Ice Man

by nemebean

For mysterious reasons, faeries sneak aboard the ill-fated maiden voyage of the Titanic.

Ice Man

"Welcome aboard Titanic, ladies," a uniformed sailor greeted us. "Perhaps you would like to wait for your husband before boarding, Mrs. Kelly?"

'Mrs. Kelly', who was in reality Mab, Queen of the Winter Sidhe, and my mother, looked like she wanted to tell him exactly what she thought about his idea. Fortunately we had agreed upon a cover story before embarking on this journey. After all, three women traveling unaccompanied in this world would have drawn far too much attention. Given that we did not appear in any passenger manifest – except when we needed to – it was preferable to keep a low profile.

"He'll be along shortly," I told the sailor. Then I made up a story that would play on his expectations. "He's just making final arrangements for our baggage. We have quite a lot of it, you know."

The sailor smiled knowingly. "Yes, I'm sure you do," he responded. "Will you need any help finding your staterooms?"

"I am quite certain we can manage," said Mab.

"Very well, then. Please enjoy your voyage," he concluded, blissfully unaware of how close he had been to becoming fish food.

Mab walked past him without another glance and I gave him a polite nod. My sister Maeve, of course, was not content with anything so mundane. Subtlety was never one of the Winter Lady's strong suits.

"I do so love a man in uniform," she said speculatively as she boarded the ship. The sailor's eyebrows shot up and his cheeks flushed red. That was not how a proper first-class lady behaved and he clearly did not know how to respond.

"Maeve!" I said scoldingly.

"Oh lighten up, Sarissa. We're on vacation and I, for one, intend to enjoy myself." She gave the sailor one last smoldering look then continued onto the ship.

"Maeve, remember that we are here to observe only," admonished our mother once the commotion of the imminent departure gave us some natural privacy.

"Typical!" Maeve pouted. "You always take her side."

"She does not!" I argued, almost without thinking.

"Enough!" snapped Mab.

Maeve stuck her tongue out at me as a parting shot. I just shook my head. I had argued against bringing Maeve on this trip, but for some reason Mab wanted her here. Which at least proved Maeve wrong – our mother clearly did not always take my side.

I wasn't sure why in this case though. It was not the first time I'd taken my mother on a mortal outing, but Maeve had never joined us before. After all, she didn't have much need to. As Lady of the Winter Court, Maeve was much closer to the mortal world in the first place. She already spent significant time there, albeit mostly surrounded by a coterie of Sidhe sycophants. Mab was much more isolated from the goings on of the mortal world and needed a guide such as myself to keep her in touch.

"Now, where are our staterooms, Sarissa?" asked Mab, interrupting my musings. "Despite what I told the mortal earlier, they were not expecting us and won't have prepared anything."

"Not a problem," I said. "I'm told first class is less than half full, and it's the ship's first voyage. It won't take much to convince someone that our arrangements were overlooked in all the excitement."

We walked into the first class cabin area and sought out a section with fewer passengers around. I picked a door at random and knocked, hoping to find an unoccupied room. My first guess was unlucky, however, as an older gentleman answered the door. I apologized for the mistake and we moved on.

The next door was more fortunate and there was no answer. We milled around feigning confusion for a few minutes, knowing that three well-dressed women who looked lost would no doubt be "rescued" in short order. Right on cue, one of the stewards approached us. He was a young man, not much older than I appeared.

"Can I help you ladies with anything?" he asked.

"Yes, that would be lovely," Mab answered, then gave me a quick but significant glance. I grasped the reason immediately. She was incapable to speaking falsely, as was my full Sidhe sister. It was up to me to tell a convincing enough lie to secure us accommodations.

"We thought we were supposed to be in this room, but the door seems locked," I explained.

He looked at a sheaf of papers and frowned.

"According to my records this room is unoccupied," he said.

I held up a piece of paper glamoured to look like a ticket. "Well, as you can see this is the room on our tickets."

"Typical," he said with a shake of his head. "The people who did room assignments must have been drunk. This is the third mistake I've run across already." He abruptly looked sheepish. "But of course White Star Line is committed to ensuring you have a comfortable voyage. I will take care of this immediately."

"Our thanks, Mr..." I prompted.

"Savage, miss," he said.

"Ooh, are you?" purred Maeve.

I gave her a dirty look. He gave her a rather more alarmed one, then gestured for us to follow. He stopped and spoke with an older steward who looked just as annoyed by the situation as Mr. Savage. They had a brief conversation, both of them looking over their own sets of papers. Finally, the man handed Mr. Savage a key and we continued on our way. We stopped at a nearby stateroom door.

"Here we are then," said Mr. Savage. "This is one of our finest staterooms. I do hope you will find it to your liking."

Before any of us could answer, we heard a man approach from behind us.

"I'm sure we will, my good man," he said.

We all turned to the newcomer in surprise. He was a tall, well-built man, not especially handsome, but somehow appealing in his own way. I guessed his age to be about the same as my mother's glamoured appearance.

"I hope there was no trouble," he continued, then gestured at Mab. "My better half has been so looking forward to this trip."

My eyes widened briefly, but I hid the reaction immediately. Who was this man pretending to be part of our sort-of-pretend family? I didn't recognize him and he certainly couldn't have recognized us. Mab took it all in stride though.

"We had some difficulty with our stateroom, but this gentleman was good enough us to get us squared away," she explained, which was technically true.

"In that case, thanks are in order!" said the stranger.

He gave Mr. Savage a gold coin, which made his eyes get very wide. He stammered out a thank you and left us with the newcomer. Mab opened the door and we all went inside. As soon as I had shut the door behind us, she turned sharply and said, "What game are you playing, Lord Herne?"

The Erlking? Here? My mind raced. It was not often that I was in such close proximity to two Sidhe of such power. I had a sudden suspicion that our voyage had become much more dangerous.

"How did you know it was me?" asked the Erlking.

"You're just so...you. No glamour can completely hide that," answered Mab.

"Thank you, Your Highness," he said with a bow.

"It was not a compliment."

His smile widened, but also took on a more dangerous aspect.

"It has been too long since we matched wits," he said.

"And to what, exactly, do we owe the pleasure of your company today?" asked Mab.

"My instincts tell me this will be an interesting voyage."

I abruptly realized I had very little interest in occupying the same room while these two verbally sparred. It wasn't entirely clear how the Erlking factored in to this trip and his evasive answer suggested we wouldn't find out any time soon, but only a blind woman could have missed the tension his presence had created. My mother obviously didn't know why he was here either and she didn't like to be kept in the dark.

"Excuse me, I'm going to take in some of the sights out on deck," I said, then ducked out of the room without waiting for a response. I hurried down the white corridors toward the deck where I could already hear the commotion of the crowd excited for departure. As I stepped through the final doorway I collided with someone rushing past with heavy bags of something. He was an attractive young man, with broad shoulders that were all kinds of intriguing to me. I had to resist the urge to go up and run my hands over them. No doubt that was the Winter side of me emphasizing a perfectly normal feeling to inappropriate levels. Yeah, Winter, that was it.

He had dropped one of the bags in the collision. "Oh, I'm sorry. Let me help you with that," I said, picking up the heavy bag that had fallen at my feet.

"No, no, please..." he started, then seemed to pull up short as he noticed a dainty first class girl holding a bag that had likely contributed to his impressive physique. Spending time around the Winter Court had made me stronger than I looked.

"Please miss, it would mean my job if they found out I bothered a passenger." He leaned closer and I felt my heart speed up a bit. "I'm supposed to use the service corridor, but I'm running late and this way is much faster, you see."

"Worry not, sir. You haven't bothered me at all," I told him. I handed him the bag and glanced down at its contents as I did. "You're hauling ice?" I asked.

"They call me the Ice Man, miss," he answered with a smile.

"And what did your parents call you?"

"Adolf Mattmann, miss."

"Sarissa, if you please," I said.

"As you wish, Miss Sarissa."

I gave a quick laugh. "Well, Mr. Mattmann, it has been a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I don't suppose I should hold you up any longer."

"Thank you for your understanding, miss. Umm, I mean Sarissa." He said nervously before flashing me one more quick smile and heading on his way. I stood there and watched him go for a moment, enjoying the pleasant glow I felt in the wake of our encounter.

"Mmm, and who was that delectable treat?" came Maeve's voice from behind me. So much for my pleasant glow.

"The Ice Man," I told her shortly.

"Wonderful! I may have to look him up later. He looks like he could be a fun time," she said with an obvious leer in her voice.

"Oh, leave him alone Maeve. He's just trying to do his job," I protested.

"What do you care?" she challenged.

"I don't," I said, knowing it would be best for him if she forgot he existed, which would never happen if she thought I had any interest.

She raised a delicate eyebrow. "You're smitten!" she accused.

Apparently I wasn't convincing enough. I wanted to deny it, if for no other reason than to avoid giving Maeve leverage against me, but I felt my face turning pink in response.

"Perhaps a little," I admitted. "But I hardly know him. You, on the other hand, I know quite well. And I know what tends to happen to your playthings when you're through with them."

