Banshee Song
Book Two
Chapter Seventeen
Sheamus watched as Rhianna disappeared from view into the belly of the steel monster. He made no move. In fact, his mind hadn't even registered her action, nor the danger in which she had placed herself. Instead, his mind was on another day much like this one, when another worker had gotten caught on this very machine.
He was twelve. He had been helping his mum with the dishes when they came in. Eamonn Pearse and some of his da's co-workers. Their faces were as cold and hard as death. Their words seemed to echo in the room and in his head; accident, crushed, dead. His mother had been so stiff, so unresponsive at the news, that he wondered if she was okay. It wasn't until his uncle, her brother, wrapped his arms around her that she collapsed crying, giving into her grief.
His uncle's words to him were etched onto his mind. "You're the man o' the house now, m'boy. 'Tis up to ye to watch over your mum and sister."
He had tried, he really had. He began work right away working hard to provide for his family. He never complained about the grueling work, not even when they told him to run the same machine that had killed his father. He had tried, but now he found himself wondering how he had failed his family. His mother was dead, his sister worked as a maid. He had failed them all.
And now he was failing someone else.
"She'll be killed!" a voice broke into his thoughts.
He shook himself out of his daze. He looked at the frantic scene before him - saw Patrick disappearing into the machine. Then it hit him. Rhianna had crawled into the machine. {She's inside that beast!}
He leapt into action and ran for the machine. Without a second thought, he climbed the outer ladder and went down the chute Rhianna had gone into. He made his way quickly but carefully through the machine's innards. He was beginning to wonder if he'd taken a wrong turn when he saw her.
She wrenched Patrick's hand free from its trap and he yanked it free. She stumbled and lost her balance. She fell, landing directly beneath a large stamping press.
"Rhianna!" he yelled and ran for her. He dove on top of her. Scooping her up in his arms, he rolled her out of the way of the press. It stamped down a millisecond later - barely missing his arm.
Tears filled Rhianna's eyes and she found it difficult to breathe. Sheamus cradled her in his arms.
"Be strong for me just a little longer, okay? We're not out of this yet."
Rhianna nodded and wiped her eyes. She swallowed the lump in her throat and looked around. "Now what?" she asked as she gazed at the gears and swinging arms whirring around them.
"Now we.DUCK!" he cried. He pushed her out of the way as a giant blade sliced through the air like a scythe. He himself though was an inch too slow as he dove out of the way. "Unngh," he moaned as the tip of the blade sliced his temple.
"Sheamus!" Rhianna screamed as she saw the blood flowing from his face. She ran to his side.
They hadn't recovered from their last scare when they became aware of yet another danger. They had somehow moved onto a conveyor belt. They were now heading toward dozens of giant knives all slicing with great speed.
Sheamus spied an approaching platform to the side of the belt. "Be prepared to jump on my mark."
"Wait! I'm caught!"
He looked down at where Rhianna's long Victorian skirt had gotten snagged on the belt. She tugged at the skirt, but the thick material refused to budge.
"Mother of mercy," Sheamus swore. The platform, their only hope of escape, was rapidly approaching. He whipped out his pocketknife and slashed at the skirt, creating a small tear. But time had run out and the platform was now beside them. He grabbed Rhianna by the waist and jumped onto the platform. The loud rip sound told them that the skirt had torn the rest of the way. In fact a good deal of the heavy garment remained on the belt and was consequently slashed to shreds by the knives. Sheamus looked at Rhianna's legs and smirked. Her skirt now ended in a jagged edge just above her knees.
Rhianna became aware of his eyes on her newly exposed skin and blushed. "Don't look!" she cried.
Sheamus laughed. "Don't worry, your Ladyship. I hear shorter hemlines are all the rage in Paris this year."
"Aye, but not this short! This is.this is.scandalous!"
A deep throaty chuckle issued from Sheamus's lips. His blue eyes smoldered as he took in the sight of her bare legs. "Aye well, scandal looks good on ye."
