The Immortalia

If You Can't Beat Them

Tavie Forbes got up earlier than normal. The shop was dead and quiet like the streets and the town outside. Everything was black and still, and no light came through the drapes over the windows, which probably meant that the sky was overcast and not even the moon could peep through.

Tavie could see her breath in front of her face as she lit a lantern. She dressed as quickly as she could in thick woolen stockings, corset, trousers under her petticoats and winter dress. She wrapped her blue and green plaid shawl around her shoulders and fastened it with a kilt pin. She piled her hair haphazardly on her head, and went to light the fire in the shop and put the kettle on.

It was the fourteenth day since the pirates had blown into her shop – the pirates of the Wide West that is. Why was it always pirates? She hadn't been able to get away from them since she had gone back to live with her father, and she was beginning to wonder if she ever would.

These pirates were infinitely less deplorable than those of Sydney Slater's crew, however. And infinitely different. These were immortals just like her – or at least, two of them were. She hadn't had much of a chance to get to know Dominique Elliot, but from what she could tell, she was a decent girl whose unfortunate upbringing had turned her into what she was, but Tavie decided that she liked her anyway. Miss Elliot clearly cared about her brothers, and Tavie had compassion for her, knowing what she was going through with the Stop. There was nothing she could do to help her, at this point, however. The pirates would leave as soon as the Beta was finished, and Tavie would (Lord willing) not see them again for many years. By that time the Elliot girl would have adjusted to her new life. Tavie simply had no time to get to know her.

The only reason she had gotten to know Sébastien Elliot was because he had volunteered to keep her from running away. Ignorant fools, she thought. At this point they should know that whatever choice Tavie made, bad things would happen. They had backed her into this corner, and even if they let her go, she still had nowhere to go. They were in no danger of having her run off at this point. All the same, Tavie had come to expect and even enjoy the company of Sébastien. He was quiet and even-keeled, and the utter antithesis of his brother Léon. Tavie didn't want to think about Léon. While she had to admit that he wasn't worth the hate she had initially felt in her heart, upon realizing she had been tricked, he was exactly the type of personality she clashed with. He was brazen and aloof and utterly narcissistic, and all of those things combined automatically made her want to push him down a well.

Sébastien, on the other hand, was quiet and respectful and listened when she spoke. He seemed genuinely interested in learning about the automatons, and Tavie had come to feel almost responsible for his future. Being a man who would still have a large amount of pride, she would never be able to tell him that, but he was still a baby, and she had so much more life experience under her belt. The Elliots were at a critical point in their transitions. They were going through the hardest part of coming to terms with the way life was, and since Sébastien was the one she had been able to get to know for the last two weeks, she suddenly felt invested in his well-being.

Tavie frowned as she took the kettle of boiling water off the fire and made her tea. She didn't like the idea of feeling attached to the Elliot boy this quickly. He had been almost as much of the problem as his brother had been, but then again, Sébastien had just been following orders. Why was she so upset with them anyway? They didn't care about her father. They were looking out for each other – like a real family, and like she was trying to do with her father. Their goals were just in a direction opposition of each other.

But things were about to change. For the better or the worse, the Elliots had set something in motion that was now out of even Tavie's hands. All she could do was follow her gut and see things to the end – whatever end that might be.