Sea Sick: A Horror Novel (11 page)

Tally sighed.  “I do not know for sure, Jack, but I believe there is a pathwalker aboard this ship.”

Jack swallowed a mouth full of saliva and stretched his eyes wide to clear them of their fuzziness.  He wanted to make sure he had heard her properly.  “A
pathwalker
?  What the hell is a pathwalker?”

“A pathwalker is a very powerful being.  Human, yet…changed.  They undergo a ritual at a young age which allows them to see across the many threads of time.  They are the true seers of the future and the past.  They can even see sideways.”

“Sideways?”

“Yes, sideways.  Every time you make a decision, Jack, there are a thousand possibilities that you did not follow.  Each of those possibilities plays out in an alternative version of events, with alternative versions of you.”

“That’s sounds a bit
Movie of the Week
to me.”

Tally did not seem to understand his incredulity. She carried on her explanation as if she were reading it from a textbook.  “Think of time as a piece of string made of many, many tiny threads.  Each time you choose
left,
another version of you chooses
right
, and the string is pulled apart into two separate threads.  This happens millions of times every second and the strings eventually become a tangled weave, a tapestry of existence.  We call this tapestry the
celestial pathways.
  And a pathwalker can grab a hold of every one of these tiny threads and see the events that transpired there.  They can even, sometimes, affect things – I think we are seeing an example of that now – although there are consequences.”

Jack leant back on his palms and let out a long, laboured breath while he tried to absorb everything.  It sounded like a bunch of hocus-pocus and new-world superstition but, with what he had been through for the last six months, he really had no option but to believe what Tally was telling him.  Jack had to believe in something or he would go insane.

“So, this pathwalker?” he said.“He’s evil, right?  Like some kind of witch?”

Tally shook her head.  “No, Jack.  Not at all.  Pathwalkers are good.  They are protectors of the world.  I do not know why they are doing this, but it will be for a reason.”

Jack couldn’t believe what he was hearing.  He couldn’t agree that anyone responsible for the hell he was in was
good.
  There was just no way.  Jack had to find out who this
pathwalker
was, and force him to stop doing whatever it was he was doing.  The madness had to stop.

Even if it means I have to kill the son of a bitch!

Day 199

Jack had gone back to his room after talking to Tally. He needed to think things through.  What Tally had told him, about pathwalkers and time-threads, was a lot to take in for a sane person.  Jack’s already-crazy world had suddenly grown to include time-controlling wizards and magic-resistant Romany gypsies – and, for some reason, he’d been selected to play some part of a plan he knew nothing about.  Tally hadn’t even gotten around to discussing the virus onboard; it had almost seemed like a background event to her.

Jack had previously thought he was in Hell for the sins he had committed, and it was a theory he could get to grips with. He found himself struggling to believe in Tally’s version of events. Why had this
pathwalker
(he felt stupid even saying the word) picked him over a thousand other passengers?  What was so special about Jack?

He’d woken that day at 1400hrs as always.  In some way he had hoped that the new knowledge of the situation would have been enough by itself to break the spell. No such luck. 

He’d agreed with Tally to meet her again today at around four.  It was now a quarter-to and Jack was still lying on the bed in his cabin, fully clothed and ready to leave.  His depression had lifted at the realisation he now had a companion onboard – someone with whom he could share his fate.  Not being alone made all the difference; one of his basic human needs had been restored.

Jack got up from the bed and went into the bathroom.  He glanced in the mirror.  Although it had been the best part of a year since he’d boarded the
Spirit of Kirkpatrick
, it looked like he’d aged a whole decade.  Jack knew it was the stress and misery he’d been subjected to, but he was also concerned that it was because he was
actually
aging.  The day was being reset at midnight each night, but
he
was not.  Jack was living every day. His life was ticking away.

Jack left his room and took the elevator up to the Broadway Deck.  He was going to meet Tally by the pool and together they were going to search the ship for the pathwalker.  Hopefully whoever it was would be shrouded by a sphere of glowing light and wearing a mage’s robe.

I should be so lucky.