Rhianna blushed again, feeling her heart race at the strange look in his eyes. She felt warm, and funny in the pit of her stomach. Her eyes flickered over his strong, muscled body and her knees shook. {It must be the danger we're in,} she reasoned, {that's making me feel this way.}
{Speaking of danger.} She cleared her mind of her thoughts and looked at Sheamus. "So how do we get out of here?"
Sheamus found a steel ladder behind them. "We go up."
They were halfway up the ladder when the noise of the machine began to decrease. The gears and whirring blades slowed to a complete stop. A silence filled the air that was almost eerie after the constant hum of machinery.
"NOW they turn off the machine." Sheamus remarked wryly.
Moments later, the two were safe and sound outside the machine. Rhianna hurried to where men were wrapping Patrick's arm and head with makeshift bandages. "Okay, ye three take the carriage and get him to a hospital. Send a doctor back here to look at Sheamus." Rhianna instructed.
The men left and she turned to the other workers. "Are all the machines shut down? Good. Now get home. You'll all be notified when it's time to come back." She looked out into the crowd.
"Has anyone seen the foreman?" Fear seized her heart. Had something happened to Brian in the chaos? Had he also tried to save Patrick and gotten caught in the machine?
"Why, I haven't seen him since this morning," a worker spoke up. The others all agreed.
Rhianna frowned. Surely Brian should have been there. No matter where he was in the factory, he would've heard the alarm. He would've known something was wrong. "Thank ye. Now go home and be with your families. Say a prayer of thanks that today wasn't worse."
After the men had left the building, Rhianna turned back to Sheamus. "All right then, let's have a look at that gash."
Sheamus held his hands up. "No, don't. It's fine. See? Not even bleeding much now."
"Aye, but it's still a nasty cut and ye could get an infection. So be a good boy and let me look at it." Sheamus scowled at Rhianna who simply laughed in return. She pointed at the floor. "Sit down before ye fall down."
While Sheamus groaned his way into a sitting position, Rhianna grabbed the little first aid kit from the wall. She sat down beside him on the floor and searched for the best position in which to tend his wounds. "Hold on," she said as she wiggled into place behind him. She opened her legs and put them on either side of him.
"Okay, now lean your head back on my lap."
Sheamus moved until his head rested comfortably in her lap.
"That's better," she murmured as their eyes met. She was fascinated by the amazing blue in his eyes. A silent minute passed while their eyes talked to each other. Their intense gaze seemed to ignite invisible sparks in the air between them.
Rhianna broke contact and immersed herself in her duty as nurse. Her fingertips gently probed the skin around the wound. If she was affected by the contact, she didn't show it. Sheamus for his part simply closed his eyes and relaxed.
"Hmmm, this looks pretty bad. You'll probably need stitches." She remarked as she gently cleaned the cut.
"I must say I'm impressed. I would have thought you'd be sick at the sight of it."
"What, this? This is nothing." She leaned forward and held her elbow in front of his face. "See this? 'Tis a scar from when I was seven and I fell out of a tree."
"What were ye doing in a tree?"
"I was climbing it." Rhianna replied in a 'hello idiot' tone of voice.
"Did ye cry?"
"Nae. Well, a little. Actually Sean cried more than I did. He felt my pain and was so afraid that I'd been hurt. That's how it usually was. Sean and I were always getting into some mischief and I was always the ringleader. Poor Sean, I've scared him so many times with the risks I've taken."
Sheamus smiled, picturing the wild Rhianna as a child. "Not very ladylike."
Rhianna smirked in return. "So who says I'm a lady?"
"Your title, for one." He paused. "So, are ye okay? Ye weren't hurt, were ye?"
"Hmm? Nae, I'm fine."
Sheamus's concerned eyes bored into hers. "Ye sure? We had some close calls in there."
Rhianna inhaled a deep quivering breath. "I can't think about that now. What about ye? You're the one who was almost decapitated."
"I'm better now." Their eyes met again and there was no denying the electric charge in the air.
Rhianna averted her eyes. "Ye saved my life."
