Lost at Sea Bk. 02 Ch. 05

She was good at figuring out lies and truths and intentions. This should be easy. Walking out there meant showing off her body to a crowd full of...

Men. Strange men. Men like the ones who'd dragged her from Kaduska's cart and threatened to kill her. Men like the ones who still wanted to kill her now. They were the reason she was stuck in this brothel, instead of at the lighthouse. Instead of on the ship.

Suddenly she was angry. She hadn't really been afraid of them yesterday, why was she afraid of them now? Why should they get to influence how she felt at all? The fact that they had such power over her made her furious. She wanted those feelings gone. She had to face them.

Some of the men from Jakob Kidd's band of thugs might be here tonight. She might even recognize them. What would she do? How would she react in the moment? What did she want?

Justice? Vengeance? A small smile crept across her face. They wouldn't recognize her, but she might recognize them.

Tonya watched Janie think, wondering what was going through her head, but knowing that now wasn't the time to interrupt. She took the moment to adjust her small breasts in her green corset so she was practically spilling out. She was going to have to get a proper fortune teller outfit at some point. She had to look the part now that she was taking over for Bella. She wasn't looking forward to giving up the fancy dresses and corsets.

Janie suddenly walked out of the small room with a determined look on her face. Tonya remembered the first time she'd put herself on display like that. Bella had thrown away all her kitchen maid rags and spent hours raiding the communal wardrobe the new girls shared. The transformation had been daunting. She'd felt awkward, exposed, and nervous that everyone who saw her would know that she was a fraud. The first steps out into the lounge had been one of the biggest challenges of her life. She'd been stared at, judged, lusted after, pursued in ways she never had been before. She'd struggled to find words. He tongue had felt thick and her mouth dry, and her mind had screamed at her to run.

She hadn't. Within fifteen minutes she'd made so many small discoveries about who she was and what she was capable of that looking back on herself before that night felt like thinking about someone she'd known a long time ago. Her hope was that Janie would have a similar experience. She watched Janie's straight back and prim steps as the slender brunette crossed the lounge toward the bar. She was already doing better than Tonya had done. Apparently walking like a schoolmarm translated well to brothel work. She was distracted by a young man approaching. She met his eyes and smiled. It was time to work.

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Caine did a double take. Not long ago Janie had looked, and smelled, like someone who'd been dragged through a gutter. Now she was one of the most stunningly alluring sights Caine had ever seen. From him, who'd spent years working at Mary's, that was saying quite a lot. "You clean up nice," he said.

Janie was wearing too much makeup for her blush to show, but her eyes flicked down self-consciously. "Thank you. I feel like I'm being stared at."

"You are," Caine agreed. "I count five men and two women eyeing you like they're interested. There's a few others who look curious, but it might just be because you're new."

"You didn't even look around," Janie said incredulously.

"Sure I did. You can take a look and check my numbers if you want." Caine's eyes were the only things that gave away his mirth.

"No. I think I'll just sit here with you and try to ignore them, if you don't mind," Janie said carefully sliding into the seat next to him.

"Want a drink?" Caine asked.

"Yes, but I'm not sure I should," Janie said, she folded her hands on the counter to keep them from trembling.

"Rum, wine, or ale?" Caine asked.

"Wine?" she asked with a small shrug.

"Jewel, one for her. Put it on my tab," Caine said to the blond bartender.

Jewel handed a patron a mug full of ale and gave Caine a surprised look. "Since when do you have a tab?"

"Since now," Caine shrugged.

The bartender laughed and poured Janie a glass of wine. "He doesn't buy girls drinks often. What makes you special?" she asked. She sounded more amused than judgemental.

"I don't know," Janie said, not sure how to respond.

"Wrong answer," Jewel said. "Around here, everyone has something that makes them special. Sometimes it's all made up, but it's something to say. What's your thing?"

"I... can usually tell what people want," Jaine said after a moment.

"Around here, that's going to be pretty obvious," Jewel smirked. "Good answer though. Just the right amount of mysterious." At the other side of the bar a patron raised his cup. Jewel slid away to get back to work.

"I have never thought of myself as mysterious before," Janie mused, not sure what to do with that idea.

"The girl I met earlier tonight might not have been, but the one sitting next to me now sure is," Caine said. "The whole outfit sells it. Combine that with the way you walk and sound, and I think you're going to have a lot of people wondering."

"The way I walk? And sound?"

