It wasn't just the falling out with her best friend that irked her that night, as soon as Chloe stepped back outside, she had to deal with a flamboyant eel gangster who was on the verge of murder suicide. With his electric fingers pointed at the sky, even in the dark of night, a thunder cloud billowed over his head and lightning cracked from it with great intensity.
"Betta watch out!" the man exclaimed in his smary and deep voice. "I gots a thunders clouds and I knows how to use em. These eely fingers of mine can draw da thunder out of the sky!"
Chloe widened her eyes. Her voice wavered a little. "You're really gonna take yourself down with the ship?!"
Vinnie the Eel did not lower his fingers. "It's a price I'm willing to pay. Now dat I've lost everything, perhaps Fienmond will spare my men if I kill yous!"
"Arr!" Abacab roared. "I still got five down payments on this ship. If you wreck it, they break me other knee cap, you rogueish ragamuffin!"
Vinnie the Eel's eyes gleamed with a sinister sheen. "You'll be paying a heavenly lease when I burn you alive!"
Chloe's good eye turned towards Monica who was blissfully sleeping on the ship. She smirked wryly. "Sure you can kill us, eely mouth! But will you lay waste to such a beautiful hottie?!"
Chloe put her hands to her mouth and called loudly. "Hey swordslady!"
Monica writhed in her sleep. "I said it already, Madre, I want the green salsa with my empanada, not the red...huh…"
She blinked her eyes open and gazed up at Vinnie the Eel. "Huh?" she muttered. "What's going in here. Where am I and…" she narrowed her eyes. "What's this idiot doing here?!"
Almost instantly, there was a change in Vinnie the Eel's demeanor. In the silver moonlight, a crimson blush stretched from ear to ear. "Idiot?!" Vinnie exclaimed in his deep voice. "Dat stings. I am only an idiot for your love!"
The electricity in his eel fingers ceased and Vinnie the Eel got down on one knee and held out his hand. "Come away with me, senorita and let us leave dis ugly boat behind. You'll soon find I put the 'star' in gangstar."
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Monica rolled her eyes. "Oh please. That pun doesn't even make sense, senor. First, eets pronounced 'gangster' and second, you are an eel man, not a starfish."
"Er...uhh…" Vinnie said, tugging at his collar. "Love makes you babble like an incomprensible fool?"
"I can see the incomprehensible fool part," Monica remarked. "Chloe, what's going on here? This jerk is making me wish I was back in a coma."
"Ouch…" Vinnie said, wincing from her. "That pains of love! Well, in dat case!"
Vinnie's fingers transformed into eels again and he pounted at the sky. "Lightning, strike down this fool in love and everyone on dis ship...so my cursed crew will survive!"
"Monicaaaa!" Chloe whined. "Can't you at least pretend to be interested?"
Monica shook her head in disbelief. "I don't even know what's going on here. I didn't even hit this fool with the Loveblade!"
Chloe sighed. "I'll let you rest then...hey palooka?"
Vinnie glared at the young queen. "Any last words before yous go up in smoke? After all, dis is the only way my crew will be freed."
"Or…" Chloe responded. "We could simply break the Demollusk curse in you."
With those words, Chloe disapeared into the cabin with her heart racing. She picked up the skeletal shell and returned with it to Vinnie. "We are going to Buckingham Blue to learn of the source of the Demollusks! This one whispered of it."
The lightning flickered in Vinnie's hands as his face lit up with intrigue. "Huh?" he said. "The Buckingham Blue? My curse whispered of dat place to me, but I had no idea it actually existed."
"Come with us, ya palooka!" Chloe shouted. "You can learn of its existance and heal your men and yourself. Doesn't that sound a lot better than frying us all to a crisp?"
A trace of contemplation traveled on the sea gangster's brow. When he spoke, his uppity voice was a lot more calm. "Ya know," he remarked. "I don't like working with da enemy" his green eyes turned to Monica fondly, "Even if da enemy is beautiful...but dis I can get behind...for now."
Excitedly pumping her fist into her hand, Chloe cheered. "Yesssss!" she cried. "I don't mind working with the enemy either if it means saving our skin!"
"And who knows," Vinnie said, shifting his eyes to Monica who was only beginning to sit up. "I always loved an enemies ta lovers story!"
Monica grimaced and turned away. "Or a gag to vomit story!"
Everyone decided to turn in for the rest of the night, and Chloe slept well knowing that the Whaleboat wasn't going to be burnt down. She still fretted over her friend Ramone departing soon, but he had turned in early to take his leave. Even with Rosemary whispering, "who needs a mutinous fop," Chloe was still wracked with sadness.
Unfortunately, when everyone awoke in the next morning they were greeted with a new challenge.