Sheamus closed his eyes as shame and anger washed over him. "Ye shouldn't have been in danger in the first place. I should have been the one to free Patrick. Ye were almost killed because I didn't act fast enough."
Rhianna continued dressing his wound. "So what happened?"
A long pause followed. "I froze." He said simply.
Rhianna quietly mulled this information over. "This.has happened before, hasn't it? A worker getting trapped in the machines."
"Aye."
"Brian and Mr. Pearse told me that there have been accidents, but that they weren't serious."
"They lied," he said softly.
"Tell me.why ye froze."
Rhianna was stunned by the naked pain that flashed in his eyes. He quickly shuttered them, closed off his emotions. "My da died on that machine," he said simply, unemotionally. But the slight quiver in his voice gave him away, betrayed the depth of his grief.
Rhianna's mouth fell open. {His father died here? On one of the machines?} She had known their father was dead, but now how. "Och, Sheamus, I'm so sorry.I.."
"Don't be. It happened a long time ago. I'm over it."
"Sheamus."
"I don't want to talk about it!" He said harshly as he struggled to get up from Rhianna's lap.
"Okay, we won't talk about it." She soothed with a gentle hand on his arm. "But tell me, have there been others?"
"Aye, not as many deaths though as injuries. Usually people just lose a hand or an arm."
"Good Lord," she moaned in horror. She clamped a hand down over her mouth.
"These machines are very dangerous - you've seen that first hand now. That particular model earned the nickname Widowmaker."
"Why didn't they tell me?" she murmured.
"The real tragedy is that there are newer, safer machines available - and have been for quite some time. Your father just didn't want to spend the money on them." He said coldly.
Rhianna snapped her head up. "What? No! I can't believe that. If my father didn't buy the newer models it's because he didn't have the money."
Sheamus reached out and caressed her ears. "That's a nice pair of emerald earrings you're wearing. Worth a pretty penny, I'll wager."
She jerked her head back from his burning touch. "Your point?"
"My point is that even though your father drank away all the company's profits, there was still money to be had from other resources. He just didn't want to spend it."
Rhianna blinked back the tears that threatened to spill from her angry eyes. "Ye didn't know my father." She said softly.
"And ye did?"
She broke off her gaze and stared at her hands, tightly clenched in her lap.
"Look, my father died because your father didn't want to spend money on necessary upgrades. You'll forgive me for being bitter. I believe I've earned it." He sighed and his voice became softer, gentler. "The question is, what are ye going to do now? Although I have my suspicions about this particular incident, the fact remains that these machines are too dangerous to continue using."
Rhianna looked up. "Wait, suspicions? What do ye mean?"
"Rhianna, that was MY machine Patrick was using. If ye hadn't pulled me away for that meeting, it would've been me trapped in there."
Rhianna shivered as cold shock crept up her spine. "No, Patrick just got his sleeve caught on a gear. It was an accident."
Sheamus got to his feet. "Here, let me show ye something." Rhianna followed him over to the machines. He pointed to his machine, #3. "See anything wrong?"
She stared at the machine for a minute and finally shrugged. "Nae I don't, sorry."
He pulled her over to #4. "This is the same model - do ye see anything different from #3?"
She looked back and forth at the two machines. Finally she pointed to #4. "What's this? It's not on your machine."
"This is a gear guard. It is a protective shield that rests over the spinning gear on the platform. It keeps clothing from getting caught on the gear. Without this guard in place, it's just a matter of time before a sleeve or a hand gets caught on the gear."
"What happened to your gear guard? Did it break off?"
"I highly doubt it. The guard was securely screwed on, and as you can see the screws are still there. Someone removed the guard."
"What? Why?"
Sheamus laughed humorlessly. It had finally sunk in how close he'd come to death. "I guess our saboteur REALLY wants me out of the way."
Rhianna nodded, shivering. She had come so close to losing Sheamus and the thought filled her with fear and sadness.
Sheamus noticed her distress. He wordlessly wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. "It's okay. We made it. I'm fine, you're fine."
But Rhianna continued to shake as her earlier shock wore off. They had both almost died. "We have to find this guy, Sheamus."