"Oh, sister! You wound me!" she said mockingly.

"Please, Maeve. There's an entire ship full of mortal temptations here. Can't you find anything better to do?"

"Pfft, mortal temptations," she scoffed. "None of those have anywhere near the same appeal as spending a week on this ship with my dear sister," she added with all the sincerity of crooked politician.

It was going to be a long voyage.

I waited near a service door for Mr. Mattmann. It was Saturday night, and we'd been at sea for a few days now. The intervening time had been filled with the expected shepherding of my mother and sister around the ship. Neither was able to integrate smoothly with the high society ladies of 1912, so it was a full-time job to keep them out of trouble. Oddly enough, the Erlking had little difficulty fitting in. It turned out that a number of the other gentlemen on the ship were hunters, which gave him a near-endless supply of conversation material. If I hadn't known better, I would have sworn he was enjoying himself.

Finally, though, I had a night to myself. Mab was off prowling the ship looking for something. She wouldn't tell me what, and had disappeared into the lower decks shortly after dinner. Maeve made herself scarce almost as soon as the stateroom door closed on Mab's exit. I had no idea where she went either, though I had a few theories. One of them was that she'd gone looking for Mr. Mattmann in a petty effort to make me jealous, so I'd found him first and arranged this meeting. He was going to give me a backstage tour of the ship as soon as his shift was over.

I was concerned about my family running around the ship unchaperoned, but there wasn't much I could do about it. They were both incredibly powerful Sidhe nobles. If I tried to force anything on them they could lock me in the stateroom with a thought. Or worse. In fact, I was convinced the only reason Maeve hadn't thrown me overboard days ago was that Mab wanted all of us here. Well...maybe not the Erlking, but wyldfae like him had a certain level of inherent autonomy. Mab might have been able to exert some influence, but I suspected she had already done so in private and yet he was still here. Even she couldn't force him to do anything, at least not without starting a war.

So instead of running all over the ship in a futile attempt to change the unchangeable, I waited for the Ice Man, my heart beating a little faster than normal in anticipation. I wasn't sure if it was him, or the magnificent ship, or something else, but I felt like a giddy schoolgirl. While I may have looked young, I was quite a bit older than him. Old enough to have moved beyond such flighty emotions. It was a little embarrassing...and I kind of liked it. Part of the reason I hadn't Chosen was the ability to have very human emotions like these. Full Sidhe had emotions too, but my observation suggested they were very different from anything mortals felt.

I supposed the situation was a microcosm of my life. Since my apparent age did not change I tended to spend time with people of that same younger age, even as my real age continued to increase. That association helped keep me young at heart, if not in fact. The result was a strange mix of an older woman and a fresh young girl just getting out into the world.

"Shouldn't you be off with your boy toy?" came Maeve's voice down the corridor.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to control a flash of irritation. "He's not my boy toy," I explained calmly.

"As if he could ever be anything more," she argued. Then, noticing the door I stood near, she added speculatively, "But perhaps you are meeting with him."

"Maeve..." I began, but of course that's when the door opened and Mr. Mattmann arrived.

"Speak of the devil," Maeve said.

Adolf gave me a curious look. I sighed and said, "Mr. Mattmann, this is my sister Maeve. Maeve, Mr. Mattmann."

"Charmed, I'm sure," said Maeve.

"Well, I'm glad we had this talk, Maeve," I said with a pointed look. "I'll see you later tonight."

"Oh, but I'm so enjoying your company. Perhaps I'll stay a little longer," she answered.

I sighed. I knew she wasn't going to make this easy, but it was worth a try.

"Excuse me, miss, but it seems you're disturbing one of the other passengers. I'd take it as a personal favor if you would please stop," Adolf said to Maeve.

She turned her focus on him and said, "I'm sure you would," but gave no indication that she intended to leave.

"I see," he said. "In that case I'd hate to have to call the master at arms to intervene. We take the happiness of our passengers very seriously."

My mouth dropped open. Maeve narrowed her eyes. "Did you just threaten me?" she asked.

"Only trying to resolve a conflict, miss," he answered.

She gave him a withering glare, which he returned calmly. I stood there, tension making my shoulders ache. I wondered if he had any idea how dangerous my sister was. She was glamoured, so superficially she looked "normal", but as Mab had proven with the Erlking it was almost impossible to completely hide the essence of such a powerful creature. There were any number of small details that would provide clues to her real identity. Her eyes were too cold and cruel to belong to any well-bred lady of this world. Her posture was ready for action, not for high society indulgence. Her appearance may have been technically perfect, but an observant person could still get an idea of who and what she actually was.

But even if Adolf didn't fully understand the danger, my respect for him ratcheted up a notch. At the very least he was standing up to a first-class passenger, no small thing itself. The fact that she was also the Winter Lady, an entity renowned for her viciousness, was icing on the cake.

At last Maeve stopped glaring and gave us a smile, though it didn't reach her eyes. "Now I know what you see in him," she said to me. I just quirked an inquisitive eyebrow. "Yes, yes, I'll leave you to your date." She turned to Adolf. "Have her home by midnight, young man," she said mockingly, then her voice cooled by several degrees. "Or else."

Parting shot delivered, she turned and stalked off with a thoroughly uncouth amount of sway in her hips. She must have been really jealous. I was pleased to note that although Adolf kept an eye on her until she was out of sight, his interest seemed entirely professional. He was just making sure the danger actually left, not admiring the view as she did. Take that, Maeve.

"I'm so sorry about that," I said once she was out of sight. "You can't pick your family, I'm afraid."

He visibly relaxed after her departure. "So true," he agreed. Then his voice got cautious. "Be careful. There's something about her that scares me."

"You have no idea," I said with feeling. "But thanks for the advice."

"Well, shall we?" he asked, opening the door to the service corridor.

"Thank you, sir," I said with a curtsy, then walked through the door.

He showed me around many areas of the ship never seen by regular passengers. The tour ended up deep in the bowels of the ship, near the refrigerated holds where the ship's Ice Man spent much of his time.

"I'm afraid I can't take you into the holds themselves. Access to food storage is restricted for health reasons," he explained. Then his face took on a thoughtful aspect. "But maybe..." He walked over to a door and poked his head inside. "Yes, perfect. Dinner is over so everything has been put away." He gestured me over and we entered a long, narrow room with a butcher block in the middle. "This is beef storage, but there are separate east and west-bound rooms. Since this is our maiden voyage..."

"There is no east-bound beef," I completed the thought with a smile. "How fortunate."

On a number of levels, to my mind. While I was indeed interested in seeing the areas of the ship he was responsible for, an unused storage room also sounded like an excellent opportunity for some privacy. There was little enough of that to be found on a ship, even one as large as the Titanic.

He opened another door and stepped inside. I followed, and before we were even fully inside I gave in to the impulse I'd had since the first time I'd seen him. I began to slide my hands along the thick slope of muscle around his neck. As a result, I felt it immediately when he tensed, and a moment later I began to understand why. I couldn't see much of the room around him, but it was impossible to miss the smell. Blood and decay. Coppery and sickly sweet. I swallowed hard to keep my dinner down.

"This is wrong," he said unnecessarily.

"Is it possible someone put meat in the wrong place?" I asked.

He shook his head and turned around in a rush, escorting me back out of the room. "No, it's not, umm, meat. Just...things I should not speak of in mixed company." He shuddered. "Can you find your way back to the passenger areas? I need to tell the captain about this right away."

"Of course," I said, although I had someone else in mind who needed to know. I was pretty sure I had found what Mab was looking for.

He walked me to the base of a stairway and said, "This will take you back to the first-class staterooms." He paused, then added. "I'm sorry the night had to end this way."

"Duty calls. I understand." I leaned close and gave him a peck on the cheek. "We don't get to New York for a few more days, so we'll have time to try again."

He gave me a tight smile and ran off down the corridor. I ignored the stairway he had pointed out and made my way back to the bloody storage room. I had to move quietly and avoid other crew members this time. An unaccompanied passenger wouldn't be allowed to move around this part of the ship. Fortunately, it was getting late and there weren't many others about.

I arrived back at the freezer, slipped into the outer room, and took a deep breath. There was still a remnant of the smell out here, but since the door was air-tight it was mostly contained. I held my nose and opened the door, getting my first good look at the inside of the room. It was as bad as it smelled. There was blood spattered on the walls and coating much of the floor. And the thing Mr. Mattmann had refused to tell me about. Bodies. At least I thought they were. They were mangled almost beyond recognition. I had to step back out of the room for a minute to avoid adding the contents of my stomach to the mess. I closed the door behind me and breathed clean air while I thought.

I needed to show this to Mab before Adolf could get back here with the captain. Once that happened I was sure the room would be locked down and we'd never get a look. I didn't know where she was, but I had an idea how to get her here. She wasn't going to like it though. I re-entered the room, closed my eyes, cringed proactively, and said, "Mab, Mab, Mab. You need to see this."

She appeared out of thin air and and the temperature of the room dropped noticeably.

"What do you think..." she began, then noticed where we were standing. "Oh."

