The cruise ship was barely visible in the midnight gloom, the only proof of its presence were the bright gold beams of light with the sun’s luminosity, and the deafening horns that echoed through the pier, Lucia clasped her ears in response to the commotion; she hated loud noises, and this was a prime example of loud noise. As the cruise moved closer into the dock, its features became more prevalent under the lighting from within, the bow was a dark grey with a golden lining, elegantly crafted, the wording on the side of the boat glowed brightly under the lights, Magnus could make out the words “A.U.” the name of the ship. From the first glance, it looked like it had 7 layers, but as it came closer, everyone was slightly more doubtful, its colossal nature made everything that already existed in their lives seem insufficient. On the other side of the boat, there was a logo of a fish swimming around, chasing its tail fin, a homage to Trixibelle's fishing enterprise. The ship finally came to a halt at the dock and cars were starting to load themselves on the dock one by one, everyone got out of the car and opened the trunk, the cold midnight air cutting into their skin, and began to collect their luggage. Mr Wyatt seeming hesitant to pick up Cynthia’s suitcase, but carried it regardless, the cruise had two entrances, a bridge for the cars and a walkway for the passengers who didn’t bring a vehicle, they dragged their luggage up the spiralling walkway, Magnus feeling uneasy glancing at the inky unlit waters that rippled below him, at the top of the walkway was a porter, dressed in a sleek jet-black tuxedo with a snow-white bow-tie, not to dissimilar from the snow outside of the vessel, he had a long moustache which Aiden seemed to converge his attention to. Noticing his scrutiny, the porter finally asked. “Tickets, monsieur?” looking at Mr Wyatt with an outreaching palm. Lucia placed the tickets in his palm, and he read them, one by one, analysing the information, “Ah, Ouais, you have booked for the VIP tickets? Will you follow me, s'il vous plaît? I will help you with your luggage” he said smiling, he had a noticeable French accent, which didn’t surprise them, it was a French cruise after all. Aiden and Cynthia both turned to their parents and gave them a deep embrace, hugging them so tight, they were gasping for air at the end of it. After saying their goodbyes to Mr Wyatt and Mrs Lopez, they followed the porter into the ship, as the two parents seemed to sink into the midnight darkness outside.
Jake looked around the interior of the vessel, it was dimly lit by chandeliers and torches. There were incarnadine velvet couches set around the room, with a mahogany table with marble legs, the floor was a shiny rosewood, with Burgundy carpets, to the far end of the room was a large flatscreen television which was playing an old-fashioned movie, In the corner of the room was a pool table and refreshments which at in front of the wall, which had a wallpaper, black and full of roses. “ c'est le salon, or the lounge, this is in the private quarters of the boat, you have this to yourself,” the porter mentioned, Jake and Aiden jumped onto the chair and began to sink into its soft velvety company “Allow me to show you your chambers,” he started once again, continuing to move down the ship, he stopped at a wooden door not too far from their lounge, the door number was 404 engrained in the centre of it. The porter fiddled with his keys as he opened the door, revealing a large room, to the far end of the room was a tinted window which looked out into the endless oceans, with crimson curtains lining the windows, there was a bookshelf next to the windows, filled with comic books and novels, which Cynthia helped herself to. There were 5 beds, each in a corner of the room, with a bocote frame and feathered mattresses, there was a desk with a small lamp by each one with chocolates and other pastries and in the centre of the room was a pillar making the room feel circular. There were also separate doors in the rooms that lead to the bathroom, kitchen and even a game room. They were taken aback by the sheer luxury of it. Placing the luggage and keys on the floor, the porter made for the door, Lucia stopped him, giving him a generous tip “Enjoy your trip madame,” he smiled.
