by Amy Cross
“But don't push me too far,” Quill continued. “There's a very thin line between amusing me and annoying me. Cross it, and I'll have to swat you out of the way. You are dancing on that line at this very moment, Ms. Langley.” With that, he turned and began to limp away, heading past Madeleine as she helped a recovering Benjamin to his feet.
“Don't push me too far either,” Kate called after him. “I'm going to find Anna and bring her back, and I'm going to make sure no-one else on this island suffers at your hands.”
She waited for a reply, but Quill was already starting to limp across the town square, making his way back to the heart of the town.
“That was slightly impressive,” Madeleine said finally. “I've got to admit, Kate, I didn't think you had it in you.”
“Neither did I,” she replied, turning to look toward the horizon. “We have to find out where he's sent Anna, and we have to get her back.”
***
“Patience,” the woman said, brushing a hand against the side of Anna's terrified face as the boat sped away from Thaxos. “Soon we'll reach your new home, and you can meet all the other little girls in my collection.”
Sobbing, Anna turned and looked back toward Thaxos. Realizing that the island was out of sight, she turned back to the woman and stared for a moment at the V-shaped scar that ran up on either side of her face.
“You mustn't feel sad about being an orphan,” the woman continued, leaning closer and grinning, revealing rows of sharp teeth. “Soon you'll forget all about your parents. You might even come to think of me as your new mother.”
As tears continued to flow down her face, Anna pulled away to the far end of the boat. Finally, as Mrs. Eversham moved closer, the terrified little girl began to scream.
***
Slipping the tweezers into the hole on the side of his neck, Quill held his breath for a moment as he struggled to get a grip on the twisted fragment of metal that was embedded in his flesh. The pain was nothing to him, of course, although it brought back memories of older, more crippling injuries. Finally pulling the metal out, he watched his own reflection for a moment and saw a single trickle of blood running down onto his heavily-scarred chest, before the wound began to seal itself shut.
“Hello?” a voice called out. “Are you here?”
Turning, Quill listened to the sound of cautious, uncertain footsteps entering the police station, and finally he saw Joshua Wood reaching the office.
“What do you want?” Quill snapped.
“I...” Joshua paused, staring at the thick, twisted scars that covered Quill's entire torso. “I...”
“Have you never seen a man who has been in a war before?” Quill asked, clearly irritated by the interruption. “A real war, I mean. Not one of those pesky little scraps that break out between human nations from time to time.”
“Is this a bad time?” Joshua asked. “I can come back later.”
“Why would I want you to come back at all?” Quill asked, limping toward his desk and grabbing his shirt, which he proceeded to slip back on, covering his scars. “You did your job, you received your pay. It was a simple transaction, what more is there?”
“It's just...” Joshua paused for a moment, as if he wasn't sure what to say next. “The money you gave me,” he continued finally, “was more than I'd usually get in three months working for my father. Hell, it's more than most people on this dusty little rock see in a year.”
“So?” Quill continued, wincing slightly as he re-buttoned his shirt. “Enjoy your day drinking in the local watering hole. That's what humans do, isn't it? They waste their lives on frivolous pursuits. Alcohol, cigarettes, carnal pleasures... So easily distracted.”
“Not me,” Joshua told him. “I mean, maybe in the past, but I want all that to change.”
At this, Quill couldn't help but smile.
“I'm serious,” Joshua continued. “I helped you today, I performed a task that you needed done, and I think I did it pretty well.”
“You certainly showed a little more fortitude than I'd have expected.”
“I even... I mean, when she was dangling there, I even pulled on her legs to make sure her neck was broken. Which it was, by the way. I could hear the bones crunching against each other in there.”
“Well done.”
“But that shows initiative, doesn't it?”
Taking his cane, Quill began to limp around his desk. “So?”
“So I was thinking, maybe a man like me could be useful to you again.”
“A man like you? And what kind of man are you?”
“A man who gets things done. A man who sees the bigger picture.” He waited for Quill to reply. “I know this island, I know the people here and I know how they'll react to certain things. You can use me, I know you can.”
“For what?”
“For anything! For little jobs here and there.”
“You think I would have need of someone like you?”
Joshua paused. “Well, you needed me today.”
Taking a seat, Quill took a moment to neaten the papers on his desk, before finally looking up at Joshua. “You make a valid point.”
“So maybe we can work out a deal?”
“So maybe...” Quill paused again, as if he was running through all the possibilities in his mind. “That very much depends on you, Mr. Wood.”
“I executed someone for you,” Joshua pointed out. “Doesn't that prove something?”
“It does,” Quill continued, “although it was something of a quick, clean execution. It was certainly not something that proved you to be a man of great strength or power.”
“Then how can I prove that?”
“You want me to pay you to do more work?” Quill asked. “Is it solely about the money?”
