I emerge from a restless night, bathing and dressing quickly. Despite my lack of sleep, I am ready to face the day.

I leave my room after turning off the lamp that lit up and warmed the entire room. The second I leave, I bump clumsily into Skinner. The pure male force that came from him sent me to my rear end right next to him.

"Sorry, love. I expect you to knock on your door when you leave, eh?" He joked. I smiled at this.

I giggled, "I didn't quite expect you to be standing right outside my door the second I walk out, Mr. Skinner." He helps me up, "It's not every day that out of pure chance someone decides to stand directly outside of your door the very moment you leave in the morning, when it just so happens you're still waking up and you're indeed very tired."

"It was a one-time experience. I, for one, am glad that I get to be part of this experience for you." Skinner says, making me laugh once more. We leave to breakfast conversing with one another the rest of the way.

Later that day, I sat on the deck playing an upbeat song with a fast tempo on my violin while Skinner talked to me. I listened solemnly and guessed he was okay with me practicing whilst he spoke. When I finished, he slipped a compliment into the one-sided conversation, but otherwise acted like I was never playing. That was perfectly fine with me.

I sit quietly in my room, putting rosin on my violin bow as I prepare to play. My violin is out next to me. I tune the violin by turning the pegs on the scroll. I set the violin out horizontally on my shoulder. I place the bow on the strings. Just as I'm about to begin playing…

SLAM!

I look around, startled, and come to a conclusion that Quatermain and Sawyer were back and the beast (Hyde, I soon learned his name was) had been caught. They had stressed that Mina and I would not be allowed to go, seeing as we were female and the hunt would be too intense.

"Hello, Dorian, Amorette," Skinner says as I greet the two as I walk out of the wing I am staying in to investigate the noises. "The great white hunter's bagged his prize," Skinner remarks in response to the growls and angry noises coming from the room.

There is a surprising slam and a shiphand is thrown out of the room and onto the wall.

Dorian watches this and answers, "Or the prize bagged him."

We enter the room with Mina now in tow. I nearly gasp in shock and gigantic ape-like being that is throwing the people around the room like ragdolls. He rattles the chains and screams.

"Stay back if you value your life." Quatermain warns, and I obey. I don't want to confront him, and I don't want him to sense my fear.

Skinner is knocked to the ground, and Gray helps him up. "Ow! You scratched me!"

Gray says with a smirk, "Better me than him." He calmly walks forward several steps and observes with no hint of sarcasm and no hint of truth, "Well, this is… nice."

"Mr. Hyde, you've done terrible things in England. So terrible that you fled the country. And I'm ashamed to say that Her Majesty's government is willing to offer you amnesty in return for your services." Quatermain pauses and asks Hyde, "Do you want to go home?"

"Home. Home is where the heart is, that's what they say. And I have been missing London so. Its sorrow is as sweet to me as a rare wine." This beastly thing is speaking in a shocking way: romantically and poetically. It was beautiful. He leans in to Quatermain and says, "I'm yours."

Mina makes a noise of intrigue. I was feeling quite the same but I remained silent.

"Don't be afraid." Hyde shakes his head and half-turns away from us.

Quite stupidly, Sawyer remarks, "Who says I'm afraid?"

Suddenly Hyde turned back angrily. "You do!" The chain was flung and Mina ducked and made a startled sound as it came over her. "You stink of fear!"

"Quite the parlor trick." Gray half-compliments.

"You wait 'til you see my next one." Hyde says, groans, and looks at us. There's a sudden burst and I look away for a moment, to see a grotesque scene- a half beast, half human suffering while he transforms into full human screaming and screaming.

After the transformation, a tall man stands, holding up his stretched pants and breathing heavily. "Dr. Jekyll… at your service."

Quatermain speaks. "So. The League is set."

A machine clicks and beeps and prints out a small slip of paper. "So is the date for the conference. We have three days."

"Three days." Sawyer says. "Can this canoe do that?"

"You underestimate the Nautilus. You underestimate her greatly."

They leave quietly while Jekyll is left hunching over, panting. I approached him. "…Are you alright, Doctor?"

He looks up at me, smiling lightly. "I'm fine, just a bit shaken. Thank you, Miss." He breathes heavily for a moment before standing at full height, about half a foot taller than I was.

"My name is Amorette D'Autrey."

"I recognize your name from somewhere. It seems as though the word was spread of a girl with a strange eye fleeing Paris… just as I relocated there from London… Was that you?"

I produce a humorless, dry laugh. "No doubt, Doctor. I didn't exactly flee of my own accord… They outcast me. I had nowhere to go but a neutral place… Wales was more than perfect."

"I remember. I'm sorry Paris treated you so terribly." Jekyll says sympathetically.

"It's fine, Doctor. You haven't a reason to be apologizing. It wasn't your fault."

"I still feel terrible. If we see each other at all, please, call me Henry."

"Okay, I'll see you later… Henry." I say with a smile. He smiles back and turns to one of the shiphands and begins asking about the Nautilus.

I exit the room feeling refreshed that I made a new acquaintance.