Once inside, I pressed the button, and the elevator started to take me up to the top floor, where Lidy was sleeping in my room. I looked around and sniffed, but all signs of our fun were gone; all evidence cleaned.
I was curious if that happened on its own or if someone was cleaning up after me as I went? That would not be likely, but I never knew. A good number of people had nothing to do, but I wasn’t giving them orders.
Hell, I didn’t even know where half the people that had joined us were. Numerous Demons had come with us, men and women, but I hadn’t placed them.
There was a ding as I reached the top floor, and the door opened. I headed out and turned right to the ladder that went up to the hatch, but it was different now.
I climbed up and had to spin the wheel that was on top of the hatch to get it opened. When I opened it, I half expected the water to rush out and then sink the ship.
What was on the other side of the hatch was hard to look at without wondering what the fuck was going on. Game or not, the water rippling in the hatch made me feel like I was the one standing on the roof.
Then Mati popped her head in.
“There you are! I was worried that you weren’t going to come, but why are you crawling down the ladder like that?” Mati asked me, and I grinned.
“And miss the chance to meet Mary and Missy’s sister? Hardly!” I laughed, and Mati gave me a strange look.
“How do you know my sisters?” Mati asked curiously.
“Mex and Kieta are here as well. If you want, you can come in, and I can show you to them,” I offered, but Mati shook her head.
“My sisters are boring, and we just end up fighting because Mary drools, and Missy is an idiot. No, I saw you, but you were sitting with Mex’s elementals, so I thought you killed him and were running from the island. I was going to fight you, but now I am just curious about what type of person you are. Maybe after we can go see Kieta; I do miss her,” Mati explained, and I nodded.
“Sure, I will come out, but I will have to change my body,” I explained, and Mati nodded, backing out of the hole.
I climbed up, but gravity unexpectedly flipped on me when my head touched the water. My body weight ripped me off the ladder and the rest of the way into the water.
Suddenly my body was weightless, but something pulled me. Instantly, I was sucked into something that tossed me like I was in a washing machine.
I fought the urge to flail as my body spun into a fit of bubbles. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I didn't like it, and I quickly picked Mary from my list and Monsterized.
My legs fused, and my feet became a board fin that fluttered to swim out of the jet stream I had been sucked into. Once I was out of the blasting water, I could see the submarine a good ways away from me.
“Well, that looked fun, but it is tough to get out when you get blasted into it! I thought you might want to try it, but I lost you,” Mati said as she swam around me, looking over my body. “You look like my sister, but your eyes look normal. That is a good thing, or you might be dead now. The last time a Gorgon tried to stare me down, they looked at their own reflection. Put him in a bit of a hard spot!”
“You are the reason that I just got power washed? Do you mind asking me before you toss me into what should have been certain death?!” I asked, but Mati frowned at me.
“If I asked you, you would have said no,” Mati said plainly.
“That is very likely,” I agreed, nodding as one of my snakes slithered into my sight.
“Exactly! You can't say no if I just get you to do it! People have more fun when they don't get a choice in the matter!” Mati exclaimed, and I gave her a horrified look.
“So you would be fine… never mind, that is a pointless question for someone like you. Whatever. Not like I am going to change you this fast,” I groaned. “Still, can you please at least tell me before you do something like that in the future?”
“Possibly. If I remember, I will, but you seem pretty tough. Most people would have died from that, but you only look shaken! I think that we are going to have a lot of fun! Do you want to come with me to get into trouble?” Mati asked. “I know a great place that serves some high-quality Puff. We can have a couple pokes of that and see what kind of trouble we can find!”
“Puff? Like puffer fish poison?” I asked, and Mati nodded.
“Yeah! Makes you feel good, but there are things that you can mix with it, like Dreamfish and a bunch of others! What do you think?!” Mati asked, but red flags were starting to go up.
I had smoked the occasional joint with Harold back in the day, but my experience with Tiga had been the closest thing that I had ever come to. I just wasn’t big on drug use, but there was something I was curious about.
“Sure, why not? I have about two days before my ship reaches the first island, so I am fine with coming for a swim,” I said, breathing through gills that had grown on my neck.
The truth was that there was something itching at me about the way that I had talked before. I assume that when I was talking to Harold, it would have been just gibberish when I was high, but there was a code to it.
This was probably not important, but I hadn't gone out in… yeah, no point in calculating how long it was since I had a life.
That was too sad.
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