Happy Friday!
Lava Cat Cruise Ship is back with chapter three! If you’re new here and you’ve missed the previous chapters, you can find them posted under the LCC section of Authorstrator! If you’re looking for Zombie Shark Highway, you can find it in the ZSH section.
Alright, enough housekeeping! Let’s get to all the lava spewing, fang flashing, zombie madness! Me-OW!
THREE
Captain Miller's quarters were situated behind the bridge on deck 8. The morgue, Eidon figured, would be on the lower decks, somewhere out of the way so as not to scare the passengers. How low, he wasn't sure. Near the medical centre, maybe. Deck 0. That was a long way down. There was only one elevator on the ship that went that far down - and it was the one that was closest to the bridge. That was lucky. He could avoid the atrium that way, where the good Captain was probably glad-handing the richest of the Hawaiian shirt wearers.
Eidon made his way down the main hallway, weaving in and around the guests coming and going from dinner. Eidon frowned as he passed each smiling and laughing face. Part of him hated them. Hated that for them, the Silver Queen was paradise. For Eidon, it was hell.
The foyer in front of the elevator was clear, no guests waiting for a ride. Eidon grinned, watching the floor counter tick quickly on its way to pick him up. This was going about as smoothly as it could. He'd have a picture for Hailey in no time, she'd be impressed, and they'd have a whole lot to talk about for the rest of the night. And best of all, at this rate, he'd be back before the good Captain had any idea he was gone.
A ding sounded and the elevator doors slid open.
Eidon froze, his stomach dropping into his feet.
"Eidon!"
Crap.
A family of particularly well dressed passengers stepped off the elevator, smiling professionally-whitened smiles and surrounding him, trapping him in for conversation. The Howards.
"Oh, hey guys," he said, forcing himself to smile back. Eidon had been introduced to the Howards the first day on board. They were hard to ignore. Mrs. Howard owned a string of sink stores -- designer sinks for hoity-toity types and their bank-breaking interior decorating. Apparently there were a lot of them out there, because Mrs. Howard had sold enough sinks to make the Howards filthy rich. Which was how they ended up aboard the Silver Queen for their family vacation, determined to use every one of the ship's amenities, even treating the bridge like it was their own private balcony. The good Captain was endlessly obliging, even offering Eidon up as a babysitter to the Howard's twelve-year-old son, Franklin.
It had been the longest night of Eidon's life.
The little worm bounced on the spot, a blue drink half the size of him in his hand. "Eidon! Have you seen the circus? It's amazing, isn't it? Tell them! Tell my parents it's amazing. I keep trying to tell them. They want to go listen to the symphony in the Red Carpet Bar, but I told them that the circus would be better. Have you seen it yet?"
This was how Franklin talked -- a lot, all at once. It was exhausting.
Eidon swallowed a sigh. "Not yet."
"Well, that settles it then!" said Mrs. Howard, brightening. "Franky, you can go watch the circus with Eidon."
Eidon stiffened. "What?"
"Oh, what a great idea, Jane," agreed Mr. Howard. "No point making the boy sit through the symphony if he's not going to appreciate it."
"But -"
The Howards turned at Eidon's 'but', their smiles dropping off their faces.
"Unless of course," said Mrs. Howard, "Eidon has somewhere else he has to be."
He did have somewhere else to be. He had a morgue to find. Then again, the Howards had seen him out in the hall when he was supposed to be back at the apartment. They'd mention it to the good Captain, that was a certainty, and then Eidon would be screwed. Then again, if he just bit the bullet and watched over the kid for a couple hours, he could make the case that he was out of the apartment because the Howards asked him to babysit.
"No, no," he said, his grip tightening on his phone as his dreams of impressing Hailey began to fade away. "The circus sounds great. I've been meaning to see it."
Franklin beamed. "Sweet!" He grabbed Eidon's hand, his grip surprisingly tight, and dragged Eidon off down the hall. "It starts any minute! We gotta hurry!"
"Franky, you stay close to Eidon!" Mrs. Howard called. "No soda, I mean it!"
Eidon and Franklin arrived at the Throne Theatre just as the house lights came down. An usher stopped them at the door and Eidon let himself believe he might actually get out of this -- they had no tickets after all. But Franklin Howard wasn't about to let that happen.
"This is Captain Miller's son," he said, as if the usher was an idiot for not knowing. But then a light of recognition came on in the man's eyes. Eidon withered with embarrassment as the usher let them through, mumbling a string of apologies like Eidon was the Silver Prince himself. The usher showed them to their seats in the middle of the third row, where the other audience members grumbled as they climbed over them all.
"I hope they show us how they feed the lions," said Franklin.
"It's not that kind of circus, doofus."
"What do you mean?"
The curtain rose on the stage, lit all different shades of blue, shimmering and sparkling like water reflecting off the sandy ocean floor. A hush came over the theater. Eidon had read the posters and seen the TV promos -- the circus on the Silver Queen was more acrobatics than circus, a high-wire ballet freak show originating from some place French. It looked weird, from what he'd seen. But now, staring at the azures and turquoises and ceruleans, like some kind of ocean cave from a dream, a worm of excitement wriggled in his gut.
