Buried Secrets

Jackie tugged at the edge of her uncomfortable red dress. She

couldn’t understand why any woman would voluntarily wear these, the only thing they were good for was creating a large bonfire if you asked her. 

The festivities engulfed her; people dancing, musicians playing, flowers decking every available space. It was almost giving her a headache just standing there. Jackie glanced over at Constance, who was also in an elaborate dress and appeared to be as uncomfortable as she was. But their discomfort wasn’t for nothing, the haul if this turned out well would be invaluable. 

The game plan was fairly simple, they would hang around until the speech started and then sneak down to the vaults underneath the building. They’d find their loot and be out before anyone even noticed the valuables were missing. The vaults weren’t quite what one might expect though, it was more of a heavily guarded showcase of unique items and valuable jewelry. 

“Ms. Dove, I presume?” A man around his late thirties, dressed in gentlemen’s attire approached her, seeming to materialize out of the crowd. “It’s nice to finally make your acquaintance. I’ve read your book, the breakthroughs you’ve made in the medical world are … breathtaking.”

He reached out his hand, and Jackie knew exactly what he was waiting for. Though she dreaded it with every bone in her body, she didn’t really have much of a choice. So she placed her hand in his, and he gave it a wet kiss that made Jackie inwardly writhe. 

“Thank you…” Jackie trailed off, waiting for his name. 

“ Mr. Reed.” The man supplied quickly, “Let me show you around. It would be my pleasure to introduce you to some of my acquaintances.” 

Unfortunately, his offer wasn’t one Jackie could afford to refuse. If he had even a hint of doubt that she wasn’t who she said she was, she would be in big trouble. 

So instead she said, in her sweetest voice mind you, “That would be wonderful, Mr. Reed. Thank you.” 

He grinned and Jackie once again felt shivers crawl down her spine. His smile reminded her of a slimy frog. 

Mr. Reed walked to her side and put his arm around her waist, something that took all of Jackie's self control not to pull away from. But she managed it, that is until said hand started venturing a bit too low down her back. 

In a second her small dagger had been unsheathed from her leg and was now pressed against Mr. Reed's back. 

“Try that again and I’ll kill you.” She hissed at him through her teeth, so quiet no one other than he could hear,  “now pretend to be showing me around.”

This wasn’t quite how the night was supposed to go, but she’d have to roll with it. She took the first step forward and with a little more pressure applied to his back Mr. Reed followed, his eyes wide with fear. 

“Are you ok? You look a bit sick, dear.” She exclaimed when she noticed a guest studying the now sweating man. “Come, let's take you to the bathroom and get you a cold towel.” 

Jackie steered him through the room of people, pretending to fan the man slightly with her free hand and plastering a concerned look onto her face. She soon guided him into a room that was most definitely not the bathroom, but revealed itself to be a storage closet when she yanked the door open and shoved Mr. Reed inside. She quietly shut the door behind her, keeping her dagger at his throat to prevent even the thought of crying out.

“Who-o are you?” Mr. Reed asked her, his voice shaking so bad that the words were barely recognizable.

Jackie only hissed, “Shhhhh-” in response, not bothering to acknowledge his question.

She quickly grabbed a length of rope that was hung on the wall, which she assumed was used by the cleaning servants for some mundane task, and started tying the man’s hands together behind his back.

His whole body was trembling, which only made her smirk widen. 

“Please-”, he whimpered to her, though she wasn’t ever sure what he was pleading for. 

“Just let me go, I won’t tell anyone. I-I… I’ll go directly home!” His voice started rising with hysteria.

At once, Jackie’s dagger was at his throat again; silencing him immediately. 

“One more word and I’ll slit your throat.” She hissed through her teeth into his ear. 

His body went rigid but he didn’t make another sound. Jackie finished tying the knots on his wrists as well as his ankles quickly. She stepped back, surveying her handy work.

“Oh yeah, one more thing.” She murmured, and Mr. Reed's eyes widened in fear. 

She reached down to the bottom of her dress, grabbing the inner layer and putting one edge in her teeth and the other in one hand. Then she flashed her knife away from Reed's throat making sure to give it a little flip over her fingers, which he gave a soft whimper in response, and made several swift cuts through the soft fabric.

Soon she was holding a severed section about the length of her arm. With another twist of her fingers, she threw the dagger into the air before catching and slipping it into the holster tied to her leg where it was hidden beneath the folds of her dress. 

Jackie could see the gears spinning in Reed’s head as he saw his opportunity, but he was much too late to do anything. She stepped forward and put the length of fabric in his mouth, roughly tying it behind his head to keep it in place. 

