The Private Diary of Elizabeth Quatermain
by Lady Norbert


28 August 1899

My watchdog was not happy with me this morning. Tom came to collect me for breakfast at the usual hour, but I was unwilling to tear myself away from my work. I'd risen earlier than usual, so I had started work on a fresh set of herbal sachets -- so useful for keeping one's wardrobe and bedding smelling fresh and fragrant. I brought a few from home, of course, but aboard the Nautilus, one is sometimes overwhelmed by the smell of the brine, so I felt that newer, stronger sachets were needed. I hate to leave a task unfinished, and as a result, we were so late for the morning meal that we missed it entirely.

It was decided that that Henry, Mina, Tom and I would be the least conspicuous on the streets of Paris, and so we would go alone on the first excursion to Notre Dame. Nemo and Skinner would remain aboard the ship, the idea being that if additional visits were required to find what we sought, they would accompany us later. So we disembarked and the four of us set off for the cathedral, Henry leading the way.

I believe that forever and always, any feat of architecture or engineering will pale beside the Nautilus in my mind. Yet one cannot help but be entranced by the beauty of Notre Dame. A true palace of God, its twin spires reaching for the heavens, the sun caressing the stone facade and gleaming through the elegant rose windows...it is almost pointless to describe it, as nothing I can say will do it proper justice.

People visit Notre Dame every day from all around the world, coming to marvel at its exquisiteness, and so we went unnoticed as we made our way toward the enormous altar where La Pieta awaited us. It is a truly remarkable piece of art, and puts to shame any of the fine statuary at Solomon Manor. The face of the Virgin is beautiful to heartbreak, somehow managing to convey both grief and peace at the same time while she gazes upon her Son's body.

But though we examined every inch of the statue, we could find no indication of a key. There seemed to be no carvings, no hidden panels or anything at all which appeared amiss. Tom even got down on hands and knees to study the base and the surrounding floor, but found nothing. Mina did collect a sampling of dust which had settled on the statue; she intends to analyse it in her laboratory to be certain, but she does not really believe it to be anything more than the dust which gathers anywhere else. We spent a few hours searching the entire altar for possible clues -- loose stones in the floor, suspicious cracks in the woodwork, anything at all. We were utterly defeated; there was nothing.

We debated asking for a conference with the priests in residence, to see if any of them knew anything about either a key or a "bent Q," but instead we decided to return to the ship for luncheon at half past one. Tom and I were particularly hungry, having not yet broken our fast, and Mina wished to start analysis of the dust sample.

Over luncheon we told Nemo and Skinner of what we had found -- or, more accurately, what we did not find. I confess I felt somewhat despaired by it all, as though I have failed my father. When we had concluded our meal, I returned here to my quarters (followed by Tom, as usual) and finished putting this morning's labours into the wardrobe. Tom left me at the door, saying he intended to visit the ship's library, so I have stolen some of these moments of solitude to update this diary on the present situation.

I am awaiting the results of


later

I had to stop writing at that moment because of the dreadful explosive sounds which suddenly echoed in the hallway. Whether my attacker was responsible for the current mishap, I do not know, but I have no cause to suspect anyone else.

I rushed outside and saw a plume of smoke issuing from Mina's chambers, just down the hall. Some of the crew members were shouting to each other in Hindustani, which I do not understand, but I hurried to her door and looked into the room. To my horror, Mina was sprawled, unconscious, across the floor. The laboratory was a mess; several of her glass vials had shattered, and one or two chemicals unknown to me were forming large puddles not far from Mina's body.

The other members of the League came running, and Henry at once pushed into the room to lift her from the floor. "She is breathing," he said, "and her wounds have already healed." This last made no sense to me at the moment. Henry pulled Mina into his arms and stood, quavering just slightly under the light burden. "Let's take her to the infirmary. I think she'll be fine, but we must keep her quiet just in case."

