Hi everyone! Thanks for reading! We are a group totally awesome writers and this is our joint account here on FanFiction. We are: Zenappa, The Sock That Never Stays Orange, and A Pirate By Any Other Name. This is our first story together. Just so you can tell which of us is which in these Author's Notes, here's a key:
Zenappa's comments will be normal.
The Sock That Never Stays Orange's comments will be in italics.
A Pirate By Any Other Name's comments will be in bold.
So there you have it!
Summary:Three girls (Emerald, Ophelia and Rose) are minding their own business, busying themselves cleaning out an old house for community service when they stumble across a room full of paintings. They soon discover that there's more than meets the eye, soon they find themselves in the middle of three worlds: Sherlock Holmes, Pirates of the Caribbean and Pride & Prejudice. A bit of a crossover, tons of pairings, and all fangirl! There's something for everyone to enjoy!
We'll be taking turns writing each chapter. This first chapter was written by me (A Pirate By Any Other Name) I hope you enjoy! Please read and review! We love reviews! Thank you! :)
Hello my lovelies! Welcome to our wonderful story. As the wonderful Tiff has pointed out, this is a collaberation story which will hopefully evolve into many more. But in order to do that, you need to leave a review! Seriously, we live on them. No joke, no lie. And who wouldn't want to pass up a chance to contact the three of the best FanFiction authors directly? We love you all and are looking forward to hearing from all of you!
Zenna :D
Uh...I don't really think I have anything to add, apart from the fact that I'm writing all Ophelia's part. XD
So without further ado...
Chapter 1: We're In This Together...Or Not.
"Rose, tell me again why you signed us up for this job?" Emerald whined from behind a stack of dusty boxes. I sighed.
"Because Em, it's spring term and we still have't completed our required community service." I waved a hand in front of my face, brushing away the dust particles that floated about the room like a golden snowfall.
Emerald huffed as she shifted one of the larger boxes. "Yeah, but why did you have to pick the one job that will take the longest, get us the dirtiest, and-" she wrinkled her nose against the dust, "-is the most boring of all the jobs listed?"
I poked my head over the box in her hands to stare down at her. "Boring?" I asked incredulously. "What do you mean? We get to explore a house that is over one-hundred years old! Who knows what we'll find?" I jumped back, twirling about excitedly and stirred up a ton more dust.
"Achoo!" sneezed Ophelia, the dainty redhead. She appeared from around the corner, carrying a large stack of old books. "Actually, I agree with Rose, Em. Look at these books! All first editions! Do you have any idea what these could be worth?" I beamed at her and bounded over to see what she had found, my chocolate brown eyes glittering excitedly. Emerald shook her head, her straight blonde hair swinging back and forth in its ponytail and stepped over the piles of books and papers that littered the floor of the room we were in.
"Treasure Island, A Tale of Two Cities, Persuasion, and Wuthering Heights? This is amazing!" Emerald said, her blue eyes wide. Ophelia smiled and sighed dramatically.
"Isn't though? Oh, how I wish I could keep just one of these!"
I bit my lip. "Technically, you could. I asked the woman in charge of clearing this place out, and she said most of the stuff would just get thrown out, but if we found anything valuable, turn it in to her, because the city is selling whatever it can in an auction since the old lady who owed this place didn't have any living family." I looked at my nails. "No one would ever know they were here. Nothing is catalogued."
"Rose Meredith Adams! I could do no such thing. That would be wrong and you know it!" Ophelia gave me a stern look. Even though at nineteen, she's the youngest of us and I am the oldest at twenty-two, most of the time I feel like the younger one, because Ophelia is so proper and responsible. I comes from reading all those classics, I know it. Damn English majors.
I threw my hands up in surrender. "I know, I know! I was just saying."
Emerald laughed. "You know better than to joke like that with Ophelia! She's always reprimanding you, Rose."
"I guess it's because I deserve it, don't I?" I asked, joining Emerald in laughing. Ophelia shook her head, but I could see a smile playing about her lips.
"Yes, you do," she told me. "Now I'm going to take these books out to the auction truck. Maybe they'll tell me that they're not worth auctioning off after all..." Her hopeful voice trailed off as she disappeared out the door.
Em and I looked at each other for a moment before heading back to the piles of old junk that need sorting through. "Well, back to work," Emerald grumbled. Despite my adventurous spirit, I understood how she felt. The old lady who had lived in this old house must have been a pack rat, because there were boxes and boxes of books, papers, clothes, household items, blankets, decorations, and other baubles that filled every room in the house. The room we were sorting through now had been some sort of library or study at one point. There were several bookshelves, a large oak desk, and a couple squashy orange chairs about the room, buried under the piles of boxes and baubles.
