by L G Rollins
His reaction was immediate, as it always seemed to be with him. William’s fist clenched knuckle-white tight even as his face burned red. “I assure you, that could not be further from the truth.” Each word squeezed it’s way out between his clenched teeth, taunt and harsh. He glared down at her, daring her to say more.
Elise turned away, but could still feel his gaze boring down on her. After years of her stomach clenching at his sudden outburst, she had learned to ignore how he always made her feel as though she’d ruined his very existence. Mostly. Gracious, it wasn’t as though she’d announced his secret to the world. People bustled past them and motorcars and horse drawn carriages drove by on the street behind them, but no one was within hearing distance.
“All I’m saying,” she pressed on. “Is that you might want to take a more active role in today’s meeting.”
William glanced sideways all around them. “Shut your mouth before someone overhears you.”
“Excuse me?” She pulled away, but William grabbed her hand and forced it back under his elbow.
“Don’t make a scene,” he snapped.
Her own face was burning, now. How dare he speak to her that way. Just because they had grown up more brother and sister than neighbors did not give him permission to treat her thusly.
“You wanted me here, and I’m here,” William said, still eying those walking by them along the street. “You know I can’t appear too vested in your research.” His voice dropped yet lower, until even Elise could barely hear him. “What if someone were to suspect me?”
Elise gathered all her frustration at him into one breath—and then let it go.
He was right. As a werewolf himself, William was forever hiding and fearing what others may guess about him. If he were to seem wholly invested in what she researched, attend all her experiments and committee meetings except those during a full moon, it wouldn’t be hard for an anyone to piece two and two together.
Elise and William’s father were the only two living souls who knew his secret. Even William’s own mother was unaware. William’s life depended on it staying that way. English law was heavily set against those who shifted during the fully moon. It took very little—destruction of property or the like—and any individual found being a werewolf was sentenced to hang.
It frustrated her to no end that William would only do so much to help her, but she truly ought to be more understanding. Elise was worried for her career and the lives she might change; William was worried for his own neck.
“I am sorry. You must do what you feel is wisest, of course.”
William’s expression eased and he gave her a half-smile. “I’ve no doubt the committee will see things your way. Only, be sure to explain your proposed experiment clearly. You aren’t very good at that usually. And try to make it sound exciting and world-changing. The committee likes to invest in the big.”
Elise sighed. William never did apologize well. Which was quite unfortunate as he was forever needing to do so. If not to her, than to the men he argued with at Whites or the ladies he insulted at nearly every gathering. William’s anger was going to get him into serious trouble one day.
Too frustrated at William, and too nervous over what the committee might have to say, Elise couldn’t find the words to respond. So, she walked silently up the stairs toward the open front doors.
Bridgeside Hall always seemed to loom before her each time she had to stand up and be re-evaluated. This marked the fourth time she’d had to stand and prove her research was worthwhile. The anxiety she felt and the committee’s lack of enlightened understanding regarding her field of study burned each time into her memory.
She supposed the two-story building wouldn’t look so imposing if her entire future wasn’t on the line. Not that she was about to let anyone else know of the jitters in her stomach. Elise walked, head held high, through the large wooden doors into the spacious room. The first time she’d seen Bridgeside Hall had been directly after graduating from the University and then every two years since. Though, her last meeting with the committee had only been fifteen months prior. The committee, it seemed, was growing restless at her lack of measurable results.
The ceiling was vaulted, the room being a full two-stories high. No windows or secondary outside door graced the bottom half of the walls. Those were filled, instead, with large maps and framed letters of praise and gratitude from the House of Windsor. Well above Elise’s head, the second story of the tall room was nothing but windows. Light and fresh air poured down onto her head, the only glimpse of escape.
William took a seat near the door, where a couple other spectators watched. A single, long table filled the center of the room. Wrinkled men and woman sat, elbow to elbow, down both sides. Elise was about to sit at the foot of the table when one of the women, dressed in a white lab coat, motioned her forward.
“We are so glad you could make it Doctor Sterling.” Doctor Burnfure spoke in a wobbly voice as she motioned for Elise to move to the head of the table. Elise, her chest tingling with nervous energy, walked forward, eyes jumping from the judgmental stares to open windows high above her head. What she wouldn’t give to be able to shift herself, though not into a wolf but a bird, and sail out the high windows and far away from here.
Reaching the head of the table, Elise looked over the two dozen faces all peering back at her. Her gaze flitted to William, easily reclined in the back of the room. Blast him and his valid excuses.
Doctor Burnfure continued. “I am confident I speak for all when I say we have been eagerly anticipating your next proposal. Especially, considering . . .” The woman’s voice trailed off as she motioned for Doctor Sackville, sitting at her left, to take up the narrative.
“I will jump straight to the heart of the problem.” Doctor Sackville’s large, curled mustache twitched as he spoke. “Sir Chuggly has tried to replicate your mystical BLU Elixir and has failed. Multiple times. It makes us wonder at the validity of such a formula.”
