by Fleur Smith
“Wait,” she said, gathering up what strength she could. “Don’t go back. We need to stay away from the other lifeboats and get out of here as soon as possible.”
“What exactly do you suggest?” John asked.
“There’s debris all around, if you get on some, I’ll take you to the lifeboats.”
“Mariely, ya—”
“I’m not going to argue with you, Paddy. You need to get out of here. I’ll catch up with you as soon as I can.”
“But yer leg . . .”
She twisted so her injury was out of sight. “I won’t be swimming a long way. It’ll be okay if we have the raft for after.”
“Are ya—”
“For once in your life, will you please just listen to me?”
Paddy recoiled in surprise at her words and blinked at her. When he didn’t say anything further, she turned to John. “Get ready, I’m going to return to my other form and get a piece of debris that’s big enough for the two of you. There’s a lifeboat just over there that I’ll get you to if you promise to let us go free.”
“I give you my word.”
Once she had his word, she reached for her seal skin. She wasn’t relishing the pain that would come from the transformation with the wound she had, but it was her only chance at survival.
She braced herself by clenching her teeth and then laid the cloak that made up her skin over her shoulders. Once she was covered, she tapped into the heart of the ocean inside of her and let the seal take over.
After the transformation was well underway, she pushed herself into the water. The first hit was colder than she’d expected—even though she’d just felt it less than half hour earlier.
Slicing through the water, she tested her hind flipper to see how much damage she’d sustained. It had been too hard to check earlier because she’d been so determined to stop Wilfred from hurting Paddy. The wound hurt—the salt in the ocean didn’t help with the pain—but she could still swim, for a short distance at least.
She swam to the surface and back under again as she searched for a piece of debris big enough for the two men to sit on. It took her a few minutes, but she ended up locating a piece of wood that she hoped would be big enough for the two men.
Using as much speed as she could, she guided the debris back to the raft by nudging it along the surface of the water with her nose. The journey from there to one of the lifeboats would be more difficult but she would do whatever she needed to.
She would save Paddy’s life the way he’d tried to save hers. Whatever the cost.
When her makeshift raft was close enough, John reached out and drew it alongside the inflatable. Mariely held the wood steady while he moved Wilfred across despite his muffled protests. With the two men on it, the wood rode a little lower in the water and it took all of Mariely’s effort to keep it floating and moving.
Barely minutes later, she pushed the two men along. She was relieved when John placed an oar into the water—at least until she realised that would mean Paddy had no way of moving the boat with any speed.
Seconds crept by that seemed to last for miniature eternities as she used all of her strength to push them toward the closest lifeboat. John shouted out, trying to get the attention of the men on board. Once he had, the men rowing didn’t turn around. Instead, they simply slowed long enough for raft to catch up.
“That was a spot of good luck that you found that old door,” Mariely heard one of the crewmen on the boat say before she sank beneath the water to steady the debris while John and Wilfred climbed off. Thankfully John left the oar behind.
The sailors in the lifeboat started rowing again the moment they men were on-board and the human threat to her and Paddy disappeared in an instant.
She’d fulfilled her role, and was ready to leave. Unfortunately, a sight that chilled her to the bone greeted her. The front of the Titanic was fully submerged and near-silent creaking filled the air as more of the boat flooded.
That’s when she spotted Maggie, standing on the boat deck and staring impassively in her direction. Mariely was struck by the promise Maggie had asked her to make.
Save them.
Save who?
The figures of the boys, standing at their mother’s side threw the request into sharp relief. Her boys. She wanted Mariely to save her boys.
With a nod, even though Maggie wouldn’t be able to see her, Mariely returned to the large piece of driftwood. If Maggie and her boys could get down onto the piece of wood, she could get them back to the inflatable raft. It would be their best chance for survival.
As she nudged the piece of wood closer to the Titanic, Maggie moved closer to the railing. She must have seen Mariely moving through the water, either physically or through whatever gift she got.
When Mariely had pushed the make-shift raft close enough, Maggie placed her youngest on her feet. Then she helped her eldest son, Albert, over the railing and leaned over as far as she could to dangle him over the top of the raft. She dropped him when he was as low as she could get him, and Mariely steadied the platform as he landed.
Old far beyond his ten years, he climbed straight to his feet and lifted his arms up to help catch his brother George.
After George, Maggie lowered her youngest, Francis, into his brothers’ arms.
One by one, she helped her next two down as Mariely steadied the raft. The water lapped over the top of the edges of the wood.
