“This is not on my bucket list,” I said, carefully kneeling and sitting back on my calves.

My legs were covered by my wetsuit, so they weren’t slathered in slime. In this position, I could minimize the contact of my bare skin with the ground to only my toes. Even the squishy surface was disgusting though, feeling like a water bed that wasn’t right. I’ve had plenty of experience with gore and other monstrous stuff, but what was probably the inner lining of the stomach of the creature that swallowed us and the fake fishing boats was just ewww.

At least there was no stomach acid. I’d survive that but my clothes wouldn’t. I preferred keeping my clothes after losing so many, thank you very much. And yeah, we had Big Marcy’s notes to protect too.

Safe to assume this monster was supposed to swallow the boats because the passengers were inside when Jubjub pulled us up. That was why whoever made this monster made sure there was no stomach acid. Most likely, an Adumbrae’s power was involved here.

This monster would then travel underwater to Red Island to make sure that the passengers wouldn’t know how to get there. No one would see the ships too. However, that wouldn’t be enough. Satellites and computers scanning the Pacific Ocean would find suspicious-looking islands with structures on them. The resources of the secret organization behind the Professor were huge; the Supplier should know that.

There were more tricks to the hidden Red Island that we were yet to find out.

“Getting swallowed by a whale isn’t on your bucket list?” Deen muttered next to me. I could tell from her strained voice that she was also disgusted with our situation. She hid behind acting tough and nonchalant. “Too tame, Erind. Get a more adventurous list and explore the world.”

Deen’s breath wafting over made me want to lash out. It was worse than physical contact with another human, and there was presently plenty of that. But I managed to remain as still as a statue.

Jubjub, Deen, and I were next to the hull of the beached ship, hiding under a shadow blanket Jubjub made. Well, this wasn’t a beach, but the correct term was still ‘beached’, wasn’t it? Or was an actual beach required?

Our situation was a bitch. This blanket thingy was mostly solid, so all our exhaled carbon dioxide was mingling about. I didn’t like that one bit. We also huddled close together, but somehow that didn’t bother me as much. Deen, I had gotten used to. As for Jubjub, my body didn’t recognize her as a person. She was too blank to be one; a regular NPC.

The blanket’s material was slightly translucent, allowing us to see hints of the outside… which was mostly darkness. The boats turned on their lights after entering this monster, but the cavernous stomach was too cavernous to illuminate in its entirety. The most revealed to us were fleshy purply hills and gigantic pulsing veins. The smell was horrid, like dried barf mixed with rotten bananas.

“Fine, I’ll add getting swallowed by a monster to my list,” I said.

“Hey, whale girl,” Deen whispered as she elbowed me. “I thought whales don’t eat people.”

“This isn’t a whale,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “And I told you that a whale’s throat is tiny. Can’t swallow a person, much more a frigging boat.”

This was the monster with many glowing eyes I saw earlier while we were hanging out on the cruise ship’s bow. Not sure if it saw us too, or if it was aware we were inside it now. After the cruise ship was out of sight, this creature swallowed the boat we were on, then the other ones.

“I thought of something,” Deen said. “What about killer whales? They’re pretty huge and eat seals, don’t they? They can probably swallow a person.”

“Killer whales are part of the dolphin family.”

“Really? I thought I one-upped you. They should name animals properly to avoid confusion.”

“Killer dolphin,” I said, giggling. “Actually… it sounds scarier than ‘killer whale’.”

“Refrain from talking if unnecessary,” Jubjub piped up. I could tell she was gauging the best time to cut into the conversation. “We can still be heard by other people.”

I nodded, zipping my mouth. Could Jubjub see my gesture inside this cloak? She explained that we would be able to hear noises coming from the outside. It made sense if people outside could hear us too, if we were too loud. It was a different thing spotting us.

So long as we were in the shadows, this covering Jubjub made would completely camouflage us—we’d look like the side of the ship. Not sure if that was the right term. Maybe becoming ‘invisible’ was a better description?

But if light hit us, we’d materialize into someone’s view, looking like three people under a black blanket. Fortunately for us, the light of the ship shone from above, the shadow cast by the hull was our umbrella.

This ability was different from Jubjub turning into black slime and entering shadows. She couldn’t do that with other people, she told us. I wouldn’t agree to it even if she could; that was just giving her an opportunity to kill me.

