Queen of the Sea and Sky 8

She woke up to a restless feeling. It brought her down to the locker area. She fished her phone out, mildly surprised she could still message until she realized that her phone was certainly turned off by the provider but able to use the wifi.

Brianna blinked at the screen. It seemed brighter than she remembered. A few seconds after being on, a missed call alert showed up. A smile spread across her face. She hit the callback button and leaned back on the couch, socked feet up on the cushion in front of her.

Miles picked up on the 4th ring. “Hi, Brianna,” he greeted. His voice was soft. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” she confirmed. She flexed her toes. “What’s up with you? You left suddenly.”

“Yeah… He trailed off. She heard him start and stop to say something twice before Miles cleared his throat. “I told them I had another job offer, but I actually went back to my parents’ place.”

“Ah,” she said, forehead wrinkling. “You just needed an out?”

“Yes.” His voice was surprisingly firm. “There’s something really wrong there. Honestly, you should get out, too.”

Her eyebrows shot straight up. She felt weirdly offended at being told what to do. Brianna swallowed that down and asked, “Do you know something that I don’t?”

There were a few seconds of silence on the line. “I don’t, not really,” Miles said. “But it’s not a good place to be.”

She crossed her arms, switching which ear her phone was held to. “I like it here,” Brianna said stiffly. And she was- she was pretty sure that it was true. She liked walking the halls at night. She liked Imile and the Red Lady, she liked wearing clothes she could never afford and never worrying about where her next meal was coming from.

His sigh came across as static. “Okay,” Miles said. “It’s your call- that’s good, I guess. I just wanted you to know that if you decide to leave, I’m looking for a roommate.”

“Where are you at?” Brianna asked. The conversation from then was less tense, Miles seeming to know he’d overstepped a bit. When she hung up, she had a restless feeling. She went out to stretch her legs. She remembered she’d left Brendan with the nurse on staff, but he wasn’t there when she checked in. He wasn’t in the kitchen, either. He didn’t have a roommate either, and she stalled, a little lost. He seemed to be kind of isolated, she realized. Other than her, he didn’t have contacts on the ship.

Not quite true, she remembered. Brendan had apparently talked with Sheffield. That was out of the question, though. Even if she knew where to find him, she was not going to ask one of the owners if he knew where Brendan was.

Lost, she wandered. She went back to her room. Brianna quickly realized that was a mistake when she heard Miho’s soft sleeping breaths. She washed her face again, smiled at the slightly wilted roses, and left again just as quietly as she’d come.

Alright then. She had a few hours before 9, when she needed to be in the ballroom. She went down to the employee lounge again, took out her phone, and looked at the clothes in her locker. The room was empty— people on usual schedules must be at dinner still.

She felt an odd rebellion climbing up. She shed the historical dress and pulled on her jeans, a bralette, and an orange top she’d had since high school. She slipped her phone into her back pocket and left the lounge, trying to look like she wasn’t violating her employee contract. She stopped at the atm in the lobby to marvel at her paychecks and withdraw a good chunk of cash.

Brianna took it to the bar, where she proceeded to do her best to drink alone. She had to wave off a couple of optimistic male guests who didn't seem to understand she wasn’t looking for company.

Two hours in, a different bartender walked up to her. He glanced over her face and raised an eyebrow. “Brianna W, from entertainment?”

Her back straightened.

He hummed. “Message for you. Your shift is cancelled tonight- looks like you already knew that, but I’m passing it on.” He shook the hair out of his eyes. “Need a refill?”

She blinked, unsettled. Something about that felt wrong. “Water, please. And maybe some food.” She felt the sudden urge to sober up.

“I’ll bring the menu over.”

After a few waters and some appetizers, Brianna felt relatively stable. Her feet took her to Imile’s office, to ask about the cancellation. The door was closed and no light was coming out of the window.

She frowned. Was Imile ill or something?

She took the long way back to her dorm, passing by the entrance to the museum. She had a strong desire to go on in, to pretend she didn’t know she had the night off. Somehow, Brianna resisted. Her feet took her back to the dorm. Miho was still sleeping. Brianna took some clothes and went to change in the bathroom, so that no one would see her out of uniform.

The roses froze her in her tracks. They were black and dead, dried out.

She had a sick, sick feeling.

Brianna didn’t make a decision to run. She was simply doing it. The door banged shut behind her and probably woke Miho, but she was already gone.