They all made their way to the lounge again and sat down on the couch, Jake stood up, patiently expecting them to move up. “You can sit on the floor,” Lucia scoffed, Magnus and Cynthia nodded. “Yeah, the couch is kind of occupied right now,” Aiden shrugged, Jake rolled his eyes, sitting down on the floor and watching the movie. “Let’s not forget why we’re on this boat, but I suppose, since we’re here already, we should enjoy ourselves!” Aiden chimed, everyone agreed. “I’m sure there are a few things to do in this ship, let’s have a look,” Cynthia said, picking up a guide on the table, “There’s two restaurants, a playing field, a movie theatre, a shopping centre, arcade, opera hall, food hall and swimming pool”
“The arcade seems fun, we could go there first,” Aiden said “depends, what do they have in the playing field?” Magnus looked at Cynthia, “The games they have are football, basketball, billiards, snookers, tennis, table tennis, badminton, volleyball and dodgeball,” She told them, “There are a LOT of options here man, but they are only opening once the ship departs, which is in like 20 minutes”
“What do we do in the meantime?” Magnus asked. Jake stood up smiling, “We could tell some more jokes!”
“Yeah! Or we could... not,” Aiden retorted “I guess we could watch a show in the meantime?”
“Why not, what's on?” Cynthia asked herself, grabbing the remote control from the table, flicking through the many channels that were airing. She found an interesting talent show that was currently on, which seemed to intrigue the group, all but Jake. “I don’t want to watch this, can we watch something else?” He requested, “we don’t really care about what you want to watch, Jake,” Cynthia shook her head “fine then, I'll leave, I didn’t want to watch TV anyways,”
“Mkay, just don’t let the door hit you on the way out, I hear that they're very expensive” Lucia said, focusing on the TV. Jake stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him muttering obscenities as he rushed past them. They all let out a sigh of relief.
(...)
“Jerks! I don’t need them anyway,” he grumbled as he walked through the dim lit hallways of the vessel. Jake may be an objectionable person, but he was good company in his eyes he hoped. Oh, how little he knew. it was a pointless charge into nowhere, but away from his so-called brother and his pathetic friends, so much for blood being thicker than water, but how could he blame him, when mystery flows so much deeper than both. A voice from behind him called out, he looked behind his shoulder to see Magnus running after him. He stopped to catch his breath, “how do you move so fast, damn it,” he started, he flung his arm over Jake’s shoulder and leant on him as he caught his breath. “Get off my shoulder, what do you want?” Jake said impatiently, slapping away Magnus’s arm, “Oh, yeah, right, just wanted to say that I hope there’s no hard feelings between us, you need to give them a bit of time to cool down, they don’t like you much”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“Yeah, I gathered that,”
“Oh, good, good, just take care of yourself, aight? It’s a pretty big ship, I’d hate for you to get lost,”
“Sure, I'll be fine, don’t worry about it, I’ll be back soon,” Jake felt lighter after his reassurance, Magnus was always nice to Jake, even when he didn’t return the generosity. “Oh! Before I forget, you forgot these,” Magnus said, giving him his sunglasses and wallet, Jake contemplated them, taking them slowly,
“Thanks, I guess,”
“Anytime buddy!” Magnus smiled before running back down the hallway. Interesting, that was Jake’s only way to describe Magnus, Interesting. he continued his walk down the hallway, his anger subsiding slightly and having a softer fury that before. He placed his sunglasses on and made his way into the foyer of the cruise, sitting down with a sigh. It was a lot colder, and quieter than the private lounge, but it felt better than being in a room filled with people who hated your guts. Through his shades, he could see two figures walking towards him, he took off his sunglasses to get a better look at the duo, standing before him were a man and a woman, both tall and wearing captain’s suits, white and gold, the woman had short blonde hair in a neat bun, with deep brown eyes, and thick eyelashes the man accompanying her had similar blonde hair and brown eyes, they were both all smiles and winks. “Bonjour! petit garçon, how can we help you today?” The man started
“I’m fine, thank you-”