"We will."
Book Two
Chapter Seventeen
Sheamus watched as Rhianna disappeared from view into the belly of the steel monster. He made no move. In fact, his mind hadn't even registered her action, nor the danger in which she had placed herself. Instead, his mind was on another day much like this one, when another worker had gotten caught on this very machine.
He was twelve. He had been helping his mum with the dishes when they came in. Eamonn Pearse and some of his da's co-workers. Their faces were as cold and hard as death. Their words seemed to echo in the room and in his head; accident, crushed, dead. His mother had been so stiff, so unresponsive at the news, that he wondered if she was okay. It wasn't until his uncle, her brother, wrapped his arms around her that she collapsed crying, giving into her grief.
His uncle's words to him were etched onto his mind. "You're the man o' the house now, m'boy. 'Tis up to ye to watch over your mum and sister."
He had tried, he really had. He began work right away working hard to provide for his family. He never complained about the grueling work, not even when they told him to run the same machine that had killed his father. He had tried, but now he found himself wondering how he had failed his family. His mother was dead, his sister worked as a maid. He had failed them all.
And now he was failing someone else.
"She'll be killed!" a voice broke into his thoughts.
He shook himself out of his daze. He looked at the frantic scene before him - saw Patrick disappearing into the machine. Then it hit him. Rhianna had crawled into the machine. {She's inside that beast!}
He leapt into action and ran for the machine. Without a second thought, he climbed the outer ladder and went down the chute Rhianna had gone into. He made his way quickly but carefully through the machine's innards. He was beginning to wonder if he'd taken a wrong turn when he saw her.
She wrenched Patrick's hand free from its trap and he yanked it free. She stumbled and lost her balance. She fell, landing directly beneath a large stamping press.
"Rhianna!" he yelled and ran for her. He dove on top of her. Scooping her up in his arms, he rolled her out of the way of the press. It stamped down a millisecond later - barely missing his arm.
Tears filled Rhianna's eyes and she found it difficult to breathe. Sheamus cradled her in his arms.
"Be strong for me just a little longer, okay? We're not out of this yet."
Rhianna nodded and wiped her eyes. She swallowed the lump in her throat and looked around. "Now what?" she asked as she gazed at the gears and swinging arms whirring around them.
"Now we.DUCK!" he cried. He pushed her out of the way as a giant blade sliced through the air like a scythe. He himself though was an inch too slow as he dove out of the way. "Unngh," he moaned as the tip of the blade sliced his temple.
"Sheamus!" Rhianna screamed as she saw the blood flowing from his face. She ran to his side.
They hadn't recovered from their last scare when they became aware of yet another danger. They had somehow moved onto a conveyor belt. They were now heading toward dozens of giant knives all slicing with great speed.
Sheamus spied an approaching platform to the side of the belt. "Be prepared to jump on my mark."
"Wait! I'm caught!"
He looked down at where Rhianna's long Victorian skirt had gotten snagged on the belt. She tugged at the skirt, but the thick material refused to budge.
"Mother of mercy," Sheamus swore. The platform, their only hope of escape, was rapidly approaching. He whipped out his pocketknife and slashed at the skirt, creating a small tear. But time had run out and the platform was now beside them. He grabbed Rhianna by the waist and jumped onto the platform. The loud rip sound told them that the skirt had torn the rest of the way. In fact a good deal of the heavy garment remained on the belt and was consequently slashed to shreds by the knives. Sheamus looked at Rhianna's legs and smirked. Her skirt now ended in a jagged edge just above her knees.
Rhianna became aware of his eyes on her newly exposed skin and blushed. "Don't look!" she cried.
Sheamus laughed. "Don't worry, your Ladyship. I hear shorter hemlines are all the rage in Paris this year."
"Aye, but not this short! This is.this is.scandalous!"
A deep throaty chuckle issued from Sheamus's lips. His blue eyes smoldered as he took in the sight of her bare legs. "Aye well, scandal looks good on ye."