She banged her passcode into the door so quickly that it didn’t register and she had to try again with shaking fingers. When it opened she kept running. She ran until she reached the lounge where she had started working. The lady in furs was there, as was the thin man. There were other ghosts too, people she had never seen before. The blood drained from her face. She looked at them. They looked back, solemn and silent.

Something primal at the back of her brain was screeching an alarm. It wasn’t fear of the ghosts. She knew something was wrong, someone was here. She had the presence of mind to dig her phone out of her pocket and hide it in the lounge, because getting caught with that kind of contraband would be worse than being seen in jeans. And then she kept going. She was more cautious now, quiet in the darkness. She knew the ship as well as anyone by now. Her feet took her to the ballroom.

It was dark. It was eerily quiet. The only sound was her breathing and the slightest sound. She strained to hear. It was soft and repetitive.

Someone was definitely in there.

“I’ve come this far,” Brianna said to herself.

She stepped out into the room, and saw Imile. Imile didn’t see her. She was sitting on neatly folded legs, tapping something white against the pages of a book. A white ring around her softly glowed. That was the only light to illuminate two small shapes that Brianna slowly realized were old, worn shoes.

“Imile,” she said. Her voice came out firmer than she expected it to. “What are you doing?”

The other woman jumped a little, and looked up at her with big eyes. “Oh, Brianna,” she said. She seemed to be mentally a million miles away. “You…” a wrinkle formed on her forehead. “You’re here. Oh, of course,” she sighed. Imile leaned back a bit. “You’re drawn here, aren’t you? Very susceptible. You’re been sensitive from the start.”

Brianna furrowed her brow. “What are you talking about?”

Imile blinked up at her. Then she looked away. “It’s lovely here, isn’t it?” Her voice was wistful. “Don’t you want to stay here forever? I can’t imagine why someone would want to leave.” There was an odd tone at the end. Something sorry.

“I like it here a lot,” Brianna said, because she wasn’t ready to commit to forever. “What are you doing?”

“I….” Imile trailed off, and looked down at her book. “I think I made a mistake. She doesn’t want to be here. I can’t seem to fix it.”

Brianna’s heart thudded. She took a step forward. “She doesn’t want to be here?” She repeated. She looked around, but she didn’t see anyone else. “Are you talking about-”

“Yes,” Imile cut her off. “I didn’t mean to- I just thought they were lovely and rare.” She looked down at the shoes. “And now she can’t seem to leave.”

“You brought her here?” Brianna’s voice was high and incredulous. “You…” The scenery sank in a bitch. “You’re a necromancer or something?” She felt disbelief but it had to be true. “You’re doing something with the ghosts.”

“I’m only making them more stable,” Imile said defensively. “I’m just a witch. I’m not hurting anyone.” Her eyes trailed over to Brianna’s collarbones. “With a little help, they can get some energy from living people around. It doesn’t hurt anyone, not when it’s gentle. Look at them,” she said. Her eyes were sparkling.

Brianna followed them, and for the first time she saw that pale reflections of ghosts were coalescing in the ballroom.

“I’m just helping them out of the dark,” Imile said. Her voice was wistful. “It’s what I would want.”

“It’s clearly not what she wants.” Brianna clenched her jaw. “She avoids you, doesn’t she? That’s why you were surprised that I see her.”

“I’m trying,” Imile said. Her tone was hopeless. “I thought I had it, until you said that. You really… you don’t want to stay, do you?” She looked at Brianna again.

This time, she registered that Imile was looking at the necklace.

“You should take that off then.”

Brianna touched the main stone. “What?” She asked. She took a step forward unconsciously. She was careless. She didn’t know something was wrong until Imile cried out.

She looked down. Her foot had smudged open the line of salt around Imile. They made eye contact, Brianna confused and Imile afraid.

There was a harsh red glow. Brianna turned, and she fell. She suddenly had no strength.

Imile shrieked.

Brianna blinked and rolled her head over to see the Red Lady step inexorably over the salt line and into Imile.

The room was silent again. “What are you doing?”

The Red Lady in Imile’s body looked at her. She said — well. She said gibberish. Italian?

A rueful smile spread over Imile’s face when the lady realized that Brianna didn’t understand. She walked away.

“Wait,” Brianna said. Imile’s face glanced back, but she didn’t falter. She reached the door to the upper deck and pressed the release button. An alarm immediately started to ring faintly. Imile disregarded it and stepped up and out of sight.

Brianna felt sick. She felt terrible. She felt like she had mono or she hadn’t slept for 3 days. She heaved her body up on shaking legs to follow. She somehow made it before the door closed and crawled up the stairs.