All the air left her lungs. Any researcher could easily infer what he hadn’t said. In the world of science, a formula or experiment which couldn’t be replicated was universally thrown out, and usually the scientist was thrown out with it. What Doctor Sackville hadn’t added, but was clearly expressed in his tone, was it wasn’t only the validity of her formula they were questioning, but their faith in her.
This was much worse than any scenario she had played out in her mind to prepare for this day. They were questioning far more than whether they should support her research on werewolves, they were questioning if she should be allowed to continue as a scientist at all.
Elise glanced toward the back of the room. William’s chair was empty. He was gone, already? Before the meeting rolled into debate and argument, he’d already deserted her. All for a hat. Elise shut her eyes momentarily. No, not for a hat. For his secret to remain unknown. She needed to remain compassionate and understanding toward his plight.
Focusing once more on the stares surrounding her, desperation filled Elise’s mouth. She wanted to plead that they give her formula another try. Instead, she clamped her mouth shut and swallowed the urge; professionalism was worth its weight in gold inside Bridgeside Hall.
Feigning clam, Elise spoke. “I am sorry to hear of Sir Chuggly’s difficulties.” Perhaps if they had given her formula to someone more capable, this certainly would not have been a problem. “I have made the BLU Elixir on two separate occasions. I know the formula is sound.”
“Then perhaps it is the instructions that are lacking?” Doctor Sackville had always been her toughest critic. He was determined, it seemed, to run her aground.
“Sir, I am nothing if not meticulous in my recordings.” Even during her time at the University, Elise had been a very careful note-taker. “I was promised nine more months,” Elise tried. “Regardless of Sir Chuggly’s”—she strained to keep the derision out of her voice—“lack of success I feel I should still have a few more months, at the very least.”
Doctor Burnfure spoke up once more. “I think it only fair to inform you that recent letters indicate a huge leap in human flight in America.”
Flying jackets? They were pulling their support to further develop flying jackets? How was that life saving? Her research certainly would save lives, she just needed more time.
“We have two scientists,” Burnfure continued, her wrinkles deepening. “They are most anxious to travel abroad and send word to us of all the Americans have discovered.”
They didn’t want to fall behind the Yankees. Her brainbox clicked through the rational statements. Pull funding from her research, which had shown next to no progress. Give those funds to a couple new scientists, who didn’t have blights on their names, and sail them to America. Elise’s heart hurt, but her brain couldn’t ignore the logic.
Elise closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. “I only need a few more months.” Often, sitting in her laboratory, she felt weeks away from her next breakthrough. Sometimes, she felt mere days away. She’d recently began working sixty, sometimes eighty hour weeks. But, no matter how hard she pushed against the science and facts, they hadn’t so much as creak open and slip her a secret. Not since her discovering the BLU Elixir that is. And her Elixir was simply not good enough for those surrounding her now.
“For what reason? Other than the BLU Elixir, have you provided this committee with any advancements or achievements?” Doctor Makepiece, called from the back without looking up from the minutes she was taking. The minutes that would no doubt record the abrupt fall from grace Elise felt she was about to face.
Elise swallowed and spoke on. “I understand this committee’s disappointment in my lack of discoveries. I am disappointed in myself. But if anyone understands that science doesn’t follow a set plan, then I would expect it to be this group here.”
“Your elixir creates new werewolves; what kind of progress is that?” Doctor Sackville questioned, fingers thumping against the glossy table top. The rap-rap-rap bore down against her skull like a hand-cranked drill.
Of a truth? Elise did her best not to glare as she turned toward him once more. How many times did she have to explain this. Had he any scientific inclination in him at all? “The BLU Elixir does not create new werewolves. As I have explained previously, if injected into a healthy human it does nothing. If injected into a werewolf it will cause the individual to momentarily shift into their wolf form.”
“So, if the blasted stuff could ever be replicated, we’d have a way to prove who is a werewolf and who isn’t. How does that further humanity’s cause?” He countered.
Around her, England’s leaders in science glanced at each other and mumbled their agreement with Doctor Sackville under their breath. Elise pulled her hands behind her back, to prevent any of seeing her fingers twist around one another. She was losing their support. They’d always been skeptical, but when had they turned so adamantly against her?
“This is a step toward the solution, not the solution itself.” Surely they understood what it was like to press on, year after year, feeling you were doing little more than beating your head against a brick wall. Nonetheless, hoping all the while to find that break through.
Elise’s BLU Elixir had been such a break through. Or so she had thought. Now, it was looking as though the elixir would be her undoing. She let out a silent sigh, forcing her mind away from the fears building up inside and instead focused on the smells of ink, ancient parchment, and mustache wax that filled the room.
“The BLU Elixir proves that water absorbs and binds with moonlight,” Elise tried again. If they could only see the science and logical facts as she did they would certainly not turn her down. “Water, we have now learned, captures and holds onto moonlight similar to how it holds sugar.”
“That still does not help a single person in London.” Doctor Sackville, it seemed, was determined to be obstinate.
