by Mara Webb
“This isn’t real!” I shouted with as much volume as I could muster.
The tentacles exploded into small clouds of dust and then as I started to blink and steady my breathing, I realized that I was once again standing by the door, holding the handle.
I looked over at Ryan who was stood a few feet away from me, seemingly recovering from his own torturous vision. His forehead glistened with sweat and tears swelled in each eye. His gaze met mine and he ran over to throw his arms around me.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Apart from thinking I was about to be squid food. You?”
“Every lawyer’s worst fear. I had a mountain of paperwork to review.”
“What was that?” I asked. “Magic?”
“That was a spell,” he said. “A distraction. I think the killer is trying to strike again!” he said, grabbing at the handle and swinging the door inwards. He stepped out into the corridor with me close behind. Sobs were audible over the storm above, but there was one person whose cry was louder than anyone else’s.
“Help!” Dominic cried out. “Help! Someone help! Oh help!”
Dominic was crouched over Stephanie who had a knife lodged into her body, just below her collar bone. I ran over and saw the handle of a small dagger protruding from her skin and blood running down onto her green dress. She was still wearing her gown and was mumbling as she approached the edge of unconsciousness.
“It was daddy,” she sobbed. Rose appeared from room three and, upon seeing what was happening, took control of the situation. Dominic was in some kind of shock, I think. He just kept screaming for help over and over again.
“Someone help!” he shouted again. “Do something! Do something oh—"
“You,” Rose said, pointing at Ryan. “Help me carry her into their room. Dominic, I need you to calm down and find me towels, a lot of them, and ice-cold gin. Let’s move.”
Her assertiveness broke Dominic from his loop. “Towels? Gin?”
“Yes!” she said calmly. “Now, go!”
Dominic quickly shot to his feet and disappeared up the stairs. Ryan crouched down and helped Rose carry Stephanie into room two, I followed closely behind them.
“Towels and gin?” I asked.
“I’m an emergency room nurse,” Rose said. “It’s an old trick to keep things quiet and calm. It makes him feel like he is helping and gets him out of our hair.” I followed them in and watched Rose remove the dress from around the wound, inspect the entry point and then look back at me. “Have Monty bring my bag; I will be fine to work alone.”
I stepped back out into the corridor, but it seemed that Monty had preemptively decided to bring the medical bag to his wife. He stomped past me into the room, passed the bag to Rose, turned and walked back out again. Ryan stayed behind to apply pressure at Rose’s instruction. Monty paced up and down the corridor and when Dominic returned, snatched the gin from his hand.
“This is for me,” Monty declared, tipping the glass back into his mouth until it was empty.
“I’ve got to get in there and help,” Dominic said as he went to march in. I stepped in front of him.
“Rose said she needed…err…some wooden spoons too,” I said. “She also needs you to cook a frozen pizza, and not come back until its ready.” That was a terrible on-the-fly request, but to my surprise. Dominic obediently turned and ran back up the stairs.
“I’m on it!”
“You had the horror show too I assume?” Monty asked. He held the empty glass out in front of him and I watched it morph into a shorter glass that filled with whisky.
“Yes. Did it get everyone?” I replied.
“It appears so. My wife isn’t like the rest of us, she doesn’t…” he paused. As he took a sip of whisky, I peeked my head back into the room with the ongoing medical procedure and saw that everyone seemed to be very calm. “What did you see?” he asked me. “In the vision?”
“Giant squid attack.”
Monty chuckled. “Giant squid aren’t real.”
“Well it certainly felt real. What did you see?”
“Flamingoes. I’m absolutely terrified of the buggers. I know it’s silly really, but they had learned to open doors and they were coming for me. Like that dinosaur movie.”
“Okay…”
“Sorry, I’m distracting myself. I’m worried about Rose. I shouldn’t have brought her on this boat. Without magic, she can’t defend herself like everyone else. I don’t know how to explain half the things that happen. She doesn’t know about any of the magic stuff.”
