Riptide
The Haunting of the Arrivederci
By Lucky_Ladybug
Notes: The characters are not mine and the story is! This involves characters from the episodes Arrivederci, Baby and The Pirate and the Princess. There are some very slight references to a story I did called Apologies, but that shouldn't have to be read to understand this.
Chapter OneIt started out as a peaceful Caribbean evening aboard the good ship Arrivederci, Baby. Angelo Guirilini's latest expedition had gone well in the daytime, but as nighttime fell, an air of tension began to settle over the voyage. It wasn't entirely unexpected when a crewmember breathed a horrified oath and an unnatural fog began to gather in the night air and engulf the Arrivederci in its misty embrace.
On deck, Giovanna Guirilini gripped the cold metal railing in mounting anger. "I don't believe this! It's happening again!" she burst out in utter indignation.
"Why not believe it?" a gravelly British voice retorted from the top of the stairs leading below deck. "It's been happening every night for a week now."
"And we've been losing more crewmembers every day following!" Giovanna fumed. "Captain Scofield, you've lived among these people for many years. That's why my father thought you would be helpful. Don't you have any idea what could be going on?!"
Captain Jack Scofield, a retired freighter captain and Angelo's partner on the current oceanography expedition, emerged onto the deck and crossed to the railing. "Well, if we're to believe the natives, either the ship or this part of the ocean is cursed," he said, highly sarcastically. "Now, I've seen some unexplainable things in my time, but this looks more like another attempt to turn one of your father's expeditions completely upside-down."
"That's what I'm afraid of, but why?!" Giovanna ranted.
"That's what we seem to be at a standstill about, don't it." Scofield watched as a dark shape began to materialize out of the fog—a shape that heavily resembled a Venetian gondola. As the mysterious gondolier took his boat through the fog, he began to sing a mournful and eerie song in Italian.
Giovanna stared at the sight. "This is different," she breathed, hypnotized by the chilling lyrics.
"What's he singing?" Scofield frowned, wishing for not the first time that he was more fluent in Italian.
"He sings that the dead will never rest until the Guirilini family has paid the price for our crimes," Giovanna said in disbelief. "And that anyone who befriends us or otherwise helps us on this expedition is likewise doomed."
"Well, I guess that means the rest of the crew will be gone by morning," Scofield remarked.
"Morning! If they are hearing this, they'll be gone within the hour!" Giovanna cried. She ran to the bow of the ship, closer to the unearthly gondolier. "Who are you?! What do you want?! We haven't done anything to justify your threats against us!"
Scofield rushed after her. "What are you doing, Miss Guirilini?! That bloke means business, whoever he is!"
"Well, so do I!" Giovanna snarled. "This doesn't make sense and I'm furious! How dare they say such things and make us out to be such criminals!"
"Look out!" Suddenly Scofield was wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her to the side, even as she yelled in shock and disbelief. At the same moment, the gondolier lifted his oar and launched it at the deck. It was in actuality a spear. It clattered to the deck, dripping wet, barely missing Giovanna's stomach.
She stood staring at it, breathing heavily, her hands still gripping Scofield's arms from where she had been about to pull free of his protective embrace. Slowly she let her hands drop. "You saved my life, Captain Scofield," she said quietly. "Thank you."
He released her, moving forward to pick up the spear. "I'm not in the habit of letting innocent people get killed in front of me. What the . . ."
As he reached for the weapon, it vanished, only leaving behind the water on the deck. On the surface of the ocean, the gondola had disappeared as well, melting as it were into the wisps of the fog. Once it was gone, the mist began to dissipate into the chill night air.
"It's gone," Giovanna said in disbelief, referring more to the spear than the gondola. The gondola vanished in the same manner every night, but the spear was something new. The water on deck proved it had been there. The fact that it wasn't chilled her more than the disappearing gondola and gondolier did at the moment.
Scofield scowled. "Now how do you like that?" He touched the pool of water with the tip of his finger. It was definitely real.
"I don't like it at all!" Giovanna exclaimed. "What's going on?! How is this possible?"
"Right now, I honestly don't have an answer for you," Scofield replied, pushing up his cap. "Even with my knowledge of the native legends."
They both jumped a mile at the sound of another voice.
"What is going on?!" Angelo Guirilini cried as he ran out on deck. "The first mate said it was happening again! Was he right? Did it happen?"
