The Voyage of the Miscreation (Episode 1)

The Lurker

Late that first night, Rei pulled her husband up onto the forecastle when everyone else was asleep. She’d already laid out a blanket for them underneath the stars. When his eyes widened with realization, she smiled at him. “I told you we’d find some privacy together,” she whispered into his ear.

Yuri rested his crutch on the railing and eased himself down onto the blanket, then held a hand out to her. “Will you come join me, my dear?”

She stretched out next to him and kissed him slowly, running her nails down his back and savoring his closeness. During the day she tried to behave professionally around the others, which made her crave these intimate moments even more. The fact that there were two passengers sleeping below them, the priest in one cabin and the physician in the other, didn’t bother her at all. She could be quiet when she wanted.

But part of Rei stayed alert for movement on the deck below them just in case, which was why she heard a sound from the other end of the ship.

Rei broke away from Yuri’s kiss and sat up straight. “Did you hear that?” she whispered.

He craned his neck to look. “I don’t see anyone. Relax.”

She saw a tiny figure sneaking to the upper deck in the back and pointed. “There. I think it’s that little girl.”

Yuri lay back down on the blanket and reached for her again. “She’s probably just playing a game. Don’t worry, she won’t see us.”

Rei got to her feet, pulling her unbuttoned shirt closed over her chest. “I’m just going to go check on her.”

Her husband settled back with a sigh, knowing better than to argue when something was bothering her. “Fine. I’ll be here when you get back.”

She tiptoed on bare feet down to the main deck, careful to stay in the shadows between the hanging lanterns. When she reached the other end, she could hear the little girl’s voice faintly on the breeze, singing a song. Rei climbed the stairs up behind her, placing her feet lightly on the edges of the wooden steps where they wouldn’t creak, and crouched as she peeked up to catch a glimpse of the lurker.

Then she saw Aristia leaning over the back railing, looking down into the wake of the ship. Although Rei swore that she hadn’t made a sound, the girl stopped singing and whipped her head around, staring straight at her.

“Hey there, little one,” Rei said, straightening up into a non-threatening posture. “What are you doing up so late?”

“I couldn’t sleep.” Aristia pointed down at the water. “My friend was talking to me.”

Rei folded her arms and approached the railing, but when she looked down, all she saw were dark waves churning behind the ship’s stern. “Who’s your friend?”

Aristia put a finger over her lips. “Shh, I can’t tell anyone that she’s here. It’s a secret.”

An imaginary friend? The girl seemed a little old for make-believe, but Rei didn’t know children very well. Maybe her husband was right about it just being a game. “You shouldn’t be up here in the middle of the night,” she scolded. “If you fell overboard in the dark, no one would see you. Does the mage know that you’re up here?”

Aristia hopped back from the railing and looked down at her feet, ashamed. “No, he’s asleep. I thought I wasn’t bothering anyone. Sorry.”

Rei felt a pang of guilt for her harshness. She reached out and put a comforting hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Try and get some sleep,” she said in a softer tone. “You can talk to your friend again tomorrow.”

She watched to make sure that Aristia made it back to the mage’s cabin, then went to rejoin her husband at the fore. “That little girl is weird,” she said with a shake of her head.

“We can figure her out another time,” Yuri said, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her back down onto the blanket.

She thought about telling him what she saw, but his kisses soon made her change her mind.