She stepped back again, leaning against the wall and staring the man down. He seemed to be in shock, his eyes still wide and his pupil dilated in fear. 

“Now Mr.-” She paused as if trying to remember, “Reed, right? I suggest you stay quiet and not make me come back in here, and you’ll be fine.” She examined her nails nonchalantly, “That make sense, mate?”

“Cause I think you know what’ll happen if you make me come back.” Jackie lifted up the side of her dress, once again showing Mr. Reed her dagger. 

She could see his adam's apple bob up and down as he swallowed hard, but he nodded nonetheless. Jackie grinned at him, her golden eyes glinting in the dim light filtering in from under the door. She carefully turned the doorknob, trying to avoid the squeaking cries of metal that desperately needed oiling; and slipped out back into the gala. 

She gracefully navigated the crowd, retrieving a glass of fancy looking champagne, and rematerializing at Connie’s side. 

“I don’t know about you, but I’d take rum any day.”Jackie said quietly, swirling the champagne in her glass. Connie jerked slightly at her sudden appearance, obviously on edge. 

Jackie nudged her, disguising it as brushing past her. Connie grinned at her, but Jackie could see the nerves pulling her smile a bit too tight. Her eyes had a slightly red tint, another tall-tell sign of her anxiety. 

“Take a couple of deep breaths.” Jackie said under her breath, “You need to loosen up a bit.”

Connie’s eye twitched slightly, and Jackie could practically hear the bitting response she desperately wanted to retort; It’s not quite that easy, Jackie, or at least not for those of us with our heads on straight. 

There was a rustle through the crowd as a small man climbed onto a stage that neither Jackie nor Connie were able to see. Not that they needed to, they would disappear as soon as the duke started his ceaselessly dull speech. 

“Attention! Attention!!”, the man's squeaky voice rang out through the room. When the people hushed, he continued, “Please welcome His Grace, The Duke of Goldbloom!” 

Almost as soon as the small man finished his announcement, another voice joined in; this one most definitely the Duke. His voice was deep, especially compared to the announcer, and thick in a way that reminded Jackie of spoiled milk. 

“I’d like to first begin by thanking you all for coming to this wonderful gala. It’s such a pleasure-”

Jackie had already tuned out his monotonal droning. She looked at Connie again as a spark of excitement shivered through her bones. It was time to start. 

Connie didn’t look anywhere near excited as she made eye contact with Jackie, but she nodded at her nonetheless. Her eyes had turned an even richer shade of red, a sign of the rushing blood pumping through her veins at the anticipation of what they were about to do. 

It was kind of funny, Jackie thought. Connie would be game to take on another pirate crew any day of the week, but she seemed very unsure about this particular mission. Jackie couldn’t quite understand why, her best guess was it was due to the unfamiliarity of it. 

Jackie started walking, keeping to the back of the room to avoid most of the crowd. She just had to make it out of the ballroom, then she would meet Orcus, Meko, and Attie in the far stairway. It almost went to plan, that is until someone grabbed her wrist.

“Mrs. Dove!” The man spoke like they were old friends. “Your book, it’s-it’s incredible!” 

He had glasses perched on the edge of his nose, which he adjusted with his left hand. He had a slim figure with very little garnishes to show off his wealth; which seemed out of place in this room full of plump men, flashing gold whenever they could, and whose only hobby was smoking expensive cigars and bragging about their wealth. 

“I’ve read through it several times, and the experiments you ran, it’s ingenious!” The man rushed through the words like at any moment Jackie might disappear. 

“It’s such a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He finally released her wrist, and did a small bow. 

If only the real Mrs. Dove could’ve met this man, she and him would’ve gotten along brilliantly.  Unfortunately she was currently tied to a chair in Jackies quarters on the Evertide, so that wasn’t going to be happening anytime soon.

“Oh, thank you very much, Sir.” She put on a flustered voice, trying to appear flattered by his words. It seemed to work, as his face split into an even larger grin. 

“I was actually wanting to talk to you about your theories! You see, I’m a doctor and would love to run some ideas by you. Like-”

Jackie cut him off quickly, realizing that she was far out of her depth. 

“I’d love to! Though if you’d excuse me to use the ladies room first, I’d be much obliged.” She told him, giving him the softest smile she could muster. 

“Come find me later, Mr…”

“Jackson! Doctor Jackson, physician of the royal court, at your service.”

Jackie put on another gentle smile and did a quick curtsy, picking up the edges of her red dress with a flourish. Then quickly turned around before Doctor Jackson could start running his mouth again. 