"This is what you were looking for then?"

She looked around the room with a calculating gaze. "This is bad," she said.

I bit back a snarky reply. I'd already summoned her, I didn't need to push my luck any further. "Yes, there's a lot of blood," I said noncommittally.

"No, that's not it," she replied. I raised an eyebrow. "The problem is there's not enough blood." My eyebrow climbed higher. "At least six mortals have perished here. The room is sealed so it couldn't have leaked out on its own, and based on the condition of these bodies there is quite a lot of blood missing. Do you know what that means?"

"A blood sacrifice?" I guessed.

"And a bad one," she confirmed. "Whoever did this has something terrible in mind."

I nodded, then frowned. "Why do you care? Isn't this mortal business?"

"I have reason to believe that momentous events are in motion, events that may affect us all. After seeing this I am even more certain of it."

I snapped my fingers. "That's why the Erlking is here too."

"I can't say for certain, but it seems likely."

A Queen, King, and Lady of the Sidhe courts all drawn to the same place? Whatever was happening, it wasn't just bad. It was cataclysmic.

"We should go," I said. "Mr. Mattmann ran off to get the captain. I'm sure they'll be here any minute."

She shook her head. "No, the man coming back with your suitor is not the captain. For our purposes he is even better though."

I looked at her curiously, but even when we heard footsteps coming down the corridor Mab just waited patiently for them to arrive. I fidgeted, wondering what Adolf was going to say when he saw us.

"Perhaps we ought to at least step outside?" I suggested. "If they find us here, they may react...badly."

She seemed to consider that. "Prudent," she concluded.

We left the awful room and waited nearby. In short order Adolf came around the corner, accompanied by a mustached man in an officer's uniform. Adolf stared at me in panic.

"Sarissa, what are you doing here?" he asked nervously.

Before I could answer, my mother said, "Mr. Murdoch. How good of you to come."

The other man, presumably Mr. Murdoch, frowned and said, "Who are you and what do you think you're doing here? This area is off-limits to passengers."

At that, Mab dropped our glamours. I looked at her in alarm. While my own appearance would not change much, she had just exposed herself as something other than human. No one who saw the Winter Queen in her natural state could possibly miss the fact that she was not of this world. Adolf stood dumbfounded, but Mr. Murdoch simply bowed and said, "Your Highness."

"As I was saying," Mab continued. "I'm glad you are here. A terrible crime is being committed and you must find the person responsible."

"Your Highness, respectfully, I have not Chosen and thus am not part of your court. I have no place in Sidhe business," said Mr. Murdoch. So, he was a changeling like me. That explained his lack of surprise at the appearance of a Faerie Queen on his ship.

"I am well aware of that, Mr. Murdoch, but I assure you that it is in your best interest to assist me in this matter. See for yourself." She gestured to the blood-soaked freezer. He walked over, opened the door, retched, and came back, looking rather green around the gills.

"What happened here?" he asked.

"We do not know. That's where you come in," Mab answered.

"Very well. We will search the ship for the perpetrator of this crime. Do you know who we are looking for?"

"Someone in possession of a large quantity of blood," Mab responded mildly.

Mr. Murdoch frowned, but said, "I'll see to it personally."

He left in a rush to start the search, and Mab went with him. That left Adolf and me alone for the first time since he'd seen our true forms.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way," I said.

"You're...not human," he said. The combination of shock and pain in his voice made me wince.

"Half human," I corrected gently. "My father was human, my mother is...obviously not."

"Then she is your mother?"

"Yes. For what little it's worth, I never intended to deceive you. But my mother can't really travel in the open. Hence the disguises."

"Your mother. What is she?" he asked.

"And by extension, what am I?" I countered with a small smile.

"Not to put too fine a point on it, but yes."

I pursed my lips. "That's kind of a long story and some of it may be hard for you to believe."

He leaned against a wall, clearly settling in for an extended conversation. "I've got time."

My chest suddenly felt tight from the rush of emotion his response triggered. Even after all he had just seen and heard, he was still willing to hear me out. There weren't many mortals who had found out who and what I really was, and none of them had reacted as well as Adolf. I had a moment of doubt as I considered the ugly scene in the nearby freezer, but there was little I could do about that anyway. The necessary people had been notified of the situation and until they turned up more information all that remained was waiting.

"Okay," I said at last. "Okay, let's talk."

I explained that magic was real, that there was a magical realm known as Faerie, and that my mother was the queen of one of its two courts. I told him about the close connection between Faerie and the mortal world and how it was important for Mab to remain in contact with both. Finally, I explained my role in ensuring that happened. He reacted with surprise to many of the things I said, but always recovered quickly and resumed his attentive listening.

When I was finished he remained silent for a while.

"And how does Mr. Murdoch fit into this?" he asked at last.

"He must be a Changeling, like me. Part of both worlds. If he wants, he can Choose to become a full member of his Sidhe parent's court."

"But he hasn't Chosen, and neither have you?"

"That is correct."

"Why?" he asked. "Why wouldn't you want to become a powerful magical creature and live in a fantasy world?"

"Well, when you put it that way..." I laughed. "There's a lot bad about it too, though. The Winter Court is a dangerous place full of dangerous creatures. My mother is one of them. So is my sister. You were absolutely right about her." I paused. "And by choosing to become Sidhe you give up a lot of your freedom. As a mortal you choose who you want to be, how you want to live, who you want to love," I said with just a hint of self-consciousness. "Making the Choice takes that away from you."

"I see," he said simply.

"You're taking this surprisingly well," I noted.

He shrugged. "I already knew there was something different about your sister. I saw you and your mother change in front of my eyes. I can't explain it, so why not magic? And besides," he added with a shy smile, "real you is even more beautiful than fake you."

I blushed furiously. It wasn't as though I had never been complimented before. After all, I'd inherited much of my mother's otherwordly beauty, which garnered me quite a bit of attention in the mortal world. Yet somehow it meant more coming from him.

"Thank you," I said.

"Perhaps we should get back above. I don't want to be stuck down here when they find the bastard who did this." It was his turn to blush. "Pardon my language."

"Quite all right," I said with a smile. "Lead the way."

The next day was agonizing. While the search was carried out we had to keep up appearances, lest we tip off the murderer. But sitting around making small talk with the other passengers while I knew some terrible plan was being carried out just about drove me up the bulkhead. True to his word, Mr. Murdoch (who turned out to be the ship's First Officer) had personally supervised the search. It still came up dry. After dinner the next night he reported the failure to Mab.

When he had left our stateroom again, Mab said, "I should never have left something this important in the hands of mortals. After all, anyone powerful enough to attempt this sort of magic would have little trouble hiding their presence from mortal eyes."

"What other option do we have?" I asked. "There are only three of you who could see through a veil, and none of you know the ship. By the time you could finish searching we'd be in New York."

"Nonetheless, we know someone intends to enact dangerous magic and until we know exactly what they have planned we are powerless."

"I wish I could help..." I began, then had a thought. "But I can't. Maybe someone else can though." Mab raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Let me go talk to Mr. Mattmann. He already knows what is going on and he knows the ship. Perhaps he'll have some insight."

Maeve scoffed. "You're going off to moon over your boyfriend at a time like this?"

"That's not..."

"Go," interrupted Mab with a wave of her hand. "It can hardly hurt."

I nodded, gathered my outerwear, and left to look for Adolf. His shift was over so it took a while before I found another crewman who had seen him. He was on the poop deck, looking off the back of the ship at the prop wash, dressed warmly against the bitter cold outside the ship.

"I wouldn't think the Ice Man needed such heavy clothing," I teased as I approached.

He turned in surprise and smiled when he saw who it was.

"And you're dressed rather warmly for someone who is half Winter," he responded.

"All part of the disguise. It wouldn't do to have a first class lady walking around in a summer dress on a night like this."

He laughed. "Touché," he said, touching the brim of an imaginary cap. "To what do I owe the pleasure? Did you find our..." He lowered his voice. "Killer?"

"Unfortunately not. I'm hoping maybe you can help though."

He gave me a quizzical look. "If the search party didn't turn up anything I don't see how I could do any better."

"Yes, but they didn't know what they were looking for. We couldn't exactly give them all the details of what was going on. You already know and you know the ship."

"Fair enough," he agreed. "How can I help?"

"There are some specific things this person will need for a spell. Obviously they've got the blood already, so we can't do much about that. But they'll also need a circle, and based on the amount of blood they harvested I'm guessing it will be fairly large. There can't be that many places even on a ship this size that someone could create a large uninterrupted circle that wouldn't be found easily."

"There are the cargo holds, of course," he said thoughtfully. "But any open spaces in those would have been easy to search. I can't believe they would have missed a giant circle of blood."

"Perhaps, but this person may have ways of hiding things from mortal eyes. The holds may be worth another look. Anything else?"

"There's not much. Most large open areas on the ship are public spaces frequented by passengers and crew. The boiler rooms might work, but they're staffed round the clock." He shrugged. "Sorry I can't be more help."

"Don't be, this was very useful. You've narrowed our search significantly."

