Page 22 of A Most Abhorrent Vessel

I breathe.

I look.

I lie.

When I close my eyes, darkness does not surround me. Even my lids have given up their purpose.

I am but wasted noise. Nothing but a bale. Am I even a man? Or merely a pile of linen forgotten on this bed?

Voices pull me from sleep’s embrace. I sit up, startled and confused. Night must have fallen because darkness surrounds me. An orange beam crawls along a wooden floor. A streak of yellow cuts across an armoire, one half caressing a door.

I remember now. My room. I must still be alive, but—

“It’s unseemly. Unprecedented,” a deep voice murmurs.

“It’s been four days. Unseemly doesn’t matter anymore,” a lighter one answers.

“But I’ve sworn to–”

A woman’s voice interrupts. “He might be hurt, Vivian, or worse.”

“Very well then,” the other says.

I hear the rattling of metal. Before I can react, a key falls to the floor. The door unlocks from the outside. It opens slowly until I see Godfrey’s head peaking through the crack. Behind him stands Geneva Tully, eyebrows furrowed. When the door opens fully, they turn on the light and step into the room.

“How can this be?” she says. “He can’t be gone.”

Godfrey walks to the window and looks outside.

How did they not see me? Suddenly, it all comes back to me. The book. The potions. My body.

Godfrey leaves for the bathroom but returns mere seconds later. “It’s ruined.” He sounds so strange, not at all composed.

“Pardon?”

“Come see.” He gestures for Mrs. Tully to follow him.

“Blast!” she says.

Godfrey clears his throat. He must be uncomfortable hearing such expressions.

“You think he did it himself?”

“He must have. No one was here. The windows are tightly locked. He isn’t the type, but…” He doesn’t finish the sentence.

“What must have driven him to do such a thing? What secrets must he have?” she says with concern in her voice.

Returning to the bedroom, they open the armoire, and finding nothing but ordinary garments, they leave to search the study. I carefully sit up and watch the entire scene from my bed.

They truly could not see me.

The words from inside the study are unintelligible until they move, and I hear them once more.

“Could he have left?” Geneva asks.

“Perhaps, though he’s never eluded me before,” Godfrey responds.

When they return, Mrs. Tully continues, “And you said he left four days ago?”