“That’s what Auntie Charlie told me,” Twila said.
“Really? You just push it down? And it goes away?” Becca furrowed her brow. “That doesn’t seem right.”
“Well, it’s working for me,” Twila replied. She stood up and stretched out her back. “I just blink a bunch and breathe, and the feelings aren’t a problem. They’re still there, but I’m fine.”
“Alright, I’ll try it.” Becca breathed in and out, blinking as fast as she could. She kept doing it and doing it, then slammed a hand onto the deck. “This isn’t working, Twila! Breathing is fine, but the blinks don’t help!”
“Then find something else. You have to push it down. It’s the only way. I’ll let you try different things.” Twila walked over to the stairs and climbed to the deck. She had a fuzzy feeling in her chest. It felt good to help her ship rats out.
“Twi, what’s the plan here?” Rosie asked her.
“Get everyone together. We’ll talk it over before bed. Need all day tomorrow to get ready for it.”
“Got it,” Rosie said. She headed back into the hold.
“Wait,” Twila stopped her. “Get Becca last. And bring the journal.”
As Rosie left, Twila started to think. The last time she’d–no, they’d–tried something like this was in Shimmertower. Her heart started pounding.
Twila took deep breaths, too, just like she’d told Becca. Her eyes fluttered open and closed. She’d skippered the Hourglass from Iswixel all the way to after Shimmertower, and she’d done fine. The ship rats had had enough to eat, and she’d even brought in some money–she could have paid them if they’d asked. Her worry faded slowly. Her chest loosened. She dried her hands on her [Platejack Coat] and got back to thinking about a plan.
Then she stopped.
She knew what the crew had to do.
As the others joined her on the deck, she kept breathing and blinking. Sam and Ellie, the two new ship rats, sat near the rail, poking and shoving each other. Rojir stood near the stairs, with Jamis behind him–Marianna wasn’t really paying much attention. Twila didn’t blame her for that; the girl was so young, even if she was older than the six she looked like. Becca sat on a barrel.
“That makes everyone,” Twila said.
And Rosie joined her up by the wheel. She sat down and flipped the journal open. “I couldn’t find Carter anywhere. Did he come back with you earlier, Becca?”
“Uh, no?”
“Weird,” Twila said. “I’ll catch him up later. Ship rats, I have a plan. Rosie, take notes. Gotta have a record in case we do it again later.”
Once Rosie nodded that she was ready, Twila started. “Plan is to ambush the Gibson Marines in the tavern and kidnap Auntie Charlie–”
“Is it kidnapping if she’s an adult?” Marianna asked.
“Uh, yes. We’ll kidnap Auntie Charlie back and head to the Hourglass. Any questions?”
“Yeah,” Becca said. “What’s the plan?”
“Okay, the plan.” Twila’s eyes rolled up toward the sky as she thought. Then she took another deep breath and blinked. The other plans had all been Auntie Charlie’s, but she could do it. She was the skipper, after all!
“We lurk around by the tavern. When the dockworker guy runs out, we hide. The Marines are going to get ready and go inside, right?”
“Right, Twi,” Rosie supplied, scribbling in the journal.
“Yeah, so we’ll hide from the Marines. In tunnels, or behind buildings, wherever we can find. As we see them go inside, we’ll wait. Then we’ll wait some more until people start running out or we can’t hear fighting,” Twila said.
“Why don’t we just go in there as soon as we can?”
“Because we don’t want sea monsters or Sable Tide. Idiot.”
“Enough,” Twila said. She glared at Ellie and Sam until they stopped fighting. “We’re not going in there at the same time because if the Marines see us in one place, then another, maybe they’ll think we knew a shortcut or something. But if they see us in two places at once, that’s bad.”
“And the Sable Tide is scary,” Rosie interrupted.
“And the Sable Tide is scary, yeah. So we wait outside. Then we lock that door behind them so they’re stuck in the lava tube. Jamis, can you lock it?”
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“Locking doors is easy, Twi. It’s unlocking them that takes talent.”
Twila nodded. “So, we lock them in, set up our ambush in the tavern, and when they come out, we make them surrender. Or we…do what we have to do.”
“I’m not going,” Becca said. She looked down at the floor and took a deep breath. “I’ll stay on the ship. I have an idea for building something. It might help when we have to try again.”
As she blew air out between her lips and clenched her fist, Twila tried not to be too angry. She got it. She really did. But now wasn’t the time for second-guessing and worrying. Now was the time to push it down! She opened her mouth to say something to Becca about it.
