The sound of the waves rolling is loud as they hit the side of the ship, combining with the pitter of rain as it starts to fall. I simply take a breath of the freezing cold air and salt mist, my breath leaving my mouth as a faint white puff-a stark contrast to where I was earlier. It feels a lot nicer out here than it does being near that damn furnace, feeding the ship fuel. I'm sure I've sweat off an entire pound down there.

You need the money, Callie. And this job has lasted longer than the others.

I sigh, letting my head hang low for a second. I shouldn't be complaining. This is the first time in four years I've not had to worry about finding my next job while working my current one. I won't have to hop from odd job to odd job, hoping I'll make enough to pay for food and rent this month. Although since my job is here on this ship, I'll be spending more time on the open waters than I will on land. Not my favorite way of doing things, but it'll do. Same with how intensive the labor can sometimes be. It's not fun, but it's something.

Better than nothing.

"Weather's a-turning," Jones, one of my crewmates, says, and I look up to his scarred face and coily hair. As the rain starts falling harder, faster, I have to walk over to him just so I can hear him. Within seconds, I can't even see him, and he says he can't even see his hand in front of his face. "Stoker Five, come with me. You'll be needed soon enough."

"But I'm on break!"

"Not for long," He replies, and I huff as I start following him, rain pelting our jackets. "You know where we are, Five? Why the weather's turned all of the sudden? We're over Atlantis."

I roll my eyes. He can't be serious, can he?

"I'd rather not say the name, but the Captain's said it already. Aye. Tis the name that brings the curse."

Thunder rolls, and I deadpan. "And yet you said it again, because let's double the curse that's most definitely true."

He glares at me. "Laugh all you want, but the curse is real. Any vessel that passes through these waters will be lost. Atlanteans protect their own."

"If that's the case, then why are we in these waters?!"

"Because the Captain is like you and has newfangled beliefs. Wanted to make up for lost time and thought we'd be safe here to-" He cuts off, squinting at something ahead-long, large and protruding above the water. "Lord! Five, do you see that?! Iceberg! Iceberg!"

Jones' warning comes too late, and the ship slams into it. Metal rips, the sound loud and painful as I'm thrown forward onto the wet deck. I can hear Jones yelling.

"It's ripped the hull asunder!"

The other crewmates are screaming. I'm thrown around again, my hands scrambling for purchase as large waves come up over the boat, sending water across the deck. One of the waves crashes into me, seawater getting in my mouth, my nose. I cough raggedly, everything all a blur as I try to stand, but gravity pulls me down, farther down than it should.

I can't see. The rain and waves have me blinded. I'm sliding down the deck!

"We're capsizing!" Jones shouts, and I see his burly figure hanging on for dear life, just barely a shadow in the glimpse of darkness and rain. "Five, you're slipping!"

I cough up more water. "Help me!"

I push up onto my knees, then my toes even as I slide backwards. My back hits the deck's railing, and I flip, falling headfirst into freezing cold water. The railing of the deck I just hit soon follows as the ship continues to capsize.

The sudden shock of cold has me gasping, and water floods my mouth and throat as I flail around. My legs kick and my arms thrash as I try to move through the ragged, unforgiving ocean. I can't tell which way is up or down, but I swim until my head breaks the water. I gasp and hack as rain continues to pour, the waves rough and trying to drag me under. My wide eyes search for something, anything.

"Five, just keep moving!" Jones shouts. "I'll throw you a rope! Keep moving or you'll drown!"

I try. I really do, but a wave builds and crests right on top of me, and I'm pulled under into freezing darkness. I kick my legs, flail my arms, try to find some type of light to reach for, but the surface is just as dark as the sea's depths. The storm has taken away all light, all hope.

Black pops up into the corners of my vision, and as I sink farther and farther down, I feel my world go black completely.

•

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Hello? Stoker Five?"

"Iceberg! Iceberg!"

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"You're slipping!"

"Stoker Five, can you hear me? Stoker Five? Hello? Can you hear me?"

I cough, breathing in deeply, painfully as my eyes open. Blurry light becomes more distinct and pronounced, with the figure leaning over top of me becoming more detailed with each confused blink of my eyes.

The woman above me smiles, her sapphire eyes shining as I scramble backwards, nearly falling off the cot I'm on.

"You're alive," She breathes in relief, while my breathing is ragged because of shock and alarm. "I've managed to save one of you. Not enough. Not by any means enough. But more than nothing, you understand."