A loud creak of an old drawer being pulled open filled the room as Emerald opened the middle drawer of the big desk. "Look at this!" she called, motioning me over with her arm. I hurried to her side.
"What did you find?" I asked, peering over her shoulder. I was slightly taller than her, so it was easy.
"It's a magnifying glass," Emerald said, holding it up for me to see. It had a thick pewter handle wrapped in leather. I could see worn spots where the previous owner had gripped it. "Whoever owned it had bigger hands than me," said Emerald fitting her hand around the handle.
"It's still pretty cool," I said. "You should keep it."
"What? Why?"
"Because you are studying Criminal Justice," I said, as though it were obvious. "And your forefathers used these to solve mysteries. It's just right that you should have one. Besides, I'm pretty sure they won't want to auction this off."
"I'm studying Psychology too," Emerald said impetuously, but smiled at it all the same. "Fine," she said and slipped it into the pocket of her sweater. Then she went back cleaning out the desk. I grinned and went back to the boxes in the corner.
"And just what are you two grinning about?" Ophelia demanded when she came back into the room. She had both hands on her hips, so I guessed they didn't let her keep one of the books. Dirt was smudged on her freckled nose and on her faded pink t-shirt which read in capital letters, "I'D RATHER BE READING JANE AUSTEN".
"Nothing," I said innocently, and Emerald laughed.
"I found this old magnifying glass, and Rose suggested I keep it," she said, holding it up for Ophelia to see. I put a hand to my forehead.
"How fascinating!" said Ophelia, then blushed. She reached into her pants pocket and pulled something out. "Actually, I found something as well." Emerald and I rushed over to see what it was. In her palm was large skeleton key. Our eyes widened.
"Oh, it's gold!" exclaimed Emerald. I peered at it more closely.
"Can I see it?" I asked. Ophelia nodded and handed it over. I brought it up to my face and scanned the design. "It's just gold-plated, Em," I said, after turning it over in my hands a few times. "Gold plated for this design, and the rest of it looks like iron." Emerald gave me a look. "What?" I said defensively. "I've been taking a metal-working class."
Emerald threw her hands up. "Artists!" she exclaimed. I grinned.
"Are you going to keep it?" I asked Ophelia. "Or does that go against your sensibilities?"
Ophelia pretended to be miffed. "Actually, I already asked the man down at the auction truck whether I could have it," she sniffed. "And he said yes."
Emerald grinned and I laughed. "Brilliant! Now it's just me who needs to find a souvenir from this little adventure."
"Perhaps if you spent more time actually cleaning than stirring up dust, you would," Emerald said dryly.
I put a hand to my heart. "You wound me, Em." The three of us looked at each other for a moment and burst into laughter.
I didn't find anything worth keeping right away. We spent the next hour and a half cleaning the study, and when we had finally cleared out everything except the furniture, we moved to the next room, which was a bedroom. A large canopy bed sat in the middle of the floor, bowed by the weight of the blankets and boxes on top of it and there was a dusty vanity table covered in twenty year old bottles of perfume on the far side of the room. Several cedar chests lined the wall beside the walk-in closet, and when Ophelia opened the tall wardrobe, three huge white moths flew out of it, causing us all to scream.
"I'm not going under there," Ophelia announced when it was time to clear off the bed. She looked at me and Emerald.
"Nose goes!" cried Emerald quickly putting her finger on her nose. Ophelia did the same.
"Ugh, I hate this game," I complained. I eyed the bed distastefully. "Let's get this stuff off the mattress first, so it doesn't collapse me when I pull whatever is under there out." We carefully lifted the boxes and wool blankets off the bed, keeping a wary eye out for mice or any other living thing that might have taken up residence in the pile, but aside from a few more moths, the only thing in there was dust. Once the bed was clear, I got down on my hands and knees and peered under the bed.
"Have either of you got a flashlight?" I asked and looked back up at them. They shook their heads. I sighed.
"Well, here goes nothing then," I said and crawled under the bed. It was extremely dirty and there were dust bunnies the size of my face. It's a good thing those guys are friendly, I thought.
"Coming out!" I called and started pushing boxes out from under the bed for Emerald and Ophelia to pick up. When I thought I had gotten everything, I started to slide myself out, but then a something caught my eye. At first I thought it was a book, but as I reached out and grabbed it I realized it was a flat wooden box, like those cheap boxes you could buy at a craft store and decorate yourself. I hugged the box to my chest and pushed myself out form under the bed.
Upon seeing me, both Emerald and Ophelia burst into laughter. "You're filthy!" cried Ophelia.
