“You had better hope you saved a couple of coins back to pay the ferry man.” Aster stood up and pointed at Dru with her fork.

  Her face must have looked like a vengeful god (good! It’s what she was going for), because Dru backed away so fast she fell out of her chair and hit the tiled restaurant floor with a thump and clatter.

  Dru said oof, and then laughed nervously. “Good thing we’re in a public place.”

  “Do you think that bothers me?” Aster began to walk around the table but was almost immediately blocked by a uniformed man employed by the cruise ship.

  “Is there a problem, ma’am?” He asked, oh so polite. He looked like he could pick Aster up and throw her over his shoulder if need be. Aster was afraid of no man, and few women, but didn’t want to waste her energy fighting cruise ship employees. No matter how tempting.

  Aster sighed. “There is. But we’ll take it outside.”

  Dru had scrambled to her feet. “Can we get a box for the leftovers?” She asked, breezy as can be.

  The food was boxed quickly, as quick as can be, to get the two trouble makers who were ruining the atmosphere out of the restaurant. The stares of the couples, some curious and some relieved, followed them out the door.

  Aster clutched her cooling supper to her chest. She felt something by her ear and knew that Ruby’s wings were flapping, feeling Aster’s agitation and showing solidarity with it. Though who knows if she understood a word of what was going on.

  Aster really could kill Dru. But she wouldn’t. . . she guessed. Even fist fighting her was a bit out of the question, trapped as they were amongst polite company on the cruise ship.

  “So embarrassing, right? Good thing I’m immune.” Dru gave Aster a cocky grin.

  Aster shifted her leftovers to one arm, reared back with the other and punched Dru in the arm. Not as hard as she could but pretty near, it was a solid one.

  “Ow!!” Dru clutched her arm. “I get it, I get it! Can we work on solutions now and not revenge?”

  “You’ll never be able to pay me back for that.” Aster said. “It was worth more than you are! And it had sentimental value.”

  “Oh please, it can’t be the first time a john ever gave you a pretty bauble.” Dru waved her hand dismissively. “Sentimental my ass.”

  Aster raised her hand again, intending to punch Dru again. It would have been so satisfying to punch her in the arm in the exact same spot again, or even right in that smug, smirking face. She held it together and refrained, finding hitting a barbaric way to solve a problem, really. Although it wasn’t like she hadn’t gotten into a physical altercation once or twice before under oddly similar circumstances.

  But nothing had been stolen before that actually mattered. Aster felt the urge to violence drain away and be replaced by a flush of hot tears in her eyes. Oh no, not this. Not in front of this cretin. The thought just made it worse and the tears dripped down her face. Ever since her injury it seemed like she was always on the verge of it. The combination between the pain, the medication, and the trauma of the whole thing, she guessed. Aster did not see herself as so much of a bawl baby as this.

  “Besides, it’s not like I meant to do it –” Dru cut herself off when she looked over at Aster as she happened to walk under one of the gaslights. They had wandered onto the deck and ended up promenading around the wide circular walkway. “Oh no, hey! Geeze.” Dru said helplessly. “What are you doing that for? I’m sorry, okay?” She looked down again, trying to catch Aster’s eye.

  Aster deliberately avoided it, looking anywhere else. At the stupid people, stupid walking around, stupidly. At the stupid beautiful nighttime sea, beneath the stupid shining stars.

  “Listen, I misspoke, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with what you do. It’s just a way to make a living! I’ve done worse. And basically the same. Only . . . ya know, more informally.” Dru gave up and looked at the sky. “But if you don’t want it brought up, I won’t anymore.”

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  “Do you think THAT’S why I’m upset?” Aster asked, aghast.

  “Isn’t it?” Dru scratched her stupid head, adjusted her glasses.

  “You absolute unrepentant asshole.” Aster said. There it was, the rage was back, but the tears kept falling. Unfortunate. Ruby tickled her ear with her fluttering. “You stole my property and then tried to call it junk. You either know nothing about jewelry, or, I suspect, think I know nothing about jewelry. Because if you thought it was just a cheap trinket you wouldn’t have bothered stealing it!”

  “I-I am SO repentant!” Dru said, stumbling over the word, that was clearly unfamiliar to her mouth. “Also, I promise we can get it back. I just need help! You can cheat at cards better than he can . . . and we’ll win it all back. I can’t do it myself, with the way my luck has been going I’ll end up getting my fingers chopped off or thrown in the brig. But for you it should be simple!”

