"Whoa!" Archibell said, looking around. "Where'd that lubber go?"

"Mommy!" a high voice cried, and Elise was surprised it didn't come from her own mouth.

Tony the Troutface wailed from Archibell's hands. Both Archibell and Elise looked down at the terrified street thug fish as he shivered on his plaque.

"What?" his voice said, suddenly gruff and gravelly. "I don't like it when the cap'n tells ghost stories aboard the ship and now it seems we're living in one. Imma yellow belly at heart."

Archibell chuckled. "I think you mean a yellow tail!"

But Elise was too concerned to laugh at the captain's fish joke. "Should we go back to the ship?" she asked. "I think Tony's right. We might be in a g-g-ghost story!"

The captain merely chuckled again and frowned. "We're all outta supplies, first mate. There are a million exciting ways to go out on the high seas, ranging from getting your head blown off by a cannon ball to being devoured by shark people; but, starving to death ain't one of em. It's boring and tedious."

Elise gazed out on the seemingly haunted town. The flames on the torches flickered like the burning eyes of a netherworld demon. She took a deep breath and pulled herself together. "If I go pee again," she said to Archibell. "It's your fault "

Archibell put his fingers through the loop of his belt again. "I take full responsibility for both of you children pooping your pants."

"Hey!" Tony screamed. "I don't even have pants."

The three strolled into town where they were greeted by a small, weather-beaten billboard hammered into the cracked ground. The sign was smudged but mostly readable: "Welcome to Blackwater, Population…"

There was no number designating the town's population. "Nope times three!" Elise said, shaking and backing away slowly. "There's nobody in this town! We should leave!"

"Relax Freckles," he said "This town is merely too cheap to to wipe down their filthy sign post. Look…"

Archibell used his jacket to remove the green mildew from the sign.

Elise read it again. "Population: 66 healthy, living people who are totally alive."

"Phew," she sighed. "I thought we were in a ghost town."

"Don't worry, Freckles," Archie said patting Elise on the head. "The only thing invisible in this town is their budget to get the sign clean. Come on kid!"

Archibell strolled away with Tony in his hand.

Elise gazed at the sign for a moment longer. An eerie green minus sign showed through the kelp. It appeared next to the population designation and glowed as ominously as an angular's antenna.

Not knowing what that meant, Elise hustled over to Archie. Together, they stared at a rundown building that stood at the center of the town. It was two stories of chipped, blackened windows and even blacker wood. Hanging on a pair of rusted chains was a sign painted in faded maroon colors. The Oozing Scab, the sign read

"Welp kelpies," Archibell said. "I found where we're shacking up."

"You got the shack part right," Tony quipped.

Elise was silent. She still didn't know what the minus sign meant.

They entered through the creaking door and immediately, Elise wished she had stayed in the ship. The whole building was a sunken pale blue, tinted that color in the eerie silver moonlight. The floors were all caked in dust and mold with a few rat corpses. The beverages on the table were a brownish putrid green and there were only two patrons--two scarred sickly sailor's sipping out the sides of their mouths.

A haggard voice accosted them. "What brings you to my inn?"

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Elise and Archibell turned to the counter and nearly jumped. Glaring at them was an elderly woman seemingly older than the island itself . Her skin was sallow, a handkerchief was stretched across her thinning hair and perhaps the freakiest part for Elise, the old hag had a wandering eye that didn't look the same direction as the one that focused on them.

"Ahoy er...ah...ma'am," Archibell said, tipping an invisible pirate hat. "We've come here seeking room and board."

"Look me in the eye when you talk to me," the crone snapped at Archibell as he approached the counter

Archibell looked around nervously. "Which one?"

("And I thought I was wall eyed," Tony the Troutface added.)

Elise gripped Archie's tail coat fearfully as he watched him negotiate with the wonky eyed hag.

"Room and board eh?" The crone said at last.

"How much?" Archibell said, nervously counting the coins in his leather pouch. "We're a bit low on booty. Both kinds…"

The crone pushed his pouch away. "Free of charge," she cackled.

"Why?" Archie responded. "I mean, uh, thank you."

The crone snickered. "Our cruddy rooms ain't worth a dime."

Her lips spread apart revealing toothless gums as she held out a ring with a rusted key on it. "Two for the unsuite!"

