A:
The night of the boat cruise had come. As Devin and I got ready, I noticed a silver flask sitting on his bed. I knew he'd picked it up at a local store and I decided not to say anything. If he wanted to let loose a bit, I couldn't blame him. This trip had stressful.
As we put on our suits, the dress code for the night was formal, the conversation shifted to relationships.
"Andy, I don't think I'd go out with a girl who approached me. It's not right."
"I don't see what the big deal is. I'd find it flattering."
"Ugh no, you don't get it. Take your ego out of it. A girl who asks out a guy is weird. They're not supposed to be so forward like that. That's what I like about Veronica. She's silent and passive."
"How well do you know Veronica?"
Devin ignored my question and focused on putting on his tie in the mirror.
I scrambled to find matching socks.
Now Devin turned back to me.
"You know there's dancing after the meal, right?"
"Everyone's talking about it."
"You should ask Betsy to dance. Try leaving Marla alone. I can tell you're getting on her nerves."
"You never answered my question about Veronica."
Devin turned away.
"I know you're friends with Cole now. So you're one of the many people against me dating Veronica."
"How many people have said something? Maybe you should—"
"'Leave Veronica alone'? You got sound like you got that from Cole. I'll tell you what, both of you need to stay out of my business."
Now Devin was turning red with rage. The last thing I'd wanted to do was start a fight with him before the cruise, so I tried to squash it.
"I think you're right. I overstepped my bounds here, my bad."
I put my hand out to Devin to shake, but he looked at it like a rotten fish.
"Don't back down now. I want to know what you really think, so I can remember not to trust you again."
Devin was practically frothing at the mouth and sulking. He turned to me and shoved his index finger hard into my chest.
"I'll tell you what, Andy. If you try to play interference between me and Veronica, I will personally throw you overboard. I will not let another situation like Mt. Blowme happen again. You intimidated her into talking to you, and ignoring me. I'll go down fighting."
"Wow Devin, calm down. Don't say anything you don't mean."
It shocked me he'd threaten me in such a direct way. Not only because it was just a conversation, but because he'd seen me fight. I wasn't like the other kids in school. I could fire AL Blast and create Shields. And he'd seen that. For all I knew, Devin was just a regular kid and not a tough one at that.
Despite everything Devin said, I resolved to monitor him. There was something off.
After that interaction, I still had a few minutes before I was to meet up with Marla to go to the bus. I spent the time debating the perfect way to ask Marla out. There was going to be the perfect moment, and I had to be ready.
As I came up to her door, I took a deep breath then knocked on the door.
Marla called out that she was "almost ready" from inside, so I waited. About five minutes passed, and I knocked again.
"Just a second!"
I worried why might not make the bus. I didn't want to be annoying, but I knocked again.
"OMG, hold on!"
I heard footsteps come up to the door and Marla opened it, with the top lock still chained. I looked and noticed she was only wearing a large white towel.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"You kept knocking, so I thought you didn't believe me."
"You're getting ready. I can see that now."
By the time she finished getting dressed, we were two minutes from being late for the bus. Dr. Prokter had been strict about the departure time of the bus and the boat.
However, all the time she took to get ready was worth it. She wore this strapless sparkling blue dress and these sharp pointy heels that made her taller and more mature. Her hair was done up with a bouncy, soft curl, like a Hollywood celebrity.
She looked me up and down. I was too stunned to say anything.
"You look great, Andy. Your socks even match. Come on, aren't we about to be late?"
She grabbed my arm and dragged to the front of the hotel.
We jogged to the front, but that wasn't fast enough. The bus pulled away and Dr. Prokter grinned at us from the back window. Now we'd need to find our own way to the boat and pray we wouldn't be late for that too.
Unfortunately, under Writ of the King, Uber and Lyft remained banned on Ecchi Island. So the people of the island still made use of the ancient technology known as "taxis". A short primer on taxis is that they were basically Uber, but didn't have an app and all drove the same ugly yellow sedans.