Jubjub’s story was that Dario tasked her to stake out the special elevator in her shadow form. Around midnight, a lot of people started using it to reach the secret floors of the cruise ship—clearly, the Red Island trip was a day earlier than expected. Problem was, Jubjub couldn’t alert Dario because that’d entail returning to her body. She could’ve exited the elevator to safety, but she didn’t. Taking initiative that might be considered dumb, she attached herself to someone and hitchhiked, thinking that Dario and the Professor would appreciate her gathering more info.

She didn’t meet any problems, surprisingly. The bioscanners must’ve been switched off because of the influx of people passing through, both normal humans and Adumbrae. Her ride took her to the fake fishing boats. The passengers got scanned before boarding so she had to detach. As a shadow, she easily stowed away, sticking to the underside of the gangway to reach the boat.

Once on board, she figured might as well go all the way to Red Island. She’d be safe if she stuck to her shadow form. Plenty of places to hide on an island and lots of trees provide shade. As for the return trip, the 2Ms’ clients had to go back to their lives after being turned into Adumbrae. She’d hitch a ride back to the mainland.

There were a lot of missing details in her plans like there could be Adumbrae with detection abilities. It was the stronghold of the Supplier where the most important aspects of his operation were located; they’d anticipate super-powered beings trying to infiltrate the place. How long could she go without food and water? And she wasn’t sure when or how she’d leave Red Island.

I could relate to the not-thinking-things-through part. Those same issues, I hadn’t considered.

I also thought I could get to the transport boats by jumping into the ocean. If it weren’t for Deen, and also Jubjub being where she was, I’d have failed. Assessing things fairly, Jubjub’s solo mission could’ve worked out.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Since the passengers were all inside the boat, Jubjub decided to stay outside, return to her human form, and try to contact Dario. She had a special satellite phone that worked even though we were far from land and any cell sites. But something blocked its signal. Must’ve been the forcefield protecting the ships from the waves or a device inside the boat.

Jubjub was looking for a way to get a signal when she saw Deen and me hanging on to the descending forcefield. And that was how we met each other.

Of course, we couldn’t rely on Jubjub’s words. What if she was with us the entire time?

I wouldn’t put it past Dario to assign Jubjub to tail me, especially after she revealed our little meeting to him. Once she noticed I was packing my stuff to leave, she then stuck to me. And how did she get on the transport boat? Hmmm… maybe by traveling across the rope of the sandal-grappling, transforming at the end, and landing on the ship. Then she thought it’d up her chances of survival if the three of us were together, so she pulled Deen and me aboard.

My version might be too far-fetched, but I should be wary of how much Jubjub knew about Deen and me. On the flip side, Jubjub didn’t seem the type to scheme.

Barely ten minutes after we climbed aboard the boat, it was swallowed by this gigantic not-whale monster. The two other boats followed the same fate. We thought that passengers might start coming out after things settled down, so we got off the boat and hid. Deen was here too, upping our security.

“Jubilee, can you contact Dario?” Deen asked in hushed tones.

“I still have no connection,” Jubilee replied, fiddling with her satellite phone. She could be bullshitting us, and we wouldn’t know. But it was certain Dario couldn’t do anything now.

An earthy rumble echoed through the expansive stomach. The flesh beneath us convulsed and then tightened into a hard surface. We had felt this a couple of times before.

“It’s swallowing something again?” I whispered. “Weren’t there only three ships?”

“Could it be burping?” said Deen. “Can whales—?”

“This isn’t a whale, and I don’t know if whales can burp!”

Jubjub nudged my arm. Did she gather enough courage to tell me off? However, she didn’t complain about my noise. “Listen. The sound of rushing water,” she said. “Something else too.”

Soon, we were wading in about a couple of feet of water. And it was continuing to rise. Deen wasn’t saying anything. None of us moved. We could hear the banging of something large and metallic; it was becoming noisier. We couldn’t see what was entering the stomach. A few more seconds and the water was up to my chin. I sat up straighter so I wouldn’t have vile water touching my lips.

The banging stopped. The massive thing had beached too. Water started to recede.

Loud voices followed. Angry and arguing with each other. People were getting out of the boat, their footsteps on the deck echoing. It seemed like whatever entered the monster’s stomach wasn’t supposed to be here, and they were checking it out.

“We should see what it is,” I said. “Any objection, Jubjub?”

“None. As long as we’re careful to stick to the shadows and keep this cover over us.”

“Deen, what does your Guardian Angel say?”

“He’s guiding me how we should move,” she replied.

“Since you’re not going anywhere,” I said, “he probably decided to go along with our shenanigans.”

