Ch. 16
I remember waking up during the night because of a pain in my hand. I remember my eyes being so heavy I could not keep them open, no matter how hard I tried. I remember grabbing my hand and squeezing it, and that stopped the pain. I think I smelt blood…
When I woke this morn, my hands were bloody. I gasped at the sight, and saw the cotton gauze I had used to wrap my hand after I cleaned it was bloodied, and no longer on my hand. It laid uselessly caught in my sheets, and I softly touched my hand.
It stung, and I quickly drew away. Had I scratched at it during the night? That must be it, then the pain had woken me, and in my sleepy haze, I had simply stopped the blood flow by holding pressure to it.
I sighed, knowing that before I could do anything, I would have to have this cleaned. So still in my nightdress, my hair a mess, and no doubt 'sand' still in my eyes, I hobbled out of bed and carefully opened the door. The blood had crusted on my hands, and cracked as I shut the door. I grimaced in displeasure before hurrying towards the infirmary. Well, that is what I call it, anyway. It was really just a room that held what I needed to clean my wounds.
I was two halls away from the infirmary, when I stopped. I was in the middle of Mrs. Harker's hall! Her room was but a room's length away, and I was bloody! With wide eyes, I quickly turned around, hoping to avoid being drained for today, when I heard a door open.
I stopped in fear, and slowly turned around to face the vampire. My daggers were in my shoes, and either way, my hand was useless as it was. Mrs. Harker looked at me and raised her brow, "It's you then?" I nodded softly, drawing into myself, holding my hands closely to me.
"Come in then," she said, and disappeared into her room. Did she really think I was going to make it easy for her to bite me? I do not intend to die today, thank you very much! I took a step back, then another; I had gotten three when she poked her head out the door again. "I have no interest in dry blood, now will you come inside so I can clean your hand?"
I must have looked shocked because she gave me an annoyed look and disappeared again. I hate to say it, but I felt quite foolish, and shuffled inside her room. Obviously she could control herself if she had not attacked anyone yet, and why would she want old blood anyway? It would probably taste horrible…I assume…?
She was rummaging in a small chest when I came in, and she stopped long enough to motion for me to sit on her bed. I did so without hesitation, 'once bitten, twice shy,' they say. She turned to me with many things in her hand, and walked over to the bed and dumped them all beside me.
Gauze, cotton swabs, and antiseptic, the kind that stings. I frowned at it and she said, "Don't make that face, do you want to lose your hand to infection?" I side-glanced the evil medication and sighed, shaking my head. If I lost my hand, fighting would be quite hard…
While I glared at the evil antiseptic Mrs. Harker walked away and came back with a damp cloth, and offered it too me. I had to guess she must have had a washbasin, so I took the wet cloth and carefully scrubbed away the blood, which became sticky as it was wet. As I worked at the blood, Mrs. Harker started to prep, and I smelt the strong antiseptic as she soaked a cotton swab. I crinkled my nose and tried to slow my work, only to have her give me a look.
She must have known I was stalling, so I figured I would just get it over with and finished cleaning my hands off. I laid the cloth on my knee, and Mrs. Harker took my hand. She stared at it momentarily then sighed, "What did you do to yourself?" I looked at her in confusion as she shook her head and stood again. I looked at my hand, and saw the cuts, which had started to heal, had been scratched open and now had crevices surrounding them. Had I really done that much damage during my sleep?
Apparently I had, wait, was that glass? I brought my hand closer and sighed, Maitreya had not gotten all the glass from my hand! I contemplated kicking him again, and then realized he would never have a child if I did. Mrs. Harker sat down once again with tweezers and a magnifying glass. She silently went to work and when she was done, several glass chips were piled on the bloody cloth.
She took the antiseptic cotton swap then and started dabbing my hand without warning. I hissed in pain and bit my lip. At times not having a voice was nice, for I could not whimper in pain, as I have known others too. It seemed like forever, but it was finally over, and Mrs. Harker wrapped my hand tidily. She smiled at me most kindly, and it confused me. I had always thought she had a bit of a complex, like Dorian, but like this, it did not seem so.
