A/N: For reasons too complicated to explain, this story is no longer going to be co-written. Instead, I, obliviongates, will be continuing to write this story. Thank you for all your reviews on the last two chapters. Here's the next chapter!
Chapter Three: Off the Edge of the Map
"Andrea! Andrea, wake up you stupid girl!" Someone hissed and shook me rather roughly. My first impression was that it was one of the Sisters waking me up again because I had slept in too late, but when I opened my eyes and rubbed them a couple times, I saw that Evelyn was leaning over her, anxiety in her usually bright blue eyes.
"What is it?" I demanded, throwing the bedclothes off of me and setting my feet on the hard wooden floor.
"We have to leave. Grab your shoes and anything you need at once." She whispered and immediately went to the end of my bed and threw my hard leather shoes at me.
"Good heavens, why are you in such a hurry?" I demanded, pulling on my shoes while Evelyn opened the trunk in the corner of the room and pulled out two extra dresses and two plain woolen gray cloaks that we were to were in cold weather.
"Thomas has set the horses loose so he could create a fire in the stables. All the Sisters and children have gathered out there to try and quench the fire and catch the horses. We do not have much time until they do so, now do hurry!" She replied in a quick breath, bundling the clothes up and stuffing them into a cloth bag she had managed to find.
"You asked that of a stable boy! He could lose his position!" I cried, feeling slightly overwhelmed with all of this. I knew how badly she wanted to leave the Orphanage, but what she asked of Thomas was too much for me to accept.
"Andrea, I know how you feel about all of this, but I am not sorry for what I asked him to do. If you do not want to come with me, I understand, but I cannot stay here." She looked me straight in the eyes as she said this and I tried not to look away. I was never good at making important decisions at a minute's notice and this was no exception. I was silent for a long while, when I finally asked in a soft voice,
"Did you pack any food?"
"Yes." Evelyn replied a smile on her face.
"And money?" She looked dismayed at this question and shook her head.
"I tried to take some the other night, but Sister Martha caught me before I could." She replied.
"Evelyn! How on Earth are we going to survive if we have no money?" I demanded.
"We best leave before we can not even make it out of here." She just answered, in a rather snappish tone, I noted. She swept out of the room and I followed her closely. We made our way down the stairs, first checking to make sure no one had come back in and then made our way to a small door at the back of the school.
Once outside, a rushing wind filled my ears and I looked up at the gray sky scattered with even darker gray clouds. Weather was always deary in England, but I did not mind so much.
"Come." Evelyn said and stalked off through a large field that lay before us.
"Evelyn!" A voice called. We both whipped around and saw Thomas standing behind us.
"Thomas, are you coming with us?" I asked. He looked at me for a moment and then looked off in the distance.
"No." He replied after a moment of silence. "My place is here."
"Thomas...why not?" Evelyn asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "You have a chance to start over...and your job...you may not have a position here anymore."
"It was growing tiresome. I'll find work elsewhere." He replied, not sounding at all sincere to me. Evelyn seemed to notice this as well and stepped closer to him.
"Why will you not come?" She asked.
"I cannot...I am not one for adventure."
"Thomas."
"Evelyn, you best be going now and I should round up the horses." He said softly. I thought for a moment he was going to leave without saying another word, but then he smiled at the two of us brightly. "Good luck you two."
"Good bye Thomas. Thank you for everything." Evelyn whispered and reached forward to embrace him. He looked surprised, but then put his arms around her as well.
"I'm glad I could help you." Thomas murmured and then let go of her. She smiled at him and then turned to me.
"Are you sure you want to come? This is your last chance."
"I've never been more sure of anything." I replied brightly. She grasped my hand in hers and we both turned our backs to the Orphanage and looked to our future.
xXx
The docks were crowded this morning with fishermen, merchants and sailors who were all busying themselves with either giving orders or unloading and loading the ships with barrels and crates full of goods being shipped to distant places. With so many people about, I wondered how we were going to manage sneaking onto one of these ships.
Evelyn, on the other hand was scanning the ships with a keen eye, seeming to search for the right one. I had no idea why this was of any importance, seeing as we could not determine where they were going. As if knowing my thoughts, Evelyn made her way to an old sailor man who seemed to be worn out and was resting on a crate.
"Sir?" She asked, trying to catch his attention. He turned to look at her and then smiled.
"What are two pretty young ladies like yourselves doing in a place like this?" He asked kindly. I smiled wryly at him, thinking it was odd that he called us pretty. In our plain straight dresses and our plainly done hair, I'm sure we were not much to look at. In fact, Evelyn and I had vague ideas of what we looked like. The Sisters deemed it vain sit in front of a mirror in order to put on powder or fix our hair elaborately, (which was why it always had to be plainly done), and since vanity was one of the sins, we had not looked at mirrors in a long time.
"I was curious as to where this ship was headed." She said and gestured to a small, sleek ship. It was very beautiful and I hoped this was the one we would be traveling on.
"That ship is headed to Port Royale, in the Carribean. She's called the Interceptor." He replied and looked at the ship with an admiring gleam in his eye.
"She's very beautiful." I said softly, thinking it odd to call a ship 'she,' but no matter. I assumed this was just the way of sailors.
"Aye. Them folks in the Carribean have mighty fine ships. O' course they do, they get the wood from the Americas." He said, looking down at me.
"The Americas?" I repeated. He nodded and looked out at the ship again.
"The new colonies in America have been set up and there's plenty o' woods there. Ye see, Port Royale is on a isle called Jamaica and there ain't no trees fit for makin' ships on it, so they go over to the Americas and use that wood." He said, seeming proud of himself.