“Erind, put your hand on my shoulders,” Deen said. “Jubilee, hang onto Erind. We’re going to form a choo-choo train while remaining crouched.”

“Choo-choo train?” I said with a snort. “Did your Guardian Angel actually say that?”

“Nope. It was just me,” said Deen, feeling in the dark for my hands and putting it on her shoulders. “Everyone ready?”

“Ready,” I said, flinching when Jubjub held onto my shoulders.

“Ready,” Jubjub echoed. “Please remember to keep your voices down.”

We rounded the boat and reached the other side, keeping to the shadows. We saw what the monster swallowed—a large, orange box, smaller than those freight containers. People armed with spotlights and guns surrounded it. Oh, there were Adumbrae in the mix too, easy to tell apart by the not-very-human body parts they sported.

I spotted a propeller on one end of the box. “Is that a lifeboat?”

“From the cruise ship,” Deen said. “Maybe it got accidentally detached and this whale swallowed it.”

I wrinkled my nose, stopping myself from correcting Deen. I knew she was doing it to tease me. Instead, I observed the 2Ms’ goons. They were arguing what to do with the lifeboat. Some of the Adumbrae must be in the data sheets that Big Marcy has given me. One wanted to blow up the lifeboat. Another was calling for surrender.

“Someone is inside the lifeboat?” I wondered.

“Sounds like it,” said Deen. “Gabe is telling us to stay put. We’re not going to expose ourselves.”

I noticed a familiar face in the crowd of enemies—a familiar monstrous face and blade arm. Ramon! What the hell was he doing here? Judging from the other Adumbrae yelling that they have too many stowaways, Ramon shouldn’t be here just like the lifeboat. Did Big Marcy send him, or did he come alone, expecting me to sneak on the boats to Red Island?

An explosion momentarily illuminated the cavern. The lifeboat rolled across the stomachscape. As it settled, we saw a huge hole on its hull smoldering. One of the augmented men shot it.

“Come out!” he yelled, waving a cannon for an arm. “We know you’re in there!”

And someone did come out.

Deen gasped “Reo and Everett?” It was them, raising their hands in surrender.

I turned to Jubjub. “Why are they here? Did Dario send them?”

“He shouldn’t have,” Jubjub replied. “That wasn’t part of the plan—the plan that I’m aware of anyway. Even I’m not supposed to be here.”

“Did they see us?” Deen muttered.

“Huh?” I said, a bit too fast.

“What might’ve happened was that either Reo or Everett saw us climbing down the cruise ship. They panicked and got on a lifeboat to search for us.”

“And then the monster found them?” I said. “Yeah… that could happen.” Is this my fault? Probably. But was this truly a fault? We might use this to our advantage. I couldn’t see it yet, but I might find some benefit from this development.

Reo and Everett weren’t getting any benefit though. The Adumbrae were beating them up for answers. Reo played dumb, spouting wild stories that he was drunk and fell into a lifeboat. It was obvious they weren’t just random people because they survived the heavy blows from Adumbrae torturing them. Plus, some scanners exposed their lies. And yet, Reo stuck to his story, almost out of spite for the Adumbrae. Everett was trying to say something, but Reo kept talking over him.

Weirdly, Reo’s strategy was keeping them alive. By being this defiant, the interest of the 2Ms’ men was piqued. It seemed that Reo and Everett had plans even if the truth was that they were dumb enough to look for us—mostly Deen, probably.

“Don’t do anything,” Deen sternly said.

That was surprising. I thought she’d be the first to charge, her Guardian Angel’s warning be damned. I was already preparing to choke her.

“Reo and Everett can survive this,” she said.

“How do you know?” I asked. “Did your Guardian Angel tell you?”

“Gabe can’t know what’ll happen to them. I’m saying we should trust that they’re brave and strong enough to survive this. The longer they hold on, the likelier they’d be taken prisoner. Rushing to save them won’t do us any good. Even if we win, this whale could dive to the depths of the ocean and swallow water, drowning us.”

Shocking to come from heroic Deen. Jubjub wasn’t saying anything. Was this proof that Reo and Everett weren’t in Dario’s inner circle?

As Deen predicted, Reo and Everett were electrocuted to knock them out. Then an Adumbrae wrapped them in a cocoon of gummy substance. Mechanic thingamajigs were placed in their head and they were taken to the boat furthest from us.

I shrugged. “I guess we’ll just wait here until we reach the Red Island?”