"And your hair!" choked out Emerald. I huffed as I stood up and walked over to the vanity to see my reflection. My wavy brown hair, which had fallen loose of its hair tie spilled over my shoulders and was covered in gray dust. It made me look ten years older.
"Ha, ha, very funny guys," I said, setting the box on the table and trying to get the dust out of my hair with my fingers. The dust was all over my clothes as well. I was wearing a loose, one-shouldered maroon blouse, a frayed, faded pair of blue jeans, and a pair of black flats. "I think this officially gets me out of dinner duty for tonight," I said a bit smugly. I hated to cook.
"I'll do it," Emerald offered, still laughing at the sight of dust-cover me. I brushed the dirt off of my best I could, but I looked like dirty gypsy.
"Do either of you have a hair tie I can borrow? I seem to have lost mine," I asked. Ophelia pulled one off of her wrist and handed to me. "Thanks," I said pulling back my unruly locks. "We'll have to go home to eat lunch now; I can't possibly to go out like this," I said gesturing at my clothes.
The two of them nodded. "That's fine," Ophelia said. "I've got some chicken salad in the fridge, I'll make us some sandwiches when we get back."
Emerald had finally stopped laughing, and her sharp eyes caught sight of the box I had set on the vanity. "What's that?" she asked.
I picked it up. "I don't know. It was under the bed," I said. It was a slide-open box, like the kind matches came in. I pushed on one end and it stuck for a moment, then popped open. A bunch of brown paper was stuffed inside. I looked at it curiously and pulled out the paper, piece by piece. Finally I found a piece that was wrapped around something hard. Carefully I unrolled it and then let out a gasp. There in the center of the paper, was a gold pirate medallion.
"This is it!" I cried excitedly. "This is my souvenir!"
"You can't keep that!"Ophelia said with wide eyes. "It's gold! And there's a gem in the center. It could be worth something," she insisted. I raised my eyebrows.
"They let you keep your gold-plated key," I argued. "And this isn't even as big as that. Besides, I'm sure it's just a cheap gem, something common, like garnet. Either way, I'm keeping it."
Ophelia looked to Emerald to support. Emerald bit her lip and shrugged. "She has a point, Ophelia. Plus, she did crawl under that pox-infested bed to get it. I think she deserves it." I beamed at her.
"Thanks Em," I said.
"Oh, fine," said Ophelia. I slipped the necklace over my head and let it fall under my blouse. The metal was cool against my skin and I shivered for a moment.
"I think that is a enough cleaning for this morning, girls," I said. "And I think we should explore a bit before heading back to the apartment for lunch. Scope out what's left to do. The clean-up team wants this place empty and ready for demolition by Saturday. That only gives us seven days to finish up, and we've only done the east wing. We haven't even looked in the west wing."
Emerald jumped forward. "I'm game," she said. "What about you, Ophelia?"
She shrugged. "Why not? It's better than cleaning, anyway." I grinned and bounded forward, the medallion bouncing against my chest.
"Then what are we waiting for?" We dashed down the hallway to the front hall, where a grand staircase lead to an upper level of the house and the west wing.
"Why would anyone want to tear a place like this down?" asked Ophelia, looking around. I knew she was thinking of Pemberley, because she had her "Austen face" as I called it on. She gazed dreamily at the staircase and over to the foyer, possibly imagining the grand balls that could have been held here. "They should renovate it instead," she said sadly.
"The town wants a parking garage more," Emerald said matter-of-factly.
"Sad isn't it?" I said a bit impatiently. "So that's why we have to enjoy and admire it while it's still here!" I turned and headed up the stairs. Emerald and Ophelia followed and we made our way through the big house slowly.
We peeked into room after room, parlors, bedrooms, bathrooms, broom cupboards, sitting rooms, a dining room, and even a grand room that could have been a ballroom. We amused ourselves by waltzing across its huge floor. One hallway we went down was covered in ugly paintings of people dressed in fine gowns and suits. I laughed at them.
"I think this family needed a better painter," I said, then reconsidered it. "Or maybe they were just ugly people." We all laughed.
Finally we came to a large bedroom suite, which opened up to a balcony overseeing the back yard, had an joining bathroom, and not one, but two walk-in closets.
"Can I have a room this big?" asked Emerald, impressed.
"If you can pay the rent," I teased. Ophelia grinned.
"It's almost as big as our entire flat!" she said and brushed a red curl that had fallen loose from her bun out of her face.
"I know, " I said, nodding. I walked into one of the closets. It was oddly empty, unlike the other one, which was filled with old dresses, suits, and hat boxes. I looked around, staring at the peeling walls. It was a shame really, that such a big house was being torn down. Ophelia was right, it could be amazing if it were restored.