On Ecchi Island, these taxi drivers had a poor reputation for scamming clueless tourists. We fit the description of someone they'd target, so I'd wanted to avoid taking a taxi. But, at that point, a taxi was our only hope of getting to the cruise on time. So I waved one down.
B:
We were already running pretty late when we jumped into the cab. Thankfully, the old cabbie didn't dawdle.
He was listening to a news report on the radio.
"The Prime Minister reiterated today that the recent shifts in the nation's currency are not the fault of the government. Ecchi Island's currency has dropped in value by 50% over the past week. This has led to defaults on many state obligations."
They swapped the smooth talking broadcaster out with a bureaucrat.
"What's happening is that healthy shifts in the market are being promoted as 'bad' by this nation's enemies. The King insists that nothing bad is happening and, if it were, the responsibility would fall at the feet of the Finance Minister."
The broadcaster cut back in.
"Last night, the Finance Minster was arrested, and will be beheaded tomorrow morning, in relation to his on-the-job performance."
Our cabbie turned down the radio in disgust.
"I can't believe what they're doing to this place. It's like they let any old trash in here now, no offense."
I was a little offended, but a lot more concerned about the time. I did not want Marla and I to miss this opportunity.
"Excuse me, sir. But could you drive a little faster?"
The cabbie nodded his head and seemed to prepare to floor it, when a call came in on his walkie-talkie. Whoever it was spat out some gibberish I couldn't understand, but the cabbie did.
"Sorry guys, end of the line. I've been told to stand down."
The cabbie slowed the car down and pulled to the side of the road. I looked outside and saw he was high on a bridge overlooking a long river. And still several miles from the dock where the cruise was about to depart.
I looked at him in disbelief, but Marla got angry.
"What do you mean, 'end of the line'?"
"My union boss said the bastard Finance Minister made off with our pensions, so we're all on strike until further notice. I'm so sorry. You look lovely, by the way."
"Wait... but isn't there a clause that says you have to like, complete a taxi ride if the customer has broken no rules?"
The cabbie as widened as he looked at Marla.
"How... do you know so much about this?"
"It's on the little pamphlet back here."
Marla held up a folded pamphlet with 'tips' for visitors to Ecchi Island. The driver snatched it from her and ripped it up.
"That no longer applies. New contract. Those forms are out of date. Get out of my cab."
I thought of something that would scare him into cooperating. Of course, I didn't intend to do this. But the clock was ticking, so I had to do something drastic.
"We'll call the police!"
After I said that, the cabbie burst into laughter.
"The police are on strike, too!"
We gave up and found a way on foot. For normal people, this would be unthinkable. But since learning to use magic, I've my physical abilities have reached levels I never imagined. I could run pretty darn fast.
I followed behind her at break neck speed. We were running through a crowded market place a little over a mile from the dock.
It was hard to not crash into anyone, and we climbed a ladder up to the rooftops and ran along there. It was already evening, and I let me self hesitate for a moment to appreciate the crescent moon.
"What are you doing? Hurry!"
As we approached the dock, I braced for the worst. But was thrilled to see Luna and Cole standing outside waiting for us. As we gasped for air, Luna told us to move faster.
"We would not let them leave without you guys... But why are you always running so late?"
Cole responded as we were still gasping for air.
"They were probably making out."
Marla and I waved our arms in protest as we gasped for air and stepped on to the boat. Dr. Prokter gave us a stern greeting.
"Thank you for joining us! Go this way and do not fill up on the hors d'oeuvres. They are delicious in moderation. Do you understand?"
We nodded as we scurried past Dr. Prokter.
It looked like the party had already started. It was decorated with expensive taste, aside from the crystal bowl of bright red punch sitting to the side of the room. Naturally, both genders had self-separated, other than couples. But it looked like there was a little more mingling than usual. I saw Ian and Betsy talking again. It made me think there should be a welcome meeting for the new members of the Gaia Defense Force Club when we got back to school.