Then she stopped. A good skipper would be a little understanding here.
“Fine, Becca. If you’re not committed, you can stay here. So, we’ll lock the door, ambush the Marines as they come out, and make them give up. That way, there’s no killing.” She looked at Becca pointedly. “I don’t want to kill anyone either–”
She stopped. Becca had said something under her breath. Twila stared at the girl with narrowed eyes. “What?”
The girl flushed, contrasting with her blonde hair. “I said that it didn’t sound like it from your plan, and you’re getting to have a body count, skipper. You can lead the rest of the crew on a crazy, unplanned attempt to get Auntie Charlie back, but I won’t be part of it.”
Twila turned to face Becca and stepped forward, away from the wheel mount. “Ship rat, if you don’t want to go, I said you could stay. But if you want to fight, we can do that too.” Her hand strayed to one of [Anton’s Paired Pistols].
But before she could draw it, Rosie had a hand on hers. “Don’t, Twi! We can do this without Becca. Just…just let her go.”
Sure enough, Becca stomped down into the hold. She looked back, tears pouring from her eyes. Then, without another word, she was gone.
“Will can take care of her,” Rosie said. “Let’s just go and get ready. We’ve got to rest up and then find hiding spots.”
“Agreed,” Carter said. He stood by the gangplank.
“Where’d you go? You were supposed to be checking on Becca,” Twila asked.
“I figured out where the Marine station is instead. I figured that’d be important, and I could talk with Becca later. Where is she?”
“She’s down below,” Marianna said. “She and Twila are fighting.”
“We’re not fighting. She left to go cry. Where do the Marines come from?” Twila leaned forward.
Carter grinned. “You got Becca that angry? I’ll have to see for myself later. I’ve been trying for months. Okay, the Marines. They’re quartered in a building near the top of Seapike. The town, though, not the mountain. There’s a set of steep stairs through the rock. They’re at the top, and there’s an alarm with a guard or two at the bottom. That’s how they got moving so fast. I think.”
“Okay, show us the guard post tomorrow. We’ll set up early and make sure we’re good and ready. Get some sleep, ship rats. Tomorrow, we’re getting Auntie Charlie back.”
As the crew wandered off, Twila took deep breaths. Whatever Becca was working on that was more important than saving Auntie Charlie had better be good. Not that she needed an extra ship rat for this job. The plan was good, and everyone knew what to do.
It’d be easy.
[Twila Tighe, Ship Rat Mystgineer, Equipment Level .91 (Myst 1/12, Hit Points 2/2)]
[Head - Empty]
[Eyes - Myst Lens (lvl. 1) Myst Sight (passive) See own status block and others’ classes]
[Chest - Platejack Coat (lvl. 2) Plated Coat (passive) +1 Hit Point]
[Waist - Apprentice Mystgineer’s Bandolier (lvl. 1) Deep Pockets (passive) - Equip an additional Gizmo]
[Legs - Canvas Overalls (lvl. 0)]
[Gizmo #1 - Loaded Dice (lv. 2) - Roll the Bones (active, 1 myst/roll) - gain a random myst enhancement; Skill - Trickery]
[Gizmo #2 - Anton’s Pocket Watch (lvl. 4)] Redo (active, 5 myst/5 seconds) - redo the last five seconds of time, with knowledge of what’s happening (1 minute to reset); Skill - Piloting]
[Gizmo #3 - Empty]
[Gizmo (Belt) - Mystwork Lantern (lvl. 2): Mystlight (active, 25% failure chance, 1 myst/attempt) - start the light; Adjustable Light Aura (sustained, .5-2 myst/tick) - light a variable area; Skill - Perception]
[Myst Battery - Condensing Battery Mk. 2 (lvl. 1) Myst Storage (passive) - 12 myst maximum, requires condenser to refill; Condense Myst (passive) - Condenses 1 myst/6 ticks]
[Weapon/Pair - Anton’s Paired Pistols (lvl. 2) Smoothbore Myst-Shot (active, 1 cartridge/shot) - fire a ray of heated myst; Rapid Shots (active, 2 myst/shot) - fire twice/tick; Skill - Marksman]
[Weapon #2 - Heatblade (lvl. 2) Heat (active, 1 myst/tick) - cause the blade’s edge to superheat; Skill - Acrobatics]
[Weapon/Pair - Empty]
[Skill #1 - Trickery 2]
[Skill #2 - Perception 2]
[Skill #3 - Piloting 4]
[Skill #4 - Marksman 2]
[Skill #5 - Acrobatics 2]