There's no Place like Home

Chapter Three

As it turned out, our crew was made up of Jim and Raphaelle's old friends from the Interstellar Academy; Iris, Jennifer, Nerita, Adelaide, Gabriel, Angela, and Austin. I wondered how long it would take for me to learn their names … I've never been good with names…

The Hawkins and their new crew spent the day organizing and gathering everything and anything we would need for our trip. I, on the other hand, spent the day helping Sara and trying to memorize who was who. Sara was a great help with the names. I did better than I'd expected; by dinner I almost had them down. Almost. I still couldn't remember the name of the girl covered in light green scales or the girl who bore an Asian appearance; of course I don't think Asia exists in this universe...

Because we had to cook and serve the dinner rush, we always ate dinner late at the Inn. Once the tables had been cleared and cleaned, Sara and I took the rectangular tables and pushed them together to create one long table. We made up plates of the extra food from dinner and placed them at each place setting. I plopped down in an empty chair in front of a plate of noodles, sauce, bread, and vegetables and waited politely until everyone else was seated around me.

"I like your earrings," the small brunette with light purple eyes smiled at me. She seemed to be on the shy side, just like me. I decided she would be the easiest one to strike up a conversation with.

"Thanks," I smiled back as I reached up to touch them. They – along with the rest of my jewelry – had been in my bag from Earth. Miniature homemade dream catchers dangled from my ears. My jewelry – which consisted of my pale yellow and orange friendship bracelet a friend had made me, my brown watch, my three rings (two of which were handmade), my homemade wire bracelet and my homemade wire wrapped necklace – were they only items I wore from my world. What can I say? I love jewelry – especially the homemade wire wrap jewelry my adopted grandparents made. "I love your eye color!"

"Thanks! I'm half Mutator Formarum." She must have read the confusion that was no doubt written on my face. "Oh, sorry! I forget not everyone knows what that means… Mutator Formarums are shape shifters. Since I'm a half-breed I can only control the color of my eyes and my hair. But Adelaide over there," she pointed to the Asian girl sitting near the end of table (so that was her name), "is a full Mutator Formarum; she can shape shift into anything."

"Cool," I whispered, "so is that her real appearance then?"

Iris shrugged, "I guess only she knows for sure. We consider it to be since that's the appearance she favors." As the meal wore on, it became easier for me to talk to the others as well. I learned Nerita could breathe underwater (which made me incredibly jealous!) and that Angela and Gabriel were angel-like creatures. They could fly (again, jealous!) and they were dating. Austin had been top of their class in math, science and navigation, and Jennifer was a skilled fighter and a tomboy; a tomboy with fancy finger and toenails.

BEN joined in on the conversation at some point as he brought out a tray full of little cakes for dessert. Apparently, Jim and Raphaelle had found him on Treasure Island; he enlightened us with every little detail of the adventure. Why does this sound so familiar? It took me a moment to remember; oh yeah … the movie … we are in the universe of the movie …

By the time I crawled into bed, it was past midnight. I fell asleep hoping no one would shake me awake before seven a.m. Thankfully, Raphaelle didn't wake me until nine. She was still dressed in her blue nightgown, which told me she had just awakened herself. A groggy, half-asleep Morph hovered in one place over her right shoulder. Apparently no one was awake yet.

We all ate breakfast with Sara and the Doppler family. After the morning meal, it was time to bid everyone farewell.

"Take care, Kisa! Have a save trip home!" Sara hugged me and a feeling of safety washed over me, reminding me of my own mother. I was afraid I'd start crying, but soon I found myself in the metal clutches of BEN and the feeling passed. I was too busy not breathing to worry about tears. For such a scrawny robot, he sure was strong.

When BEN finally set me free, I turned around and found little Daniel, Brittney, Rachel and Jessie attaching themselves to the front of my legs. "Guys!" I shrieked through laugher. Unfortunately, that's when I lost my balance and fell back onto my bottom, again. On the ground, I gathered the children up in my arms and embraced them, "I'll miss you, you little cuties!" I whispered to them. I stood and shook hands with Amelia and Delbert before the dog man pulled me into a hug. Amelia joined in and we soon found the four children at our legs.