The rest of the way through the ballroom was no struggle, and soon she was leaning against the wall in the designated stairwell. None of her team were there yet; lazy picaroons, we can’t afford to waste time and they know it. Jackie frowned, they didn’t have time for this. 

Connie showed up first, having exited the ballroom from the opposite entrance after several minutes of Jackie’s disappearance to avoid suspicion. She also looked around in distaste, her frown deepening when she noticed that the rest of the crew hadn’t shown up. She didn’t talk to Jackie, instead leaning on the wall across from her and crossing her arms. 

Connie’s dress was a dark jade green, covered with frills that she couldn’t seem to let be. Unlike most of the girls, both Jackie and Connie were wearing sparse jewelry. Connie had a bracelet made of twine from the ships ropes and shells she had found herself. Far from the gold chains most of the lasses were wearing. If someone was paying close enough attention, it could be a problem, but everyone was too busy trying to get everyone else's attention that she could probably grow tentacles and no one would notice. 

Jackie internally growled, fighting to keep an indifferent look on her face. If they don't get here soon, I’m going to drag them in here myself, the useless seasnails. And that would be far less pleasant for all parties involved. Well most of the parties involved. 

She was starting to push off the wall when the three missing crew members flew around the corner. Orcus almost ran straight into Connie, but quickly started back peddling with his hands up when she started to advance angrily. 

The three of them were a mess. Meko was covered with some kind of orange soup, which was still dripping down the front of her white apron. Attie, on the other hand, had carrot shavings caught in her hair and smelled strongly of lemon. The only one still clean was Orcus, who Attie now had by the hair and was brandishing a knife at his throat.

“Pleeeease let me kill him,” She begged, her voice shuddering slightly. “Just a little bit? A little tiny bit?”

Jackie ignored her, instead standing up straight and taking a step towards them. 

“You jellyfish-brained swabs, where were you, aye? We’ll be dancing with Jack Ketch and you guys’ll still be having a jolly good time in the kitchens.” She hissed at them, taking another step towards the frozen trio. Jackie was very aware that Connie had taken a quick step backwards.

“Sorry Capt’n.” Meko said, swiftly apologizing in the face of Jackie's anger. 

“I should’a been out there with you!” Attie whined to Jackie, still holding Orcus in place, though her knife had dropped to her side. 

“Not in there with this knave running around like a fish without a tail.” She snarled as she tightened her grip on Orcus’s hair, and the knife came speeding back towards his throat. 

Jackie caught Attie's hand before she could puncture his jugular; though not before Orcus had let out a soft yelp several octaves higher than his usual voice. Jackie removed him from Attie’s grasp, placing him several feet to the side before turning around and storming down the stairwell. 

“Com'on lubbers, what are you waiting for? An invitation?” She growled, and her crew quickly rushed to follow her down the descending staircase.  

Connie rejoined her at her side, though didn’t say a word. 

It didn’t take the crew long to reach the second floor, and just like they’d been expecting, it was heavily guarded. They were let in the first door swiftly, the guards didn’t even stop to examine their faces; particularly the one that appeared to be losing terribly. Or at least Jackie assumed by the splay of cards accidentally left face up on the table. 

The set of doors was followed by a long hallway; doorways branching off every couple of feet, leading to more rooms of lush carpet. Everything was lavish, and the golden look was only increased by the yellow light shed by the candles on the walls, which she supposed was exactly what they were going for. The golden door knobs looked like melting gold as the light glinted off of them. 

And this is what they do with it. It made Jackie mad to see it. It’s not as if she didn’t know it was happening all along, but seeing it laid out in front of her unabashedly made her seethe. The peasants sell off their children to pay their dues, and this is how they live. 

She hadn’t realized she’d stopped until Connie softly put her hand on her shoulder. The rest of her crew was waiting for her to guide them, now wasn’t the time for childhood grudges. 

Jackie started moving forward again, glancing down each golden hallway as she moved down the hall. It took her a second, but she found the doorway that led to the jewelry display.

Inside she could see wooden table after wooden table lined up with lanterns lining the edge. While she couldn’t quite make out the figures of the jewelry, she knew exactly what it was. 

“Hello Ma’am.” A lanky man appeared from the side. “Welcome. Is there anything in particular I can help you with?”

He towered over Jackie, even out matching Orcuses hight. Despite this, he was exceedingly frail; he had a patch of poofy white hair on the very top of his head and a light pair of glasses perched on his pointy nose. His spindly fingers were graceful, undoubtedly skilled after years of mending and cleaning precious jewels. He would pose no threat to Jackie and her crew, a strong breeze could knock this man to the ground. 

