I sit in a room with many other men (and one woman) with my hands folded politely on my lap. We all sit behind a neatly set and made dining table (although it is nailed to the ground, despite the fact that the ship hardly moves at all). I finish my meal, dab at the corners of my mouth with a cloth napkin and ask politely, "Who exactly is this beast? Is he civilized? Otherwise, it would be difficult to live with him."
I scan over the table and think of each one's name as my eyes pass them: next to me is Wilhelmina Harker, the only other female and a scientist (and a vampire as I've been told), next to her sits Dorian Gray, a suave immortal (when our gazes met, almost immediately I looked away out of both fear and shyness), next to him is Captain Nemo, the ship's captain and our transportation expert. He's nice enough. Next to him sits Sawyer, next to Sawyer is Mr. Quatermain, and lastly next to me is Skinner.
"He is in Paris as of now. He fled from London." Nemo speaks simply and as if he was talking to a child. I'm not offended; he meant no harm in it. I suspected it was something that happened automatically.
"Why did he flee London?" I ask quietly. I remembered seeing something about a monster fleeing London while I was in Wales- we never met in Paris.
Quatermain speaks up. "He did such terrible things there he couldn't stand to live in the city anymore. Everyone hated his being there. Thus he fled." He, unlike Nemo, speaks to me as an adult. I know he feels I am capable and thus treats me like any other member of the League. He immediately gains my respect once more.
I think about this. He is in Paris- the city had betrayed me as a small child, perhaps eight or nine. I'm not all too supportive of going to Paris to capture a beast in what is perhaps my least favorite city, but I am only a nineteen year old, and the newest member at that.
I promptly decide to repeat my question from earlier, "Okay… So who is this enemy we are going against? Is it a country?"
Quatermain answers once more. "Not a country, but a person and his army. He goes by the name the 'Fantom'. He seeks world power, and it's our job not to let him have it. He creates weapons, and he's probably planning on attacking us with them first. After we capture our last member, we'll be headed to Venice. That's where he'll attack first."
"Who created the League? Did you all know one another beforehand?" I question inquisitively.
Quatermain answers this one again. "A man who calls himself 'M' set us up to this. It's his goal to save the world from this incredible war. He seeks to stop the Fantom. He tells us where the attacks will be, who to recruit, and where the recruits will be. "
"How did he find me? I'm not publicized at all… I made no word when I went to Wales. Isn't it slightly suspicious how he could find us with no publication?" I ask.
"That's a thoughtful question, and if we cross paths with him again, you can certainly ask him, Miss, D'Autrey." Ms. Harker says.
"And this 'M' character, what's he like? I'm not sure I can trust a fellow who doesn't voyage with us and won't tell us even his full name. Are you positive that we can trust him? He seems too shadowy to listen to." I say thoughtfully.
Gray puts his head on his knuckles (elbows on the table, how rude!), and smirks at me. "So, Miss Amorette, what can you do? Anything? Surely a girl of your age and stature is incapable of doing much." He puts emphasis on the word "girl" for one of several reasons: to be sexist and make me feel bad, to make me feel like a child, unintentionally, or he never put any emphasis on anything and I am hearing things.
"I'd rather not explain, Mr. Gray. It's a long story which we haven't the time nor the patience to hear." I reply, refolding my hands and smiling. He scowls at me, not in the best of moods to deal with any talk-back. I imagined he was respected regularly in the League, and I was well and ready to break that respected run.
"So what's to do with this peculiar eye of yours?" Gray asks almost sneeringly as though he was attempting to insult me. For all I knew, he was trying to insult me.
"It's not hereditary, if that's what you were thinking. I had something of an accident as a young child in Paris."
"An accident?" He suddenly sounds intrigued, "Do you know what the cause of this accident was?"
I nod, "I came to find that excessive rattlesnake venom, arsenic and ink in the eye has some strange side effects."
Gray raises his eyebrows but asks nothing more. I am glad that he was finally silent… I don't want to answer any more questions from him. The entire table falls silent.
Skinner can't stand the silence and asks, "What sorta accident did you go through to get snake venom, arsenic and ink in your eye excessively?" I am perfectly fine answering to Skinner… I feel as though as I can trust him. Gray, I am not so sure.
"My parents were very… willing to experiment. I was their favorite subject, I supposed. It can still be considered an accident… The ink was not added to concoction on purpose." I tell him with a smile.
Mina questions quietly, "Would it still have worked without the ink, Miss D'Autrey?"
I look up in thought. "I'm not sure about that one, Ms. Harker. I'd rather not go and test the question on my other eye, regardless."
Sawyer and Skinner chuckle (Quatermain smiled slightly), while the rest remain without word. I give a sheepish smile while twirling the ribbon in my hair around my finger. A shiphand comes to pick up my empty plate and places more on Skinner's (I suppose he's a big eater if they know he's waiting for seconds).
"If you'll excuse me, I have to get to bed… I am indeed very tired, so goodnight all." I say, beginning to stand up.
"Night, love." Skinner says sweetly and kisses my cheek. I find this quite funny of him but think nothing of it. I stand up, smile, and turn on my heel and exit.
I'm sure I heard Quatermain say as I left, "And tomorrow we'll make Paris."
That night I didn't get a wink of sleep.