My throat burns from the salt and sea, and I swallow multiple times as I stare at the dark-skinned woman. "Where-where am I? What happened to the ship? We were-we were sinking."

The woman glances away sadly for a moment, her hand reaching up to run through her jet black hair. "Oh, yes. Your ship is gone, I'm afraid."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

There's that beeping again. I look around at the room of brass and metal and... mother of pearl? There's a porthole, and outside it is nothing but water-dark, cold water.

"Are... are we-"

"Yes," The woman nods. "Yes, we are in a submarine. The Bellerophon. It was lucky I was here to spot you in the water. The Bellerophon travels under the waves, safe from the storm. From the outside, we look like a sort of... fifty-foot-long mechanical fish." She sighs. "I'm so sorry about your crewmates. I'm Jenny. Jenny Playfair."

She offers her hand, and I take it. "Callie Morse. I uh, I don't..." I pull my hand back to my chest, my mouth going dry when I don't feel familiar, cool copper against my fingertips. I look down, my eyes widening in panic when I see it's not there. "Oh, no! No! No! Where is it? Did I have on a locket when you rescued me? Please, I-"

"You did, you did," Jenny says quickly, picking something off a small table and holding up to me. I snatch it from her almost immediately. "I took it off so it wouldn't get tangled around your neck and choke you."

I open the locket immediately, sighing in relief when I see the picture is undamaged. I close it and hang my head, pressing a kiss to the locket as a shaky breath leaves my lips.

"I saw the picture while you were unconscious," Jenny says. "Who is that man?"

"Charles Wesley Morse," I reply, grief threading into my voice. "He was my husband. This picture is all I have left of him." Tears prickle my eyes. "And now... my ship is gone. That job was the first stable job I'd gotten since I lost him and had to start working to keep myself alive, and now it's gone. I have no close friends, no family... I'm completely alone."

My pale hands shake as I put the locket back around my neck, and Jenny sighs.

"I'm alone too. The Captain is... gone. We were supposed to be on the hunt for the lost city of Atlantis, if you can believe it," She says, and if I wasn't on the verge of tears, I'd laugh. "Perhaps you do believe it."

Oh, quite the opposite.

"I wanted to give you time to rest, but I need your help now. The Bellerophon was tossed about in the storm, and I need to get back to the engine room and repair any damage before I restart the engine." She gestures to the crates strewn about, blocking the door. "They're too heavy for me to lift alone, but if we work together, we can get through. Are you strong enough?"

I shakily stand from my cot. "It's worth a try, I suppose."

She smiles tightly. "Good. We must try. If the engines fail, we'll fall to the bottom of the ocean and perish there. And my mission will fail. I'll never-" She stops and shakes her head. "Never mind. Let's get into a squat."

She leads me over to one of the crates, having her knees hip-width apart, toes pointing slightly outward. She instructs me to mirror her stance, and I do.

"They taught us to do this in the Corp," She says, before giving me a serious look. "But for heaven's sake, don't hurt yourself. We can't afford to be injured. Now we'll squat down, pick up the crate, and raise ourselves back up and place it to the side. It should only take us a minute to clear them."

I nod, squatting down and picking up a crate to move it. It's an easy enough task. I had to do something similar when I was moving coal for the steam furnace for the ship when I started working as a stoker. I feel bad for my crewmates. None of us were friends, really, but I still didn't want them to die.

"Are you familiar with the legends of Atlantis, Five?" Jenny asks as she moves a crate. "I can call you Five, right?"

"Uh, sure," I reply, trying to keep my face neutral about this Atlantis nonsense.

"People say the Atlanteans have incredible technologies, far in advance of our own."

"Uh-huh."

She grunts as she moves another box. "Halfway through. Although if we were Atlanteans, we would have finished already. They're fearfully strong."

I raise a brow at her. And she knows this how? She speaks again after a few more seconds, just as we have a few more crates left.

"I can't tell you what a joy it is to talk about Atlantis. So many people just... don't believe me." She laughs as we move the last of the crates.

"I wonder why."

Thankfully she doesn't register my sarcasm as she pushes the door open. It takes her a second because of how heavy it is, and her triumphant smile drops when she sees more crates have toppled behind the door.

"Looks like we'll have to move these too," She says, immediately squatting down to pick a crate up and move it. "Come on. No time to lose. You and I could run this vessel together."

I pause mid-squat. "What?"

"We might yet find Atlantis. I have reason to believe-I believe my brother, Thomas, is there."