“Rose is more perceptive than you may think, I got the impression that she isn’t oblivious to it all.” I wanted that to be comforting, but obviously I had only just met the woman so what did I know?
“She can’t defend herself from that stuff, some lunatic is using distraction magic to try and take out another member of the Blatham-Ford family and she is trapped on a yacht with them. We aren’t safe here,” he said.
He was nervous and understandably so. He tipped more whisky into his mouth and I realized that he was wearing a smart pajama set with a small rose embroidered onto the pocket over his heart. I wanted to believe that he had added that detail intentionally as a romantic gesture, and not that it just came with the shirt.
“I’m trying to work out what is happening here as quickly as I can, I promise you,” I said. I suddenly became aware of the crumbs around my face that betrayed what I had just been doing. Hardly making the murder investigation a priority, was I?
“I need this handling; I would do anything to protect my family. Rose can’t protect herself like the rest of us can, she is the only non-magical being on this boat and I would die before I let anything happen to her. How much do you need?” he asked.
“Need for what?”
“How much will it cost me for you to get to the bottom of this in double, or even triple time?” He pulled a checkbook out of his pajama pocket. I smiled because, well, what a daft thing to carry around in your sleepwear. It was like he always anticipated the need to spend money no matter what time of the day or night it was.
“Please, put that away. I don’t need anything from you. Look, I give you my word that I will find the culprit of all of the mayhem on this yacht. Rose will be protected by Ryan and me too, I assure you.” I was sincere.
Mrs. Talbot was a nice lady that was using her human abilities to treat an injured witch, she deserved protection from all of us. “It would be useful if I could ask you a few questions though,” I added. I hadn’t interviewed Monty yet and there were many people on board that thought he had sold out Nicholas to a rival company.
“Of course, let’s go back up to the bar, shall we?” he suggested, tucking his checkbook back into his pocket as if there might still be a need for it tonight. I leaned into the impromptu emergency room and made a series of hand gestures to Ryan to indicate that I was heading upstairs. He nodded in acknowledgment and I followed Monty back to the murder deck. “Ah, Sean. A glass of absolutely anything at all please, as long as it is at least forty percent proof.”
“Yes, Sir,” Sean nodded. “And for you?”
“Just a water please,” I replied. Monty looked amused by my drink choice, he gestured for me to sit with him at the bar and I hopped up onto the leather stool beside him.
“I assume the children told you all sorts of awful tales,” he said with a smile on his face. “Nicholas and I have been friends for almost our whole lives, we played together as boys and grew into titans of business with each other as role models and motivators. Those creatures that his late wife gave birth to haven’t a fraction of the respect that they should have for that man. I told him as much, that’s why they are so hostile towards me.”
He swallowed a mouthful of the liquid Sean had passed to him and winced at the strength of it.
“Stephanie and Leslie both seemed to think you had some bad business with Nicholas,” I said. I had yet to have a conversation with Jonathon about the matter.
>
“Is this about Pint Sized Ocean?” he laughed. “Honestly, those snakes have been hounding the lot of us for a long time to try and get us to hand over trade secrets. Part of their master plan was to create division, drive us all apart.”
“Did they?” I asked. Monty offered a hearty laugh as if the idea was ludicrous.
“If they did, I didn’t fall for it. Jonny managed that all on his own of course, Stephanie was desperate for attention and went out of her way to remind us all every day that she had turned down six figures from Pint Sized. She was near gleeful when she received an anonymous email saying that I had caved, she got to be the one to rat me out to her father and finally win all the approval she needed. Only Nicholas knew it was bogus, so she was shouted down.”
“Were Stephanie and Nicholas getting along well then?” I probed.
“On and off. She wanted too much and gave too little. Look I have the key for the safe in Nicholas’ office, I suggest that you go and read through everything you can so that you can get to the bottom of this. Oh, they’re taking the body, did you hear?”