Henry carried Mina, with Skinner and Tom following. She was put into the same bed where I had recovered from my dip in the sea, and has remained motionless ever since -- it has been over three hours now. Nemo and I remained in the hallway; he wished to see if he could learn what had triggered the blast. I returned briefly to my own room, where I retrieved this diary and some of my more pungent herbs. Sometimes, placing sharp-smelling herbs under the nose of an unconscious person can be enough to stir them to sensibility. When the captain was ready, we joined the others here in the infirmary, where he reported that he has no knowledge of what caused the explosion. My herbs have not succeeded in reviving Mina, so we must wait.


29 August 1899

Mina, I am told, awakened in the early hours of this morning. By that time, at Henry's urging, the rest of us had returned to our own quarters to sleep. This time, Tom really did sleep outside my door -- though perhaps I should not say sleep, because I don't believe he did. He was not only guarding me, but also keeping watch to see if Mina's saboteur would return to the scene of the crime. For Henry's part, I know he has not slept either. The circles under his bloodshot eyes are proof that he stayed awake at her bedside all throughout the ordeal.

We only learned of Mina's waking when we assembled for the morning meal. Henry had decided not to disturb any of us, and so kept the news to himself until that time. I know he meant well, but I think the rest of us are all in agreement that we would prefer to have been disturbed, as we were all terribly concerned for her. Breakfast was quickly abandoned in favour of visiting the patient, who at the doctor's insistence was still resting.

I brought her a gift of another of my sachets, one which I stitched just for her last night while waiting for sleep. My own are filled with a combination of rose petals and cinnamon shavings, but Mina's was a piece of burgundy velvet stuffed with dried lavender and sage. I felt quite awkward presenting her with the gift, thinking that it was a foolish gesture on my part, but she smiled and thanked me.

"What happened, Mina?" asked Tom urgently. I suspect he is not pleased that Mina stayed the whole night in Henry's care, and that Henry was the one to greet her when she awoke. The doctor has been highly attentive and solicitous of her, and hides his usual shyness through medicinal busywork -- taking temperature, checking pulse, and so forth -- all of which is arousing jealousy in the younger man. Tom amuses me somewhat in his attempts to conceal the envy, simply because he is so unsuccessful.

"I was analysing the dust," she began, "which it would seem is not ordinary dust after all. It has some sort of explosive properties, not unlike gunpowder, though of a different composition. I have never seen it before and I have no idea what it is. I put some into a glass phial and began to heat it over my flame, and when it reached a certain temperature, it blew up. It was a very small sample that I heated, yet the blast was enormous."

"Do you remember anything about getting hurt? Why were you out for so long?" asked Skinner.

"I suppose it's part of my...nature," she said calmly. "I was struck very hard in the face by something heavy -- I could not see what it was, I only know what I felt. My body more or less shut itself down completely in order to allow me to recover, which I have done. I feel quite well."

"My men have cleaned up your quarters and set everything to rights again," Nemo assured her. "You may return there as soon as the good doctor releases you from his care."

Henry, who looked as though he would prefer to never release her from his care, smiled awkwardly and said she was able to go whenever she was ready. "You've been a rather worrisome patient, Mina," he said lightly, "but then I'm not used to looking after someone like yourself."

She regarded him with a fonder expression than she usually wore. "No, I suppose not, Henry," she said softly. "But I thank you for your pains." Somewhere in the midst of this conversation, Tom left the room. If anyone besides myself noticed, they gave no sign.

Mina returned to her quarters shortly thereafter. Nemo and I accompanied her, and watched as she examined the laboratory, frowning. "Your men did a very meticulous job, Captain," she said. "Too meticulous. There's not a trace of the powder remaining."

"What? That can't be," he said. "I specifically told them to collect all the powder they found and bottle it. I was assured that this was done." We joined her at the table, but she was quite right -- no sign of the powder anywhere.

"Now I don't see how I will ever find out what it was," she said with a sigh, "and it could have destroyed us all."

"My men would not have done this," Nemo muttered. "Someone else has taken the powder, I am quite certain of it." We all looked at each other, bewildered.

"Do you think...could it be the same one who tried to drown me?" I asked hesitantly. "Could that be who took it?"

