Queen of Darkness

I walked until I found Jonathan sitting at a table playing poker, he was surrounded by four different American men. The atmosphere was crowded and full of cigar smoke. However, I knew this was the place to be if I wanted to be around people. It was a relatively small part of the boat but it was the only place where those who wanted company went, while there were three decks that could be occupied, I felt safer here. I was itching to get a drink, there was a bar further past the groups, a bit gaudy for my taste, it had a mirror behind the bartender and faux gold inlay in the design where the bottles of liquor sat. The bartender was assisting an exuberant couple probably here on their honeymoon, I assumed. I waited patiently refusing to sit on the stools provided. The girl from my visions was getting in my head, I watched my reflection in the mirror scared to see what she was doing this time. I listened to the Americans conversation to distract myself from the reflection.

"Quit playing with your glasses and cut the deck, would you Burns?" One asked his colleague who clearly needed his glasses to see. My reflection smiled wickedly in the mirror back at me.

"Without my glasses, I can't see the deck to cut it, can I Dave?" He wittingly replied.

I smiled as I waved the bartender down to order. He smiled at me cleaning the glass in his hands with a towel, waiting for me to speak.

"Old fashioned please" I all but mumbled to him as he nodded I heard my brother join the conversation. I stared down at the wooden bar, following the wood stain patterns with my eyes.

"O'Connell, sit down. Sit down. We could use another player." Jonathan chided Rick, hoping to become friends, I'm sure.

"I only gamble with my life, never my money," Rick said, the words coming from him like an anthem he had. I watched as my drink was mixed with bourbon, sugar, bitters, and water. Happily, the barkeep dropped some cherries in for me. I smiled and thanked him putting some money down on the bar. I took a sip and smiled feeling the cold drink hit my empty stomach. I walked back over to the table where Jonathan sat with Rick standing at his side.

"Never? What if I was to bet you $500 says we get to Hamanuptra before you?" The man with a cigar in his teeth asked my brother.

"You're looking for Hamunaptra?" Rick asked the confusion was clear in his voice for me. However, not to the one he was talking to.

"Damn straight we are." The man persisted.

"And who says we are?" Rick asked.

"He does." All of them said at once, pointing a finger at Jonathan.

"Well how bout it? Is it a bet?" The man asked again. I rolled my eyes.

"All right, you're on," Rick said.

"What makes you so confident sir?" Another pompous fellow pipped up.

"Well, what makes you?" Rick countered.

"We got us a man whose actually been there." The man continued to give away his position. Rick and I both knew how to gamble and win with men like this. Giving information away was the easy part to know what and how to win against them.

"What a coincidence because O'Connell..." Jonathan trailed off as Rick hit him with his pack getting him to shut up.

"Whose play was it? Was it my play? I thought I just..." Jonathan quickly diverted the conversation.

"Gentleman, we got us a wager. Good evening, Jonathan." Rick squeezed Jon's shoulder cracking the bones beneath it.

"Night." I heard Jon say as Rick looked up and saw me standing across from him, sipping my drink. His eyes changed, he knew something was wrong. He rounded the table and took my arm in his leading us to the starboard side of the ship to the promenade where there was no one around. He let go of my arm standing in front of me now.

"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost. One of them?" He asked searching for the answers in my eyes. I looked down feeling the glass beneath my fingers.

"God Rick no, nothing of the sort. Remember what we talked about earlier?" He nodded in response.

"They're getting more frequent, she... She's coming for me. It's the most sinister one I've had, Rick. It's real, and I know it sounds crazy. But I don't know what to do. It's terrifying. I don't know what else to do but wait. Eventually, she will win and there's nothing I can do about it." I gulped down more of the alcohol hoping it would calm the nerves I had. He listened to every word I said, knowing that I was trying to convey the urgency of the situation.

"Okay, do these 'visions' happen around other people?" He asked me putting emphasis on the word visions. I thought back to the museum when Evy checked on me. That's when they began to become more clear.

"Yes, actually Evy walked in when I was having one before. That happened to be one of my first ones. But since then they seem to happen when I'm alone." I told him. He nodded taking in the information.

"Okay, so you cannot be alone. Why don't you go hang out with Jonathan and the other guys?" He asked me trying to find a solution for the moment. I grimaced at the thought but nodded in agreement. He knew I thrived in these types of situations, it's why he always suggests it. But in this instance, I had an inkling that he wanted to go have a conversation with Evy.

"Come find me if anything else happens. Do you have your weapons on you? Something doesn't feel right." He told me looking past the water to the horizon.

"Yes, the ones I can carry," I told him.

"Good, don't leave unless there's trouble." He told me spinning around and walking towards the other end of the boat bag slung over his shoulder. I rolled my eyes knowing he was about to make an ass out of himself. I walked to the rail, it was beautiful, the sun was setting and the colors brushed the sky like a painter, purple, orange, yellow, and blue. I sighed happily feeling the last rays of the sun as the moon took over the sky.

I opened my eyes turning back toward the crowd. The conversation had lulled a bit and I noticed Jonathan's eyes on me. He waved me over after his initial interaction with Rick I was sure he was trying again with the other O'Connell.

"So miss are you comparable to your brother?" He asked me.

"No, in this instance I also gamble with my money. I do prefer to do it with my life but well the circumstances have not called for that yet." I replied to him.

"Is one O'Connell as good as the other?" He asked. I smiled and laughed setting my glass down near the empty chair.