No doubt, her mother met with more than her fair share of belligerence in her years advocating for a woman’s right to attend the University. She pressed on; Elise would as well. “As the elixir currently stands, no, it doesn’t benefit London. However, my next step is to reverse engineer—”
“How does one reverse engineer moonlight? Or water?” Doctor Sackville interrupted. “Are you going to try mixing sunlight and rocks next? Cure the world with garden soil?”
Elise’s face heated and she clamped her jaw tight to keep from responding in kind. Both Lord Chauncey’s and William’s warnings filled her mind—the committee wanted something big and flashy. Though they were all scientist themselves, since being formed by Her Majesty nearly one and a half decades earlier, the committee had grown more inclined to do those things which brought them noticed and talked about among the upper echelon. Her Majesty’s coin had effectively buried each member’s scientific logic.
Doctor Burnfure tapped Doctor Sackville’s hand lightly. “No need for sarcasm.” She turned once more to Elise. “Tell us, dear, what do you have in mind.”
Dear, she said. As if Elise were a little girl, petitioning her grandparents for another doll or a new dress. Elise drew herself up. Taller than most women, Elise stared down at those sitting around her. If nothing else, they would not see her as an incompetent little girl.
“My next step is to analyze the molecular structure of the BLU Elixir. Then I will engineer a new formula, one that will break the bond between the moonlight and water, allowing the light to escape and the water to return to it’s natural form. Such a formula could possibly be used in werewolves to prevent them from shifting during a full moon. And that, esteemed doctors”—though she spoke to all, she looked directly at Doctor Sackville—“would prove very beneficial to England.”
He waved off her sincerity. “Maybe. Perhaps. Could be.” Doctor Sackville shrugged. “Uncertainties lead us nowhere. They help no one. You, Doctor Sterling, need to prove to this committee that we aren’t wasting time and money on you.”
The blunt statement left Elise rocking back onto her heels. They didn’t actually want logical scientific progression. Lord Chauncey was right. William was right. They wanted something they could brag about next time they visited the theater.
Alright then, if big was what they wanted, she would oblige. Hang propriety. She wasn’t going to let them box her up and ship her out of the scientific community and off to some life where her only endeavors revolved around dressing pretty and ensnaring a rich husband. If they wanted to engage in a game of who could produce the most outlandish experiment, she would do so. She would do so and win.
“Very well, how about this experiment. I am hiring a submarine—the fastest one in all England—in which I will sail nearly a dozen werewolves to the bottom of the deepest trench in the Atlantic Ocean, the Puerto Rico Trench. There, deep under the waves during a full moon, I will prove that water absorbs moonlight and that if there is enough water between the moon and the test subject the water will absorb all moonlight and the test subject will not shift.”
Everyone stared at her, wordless. Elise let the silence rest against them. She would not express her own concerns—namely, she didn’t have a submarine lined up and she wasn’t sure if her test subjects would agree to this experiment. Moreover, if this experiment proved a failure then the committee would be out more money than she cared to think about and they wouldn’t be at all closer to helping anyone.
On the flip side, if she succeeded . . . Well, she certainly would create a name for herself and with that she could further her science and help those who needed her most.
She pressed on, forcing her voice to remain firm. “You promised me more time.”
Doctor Burnfure rested her elbows on the glossy, chestnut table. “Precisely how soon can you have your experiment done?”
Elise thought quickly. Just how soon could they get everything organized? Lord Chauncey would, no doubt, be overjoyed that she just announced to the entire committee that they were moving forward with his idea. “The tentative date for returning is in sixty d
ays.” Elise ran numbers through her mind. “That includes a couple weeks to prepare the submarine and crew and thirty-seven days at sea.”
Of course, that was assuming she could convince Captain Hopkins to take her at all. Gracious, she’d only met him that day. There was no chance any other submarine could make the journey in such a short time. She would simply have to convince him to take her and her test subjects. Promising this much to the committee was a huge risk, one that made her extremely uncomfortable. But what other options were there?
Doctor Burnfure glanced around at the other committee members, then turned back to Elise. “We meet again in sixty-five days. You can have until then.”
Waves of tension rushed out of her. Elise pulled absently on the sleeves of her lab coat. One last chance. She would go straight to see Lord Chaucney from here. Somehow, they would get Captain Hopkins to agree.
Elise nodded her thanks to the committee and turned to leave, but Doctor Burnfure called after her.
“If your experiment isn’t an irrefutable success, or if you aren’t able to make it back in time, there won’t even be a debate. All funding and support will end.”
aptain Nathaniel Hopkins turned away from the sights and sounds that was the circus at sunset.
Melissa would love this. That morning at breakfast, her bright smile had almost convinced him to bring her along. However, his own mother had filled him with enough rumors to be cautious of bringing Melissa here before he saw exactly what the spectacle entailed.
So he had come, alone, to see if it was suitable for her first.
Nathaniel glanced over his shoulder, eying the circus one last time: the brilliant red and white striped tent, the large cages with wild animals, and the acrobats stacked three high welcoming visitors.
His mother would be pleased to hear that the rumors she’d heard were unfounded.
Yes, he would most certainly would bring Melissa here tomorrow. The wonders and strangeness of it all would thrill her.