“I want to get off this island,” Joshua continued. “I want to make something of myself, and if I have to do a little dirty work to make the money I need, so be it. When I leave, I'll get to start again. I won't look back, not once, not even for my family. I'll just go out there and find a place for myself in the world, and I won't ever think about this disgusting place again.” He paused. “I'll find a woman, too. One who looks as good as Evangeline Mediaci, or better even. Not too mouthy, not too pushy, just someone with a good body, someone who knows how to please a man.”
“You have ambition,” Quill replied.
“I'm sick of this island. I'm sick of scrabbling about in the dirt on this miserable rock stuck out here in the middle of nowhere.”
“And you truly meant the words you said to me just now? About not even looking back for your family?”
“They've done nothing for me. They just tried to tie me down to this place even more. My father wants me to rot away in his workshop my whole life, and my mother thinks I should marry one of the ugly, dowdy local women and start making babies. And then what? Waste my life and achieve absolutely nothing? The whole idea makes me feel sick to my stomach.”
Quill paused for a moment. “I believe your brother is closely entwined with Madeleine Le Compte, is he not?”
“It's disgusting,” Joshua replied. “I don't get how he can even touch her. The thought of him being intimate with that horrible creature is enough to make me sick to my stomach. I mean, how does it even work? Do all the bits even fit together?” He paused. “Give me a nice human woman any day, like Evangeline Mediaci. She was the prettiest girl on the island, I don't get why he couldn't have just been happy to marry her.”
“Your brother tried to assault me earlier,” Quill continued. “He was with the Le Compte girl and Kate Langley, and he actually had the temerity to come at me. I had no trouble stopping him, of course, but it's still something of an insult. I should have killed him there and then, but I was rather distracted by another matter. It does seem as if, somehow, Edgar Le Compte has managed to surround himself with some rather loyal individuals. Foolish, obviously, but definitely loyal.”
“Benjamin would do anything for Madeleine Le Compte,”
Joshua replied. “He's barely even at home anymore, he spends most of his spare time with her.”
“She deserves to suffer.”
“You're thinking of killing her?”
“Eventually, but I don't want to be too hasty. First, I want her to know true pain, both physically and emotionally. While I wait for the opportunity to strike her brother down, I feel I owe it to Madeleine Le Compte to make her life as miserable as possible. Edgar has no children for me to torture, so his sister is the next best option.”
“What are you planning?” Joshua asked. “Are you going to hurt her? I can help, or I can try. What do you want me to do, and how much are you willing to pay?”
“I want you to show me that you meant what you said,” Quill continued, reaching into his desk drawer and taking out a knife, which he laid in front of Joshua. “I want you to prove yourself to me, so that I can be sure I'm able to trust you in the future with more important matters.”
“I don't think a simple knife will cause much damage to someone like Madeleine Le Compte.”
“I'm not telling you to use it on Madeleine Le Compte,” Quill replied, watching Joshua's eyes intently as he studied the man's reactions. “I'm telling you to use it on your brother.” Smiling, he slid the knife toward him. “I'm telling you to kill Benjamin Wood.”
***
“Careful,” Kate said as she and Madeleine lifted Jennifer's corpse onto the back of a small wooden cart. “Don't drop her.”
“What does it matter?” Madeleine asked. “She's dead anyway.”
“There's still hope,” Kate replied, glancing up at the mansion on the hill.
“You can't be serious,” Madeleine said, taking a step back. “You're going to take her up there and ask Edgar to bring her back to life?”
“He can do it, can't he?”
“I...” Madeleine paused, staring down at Jennifer's crumpled, broken body. “He can do a lot of things. He controls the souls of all the dead on Thaxos. I mean, he's always nattering on about stuff like that, but I don't know how much of it's true and how much is just him showing off.”
“Can you help?”
Madeleine shook her head. “Father trained Edgar almost from birth, taught him all the dark arts of the Le Compte family. He's the one who knows all the tricks, not me. As the only daughter in the family, I was trained to walk properly and look mildly pretty. I mean, I used to sneak to the door while Edgar was learning, so I picked up a few things, but not enough. I guess you could say the Le Comptes are an old-fashioned bunch.”
“I have to at least try to get Edgar to help,” Kate continued, making her way around to the front of the cart and grabbing one of the wooden handles. “If there's any chance at all, I have to do whatever I can.”
“Edgar's not really in the mood to -”
“Are you going to help or not?” Kate snapped, barely able to contain her frustration.
“It's hopeless,” Madeleine continued, turning to Benjamin. “Tell her. Edgar's pretty much lost his mind, he's -” Before she could finish, she heard a creaking sound and saw that Kate had begun to pull the cart alone, digging her feet into the dirt in an attempt to get moving. “You can't be serious, Kate! You'll break your goddamn back if you try to pull that thing all the way up to the house!”
Heading over to join Kate, Benjamin grabbed hold of one of the other handles and began to pull.
“Seriously?” Madeleine continued. “You two are going to do this?”
“I can't let her pull this thing alone,” Benjamin told her, “and I don't see what else there is to be doing right now.”
“We could actually try to come up with some kind of a plan!” Madeleine pointed out. “Do you really think that running back to Edgar is going to work?”
