The trek across the Blue Ridge Mountains was grueling. Gabrielle’s boots, stuffed with moss, rubbed her heels raw, but she didn't complain. She observed the trail with a clinical eye: the way the light hit the Appalachian fog, the specific species of oak, and the desperate state of the families heading west.
On the fifth day, near a muddy creek crossing, she found a family whose wagon had snapped an axle. A young woman was shivering under a thin, threadbare blanket, clutching a coughing toddler.
Gabrielle stopped. Her internal logic fought with her instinct. That hoodie is the warmest thing I own, she thought. But if I keep it, I’m a freak. If I give it away, I’m just a boy in a linen shirt.
"Here," Gabrielle said, her voice low and even.
She reached into her burlap sack and pulled out her oversized, fleece-lined hoodie and her denim leggings. To the mother, the fabric felt impossibly soft, like something from a dream.
"Take them. Wear the black ones under your dress," Gabrielle instructed, pointing to the leggings. "The blue coat... put it on the kid. It’s water-resistant. Mostly."
The mother stared at the "GAP" logo on the chest as if it were a mystical rune. "I... I have no coin to pay you, young master."
"I don't want coin," Gabrielle said, already turning to walk away. "I want you to get that kid to a fire."
As she walked, Gabrielle felt the bite of the mountain air through her thin linen shirt.
She was officially "erased" from the 21st century. She had no phone, no modern clothes, and no proof of who she was. She was just a boy named Gabe with a sack of willow bark and a head full of "future" secrets.
The Arrival: Norfolk, Virginia
Three weeks later, the air changed. The smell of pine and mud was replaced by the sharp, salty tang of the Atlantic and the overwhelming stench of a harbor city: rotting fish, tar, and thousands of unwashed bodies.
Norfolk was a chaotic hive. Gabrielle stood on the docks, her blue eyes wide as she took in the forest of masts. This was the edge of the world.
She noticed the details immediately—the things others ignored:
●The Economy: Ships were flying the American flag, but many had British colors. Trade was a mess of tension.
●The Logistics: Men were hauling crates of tobacco and cotton using pulley systems that Gabrielle recognized as basic physics, though they looked dangerously frayed.
●The Navy: A British frigate sat anchored in the distance, its white sails furled tight like a predator at rest.
She needed a job. Her "average" business sense told her that a port this busy needed clerks or assistants who could actually read and do math—skills that weren't as common as one might think. She approached a man sitting behind a makeshift desk on the pier. He was red-faced, screaming at a group of sailors who couldn't understand a manifest.
"You're losing three percent of your cargo to the tide because your tally is wrong," Gabrielle said, stepping up to the desk. She didn't offer a greeting; she went straight to the facts.
The man looked up, squinting at the scrawny lad with the short, dark-blonde hair. "Who the hell are you?"
"Gabe," she said. "I can fix your ledger. I’m fast with numbers, and I don't drink."
The man looked at her small hands, then at her intense, serious face. "You’re a bit young for a dock-master’s clerk, Gabe. You look sixteen."
"I'm nineteen," she corrected, then quickly bit her lip. "But I've been told I look younger. Does the age matter if the math is right?"
The Intersection-
The man sighed, shoving a quill toward her. "Fine. Prove it. If you're wrong, I'm throwing you in the harbor."
Gabrielle took the pen. As she began to calculate the weights and measures of a shipment of naval stores—timber, tar, and hemp—she noticed a name written in the margins of a redirected dispatch from a British courier.
Recipients: Officers of the HMS Indefatigable.
Her heart didn't race; she didn't know the name yet. But her detail-oriented brain filed it away: Indefatigable. Latin for 'untiring'. A big ship with a lot of men. Men get sick. Sick men need medicine.
***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***
Updated 34 Episodes
Download
Like this story? Download the app to keep your reading history.
Comments