Secrets in the Mist

by Morgan L. Busse

  Cass made a dash for the street ahead. She only made it a couple of steps before she was yanked back by edge of her corset.

  “We’ve got a fighter here, boys,” one of the men said with a laugh.

  “I want at her first for kicking me!”

  Cass dipped and swung her leg out. She caught the taller man and sent him stumbling against the wall, then jumped back. She wasn’t a trained fighter but had learned a few tricks on the streets. However, three on one was going to be nigh impossible, and the shadows made it hard to see. She needed to find an opening quick so she could get away.

  The third man moved in. Cass kept her body low and out of reach. She dodged his first grab and screamed once more. If she couldn’t get away, maybe someone would hear.

  He reached for her again as the taller man closed in on her other side. Cass kicked out and caught the first man along his upper thigh. He fell back with a grunt.

  The taller man grabbed her by the shoulder before she could try to escape a second time.

  “You’re not very nice, are you?”

  “Not to men like you.” She struck him in the shin and yelled out again.

  He cursed and threw her to the ground. “That’s it! I’m done with you. Get her, boys!” he yelled.

  Cass curled her body in, kicking out at random while screaming. It kept the men off for a little while, giving her time to scoot against the wall. Her lungs burned as her heart raced.

  She tried to get up but was instantly pummeled back down. “Help!” she cried out as she rolled into a ball.

  Why didn’t I let Will escort me?

  Why did I get lost?

  A boot connected with her head.

  She could barely see from the stars dancing across her eyes.

  I have . . . to get . . . away. I have to . . . survive.

  She weakly got up on her hands and knees and started crawling.

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  Footsteps sounded behind her and drew away the attention of the culprits. She crawled faster. One of the men let out a curse.

  Seconds later, there was thump, and her first assailant skidded across the pavement beside her, out cold.

  Theo heard a scream as he rounded the corner on his way back to the Daedalus. Moments later, there were shouts and another scream, a woman’s. He ran toward the next block, then came to a stop. Down a dark alleyway with just a gas lamp for light were three figures. Wait, no, four. There was someone on the ground.

  Theo sprinted down the alley, his hand already balling into a fist and his top hat flying off his head. When he was younger, he’d been involved in an unsanctioned club for fisticuffs at his boarding school. Over the years, it had come in handy, and he hoped it would help him now.

  He reached the brawl and took in the scene: a small woman on the ground in the shadows with three thugs around her.

  They turned and one let out a curse as Theo sent his fist hurtling toward the man’s chin. A crack ricocheted across the alley as the man’s eyes rolled up into his head, the punch sending him flying to the ground beside the woman trying to crawl away.

  The second man came at him.

  “What’s an echelon doing in this part of the city?” the second man sneered. He lashed out to strike Theo, but Theo knocked the arm away, then slammed his fist into the man’s gut. The man bent over with a cry and stumbled back.

  Theo sank back into his waiting stance, knees slightly bent, fists ready.

  The third man lifted his hands up and took a step back. “Hey, I don’t want any part of this.” He turned and ran the other way.

  Theo had half a mind to chase down the coward, but he didn’t want to leave the woman alone—

  The glint of reddish-gold curls made him suck in his breath. “Cass?” he whispered. A red haze spread across his eyes as an uncontrollable fire erupted inside his body, a fire he had never experienced before.

  The second man slowly rose, but Theo sent him lurching back with a punch to the face. The man slid down the wall and lay still. Theo shook in anger as he stared at the two men lying on the ground. He wanted to beat them until they never moved again. A whimper broke his mindset.

  “Cass!” he cried and ran to her.

  She tried to lift her head. “Theo?”

  “Gales,” he said under his breath as he bent down beside her. A trickle of blood ran from the corner of her swollen lip, and her eye was already turning black. There was a tear along her blouse and another bruise along her arm.

  “I got lost,” she said, her eyes dazed and trying to focus. “And there were three of them. If there had been one or two . . .”

  “Let’s get you out of here.” He reached for her arm, but she flinched away.

  “Let me do it. Let me stand on my own.”

  He frowned.

  She looked at him tearfully. “Please.”

  He realized what she was asking, and he moved back.

  Cass placed one knee beneath her, then pushed up with her arms. Her body trembled, but she managed to stand. She wobbled to the street ahead, toward the lights and wide open area. Theo followed, his hand hovering, waiting to catch her if she fell.

  She never did. Instead, they finally reached the street, where Cass sat down along the edge of the gutter and hid her face in her hands.

  Theo sat down beside her and waited. He wanted to put his arm around her shoulders and comfort her but had a feeling it would be brushed away, so instead he sat beside her, silently, and waited.

  Minutes passed before she lifted her head. She glanced over at him, a definite dark ring appearing around her right eye. “Thank you.”

  That same red haze began to fill his vision, but he composed himself.

  She looked down at her knees. “I think I’ve grown soft since my time on the Daedalus.” She laughed shakily. “I would have never been caught a year ago.”

  “You’re in a different city. And—” Theo remembered the first time he saw her, the way she was dressed, with ragged clothes, a coat much too big for her frame, and the cap she wore over her head. “You’re dressed differently.”