The Sidhe nobles may not have been able to search the entire ship, but if what Adolf said was true then maybe they didn't need to. Maybe they just needed to get a close look at the cargo holds. That was a much more manageable problem space.

There was one other thing I needed from him before I left. I stepped up close, put my arms around his solid shoulders, and planted a kiss on his lips. At first he stiffened in surprise, but quickly relaxed into it. When the kiss ended after a few seconds, his face was slightly flushed and his eyes were sparkling. I suspected I looked much the same.

"Thank you," I said. "I have to go tell them what you said, but I'll see you later."

"I look forward to it," he said with a smile.

I began to walk away toward our stateroom, but before I went far I heard Adolf's voice again. "Sarissa, wait." I turned around to see him staring at the sky with a funny look on his face. "When you say circle, does it have to be a perfect circle?"

I pursed my lips. "I'm not an expert, but I don't think so. It's more the idea that matters with magic."

"Then I have another place to check," he said, still staring upward.

I curiously followed his gaze and saw what he was looking at. Not the sky at all.

"The smoke stacks?" I asked. "Aren't those full of smoke? Even wizards need to breathe."

"The fourth one is fake," he said excitedly. "If I needed a circle on the ship where no one would think to look, that's where I'd go."

I suddenly realized the hair on the back of my neck was standing on end. I'd previously ascribed it to our kiss, but that was now far enough in the past for me to recognize my reaction for what it was. My time in the Winter Court had honed my danger instinct to a fine edge, and it was screaming at me that I needed to run away. Given our proximity to the aft smoke stack I doubted it was a coincidence.

"I need to get the rest of my family in there as soon as possible," I told him. "Is there an entrance?"

"Yes, of course, but why the sudden rush?" he asked, looking alarmed at my change of attitude.

"Just a feeling. Let's go."

We ran back to the stateroom and burst through the door.

"The fourth stack is fake," I blurted out.

Mab turned calmly and raised an eyebrow. Maeve glared at me and said, "What are you babbling about?"

I took a breath. "The fourth smoke stack is for show. There's open space inside it, and it's already basically a circle."

Mab's expression didn't change, but her eyes widened minutely, then went distant, then hardened. "There's too much iron. I can't feel anything. We need to go there."

I stepped aside to let Adolf in the room. "He knows the way," I said.

"Maeve, find Lord Herne. He's still in that...smoking room...he seems to like so well."

"No, he's not," came the Erlking's voice from behind me. "There's trouble afoot, isn't there?" he asked.

"We believe we've found the location of the spell. We are going there now," Mab answered.

"Excellent, I was growing bored with all this talk," he said, baring his teeth in a feral grin. I had to suppress a shudder.

Adolf led our group to a room at the base of the fourth stack, where a steel door was set into the bulkhead. Mab frowned.

"This door is a bottleneck," she noted. "Can we go in through the top?"

Adolf shook his head. "The top of this one is capped. The door is the easiest way in."

"Very well. You will open the door, then we will deal with whatever is inside. I recommend you stay out of our way." Mab's tone made Adolf go pale. She had her game face on.

"I understand," he said, taking up position next to the door where he could open it without being in the line of fire. "Ready?"

Mab glanced aside at the Erlking and Maeve. The Erlking nodded and Maeve disappeared, hidden behind a flawless veil. I hid behind some extra deck chairs stored nearby. Whatever was inside, I was quite certain it would be out of my league.

"Ready," Mab answered.

He pulled on the handle. Nothing much happened. He frowned and pulled again. "It's locked," he reported.

Maeve reappeared in a huff. "Then unlock it," she said irritably.

Adolf glared at her. "Gee, why didn't I think of that?" he said. "I don't have a key for this door. I'll need to get Mr. Murdoch."

"Very well, I will retrieve him," said Mab. She quickly opened a Way and stepped through, presumably on her way to wherever Mr. Murdoch was.

Adolf's mouth fell open and he said, "If she can just teleport wherever she wants to go, why does it matter if the door is locked?"

"Cold iron," said Maeve. He looked at her curiously, but she pointedly ignored him, as though that should have been sufficient explanation. His gaze then turned to me.

"The Sidhe have a weakness to cold iron. They can't stand the touch of it, and it neutralizes their magic. She couldn't open a Way inside an enclosed iron space like the smoke stack," I said, earning me a dirty look from Maeve. She didn't like to be reminded of her weaknesses.

"Have a care, child," said the Erlking. Apparently he didn't either.

"My apologies," I said, inclining my head in a nod of acquiescence. Tweaking Maeve's ego was one thing. The Erlking was quite another. "It's not exactly a well-kept secret though."

He grunted noncommittally, but I took that to mean he had been mollified.

Adolf still looked confused. "But this isn't iron. It's steel," he said.

"It's close enough," I answered.

"Ah, like the smoke stack is close enough to a circle."

"Exactly."

Maeve gave a mocking little clap. I rolled my eyes at her, but fortunately it went no further because Mab returned. Without Mr. Murdoch, curiously.

"He is on duty and not willing to abandon his post just to open a door," Mab reported. She sounded...miffed. "He did give me the key, however."

She carefully unwrapped a handkerchief from around a key, and Adolf took it over to the door. Mab glanced at Maeve and the Erlking, who repeated their earlier actions, as did I. Then she looked at Adolf, who nodded and took up his position next to the door again.

"Here we go," he said, turned the key, and pulled the door open.

A tall man with a long, black, bushy beard stood inside the door. He turned toward us and Mab's eyes narrowed.

"Rasputin," she said coldly. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."

Rasputin gave a deep, elaborate bow. "Your Highness," he said mockingly. "So glad you could join us. And you brought friends."

Mab didn't move a muscle, but I felt sudden caution from her. "Us?" she asked.

At her question, a creature dropped from where it had been hidden above and behind Rasputin. My first impression was of a spider, but wrong. It was as if someone had constructed a spider based solely on disjoint descriptions of its constituent parts, but with no sense of how they fit together. The legs were long, spindly, and hairy. They were also asymmetrical and attached randomly to the body, which was itself out of proportion. The face, with its too-many eyes and dangerous fangs, stared disturbingly at all of us at once.

I tore my eyes away from the disgusting creature and looked to see Mab's reaction. She showed very few outward signs, but I knew her better than almost anyone. And if I had been Rasputin, I'd have been running far, far away.

"You dare. Summon. Outsiders?!" she spat.

He had an almost manic look on his face. "Finally I have you at a disadvantage. No longer do I have to slink around trying to avoid your attention."

"You are a fool," she answered quietly. "Whatever they promised you, it was a lie. As soon as they have what they want they will kill you, along with everyone else in this reality."

"Enough!" rasped the Outsider. It's voice was just as wrong as its appearance, and I winced as it stabbed into my ears. "Stop this foolishness. Drop the circle and release us to deal with the Gatebuilder."

The Gatebuilder? I had never heard Mab called that particular name before. I was vaguely familiar with Outsiders, but I had never seen one before. Then again, very few mortals who saw Outsiders lived to tell the tale. Apparently Mab had history with them though.

"Worry not, my friend! Those of Faerie blood cannot break my circle!" Rasputin said, then turned back to Mab, glancing at the handkerchief still in her hand. "Such a shame you did not bring any mortals with you." He apparently thought Mab had opened the door herself.

"Yes, such a shame," she said. "A mortal could pass through your circle, thereby breaking it." She carefully did not look at Adolf, who was still standing out of the way and, most importantly, out of sight. For the first time, Rasputin frowned and his arrogant expression slipped. Mab's oddly specific response had thrown him off.

Adolf also looked surprised, but he figured it out faster. He cocked his arm, swung around the side of the door frame, and punched through the opening, breaking both Rasputin's circle and his nose. Blood sprayed everywhere and there was a groan of stressed metal as the tension of the circle dissipated.

From inside the smoke stack came the grating sound of more Outsider voices as they scrambled to react to the demise of their protection. Mab and the Erlking were faster though, having known what was coming. Almost faster than I could see, Mab flung herself through the door, brushing Rasputin's reeling form aside and slamming into the visible Outsider. Her hands sprouted icy claws and her body was encased in armor of the same substance. Ice and bits of Outsider flew like sawdust off a lumberjack's blade.

The Erlking followed on her heels and shot up out of sight. Maeve was still invisible, but it seemed safe to assume she was wreaking some sort of havoc inside as well. I looked back and was surprised to see Mab still at work on the first Outsider. I'd rarely seen her take such direct action before, but when she did the object of her attention did not last more than a few moments. This one had not only managed to survive so far, but had even taken a few chunks out of her armor.

And that was only a single Outsider. I could hear that there were more inside, a point emphasized as the Erlking plummeted from above with an Outsider in his grasp. It slammed into the floor...and disappeared right through. The Erlking landed heavily and looked momentarily stunned by the sudden lack of resistance. The hand that had held the Outsider was burned from contact with the steel decking. He recovered quickly, though, and dashed from view again.