“Allow us to introduce ourselves, Je m'appelle Alexander, Alexander Monet and my companion here is my sister Urielle, Urielle Monet,” Urielle waved with a cordial smile, they spoke very eloquently despite clearly being foreign. “We own this cruise, and we are also the captains,” she smiled. “Pleasure to meet the both of you, monsieur, madame,” Jake rose to give them a handshake. “Je m'appelle Jake, Jake Wyatt,”
“C’est un name magnifique! You have a very nice name, sir, it is a pleasure to meet you indeed! I hope you enjoy your trip!” Alexander said, walking past him, towards the captain’s lounge, Urielle took a deeper look at his demeanour “You appear to be bored Jake, do not worry, we will be departing very soon, In the meantime, perhaps you can keep my daughter company while you wait? I have no doubts you will get along; she likes making friends,” She offered, “Sometimes I take her on trips whenever her papa is away, she likes to see me and her uncle at work,” Jake sat back down, “Yeah sure, I guess I can,” he grinned, a bit of company is better than none. From behind Urielle, a girl’s head popped out from behind her leg shyly, she looked to be Jake’s age, had freckles and had her mother’s brown eyes, with curly red hair, she must have gotten it from her father. She was wearing a white beret and a velvet sweater with jet-black jeans. She moved past her mother to get a closer look at Jake, she narrowed her eyes as she scrutinised him before giving him a friendly wave. “Salut!” She smiled, “The name’s Madeleine! Nice to meet you mon ami!” Jake straightened up once more, embracing her ardour, “Jake, it’s very nice to meet you too,” he blushed, Urielle smiled, following Alexander into the captains lounge, leaving them together, “Sooo, do you like chess?” Madeleine asked breaking out a chessboard and setting up the pieces enthusiastically. “Boy do I!” Jake laughed.
(...)
Aiden woke up from his nap to the feeling of rumbling, tossing and turning. An announcement could be heard from the speakers in their private lounge, “Good morning, everyone! The boat is about to depart for England, all of the activities centres has been opened up and refreshments are now available on layers, 2,5 and 7, we hope that you enjoy your trip, and we thank you for sailing with us, à bientôt!”
“Oh nice, we can go to the Arcade now? Sweet!” Cynthia grinned, she grabbed a map of the ship on the table and started analysing it, “The arcade is up the stairs, we need to take two lefts and a right”
“Well, last one there is a rotten egg!” Magnus shouted as he made for the door, “Oh no you don’t!” Aiden snapped, chasing after him. Lucia and Cynthia followed.
The arcade was huge, with dozens of machines and activities for them to do, the walls were black, lines with purple lamps and bulbs, it reminded Lucia of her attic, “bagsy the punching machine!” Magnus shouted, running over to the machine in the corner of the arcade, with an enthusiastic smile, he slugged the punching bag with all of his might, as the bag flung up, the display number started to increase, until it reached the number... 40. Cynthia was next, she punched the machine and waited for the display to show, 356, she looked at Magnus with a smug grin. Magnus rolled his eyes in disappointment and shame. Aiden followed, 894, without breaking a sweat. Lucia was the final person on the machine, winding back to strike the machine, she hit it with all her power and waited for the result... 893, she snapped her fingers, bested once again by Aiden. They then tried the dance machine, Magnus cracked his knuckles and stretched his legs, this was his speciality.
Their night at the arcade was one filled with excitement and amusement, with everyone playing a different game. “I suppose it’s time to return to our private lounge? We got some more research to get around to” Lucia yawned, they all nodded, “Where’s Jake? I haven’t seen him since he stormed out,” Magnus asked, “I'm sure he’ll be fine, bothering someone else is my guess” Cynthia said, they all laughed as they retreated back into their quarters, Magnus looked on shaking his head solemnly, he wished they would get along, that’d be nice. “You coming?” Aiden asked, looking back and beckoning him, “Oh right, I’m coming!” He followed them. Once again Magnus looked back at the Arcade, with a deep sigh. Poor Jake, kid was just misunderstood, Magnus really hoped that they’d get along one day, and if that was too far-fetched a desire for Magnus, he sure did hope that he found someone that he’d get along with, he could imagine Jake right now, sad and alone with no friends around to bring him company, he’d sure be in for a long ride, how unfortunate. “You coming man? the guys are leaving without us,” Aiden asked once again, impatiently.
“Yeah,”