Rhianna blushed again, feeling her heart race at the strange look in his eyes. She felt warm, and funny in the pit of her stomach. Her eyes flickered over his strong, muscled body and her knees shook. {It must be the danger we're in,} she reasoned, {that's making me feel this way.}
{Speaking of danger.} She cleared her mind of her thoughts and looked at Sheamus. "So how do we get out of here?"
Sheamus found a steel ladder behind them. "We go up."
They were halfway up the ladder when the noise of the machine began to decrease. The gears and whirring blades slowed to a complete stop. A silence filled the air that was almost eerie after the constant hum of machinery.
"NOW they turn off the machine." Sheamus remarked wryly.
Moments later, the two were safe and sound outside the machine. Rhianna hurried to where men were wrapping Patrick's arm and head with makeshift bandages. "Okay, ye three take the carriage and get him to a hospital. Send a doctor back here to look at Sheamus." Rhianna instructed.
The men left and she turned to the other workers. "Are all the machines shut down? Good. Now get home. You'll all be notified when it's time to come back." She looked out into the crowd.
"Has anyone seen the foreman?" Fear seized her heart. Had something happened to Brian in the chaos? Had he also tried to save Patrick and gotten caught in the machine?
"Why, I haven't seen him since this morning," a worker spoke up. The others all agreed.
Rhianna frowned. Surely Brian should have been there. No matter where he was in the factory, he would've heard the alarm. He would've known something was wrong. "Thank ye. Now go home and be with your families. Say a prayer of thanks that today wasn't worse."
After the men had left the building, Rhianna turned back to Sheamus. "All right then, let's have a look at that gash."
Sheamus held his hands up. "No, don't. It's fine. See? Not even bleeding much now."
"Aye, but it's still a nasty cut and ye could get an infection. So be a good boy and let me look at it." Sheamus scowled at Rhianna who simply laughed in return. She pointed at the floor. "Sit down before ye fall down."
While Sheamus groaned his way into a sitting position, Rhianna grabbed the little first aid kit from the wall. She sat down beside him on the floor and searched for the best position in which to tend his wounds. "Hold on," she said as she wiggled into place behind him. She opened her legs and put them on either side of him.
"Okay, now lean your head back on my lap."
Sheamus moved until his head rested comfortably in her lap.
"That's better," she murmured as their eyes met. She was fascinated by the amazing blue in his eyes. A silent minute passed while their eyes talked to each other. Their intense gaze seemed to ignite invisible sparks in the air between them.
Rhianna broke contact and immersed herself in her duty as nurse. Her fingertips gently probed the skin around the wound. If she was affected by the contact, she didn't show it. Sheamus for his part simply closed his eyes and relaxed.
"Hmmm, this looks pretty bad. You'll probably need stitches." She remarked as she gently cleaned the cut.
"I must say I'm impressed. I would have thought you'd be sick at the sight of it."
"What, this? This is nothing." She leaned forward and held her elbow in front of his face. "See this? 'Tis a scar from when I was seven and I fell out of a tree."
"What were ye doing in a tree?"
"I was climbing it." Rhianna replied in a 'hello idiot' tone of voice.
"Did ye cry?"
"Nae. Well, a little. Actually Sean cried more than I did. He felt my pain and was so afraid that I'd been hurt. That's how it usually was. Sean and I were always getting into some mischief and I was always the ringleader. Poor Sean, I've scared him so many times with the risks I've taken."
Sheamus smiled, picturing the wild Rhianna as a child. "Not very ladylike."
Rhianna smirked in return. "So who says I'm a lady?"
"Your title, for one." He paused. "So, are ye okay? Ye weren't hurt, were ye?"
"Hmm? Nae, I'm fine."
Sheamus's concerned eyes bored into hers. "Ye sure? We had some close calls in there."
Rhianna inhaled a deep quivering breath. "I can't think about that now. What about ye? You're the one who was almost decapitated."
"I'm better now." Their eyes met again and there was no denying the electric charge in the air.
Rhianna averted her eyes. "Ye saved my life."
Sheamus closed his eyes as shame and anger washed over him. "Ye shouldn't have been in danger in the first place. I should have been the one to free Patrick. Ye were almost killed because I didn't act fast enough."