Giovanna went to him, hoping she wasn't shaking as much outwardly as she was sure she was on the inside. "Si, Papa, and it was different than before. This time the strange man sang as he passed by. He threatened us and everyone who helps us with destruction if we don't pay for some sort of crimes we committed!" She hated to even tell that to her excitable father, but she knew he needed to know. If something was coming after them, they should all know as much about its intentions as possible.
"WHAT?!" Angelo screamed.
"And he tried to lob a spear at your daughter," Scofield put in as he straightened up. "But it winked away when it hit the deck, so I don't know what was up with that."
"This is outrageous!" Angelo roared. "We haven't committed any kind of crime! Certainly nothing to warrant such a heartless attack! I am going to contact the local authorities this instant!"
"And report what, Papa?" Giovanna retorted. "That the fog came in and the mysterious gondola and gondolier came back and started threatening us in song? We don't even have the spear to prove that I was attacked!"
"If not for this water, I'd say it must've been a hologram," Scofield grunted. "Or a ghost spear."
"Papa, you know half the local authorities have been laughing at our problems anyway," Giovanna said. "The other half thinks we're cursed! What good would it do to report another incident?"
"So what can we do?!" Angelo wailed. "I will not stand by and do nothing while my family is being threatened!"
"We need help from someone who deals with mysteries a lot," Giovanna said. "Maybe, if we call Murray and his friends . . ."
"But you said they also threatened anyone who stands with us!" Angelo exclaimed. "Giovanna, how can I ask our friends to come knowing that they have already been marked for death?"
"We would explain everything to them and leave it up to them if they would still want to come regardless," Giovanna said. "Papa, we need help! We can't solve something like this all by ourselves!"
Angelo began to nervously pace. He knew Giovanna was right, but he still hated to do it. "Capitan Scofield, your life has been threatened too," he realized.
Scofield folded his arms. "Now, you know we've been getting somewhere with this expedition, Captain Guilirini," he said, and Giovanna closed her eyes and winced at the mispronunciation of the family name. Sometimes he managed to say it correctly several times in a row and she would think he finally had it down, and then without warning he would become tongue-tied and say it wrong again. After all this time, Giovanna had pretty much given up on it ever ceasing to happen entirely.
Angelo ignored it, as he always did. Scofield wasn't Italian and Angelo was willing to cut him a good bit of slack on the matter, especially since most of the time he honestly didn't realize when he was doing it. "Yes, I know we have," he said instead. "But our success isn't worth your life."
"Oh, old Jack's tougher than he looks," Scofield smirked. "Don't worry about me, Captain Guirilini. I'm in it for the long haul."
Giovanna looked back to her father. "Papa, the detectives?"
Angelo let out a big sigh. "Alright, alright! We'll contact them. But I still don't like it!"
"It's the best solution, Papa. Really, it is." Giovanna turned to go into the radio room. "I'm going to radio the Riptide right now. Perhaps if we get the papers ready and if they can leave right away, they can be here in the morning."
"Perhaps, perhaps! And what if they are injured by whoever is behind this?!" Angelo exclaimed.
"Have more faith in them, Papa!" Giovanna shot back. "They know what they are doing."
Angelo threw his hands in the air, letting loose with a string of distressed Italian but not really trying to stop her. Scofield watched him in slight amusement before going to the radio room and leaning in the doorway, listening to Giovanna's radio attempts while drinking from his rum bottle.
She seemed to be getting somewhere. "Hello, Murray?" she called hopefully when the Riptide answered her call.
The radio crackled. "Giovanna, is that you?!"
"Si," Giovanna said in relief. "Oh, Murray, we need your and Nick and Cody's help right away!"
"Right away? Giovanna, what's wrong?"
"Too much," Giovanna sighed. "I don't want to say too much over the radio, but we've been experiencing a lot of strange things in the ocean near Martigua over the last several days. I believe some of it went on the news as the latest string of bad luck to attach itself to an Angelo Guirilini expedition." She practically spat those words, disgusted and frustrated by the media's attempts to capitalize on what was happening to them.
"Oh no. That's terrible!" Murray exclaimed. "Really, I know Nick and Cody will want to do whatever they can to help. And you can definitely count me in!"
Giovanna smiled. "I knew we could, Murray. But I should warn you that tonight someone threatened all of us as well as anyone who tries to help us."
"Well, just wait!" Murray declared. "That's not going to stop us. Is it, guys?"
Footsteps in the background indicated that Cody and Nick had just entered the area. "Wait, what?" Nick frowned.