“They?” I asked.
Monty nodded. “I was smoking with Rick earlier, he said we would be dropping anchor for most of tomorrow for some leisure time, well that and so that Nicholas could be taken to a morgue on a nearby island. There will be plenty of opportunity for you to sneak in when no one else is hanging around.”
At that, Monty pulled a key out of his shirt pocket and handed it to me. “This key only works if it is given, so if someone steals this from you then it won’t open the safe. With that in mind, please try to keep an eye on it.”
I felt like there was more I should say, but the confusion of the last few hours left me unable to organize words into a sentence, so I kept my thoughts to myself.
Monty tipped his head back and emptied the glass into his open mouth. I nursed my water for at least five more minutes after he left until Ryan came up the stairs and joined me on the murder deck. He was holding a plate with several slices of pizza.
“Want one?”
“I most definitely do,” I said, taking one of the slices. “How are things downstairs?”
“Stephanie is going to be fine. Dominic has been instructed to sleep elsewhere so that Rose can keep an eye on her but other than that everything is back to ‘normal’. Normal being that there is only one dead body onboard.”
“Okay,” I replied. “We should probably get some sleep; tomorrow is going to be weird.”
“I’d bet the rest of the chocolate eggs that it will be,” Ryan said.
“Me too, but let’s not risk losing the eggs. Chocolate is the only thing keeping me sane on this trip. If I lose that… you might be the next one to go overboard.”
“Are you flirting with me?” he said with a smile.
“If I am it’s only because you’re cute. Are you really that scared of paperwork?”
“Mountains of it? Of course. Put me between a giant squid and a day in doc review and I’ll take the tentacle boy any day.”
“If we get attacked by an actual giant squid, I will hold you to that.”
“Come on,” he said, taking me by the hand as he helped me off the stool. “Let’s try and get some sleep while we can.”
10
I opened my eyes to our cabin filled with intrusive sunlight.
I couldn’t remember exactly what time we had made it back to the room after our eventful evening of distraction-magic visions and random stabbings. All I knew is that it would have been great to sleep for a few more hours. I rolled over expecting to bump into Ryan’s body and snuggle, but the bed was empty. As I realized that, I heard our bathroom door open and he emerged, he was dressed for the day and was rubbing at his wet hair with a towel.
“Good morning! Are you keen on scuba diving with me? I got certified a few years back, so you’d be in safe hands!” he said, beaming with excitement.
“Urgh, how are you so alert right now? I feel like I slept for thirty minutes.” I piled the pillows up behind me and sat up to face Ryan. “Any news on Stephanie?”
“She’s gonna be fine. If we are dropping anchor today, then we can get a healer on board to finish what Rose started last night. I mean, obviously it would heal eventually on its own, but a trained witch could fix it up in a few minutes. Do you wanna shower? I can go and investigate the breakfast options and report back!”
“Have you pounded an espresso this morning? My eyes are actively burning, and you are so full of cheer, I don’t get it,” I grumbled.
I swung my legs round onto the side of the bed and rocked back and forth until I built enough momentum to stand up. Ryan grabbed me as I shuffled past and kissed my cheek, I squirmed about like I was trying to wriggle free which caused us both to laugh. “I will shower, find your caffeine supply and then join you upstairs. If there is anything with chocolate in it, save me some.”
Ryan’s hair was drying into perfect curls as he kissed me again and walked out of our door.
I caught sight of myself in the mirror as I entered the bathroom and wished that I hadn’t. Without touching a button, or using my own magic, the shower started running. I wonder if it was charmed with some sort of anticipation magic.
I undressed and stepped into the giant glass shower area, allowing the rain fall of water to cascade down over me as I closed my eyes, reaching out for some sort of shampoo bottle blindly. I grabbed the first container my hands touched and rubbed it into my hair, from the smell alone I knew that this was Ryan’s. He always had such a delicious fragrance around him, so it wouldn’t be the worst thing to smell like my boyfriend for the day.
