Aster could hear a faint calling, calling, calling. A voice calling his name but too far away to know who it might be.

  He got out of bed wearing a white cotton night gown with poofy sleeves and embroidered designs of griffons and rose buds at the collar and all down the front, the fabric as soft and light as candy floss. Hadn’t this burned up in the fire? He was delighted to see he still had it after all, as it was a favorite, the embroidered parts having been painstakingly done by an elderly lady he had known for a bit in an obsolete style difficult to replicate.

  After wasting a moment in marveling at his good fortune, Aster heard the call again and drifted out of the room and into the darkened hallways of the ship’s gullet. Didn’t it resemble the belly of a whale like this? He wondered if he followed this passage would he come out on deck? Or through the whale’s blowhole.

  It was not something that really worried him though. There was light ahead after all.

  Aster continued onto the deck of the ship. It was night, although there were foggy orbs of light, more will o wisp than deck light. Eerie green.

  The ship was deserted, except for Aster and the voice that called his name.

  “I’m coming!” Aster called. His voice had a strange warble as though speaking through water.

  Aster could see shadowy figures near the ship’s rail, and he glided toward them. Two tall people, holding something between them. A plank of wood? Or a rug maybe or piece of furniture?

  No, it was a third person, and one of them had the person’s legs and one his upper half. They were swinging this person back and forth, like a childish game of jump rope. And the person was calling for Aster.

  It was Kit! And the ones who were swinging him out over the darkness of the sea were Prin and Elwin.

  “Hey stop that!” Aster yelled. “He doesn’t like it!” He tried to hurry but it was like he could do nothing but float along, and there was only so fast you could go when you were floating on a slight breeze like a piece of dandelion fluff.

  “Aster!” Prin smiled at him. He let go of Kit with one hand and waved cheerily at Aster. “Come and help us.” He almost dropped Kit with his one remaining hand but caught a hold of him again with a stilted laugh. “One more swing oughta do it.”

  “No-oo. He’ll die! His old aunty will cry for him.” Aster fretted. He got closer still.

  When Prin swung Kit back from the sea and over the deck, suddenly the black hair had turned to white, and it was Valor’s sightless blue eyes that stared in Aster’s direction.

  Aster had the thought that it must be him because who else would know to look sort of over your shoulder in an unnerving imitation of looking at you, just the way Valor always did?

  “Val!?” Aster had not known he was in this whale’s belly with them. What was he doing here? “You have to stop them! They’re going to throw you in the ocean!”

  “What do you expect me to do about it?” Valor sneered.

  Elwin and Prin released him over the ocean with a sploosh.

  With that sound and a surge of panic Aster woke from his fitful dreaming.

  Aster was disoriented for a long moment, until a stray strand of pearls went swinging past his face like a hang man’s noose and everything came flooding back.

  He hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but the soothing motion of the ship and the strong medication had overtaken him.

  Dru was lounging on her bed, head propped up with extra pillows and a paperback book with a lurid cover in hand. She had somehow disappeared the mess from earlier (under the bed, is what Aster suspected), and was now surrounded by a wholly different kind of mess. There were plates and bowls of snacks around her like she was an empress in her bowery.

  Did the ship have room service? How come Aster hadn’t known this.

  “How’s it going, gorgeous?” Dru asked, not looking up from her book, a grape in hand and halfway to her mouth.

  “Bleh.” Said Aster.

  Dru looked up, the side eyes looking shrewdly from the frames of her round glasses. “Hair and makeup might need a touch up there, sleepyhead.”

  “Oh hell!” Aster sat up straighter and jumped out of the bed. She wobbled on the way to the bathroom, almost overtaken by a spell of dizziness but managed to recover herself.

  “It’s not all that bad.” Dru said. “It’s nothin’ a new coat of paint and a handful of curlers can’t fix!” She called, snorting a laugh.

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  Aster hollered back. “We don’t have time for that!” He looked in the bathroom mirror. The lipstick was more on his cheek than it should be and the hair was over all mussed, but Aster was an expert at fixing these kinds of things, having fixed his mussed appearance on the fly sometimes several times a night for years.

  “I just need my kit.” Aster mumbled before hurrying back into the bedroom to hunt for it. He grabbed some fries from Dru’s plate and ate them on the way to his suitcase. “What time is it anyway? I’m the one that has to do the hard part. I have to charm this guy and keep him occupied. Maybe we should switch.”

  “Naaah, if I did it he would know it was me when the stuff goes missing. Since he already knows he cheated me and I . . . wasn’t too happy about it.” Dru said. “It’s late. I guess your dress should be getting here soon.”

  “Did you ever think maybe you just suck at gambling? Who said he actually cheated anyway.” Aster said. He dug out his makeup kit and chose the closest matches to what the salon had done. “Like you aren’t capable of just losing fair and square.”

  “I have been losing a bizarre amount lately.” Dru sat the book aside and adjusted her glasses on the bridge of her nose. She looked down at her betraying hands. “I might have to hang up my card playing hands, ya know? It’s weird ‘cause I used to be so good. No, but not saying I might not have lost either way but one of his friends told me he always cheats. Like it was supposed to make me feel any better. I have no idea how he was doing it. I mean . . . I was cheating too! You would think that would have balanced things out.”