"What's not going to stop us, Murray?" Cody asked.
"Threats against us!" Murray replied. "Giovanna's on the radio and the whole Guirilini family needs our help!"
"Is Giovanna alright?!" Cody immediately exclaimed.
"For now," Murray said. "But we need to get there right away!"
"Sure, Murray," Nick said after a slight pause. They had probably been exchanging silent looks. "Tell her we'll be there as soon as we can. Tomorrow, or the day after, at the latest."
"I heard," Giovanna said, unable to keep from smiling. "Thank you, all of you. I will have the necessary papers here for you when you land."
"Oh good," Nick said. "The last thing we want to do is tangle with those local authorities about work permits again."
"I'll make sure you won't have to," Giovanna promised. "Just please get here quickly!" She paused. "None of us know what to make of it, but someone is apparently trying to make us think this part of the ocean is haunted. They've been mysteriously appearing and disappearing in a gondola for the past week. Before tonight, they were completely silent."
Dead silence followed for a brief moment. "Wow, really?" Murray gasped then. "I'll make sure to bring whatever ghost-hunting equipment I can, just in case!"
"I'm sure it isn't really ghosts, Murray, but thank you," Giovanna said, gently amused at Murray's fascination with the supernatural. She almost wondered if she would prefer ghosts to evil humans.
Scofield looked intrigued as she ended the radio communication. "So, the Chief likes ghosts, eh?"
"From a scientific standpoint, of course," Giovanna said.
"Naturally," Scofield nodded.
She stepped closer to him. "And you had better be careful, Captain Scofield," she said. "I know you're tougher than you look, but the same may be able to be said about our enemies. It wasn't that long ago that you healed from what Guido did to you. I don't want to see you wounded again. Or worse."
He looked to her in seeming surprise. "I didn't know you cared that much about me, Miss Guirilini. I thought I was too rough around the edges and not cultured enough for you." Still smirking, he replaced the rum bottle in his back pocket.
"You are Papa's partner on this expedition," she replied. "I care about you for that reason, and also because you saved all of our lives by stopping Guido and bringing us the knife to untie us. We owe you a great deal." Stepping back, she added, "As for rough around the edges, perhaps. But you're more cultured than I believed you were when you first came onboard during the search for Captain Tyson's treasure."
"Really?" Scofield mused. "That's nice to know."
Giovanna just walked past, smiling slightly to herself.
xxxx
In King Harbor, the Riptide detectives were already packing for a trip on short notice.
"What do you think's happened down there?" Cody wondered aloud in concern as he transferred clothing to his suitcase. "Giovanna really wasn't very detailed."
"Well, obviously it must be pretty bad for her to call for us," Nick frowned. "Of course, when they're still near Martigua, we know the police aren't going to be much help. They don't have a lot of choice but to call for us."
"This is the second time they've had trouble in the Caribbean, too," Murray said. "And the third time one of their expeditions has been targeted in general. The very first time was when they were out here!"
"There's a lot of mysteries in the Caribbean Islands, Murray," Nick said. "I guess it was just Angelo's bad luck to stumble across another one."
"And our luck to find out what's behind it," Cody added.
"Are you sure you're only worried about the mystery?" Nick looked to Cody.
Cody froze in the process of moving several shirts. "What?"
"We all saw that picture in the paper about the latest Guirilini expedition," Nick said. "Giovanna and Captain Scofield looked pretty cozy."
"Are you on that again?!" Cody exclaimed. He set the shirts in the suitcase and slammed the lid. "They were just posing for the camera, probably standing close together because they're around the same height." He paused. "Anyway, what difference would it make if she got interested in him? We know by now he's a good guy."
Nick looked at him seriously. "I know it's tearing you up inside to think of Giovanna going with someone else," he said. "Especially after that mess with Guido, you thought you'd have another chance with her."
"I didn't think that," Cody protested.
"And I noticed you're no longer saying that Scofield's too old for her," Nick added.
"There's probably about twenty years between them, maybe a little less," Cody said. "That's not as bad as it could be. He is too old for her, but you're the one who said that some girls like that. And I don't really know if Giovanna's one of them or not. She seems more like the type who wouldn't care one way or the other, if she liked the guy."
"That isn't what you said before," Nick reminded him.
"Alright, so I've been thinking about it," Cody said in exasperation.
"Because you're wondering about the competition," Nick said.
