What happens when you grow up

Chapter 8

Warning: This chapter contains elements of torture.

12 years ago…

When Tigerlily awoke the next morning, it took several minutes for her to remember exactly what had happened. The first thought, which at first overpowered all others, was for her legs. After a night of standing on tiptoe, her calves screamed in such agony that it was difficult for her to think clearly. Her body ached from Blackbeard's beating, her throat was parched from lack of water, and her stomach growled fitfully.

She yanked on her chains, testing their strength, but they stood immutably firm. Even tugging at them sent spikes of sharp pain through her wrists, so she gave up after only a few tries. She'd have to find another way. She craned her neck to search along the ceiling and the beam where her shackles were looped over, but she could see no way to slide the chains off.

After several painful attempts, she managed to slide the shackles down the length of the beam. It took all her concentration to force the chains to bump along the beam while ignoring how her legs and wrists were jarred, but she was able to move about another two or three feet. She still couldn't reach any of the tables or shelves full of tools, though.

Tigerlily was still formulating other plans to try when she heard footsteps. Her eyes snapped to the doorway, which was soon thrown open to reveal Blackbeard and Harrison. Today, Blackbeard was gaily dressed in rich purple satin and black velvet breeches. He looked like he would be at home in the queen's court, not below decks in a torture chamber—except for his eyes, which glimmered with such gleeful sadism that Tigerlily's blood ran cold.

"Sleep well?" Blackbeard asked. His gaze traveled across her face and down her body, taking in the bruises and dried blood. "Oh dear, it seems you've had a rather rough night. I suppose I just don't know my own strength. I'm terribly sorry."

Tigerlily didn't reply.

"Come now, I was hoping you'd be more talkative today," the pirate continued. "It would spare us all quite a lot of unpleasantness."

"My answer's the same as yesterday," Tigerlily replied stiffly.

Blackbeard didn't reply, just smiled darkly and motioned for Harrison to unlock her shackles. As soon as the pressure holding her up was lifted, Tigerlily crumpled to the floor, her numb legs unable to hold her weight. The sudden sensation of blood rushing back to her wrists was awful, nearly as bad as the sharp feeling that stabbed into her cramped leg muscles. She tried to push herself away from Blackbeard, but her legs refused to move.

The pirate captain crouched next to her, leaning in as though they were two conspirators. "Things will only get far worse from here," he told her. "You ought to know when to give up."

"Your threats don't scare me."

"Sweet child," Blackbeard said, cupping her chin, "you have no idea what I'm going to put you through." He stood up. "Harrison, pull out the bench."

Harrison crossed behind Tigerlily, and she could hear him dragging something out from the corner. When he returned to her line of vision, she saw he was pulling along a wooden bench, with an odd downward slope, about three feet long. What unnerved her the most were the two straps on either side, obviously intended to hold down a prisoner's arms.

Blackbeard ran his fingers along the side of the bench. "This, my dear, is an implement I picked up in the far west. It's used for a positively ingenious method of extracting information from unwilling individuals. They called it 'water dousing.'"

Tigerlily refused to give him the satisfaction of asking about it.

Blackbeard turned to Harrison. "Strap her down."

"Captain, she's just a child," Harrison replied, the first thing he'd said since he walked into the room.

Blackbeard raised an eyebrow, glancing at his first mate. "Are you questioning my methods?"

"No, sir," Harrison replied, his expression unreadable. "I just don't know if she'll survive the ordeal, and we can't ransom a corpse."

Blackbeard broke into a dazzling grin. "Ah, I see. A reasonable question, to be sure. I trust that you'll be sufficiently cautious. No more than ten minutes at a time."

"Yes, sir," Harrison replied, seemingly satisfied.

He turned and reached for Tigerlily. She suddenly knew in her core being that something very terrible was about to happen, and she knew that she must resist with all her strength, even as she knew just as surely that there was no way she would be able to prevent whatever it was from happening. She still tried, though her legs betrayed her and her arms were nearly as useless, since her fingers were still slow and clumsy from lack of blood flow. Harrison had no trouble scooping her up, dropping her onto the bench, and strapping down her arms. She ended up with her legs elevated above her head, which was at the bottom of the slope.

"Ready for some fun?" Blackbeard asked, as he pulled out a black cloth and tossed it to Harrison.

Harrison caught the cloth and placed it over Tigerlily's forehead and eyes, blocking her vision. The fear clawing at Tigerlily's heart grew sharper as she lost this sense and had to rely on her hearing to figure out what was going on. She heard dripping water and felt cool liquid fall onto the cloth… She felt the cloth grow wetter and wetter, until water streamed down the sides of her face… She felt Harrison tug the cloth lower until it covered her mouth and nose…

Suddenly, she felt water start to run up her nose. Terror started to well up inside her as she tried holding her breath to prevent it, but soon her lungs were begging for air and she was forced to suck in a breath. When she did, the cloth sucked tight across her mouth, and it wasn't air that filled her lungs, but water—achingly cold water. At that moment, her terror exploded into pull-blown panic. Desperately, she struggled against her restraints, but there was no escape. She was drowning—

DROWNING!

-and she couldn't do anything to save herself. No matter how long she held her breath, inevitably her instincts pushed her to inhale, again and again, even though every time only brought in more water, more DROWNING. She gagged and strained but there was no stopping it. Any rational thought left her mind, replaced by all-consuming terror (DROWNING!) and the overwhelming desire to escape (DROWNING!), to say anything to make it stop (DROWNING!).

Tigerlily had no idea how long the ordeal lasted, but suddenly it was over, suddenly the cloth was off her mouth, and she was able to suck in huge, shuddering breaths of air.

Blackbeard leaned down over her. "That was twenty seconds," he said. "We can go all day—unless you tell me where the fairies are."

Tigerlily sucked in a painful breath. "Never."

"Suit yourself," Blackbeard shrugged.

Harrison readjusted the cloth over Tigerlily's mouth, and black panic started filling her almost immediately. Then came the water. Once again, she was drowning—DROWNING—oh gods, she was drowning she was drowning she was going to die in this water water WATER so much WATER in her lungs in her nose in her mouth killing her it was killing her it was KILLING HER couldn't somebody stop this oh please couldn't somebody stop this anybody stop this anybody help her PLEASE HELP HER she needed air AIR oh gods she needed AIR but all there was only water water WATER WATER!

Suddenly, the cloth disappeared again, allowing air to once more flood into her agonized lungs. Tigerlily feared she would vomit but managed not to. Fear and adrenaline still surged through her body, making it hard to focus on anything, but she heard Blackbeard's voice drift through, asking about the fairy kingdom, and she grabbed onto it, grabbed onto that slim chance of saving herself, oh heaven help her but she had to stop THE WATER.

"They're underground!" she gasped. "They went into hiding underground!"

"Now we're getting somewhere!" Blackbeard cried excitedly. "Where underground?"

"They're in the core of Neverland… I don't know where! Only the elders know their exact location!"

"I'm not sure that's true," Blackbeard replied. "Maybe we should try another round…"

Tigerlily saw Harrison started to approach with the black cloth, and her whole being flooded with despair. Words and promises spilled out of her uncontrollably. "I don't know any more—I swear I don't know! Please, don't use more water. No more water! Please no more water!"

But Harrison was already sliding the cloth back over her mouth.

"Here now, it's not so bad," she heard Blackbeard tell her. "Just think a happy thought!"

And the water flowed…