Chapter 2: Unexpected visits
Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock left Marlinspike Hall with Bianca on the cab, and went to the enormous cruise ship. Everyone was praising Bianca as she entered the cruise ship. Some people were even able to recognize Tintin as he walked by. And what a pleasant surprise! A familiar pair came up to them.
"Hello, Tintin" both detectives said in unison.
"Oh! Why if it isn't Thompson and Thomson! What are you doing here?"
"AH! SHH!" said Thompson. "Right now at the moment we're keeping a low profile,"
"We haven't got time for fun and games, Tintin," said Thomson "We are on a mission."
"A very discrete mission, to be precise."
"We are trying to protect someone from danger."
"Protecting who? Signiora Castafiore?" asked Tintin now curious.
"No! Not at all! We're protecting the Princess, of course!" said Thomson.
"The Princess?" asked Tintin. Thompson said "OH, didn't Madame Castafiore tell you? The Princess of Bordwell, Alexandra Monroe."
"Oh right, I remember now. I read it in the newspapers," said Tintin. "The palace has been taken over and luckily she and The King were out of the country, am I right?"
"Precisely. We were hired to guard her during her trip on the cruise," said Thomson.
"She's on the cruise right now?" asked Tintin.
"Indeed," said Thompson. "She's been on the cruise for a few days now, before the takeover of the palace. Due to unfortunate change of plans, she will be going to a secret location after the cruise."
The Tintin asked, "…So, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be guarding the Princess?" The two of them paused, and looked at each other. "OH DEAR!" they said and ran directly towards the cruise ship. "Sorry, Tintin! We'll see you later!" they said to Tintin. "See you later, gentlemen."
Xxx
Captain Haddock and Tintin were in their room getting ready to go to the theatre. Tintin wore his usual light-brown suit and Captain Haddock wore his black suit. As they entered the large hall outside the theatre, they saw Bianca Castafiore who was surrounded by a few reporters and a few photographers. Haddock, despite looking his best, was not looking forward to her singing. But then he realized that once she was blinded with light in on stage, she wouldn't notice him escape from the dark theatre. That was his plan for tonight! Castafiore left the hall get ready for her performance, as she was the first one to perform that night.
Then, the announcer silenced the large hall. "Ladies and Gentlemen," said the announcer, "with my highest honour and greatest pleasure, I present to you Alexandra Elizabeth Monroe, the Princess of Bordwell". People applauded as the figure entered the room.
Wearing a long light cream-coloured gown walked in a beautiful young girl with dark hair and dark brown eyes, walking with grace and delicateness almost as if she were gliding through the room. Everyone awed at her. Captain Haddock whispered to Tintin "Isn't she beautiful?" People lined up to greet the Princess, one by one. Following the Princess were two large guards behind her and a lady next to her. Tintin and Haddock weren't close enough to greet her. As she went inside the theatre with the guards, everyone else followed her. Right behind the crowd were Thompson and Thomson who had lost themselves on their way to the theatre.
Everyone sat down inside the theatre. The theatre wasn't as big as the usual opera house, but it was quite big for one in cruise ship. Tintin, Snowy and Haddock sat down in the balcony on the left side of the theatre, right below the Princess's balcony, so that they could hear and see Bianca sing loud and clear. Soon, the lights dimmed. "Ladies and Gentlemen. May I present to you, the one and only, the Milanese Nightingale, Bianca Castafiore!"
The curtains opened, the lights were all on Bianca Castafiore with her bright red dress, next to her pianist Wagner. The audience applauded. As soon as the music started and Wagner started playing the piano, Haddock escaped in stealth mode. Nobody, not even Tintin noticed that he had left. Haddock left the room and then Bianca started to sing. Snowy started to howl. Haddock wasn't the only one who couldn't stand her singing voice and Tintin had completely forgotten about it. "Shut up, Snowy," whispered Tintin. The audience was laughing. Luckily Bianca couldn't see them with the bright light, so she didn't notice that Haddock was gone, and she could only hear her voice over the audience's laughter. "That's it, Snowy. If this is how you're going to behave. Captain, I'm gonna take Snowy outside… Captain? Captain?"
The Captain left the theatre as quickly as possible. He screamed with relief. "OH! I'm SAVED! I'm SAVED!" He opened the door to get some fresh air (or at least what he calls drinking a bottle of whisky that he carried along with him). "This is the greatest day of my life!"
