walked to the bunkroom and I went to sit in the lounge.

How can I help Adelaide, and the other crew members in the brig? How can I know what they need without communicating with them? I doubt that Sydney will let me enter the brig alone. A thought tickles the back of my brain.

One time I read about messages being sent in food. Sydney has to feed the prisoners, right? Kiona has to cook the food right? And I’m sure that she’s loyal to Adelaide - that’s why Sydney has her locked in there.

So my next step has to be communicating with Kiona. I think I can talk to her while she cooks, as long as no one else is around.

I heard the faucet running, and splashing in the sink. The galley opens to the mess through a small pass-through. It’s never closed, and as I approach it now, I see Kiona scrubbing dishes with all her might.

“Psst!” I try to catch her attention. There’s no one else around, so I feel okay talking a little louder than usual. “Hey!”

She turns slightly and sees me. She leaves the loud faucet on, and comes to talk to me. “Do you need something?”

“I want to help Adelaide,” I told her outright.

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Kiona looked shocked, her mouth open in an almost perfect ‘o’. “You do? And you assume that I want to, as well?”

“Well, yes. You’re her closest friend.”

She crossed her arms, leaning on the countertop. “How do I know that you’re not faking it?”

“Um, I… I don’t have any way to prove that. But if you give me a chance… I just want to help. I don’t think what Sydney has done is fair.”

“I’ll think about it,” she said, stepping away.

Blythe Hemmingson

Barry seems a little better. He’s sitting up and much more alert. However, the huge bump on his head underscored just how injured he is.

Daisy hummed to herself as she stared into the middle distance, lost in thought. “What are you thinking about?” I asked her.

“Just thinking about Kiona,” she said. “They didn’t put her in here with us.”

“Kiona would never betray me,” Adelaide growled.

“That’s not what I’m saying!” Daisy replied. “I bet they kept her in the galley, ‘cause she’s the only one of us that can cook worth a darn. And now Sydney has someone in his territory that supports Adelaide.”

“So?” I asked.

Daisy sighed. “So, we can use it to our advantage! Kiona can help us!”

“There’s nothing to do,” Louis said as he tapped the wall twice. “We’re stuck here.”

“Oh come on, where’s your fighting spirit? Aren’t you tired of being locked in here?”

“Not really,” Louis replied. “I don’t want to do anything rash. I’d rather like to return home in one piece.”

“Okay then, Louis. Guess you’ll hold down the fort while we do the exciting stuff. Bly, what do you think? Should we try to reach out to Kiona?”

I thought about it for a minute. If we did organize a breakout with Kiona’s help, there was a strong chance that someone could get hurt - maybe even worse than Barry. But if we succeeded, Sydney and his supporters could be brought to justice. The Mapmaker’s Guild does not condone mutineers, and they will be punished accordingly.

“I think we have a solid chance of dislodging Sydney from his position of power,” I said carefully. “But that doesn’t come without some risks. I know our ship doesn’t have munitions, but we could be seriously injured by other means. If we’re willing to take the risk, we might regain control of the ship.”

“Is it worth it?” Daisy asked Adelaide.

I could tell that the decision weighed on our former captain. All the things that could go wrong seemed to swirl in her mind, and finally she spoke. “I think it’s worth a shot to bring that scoundrel to justice. But we need to be very careful not to get caught. And we will need to be patient. We have plenty of time to plan before we reach the Continent.”

Daisy cheered. I still felt conflicted. I’m glad I’m not the captain so that I don’t have to make these kinds of tough decisions. I’m content to be just a plain old mapmaker.

At least we finished the Antarctic maps before Sydney executed his take over. The queen will be happy about that, if we make it back to Londinium in one piece.

We all jumped as the door to the brig opened. Charlotte entered and slid a pot of soup through the hatch, along with a spoon and loaf of bread. A smirk twisted her lips the whole time.

After Charlotte left the room, Adelaide portioned out the bread by splitting the loaf into five pieces. We took turns passing around the soup and shared the one spoon.

“I can’t believe that Charlotte is on their side,” Daisy said.

“Really?” I replied. “She’s always been kind of ambitious. She’s got that crafty look in her eye.”

Daisy started to reply, but I was distracted by the texture of the bite in my mouth. It wasn’t all bread. I inserted two fingers into my mouth and fished out a folded piece of wax paper.

“What are you doing?” Adelaide asked with disgust. “What’s in your mouth?”

“There was paper in my bread! Look!” I started to unfold it, curious. The inside had symbols written on it in charcoal.

“Can I see?” Adelaide asked. “I have a feeling I know what it’s about.”

I wiped it on my pants and handed the scrap to her. “You can read this?”

She gasped as she looked at it. “It’s from Kiona!”

“What does it say?” Daisy asked, leaning forward to get a better look. “What language is that?”

“One of my hobbies, several years ago, was cryptography. I got Kiona into it too, and we came up with this new alphabet. It’s somewhat rudimentary, but it would take the average person a little while to crack it. Her note says, ‘I’m locked in the galley but safe. Let’s restore the order of this ship, Sydney has bad plans for us. Can we trust Jemmett?’ Oh my, her little brain must be in such a tizzy right now. Imagine her stuck in one room!”

“Well, at any rate, good thing she has a plan,” Daisy grumbled.

“How can we reply?” I asked.

“I’m not sure,” Adelaide said. “Do any of you have a charcoal?”

All of us checked our pockets. Even Louis came back to reality long enough to turn his inside out. Barry moved slowly, but eventually a smile stretched his face when he found a tiny charcoal in an equally tiny pocket of his engineer’s trousers.

“Thank you so much, Barry!” Adelaide accepted the writing implement.

“What are you going to tell her?” he asked.

“Well, she obviously knows more about Sydney’s plans than we do. Basically I want to tell her that I’m on board with what she’s cooking up. I don’t know what to say about Jemmett, though. Regrettably, I didn’t get to talk to him very much.”

“I don’t think any of us did,” Daisy told her. “He’s so quiet.”

“I’ve played checkers with him a few times. He seemed nice but I don’t think we can be sure about his loyalties,” I added.

“Thanks for sharing, Bly. Anybody else have an opinion?”

“Bly, I agree with you,” Barry said.

“Okay, that settles it,” Adelaide told us as she wrote. “I’ll tell Kiona to be careful what she says to Jemmett. In fact, we all need to be careful.”

After Adelaide finished the note, she crumpled it up and put it in the pot. She arranged the last dregs of soup to disguise the note’s shape.

I slept fitfully that night. The cell wasn’t big enough for all of us to stretch out, so I curled into a corner, my back pressed against the vertical bars. Dreams punctuated my sleep, but every time I jolted awake I couldn’t remember what they were about.

We only had one tiny porthole for light, but it was kind of around the corner from us. We couldn’t see out, but we were grateful for the illumination. So I woke up for the last time when the sun rose.

The others woke soon after, and from their bleary eyes, I could tell they hadn’t slept well either. Adelaide stood and encouraged us to stretch. As I reached my hands above my head, my stomach grumbled. Barry and Daisy laughed. “Ready for your breakfast, huh?”

“Yes, anytime!”

The soup had started to smell - none of our jailers had picked up the pot last night. Our little note, hidden inside, ignited one spark of hope in my chest.