I look at her bewildered as she continues to pick up boxes, and I wait to see if she's going to give any type of context about that, but she doesn't. If this were any other time, I'd call her crazy and demand she send out an SOS to a ship to come pick me up, but she did save my life, and she's the only person here with me. I need to stay on her good side so she doesn't decide to just keep me trapped here.

I hold my tongue and continue picking up boxes, which only takes about a minute, and Jenny leads me onward to another door down the hall. It thankfully doesn't have a ton of crates surrounding it.

She opens it, a proud grin on her face. "Welcome to the Bellerophon. Isn't she beautiful?"

I nod as I look around, blinking at the interior made of iridescent mother of pearl, with furnishings of oak and brass. I can see fins through the reinforced windows, just as Jenny said-we look like a metal fish.

"The best part is that is has a battery powered engine," She states, and I look at her in shock. She nods. "That's right. Electric. She glides beneath the waves deeper than any man or woman has gone before. And we will find wonders in her. Oh, yes... They all laughed at me when I spoke of Atlantis, but I'll show them."

When she notices the funny look I'm giving her, she shakes her head. "Uh, never mind that. Never mind that now. I'll show you the vessel. This is the central chamber. Sleep quarters and the gally are aft. The cutty stowage is down the stairs, along with the engine room. The Captain's private study is forward. Above us is the observation deck, of course, and the central control room of the vessel."

We head down the stairs, towards the door to the engine room, but Jenny struggles to turn the key when she inserts it. The lock appears to be slightly dented inward. I cock a brow and rub my hand along the door. Its material feels like it's made of oyster shell-brittle, weak.

"What kind of door is this? It feels like I could punch through it." I ask, and Jenny's eyes light up.

"Oh, Five, you're a genius. Put these on." She tosses me a pair of strap-on gloves from a box in the corner. "We can punch through the door. Adapt a boxing stance, as I'm showing you. I learned it in the navy. Did I mention I was in the navy? Quite a secret kind of operation really."

She smiles and shakes her head. "None of that, Jenny. Hold your tongue."

I send her a weird look, but still do as told, getting into a boxing stance and doing a quick jab into the door. There's a thwack as my fist makes contact, and a tiny piece of the door chips away.

"Good," Jenny praises. "We'll get through here in no time." She starts jabbing at the door with me, her face pinched in concentration. "I suppose it's alright to tell you about myself. We're stranded here together, after all. Yes, I suppose it's alright to say I was in the British Navy. So was Thomas."

I hum, looking around. Perhaps this is a naval submarine. I've never heard of any ship like this, but I grew up in America. Maybe Great Britain's military has different technology. My knuckles are beginning to ache, so I quickly switch my stance so I can jab with my other hand. It's my weaker one, but it still is chipping at the oyster shell material.

"Almost there," Jenny huffs. "It was in the navy I first heard of Atlantis."

With one final punch, the door breaks, and I let my hands fall to my side. I take a step forward, but yelp and jump back when a ceiling panel collapses and blocks the entrance.

"Oh, blast," Jenny huffs. "I suppose we can punch through it as well. Come, Five. The mission we're on, it's of vital importance to Queen and Country."

I scoff. Does she not hear my accent? I shake my head. No matter. Right now, I just want to get to the engine room so we can survive. Then I can work on finding a way getting home, or at least to the surface.

Away from this fairytale-believing bedlamite.

•

"There," Jenny says, and I huff as I lower my hands. My knuckles are sore from punching through that ceiling panel, but it's worth it as we head into the engine room. Jenny immediately starts to piddle with the machinery, but it creaks and groans in a way that I don't find comforting. "Ah, blasted! These controls need to be restarted. I've seen Captain Solus do this 100 times, but never used this panel myself."

"Captain Solus?" I repeat, and she blinks.

"Oh. Yes. Captain Solus disappeared two weeks ago. I've no idea what happened to him. I simply woke up one morning and he was missing."

She doesn't sound very concerned for her missing Captain, but I keep my face neutral and my mouth shut. Her not seeming to care proves nothing, but if she did have something to do with her missing Captain, it's best for her not to think I suspect it, not when she knows more about this ship than I do. I'm just a stoker. Without her, chances are I'd die here in this ship.

I need to be in her good graces, just until I can find a way back to shore.