But then, before he could take a drink of the bottle…
He saw the Princess of Bordwell… just standing there in front of the ship's balcony, right in front of him. She had just turned around when she heard someone walking out the door.
What do you say in a moment like this? Haddock said "OH! I am so VERY sorry, your majesty."
"Oh no, please, don't apologise," said the Princess with a low, but lovely sounding voice. "You aren't bothering me at all. I believe you escaped the theatre? That's all right. I escaped myself as well. I'm not in a mood for opera now."
"THERE YOU ARE! I FOUND YOU!"
Haddock raised his arms as if someone pointed a gun behind him. But then he realised it was Alexandra's assistant who was looking for her. Alexandra giggled.
"I was so worried about you!" said the assistant walking towards her with two bodyguards.
"I'm so sorry, Mathilde. I was just taking a breath of fresh air."
"Well, YOU missed Castafiore's wonderful performance! And she'll want to see you afterwards..."
"Excuse me, Sir," said Alexandra to Haddock. She whispered something to Mathilde. "Oh I see," said Mathilde. "I'll tell Madame Castafiore later. You should probably go to your room then."
"Sorry, Sir. I'm heading back to my room. I'm awfully tired now. I hope you have a pleasant night."
"... Good night, your majesty," said Haddock. Alexandra walked away with Mathilde and the two bodyguards. Then Tintin and Snowy found the Captain. "Where were you? You can't just run off like that!" Tintin noticed Haddock was staring at someone. Tintin glanced at the Princess from afar. "Was that the Princess of Bordwell?" asked Tintin. Haddock nodded. "Captain, what happened? What was she doing outside?"
Haddock was very silent and slightly confused. "I... talked to her briefly..."
"Really? You did?"
"Aye. She said she escaped the theatre." Haddock was telling the truth, but he didn't believe it himself. Did he really exchange words with such an important person? "Christopher Columbus," he said to himself.
"Come on, Captain," said Tintin, "we better go inside. You can talk about it later."
Haddock went back with Tintin to the theatre, knowing that Castafiore's performance would have finished by the time they came back.
Xxx
After the show was over, they all had dinner at Castafiore's room, which was really large. There was a small balcony outside where you could see the pitch-black night. Castafiore was speaking in a delightful tone while Haddock was trying to drown himself with his champagne hoping he'd get drunk.
"And Princess Alexandra!" said Castafiore "She must have been extremely happy to hear me sing!" She probably didn't notice the Princess leave the theatre either. "It's a shame that she couldn't see me after the performance. I heard she was ill. I couldn't even say hello to her. She would have been pleased to see me again!"
Tintin asked, "You've met Princess Alexandra before, Madam?" The Captain left the table to wonder off in the small balcony with Snowy. "Why yes!" said Bianca in an almost singing voice, "I have performed to her and her family various times! She and her family love opera. Princess Alexandra had told me herself that she would hear me sing a thousand times and never grow tired of it. I wanted to surprise her when I came to the cruise. It's a shame she couldn't come here tonight. I would have introduced you to her."
Tintin thought about it for a bit. The Captain had said that Alexandra wasn't in a mood for opera, but if that's the case, then why did she run off? She didn't really look ill even from a distance. But then he assumed that she was probably very upset about her country and her palace's takeover and didn't want to talk to anyone, even if it meant talking to a close friend.
"Well, at least I had the pleasure of having you and Captain Warlock on the cruise!" said Castafiore. "Oh Captain Kolback! Do be careful to not fall off the balcony." But it was too late. Haddock had fallen off the balcony and fell on top of a band carrying their instruments.
CRASH! "Captain!" shouted Tintin while Snowy barked. Luckily Haddock was unharmed… well, maybe except for the fact that his head was stuck in a tuba. "Billions of Blue Blistering BARNACLES! I can't see!" said Haddock as he ran uncontrollably around with the trumpet over his head. Tintin noticed the Captain was running towards someone. "Captain! Look out!" BANG!
Tintin and Snowy excused themselves to run down the stairs and see if the Captain and the person he ran into were ok. The band members helped Haddock pull out the tuba over his head. "Captain, are you alright?"
"Yes, Tintin. I'm fine. Did I hit anything?" he asked while rubbing his head. Tintin remembered and noticed the girl who was on the ground, putting her hands over her head. "Ow… my head," said the young girl with an American accent. She had dark-brown eyes and a long, dark-brown, big, curly hair. Tintin looked at her and noticed her fairly attractive face. She wore a simple white long-sleeved shirt, and light brown pants. He helped her up.