Rhianna continued dressing his wound. "So what happened?"
A long pause followed. "I froze." He said simply.
Rhianna quietly mulled this information over. "This.has happened before, hasn't it? A worker getting trapped in the machines."
"Aye."
"Brian and Mr. Pearse told me that there have been accidents, but that they weren't serious."
"They lied," he said softly.
"Tell me.why ye froze."
Rhianna was stunned by the naked pain that flashed in his eyes. He quickly shuttered them, closed off his emotions. "My da died on that machine," he said simply, unemotionally. But the slight quiver in his voice gave him away, betrayed the depth of his grief.
Rhianna's mouth fell open. {His father died here? On one of the machines?} She had known their father was dead, but now how. "Och, Sheamus, I'm so sorry.I.."
"Don't be. It happened a long time ago. I'm over it."
"Sheamus."
"I don't want to talk about it!" He said harshly as he struggled to get up from Rhianna's lap.
"Okay, we won't talk about it." She soothed with a gentle hand on his arm. "But tell me, have there been others?"
"Aye, not as many deaths though as injuries. Usually people just lose a hand or an arm."
"Good Lord," she moaned in horror. She clamped a hand down over her mouth.
"These machines are very dangerous - you've seen that first hand now. That particular model earned the nickname Widowmaker."
"Why didn't they tell me?" she murmured.
"The real tragedy is that there are newer, safer machines available - and have been for quite some time. Your father just didn't want to spend the money on them." He said coldly.
Rhianna snapped her head up. "What? No! I can't believe that. If my father didn't buy the newer models it's because he didn't have the money."
Sheamus reached out and caressed her ears. "That's a nice pair of emerald earrings you're wearing. Worth a pretty penny, I'll wager."
She jerked her head back from his burning touch. "Your point?"
"My point is that even though your father drank away all the company's profits, there was still money to be had from other resources. He just didn't want to spend it."
Rhianna blinked back the tears that threatened to spill from her angry eyes. "Ye didn't know my father." She said softly.
"And ye did?"
She broke off her gaze and stared at her hands, tightly clenched in her lap.
"Look, my father died because your father didn't want to spend money on necessary upgrades. You'll forgive me for being bitter. I believe I've earned it." He sighed and his voice became softer, gentler. "The question is, what are ye going to do now? Although I have my suspicions about this particular incident, the fact remains that these machines are too dangerous to continue using."
Rhianna looked up. "Wait, suspicions? What do ye mean?"
"Rhianna, that was MY machine Patrick was using. If ye hadn't pulled me away for that meeting, it would've been me trapped in there."
Rhianna shivered as cold shock crept up her spine. "No, Patrick just got his sleeve caught on a gear. It was an accident."
Sheamus got to his feet. "Here, let me show ye something." Rhianna followed him over to the machines. He pointed to his machine, #3. "See anything wrong?"
She stared at the machine for a minute and finally shrugged. "Nae I don't, sorry."
He pulled her over to #4. "This is the same model - do ye see anything different from #3?"
She looked back and forth at the two machines. Finally she pointed to #4. "What's this? It's not on your machine."
"This is a gear guard. It is a protective shield that rests over the spinning gear on the platform. It keeps clothing from getting caught on the gear. Without this guard in place, it's just a matter of time before a sleeve or a hand gets caught on the gear."
"What happened to your gear guard? Did it break off?"
"I highly doubt it. The guard was securely screwed on, and as you can see the screws are still there. Someone removed the guard."
"What? Why?"
Sheamus laughed humorlessly. It had finally sunk in how close he'd come to death. "I guess our saboteur REALLY wants me out of the way."
Rhianna nodded, shivering. She had come so close to losing Sheamus and the thought filled her with fear and sadness.
Sheamus noticed her distress. He wordlessly wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. "It's okay. We made it. I'm fine, you're fine."
But Rhianna continued to shake as her earlier shock wore off. They had both almost died. "We have to find this guy, Sheamus."
"We will."