"$100 says I am." I threw the money down on the table. Jonathan's eyes brightened at the competition.

"I'll take that wager." He laughed and dealt me in. I slowly pulled the cards towards me on the table. I had a nine of spades and a queen of spades. The cards laid in the middle were an eight of spades, an ace of spades, and a jack of spades. 'All spades?' I asked myself making sure my expression didn't show the surprise I was feeling.

"So where'd you learn to play?" A blonde-haired man asked with a toothpick sticking out of his mouth. He sat to my right, with a gigantic scarf around his neck. I assumed he wanted to be a cowboy.

"When I was in orphanage in Cairo, there wasn't much to do as a child. So for fun, we taught ourselves to play with the help of an adult who knew the rules." I replied to him, watching him closely and examining his reaction to the story I was telling. This seemed to surprise him.

"Why is that surprising to you?" I asked him.

"Actually it is hard to believe a beautiful woman such as yourself was given up to an orphanage." I laughed, it wasn't that part of the story where he should be feeling uncomfortable it was what came next.

"I assume it wasn't difficult, for the morbid imagination I had. The things I yearned for and saw in my mind." I smiled grimly at him. Calling the hand he had just raised. Jonathan interrupted the story by dealing the cards out, and adding a king of spades to the table. I could tell the entire group was hanging on to the story, they wanted to learn more. We went around the group again calling and folding until it got to the companion I had been talking to. He played with the edges of his cards as he called. I called as well, and Jonathan nodded as he flipped the last card to the table it was a ten of spades.

"So, what, there's a sense of darkness about you that you think your parents couldn't have handled?" He asked stiffing a laugh as if he didn't believe it. I pushed the money I had into the pot.

"I'd bet on it. All in." I told them. Everyone was shocked, the table felt tenser than ever as I turned to Jonathan. He revealed his hand showing three pairs of jacks. The man to my left put his down displaying three pairs of kings. I threw my cards down showing them to the group. A nine and queen of spades.

"Queen of Darkness" the American to my left laughed. The other to his left looked shocked beyond a doubt, and his buddy to the left quickly did the sign of the cross.

"And what sir do I call you? "I smirked happily grabbing the money in the pot.

"Henderson. Isaac Henderson. And yours?" He looked up at me.

"Eris O'Connell, Queen of Darkness," I smirked putting the money in my bag, that's when I heard it, shots ring through the crisp air, I looked to Jonathan suddenly hearing a piercing scream that ripped through my ear drums. I grabbed him by the suspenders he was wearing and crept around the wall where the hallway was to the rooms.

"I know that scream anywhere, it's Evy." Jonathan proclaimed ripping himself from my grip and running down the hallway and up the stairs to their room. I ran behind him, moving with the wall. I grabbed my pistol out of my waistband. Jonathan went barreling into the room when he got there, knocking over a man clutching his eye who then went into the couch that was on fire. I shot at him a couple of times for good measure, getting him in the leg and arm, while Jonathan grabbed what he needed and we ran out of the room. The man was trying to run after us but in his attempts realized his wounds were too much to continue on. The ship was encased in chaos the fire was growing out of control and those who brought horses were getting them out of the stables. There was no place to leave that offered an easy escape. I pushed Jon towards the railing coaxing him to climb down as I watched our backs for the cloaked male. Once Jonathan was firmly on the ground he ran towards the gunshots that we were hearing towards the bow of the boat. I saw Henderson surrounded by his buddies. He briefly stopped to wave at me. I didn't give it a second thought. As I almost ran straight into Jonathan.

"Americans" Jonathan uttered in disdain. I smiled we did enjoy our guns and freedom. But like I had thought before, these are cowboys. The man on fire from before broke through a thin wall to where we were. He hobbled towards the edge of the ship where Jonathan was standing. Henderson fired more shots at him which made him start spinning in a circle, he eventually succumbed and fell overboard.

"I say bloody good show chaps! And did I panic? I think not!" Jonathan said as he tossed the onyx octagon into the air and catching it. A blaze of fire interrupted his thoughts and he jumped overboard, I followed quickly after him. I immediately felt the water soak through my clothes unhappily. I hated being wet. As I surfaced, I saw Jonathan to my left we looked around the river watching the groups of people flop up on the shoreline. I pointed in that direction so Jonathan would know where to swim as I let my body take over. Swimming I was decently good at but it had been a while since I had done it in action. I slowly let my breathing go and concentrated on it. In when surfacing and out under the water. The swim was relatively quick but the water was cold, it was hard not to focus on how my body wanted to keep warm. We waded up on shore slowly while our muscles relaxed finally being on solid land.

"We've lost everything, all of our tools, all of the equipment, all of my clothes!" Evy exclaimed. I rolled my eyes she was becoming a new person in my eyes seeing her in the action. She did not cope well.

"O'Connell!!! Hey O'Connell! It looks to me like I've got all the horses!" I heard a weasley voice from across the river yelling at us.

"Hey, Beni! Looks to me like you're on the wrong side of the river!!" Rick yelled back to him. I looked at him confused.

"Beni shut up!!" I yelled to him already annoyed at his antics. He wouldn't last long with me in this sour mood. The next time I saw him I would hurt him, badly.

"Let's get into town and sort out our roster of things. I'm freezing." Evy exclaimed. We all headed up the bend towards the dimly lit glowing town. Quite the start to an adventure if I said so myself.