"Miss, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Nah, I'm fine," said the girl looking up. "I just hit my head. Is the other person ok…?" she looked at Tintin. She gave a surprised look. She observed him carefully. "Excuse me, are you...? Are you Tintin? The reporter?"
"Um... yes."
Her face created a huge grin. "Holy guacamole! You're Tintin!" She stood up and shook Tintin's had energetically. "Hi! I can't believe this! I've heard so much about you! And you're... Captain Haddock! I've heard about you too! I'm so sorry I bumped into you! I hope you're ok, Captain! SNOWY! You're so cute! So what are you all doing here?"
Tintin had never seen such an excited girl before. She spoke so quickly he could barely keep up with what she said. "Well, we were invited to the cruise to see Bianca Castafiore sing. She invited us the other day… hang on a second… may I see your sleeve?"
"What? What about it?" she didn't seem to notice, but her right sleeve had blood on it. "Miss, you're bleeding," said Tintin. "I am? I'm bleeding?" She looked at the side of her right hand and saw a long cut crossing the side of her wrist. Lots of blood was coming out.
"…Yeah, I'm bleeding," she said nonchalantly. Tintin was really surprised to see her so calm about it. "It looks like a big cut!" he said.
"Yeah, but it's no big deal. I'll just add some water, and—OW!" she said now realising that her hand now really did hurt. "How did this happen?" she asked. Tintin noticed the Captain held the broken champagne glass. It must have broken from the fall and when the Captain bumped into the girl he must have accidentally cut her hand with the glass. "Captain, I'm taking her to the infirmary immediately. We don't want it to get worse."
"Mind if I come to? After all, I had my head stuck in a tuba," said Haddock.
They walked to the infirmary and while the nurse was treating her cut on her hand, Captain Haddock had a big bag of ice on his head.
"Are you feeling better, Captain? I'm sorry. If I hadn't moved away, you wouldn't have bumped into me," said the young girl.
"Oh, please, lassie," said Haddock feeling a bit guilty about her hand, "Don't worry about me. I've travelled around the seven seas and no storm or wave can stop the mighty Archibald Haddock. It's yourself you should be worried about now." The girl smiled. "Thanks, Captain."
"Speaking of which," said Tintin, "We still don't know your name."
"Ops! Geesh! Sorry! I didn't introduce myself. My name's Jacq."
"… Isn't that a boy's name?" asked Haddock.
"No, I don't mean 'Jack' as in… 'Jack'. I mean 'Jacq' as a short for…"
"Jacqueline Jones!" said Castafiore as she entered the infirmary with her assistant Irma. "Mamma Mia! I didn't know you were here!"
"Umm… Hi, Madame Castafiore. Nice to see you again."
"Oh I never forget a face. Let me guess. You're staying with Princess Alexandra?"
Tintin looked at Jacq. "Princess Alexandra? Why's that?" asked Tintin.
"Didn't she tell you? She's friends with the Princess," said Castafiore to Tintin.
"You're friends with Alexandra?" asked Tintin. Jacq looked a bit embarrassed.
"Well, technically speaking... She DID introduce me and my parents to Madame Castafiore. I guess that's where the assumption comes from. But really, Alexandra and I only met each other a few times, like two or three times, due to my parents and stuff. I can't say we're really close though. But she's right. I AM staying with Alexandra now. Sorry I didn't tell you this before. Others would make a huge deal out of the fact that I came with her."
"Oh I see," said Tintin. "You don't want to grab too much attention."
"Yeah, exactly." Jacq turned to Madame. "I'm sorry I didn't hear you sing today, Madame. I heard you sang amazingly."
"OH! You don't need to apologise, Jacqueline. It's I who needs to apologise right now! You're in the infirmary, and I didn't acknowledge that! Are you alright, dear?"
"Yeah, I'm good," said Jacq showing the bandage around her hand. Then Catafiore found Haddock hiding behind a curtain this whole time. "Oh no, she saw me" thought Haddock.
"THERE YOU ARE! Poor, POOR Captain Lowsack!"
"It's Haddock, SIGNYOREE CASTER-OILY," he said grinding his teeth. "Captain. Haddock." But as usual, she ignored him and hugged him tightly. "Oh dear Captain Blowback! I came here to see if you were hurt! You look horrible! Let me give you a hug to make you feel better!" Ironically she was hurting him even more. "I should also sing you a song! It'll help you get your strength back!"