I smiled back gratefully, if I had brought my note, I would have thanked her, as it was, I could only sign my thanks and mouth the words. She smiled as she cleaned the mess, "You're welcome, I still wonder how that could have happened though," and she nodded towards my hand. I grinned, and mocked drinking from a cup. I brought the 'cup' down and clenched my hand until I made a fist, and she nodded. "I see,"
I stood up and flexed my wrapped hand, smiling. She had done a much better job then I had. I waved to her gratefully once more and turned to leave. Turns out the scary vampire lady was really nice, motherly almost, not that I would know how a mother acts, but still. It was the thought that counts, right? I almost ran to my room, not sure of the time, and changed quickly. I hurried off to make my rounds quickly, hoping it was not afternoon already, for if it was I had basically wasted the day.
When I finished my rounds, I found a worker and asked of Captain. The ship started to rise to charge the solar panels when I made it to the helm where the worker had told me Captain and Ishmael were.
"There not how I left'um, Captain. That's all I'm sayin," I heard Ishmael say, as I climbed up the stairs. Ishmael looked grim, and Captain was squatting by him. "Powder?" I heard Captain say, and I entered the room fully. Ishmael nodded his head towards me, and I did the same. "You think sabotage?" Ishmael asked as he looked back at Captain, "We ain't that far off course." Captain brought the powder from his face and said, "I don't recognize the smell. Maybe Mrs. Harker-"
He was stopped as a small clang sounded, like an accidental bump into something. Footsteps, and a book fell. We all had the same idea, and I turned towards the stairs as I felt something brush past me. Skinner? What on earth was he doing? Sawyer walked by and stopped as Captain and Ishmael stood behind me. The sounds changed from the stairs from the helm to the stairs to the deck, and Sawyer hurried to them, as Captain, Ishmael, and I walked back to the wheel. Sawyer popped his head down from the deck to tell us he had lost him, and Captain thanked him.
I found a vile and collected the powder for Captain as he and Ishmael talked of what it could be. Captain thanked me for the vile and left Ishmael at the wheel to deliver it. We grinned at each other and without hesitation, I hugged him. He laughed and hugged me back saying, "I take it you liked my gift?"
I nodded and kissed his bristled cheek, "Thank you mother!" I signed and he laughed again. "Sorry Marina but I don't remember your birth at all, it must'a been a bad one!" he told me, shaking his head. I nodded, "The worst!" I agreed, in all seriousness, which was lost as we burst into a new round of laughter.
Captain appeared quicker than I would have imagined, and informed us Mina would be checking the powder for us. I smiled at the good news, and Captain dismissed me after learning of the state of my rounds. I nodded happily and signed that I would be below should they need me, before heading off.
Before going to below though, I headed to my room to change. Most of my clothes were still being washed, and there was no reason to ruin one that was still nice by ripping and/or staining it below. I walked into my room and pulled off my Sari and bag, tossing them on my desk with care.
I shut the door and started to pull off my top when I heard a gasp, and gasped myself, pulling my top back on. "Jeeze, I came for a chat, but if you insist," the voice said, and how I wished to scream out, 'Skinner!' I saw the door handle turning and I grabbed the closest thing to me, my journal, and threw it at him.
He yelled in pain, and the door opened, I threw another of my books at him and he cried out again. I ran out the door for him, and bumped into Dorian. He looked down at me with a raised brow and asked, "Is there a reason for the shouting?" I quickly signed to him, "Skinner was hiding in my room and I was about to change!" He raised his brow further and nodded, "Well he's gone now; I take it you got him from the yells. What's this?" he asked, and he bent down to pick up my journal. I let him do so without panic; it was not as though he could read it anyway. "My journal," I signed to him.
He looked skeptical, "And the writing? A code Nemo taught you, I suppose?" I shook my head, "I taught Captain, I made it after looking at his books in Arabic." He looked down at the coded script, "For journals, and private messages, no? Meant to look like child scribble…" I nodded as he spoke, "I don't suppose there's a code?" he asked. I nodded and signed, "There is, but it's meant to be a secret code for Captain, Ishmael, and I." He nodded and handed it to me, "I see," he said, before walking away.
I watched him go in confusion, it was odd but, he looked like he was calculating something behind those dark eyes…