Tally was already waiting for Jack when he reached the pool.  She was again dressed in casual clothing and seemed to be hiding out from the other members of staff.  If they saw her she would probably have to explain why she wasn’t at work like she was supposed to be.

“Hey,” he said, walking up to her.  “How are you?”

“I am fine, thank you.  Are you ready?”

“I guess so.  Do you have any ideas where to start?”

“No.  It could be anyone.  Pathwalkers have belonged to every race since the dawn of time.  They could be as normal as you and I.”

“Great,” said Jack.  “Just a thousand or so passengers to check on then.”

“Plus three-hundred staff.”

Jack raised his eyebrows.  “Wouldn’t you know if it was a member of staff?”

Tally shrugged.  “I’ve not spoken to most of them.  It’s a big ship and we all have our own areas.”

“So where should we start?”

“I don’t know.  I guess we should try to make a plan.”

“Okay, is there anything to look for specifically, to find a pathwalker I mean?”

“They will be outside of the spell, like us.  Have you noticed anybody else not following a pattern?”

Jack stared at his shoes and thought about it, before looking back at Tally.  “I honestly haven’t.  You were the first person I realised was like me.”

“Okay then, so we have nothing.  We should just start at the bottom and work our way up.”

“You mean at the bottom of the ship?”

“Yes.  Let’s go down to the Orlop Deck – that is the lowest part of the ship.  There is a small amount of cargo onboard.  Maybe that will give us some clues.”

“Cargo?  But this is a cruise liner.”

Tally sighed impatiently.  “The ship is owned by BR shipping.  They take advantage of their cruise itineraries by offering free freight service to their subsidiary companies.”

Jack scratched his chin.  “
BR?  BR?
  Where do I know that name from?”

“Black Remedy.  They are the largest commercial entity in the world.  I would think they are familiar to everybody.”

Jack clicked his fingers.  “Yeah, that’s it, Black Remedy.  Jesus, they even have their hands in the holiday business now?”

Tally shrugged.  “Looks like it.  Now come on.  We may feel like we have eternity to find the pathwalker, but we do not.”

“What do you mean?” Jack asked.

“Enough!”  Tally took Jack by the arm and begun dragging him away from the pool.  “No more questions.  We have to get started.”

***

Tally took them down to the bowels of the ship via the elevator.  She first had to key in a code on the console which allowed her access to the none-passenger parts of the ship.

The Orlop Deck was stifling, lit only by fluorescent strip lighting.  There were no windows or soft furnishings of any kind.  The floor was uncarpeted, leaving the metal walkways exposed.  There was the sound of machinery nearby and the ship seemed to move with every wave.

“The cargo hold is aft,” said Tally.  “This way.”

They headed down a corridor towards the back of the ship.  There were no doorways on this level and everything was wide open.  Up ahead there were several cargo pallets, wrapped tightly in saran wrap and secured to the floor by ropes and buckles.  Some of the pallets were stacked ten feet high.

“What is all this stuff?” Jack asked.

“I don’t know.  BR usually transports medicines from their plant in Portugal to other countries in Europe.”

“How do you know so much about Black Remedy?”

“Because I like to know who I work for.  Plus, all the staff know that the lower
hold is used for shipping.  It is no secret.”

“Then what do you expect to find down here?”

“Evidence of a spell.”

Jack frowned.  “Huh?”

“You cannot just reset time without having certain things prepared.  Somewhere on this ship there is a candle burning.  If we find it, we find the person who cast the spell.”

Jack looked about the cargo hold at the various boxes and crates.  He raised an eyebrow.  “We’re looking for a candle?  Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

“Because if you saw the candle in question you would have mentioned it anyway.”

“Why?”

“Because all time-magic requires a candle.  That candle will burn with a bright blue flame.  It’s probably being kept somewhere private, undisturbed – like the cargo hold.”

Jack moved between the pallets, prodding at various boxes and crates.  Sure enough they all had printed labels reading BR PHARMACEUTICALS.  “You think this stuff has anything to do with the virus onboard?  What do you make of what has been happening to people every night?  There’s something pretty damned nasty onboard.” 

