Magic Madness™️

Chapter Twenty Six: Bubbles

Word Count: 2,235

The mess deck was much nicer than Elijah would have ever thought. Not to say it was anything fancy or elegant, but it smelled like fresh bread and everyone sitting down to eat was smiling and talking pleasantly. Every story Elijah had heard about sailors before all sounded gloomy and bleak, like life at sea was the loneliest, most taxing life someone could pursue. It sounded accurate: how fun can it be sailing with the same crew every day on a constantly-swaying boat in the middle of the ocean with no replenished resources until you reach land again? But the crew of The Adira seemed quite content how they were, laughing and conversing loudly as bowls and plates of various dishes were passed around.
"Dude, slow down. How many plates have you had?" Alex laughed as Elijah downed his salmagundi.
"Like three," Eli replied with his mouth full.
"Is there a reason you like this stuff? It's a bit-...well, it's a lot," Alex said (to put it politely), as he poked around his plate with a fork, trying to count the ingredients he saw. The dish was messily served, so everyone just got a plate of whatever was shoved at them.
"Are you kidding? Nothing anyone has served us so far has been kosher. We've hardly eaten as it is, but I've only had salad and bread since we got to this stupid world. This stuff is heavenly," Elijah explained, and shoved another forkful into his mouth. There was some egg, some fish, some vegetables, and a ton of other ingredients, all a different level of cooked.
"Oh. I guess that makes a lot of sense," Alex nodded slowly.
As he looked around, he saw everyone with their elbows on the table, keeping their plates and cups from sliding around. Suddenly, it made sense why most people considered it rude. Alex wondered if this was where that rule originated.
"And what of you, laddie?" Cordelia asked. Alex belatedly realized she was talking to him, and that he had not been paying attention to anyone's conversation.
"W-what about me?" Alex asked, sitting up straighter.
"Anything about you! We're going around saying things about ourselves, to break the ice. Joan says he's the host of the game, Amber says she and Evalyn are together, Evalyn says she used to work at an aquarium, and now it's your turn," Cordelia explained.
"Oh. Well...uh...I love music. Back on Earth, I have this thing called a record player- I don't know if you guys have those here- it's super cool, and it plays music. It's really outdated in Earth technology, but I think it's great. I got it for free, cause it was broken, but I fixed it. It's one of my favorite things," Alex shared.
"Lovely! The best people are music-lovers. And you, Elijah?" Cordelia prompted. Elijah didn't answer right away.
"What is it with you boys and zoning out? This is why we have an all-women crew," Cordelia sighed. Elijah held a hand out to her, as if to say, "It's not that I didn't hear you, and I will reply to you at some point, but I need to clarify something first." (Which sounds complicated for a simple gesture, but Elijah had a way of communicating things without saying anything in a way that people understood.)
"You used to work at an aquarium?" Elijah asked Evalyn, turning fully to her.
"Um, yeah. Dude, it was huge. I'm talking massive. I worked there all weekend every weekend, teaching kids about sharks and otters and any other exhibit I could convince my supervisor to put me in charge of," Evalyn rambled happily.
"What are sharks? And otters?" Maggie asked.
"That's- it doesn't matter. Where, in this world, do you have an aquarium?" Elijah asked.
"Nowhere...?" Evalyn replied, confused. Not but a second before Elijah spoke again, Evalyn realized her words.
"So you're from Earth," Elijah asked, but his tone was not questioning. It was a statement.
"Um, yeah," Evalyn nodded slowly. By now, everyone at the table was dead silent.
"You knew about this?" Elijah asked Amber. She winced, and offered an apologetic smile.
"You knew about it, because you're from Earth, too," Elijah concluded. They both nodded. Joan was clearly fighting to keep his expression neutral.
"So, this whole time, you two could have helped us? Related to us? Been there for us? You kept it a secret...for what?" Elijah asked.
"Nothing! It wasn't a 'secret,' necessarily, we just didn't want you guys to lose...hope...?" Evalyn replied honestly. Upon Elijah's sassy glare, she continued, "We didn't want you to think- I mean- Amber and I have been here for so long, we didn't want to freak you out by making you think that- It's just that I'm sure you already feel so trapped here, we didn't want to make it worse-"
"No, no, don't worry about us," Alex jumped in, expression scarily empty, "You've dragged us this far. We can take it."

Several beats of uncomfortable silence followed.