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Chapter Nine
Row, row, row your boat
Wherein our heroes go boating and Sydney has a brief talk with Spy!Daddy
To be safe Jack headed the boat out into the bay, hoping the troll’s wouldn’t be able to spot which direction they were headed in. While her father captained the boat the three of them followed the stairs in the other cabin down below deck and scrounged around to see what they could find.
They didn’t find much besides Marshall’s hat and vest, mostly junk, a few bowls and plates, but they did find some nautical maps. She sent Marshall back up with the maps while she and Sark checked all the nooks and crannies to make sure no one else was on board. Satisfied that it was just the four of them they headed back topside. After distributing sandwiches from Sydney’s pack they all sat down, except Jack, and took a much appreciated rest.
Brushing crumbs from her corset Sydney turned her head to look over the railing at the glittering blue water around them. The land was a distinguishable dark smear keeping apart the light blue of the sky and the darker blue of the water. A brisk breeze was blowing across the water tangling her hair. Julian carefully brushed the errant hair off her face and behind an ear. Forgetting for a moment that her dad and Marshall were there she started to lean forward, but she wasn’t allowed to forget for long.
“Can someone tell me what’s going on?” Marshall plaintively asked.
She quickly pulled back while Julian scowled at the other
man. Turning away from Julian (temptation) she smiled at Marshall, “You
remember all the fairy tales, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Red Riding Hood,
Snow White…”
“I loved Snow White and the Seven Dwarves,” Marshall enthusiastically nodded his head.
She smiled, “Well here those fairy tales are real.” Marshall blinked at her and she noticed her father still had a disbelieving expression on his face. She imagined having fairy tale creatures come to life didn’t mesh too well with his cynical, unvarnished view of life.
She began with what she knew of the basics, “Snow White’s grandson rules the 4th Kingdom, the other magic traveling mirror is located there and that’s where we’re headed. We have to cross the 2nd Kingdom first,” she glanced at Julian, “I remember something about wolves and gingerbread houses from the map.”
“I believe the one book mentioned that a Queen Riding Hood III ruled at least part of that kingdom,” Sark flawlessly added, despite the oddness of the sentence and the fact that Marshall was blinking owl-liked at them.
“Seriously? Gingerbread houses? Do you think we’ll see any?” Marshall eagerly asked.
She ducked her head to hide the smile at Marshall’s eager expression.
“You seem to be taking this all rather in stride Mr. Flinkman, I must say I’m a bit impressed.”
Marshall sat up straighter and grinned a bit, “Really?” He then glanced at Jack and hunched back up at the older man’s unimpressed face. “We’ve just spent the last day running from… trolls,” he glanced at Sydney for confirmation before continuing, “so learning that other fairy tales are real isn’t so hard to believe.”
For the next little while Sydney recounted some of her and Julian’s previous adventures. Marshall seemed to be particularly delighted at her description of the casino. Then the engine stopped running.
After staring at each other in surprise they quickly found and lowered the anchor then everyone tromped across the deck to look at the engine. Marshall sort of hovered around the contraption sporadically poking at a bit here and there.
“Can you fix it?” Jack tonelessly asked.
“Well, engines, there’re not really my specialty. Not to mention engines from other worlds…” Marshall blinked at Jack’s blank look, “er, I’ll see what I can do.”
Jack headed back towards the stern of the boat and after a look at Julian to stay put Sydney followed after him.
Her dad was looking over the maps when she walked up, “Hey, dad how are you doing?”
He glanced up at her then smiled slightly at her, “I’m fine. The décor was the worst of our stay at the castle.”
She smiled back, relieved, “Good. Sorry I didn’t come sooner.” She paused, then shrugged uncomfortably.
Her dad’s eyes flickered over her shoulder and she braced herself for his persistent questions about why she brought Sark. Thus she was completely flabbergasted by what he did say.
“I assume your agreement with Sark for this little venture worked out in your favor more than his.”
She tried really, really hard not to blush, their time at his apartment flashing through her mind, “Uh, yeah.” Her dad’s unexpected easy acceptance of Julian’s presence had her confessing before she knew it, “We stole the mirror together. I sent him the intel to break in to the facility where it was being held. It’s been confirmed that nothing else was stolen at the time. We had decided that we were going to steal it before we came back, before I found out you and Marshall had gone through. We didn’t think either the CIA or Sloane and Mom should have it. Once we get back home you can store it, hide it, whatever.”
She waited as her dad mulled over what she said, deciding now wasn’t really the time to let him know she wasn’t planning on returning.
He scrutinized her closely, “Good. I gather that you trust him at least to turn over the mirror after we return to Los Angeles.”
She nodded numbly, not believing how well and smoothly this was going.
The belching sounds of the engine starting up signaled the end of their conversation as they hurried to get back on their way.
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