"Proper. The accent tells people you're educated and not low class, and you walk like you spent a lot of time learning how." Caine explained. "I'm betting you had someone who used to make you balance books on your head or something? A governess?"

"My mother. She was a tyrant about posture and proper diction," Janie nodded, surprised at how astute Caine's observations were.

"It shows. Lots of people are going to wonder what a girl like you is doing in a place like this. Better come up with an answer," Caine took a pull off his mug.

"I can't exactly tell them the truth," Jaine swirled her wine in her glass, staring at it while she thought.

"Nope."

"I was excommunicated," Janie smiled. "A priestess, thrown out of the church for unlawful carnality."

Caine choked on his ale, suddenly taken by a fit of coughing. When it passed he looked at Janie with a judging intensity that reminded her a lot of Prelate Alexandra. She shrank back a bit, suddenly second guessing her recent flippancy toward the church. After a few moments he took a deep breath and started chuckling. "Perfect. That explains everything."

"What... what was the look for?" she asked.

"Just had to figure out what you want," Caine shrugged.

Her eyes widened. Afraid of blowing her cover she whispered "You're magistrate too!"

"Was, yeah. I'm under cover, same as you." His eyes scanned up and down her figure. "Well, maybe not quite the same."

She blushed as he looked at her but smiled again, wider this time, thinking of all the ways she could play the role. The knot of anxiety in her chest relaxed. Suddenly she was feeling excited. "Sister Evangelina," she said, trying out the name.

Caine gave her an approving nod and raised his tankard. "Pleased to meetcha"

She sipped her wine and met the eyes of a man who'd been watching her from across the bar. He smiled and got up to head her way. Her stomach began fluttering. She took a larger sip and let her inscrutable mask of poise and professionalism settle over her. No one needed to know what she was feeling. She'd spent years perfecting that art. Tonight, she'd put it to the test.

"You're new, ain't you?" the man said next to her.

She slowly turned and looked him up and down. "It is my first night," she answered.

"What do you do?" he asked.

"I seek out sinners," she said with a small smile tinted with cruelty.

"Plenty of those here. What do you do with 'em when you find 'em?" He wagged his eyebrows at her.

"That depends on the sin, and the needs of the sinner. Would you like to confess something?" she asked.

"Lust is a sin, right? I got me a powerful lust," he smirked.

"And are you repentant for it?" she asked.

"Not a bit," he grinned.

"Then for you, I offer punishment," she said coyly.

"What kind of punishment?" the man asked, leaning in closer.

She leaned in too, and whispered in his ear. "The kind that will leave you striped red and aching for release from torment."

"I'm interested," he said, smelling her intoxicating perfume.

"You'll have to offer a tithe," she whispered, tapping the bar with her fingernail.

He rifled through his pockets and deposited a handful of gold coins on the wood. She looked down at them. Inside her heart was racing and her blood was pounding in her ears. Was she really going to do this? What was 'this' anyway? What did she really have planned? On the outside, all she said was "Good enough."

He leaned back against the bar. "Where to?"

"Wait for me here. I'll be back in a few minutes." Janie smiled. Without waiting for a reply she slipped off the bar stool and headed for Tonya's alcove. Just as she approached a flushed looking young man pulled the curtain aside and said "'scuse me" as he slipped past her. Tonya was looking pleased with herself, dabbing at her mouth with a kerchief.

"I have a... client," Janie said.

Tonya laughed. "You work quick!"

"I don't actually want to have sex with him. I want to... well, I want to make him watch, but not touch me or anything," Janie explained.

"Oh, right. Like the stage shows," Tonya nodded.

"What?" Janie asked.

"Nothing. You'll see later," Tonya shrugged. "So you want to get him all worked up watching?"

"Yes," Janie said. "Can I do that?"

"If he knows what he's paying for, then yeah. One of the big rules is that no one gets tricked," Tonya said.

"Alright," Janie said. "Uh... Will you... I'm not sure how to ask this. Will you help me? To make sure I don't botch it up?"

"You want me to help you tease a guy?" Tonya raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I suppose so."

"Teasing isn't really my specialty. I'm more of a sure thing," Tonya chuckled to herself. "I suppose I could use the practice though. Sure. What do you need me to do?"

"Just, obey me, I guess," Janie said nervously.

"Alright. I can follow your lead. What's the scene?" Tonya asked.

"Scene?" Janie countered, confused.

"The fantasy. What will we be playing out?" Tonya clarified.