Tally hoisted herself up onto a pallet with the agility of a circus performer and began scanning the area from her elevated viewpoint.  “I know nothing of the virus except that it is unnatural, man-made.”

“How do you know it’s been engineered?”

“Because nature does not bring back the dead to kill the living.  Only man is wicked enough to create such a thing.”

Jack pulled at some of the wrapping on a cardboard box and attempted to get at the contents inside.  “Maybe there’s some nasty substance in one of these boxes that got loose.  I’ve read things about Black Remedy being involved in all sorts of dodgy practises and corruption in the past – that’s how they got so powerful in the first place.  Maybe they’re into weapons and chemicals and stuff.”

“Perhaps,” said Tally.  “That all sounds a bit like a conspiracy to me.  I think if we find the pathwalker we will find answers for all our questions.”

“You think the virus and the day being reset are related?”

Tally jumped down from the top of the pallet and landed right in front of Jack, making him flinch.  “Of course they are.  You really think that two things happening at the same time in the same place are a mere coincidence?”

“I guess not.  Then how are they related?”

“I told you,” said Tally.  “Pathwalkers are a force of good.  They protect the world.  And right now one
is trying to protect people from this virus aboard this ship.  That much is clear.  There must be some way to save all of the passengers.”

“Well,” Jack said. “If this
pathwalker
is so righteous and helpful, why doesn’t hejust come out and help us directly.  Why is he hiding?”

“I don’t know,” Tally answered.  “I think it might be against the rules.”

“The rules?”

“Yes, the rules.”  Tally seemed to be getting impatient with his questions again.  Her temper was consistently short with him.  “For magic to be successful,” she said. “It must be performed within the realms of certain restrictions.  To break those rules could bring about catastrophe; especially when manipulating time itself.”

It was all sounding a little too hocus-pocus again for Jack, so he resumed his search of the cargo hold.  He had a strange feeling that he was being watched, but he shook it away as paranoia.  This was no time to get the heebie jeebies; he needed answers.

Up ahead there was a pallet stacked several feet high with blue, plastic crates.  They looked like large beer coolers.  Jack went over to them and looked for a label.  There was none.

“I’m going to take a look in one of these boxes,” Jack shouted back to Tally.

She came over to help him.  “There’s no label.  What do you think is in there?”

“Only one way to find out.”  Jack ran his fingertips over the box’s seams but could not find a way to open it.  Carefully he tipped the crate onto its side, cringing when he felt something shift inside.

“There,” said Tally, pointing her finger at the crate.  “In the corner.”

Jack examined the base and saw that one corner featured a keyhole.  As he looked closer still, he could see that the cargo pallet had been stacked with the contents upside down; all of the lids were at the bottom.  Jack could think of no reason to pack everything the wrong way up, other than to prevent people looking inside.

“We need to get this box open,” he said.

“I think you should just step away from there,
right now.  No sudden moves, okay?”

Jack didn’t recognise the voice coming from behind him, but it was thick with menace.  Jack turned around to see a man standing behind him: medium height, average looking, and rather dumb-sounding when he had spoken – despite the threatening intent of his words.  His accent was American.  He sounded like one of those drawling cowboys from a grainy western.  And just like a cowboy, he was pointing a revolver at them.

“Who are you?” Tally asked, not seeming
to notice the firearm in the man’s left hand.  “What are you doing down here?”

“I’ll ask the questions, lady.  Why you snooping around other people’s property?”

“I am an employee of the ship.  I am allowed to be here.”

“Not here, sweetheart.  You need to back away and leave this area well alone.”

“This is a staff area,” Tally told him.  “You are the one who must leave.”

The man waggled his gun at her.  “D’you realise I have a gun pointed at your pretty
-
little face, lady?  I’m not kidding around.”

“Shoot me,” she said bluntly.  “Believe me when I tell you I’ll get over it.”

The man seemed confused by the comment and the revolver lowered slightly.  Jack decided to try and take control of the conversation while the man was unsure of himself.  “Why do you have a gun, sir?”