by any other name

“SHAPESHIFTER ON BOARD!” I screech, climbing down from the crow’s nest. “MONSTER! MONSTER ON BOARD!”

It’s the dead of night aboard the Roger’s Revenge. The crew begins scrambling around, lighting lanterns and revealing women in nightclothes.

“What’re you going on about, Penelope?”

“Monster?! Where?!”

“I need my beauty sleep, dammit.”

A murmuring crowd begins to gather on deck after all thirty women fully wake up and muster.

First Mate Tillie pushes her way into the front, her short black hair sticking up wildly. She has a hand on the hilt of her sword. “What’s the meaning of this, Miss Penelope?”

“I felt a dark presence, Ma’am, boarding the ship. I consulted the bones- one of us has been taken!”

Many would ignore what I’m saying, dismissing it as superstitious nonsense, but First Mate Tillie and Captain Rogers took me on because I have the Sight.

The door to the Captain’s quarters bursts open, and Captain Iva Rogers steps out. She’s dressed in an intimidating dark black coat over a green silk shirt and black trousers, sword at her side. Her bald head reflects the firelight as she scowls. Tillie immediately moves to stand next to her.

“Explain yourself, Penelope.” Captain Iva commands, and I nod frantically, raising my voice to be heard.

“The monster climbed on board and kidnapped someone, hid them away! Then it became her, stole her memories and face.”

“That’s just a ghost story,” says Abigail dismissively.

“Pen’s been in the grog!” laughs Mabel and I scowl at her.

“What happens after?” Blythe asks nervously. “Once it’s taken someone?”

“What do you think?” First Mate Tillie says dryly, “It fucking kills you. It kills and kills until nobody’s left and then it slinks back into the sea from whence it came.”

“I bet it’s Irene,” Gwen says slyly, putting an arm around Irene who pulls a face at her.

“Irene and I were up talkin,” Ruth protests. “I vouch for her.”

“Well, we were all up on deck,” Sylvia says pointedly, crossing her arms.

“You were still snoring when Pen woke us up, how would you know?”

Sylvia huffs at Mabel. The crowd begins to grow louder, now with accusations and pointed fingers.

First Mate Tillie’s voice sharply cuts through it all. “Miss Penelope. What did you see? Were any of the crew missing?”

“It was onboard before I could check, ma’am,” I say apologetically. Panic begins to ripple through the pirates as they shout and push at each other.

BANG! Everyone quiets as Captain Iva lowers her gun. “Now, now. Enough of that! Till and I have encountered this kind of creature before- tricky bastards. With all the memories of the lady they’ve stolen, we’re going to have to be clever to catch them out.”

First Mate Tillie continues, “Who was awake when Penelope sounded the alarm?”

A few hands raise, and she points at them one by one to tell their story.

Irene and Ruth were talking at the mess table. Maria and Berenice, known lovers on the ship, were in storage ‘hanging out.’ Florence, Lily and Elaine were up playing card games. First Mate Tillie was consulting maps with Rowena.

“The rest of us were asleep on deck or below deck,” says Sabrina afterwards. “And Penelope’s fine, since she sounded the alarm.”

“Unless it’s a trick and she gave the alarm to get suspicion off her,” muses Doc.

“Aye, that’d be pretty clever,” I agree.

“You’re not even going to try and defend yourself?!” Sabrina sounds aghast and I shrug. What can I do against sound logic?

“We need to figure out who this thing is mimicking and kill it. Nobody moves from this spot until it’s dead,” First Mate Tillie says firmly.

“And how are we going to do that?” Captain Iva puts an arm around Tillie’s shoulders. Tillie looks up at her, brown eyes shining in adoration. I don’t know why they try to hide the fact that they’re lovers, it’s plain as day.

“How about truth or dare? Without the dare,” Ruth suggests.

Abigail says, “Blythe, truth or truth?”

“Truth.”

“Are you the monster?”

Blythe bites her lip. “No.”

“Monsters don’t abide by the rules of truth or dare,” I complain, “That is not going to work.”

Rowena procures a quill and inkpot from somewhere and begins putting a line on the women who were vouched for.

A few hours of questioning later and the group is nowhere near closer to figuring out who it is. Rampant paranoia begins to spread. Even after they eliminate someone, they talk themselves into a circle and insist on the line being crossed out. It goes late into the night and everyone shows signs of tiring as the questions become more and more ridiculous.

“If you were a fruit, what fruit would you be?” asks Mabel.

First Mate Tillie’s face scrunches in irritation. “That has no bearing in this situation.”

“We need to try different questions,” says Sylvia nervously.

“And fruit is what’s going to lift the veil of fucking truth here?”

“It stole someone's memories, how are we even supposed to know?” Sabrina whines, leaning over a barrel with her chin in her hands.

It’s getting harder and harder for me to keep my eyes open as the talking goes around and around. Captain Iva continues to stay quiet through all of this, watching the crew with keen and suspicious green eyes.

“Fruit is fruit,” sniffs Tillie, “The only thing it's good for is preventing scurvy.”

“Heathen,” gasps the cook Goldie, “I vote we throw Tillie overboard.”