"Yes! . . . No! Look, it was just on my mind when I didn't have anything else to think about, okay?" If Cody wasn't holding his suitcase, he would probably throw his hands in the air with dismay.
"Okay, we'll come back to that. But are we even sure Scofield would want her for her?" Nick said.
Cody paused. "What are you talking about?"
"Think about it!" Nick gestured wildly. "Giovanna's loaded! Her father's famous. It costs a lot of money to own a ship like the Arrivederci with all the most modern trappings. Scofield probably doesn't have much money. He's just a retired freighter captain running a charter service with a tiny boat. Remember how he wanted to get rich on his share of Captain Tyson's treasure? Just think how his life would change if he got in with the daughter of Angelo Guirilini, internationally famous oceanographer!"
"So Scofield's a gold-digger now?" Cody frowned. "Why are we even having this conversation? It's ridiculous! We don't even know that they've got a romantic interest in each other. And Scofield doesn't seem the type to marry someone for money."
"Oh, I agree, Cody," Murray spoke up. "Scofield's an honorable man. He wouldn't do something like that. I think he'd be really hurt if he knew you were thinking that, Nick."
"Maybe so, but we don't really know the guy," Nick said. "It's something to keep in mind, anyway."
"Okay, I'll keep it in mind," Cody said, mostly out of frustration to end the discussion. "But you'll see that there's nothing to it. There's probably nothing to any of what you're talking about!"
"We'll see," Nick said, taking up his own suitcase. "But Cody, if they really do get together, I want you to open up to me about your feelings, okay? Don't keep it bottled up inside."
"Hey, if that's what Giovanna wants, I'll be happy for her," Cody protested. "I never really thought I'd be able to get in with someone like her."
"I know you always kind of hoped," Nick said.
"Alright, I kind of hoped," Cody retorted. "But it was an idle hope, not something I thought would actually happen!"
Murray shook his head, deeming it best to stay out of the conversation. Lifting his suitcase down, and grabbing several other bags, he led the way above deck.
"Murray, what's all this other junk you're bringing with us?" Nick asked, deciding he wanted a different subject too.
"Oh, this?" Murray indicated the black bag slung over his shoulder and a tripod in his hand. "This is my state-of-the-art ghost-hunting kit. You know, just in case it really isn't living people trying to scare Angelo away this time."
"So now we're the Ghostbusters?" Nick quipped. "Look at all this stuff!"
"Murray, I'm not sure they're going to let you take all of this through Customs," Cody exclaimed.
"Well, if they won't, maybe I can fit the most important things into my suitcase," Murray suggested. "I can probably buy whatever else I need down there."
"What if it is ghosts?" Cody asked. "Not that I even believe there are ghosts, but let's say for the sake of argument that it's true. What would you do? I mean, you're not a licensed exorcist."
"First we'd have to determine what kind of ghost it is," Murray replied. "There's more kinds of ghosts than you've probably ever imagined, and different ways of handling each kind."
Cody and Nick exchanged a bemused look. "You mean it's not just 'Help, we've got a ghost on the water', it's 'Help, we've got this kind or that kind of ghost on the water'?" Nick said.
"Yeah!" Murray said. "First we have to determine if it's a residual haunting or an intelligent haunting. Since Giovanna says it's doing something different now than it was before, it must be an intelligent haunting. A residual haunting isn't really the spirit of a dead person coming back; it's just stored energy from some serious event that's stuck in time and replaying over and over, exactly the same way every time."
Cody scratched his head. "You know, Murray, that sounds really farfetched. I mean, even more than a dead person coming back."
"Oh, there's plenty of documented scientific evidence towards the idea of residual haunting," Murray said. "I'll admit that a lot of scientists are still skeptical, but it definitely goes a long way in explaining supernatural events that repeat over and over without change. You wouldn't think the actual spirits of people would want to hang around and act out the past indefinitely, would you?"
"Frankly, I don't know what I think," Cody answered. "I've never really thought about it."
"But okay, so we figure it's an intelligent haunting," Nick said. "You're saying there's more to it than even that?"
"We're just getting started," Murray declared, growing more excited the longer he talked. "There's benevolent ghosts—I guess it wouldn't be that—benign ghosts—I guess it wouldn't be that, either. . . . Messenger ghosts are a possibility. Anniversary ghosts . . . warning ghosts . . ."
Nick turned to Cody in chagrin. "I'm gonna have nightmares all the way to Martigua," he moaned.
"And I'll probably be having them right there with you," Cody said.