  Aster stopped walking, not willing to go a step further with this person. If you could even call her that. “Look, I don’t know what in the hell you’re even talking about.” She wiped her eyes on the back of her sleeve, staining the fabric probably, but at this point who even cared. “I don’t even know how to play the game, let alone cheat. I don’t play cards, except for maybe a friendly child’s game with the other girls. I don’t gamble. I have sat beside men and looked pretty. Plenty of times, that. But it’s the best I can do, it’s all I can offer.”

  “Pfft.” Dru said. “I don’t believe that for a minute.”

  Aster raised her arm again.

  “Okay, Whatever!” Dru put up her hands in defense but tittered with nervous laughter as she did it. “If you don’t want to play the game for some reason, we’ll do it a different way.” She put her hands down and bent slightly to look directly into Aster’s eyes.

  With her lying liar that lies deceit eyes.

  Aster narrowed hers. Here it comes.

  “I promise if you help me, not to give up until we’ve gotten your necklace back.” Dru said. “In fact . . . Who cares about my stuff, okay? I’ll be satisfied with just that. Although, it would be nice . . .”

  “And?” Aster prompted.

  “And what?” Dru asked. “And, I mean, it would be nice to get my stuff back too but whatever. Easy come easy go, I guess.”

  “No. And what else do you promise?” Aster asked.

  Dru straightened back up, tilting her head to the side like an inquisitive crow. “I . . . promise . . . not to call you a fairy again? Even though it’s true?”

  Aster swatted her again on her bruised arm. “Do you promise never to steal from me again!? Or else you’ll be sorry and I. mean. It.”

  Dru yelped dramatically and stood at attention. “I promise never to steal from you again.”

  Aster sighed. “Alright then. What choice do I have?”

  “Yaay.” Dru said. She grinned. “I wont even do it if it’s an emergency. Or even if it’s not really stealing but just borrowing.”

  Aster glared. “You are really pushing me over the limit.”

  “But you’ll help! That’s all that matters.” Dru put her arm around Aster’s shoulder. “Hey, so I haven’t eaten much today myself. Would you share those leftovers?”

  *

  It did not in fact make Elwin happy. But at least this guy was a jerk.

  He watched in horrified amazement as Prin, his Prin, approached the drunken blond man that had been with Kit earlier, and chatted with him.

  Prin’s every expression and mannerism oozed sweet charm, although Elwin was keeping out of the way enough that he couldn’t hear what they were saying. He wanted to pull his hair out, on multiple levels. Seeing this Prin, this imposter, flirting with some other guy, was something of a strain to say the least. He could almost forget the end game here was . . . what it was.

  The expression on the blond man’s face went from surly to intrigued to happy and interested in the span of a few moments. Is this how these things happened? Is this how easy it was supposed to be.

  Prin led him down the hall to where there was a bathroom with an out of order sign on the door. Elwin supposed at this time of evening they wouldn’t be coming back to fix it until tomorrow. Probably. Hopefully?

  Prin was laser focused, the other people walking up and down phasing him not at all, he had passed through them like a fish through water. And they parted like they had to.

  He pushed the door open, taking the blond man’s hand and inviting him inside. To his tiled, easy to clean death room.

  There was no doubt Prin had scoped this place out earlier in the day, that he had planned this meticulously, though it was a back up plan.

  The monster was evolving all the time, learning from each kill, controlling himself and able to not even show the pain from the hunger that he must be feeling. It was all so smooth.

  Elwin leaned against the wall, resting his head on the cool paneled wood. He too ignored those around him. How could he care? About others and what they might think. What was the point in it?

  After a few impossibly long moments, he moved from the pool of light from one wall sconce to the pool from another across the hall. He casually tested the bathroom door. Good, locked.

  Elwin wondered if it had begun. Or was something else happening? What could they possibly be talking about, if talking? Was Prin, this Prin he reminded himself, not his Prin, allowing the man to touch him?

  He thought he heard a dull thump, but it could have been coming from anywhere really. There was no screaming.

  Except what was going on inside his own head. Elwin put a hand to his throbbing temple.

  It was crazy how quickly a life could be snuffed from existence. Like it never was.

  And him, the faithful servant, as always, just waiting for his time to pick up the pieces, clean up the messes.

  Was this all that life had to offer?