I finished up and stepped through the glass door, selected a warm, fluffy, white towel from a heated rail and wrapped it around my body, grabbing a smaller second towel for my hair. I threw my long hair forward and placed the small towel over the back of my head before straightening up and twisting the fabric this way and that until it formed a huge knot that sat on top of me.
The shower had been a great idea, I felt instantly refreshed and energized.
I leaned closer to the mirror above one of the sinks and inspected my skin carefully before covering my face in moisturizer. I wasn’t sure what today was going to entail exactly, a mix of ocean exploration and reading through the private documents of a dead man.
After a quick application of make-up, I released my hair from the towel, and it fell down completely dry and elegantly curled. My confusion lessened as the strong aroma of Ryan flew around me, it was something about his shampoo that had done this to my hair. He must have some magic potion that caused his hair to dry quickly and stylishly. I needed some for my own bathroom back home.
I dressed, slipped a pair of sandals onto my feet and rushed out of the room to ascend up to the breakfast gathering that had begun.
Before my eyes were even able to take in the sheer quantity of food available, Ryan thrust a plate of pain au chocolat into my hand. “Sean did say that it was unlikely they would run out of these, but I grabbed three for you just in case.”
“See, this is the kind of thing that makes you slide up the rankings to be my fourth favorite boyfriend of all time!” I smiled.
“You’ve only dated two people before me,” he replied with a smirk.
“Yes, and one of them tried to kill me. The ranking system is there to keep you on your toes.” I bit into one of the pastries and it was still warm, causing the center to ooze into my mouth and my eyes to close with delight. “Yeah we are gonna need more of these.”
Stephanie was sat at the table picking at a bowl of melon pieces. She had a dressing across her shoulder and a sour expression. Dominic was sat opposite her looking equally displeased with the situation. Kimberly and Sean were both busily bringing out jugs of fruit juice and placing them down on the dining table, Ryan took a seat as I continued to browse the options on the buffet table.
When I sat down next to Ryan with a pile of carbohydrates in front of me, Stephanie barely looked up. “H
ow are you feeling today?” I asked her. She blinked slowly and looked up to meet my eyes.
“I’m on some really good painkillers, everything feels awesome. My dad stabbed me, I don’t know why though,” she said. I gave Ryan a sideways glance and he leaned over to whisper in my ear.
“The distraction magic caused all of us to imagine our greatest fears, hers must have been total rejection by Nicholas. That means whoever did stab her probably cast the spell that allowed them to get away with it as she is blaming a dead man,” he said.
That made sense in a ‘there are witches on board’ sort of way. Sean poured me a huge glass of grapefruit juice and I leaned back in my seat to briefly relish in the fact that I was on vacation.
It wasn’t how I had imagined it would be on account of the dead guy that had been stowed out of sight, but the boat was currently stationary, and we would all have the opportunity to enjoy ourselves.
I didn’t expect everyone else to have let go of Nicholas’s death so quickly, after all to the other people on this boat he was either a lifelong friend or immediate family.
Leslie was in a white, netted outfit that allowed us all to see the bright orange bikini she was wearing underneath. I wasn’t sure what the point of her barely-there dress was, but she sat down at the table to eat with the rest of us as if she wasn’t essentially in her underwear.
Jonathon was in long swim shorts, Monty and Rose were a little more conservatively dressed but also ready for a day around water. Once Monty had taken a seat, Sean stood tall beside him to make an announcement.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, while the staff take care of some administrative business, we encourage you to make the most of our time just off the coast of the Leilana Island cluster. Any equipment that you may require will be provided and the bell will be rung to signify that lunch is ready should you be out at sea during that time. Just a reminder that due to ongoing, err…legal stuff, there is a limit to how far from the yacht you may travel. Our journey will continue tonight at five pm. Have a pleasant day.”