"I think, Elizabeth," said Nemo heavily, "that is almost certainly the case. Someone wishes to bring harm to us all. The question is, who would do it -- and why?"


later

I left off writing at that point in order to join the others for luncheon. This time it was not Tom who came to escort me, but Skinner. "Tommy's shut himself in the library," he said, smirking. "Don't know what he's doing in there, but he says he's not hungry. Can't imagine why."

"So I'm not the only one who's noticed," I said.

"'Course not, Bess. It's been going on for as long as the League's been together. Even your father knew -- tried to tell Tom she was out of his league, but he doesn't listen to that kind of talk. Not that she hasn't encouraged him in her own way."

"I hadn't noticed her giving him any encouragement."

"Oh, she's sneaky about it, but don't be fooled, she likes him. Of course, she likes Henry, too. Maybe she likes him even more now that she's been his patient. Don't know what she thinks of Hyde, though."

"Skinner." I stopped him in the middle of the hallway. "I need to know something, and I'm too embarrassed to ask the others."

"Name it, love."

"What did Mina mean -- about her nature? And why did Henry say he'd never taken care of anyone like her before? What do you all know about Mina that I don't?"

"Ah." He sighed. "It hasn't really come up, has it? No reason you would know. All right, I'll tell you, but not out here. Come with me." I followed him down a passageway into a small storage room, which was deserted, and he closed the door.

"You should probably sit down for this," he said, indicating a box. When I was seated, he continued, "Mina's...well. I guess I'll just say it. Mina's a vampire."

"A -- what?"

"Vampire. Daughter of the night. Bloodsucking damsel. You've heard of them, haven't you?"

"I didn't think they were real."

"Didn't think invisible men were real, either, did you?" he asked, and I had to concede the point.

"But from what I've heard of vampires, she can't possibly be one," I protested. "She eats regular food. She can walk around in daylight."

"She can also transform herself into a bunch of bats and go flying through the air," he said. "She's not a normal vampire, though. She told me once that as long as she never drinks innocent blood, she'll never turn completely. Until that happens, she can still do things like walk in the sun and eat beef Wellington. So she sticks to evildoers when she gets hungry -- murderers and the like. She's actually able to go for several days without drinking blood, which is good when this tub's underwater."

I must say that I sat there in complete shock. I knew there was something odd about Mina, something I couldn't identify which made me uneasy, but I never would have guessed she was one of the undead.

"I know, love, it's a bit much to take in," he said. "You can imagine how shocked we all were the first time we saw her drink. It takes adjusting, but you'll get used to it. Look how used to me you are."

"Yes, I suppose...what about Hyde? You mentioned someone called Hyde."

He let out a deep breath. "You are a bit out of the loop here, aren't you? All right." For the next several minutes he explained the existence of Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde is...Henry. Or rather, he's Henry's alter ego, a brutish, monstrous creature who is not only capable of all sorts of horrors, but enjoys them. Henry had sought to banish the evil which is the curse of all men, starting with himself, but instead he had divided his own essence into two beings, one light and one dark. I had heard of his death because he faked his own suicide in order to flee from London; he was living in Paris, alternating between his two personalities, until he was captured by my father and brought to aid the League. I stared at Skinner throughout the telling of this alarming tale.

"Is there anything else I should know?" I asked finally. "I suppose next you'll tell me my father was a werewolf."

He chuckled. "Nah. Not that I ever heard, anyway."

"Should I be concerned about Hyde?"

"No more than the rest of us. He's better than he was; he and Jeks are almost like a team now. He doesn't kill anymore, not for sport. I know, we're not the usual sort of companions for a young society lass -- a pirate, a vampire, an invisible man and a monster." His tone was unusually serious. Then he laughed. "At least Tom's a normal chap! Except for being an American, of course." With uncharacteristic chivalry, he extended a hand and helped me to my feet. "Come on, Bess, we'll be late for lunch. Everyone will talk about us being alone in a closet, and I'll be forced to confess my undying love for you in front of the entire crew in order to save your reputation." He opened the door and bowed me out, still chuckling.

He was quite right about them being very unusual companions. But they truly mean more to me than any of the giggling girls I knew at school. That is not to say that I'm not still a trifle stunned at Mina and Henry's secrets, but Skinner has a point -- I have accepted him, and I can learn to accept them too.