'Quiet! No back-talk! No debate! Everyone in the crawlspace! Snappy! Double-time! Go, go, go!'
I ran into the other room and shoved aside boxes. There it was. I lifted the lid to make certain I had the right box. Soft fabric lighter than smoke, with glints of pearl and shivering dew drops, shone back at me: the wedding dress.
1.
Vanity's crawlway led only a dozen feet. There was a set of grilles through which rain was blowing, and a cylindrical housing for some sort of pump or turbine. Unfortunately, the metal cylinder of the turbine occupied all but the merest sliver of the crawlway, and was between us and the grilles which opened out onto the deck.
Colin was in front, and I was in the rear, behind Victor. Vanity and Quentin were in the middle. We heard Colin grunting and straining for a moment or two.
Vanity called to him (shouting over the storm noise), 'Use your powers on it!'
He shouted back, 'Inspire me!'
Vanity shouted, 'Amelia and I will do another striptease act for you if you get that vent off!'
'Ho ho. That would be nice, if I believed you,' said Colin.
Well, on the one hand, I did not want to be embarrassed. I should say, I did not want to be crucified with embarrassment. On the other hand, being stuck in an air-shaft on a ship about to be pulled underwater by the eldest mother of all monsters who ever preyed on humanity was not such a great option either.
I wished I could have just whispered this in his ear.
I said to Victor, 'Tell Vanity to tell Colin that I promised him anything.'
Victor, over the storm noise, said back, 'I beg your pardon?'
'Pass the message forward. The promise I made to Colin. Anything. I said, I'll do anything.'
Victor spoke to Quentin; Quentin spoke to Vanity. I heard the murmurs of their voices up ahead.
Vanity shouted back to me: 'He doesn't believe me! You have to tell him yourself!'
Oh, God. I put my head down on the cool metal surface on which I was kneeling. Was I going to have to say this in front of all my friends? In front of Victor? Oh please, no.
I waited a moment for some miracle to occur, to spare me from this humiliation. But Providence was obviously busy somewhere else today, or maybe this was one of the things that is supposed to build character.
I shouted, 'I said I'll do anything you want, Colin!'
He shouted back, 'Anything, anything?'
I shouted, 'Yes!'
He shouted back, 'Just so we are clear on this, we are talking about sexual favors, are we not?'
I was really not sure what kind of character this was supposed to be building.
'Yes!' I shouted back.
'Yes, what?' he shouted in return.
'Yes, we are talking about sexual favors! I want you to cover me with hot fudge and lick it off!'
2.
There was a noise like the end of the world. Over the shoulders of everyone else in the way, I saw the huge engine-cylinder get crushed like an empty tin can, and smashed out through the broken grilles. Part of the wall had been exploded outward, also.
Colin called happily over the noise of the storm, 'Well! I guess I am feeling kind of inspired tonight!'
Soon we were all on deck, being lashed and drenched by the storm. I could not face any of them. I kept my head turned to the wall, and I clutched the box containing the wedding dress to my chest with both hands.
Someone put a hand on my shoulder. I thought it might be Victor, and the thought that Victor would understand, and would come to comfort me, was comforting.
But Colin's voice came into my ear, 'Hey, uh— Amelia. We were just kidding around, okay? I mean—
don't be mad at me—okay?'
I shrugged his hand off. It was not Victor. Victor no doubt made his judgment based on the words he heard coming out of my mouth; and no doubt it was a harsh judgment. Not that I blamed him.
I said, 'Go to the stern. Change shape. Save the others. Try to get back over the boundary, the ward.
No talking. Go.'
The hand was removed from my shoulder. In the midst of the storm noise, I heard no sound of footsteps, no final words, well-wishing, or good-byes. Maybe there were none. Maybe they expected me to live through this.
3.
The winds buffeted me as I moved forward. When I came to the main deck, I took shelter underneath an overhang of the deck above. Originally, there had been deck chairs and cafe tables here. Now the space was empty, and metal grates had been pulled down across the windows.
You might wonder where I found the strength, the courage, to go forward. Any reasonable person would have run away.
But I was upset about Colin and Victor.