"How fascinating." I said brightly and smiled. And it was fascinating to me, who had never been outside her own country. I looked at maps fondly, wanting to know more of the countries across the sea, but I had never had an opportunity, until now. Evelyn, however, seemed bored to tears.
"Yes, very fascinating." She agreed with a forced sincerity. "Come, Andrea, we best be on our way." She gripped my arm as she said this.
"Oh. Yes, we should." I agreed and smiled at the sailor. "Thank you, sir." And with that, we quickly walked away down the road.
xXx
"Ouch! That was my foot, Evelyn!" I whispered.
"I'm sorry, it's hard to see." She hissed, sounding not at all sincere, but rather irritated.
In a way, I did not blame her, seeing as we were both crammed into a small storage space on the ship. We had a somewhat difficult time getting onto the ship with all the sailors milling around, but the group who were loading goods onto the Interceptor, had stopped for a break in the late afternoon and wandered off to a near by tavern. Evelyn and I, who had been sitting at a quaint tea house, waiting for a chance to board the ship, saw this and made our way onto the ship as quiet as we could. To our surprise, when the sailors came back, we set sail not long after. I suppose there was no turning back now.
I always thought that sailing would be a more pleasant, adventurous experience, instead of spending the voyage crammed in a small, dark storage room that smelled strongly of rotting wood and fish and not being able to see or walk a foot in either direction.
Despite all these uncomfortable circumstances, I was quiet about how I truly felt, I could never tell Evelyn these things, especially since she was so looking forward to leaving the Orphanage and going on an adventure. And I did as well, but I should have guessed that a few steps along the way would be less than pleasant. I took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of fish as well and then let it out. So this was the first step of our adventure.
xXx
The days trudged on relentlessly and by now I had no idea of the exact number of days that passed. Traveling with no routine and being out at sea caused the days to appear as if they were all one long day, the only proof you had of a new day was sleeping, but Evelyn and I both slept so much out of boredom and sea sickness that it was hard to even tell if we woke up on the same day or not.
We survived on the food that Evelyn had brought with us and stolen canteens from the kitchens late at night when all the other crew members were sleeping. If we were daring, we would stay out on deck for a few minutes, breathing in the fresh night air and looking at the brilliant stars before slinking back to the storage room.
Every night I found myself praying that the voyage would be over soon. I felt that if we had to travel for even a week more, I would lose my head completely. Evelyn faced every day with a sort of grim determination that I tried to achieve. I had always been more passionate than her, more keen to wear my heart on my sleeve and so I did not do so well at feigning indifference.
No one had any idea we were living down in the storage room, but I had a sinking feeling the pit of my stomach that once supplies were running low, we may be forced out. I wondered with a beating heart, what would happen if we were found out. Surely we would not be thrown overboard? Another part of my wondered how far away the Caribbean was. I prayed with all my might that it was close.
xXx
My answer came late one afternoon, while Evelyn was sleeping and I was leaning against the wall, trying to sleep, but so exhausted from sleeping that I just sat there, amusing myself the best I could and trying not to mind the extreme boredom I felt. Above me, I heard the crew going about their daily business when I heard someone shout: "Captain, we're arrived at Port Royale." I immediately stood up and listened hard, to see if anything else would be said. Then I heard the Captain reply: "Lower the gangplank men and waste no time! We have to be out of here by the morn!" At this, I bent down and shook Evelyn until she opened her eyes and stared at me sleepily.
"What is it?" She asked.
"They're lowering the gangplank–we've arrived at Port Royale." I whispered, excitement clearly heard in my voice. Evelyn shot up and smoothed down her hair and skirts.
"We'll wait until night." She murmured. "The docks will be empty then."
"How do we know when that is?" I asked.
"We will either listen to see if there is no more sound above or poke our heads out quickly to see if the sky is dark." She replied. I nodded, satisfied and took a drink of water from the canteen. The water was warm and somewhat bitter, but I could not complain and was used to it by now. I felt as if I could face anything after this voyage.
xXx
"Evelyn...please check again." I whispered, my voice cracking slightly.
"No. I checked not long ago, if we do it too often, it will be discovered." She replied shortly. I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes. It felt as if we had been waiting a week, but Evelyn had assured my that the sky was a orange color, so it was sun set. Night should not be far along, but I was growing impatient.
"Where are we going to stay for the night...how will we buy anything?" I asked.
"Pickpocketing." Evelyn answered. At this I sat up straight, no longer feeling tired or bored.
"Surely not!" I whispered.
"I have been thinking this over Andrea, and there is no other way I can think of right now." She murmured.
"What about finding a job?" I questioned her, not caring if she grew annoyed, because I believed that I was just as annoyed.
"That would take too long. We need money as soon as we can find it. You do not need to do anything except follow me and take whatever I drop in your hands and hide it from view." She replied. I sighed and leaned back against the wall, closing my eyes. Evelyn stood up and opened the door slightly before closing it quickly.
"Were you seen?" I asked, standing up.
"No...it's dark enough now and the ship is empty." She answered and opened the door completely, striding out of it. I followed her quickly. To be sure that no on was on the docks, we knelt down to hide ourselves from view and crept along the side of the ship. When Evelyn signaled me too, we made our way off the ship and away from the docks as quick as we could, disappearing into the night.
A/N: One again, another short chapter, but on this one I was pressed for time and I'm still getting used to writing regularly. The next ones will be longer, I promise! Next chapter, Will and Jack enter the story! Review please!