  Cass touched the skirt pooled around her legs. “Blasted skirt,” she muttered. “I don’t like being weak. I’ve always taken care of myself.” Her voice grew determined. “I won’t let this happen again.”

  “You’re not weak. In fact, you’re one of the strongest women I’ve ever met.”

  She glanced at him with an unreadable expression.

  “Look at you.” He waved his hand at her. “You’re a diver, and you lived on the streets before that. I don’t think even most men of my acquaintance could do that.”

  “But I needed your help back there,” she protested. “If you hadn’t come . . .”

  “Accepting help doesn’t make you weak. It’s like catching your breath so you can stand up again and help others. When one person is down, the other one is up.”

  “That’s an interesting way of putting it.”

  Theo smiled, and the corner of her lip turned upward as well. “Come on, we should get back to the ship. You’re going to need something for those cuts and that eye.”

  She gingerly touched the lower edge of her eye. “How bad does it look?”

  Theo hesitated, then reached out his hand. He’d never touched a woman’s face before, except for family. He gently touched her cheek. Her skin was soft and warm, and her eyes still bright green in the gaslight. “It’s not bad,” he said. He withdrew his hand, heat rising up along his neck and cheeks. “I’m sure it will heal quickly.”

  “That’s good. Although I’ll bet there will be a lot of questions when the crew gets back.” She pushed up from the ground. “We should go.” Her eyes darted to her attackers. “Before those men wake up.”

  Theo looked over his shoulder. “You’re right. But if they’re smart, they won’t come after us.” He stood up and held out his arm to Cass.

  Cass shook her head. “I would rather walk on my own.”

  “I’m not
offering to help you. I’m offering my arm as a gentleman to a lady.”

  She paused, then took a tentative step forward and placed her arm under his. Once again he was reminded of how short she was. He guided them toward the right and started down the street. They were only a few blocks from the docks. The presence of the men must have turned Cass around.

  “Where did you learn to fight like that?” she asked.

  “In school.”

  She looked at him, and he laughed.

  “I went to an all-boys boarding school, and a handful of us were part of a fight club during the evenings.”

  “What was school like?”

  It dawned on him that, of course, she hadn’t been to school. In fact, he hardly knew anything of her past other than she had spent time on the streets, then became a diver on the Daedalus. He didn’t even know if she had any family.

  “It was . . .” Fun? Sometimes. Lonely? Many times. But something every young man from a prestigious family attended. “I learned a lot. But I went to live back at my family’s home for university.”

  “University?”

  “Yes. Browning, in Belhold.”

  “That’s a lot of learning.”

  “Yes, I suppose so. What about you?”

  She glanced up at him. “What about me?”

  He felt her body tighten under his arm and questioned whether he should have asked. “Just curious.”

  But eventually Cass began to talk. “My family constantly moved when I was a child. We were poor and could only live near the border. Every time we heard rumors of a Purge, my father packed us up, and we left to find another place to live in. Until one night there was an unexpected Purge. My parents hid me, then left our flat. They sacrificed themselves to draw attention away from me. I lived along the borders of Belhold until almost a year ago when Captain Gresley brought me onboard the Daedalus.”

  Theo’s heart tore at her words. “When did that happen? The Purge, I mean.”

  Cass stared straight ahead. “I was fourteen.”

  Fourteen? So young.

  “I survived on the streets for almost four years.”

  So she was eighteen or nineteen. He mentally shook his head. He couldn’t even imagine. His and Adora’s childhoods had been very different in comparison. How many other people experienced that kind of life? He knew not everyone went to school, but even those in a lesser station were trained to work, either in shops or at the factories. Cass had grown up with nothing but her wits and luck.

  They reached the docks without incident.

  Cass suddenly spoke up again. “Captain Gresley was teaching me how to read.”

  “Oh?” That was interesting.

  “But then he”—her voice caught—“passed away, and I haven’t really picked up a book since then.”

  He stopped walking and looked at her. “Would you like to keep learning?”

  Cass gasped. “Oh, yes!” she said, her face glowing despite her blackt eye and swollen, discolored lip. “More than anything. I didn’t realize what I had until it was gone.”

  He knew she was speaking about more than just reading. “I would be happy to teach you. Let’s take a look at what books Captain Gresley was using in the morning. But for now”—he began escorting her again—“let’s get you back to the Daedalus and have your wounds tended to.”

  He led Cass down the walkway toward the floating ship moored at the end. As they neared the plank, he sent up a small prayer of thankfulness that he’d reached Cass in time.

  Patterson held Cass’s chin with his fingers. “What in tarnation happened to you?” He gently turned her head one way, then the other, and clicked his tongue as he examined her from behind his spectacles. His peppered hair stood in jagged pieces around his face.

  “I got lost,” she said faintly.

  “Got lost? In Decadenn? And where were you?” he said, focusing his glare on Theo.

  “I didn’t go with the crew to the pub. I found Cass on my way back from visiting a friend.”

  “I’m going to have a word with those young men,” Patterson muttered as he dropped his hand and turned toward the galley counter.

  “It’s not their fault,” Cass told him. “I insisted on coming back to the ship alone. I’ve never had this happen before. And I won’t let it happen again.”