"I've been piloting the vessel myself since then, but the storm must've turned this panel off somehow. We need his silver key, or we won't be able to restart the engine." Her face pinches in thought. "Five, I know this is rather un-sportsman-like, but we must access Captain Solus' private chamber together. It's a two-person job. I've tried to open it myself, but it's much sturdier than the engine room door. It'll have to be lifted clean off its hinges. Come with me."

She starts up the stairs again, and I follow, wondering how strong she thinks I am. I grab at my locket, partially wondering if I'll be joining my dear Wesley soon.

"Captain Solus was always an odd duck," Jenny says suddenly, looking over her shoulder at me. "He said he'd constructed this vessel himself, but when I first set eyes on it, I knew it must be the work of a group of extraordinary people."

I stop short in my tracks. "What?"

She turns around and tips her head to the side, confused as to why I'm confused, but then her eyes widen. "Oh, I rather led you to believe this was a naval vessel, didn't I? Sorry, sorry. No, no, I'm no longer in the navy. But Captain Solus was looking for a first mate, and he was intending on traveling these waters, and I.... Well, as I say, I believe my brother came here several years ago."

"Yes, as you say," I mumble in suspicion, and she leads me to the door to the Captain's quarters. Another door with another obstacle for us to overcome. "So, how are we going to do this?"

"I'll lift from above. You lie on your back, place your head towards the door, and put your feet flat on the ground so your knees are lifted," She instructs, and I do as told. "Grip the edge of the door by those protuberances. You'll need to put your hands up near your ears. Now, lift your torso off the floor, and keep your neck back straight."

I crunch up as she pulls at the top of the door, and it groans for a second before I lower back down to the ground.

"I don't believe it will take too long if we keep at it together. Let's go." She huffs as we push up and release, trying to shake the door off its hinges. "My brother, Thomas, had believed in Atlantis since boyhood. He'd joined the navy and came home saying he'd glimpsed at the underwater city."

"Oh, really?" I say, and she mistakes my disbelieving tone for one of interest.

"Certain documents I saw in naval intelligence convinced me he was right." She pauses as a single hinge pops off and clatters onto the floor. "That's one. I must tell you, Five, I believe Atlanteans walk among us, guarding their secrets, erasing their traces."

"Yeah? And did your brother agree with you?" I ask, although she doesn't answer the question.

"Thomas disappeared three years ago. I believed the Atlanteans tempted him to... no, I can't say." There's grief and fear in her voice. I recognize it all too well. As I lift a final time, the other hinge breaks, and I shuffle back on the floor, away from the door so it doesn't accidentally fall and crush me.

I push myself up and wipe my hands on my still damp clothes. "Well, the Captain's chambers await us. Let's go get that key."

Jenny hums. "Now that the door is off, it would be a hazard if another storm were to hit. Maybe we could-"

I kick the door, and it goes clattering onto the ground, the clang reverberating across the hall.

"There," I state plainly. "Can't hurt anyone on the ground. Let us go."

I step inside, my jaw dropping when I see a plethora of machinery and contraptions. Some of them are completely alien.

There's a silver object on a stand with tentacles that look like that of an octopus. I reach out my hand to touch it, but then yelp when gears whir and click, the tentacles retracting back into the silver object as fast as lightning.

"What on earth?" I mutter, both awed and concerned.

"Five, over here," Jenny calls, and I head over to her, eying the brass cabinet she's standing beside. "This looks like the place Captain Solus would've stashed his secrets, don't you think?"

I shrug. "I wasn't acquainted with him, but it's possible."

She huffs at my answer, then turns towards one of the panels and tries to open it. She lets out a sound of shock when she sees how heavy it is, and I have to grab onto it and help her lift it. My fingers ache and my arms tremble as I struggle to help her keep it up.

"How strong was this man?" I grunt.

"He must have had the strength of Hercules himself. Could you raise the panel against the wall, so it doesn't slam shut on me while I search?"

I nod, carefully turning so my back is facing the panel. I bend my knees and readjust my hands to get a slightly better grasp and then force myself up again, pushing hard against it and pushing the cabinet a bit more into the wall. Jenny then lets go of the panel, and I inhale sharply as I try to put the weight of it into my legs and not just my arms. I hear rattling as Jenny rummages through whatever's in the cabinet.

"I suppose you've guessed, but I suspect Solus was an Atlantean himself."

"Why do you suspect it?" I ask. "I'll admit, this place is a little odd, but I don't see how-"

"There's a king's ransom in jewels here," She interrupts, tossing out a few gold coins for me to see. I nearly drop the panel in shock. Those few coins could buy me an entire house, and from the jangling inside the cabinet, there's a lot more than just a few coins. "I told you. They have treasure. They hoard it for themselves."