I felt a flutter of fear deep in my core. These creatures were proving a challenge for some of the most powerful entities I knew. So far the element of surprise was still on our side, but that would eventually change. It was unthinkable, but I was concerned that once the Outsiders organized they might be able to overwhelm even this deadly group.

Soon my fears appeared well-founded. Just as Mab's Outsider seemed to deflate, finally defeated, three more dropped from above and landed on her. I gasped and my heart leapt into my throat.

Then Mab revealed the full power of the Queen of Air and Darkness.

She straightened under the Outsiders. As she did, there was a flash of light and they were thrown away from her at extreme speed. I expected them to end up splattered against the walls, but like the Erlking's Outsider they simply phased through the solid steel. Mab glared around the oval space, but apparently her attack had thrown all the Outsiders clear.

"That idiot," she snarled. "He would have handed the Outsiders an entire ship full of some of the most influential mortals alive."

"He still may if we don't find them," noted Maeve, reappearing from behind her veil.

The Erlking dropped lightly to the deck near them. "This breed of Outsider seems able to pass through the materials of this realm. It is almost impossible to get a solid hit on them," he said.

"Indeed, we have a great deal of work ahead of us," agreed Mab. "Where did Rasputin go? I lost track of him during the fight."

"I saw him climbing a ladder toward the top of the smoke stack," said Maeve.

"There's a hatch at the top. He probably got out that way," put in Adolf, whom I had almost forgotten was there. His voice was distant as he tried to process what he had just seen.

"No matter," said Mab with a wave of her hand. "The Outsiders are our priority."

She walked out of the fake smoke stack and retraced our steps back to the deck. We followed her out and all three of the Sidhe seemed to take a deep breath once they stepped into open air and out of the steel confines of the ship.

Mab's eyes went out of focus for a moment, then she said, "Some of the Outsiders have left the ship. They've split up in an attempt to escape."

"Only some?" I asked.

"I can't account for all of the Outsiders I saw earlier. Some must be hiding out in the steel of the ship where I can't sense them." She looked thoughtful, then continued, "No matter. Any Outsiders still on the ship are limited in the damage they can do. Our priority must be to prevent any from escaping."

"There are only three of us who can chase them," Maeve pointed out. "Based on what we've seen that may not be enough."

"Indeed. If only someone could help us hunt down these Outsiders," Mab said. She put no particular emphasis on any of her words, but the Erlking twitched minutely at the word "hunt".

His eyes narrowed and he said, "It is not a tool for you to make use of whenever you see fit."

"I would never presume otherwise," Mab assured him. "But you would be hard-pressed to find more worthy prey than Outsiders."

He continued to glare, but said, "Very well, I shall call the Wild Hunt." His eyes glinted. "This will be a night to remember."

"Thank you, milord," Mab said with a bow. Then she turned to me. "Sarissa, find Mr. Murdoch and tell him what has happened. He needs to keep everyone away from the Outsiders. This is a problem beyond mortal capabilities." Finally, she addressed Adolf. "Mr. Mattmann, thank you for your assistance. It will be remembered."

With that she stepped over the railing, dropped to the ocean below, and and ran across the eerily smooth water on a thin layer of ice that appeared under her feet as she went. Maeve disappeared once again and the Erlking gave us a wolfish smile. Then a mysterious fog appeared to obscure him from view, and when it dissipated he too was nowhere to be seen. A shiver ran down my spine that had nothing to do with the cold night. The Wild Hunt had been called and woe to anyone or anything that had the misfortune to be in its path.

That left me alone with Adolf again. "Any second thoughts about getting involved with this?" I asked him.

His expression was surprised. "Are you kidding? It would have been a disaster if those things had been given free reign on the ship. I don't want to think about what would have happened if your family hadn't found them and derailed their plans."

I smiled and felt a warm flush at his response. Even after all the craziness he'd experienced over the past couple of days, he had kept his head. He really was the Ice Man.

"We'd better go find Mr. Murdoch," I said.

"He'll be on the bridge," Adolf answered.

We began making our way from the back of the ship to the bridge. As we hurried along the boat deck there came a noise from over the railing on our right. Suddenly an Outsider climbed up the side of the ship and prepared to spring at us. At least it did until a chunk of ice the size of a bowling ball struck it from behind and slammed it across the deck into the bulkhead. The surprise attack had not given the Outsider a chance to exercise its phasing ability and it laid there stunned. Mab followed soon after, alighting on the top of the railing for a moment before launching herself at the Outsider, digging her ice claws into it. She spun in a circle and tried to throw it back over the railing. One of the spider-like legs hooked onto her armor though, which changed the angle of the throw. It ended up flying straight down the deck and off the front of the ship. She sent a bolt of power after it that struck it in mid-air before it disappeared below the front rail.

She gave us a satisfied look. "I'd like to see it escape when it's frozen to absolute zero," she said.

"Not that I mind, but I thought you were leaving the ship," I said inquisitively.

"Once I got away from all the steel I noticed this one hiding along the hull. When it was distracted by you it was too good an opportunity to pass up," she explained.

I started to respond, but a terrible thought stopped me in my tracks. "Wait, did you just throw an Outsider frozen to absolute zero in front of the ship?"

"Oh no," breathed Adolf. As someone well-versed in both ice and ships he understood my concern immediately.

I turned and ran as far forward as I could, peering into the darkness. And saw exactly what I was afraid of. It loomed out of the night, an iceberg flash-formed around an impossibly cold Outsider. And the Titanic was headed right for it.

"Hard a-starboard!" We were now near enough to the bridge to hear the evasive order given. I felt a slight change in the vibrations of the ship as the engines and rudder tried to direct it away from the danger. For far too long they seemed to have no effect. At last the ship began to swing away from the obstacle. It looked briefly as though we might clear it, but then there was a grinding shudder that I could feel through the deck. It continued for quite a while as the mountain of ice slid along next to the ship. All we could do was watch and hope.

By the time we cleared the berg, Mab's weaponized ice ball had plenty of company on deck. There were pieces strewn all along that side of the ship, and a few passengers who had come out to see what was going on seemed amused by the novelty of it.

I breathed a deep sigh of relief. "That wasn't too bad," I said.

"Will the ship sink?" asked Mab, who had joined us at the railing.

"She's the safest ship afloat," answered Adolf proudly. "She won't sink."

"Too bad. It might have flushed out the remaining Outsiders if it did."

I stared at her for a moment, wondering if she was serious. But of course she was, she was Mab. If sinking an entire ship full of mortals served her purposes then she wouldn't hesitate.

"I'm sure we can find a less drastic solution," I said.

"Perhaps. In any case, I must go," she said, and stepped back over the railing, where she dropped out of sight once again.

"We should go find..." I started, turning toward the bridge to find Mr. Murdoch staring at the spot Mab had just vacated. "Ah, Mr. Murdoch. Just the man we were looking for."

He shook his head and pulled his gaze away from the railing. "I have to get below and do a damage assessment," he said, resuming his walk aft.

"Wait, Mr. Murdoch!" I yelled. He gave me a look, but didn't stop. I hurried after him. "Something has happened," I said more calmly.

"Yes, I noticed," he said mildly.

"No, no, not that," I said. I quickly explained everything that had happened since Mab visited him to get the key. By the time I finished he had stopped walking and stared at me.

"There's an evil wizard who has summoned malicious creatures and they're still on the ship?" he asked incredulously. I nodded. "It never rains but it pours," he muttered under his breath. "Fine. As soon as I make sure the ship isn't going to sink I will deal with these Outsiders. In the meantime, you should return to your stateroom."

"Thank you, Mr. Murdoch," I said.

"Don't thank me yet. I was in command when we hit that thing," he answered, turning away to resume his inspection.

We watched him go, then I turned to Adolf. "I don't think I can just go sit in my stateroom right now. I'll go crazy not knowing what is happening."

"It may be safest out on deck anyway," noted Adolf. "I would imagine the Outsiders are hiding inside the ship."

"Shall we go for a walk then?" I asked.

He offered his arm with a smile and I took it. We walked arm-in-arm back along the boat deck between the lifeboats and the outer bulkhead. Once we had cleared the last lifeboat I gently steered him toward the railing. I looked out into the still, cold night and tried to glean any hint of how the fight with the Outsiders went. If anything was happening, though, it was too far away for me to tell.

Then a voice came from behind Adolf. "So glad I found you," said Rasputin, his voice muffled by the wreckage of his nose.

I turned in alarm, but Rasputin had a knife pressed to Adolf's back. Neither of us could risk any overt action. I cursed my stupidity in worrying so much about the Outsiders that I forgot Rasputin. Of course he could move around freely on deck. As far as anyone else knew he was just another passenger. I took a deep breath and waited for an opening. He hadn't stabbed anyone yet, so he must have had something else in mind.

"Let's go talk somewhere more private," said Rasputin. He guided Adolf back toward the interior of the ship, entirely focused on the man who had punched him. No doubt he assumed I was just some innocent passenger since he hadn't noticed me back at the smoke stack.

That was a mistake.