  Patterson shook his head as he rummaged around. “Darn right you won’t because I won’t let it happen.” He brought out a small box and placed it on the counter. The pans above his head swung as the ship rocked with the wind. “You’re a young woman now.”

  “Who can handle herself. I was careless tonight. It won’t happen again,” she repeated.

  Patterson reached into the box. “I’m not saying you can’t take care of yourself, it’s all the other fools in this world that make me worry. This could have happened to any of the crewmembers. What I am saying is you can never be too careful. Wolves can pick off a solitary person. But when there’s more”—he gestured—“there’s strength in numbers.” He pulled out a small dark vial and a roll of bandages. “And you, my dear, are a lovely young woman. So let an old man worry a little. Now let me see your wounds.”

  Cass sat patiently as Patterson placed ointment on the cuts and bandaged them up. He clicked his tongue again as he looked at her face. “No damage to the bone or the eye. Good thing I had ice delivered earlier today for the icebox. That will help with the swelling and bruising.”

  Patterson went back into the galley. He appeared again a couple minutes later with something wrapped in a piece of muslin. “Here.” He handed it to her. “Hold this against the lower part of your eye for fifteen minutes. Take a break, then use it again. And use this when the compress starts dripping.” He handed her a tea towel.

  Cass stood up and placed the wrapped ice against the swollen area. “Thank you, Patterson.”

  Patterson grumbled. “You’re welcome. See me tomorrow. I want to make sure everything is healing.”

  At the door to her cabin, Cass stopped and looked at Theo, who had stayed with her. “I’m going to turn in for the night. Thank you, Theo, for your help.” She took a breath. “For . . . uh. . . saving me.”

  “It was my pleasure.” He seemed to sense her awkwardness and changed the subject. “If you like, we can look over your books tomorrow.”

  She smiled. “I would like that. I’m going to be busy preparing for the dive into Voxhollow, but we are still two weeks out. I think I can steal away for an hour in the afternoon.”

  “I’ll probably be in my cabin. Come find me. Until then, sleep well, Cass.” Theo hesitated, then headed down the corridor toward his own room.

  Cass watched him leave while pressing the cold compress to her cheek. A strange jumble of emotions filled her. She was both relieved and distressed to see him go, and, for a moment, she thought about calling out to him and asking him if they could talk for a while longer.

  She entered her tiny cabin. She lit the gas lamp, then changed into a faded nightshirt. After putting her clothes away, she lay down on the hammock and continued to press the ice to her face as she stared up at the hanging light.

  Her whole body ached from her encounter, and as she recalled that moment in the dark alley, she shuddered. No, she would not let that happen again. No more skirts, no more wandering the streets. She had to take care of herself. Tonight only proved that one slipup could cost her everything.

  If it hadn’t been for Theo . . .

  Theo. His fists had come out of nowhere, knocking out two of the men and sending the third one running. He went to a boarding school and university. She knew little of those, except they were only for the elite. Who exactly was he?

  Why did she feel a slight pain to think of those things? Was it because he was everything she wasn’t? Educated, smart, rich. Those things had never bothered her before.

  She placed the cold compress aside and turned off the gas lamp, then lay in the dark, letting the gentle rocking of the Daedalus lull her toward sleep.

&n
bsp; For the next three days, every time Cass ran into Jeremiah, he asked her forgiveness for not escorting her back that night in Decadenn. His concern was well intentioned, but it was beginning to wear on her. She didn’t want to live in a world where she had to rely on a man to go somewhere, but that meant acknowledging that she had been careless. To use Theo’s words, it wasn’t weakness to ask for help sometimes.

  The rest of her days were spent preparing for the trip down to Voxhollow. At midpoint, she took Theo on another dive. Both she and Bert felt confident that he would do fine solo diving.

  Her stomach clenched as she was storing the packs after inspecting the gliders. It wasn’t necessarily the dive she was anxious about, it was the unknown. What if they had another Magmire incident? They still didn’t know why the Turned were so different there. What if there were more? What if her revolver jammed again? What if—

  She shoved the packs away into the locker and shut the door. The rest of the storage area was clean, save for a settling of dust along the crates. Light trickled through the portholes, and she could hear the thumping of the crew’s boots on the deck above.

  She would be no good if she let her fear take control over her. Bert would be down there, and so would Cyrus, the new diver Bert had been working with. She would have two revolvers on her this time, and she would be prepared.

  Cass turned and headed across the ship toward the stairs. Soon they would reach the area where Voxhollow was located. But before they could dive, they would have to get permission to go into the no-fly zone, something Theo had promised he could do.

  Yet even though he’d been on the Daedalus for over six weeks, she still barely knew anything about him.

  She started up the stairs again. They would finish the job, get the money, and pay off Eli Gresley, then the Daedalus would belong to the crew. And she would never have to worry about losing her home again.

  She would finally be safe.

  As they approached the western mountains, a patrol ship spotted them. The Mist swirled below, darker than usual, with the sunlight glinting off the edge, while the mountains ahead were sharp and narrow, with only a few trees clinging to the sides of the cliffs.