She waited for a reply, but the others simply continued to pull the cart away from the town square.
“It'll take hours!” Madeleine called after them.
Ignoring her, Kate and Benjamin kept going.
“Fine!” Madeline said finally, hurrying after them and starting to help. “It won't work, though! When we get up there, you're gonna see that Edgar's no use to anyone anymore!”
II
As the nightmares began to fade, Baron Edgar Le Compte found himself in the dark, quiet room once again. Slowly, he got to his feet.
***
Stepping into the archive room, Nixon looked around for a moment, seeing a vast number of boxes and crates overflowing with documents that, in theory, should form a catalog of the Le Compte's family history. He knew that Edgar intended to one day have the archive sorted and organized, but for now everything had been left in a huge mess, awaiting the day when some fool could be found to take on the job.
Heading over to the far corner, he pulled several boxes aside so that he could get to a large chest that had been pushed out of sight. Clambering over a few crates, he reached into his pocket and took out a small key, which he used to unlock the chest. He lifted the lid and felt a shiver pass through his body as he saw the old scientific equipment inside. There were measuring devices, textbooks, beakers, jars and all sorts of machines, some of which he'd brought all the way from England. Some were even homemade constructions, which he'd designed and built himself back in the days when he thought only of science and its possibilities.
Those were the days before the children of Narm, of course. They were the days when he wasn't scared to push himself to his limits.
Reaching into the chest, he took out an oscillator that he remembered taking apart many years ago and reconfiguring so that he could use it as part of an experiment concerning magnetic waves. He couldn't help but smile as he remembered how he'd sealed himself inside his laboratory for almost a week, determined to get the work done, not even bothering to emerge and get something to eat. Those had been, by far, the happiest days of his life, and yet he felt he could never conduct such work again.
Not now that he'd seen what his work could bring into the world. So much pain, and so much death.
Hearing a faint bump nearby, he turned and saw to his surprise that Estella was standing nearby.
“I'm sorry,” she told him, “I didn't mean to interrupt, I just... I saw you coming in here and I wondered why, that's all.”
“It's nothing,” he replied, closing the chest and starting to lock it again. “I was just being a little sentimental. Foolish, really.”
“I didn't know that you brought any possessions with you when you came to Thaxos.”
“It's junk. I was thinking of throwing it out, actually. I should burn the lot.”
“I also wanted to apologize,” she continued. “The other day, I said some things to you that... Well, I think I actually came dangerously close to threatening you, and that was wrong of me. The only excuse I can offer is that I was trying to make a very difficult decision.” She paused. “That decision has been made now, so my mind is somewhat more settled.”
“And what was the decision?” he asked, climbing back over the boxes.
“Just something silly. Something from my past, and I had to decide how best I should deal with it.”
“A person?”
“I'd rather not say.”
“But now you're free to turn your attention to the wedding. It's just a couple of days away, Estella. I'm surprised you're not turning cartwheels in the garden.”
“Oh, I'm sure I shall be,” she told him. “Lately, I seem to swing wildly from extreme excitement to...”
He waited for her to continue. “Melancholy?” he asked finally.
“Perhaps. Of a sort.”
“And you're sure you -” He paused. “This is not something I ever thought I'd ask you,” he continued after a moment, “but... Estella, are you sure you want to marry Edgar?”
“Absolutely.”
“And that's your honest answer, rather than a way of avoiding the question?”
“Any woman would be mad to have doubts about marrying a man such as Edgar Le Compte.”
“Maybe, may
be not.”
“I want to marry him more than I want anything in the world,” she continued, her eyes glistening a little with the first hint of tears. “My God, after all the fuss I've made so far, do you really think I'd have second thoughts? I shall be revered by all the other people of Thaxos. After all, I'm not marrying a commoner, I'm marrying the man who rules over the entire island! How could anyone not be looking forward to such a thing?”
“Sounds good,” he replied, stepping past her and heading toward the door. “As long as you're not secretly in love with someone else, perhaps a certain doctor from the town.”
“Whatever makes you say that?” she asked, shocked that he could have uncovered her secret.
“Oh,” he said, turning back to her with a faint smile, “I might be socially awkward, but even I can spot things now and again. I've never been married, Estella, and I've never really been in love, but from what I've heard about such things, I don't think marriage is like a magic switch in your brain. The doubts you have now... You'll still have them the day after the wedding, and the day after that, and for the rest of your life.”
“But I shall learn to live with them.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes,” she said firmly. “I visited the gentleman in question recently and... I made sure to close that chapter of my life. Why, after this conversation right now, I don't think I shall ever even think of him again. No matter how important someone might seem to one, it is possible to move on.”
Nixon stared at her for a moment.
“There's a trunk of junk over in the far corner of this room,” he said finally. “Old pots, machines, things like that. I put it there many years ago, thinking I'd forget about it, but I still come back and look at it all from time to time. Now, I'm not the sentimental type, Estella, but think about it for a moment... If I can't let go of some old junk, what hope do you have of letting go of an entire person?”