See, I'd learned a lot of things from growing up around the Winter Court. Many of the Sidhe had been only too happy to rough up the half-mortal daughter of the monarch, usually stopping just short of anything that would actually call for a response from my mother. As a result, I'd found myself in a number of uncomfortable situations over the years and had taken steps to get out of them when possible.

The Sidhe might have been stronger, faster, and more coordinated than me, but they weren't infallible. A few self-defense classes in the mortal world had taught me to see the weaknesses in the holds they used on me. After I turned the tables on a some of them – causing significant embarrassment – the overt harassment had been reduced significantly. Of course, they'd just moved on to other, more subtle assaults, but at least it was one less thing for me to worry about.

All of which meant I was not someone Rasputin should have turned his back on.

I quietly stole up behind him, reached around, and grabbed the wrist holding the knife. With a deft twist I pulled it behind his back and turned it in such a way that he dropped the knife and was forced to stay very still, lest I apply a bit more pressure and break it completely. While I held Rasputin, Adolf picked up the knife and held it on him to further ensure his compliance.

"Now, about that talk," I said, leading him further into the ship. I was no more inclined to answer questions about why we were holding a man at knife-point than he was. We made our way into the Reading Room, a generally underused space in first class. The ornately decorated room made an unusual prison, but at least we were unlikely to be disturbed.

"What do we do with him?" asked Adolf. "Turn him into Mr. Murdoch?"

I pursed my lips, but maintained my wrist-lock on Rasputin. "I'm not sure. I doubt the ship is equipped to hold a wizard. We may have to keep him here until one of the Sidhe returns."

A dry chuckle came from Rasputin.

"And you think you can hold me?" he asked with amusment in his voice.

I applied a little more pressure to his wrist, which at least put an end to his mirth.

"We seem to be doing fine so far," I pointed out.

"So far," he said, and although his words agreed, his tone suggested otherwise.

I frowned, then had a sudden suspicion why he was so confident in his ability to escape.

"Adolf," I snapped harder than I intended. His head jerked from Rasputin to me, a look of alarm on his face. I took a quick breath to compose myself. "I think we may be expecting company. He might have called an Outsider here to help him."

Adolf's eyes widened and he looked hurriedly around the room, although given the Outsiders' ability to pass through walls it was impossible to tell where it might come from.

Unfortunately this left both of us focused on something other than Rasputin, and he took advantage. I heard him mutter a word and then I was thrown back to slam against the wall by an invisible pressure on my chest. I was momentarily dazed, and when I looked up Rasputin stood facing me with an angry yet satisfied look on his bloodied face. His right arm extended in my direction and I was pretty sure I was about to die horribly.

Then the knife flew in from where Adolf stood. As usually happens with a thrown knife, it struck only a glancing blow, but it was enough to distract Rasputin and prevent him from incinerating me. I took advantage of the distraction and ran toward the door, grabbing Adolf on the way. We had just made it out of the room to safety when a gout of flame charred the opposite side of the hallway from the door.

"Run!" I said needlessly. I let him take the lead since he knew the ship better than me. As we escaped I gasped, "Thank you. I thought I was a goner."

"Now we're even," he said with a smile over his shoulder. "Do you think he really had an Outsider on the way?"

"I think we have to assume he did. I don't know what we can do about it other than keep running though. We can't hope to fight either those things or Rasputin."

"We should find Mr. Murdoch again. He has access to the weapons on the ship," he said.

I wasn't sure mortal weapons would be much help either, but it was better than running aimlessly around the ship. "Worth a try," I agreed.

We ran forward to the area where we had seen Mr. Murdoch earlier, finally meeting him on his way up a set of stairs from belowdecks. His face was very pale and had a haunted look. I wondered if he had already found an Outsider.

"Mr. Murdoch, we need to get the..." Adolf started, but cut off when he noticed Murdoch was already carrying a sidearm. "Rasputin is following us and he may have an Outsider with him."

"We have a bigger problem," answered Murdoch. I wanted to shake him and tell him there was no bigger problem than Outsiders, but then he added, "The ship is sinking."

There was silence as we processed his words.

"What?" said Adolf in astonishment. "That can't happen."

"It can and it is. You should get your friend to a lifeboat. We'll need to load the women and children as soon as possible. For the rest of us..." he trailed off despondently. "There aren't enough lifeboats," he finished in a low voice. "Most of the people on this ship will die unless help comes soon. And it happened on my watch."

So Mab was going to get her wish. My heart ached for the man in front of us. He blamed himself for something that wasn't his fault and couldn't reasonably have been avoided. I was about to tell him what happened, but at that moment Rasputin and an Outsider came around a corner down the corridor from us.

Mr. Murdoch pulled out his pistol and put a few rounds into the Outsider, and when that proved ineffective shifted his fire to Rasputin. He had no more luck on that front as the bullets ricocheted off an invisible barrier to become more of a danger to us than to him.

"Go," he said quietly, his voice odd.

"What? We all have to run! Come on!" I urged.

He shook his head. "You run. I'll hold them off."

"Guns can't hurt them!" I shouted. "There's nothing more you can do!"

"Just one more thing," he answered.

Then he Chose.

It wasn't dramatic. Whatever type of Sidhe his parent had been must have looked close to human. I might not even have noticed any of the changes if I hadn't been watching as they happened, but when all was said and done the man standing there was no longer the same as he had been a few seconds earlier. He dropped into a relaxed stance that said he was ready for anything Rasputin and the Outsider threw at him.

"Mr. Murdoch..." I said in wonder.

"Not anymore," he answered, and I detected a hint of sadness. "William Murdoch failed and is likely to be responsible for the loss of hundreds of lives. At least this way I can save a few more."

I again wanted to tell him that none of this was his fault, but it was too late to change anything. Instead, I took his hand and said, "Thank you. Mr. Murdoch was...is...a good man."

He flashed me a brief smile then turned his full attention to the foes approaching down the corridor. I grabbed Adolf and ran the other way. Just before turning a corner I glanced back to see Murdoch engaged with the Outsider while Rasputin had slipped past to continue his pursuit. I supposed it was too much to ask that one man, even a Sidhe, could have stopped them both.

"We need a new plan," I said.

"I have an idea. Follow me," he answered.

We doubled back toward the rear of the ship and I soon realized we were headed somewhere familiar.

"The refrigerated section?" I asked.

He nodded. "It's one part of the ship I can guarantee I know better than him. I think we can use that to our advantage."

We kept running, but as we got lower in the ship we began to see water running through corridors and had to re-route a few times to avoid it. Mr. Murdoch's prediction seemed to have been accurate.

"Umm, Adolf?" I said. "Are you sure we want to be this far down in the ship? There seems to be a lot of water in here already."

"If this works we'll be able to head back topside soon, and we'll have Rasputin off our backs," he answered.

I shrugged and kept running. He seemed confident, and I had no better ideas in any case.

Finally we reached the hatch leading to the refrigerated holds, passed through, and climbed down the stairs. Once we were around another corner, he stopped and put a finger to his lips for quiet. We crept down the corridor but were interrupted by Rasputin's laugh from the vicinity of the stairs.

"Very clever. Too clever, in fact," he said. "I think I'll take my leave now before someone with actual power returns. Enjoy your time together, what little of it you have left."

I gave Adolf a questioning glance to ask what Rasputin meant, but Adolf had a look of panic on his face. He gave up any pretense of silence and took off back toward the steps. Before he'd gone far there was a heavy metallic clang. I followed him to the base of the stairs and looked up to see a closed hatch. Adolf ran up the stairs and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. He turned around and sat down on the top step with a look of anguish on his face.

"No," he breathed, sounding horrified.

I frowned. "Surely there's another way out."

"There isn't. The watertight bulkheads are closed. This," he pointed at the locked door, "was my plan too. Lure him down here, sneak around, and lock him in."

"Are you saying that we're locked in the cargo hold of a sinking ship?"

He nodded numbly.

In retrospect, it was obvious that Rasputin would have known this part of the ship too. He'd butchered six people here. I wished one of us had realized that before we were trapped deep in the bowels of a ship on its way to the bottom of the ocean. I had a brief flash of hope that maybe Mr. Murdoch was wrong and the ship was not actually going to sink, but a brief observation dashed that quickly. The deck already had a noticeable tilt that I was certain hadn't been there on my previous visit to this area. Any damage significant enough to cause that in a ship so large must have been serious indeed.

Then I had another thought. There were three...well, maybe two...well, maybe just one…very powerful Sidhe who would be looking for me once she finished with the Outsiders. Admittedly, I was buried under tons of steel that would interfere with her powers, but I'd never known her to let anything get in her way once she set her mind to it. The only question was whether she would set her mind to finding me.

Had she been a normal mother I would have been confident the answer was "yes", maternal instincts being what they are. But my mother? The best I could go was probably. Maybe. On the positive side was the fact that she tended to take care of her own, albeit usually in subtle and roundabout ways. You couldn't get much more "her own" than her daughter. On the other side was the fact that she was a creature of duty. It had been clear since she first laid eyes on the Outsider that she considered it her duty to eradicate it from this universe. The smart money said she would come looking for me, but only after the Outsiders had been defeated. I wondered if we had that much time.