Morph snuggled up to my cheek, crying. I patted him, "I'll miss you too Morph! Watch everyone for me!" I was telling him this for when I was back on Earth; he'd be coming with us. So why he was crying I didn't know.

We were descending the steep steps down to the dock and the ship, The Journey, when Jim told me about the new cabin boy.

"Cabin boy? When did you get a cabin boy?"

"Yesterday," he answered.

"You're going to trust a guy who you met only yesterday?" I raised an eyebrow at him, "Are you sure that's such a great idea?"

"That would be a horrible idea," he agreed, "but I didn't meet him yesterday. I met him years ago when I was sixteen and he was fourteen."

I shrugged and boarded the ship. If Jim had known him that long then he must not be that bad of a guy. I took back that thought when I met the cabin boy ten seconds later.

As soon as both my feet were on the boat, someone ran in front of me as he lifted a bundle of purps up from the deck, smacking them into my shoulder in the process. It hurt the fruits more than it hurt me, but it was still rude.

"Hey, watch where you're goin-" he started as he stopped and turned. Our eyes met and we both stood there and stared.

A moment passed, "You!" I gasped. It couldn't be him, but it was: the kitchen boy! The one from the café who had been so rude to me! Oh this is not happening!

He grinned and chuckled, "Hey Klutzy. I didn't think I'd be seeing you around here." With that, he walked away down into the kitchen. As I glared after him, I could hear Raphaelle mumble behind me, "Well, this will be an interesting trip."

For once, I had the urge to grind my teeth together, and grinding teeth is one of my pet peeves! That is how annoyed I was with the new 'cabin boy'. If I had it my way, I would have avoided him for the rest of trip, or at least the rest of the day. Unfortunately for me, neither of those happened…

Two hours into the trip and I found myself on deck with Mr. Mop and Mrs. Bucket … and the new Cabin Boy…

"Soooo," he asked leaning on his mop as he watched me work; he had yet to do anything, "you must have a name that's not Klutzy. What is it?"

"Are you going to call me by my name if I tell it to you?" I asked, pausing only for a moment. I wasn't paying a lot of attention to him. I was too busy thinking at least Mr. Mop wasn't Mr. Broom.

"Probably not," he shrugged.

"Then I'm not going to tell you." I continued to mop and tried my best to ignore him; besides it's not like I knew his name.

"Kisa!" Raphaelle called as she walked up to us. Cabin Boy stood up straight and began working as soon as she came into view. I could see a knowing smile on his face as I looked up. I tried not to glare at my old friend. She didn't know I was trying not to tell him my name. "Jim wants to talk to us for a few minutes." She jerked a thumb towards the Captain's quarters.

I nodded, propped my mop up against a wall (only to have it fall a few seconds later) and followed my friend up to the Captain's quarters. Jim sat with his feet up on the desk, messing with a puzzle cube. An exact replica of said puzzle cube was floating in the air about him. Jim seemed small in the enclosed space, like he needed to be out in the open air.

When he saw us enter he kicked his feet off the desk, stood up, and set the newly-finished cube down. Morph changed back and followed Jim around to the front of his desk, "Now that we've launched I figured we should all talk." He paused; we waited, "I think we should explain to the crew where you two come from, why we're doing what we're doing. But it's your world, so what do you two think?"

I looked at Raphaelle. She looked at me. We both turned back to Jim and nodded.

As much as I didn't want Cabin Boy to know anything about me – which he could, in turn, use negatively against me – I realized the crew (this sadly meant the whole crew) had a right to know what they were getting into.

Jim said nothing and gave us a simple nod. He had the crew gathered on the deck fifteen minutes later. That was the first time I noted how young we all were. We were all under twenty two years of age. I was unsure if I should marvel or be nervous at the fact that we were most likely one of the youngest crews out there.… The Hawkins stood in front of them holding hands; I stood off to the side, more out of sight.