Elise found the unsuite as repulsive as the bar, if not more. The windows were moldy black, booger green and cracked open, the walls were dining platters for termites and covered in plaques of fish skeletons and weird paintings.

Tony the Troutface whimpered as he hung next to an enormous open, jawed skeleton of a great white shark.

"This reminds me of me gang days," the fish thug shivered, probably reminiscing about the Land Sharks.

Archibell was silent and stood in the corner when Elise approached him. As she stood in his shadow, he sniffed loudly and obnoxiously. "I smell a smelly smell," the captain said. "A smell I haven't smelled in a long time. It's kind of musky and smells of fried liccan and cooked goose… Death is in the air..."

Elise's eyes widened behind her glasses in curiousity. But the captain turned around and placed his hands on her shoulders. "It's probably nothing," he said. "And so to bed. Since I'm an unmatched gentleman, I'll let you have the bed, Freckles--yours truly will sleep on the floor."

"Really?" Elise said, grinning her gap toothed grin. "Thanks!"

Archibell turned his eyes to the side and smirked. "Besides, then you can test for bed bugs."

"What?" Elise gasped.

"Nothing!" Archibell exclaimed. "Goodnight, Freckles. The sooner we wake up, the sooner we can get outta this heckhole!"

***

Elise tossed and turned in the forsaken bed. She didn't feel any bugs crawling on her, but the blanket was gray and prickly like the rear end of a pokeupine and it smelled like a dead one.

Elise missed her own soft bed and even the Lyre's cot was preferable, as much as it reeked of body lotion.

Elise was about to drift off when suddenly, she heard the blocky chording of an organ playing outside her door. It echoed through the whole building like a spectre haunting it. Elise groaned and stood up. There was no way she'd get to bed with some wannabe musician playing creepy aerias downstairs.

She walked over to Archibell who napped on the floor muttering to himself.

"Archie," she said, gently rocking him. "Someone's playing music "

"Five more minutes, mom," he said. "Before I see your ugly face again."

Elise was amazed. He somehow managed to get to sleep on the cold, hard, roach filled floor. Elise elected not to wake him. Instead, she went to Tony the Troutface whose beady fish eyes were wide open.

"Tony," she said softly. "Are you up?"

"Of course I am, doll face," he growled. "Dis cursed fish body didn't come with blinking eyes and I havent managed to sleep with them...like them other fish."

"You hear organ playing right?"

"Of course, kid," Tony responded before shuddering. "And I don't want to know 'oo's playing."

"I want to ask them nicely to stop," Elise said. "I may only be ten, but I still need my beauty sleep. Will you come with me? I don't want to go alone."

"No way, small fry," Tony said, shivering so hard his plaque was vibrating. "I ain't risking my hide and…"

"Actually…" Elise said, removing the plaque. "I don't want to go alone "

"Wait...kid...noooo!" Tony wailed. "I don't wanna be sleeping with da fishes or,"--he paused for a second--"Or in my case, sleeping with da me!"

As they walked onto the balcony, Tony had quieted down, obviously not wanting to be maimed by whoever was playing the organ.

Elise didn't remember there being a large piano in the bar, but there it was.

An imposing hooded figure played with their back turned to Elise. They arched their shoulders menacingly as Elise tip toed up to them. She approached the figure and in her sweetest and most trembling voice asked the figure, "Um, excuse me, sir or ma'am, can you please stop playing the organ. It's atmospheric and all, but I can't sleep with you playing it."

Much to her surprise, the figure stopped. "Um thanksee," Elise said with a curtsy.

"Thank you for bringing that coward to me, young one," the figure said in a deep ogre like voice.

"Huh?" Elise said.

"I knew dis was a bad idea!" Tony cried flopping frantically

"Thank you," the figure said again, their voice distorted and ghoulish. "For bringing both cowards to me."

"Who are you?" Elise gasped as the figure stood up. Their back remained turned to her.

"A humble reaper for the god of the netherworld," the figure replied. "In layman's terms, I'm a repo man for the souls at sea."

The figure closed the top of the organ . "You see, the crew of Captain Archibell were foolhardy enough to try and steal the essense of life from my master. And now he wants their souls…"

The figure turned around revealing the horrifying face of a skull with hypnotic swirling eyes and a demonic expression. "And he won't rest until he has them all."