"I'm sorry, Sarissa," said Adolf miserably. "I've killed us both."

"Nonsense," I responded. "Rasputin did this, not you. And we're not dead yet. My mother will come looking for me."

He raised an eyebrow. "Your plan is to wait for a magical faerie to save us?"

"Do you have a better idea?" I regretted the question immediately as Adolf's head drooped in misery. I climbed the stairs and sat down next to him, putting a comforting arm around his broad shoulders. He glanced up and did at least give me a brief smile.

"We should probably keep quiet so we can hear if anyone passes outside. Maybe they'll be able to get the door open from that side," he said.

I nodded, and we sat there in silence for a good while as the ship tilted further and further. Soon we couldn't even stay on the stairs because their angle had become so steep. We never heard anyone pass by, which wasn't all that surprising. Under the circumstances there was almost no reason for anyone to visit the refrigerated section of the ship. About the only thing to recommend it was the fact that it was aft, opposite the end that was sinking fastest. No one would choose to be trapped this far below-decks though.

After what felt like an eternity of silence, there came a monstrous grinding and popping noise that reverberated through the very bones of the ship. We looked at each other in alarm as the lights flickered and the floor swung back to more or less level beneath us.

"Oh God," said Adolf in horror. "I think the ship just broke in half!"

"Then it won't be long now."

"No, it won't," he agreed.

The ship began to tilt under us again, much more rapidly this time. I thought I could hear rushing water somewhere below us and had to admit to some second thoughts regarding our chances of rescue.

"There must be something else we can do," I said desperately.

Adolf shook his head. "There's no way out. This whole area is well sealed so..." he trailed off and his eyes got wide. "Wait a minute! We can't get out, but maybe we can buy ourselves some time!"

He took off around the stairs, climbing up the already alarmingly tilted deck to a door. He struggled to unlatch it for a moment, then pushed up against the slope to take the weight off the latching mechanism. The heavy door swung open rapidly and forced him back a few steps. Several blocks of ice slid out on the floor where they must have fallen during all the ship's movements.

"This is the ice storage room," he explained. "It's the best sealed and insulated room on the ship. If we close the door it will be the last place to flood."

I wasn't fond of locking myself in an even smaller space on the ship, but his logic seemed sound. All our hopes hinged on my mother rescuing us and the longer we could stay alive the longer she would have to do so. If that meant trapping ourselves in an airtight room then so be it.

"Okay, let's do it," I said.

He gestured me into the room and followed once I was inside. He turned around and pulled on the door. It barely budged. He braced himself against the floor and tried again. It moved a little further but wasn't near to closing. I moved over and tried to help, but there was no way for both of us to pull on the door without being in each other's way. It was too heavy for us to close with the ship at such an angle.

"Damn," he whispered, staring at the door blankly. Then he shook himself and his expression hardened with resolve. "Stay here. I'll see if I can find something to use as a pulley." He began to walk out the door then turned around, gave me a smile, and said, "Don't worry. It's going to be fine."

"Who's worried?" I said with a forced laugh as he departed.

I closed my eyes, tilted my head back, took a deep breath, and opened my eyes to stare at the ceiling, wishing I had the Outsiders' power to phase right through it to the deck of the ship. At least up there I would have a chance of surviving without help that might not come.

A noise over by the door shook me out of my reverie, and I looked just in time to see it slam shut, the latch clicking ominously.

"No!" I yelled.

I ran to the door and tried to reopen it, but much like when Adolf first opened it the latch was stuck from the weight of the door hanging on it. I tried to pull on it to relieve the pressure as he had, but the ship was even more tilted now and I had the same leverage problem as when we tried to close it. Even with a foot on the wall next to the door I couldn't get it to open.

I pounded on the door and screamed incoherently. Now when the water got into this section of the ship Adolf would have no protection. Even if he went to another insulated compartment, he'd have the same problem with the heavy doors. How had the stupid thing closed while he was outside of it?

Then it hit me. He'd closed the door on purpose. Maybe he used the opposite wall to push against, or maybe just the better leverage of pushing versus pulling. In any case, he'd done from the outside what he couldn't do from the inside, and in the process left himself vulnerable to the ocean water that was no doubt rushing our way.

"No!" I screamed again, barely recognizing my own voice. "You can't do this!"

I got no response. I didn't even know if he could hear me through the insulated door. I certainly couldn't hear much of what was going on outside. There was now an ever-present groaning noise that came from everywhere in the ship, the death throes of the massive vessel.

I sat down with my back to the door, although with the angle of the ship continuing to increase I would soon be lying on the door. It was, as expected, cold in the ice storage room, but I was half Winter. Given enough time the cold might cause me trouble. I was pretty sure the sinking ship would kill me long before that though. I leaned my head back against the door and chuckled mirthlessly. I'd survived Outsiders and a dark wizard, not to mention my own dangerous family, and in the end simple drowning was going to get me. Though there was nothing simple about drowning while locked in the freezer of the largest ship ever built.

I considered my options and came up with nothing good. I might have tried summoning Mab, but I couldn't very well risk locking her in a steel box on its way to the bottom of the ocean. Immortal didn't necessarily mean invulnerable. If one of the Queens of the Sidhe were to be trapped for any significant period of time it could cause a critical imbalance that would result in chaos. On top of that, I didn't know if she had finished hunting down the Outsiders. If not and one escaped, the results would hardly be pleasant either. As much as I wanted to call for my mother to save the day, it was too much of a risk.

Instead I could have Chosen, in the process becoming immortal myself. That might have kept me alive in some sense, but then I would have the same vulnerability to steel that would prevent me from escaping. While the Winter Court might not miss me the same way it would Mab, being trapped on the bottom of the ocean with only my thoughts for company would not be beneficial for my sanity. A few centuries stuck in the crushing depths of the Atlantic sounded little better than death.

Besides, Adolf had possibly sacrificed himself to save me. I couldn't very well turn around and give up my mortal life so soon after such a noble act. When the time came and my options were down to Choose or die I might feel differently, but until then I would remain the mortal for whom he evidently cared so much.

By this time the ship must have been near vertical. The door served as the bottom of the room. The lights flickered and went out, plunging me into perfect blackness. I heard a number of loud bangs and then my stomach was in my throat as the ship dropped rapidly beneath me. I knelt on the door and looked down in the darkness, imagining what Adolf must be experiencing out there.

"I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can I owe you an apology," I said loudly. "I shouldn't have yelled at you earlier. That was a poor way to thank someone trying to save my life." I paused and had to blink away tears. "I wish...I wish we could have at least said goodbye." Then I laughed without humor. "As if I would have let you do this if I'd known what you planned." I composed myself and added, "So we have to survive this, you hear me? Both of us. I won't stand for loose ends!"

By this time the tears were flowing freely. I swiped at them with my sleeve, lest they freeze on my cheeks. That just wouldn't do either.

After a while longer the floor began to rotate back under me again. Any illusions of normalcy were quickly destroyed by the shuddering that accompanied the change. In addition, the tortured noises from the ship got worse and seemed to be moving closer. The longer I sat there the more despair threatened to overwhelm me. Whatever was going on outside my isolated prison – outside, where Adolf was – it couldn't have been good.

Then I realized that with the floor horizontal again I might be able to open the door. I fumbled blindly for the latch, which did disengage this time, but my efforts to push open the door were met with failure. I felt a trickle of water that came in around the perimeter of the door and realized what had happened. There was water in the compartment outside the freezer, enough that I could not hope to open the door against it. I sat back down in defeat.

Suddenly the sounds of stressed metal ceased to be distant and all around, and instead came specifically from the door to the freezer. I stared blindly in that direction, too emotionally drained to have strong feelings about it one way or another. This was it. The bitterly cold ocean water had made its way to this part of the ship and would find a way through the door. Adolf had bought me a little more time, but the end result would be the same.

But when the screaming of the door frame was joined by a crackling that sounded like ice, it couldn't help but pique my interest. I stood up and backed carefully away from the door. Whatever was happening, it put a lot of strain on the door and I didn't want to be near when it gave way. Then there was a deafening impact that swung the door inward, the opposite of how it was supposed to function. The hinges were torn completely out of the wall and the door was left leaning drunkenly against it. An ethereal light shone from the outside.

Through the opening stepped the Queen of Air and Darkness. She still wore the armor of ice, but it was chipped and broken in an alarming number of places. Her hair and dress were plastered to her, dripping wet, and there was a subtle slump to her shoulders. She looked...tired. In spite of everything, I felt a flash of concern. I'd never seen her look anything but perfect. How bad must things have been to tax her this much?

"How did you..." I started, then broke off with a gasp. "Oh, your hands!"

They were horribly burned and one looked broken. Apparently she had punched through the steel door to the freezer, the Faerie bane mangling the parts of her body in contact with it.

"It was necessary," she said without normal inflection. I got the impression of someone in pain who was trying very hard not to show it. "Now we must go."

"We have to find Adolf first," I said, regaining my composure after the shock of my mother's appearance. "He had to stay outside to close the door."