"No really…" said Haddock trying to breathe. "I think I'll make a full recovery…"
Tintin stopped her before she could strangle Haddock even harder, and before she could damage his eardrums. "Madam, perhaps it's best if we go to our rooms right now. The Captain was told to sleep after all this."
"Oh, really? Maybe you're right," said Castafiore letting go of the Captain. "But do be careful, Captain Gulftrack. I don't want to see you hurt again." As they all left, Haddock, now breathing properly gave Tintin a "thank you!" look. Tintin decided to walk Jacq back to her room, Snowy tagging along. Now Jacq had the opportunity to talk to Tintin.
"Hey! Thanks a lot, Tintin," said Jacq. "You know… For taking me to the infirmary and walking back with me… all that stuff. Thanks."
"You welcome, Jacqueline."
"It's ok, Tintin. You can call me Jacq for short."
"Alright, Jacq."
She whispered to herself, "wow... this is unbelievable. I'm talking to Tintin!"
"So tell me. You seem to be very excited to see me."
"Well, you're famous aren't you?"
"Yes, but I'm just curious," Tintin said. "I've never seen someone so happy around us. Is there a reason for that? Or are you just very energetic?"
Jacq started to blush, but felt like she needed to be honest. "Can you promise not to laugh?"
"I promise."
"Well …OK, where do I start?... So a few years ago, my parents and I read this article about you in an American newspaper, and I found it fascinating. I loved the way you wrote the story and the fact that it was you who got rid of the gangsters in the Congo and in Chicago!" Tintin had remembered that after he stopped the gangsters in Chicago, he wrote the article for his newspaper, but was also asked to send the article to a big American newspaper.
Jacq continued, "It was hard to believe it at first, but then my parents found out that you wrote more articles in this newspaper in Belgium, and that you went on all these adventures and helping out with the police. They're novelists, so they found lots of inspiration in your stories. They didn't copy the events, but your stories were still very inspiring. They sent me some of the newspapers whenever they found an interesting article written by or about you. They were like reading novels! I never had so much fun reading newspaper articles! I wish I could write like that! Reading those articles I felt like I was part of those adventures with you and Captain Haddock!" Snowy barked "Oh yeah! And Snowy too! Mind if I carry him?"
"Go ahead." As Jacq held Snowy around her arms and softly stroked the dog, Tintin felt a bit embarrassed. Yes, there were people he encountered who have heard about him and loved what he did, but never did someone admire his work THIS much. Jacq said as she held Snowy, "And if there was anything else about you, I'd ask my parents to keep me informed about anything you did. I can't really call myself a fanatic, but I've always enjoyed reading your articles or anything else about you. So how do you do it? How do you write so well? And how do you get into these kinds of adventures?"
"Me? I don't know. I just like writing articles in the newspapers," he said to her. "I just try to get the story and I write about it... As much as someone needs to know... there's not much to it. I love my job. As for the adventures themselves… You could just call me lucky… or unlucky. I can't decide." Jacq started to smile. "What is it?" asked Tintin.
"Nah, nothing," she said looking even more happy. "I just can't wait to tell my parents about this!"
They arrived at her room where the two guards were guarding the doors. Apparently, she shared the same room with the Princess. "Anyway, thanks for everything, Tintin. It was great to meet you!" she said and put Snowy back on the floor. "The pleasure's all mine. And take care, alright?" said Tintin referring to her hand. He took her hand and kissed it like a gentleman. They said their goodbyes, and Jacq entered her room.
Tintin and Snowy walked back to their rooms. "Quite a nice girl, hey Snowy?" Snowy barked in approval. Then they walked past someone hiding from them, but Tintin didn't seem to notice. The figure followed them. Snowy growled back at the figure. "What is it, Snowy?" asked Tintin. Before he could turn his head back, he felt something hard hit him on the back of the head. He fell to the floor as he fell unconscious.
A/N OOHHH! A cliffhanger! Seriously though, you can't have a Tintin story without having him either one of these things: hit in the head, unconscious, kidnapped, captured, blamed for a crime, life threatened. You sorta see this coming a mile away.
Special thanks to Pink-Pencil-Girl303 and Galad Estel for feedbacks and pointing out some important points in the first chapter. Also thanks to TigerBlack62 for also commenting! Please comment or review! And if there's anything that you pointed out and I missed, like a flaw or something you want to criticise, then please do tell me. I'm open to any criticism!
From what you read from the first chapter, it's quite established that this is after the events of The Castafiore Emerald.