A ding exploded in the quiet.
Franklin jumped and Eidon felt the daggers of furious eyes turning to glare at him.
"Was that your phone?" Franklin hissed.
Eidon fumbled in his pocket, desperate to silence it, his pocket glowing as he scrambled for the mute button. Through his jeans he could make out the image on the screen - a message from Hailey.
The old woman beside him cleared her throat impatiently.
He'd have to read it later.
With the push of a button he felt the phone switch to vibrate just as the stage began to fill with performers.
Franklin scowled at him. "Why wouldn't you turn off your phone?"
"Shh!" spat the old woman, and Eidon put a finger to his lips, relieved to not have to talk to the little runt.
The performers wore leotards all varying shades of blue like the stage, sequins and feathers and sparkles decorating their heads. One of the acrobats -- the smallest one -- a girl, sequins and beads woven intricately down her side looking like scales of lapis lazuli, tumbled across the stage, backfliping to the center. The other performers parted around her like the sea, fading into the shadows so that all Eidon could stare at was her. Her face was painted a pale blue, her eyes surrounded by a mask of feathers, her lips painted dark so that she looked like some kind of otherworldly creature. And she might have been, the way she twisted and curled her body into a knot, one hand supporting her weight, one leg parallel to the floor, the other bent back behind her head. With her free hand, she reached out into the audience, sweeping her fingers across the awed viewers until her eyes stopped on Eidon. She stared at him, a smirk on her face. Heat swelled in Eidon's cheeks.
His pocket vibrated -- another message from Hailey.
A strip of fabric -- a rich blue silk -- poured down from the rafters like a waterfall, and the fish girl grabbed hold, pulling herself up, wrapping it around her body and crawling her way to the top with so little effort Eidon had to wonder if she was an Olympean. She held herself upside down, reaching an arm out to the audience again, this time straight at Eidon.
Another buzz in his pocket.
And then another.
The audience applauded, Franklin bouncing in his seat, and the heat in Eidon's cheeks burned so warm he knew he must be red. Could she see him?
His phone vibrated again -- a long drawn out rumble that shook his entire seat.
Franklin grabbed Eidon's arm. "Did you feel that?"
"What?"
The vibrating continued, and Eidon noticed the heads of the other guests turning nervously to each other. It wasn't his phone this time - it was the Silver Queen herself.
Another shudder, bigger than the first, stopped and started, stopped and started, and Franklin's grip tightened.
Eidon glanced back to the stage -- the performance had come to a halt, all the dancers and acrobats talking nervously among themselves. But the fish girl -- she staid on her curtain, still as stone as the shudders came to a stop.
"What's happening?" Franklin was frantic. "Did we hit something?"
"Shut up Franklin. We didn't hit anything."
"Then what is that?"
Eidon didn't know. But it sounded to him like the engines had stopped.
The house lights came up.
"Ladies and gentleman," came a voice over the speakers, "at this time, we ask that you please exit the the Throne Theatre. We apologize for the interruption."
"They're kicking us out? How can they kick us out!"
"It's just a safety precaution, Franklin."
"Why do we need to be safe?! Are we sinking?"
Heads turned, panicked eyes of old people landing right on Eidon. He turned and clamped his hand over Franklin's mouth. "Are you crazy? You don't say that on a cruise ship, you moron!"
"But what's going on?"
Something stupid, Eidon was sure. Someone pulled a fire alarm, or someone's kid ran off.
They shuffled their way through the crowd until they were out in the atrium. The ship was in chaos, worried passengers milling about, and crew members running this way and that. This was no false alarm. Something was happening.
Eidon pulled out his phone -- no signal. The ship's wifi was down too.
Franklin grabbed hold of his hand, frightened eyes looking up at Eidon. "Do you smell that?"
Eidon sniffed the air -- smoke. A fire? And not just smoke. Something else -- something like sulfur.
"Ladies and gentleman," a voice came in over the PA. "This is your Captain speaking."
"Dad." Eidon could hear it in the old man's voice already. Something was very wrong.
"We seem to have encountered engine trouble. In addition, we are experiencing some unusual weather."
The old man sounded calm, but Eidon could tell, the way his voice dipped low, too low, that he was struggling to keep cool. "I ask that you remain calm while we sort out the problem."
"Come on," said Eidon, dragging Franklin after him as they raced for the Cloud Deck. Whatever was worrying his father wasn't just unusual weather. Whatever was worrying his father was something big. Something bad. And Eidon had to know what it was.
"Slow down," Franklin whined, climbing the stairs after Eidon. But he wasn't about to. He needed to see.
He burst out the door onto the Cloud deck, the open air rank with the stink of fart. It stuck to his lungs and coated his throat, stinging his nose.
But that was barely noticeable next to the view before him.
"Eidon..." whimpered Franklin, nervously.
The ocean.
It was boiling.
Great chapter, Meaghan 😃
I love it when the story just focuses on character above all else. And those last two lines were a brilliant way to end it. Looking forward to seeing what happens next 👍🏼