I frowned as my eyes passed over a section of the wall that was lighter than the others. Odd, I thought and started walked towards it to examine the paint. Suddenly my pants got caught on a loose nail in the floor and I pitched forward, slamming into the wall, which trembled then gave way. I fell to the floor with a crash.
"Rose? What happened?" called Emerald and Ophelia. I heard them come running. I winced, afraid to see the damage I had inflicted on the wall, and when I opened my eyes, my mouth dropped open.
"What-?" Emerald stopped mid cry to gape at the hole in the wall and Ophelia just stood with her mouth open. Before us, instead of the rough brick of the outer house wall, as I had expected to see, was a large circular room filled with massive paintings, each of them at least twelve feet high and six feet across.
Wordlessly I pushed myself to my feet and rubbed the paint chips from my hands and arms. My motion seemed to bring my friends back to the present because they both rushed forward.
"Are you okay?" asked Ophelia.
"You scared me half to death with that crash!" said Emerald.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I just wanted to see why part of the wall was painted different than the others, and I tripped. The wall just gave way. Must have been a door at one point. I wonder why they sealed it off?" I looked around in awe of the paintings. Unlike the ones of the people that lined the hallway, these paintings were all landscapes and painted with exquisite detail. The one nearest to the door depicted an old street and apartment building. An arch over the walkway to the building read, "221B Baker Street". The atmosphere of the place was grey and overcast and I could almost imagine I smelled a hint of rain on the air just looking at it. The second of the differed completely from the first and showed a bright country scene, with a dirt road winding through the grass. In the distance a large house loomed, looking quite like the one they were cleaning might have looked in its prime. Everything was green and peaceful looking, and for this one I could imagine I felt a bit of a summer breeze blowing out of the frame, carrying with it the warm rays of the summer sun. The final painting was also different from either of the first two. It showed the top deck of a ship, one that would have sailed in the 1600s, with large dark sails full of wind and the lines of the rigging pulled tight. Past the railing of the ship the ocean spanned out, seeming to continue on forever, the horizon a thin line in the distance, marked by a fiery orange sun. At this one I inhaled deeply, as if I could taste the salty sea air on my tongue.
"They look so real," breathed Ophelia. "Like you could just step right through them."
"I know," I said, the awe still plain in my voice. "Amazing." I stepped forward and held out a finger to touch the painting of the ship. It was so real-looking, even the waves seemed to move up and down.
"Wait!" shouted Emerald suddenly. I froze, my finger mere inches from the painting. "Have either of you noticed there's no dust in this room?"
I stepped back. "So?"
"So," said Emerald, her tone sounding a bit patronizing, "isn't that odd? I mean, the rest of the house is covered in dust. But this room here looks like it's just been cleaned." I glanced around a bit doubtfully. She was right. Even the frames on the paintings gleamed as though they had been polished that very day.
"What's your point?" I asked, glancing back at the painting. If I could just touch it...
"My point is, something weird is going on here," Emerald said authoritatively. The medallion seemed to burn around my neck as I stared at the painting.
"That's not a very good point," I said petulantly.
"I think she's got a good point," said Ophelia suddenly. "There is something odd about this room. Can't you feel it, Rose?"
"Yes!" I said, feeling a bit desperate. "It feels magical. It's the effect of these paintings. I just want to see..." I broke off and reached out to touch the painting again.
"No!" said Emerald and Ophelia together. I ignored them and continued to stretch out my finger until at last, I touched the painting. My eyes widened in surprise. Instead of feeling a smooth, painted-on canvas, my finger felt as though I were touching a pool of water.
"You guys," I started, and pushed a little more firmly against the painting. To my utter shock, my finger slipped right through, as if it were going into the painting, and not tearing through the canvas. "Guys-" I never got to finish my sentence, because all at once the medallion around my throat burned and I felt a sucking sensation around my middle, as though I was being pulled forward. I reached to grab the painting's frame to stop myself, but it was no use. I heard a scream and I looked over just in time to see Ophelia disappear into the painting of the countryside. "Ophelia!" I shouted.
A second scream was heard and I saw Emerald holding onto the frame of the painting of 221B Baker Street. Her legs had already disappeared into the frame. "Em!" I called out to her. She looked up at me, a look of desperation on her face. Her fingers were slipping. "Em!" I shouted again and tried to walk towards her, but the force that was pulling me was too strong. "Em!" I screamed one more time as her fingers finally lost their grip and she disappeared into the painting.
The medallion around my throat was burning white hot now, and I reached up to pull it from my neck. The motion however loosened my grip on the frame and I suddenly found myself being pitched forward into the painting of the ship. I looked back and the now empty room full of paintings was the last thing I saw before utter darkness swallowed me.