Raphaelle spoke first, "We thought you should all know the truth about where we're going and about where Kisa and I really come from." The faces staring back at us were wrinkled with confusion.

"We're from Earth… it's in a … another dimension of sorts," I spoke up, trying not to sweat. Public speaking and I are not the best of friends. Raphaelle went on to explain our situation and how she'd come here. "I don't know how I got to this universe," I admitted, "I just woke up here a little over a week ago with a splitting headache …"

When the explanation was finished no one spoke for a while. When they did speak, they spoke all at once.

"You came from-"

"Why didn't you tell-?"

"Come on Raphaelle, Jim! You guys know you can-"

"I would never tell-"

"HEY!" We all turned to the Cabin Boy who stood straight with his hands cupped around his mouth in a makeshift megaphone, "One at a time!" he snapped.

"Thanks Jay." So his name is Jay, I resisted the urge to smirk at him. Now we were even; he knew my name and I knew his.

"No problem." He directed his voice at Jim but was looking directly at me.

"Why didn't you tell us before? We wouldn't tell anyone. Didn't you trust us?" Nerita asked calmly.

"No it's not that … but would you have believed me? And we decided it was better that the fewer people who knew the better. Until right now the only person I've told is Jim."

"And I haven't told a soul … but I haven't been here very long…" I chimed in timidly before sinking back out of the way.

"So… how mad are all of you?" the strawberry blond asked, almost wincing back as if she thought they would strike her.

As it turned out they weren't mad, just disappointed about not being told for years.

"You have some genuine friends here Ariel," I said around my toothbrush later that night as we readied ourselves for bed. We stood in our pajamas – a blue nightgown for Raphaelle and cotton pink and blue plaid shorts with a navy blue dry fit t-shirt for me – in the bathroom of the captain's quarters. I would be sleeping down with the crew on a comfortable enough mattress in the corner. I had hung up a sheet to make a 'third wall' that secluded me from the rest of crews' sleeping quarters. I had my own little piece of solitude; the introvert in me enjoyed that small seclusion.

"Yeah," she ran a brush through her hair as she looked at me, "do you ever wonder what you did to gain great friends?"

I spit toothpaste into the sink, "Every day."

"Right now is one of those times."

I looked up at her from the sink, "Do you want a list as to what you've done in the past to gain great friends?"

She laughed, "You and your lists Melody!"

"What's wrong with lists?! They're fun to cross off…" I turned back to the sink and rinsed my mouth. In a serious voice I told her, "You're a great friend, that's why you have great friends." I gave her a big smile, bid her goodnight and skipped out the door. I passed Jim who sat on the queen-sized bed, fully clothed and reading. I bid him a goodnight as well before finding myself outside skidding to a stop on the deck. The stars. The stars shown all around us, sparkling so vibrantly it took my breath away. Deep down, I wished I could stay on the ship in this universe awhile longer; I could get used to a view like this.

I later learned to be careful what you wish for; it may just come true …

Author's Note:

Soooo how many of you guessed who was on the crew and got it correct? =3 (Here's a virtual cookie if you did! xD Sorry, no real cookies ... my teleportation machine is still busted ... ;) )

I like jewelry can you tell? xD

The ex-kitchen boy is back! And he has a name. =3

So when I first started writing this and coming up the plot etc there was no Jay. Then Raphaelle suggested him and I loved the idea so I took it and ran with it. (That happened a lot by the way, her suggesting an idea and me taking it and running. This story wouldn't be very good without her help!)

I love reviews so please leave one! (It can be anonymous if you like, I don't care.) You can critique my work as well but please no flames.

Jim Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, BEN, Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Morph, etc. belong to Disney

Raphaelle, Nerita, Jennifer, Angela, Gabriel, Austin, Iris, Adelaide, Alex, etc. belong to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid (I just realized this but I should have put that Alex belongs to PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid in chapter one when I first mentioned him. Sorry!)

Kisa belongs to me

Jay was a collaboration of both PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid and me. (She suggested him and I created his character and personality.)

Written by me

Revised, Edited, and Collaboration by PartofYourWorld-ArielMermaid