“Thank you, Sir. Though I do believe that we are good.” She told him quietly. “I’ll know it when I find it.” She trailed off, and the man cocked his head slightly, but stepped back to his desk to continue his work without further questions.

She was sure it looked strange to him; two ladies dressed in ball apparel, and then another two and a boy in what appeared to be servants' rags. But Jackie was sure that he’d seen odder. He’d hopefully just assume that Attie and Meko were her and Connie's handmaids, and Orcus was a guard sent by another to escort them. 

Jackie started to peruse the long aisle, examining the glowing jewels as she slowly walked past. Though she kept a closer eye on any sticky hands that might take a gander at making one disappear; she trusted her crew with her life, but valuables were a slightly different story. The thought made the edges of her lips pull upwards towards a small smirk. 

Though it quickly disappeared as she continued examining the jewels. A single one of these elaborate glinting rocks could feed a village for half of a year, probably more. And she would bet on her next bottle of rum that they were kept in storage until the next big party, forgotten and collecting dust. She couldn’t blame her crew for the urge to steal one, the Duke would never know it was gone. 

But she was after a much greater treasure than any one jewel. If she could pull this off, her and her crew would be set for life. 

Jackie picked up her pace, making her way to the larger, more secure cases at the very end. Inside were the more valuable jewelry; rubies the size of her hand, a helmet covered almost entirely in glinting emerald, a ring with a huge diamond that was probably as heavy as a small bird.

Her crew looked surprised as Jackie quickly passed these outrageous shows of riches. She…may not have told them the entire story. They only knew they were here to retrieve an extremely valuable gem, only her and Nymph knew exactly what this gem was. Jackie had been worried that her crew wouldn’t have been as thrilled if they had known the true goal. 

Jackie stopped short as a glint of yellow caught her eye. She took a couple of steps back, stopping in front of a case that displayed a single amber pendant. It seemed drab compared to the rest of the glinting gems, but she knew it was worth more than all the jewels in this room combined. 

The case around it showed that the Duke had a small inkling of what it was, but if he knew its true purpose, it wouldn’t have left his sight. The large teardrop shape cast a red-gold reflection on the table in front of it, glowing like liquid fire.

Connie caught Jackie's eye, a questioning look in her tense eyes. Jackie dipped her head in an almost indistinguishable nod, confirming her question. Now to get it out of here without being noticed.

The only security personnel stood at the door, a poor choice if Jackie did say so herself, but she assumed the Duke wanted his guests to feel trusted. The only other pair of eyes was the frail old man with his nose buried in his work. 

She quickly formulated a plan, motioning to Orcus to move so he was standing between the jeweler and her, blocking his view. He didn’t seem to be looking, so the slight movement didn’t raise any suspicion. Then Jackie set to work on the only thing keeping the heavy glass box locked to the wooden stand, a simple padlock. The heavy metal chunk was old and barely holding itself together; picking it was as easy as untying a simple sailors knot and the cold cast iron was in Jackie’s palm before Orcus could look twice. 

She gently set the lock down on the table, and reached for the glass case. It was cool beneath her fingers as she lightly placed her hands on each side. She took a quick glance at the guards before slowly and carefully lifting the glass straight up.

It came off without any issues and Jackie couldn’t help but let out a soft breath. Then she carefully shifted to hand it to Orcus, who was nervously bouncing on the balls of his feet. He took it from her, not nearly as carefully as she would’ve liked, but managed to keep it in his hands. 

Jackie turned back to the shining amber necklace, reaching her hands out once again and slowly removing it from its meticulous display. It felt light in her hands, not nearly as heavy as appearances would have you believe. She wrapped its solid silver chain around her palm, letting the pendant dangle in the dim lighting.

Jackie didn’t even have time to examine the red-yellow gem before she felt Orcus suddenly tense.

Crash

The glass case collided with the ground and shattered into a million glittering pieces. Everyone in the crew jumped backwards, away from the flying shards. All eyes were on them, and it didn’t take long for the old jewelry to identify the glowing amber in Jackie's hand.

“Hey!” He yelled, panic rushing his words. “Guards, th-their stealing! Stop them!” 

The men at the door had already started advancing towards the frozen crew. It didn’t take any of Jackie's people long to react though; small daggers appeared in each of Connie's hands, Atties short sword flashed as she drew it from the folds of her clothes, and Meko followed suit, a sword similar to Atties gripped tightly in her left hand. Orcus was the last to react, but his long silver fish knife was in his hand within seconds. 

The guards stopped several feet away from the group, hesitant to attack after seeing the array of glinting weapons. But Connie didn’t give them a chance to reconsider, she lunged at the nearest of the three. And Jackie knew that he’d found her dagger nested in his gut before he’d even hit the floor. 