As the wood became more waterlogged, it grew harder to keep it upright. Mariely worried that it wouldn’t hold much more weight. If she wasn’t careful, they would all be doomed.
Maggie seemed to realise the same thing.
“Mammy love you, boys. Be good for Mariely.”
Mariely barked in protest, but Maggie just shook her head.
“Keep them safe. Please.”
Mariely barked again as the older of the boys started to cry.”
“Go!” Maggie said, without any fear or doubt. “Get out of here or it’ll be the end of all of us.”
Although it was a physical ache to leave Maggie behind, Mariely understood why she needed to. With a heavy heart, she pushed the raft away while five boys all screamed for their mother.
PADDY WAITED for Mariely’s return. He didn’t trust John or Wilfred and wouldn’t until he saw his wife again. Now that he knew she was willing to come back to him when he was in danger, he wasn’t willing to give her up.
Or at least, he wasn’t willing to walk away. If she wanted to go, he wouldn’t stop her anymore. She’d proven herself to be more than capable. More capable than he’d ever expected her to be.
As he waited for her, he explored the nooks and crannies of the boat, finding tinned food, blankets, a knapsack with a few changes of clothes and some flares. He changed out of his wet clothes into the best fitting ones he could find and wrapped one of the blankets around him to get some warmth into his body.
He spotted the makeshift raft Mariely had led away returning to his position. He saw someone moving on top of it, but couldn’t make out too much more detail than that. He started preparing an attack just in case things had turned for the worst. The emergency flares were the best weapon he had. They wouldn’t do much damage, but might be enough to cause a distraction.
As the raft came closer, he was distracted by a metallic tearing as the front end of the Titanic pitched forward, lifting the back out of the water before the ship was torn in half. He stared at the “ship of dreams” as the dream turned into a nightmare.
The barking of a seal cut through the air and drew his attention back to the wooden raft. Mariely was swimming around the makeshift support, barking to get his attention. Huddled in the middle of the raft was a group of boys, shivering. They were all sobbing almost silently.
Mariely pushed the raft forward and Paddy shifted so that he could help the boys onto the inflatable.
One by one, he helped the boys into the middle and wrapped a blanket around them. There were just enough blankets for the boys to s
hare one between two. Once the boys were all safe on the inflatable, Mariely leaped onto the wooden raft and took off her skin. As she turned back to human, she panted and sobbed. It was clear she was barely holding herself together.
After ensuing the boys were okay, all huddled together in the middle of the inflatable, Paddy balanced forward to reach for Mariely’s seal skin.
She flinched when he put his hand on it and Paddy frowned. Did she think he was trying to capture her again?
Once he safely had that on the raft, and in plain sight so she would trust him, he reached his hand out for her. She accepted his hand and used it to help herself cross from the makeshift raft onto the inflatable.
Mariely collapsed into a heap near the boys. She muttered about having to leave Maggie behind. He cupped her face. “We need to get out of here before anyone comes looking for us.”
She nodded and sobbed before gathering the youngest of the boys into her arms.
“I’m so sorry,” she muttered over and over as she stroked the hair of the youngest orphan.
Paddy grabbed the oar from the raft before using it to push the wooden raft away. Then he paddled them away from the scene.
“Go that way,” Mariely said, pointing in one direction but without any additional explanation.
While he went, he cast one last glance back over his shoulder at the ship. The stern was bobbing like a cork and the night air was filled with the sounds of screaming.
He wished there was more he could do to help them, but there was nothing more they could do.
The scene was chilling and a reminder of how fast things could change.
By the time the sun dawned, the Titanic and all of her debris had disappeared from sight. The five boys had curled around Mariely and fallen asleep less than an hour after the events that had seen them into the raft.
Paddy shook Mariely lightly to wake her up so that he could get some sleep. He was almost ready to collapse and it was sheer survival that was keeping him going.
Mariely changed into her other form and jumped into the water to push them along. Paddy checked on the boys before going to sleep himself. They swapped shifts every few hours and while the boys were awake, kept their spirits up with food, songs, and drawing.
Just after dawn on the second night since they’d left the Titanic, they reached land. They were probably still a long way from civilisation, but that didn’t matter. Paddy knew how to live off the land if he needed to. He set a fire and they had their first meal on back on dry land.
As they sat around reliving their escape, he considered the journey they’d taken so far. He’d hoped it would change their life and make everything better. In a terrible way, he’d been right. He was now responsible for five newly orphaned boys. His wife was now at his side because she wanted to be and not because of some forced loyalty.
Things weren’t necessarily better, but everything had changed.
THE END
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