“But it is a very Tillie answer,” points out Abigail.

“Of course it’s a Tillie answer,” snaps the first mate, “because I’m not the fucking monster, I’m me.”

“This is making me hungry,” pouts Sabrina. “We should eat. Keeps the mind sharp.”

“I’d like to get a change of clothes, it’s getting colder out here,” says Florence, and there’s a murmur of agreement from a few women still in their nightclothes.

“We can’t separate; that’s the whole point of staying up here!” Tillie says, clearly at the end of her rope, and the Captain puts a hand on her shoulder. The first mate sighs and reaches up to touch the hand before relaxing.

“We can’t all go below deck at the same time, we won’t fit,” reasons Captain Iva. “What do you think, Penelope?”

“As long as we’re in groups of three or more we’ll be safe. It won’t attack unless it’s alone with its victim,” I say confidently.

“You heard the lady, groups of three!” Captain Iva orders. The women begin forming small groups and heading below deck, some turn towards the galley and the others to the crew quarters. I stay above deck with the captain, first mate and five others. I’m the only one close enough to hear Captain Iva whisper in Tillie’s ear.

“Too bad we need three, I could use a round two of last night,” she purrs.

“Iva,” First Mate Tillie sighs, but the corner of her mouth is ticking up.

“What? I’m bored.” Iva coaxes, “What’s wrong with a little fun? You know it’s not me, come on.”

“Who do you think it is?” Tillie asks. Iva huffs in response, twirling a strand of Tillie’s hair around her finger.

“Hmmm… maybe it's Sylvia. Or Blythe, she’s also acting strange.”

“Both of them always act like that, Slyvia idolizes you and Blythe has her little crush.”

“Stranger than usual.” Iva lets go of the lock she was playing with and leans her head on Tillie's shoulder. “Ugh, I’m the Captain, I shouldn’t have to deal with this shit. Let them figure it out.”

“I could always start throwing people overboard to speed up the process,” Tillie offers, “Maybe the monster will give up once it’s had a dunking.”

“I like the way you think, Till.” Captain Iva snickers. “But no, I think we should-” her voice drops lower, so I can’t hear her anymore. I glance over and see the Captain whispering in her ear. Tillie's face quickly flushes, brown eyes now filled with heat.

“Oh, alright,” Tillie bites her lip, giving her a shy smile. “Let’s just make it quick.”

“Yes!” Captain Iva crows, and smacks the first mate on the shoulder. “Love you, Till. Let’s go.”

She turns around and makes for her quarters. I’d repeat my warning, but only a fool would get in between the Captain and her first mate. Instead, I nervously watch as Tillie stares at the Captain’s back, her pleased expression shifting to the poker face she wears in battle.

In the blink of an eye the first mate draws her blade, plunging it into the Captain’s back. I hear screams behind me as Captain Iva falls to her knees. The creature- it’s here! It’s Tillie!

“Nice try,” Tillie snarls, pulling out a sharp knife from her boot and shoving Captain Iva over. Tillie drops down, straddling her and raising the knife above her head.

“Iva fucking Rogers,” Stab. “Does not.” Stab. “Love.” Stab. “Me.”

“Captain!” “No!” “What have you done?!” There’s a chorus of protest as the crew rushes to Tillie and the fallen Captain. Tillie silently brandishes her weapon toward the crowd. Her knife is coated in green blood.

It’s not Tillie. It’s not Tillie.

“Shapeshifter,” I hiss, and the crowd backs up. The First Mate stands and kicks over the body. Her face- that thing's face no longer looks like their Captain. There are gasps, one girl even screams. I quickly shrug off my coat and drape it over the body.

“Find the Captain,” Tillie says coldly. “She has to be somewhere on the ship.” The crew gets to work and gives the first mate a wide berth. My own head is spinning- how did she know? Tillie gives the body one last kick before going to the side of the ship and pulling out her pipe.

They eventually find the Captain unconscious in a not so secret passageway under the ship. She’s disgruntled but alive, and is quickly surrounded by the crew as she comes out to the deck.

“Those things are tricky,” Captain Iva says, “How’d you figure it out?”

“Tillie did!” says Sabrina excitedly.

“That true, Till?” the Captain calls. Tillie's face is unreadable.

“I know you, Captain,” she says simply.

“Good ol’ Till,” Captain Iva playfully salutes in her direction. Tillie just looks back, brown eyes fond. “Everyone’s alright, then? No one’s hurt?”

“Nobody’s hurt,” I say, though that’s a lie isn’t it?

Love you, Till.

I watch as Tillie starts barking orders at the crew, restoring order. Captain Iva comes to my side and stops.

Iva fucking Rogers does not love me.

“Had an interesting night, Pen?” she asks, and I nod.

“How long have you been sailing with First Mate Tillie?” I ask.

“Oh, eleven years now. She’s been my first mate since the beginning.”

“Have you ever…” I trail off.

“Hmm?”

“... nevermind.”

Captain Iva raises an eyebrow and turns back to the crew. She eventually drifts back to Tillie’s side, an arm around her surly first mate, love still unspoken.