  “You. Are. Kidding. Me.” Aster froze with the makeup brush in his hand. “You could be killed for messing around like that! That’s it, no more gambling for you after this.”

  “You’re not the boss of me!” Dru exclaimed. “Just because we are in a heist together.”

  Aster rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Listen, if the necklace isn’t in the safe . . .”

  “Sure it will be! Why wouldn’t it be!?” Dru asked.

  Aster waved his hand dismissively. She would find out soon enough, he figured, let her deal with it then. “Okay, alright.”

  “This is all gonna work out amazing, you’ll see!” Dru said. She dropped the book on her bed with a muffled plop and spread her hands out like wings. “We’re going to be ri-iich – I mean, get all of our stuff back.” She grinned cheesily.

  Aster narrowed his eyes. “Mmm hmm.”

  “So, how long do you think until we reach landfall anyway?” Dru cocked her thumb toward the window, as though that meant anything. “Because we might want to lay low after this, and disembark . . . yaknow, shortly and stuff.”

  “I have no idea.” Aster said. “Don’t you dare get caught though, don’t you even dare.” He pointed at Dru. He was not going to bail her out, or take responsibility for her, or whatever it is you do on a ship, and he was pretty sure Elwin and Prin wouldn’t be doing that either. He spared a moment to be weirdly grateful they weren’t involved in this mess, while hopeful it wouldn’t be a mess, but it could turn out to be a mess . . .

  They had been scarce the last couple days and it didn’t bear thinking about what they had been up to on their own.

  “I don’t get caught.” Dru said. “In fact! . . .” She winked. “There’s a lot of stuff people don’t even know I got away with.”

  “And I don’t need to know either?” Aster lowered his lids to watch her through a skeptical slit.

  “That’s right!” Dru pointed her finger guns at him.

  Aster felt irritation rising, before the sudden realization hit him, When did I become no fun? I used to be fun and breezy, like, a few weeks ago? Aster laughed ruefully. “I’m sorry if I’m cranky all the time. If we manage to get my necklace back, it’s all water under the bridge between us, okay? I’m usually a lot more fun to hang out with, I don’t know what happened to me. It’s just been a rough few weeks I guess.”

  Before Dru could respond to this, the door was knocked on and the folks from the on ship boutique arrived with the sewn together, tailored dress and accessories to go with it.

  Dru was giving Aster a very thoughtful look, but allowed herself to be distracted away from saying anything.

  The ladies from the salon came in with the dress, looking a strange mix of eager and skeptical. Aster considered this not a terribly good sign, but what was he going to do instead? He needed something that could distract a degenerate gambler and womanizer, so what if it was bad, as long as it was eye catching at least.

  He tried to turn them away, but not very hard, before letting them come on in and help Aster put the dress on properly.

  To his surprise, it wasn’t bad. The gold sequins glimmered like so many scales and the diaphanous blue on the sleeves waved like fins in a gentle water. The fit was close to the body but not too tight to move. Aster liked to move quickly, which was a big part of why he didn’t like this style of dress, and you certainly couldn’t move too quickly. But oh well, it was just for this one thing and should serve its purpose.

  He thanked the girls and sent them away, and when he turned back to Dru she was sitting on her bed quietly watching.

  “I had a catty remark all lined up when I saw what they had on hand.” Dru said. She propped her head up with her hand and sighed. “But never mind. I believe you could make anything look good.”

  Aster pointed his finger in her direction and wagged it. “That sounds like a back handed compliment. You don’t have to flatter me, you can say how you really feel.”

  “Hey! I always do.” Dru said.

  Aster took one last look in the mirror, smoothing the braid down and tucking the pearl strands better into place. “I know it’s gaudy, but he seems like the type to go for gaudy. You know, like he’s got the fancy lady to go home to. All prim and proper, and prudish, you know? I think what he likes, what actually gets him going, is probably the opposite. I’m good at reading these kinds of situations.”

  “I’m sure you are.” Dru said. “Listen, you’re just there to distract, keep him occupied. Gimme an hour, that will be more then enough time, even if I run into something that slows me down, or whatever.”

  “I know, easy peasy.” Aster said.

  “I mean. . . don’t let him touch you. It isn’t worth alla that. And you aren’t in that line of work anymore, right?” Dru said.

  Just when Aster had thought they were starting to understand each other, or get along a little bit anyway. She would have to go and try telling Aster what to do, which he hated. “What are you talking about? It’s for me to decide what’s worth what and who touches what! Just who do you think you are anyway?” Aster glared. He could tell he was overreacting a little, but seriously?

  Dru sighed. “Okay! Whatever! I’m gonna do my part you just do yours.”

  “I will!” Aster said. “And you get my damn necklace back!” He didn’t know why he said that, knowing as he did, that the gambler no longer even had the necklace and had given it to the heiress fiancé. It wouldn’t even be in the safe to find. He once again wanted to tell Dru that, but she had already pissed him off so let her find out on her own.

  Aster went to the door and waved goodbye dismissively behind himself.

  “See ya back here in an hour!” Dru called, instead of goodbye.