I frown, still not convinced. Just because this man was wealthy doesn't mean he came from a make-belief city.

Jenny gasps, and I look down in worry.

"Is everything alright?"

"There's a hidden door down here. I must keep searching. Brace the panel so I'm not trapped." She climbs further inside, and my legs are beginning to burn from the strain. "There are maps here! Charts, documents, all the things he'd never show me. Aha! Yes. I have what I need. The engine key. And there are other things here too. I'll show you in just a moment. But... perhaps you feel strong enough to brace the panel a little longer? There are such wonders here."

I choke. "What? No! You said we need to restart the engine, or we'll sink and die! I'd rather do that first and then look at all the magnificent treasures!"

She sighs. "Oh, fine."

Jenny scrambles out of the cabinet, multiple different things in her hands as I let go of the panel and it drops. I let out a breath of air and rub my sore fingers as she holds something up to me, a white disk, made of the same pearl we've seen throughout the ship, although it also has grooves inside it.

I look at her, wondering if I'm supposed to know what this is. "What is that?"

"Just one of Solus' many Atlantean miracles." She holds up a brass apparatus with an electric battery. There's a slot on the side just big enough for the disk to slip through. She clicks the disk into place, and I flinch harshly when a man's voice fills the room.

"January 16, 1869. This is Captain Solus of the Bellerophon." He sighs. "Playfair has tried once more to talk to me of Atlantis. I tell her again and again that she's mistaken, that only madmen believe in it, but she's never been fooled by me. I see that now."

Jenny's eyes are wide as she stares at the apparatus. "Captain Solus. It's so strange to hear his voice. I've been looking for these since he disappeared." She sets it down on a table, along with a chart. "Look at these. They're marked with strange symbols, but these engravatures must hold the key! I know you're with me, Five. You're loyal to her Majesty, the Queen. You too are horrified that alien spies have walked among us."

"Uh... yes. Yes, of course," I lie. "Absolutely horrified and um, long live the Queen... and all that."

"We must find the rest of those log disks. I think he hid them on the bridge. I'll restart the engine and meet you there. Go to the bridge at once. You'll need to keep your knees high as you run to avoid the debris on the floor. Go!"

•

There are multiple gears whirring, and I can hear the rumble of the engine going, which puts me a bit more at peace as I stand here in the bridge. Still, I hate the idea that my only companion on this ship is a woman who's non compos mentis.

While I can't explain much about this submarine, or how Solus' message sounded, I won't jump to the conclusion of Atlantis existing so quickly. This all seems so odd, so foreign.

I grab my locket, sighing, wishing for some form of comfort I know I'll never get. I hear approaching footsteps, and Jenny appears.

"Ah, Five! I knew you'd get to the bridge quickly." She glances down at the aquamarine box in my hand. "And I knew I had seen those pearl disks before. Let's listen to another one."

I open the box and she plucks a disk and clicks it into place in the apparatus.

"February 2, 1869. I am more convinced than ever that Playfair knows where I come from," Solus says, and my eyebrows shoot up.

No, he can't actually be saying...

"Her questions are too precise! In fact, I suspect she may be-"

Jenny fiddles with the apparatus, laying down the charts on a table and then placing the apparatus on them. "This button rolls the engravature in, I think."

She presses the button, letting it mark the charts as audio plays.

"Now, I have encoded my logs using the ancient hieroglyphs of Zia. She would be an unusual Topsider indeed to know of that system."

"Topsider?" I repeat as Jenny gasps.

"Oh course! Yes, This makes sense!"

"It does?" I ask, and she nods vigorously.

"This chart. Each section must be rotated thus, and these parts are mirrored, and yes! Oh, Five!" She grabs me and pulls me into a hug, making me squeak in surprise. "You were sent to help me. I know it."

I swallow as I pull away. "You... do?"

"Yes! According to the charts, we are but a few nautical miles from this marked plateau. It is Atlantis. We can be there in only three or four hours." She grabs my hands in her own. "We will go there together, you and I. And we will take their secrets and their treasure from them and claim them for our Queen."

I swallow again. "Oh... yay."

What have I gotten myself into?

A/N: Here you go guys! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Remember this story has 7 chapters total and it's only going to get more interesting from here. Please be sure to vote and comment! Thank you and have a blessed day!