She frowned. "Sarissa, the ship is underwater. There's no one else left alive."

"But you just came in!"

Wordlessly, she stepped aside so I could see through the door. It was surrounded by a layer of ice that held back the murky water filling the compartment beyond.

"Adolf," I whispered in despair. I had held out hope, however faint, that rescue would come in time to save us both. It was now clear that it had come to late for him.

"I'm sorry," said my mother, which were two words I never expected to hear from her. "I came as soon as I could."

My grief overpowered my surprise, however. "What do you care?" I snapped. "He was just a mortal, after all."

"He was a special mortal," she answered. I looked at her in surprise. "Did you think your father was 'just a mortal'?" she asked.

I was struck speechless. This conversation in this place was just too much for me to process. "Thank you," I said after recovering from my shock. "He was special."

"We really must leave though. The ship is badly damaged and if our escape route is blocked I may not be able to get us out." She looked significantly at her hands.

"How? If the ship is underwater I can't just walk out. You may not need to breathe, but I still do."

"I will take care of it," she answered simply.

I shrugged and followed her to the door. As she stepped through the icy barrier it flowed around her. I followed and it did the same for me, except for a bubble that formed around my head, trapping the air around me. It was unnerving, but at least I could breathe. For a while.

The freezing water bit into my skin like thousands of tiny pinpricks. I followed my mother's light through the eerie darkness of the dead ship. The underwater environment was disorienting, but I was pretty sure we weren't leaving the way I came in. We passed through a corridor, turned a corner, and entered a vertical shaft. It must have been one of the cargo hatches used to load supplies onto the ship, and was likely also the way my mother had gotten in. With the ship flooded it should not have been difficult to swim up toward freedom, except that my limbs were becoming sluggish from the cold and the limited air in my "helmet" was also getting thinner.

Eventually we neared the opening of the hatch and I began to feel the stirring of water rushing past as the wreck accelerated toward the bottom of the ocean. We swam out and I glanced around just long enough to watch the ghostly remains of the ship – now Adolf's burial site – fall away into the murk. A few tears fell onto the inside of my icy globe, and then I had to swim for the surface as hard as I could. By the time we reached it I was gasping for oxygen. We emerged from the water and the helmet that had previously kept the ocean out now kept the stale air in. On top of that, it was so heavy that I could barely lift my face above the surface.

Maeve's face came into view and she punched down, shattering the ice diving helmet but also driving me back under the water. I could only imagine how much she enjoyed that. At least when I came back up I could breathe again, and I gulped cold air until I risked giving myself a headache.

We surfaced near an ice floe, on which stood the rest of our group. This now included Mr. Murdoch. Everyone looked at least as disheveled as Mab, yet Maeve and the Erlking were practically glowing. Murdoch still looked haunted. I couldn't feel my extremities, but I knew better than to show any weakness in this company so I floated in the freezing water without complaint.

"Is it done?" asked Mab.

"It is, although Murdoch insisted on helping load the lifeboats," Maeve said with obvious distaste.

"I had a sworn duty," he explained simply.

"Admirable," said Mab. I noted that she had also not left the water and kept her injured hands hidden beneath the surface. Even she wasn't willing to show weakness to anyone present. "Then I believe our work here is complete."

"I don't understand why you went after her, though," said Maeve, gesturing to me. "If she was stupid enough to get herself trapped in the ship then she should have been able to get herself out."

"Rasputin was responsible for her situation, and he cannot be allowed to have the upper hand in anything," Mab answered. "It is clear that he believes himself to be more powerful than he is. That must not continue."

Maeve wasn't done though. She gave me a look that was pure acid. "But where's your boyfriend," she needled.

A flash of white-hot rage briefly replaced the cold in my limbs. How dare she speak so dismissively of someone who had saved my life?

But then I realized that was exactly what she wanted. She was trying to use Adolf against me. An icy calm that had nothing to do with the water temperature came over me. Adolf was a hero and I was damned if I would let Maeve infect his memory with her venom.

"He made the ultimate sacrifice," I told her calmly. "In all your immortality you can only hope to live up to his example."

Her face darkened, but she didn't answer. That was not the response she was expecting.

After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Mab spoke up. "I believe it is time to go."

She climbed out of the water and I noticed that her injuries had healed, probably with the help of the freezing cold. She gestured and opened a Way. Maeve glared at me for a second longer, then stepped back into the realm of Faerie. Mr. Murdoch helped me out of the water and followed Maeve.

The Erlking looked at the Way, turned back to Mab, and said, "I am not quite ready to return yet. I thank you for an excellent hunt."

Mab pursed her lips, but as he was not part of her court she held no sway over him. He dove back into the water and I would have sworn I saw a shark fin swimming away from us shortly thereafter.

"That can't be good," I commented darkly. "Haven't the survivors of the sinking had a bad enough night already?"

She stared after the Erlking and said, "Perhaps, but there are also a great many mortals out there dying an icy death right now. He may be doing them a kindness, in his own way."

I shook my head. Only Faerie logic could make it okay to loose the Wild Hunt on hundreds of innocent victims of a sunken ship. Another concern jumped to the forefront though.

"Aren't you going after Rasputin?" I asked her.

"There's no need. The White Council will know of this," she answered. "They may be a collection of arrogant fools, but they do not tolerate violation of their Laws. Rasputin will be dealt with," she said in a voice that left no room for argument.

The weight of everything that had happened suddenly fell on my shoulders and I collapsed to the ice. I had no more tears, but I knelt and looked over the water, barely able to make out the shapes of lifeboats. Mercifully, we had come up far enough away from the initial site of the sinking that I couldn't see the people left in the water. There was nothing I could do for them anyway. I tried to console myself with the fact that if we hadn't been there they might all have been taken by Outsiders, but I wasn't Mab. Human life wasn't simply a mathematical equation to be balanced.

"Are you hurt?" asked my mother.

"I...no, I'm fine. It's just...all those people," I answered. "And Adolf," I added quietly.

"Your wounds are emotional," she stated.

"I suppose you could say that," I said cautiously, unsure where this was leading.

"Then I will heal them."

I blinked. "What?"

"I have caused you pain. That is unacceptable."

"This isn't your fault," I argued. "It was Rasputin."

"Yet it was my action that sank the ship," she pointed out.

"That was an accident, right?"

"It was my power. Therefore I bear responsibility for the death of your young friend. I must rectify the situation."

A flash of excitement overrode everything else. "You can bring him back?!"

"That even I cannot do."

An invisible fist once again gripped my heart, crushing the glimmer of hope. "Then how do you plan to fix this?" I shouted in frustration. "You can't just magic it away!"

"In fact I can. I will remove your memories of this trip and they will no longer cause you pain."

I recoiled in horror, but not because I wasn't tempted. Those memories hurt so badly. I would have given almost anything to make that go away.

Almost.

The problem was that taking away the pain would also have taken away the happiness of my time with Adolf. I would lose his smile, his nobility, the way his eyes gleamed when he looked at me. True, our time together had been marked with more than its fair share of strife, but that strife had led to some truly incredible experiences as well. Adolf had not died for nothing. He had died to save me while thwarting an evil wizard backed up by a horde of Outsiders. How could I ever forget that?

"No," I said quietly. "I won't forget him. I can't."

"Are you certain?"

"I am," I said, conviction ringing in my voice.

My mother stared at me, her expression unreadable. Then she gave a tiny shrug and said simply, "As you wish."

I stood up and headed for the Way. As I passed my mother, I paused and said, "Thank you for coming after me. Despite what you told Maeve, I know you didn't have to do that."

"It was necessary," she reiterated, but gave no further explanation.

I regarded her for a moment, considering what I had learned about my mother during this crazy night. She had some sort of history with the Outsiders, she had spoken of my father, which she had never done before, and in rescuing me from the doomed ship she had done something that I just couldn't reconcile with her usual calculating and unemotional personality. Her explanation to Maeve must have been true, but it also felt insufficient to explain the lengths to which she had gone. I'd been given a glimpse of some facets of my mother that I hadn't known existed.

And it didn't matter if it all made sense to me. Not only had she saved me, but in her own weird way she had helped me cope with the loss of Adolf. Her attempts, however misguided, to make me feel better had showed me how much I cherished our brief relationship. Losing him wasn't okay and might never be, but I could tell I had taken the first step on the path to recovery.

On impulse, I threw my arms around her in a hug. She stiffened initially, then relaxed, although she never actually returned the embrace. After a moment I let go and stepped back.

"There are those in the Winter Court who would use the things you care about against you," she cautioned. "Beware displays of emotion."

I considered her words, then said, "Or at least make sure they happen deep in a sinking ship, surrounded by impenetrable steel?"

She gave no overt reaction, but the barest hint of a smile appeared on her face. "If any such thing happened, then it would seem appropriate care was taken."

I supposed a direct acknowledgment of what she had done, and what it meant, was expecting too much. After all, it would have undermined the very point she was trying to make. I took one last somber look over the water, hung my head to say a final goodbye to Adolf, then stepped through the Way.

The End

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