From there, chaos ensued. The two remaining guards didn’t stand even the slightest of chances, they were dispatched before they could even think about calling for help. Jackie didn’t join the sprawl of limbs, instead sliding over a table, knocking several extremely valuable jewels to the ground in the process, and making her way swiftly to the jeweler. He was inching along the wall, his whole body trembling with fear, as he tried to escape out the door. He’d almost made it, but Jackie caught his coat from behind and yanked him back into her arms. Her dagger appeared in her hand as she threw him back into his chair.

“I’d stay right there if I were you.” She told him quietly. 

Her statement was met with silence, the man seemed frozen in place. 

“Stay quiet and you’ll be fine. Don’t and… well.” Jackie examined her blade. “I’m afraid you won’t be quite so fine.” 

She didn’t have time for more, let alone a gag. Her team had finished with the guards and were ready to scat. They’d made enough noise that she was sure a guard would eventually come to investigate and they had to be gone when that time came. She’d just have to hope that this man would stay quiet for long enough for them to make it a reasonable distance. 

Jackie gave his chair a slight push away from her with her foot, nodding to her crew as she quickly stepped back into the hallway they’d come from.

She’d only gotten a couple of feet before another guard poked his head out of a different doorway. He looked curious but not concerned, Jackie could only assume he must’ve heard the noise. Jackie gave him a soft smile and he nodded back at her, though he gave a strange look to the band of people following behind her. After they’d passed, Jackie was very aware that he left his post, heading towards the jewelry room. 

So much for stealth, they had to hurry and skedaddle. While she was sure her crew could take care of themselves if more guards were summoned, Jackie would rather not risk it. 

As soon as the guard pushed open the doors, Jackie broke into a full run, racing down the hall and bursting out the front doors. The first set of guards, who were still playing their card game, jumped to their feet but didn't pursue Jackie and her crew as they flew down the stairs.

The five of them raced down the stairs, the floral wallpaper whirling past them in a dizzying whirlwind. They’d barely made it to the base of the stairs on the ground floor when they’d heard a loud yell. 

Ah, and now the trouble begins. Jackie couldn’t help but give a slight grin as the air rushed through her hair. The adrenaline high was like nothing else, something she wouldn’t deny that she liked. She could hear the frantic pounding of feet as a large group of guards raced to catch up with them. They wouldn’t manage it though, Jackie and her group were too far ahead, a fact that only made Jackie's smirk widen.

She flung the front doors of the mansion open, racing out into the stuffy summer air. Jackie could hear more shouts as the men in pursuit finally reached the end of the stairs and spotted them. But she was already racing down the street, the dirty cobblestone pressing against the soles of her feet and the amber pendant tucked tightly in her palm. 

She’d lose the guards in the maze of dirty streets that made up the town, they’d have no idea where she and her crew went. All she had to do now was run. 

---

“Did you get it?” The feminine voice was soft despite harboring a sort of raw undertone.

Jackie nodded at Nymph, a grin splitting her lips. She reached into the pouch she held in her left hand, pulling out the glowing figure of the amber pendant. Now it was Nymphs' turn to smile. She reached out, fingering the soft shape, her hand casting shadows in the candle light. 

“Brilliant.” The words trailed off in a whisper as Nymph carefully took the necklace from Jackie. The translucent amber seemed to turn her light brown skin to honey, melting into her palm in the shadows. 

Nymph looked at Jackie, her inverted eyes seeming to glow in the darkness and her smile widening as she reached for her small magnifying glass. It was covered with dried black ink, which Jackie knew was from her nightly hobby: drawing star maps. 

She set the amber on the table in front of the candle and placed the glass over it. Examining the small pieces of black that resided in it, she moved it slowly from side to side, before rotating it to the back. When she had carefully looked at every angle she looked back up at Jackie.

“I…think I know what to do.” She said slowly, her eyes back on the pendant.

Jackie watched Nymph excitedly as she carefully picked the necklace up from the wooden table. She proceeded to dangle the pendant directly in front of the candle light. 

At first Jackie didn’t see anything but the red-gold light that was now being cast on the wall of Nymph's cabin, but as she got used to the slightly darker tint she started to see shapes. They looked like a splash of small shadows, scattered across the teardrop shaped reflection. But when Nymph shifted the jewel slightly, they all came into focus. It still took Jackie a second to recognize it, but when she did it hit her like lightning. 

He hadn’t lied! The myths were right!

Jackie reached her hand forward, slowly tracing the lines and islands of the projected map.