"Oh, I see," Janie said, thinking for a moment. "Sister Evangelina and her Acolyte will be taking the confession of a sinner, and punishing him for his wickedness."

"Damn, girl. You don't start slow, do you? That sounds sexy," Tonya grinned.

"Can you... can you take your clothes off?" Janie asked, ideas coming quickly into her mind. "And set a chair right here behind the curtain, then just stand in front of the table here."

Tonya laughed. "I'm liking the sound of this already." She started taking off her dress.

"Thank you so much," Janie said. "I'll be right back. I... I'll probably be acting differently."

"You're full of surprises, Evangelina," Tonya said, tucking her dress away in a small lock box.

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Bella walked the color-drained halls of Merry Mary's navigating by memory, only able to see what was behind her reflection in the mirror. She was headed up the stairs from the baths, then through the bed chambers, and finally into the Lounge. She was almost there. Suddenly she was nearly blinded. She managed not to flinch away from the light. It was like she'd suddenly caught the reflection of the sun in her mirror.

"What the hells" she muttered. She adjusted a bit, turning just enough that the source of the glare was over her shoulder.

It was a figure at the bar. A man. She could make out his broad shoulders muscular back. He looked like he was naked, a being made of light. He brought a shadowy, indistinct shape to his lips and tipped back his head.

"Caine?" she said out loud, shocked and confused. She'd never seen anyone who showed up in the Ways like that.

The glowing figure spun around and looked straight at her. She locked eyes with him in the mirror. Terror gripped her. She had no idea what was going on. She felt like she was frozen, which was lucky because any wrong move would have broken the ritual.

The brightly glowing figure of Caine walked up behind her, just over her shoulder and looked at her in the mirror for a long moment. Then he moved past her, around to the front. His reflection in the mirror vanished for a moment, then reappeared. She'd expected not to see him anymore, since he was in a place where the mirror couldn't see, but then the mirror reflected the back of his head, as though he was standing in front of her in the captain's cabin, but only visible in the mirror. She could see through him, like her were a ghost make of light. It was hard to concentrate on looking at her own reflection with Caine's glaring light reflected right at her. It was actually brighter in the room she stood in now. She had no idea how that was possible.

"Bella? Is that you?" Caine's voice asked. He sounded muffled, like he was under water, or talking through a pillow.

"Yeah, what's going on? Why are you glowing?" she asked.

"I just do. How'd you get through my wards? I didn't feel them break," Caine's voice asked.

"Those are yours? Why?" Bella was having a hard time wrapping her head around the idea that Caine, Mary's drunken bouncer, had put up rare and powerful wards on a brothel.

"I have my reasons. Now how'd you get through them?" Caine asked again.

"The baths. There's an escape tunnel down there. It's behind the towel shelves. Can you please not lock me out? It was hard to do this, and I don't want it to be for nothing," Bella pleaded.

"Go ahead and finish what you're doing, I'll make sure I don't sever your pathway when I ward up that escape route," Caine said. "What are you doing anyway?"

"I need to talk to Tonya," Bella explained.

"Oh, right. That makes sense. Gotta continue her education while you're gone. Smart," Caine nodded.

"I've been at it for a while now and I'm really flagging, so I have to go. I'll talk to you later, alright?" Bella said.

"Yeah. I hear cutting a path like that is hard work. Do your thing," The back of Caine's head nodded and then slipped out of the reflection. A moment later he reappeared in the reflection behind her, headed back to his bar stool.

She breathed a sigh of relief as the glare died down. Moving forward again, she passed through the rest of the lounge to where she knew her alcove would be. Now was the risky part. If Tonya had moved her mirror, Bella was going to have a bad night. She took a deep breath, standing directly in front of where she was fairly certain the mirror in her alcove was.

"In my name and by my power,

with the blessing of the Traveler,

I have found what is mine."

She released the ritual energy she'd been holding, establishing a bridge between where she was and the mirror in the alcove. It was like a ripple in a pond traveling across the surface of the mirror.

"Show me."

Color bled in from the edges of the frame, erasing the reflection of the cabin and replacing it with a view of the alcove, like the mirror had become a window. She didn't even have time to enjoy the feeling of release as the ritual completed. She sat back on the bed with a sigh, but then her brows climbed up her forehead. She giggled. "Oh my."

She saw Janie, dressed in her bustier and stockings, with a lacy veil across her face. She had her arms around Tonya's neck and was kissing her passionately.