Departure

''Tickets please,'' grumbled a man who held out his dirty, sausage-like fingers. He'd coughed in the same hand just before, and normally Merlin would've thought about giving a nasty remark – but not today.

He pressed the ticket in the man's hand, who chuckled: ''Another third-class ticket! If you want to swim, you might as well jump into the sea now, because there's no way you get to use the first-class swimming pool. But that's OK with me.''

''I'll push you into the sea,'' murmured Merlin, who'd had about enough now. Screw politeness, this man was plain rude.

''Sorry, wha? Well, too bad.'' Of course the man was missing a tooth, too. Why didn't someone from the crew, dressed in suit and all clean, check the tickets? And just as it had started to dawn on Merlin that something wasn't right, he saw the fat man running away with his ticket. His ticket! Merlin's legs began to run immediately while he looked, hopelessly, at the parking-lot. Will had already left, so he was on his own with this one. He ran faster, but groups of people were blocking his path, and soon he wondered where the bastard went. He took a deep breath, told himself not to panic, closed his eyes, and let the magic do its work. In his head, he had a clear vision of what he needed to find: a third-class ticket on the name of Merlin Miller. When he had this object in mind, he whispered a spell. Non magic-users will never understand how this can work – but it did. The next image he saw was of the thief, waiting in the real queue of people to enter the little boats. There was a very well-dressed crew member, who was inspecting every ticket. Merlin had no time to slap himself for his own stupidity, because now he was sprinting towards the queue, a small hundred meters away. When he arrived, heavily breathing and sweating, he didn't dare to use his magic in front of so many people, for one of them would surely notice. Instead, he pointed at the man and said loudly: ''That bandit stole my ticket! He stole it!''

The man turned, annoyed he'd been found, and claimed: ''I don't know what he is on about! I bet he just wants the ticket I've worked so hard for to pay!''

A woman in the queue supported those words and said: ''Those young men of these days! It's pathetic how they think they can have everything for their own!''

''Oh, shut up!'' Merlin snarled at the old woman, then back again to the fat man: ''Tell me what your name is, then!''

''Merlin Miller, of course!'' Fuck this, the man had been waiting for that question. The crew-member was now aware of what was going on, and stood between the two just in time, because the only option Merlin had left was to knock his brains in.

''I'm sorry,'' the crew-member (who was called Marcel, according to his name label), ''I see we have a problem here. Who of you two is Merlin Miller?''

''Me.'' ''Me.''

''Can I see your passports, please?''

Oh, duh.

Before Merlin knew it, he was transported to the Titanic and set his feet on deck. He soon found out he shared a cabin with three other men (who had not yet arrived or were already on the deck), that they had only one sink (but with fresh water, what a plus point), barely any space to move freely because they had to put all their luggage somewhere, and, to Merlin's horror: there were only two bath tubs for over a thousand third-class passengers. One for the women and one for the men. He'd already figured out he'd have to take a bath sometime this week, otherwise he'd feel bad for the other passengers. The boat would arrive in New York on the 17th of April – today was April 11th. Yeah, fantastic, one freaking bath tub.

Fortunately, the bed was soft and the pillows and blankets not too hot. He'd survive. He was only glad there was a deck he could spend his time, sketching sun-sets and writing letters to his mum and Will, wondering what New York would be like, wondering why all these other humans went to America... he supposed he'd have no problems keeping himself busy for about a week. If his 'roommates' would turn out to be nice, they could have a beer in the evening and talk about dreams and women. Hell, they could have a beer in the morning and afternoon if they wanted. Who cared?

Merlin settled down on a wooden bench on the deck. He buttoned up his jacket and got his pocket watch out of the left pocket. A quarter past one – just fifteen more minutes. Merlin could barely contain his enthusiasm. He heard somebody approaching him, getting down to sit next to him, and lighting up a cigarette. ''Well, here we are.''

''Here we are,'' Merlin repeated content.

''Have you seen your cabin yet?''

''Yes, I have.''

''What number are you in?''

Merlin stiffened. ''I'm not... not... um...''

The man threw back his head in laughter. ''You're funny. I'm James, cabin 34.''

Merlin was stunned. ''Hey, me too.'' This was the first time Merlin glanced at the man. He had deep brown, almost black hair (just like Merlin), but he had curls. When he smiled, you could see a bit of his gums. His teeth were a tint too yellow but there was a logical explanation for that. All in all, he seemed like a nice person.

''Cool, we're sharing a cabin.''

''Cool, cool, cool.''

''I want the top bunk, if you don't mind.'' James took a drag on his cigarette, then slowly exhaled the smoke.

''Yours.'' Merlin smiled. ''Do you know the other two with whom we share a cabin?''

''No, I have no idea. Probably two turtles if they're not yet on board. Only'' – he grabbed Merlins pocket watch without asking – ''seven more minutes. They'd better hurry, then.''

In the remaining seven minutes before their departure, Merlin found out that James was twenty-five, had two children and a wife called Alice and was very fond of chocolate and cigarettes. And that was probably all, because when Merlin found out James liked to read works from Arthur Conan Doyle, Holmes and Watson was all he could talk about. Still, he thought he'd found out an awful lot in just seven minutes.

Merlin saw Marcel, the man who saved him by asking for passports, get on the ship with two other men. Merlin pointed the two out to James and together they decided to get a little closer to hear the conversation. Who knew, they could be sleeping in cabin 34.

''You should have seen those men's faces when we won their tickets back there,'' said one.

''As if I hadn't noticed, I was sitting right next to you,'' the other sneered, ''I won those bloody tickets you're holding right there. If it weren't for me... you know. Four Kings and one Ace: four of a Kind! I'm fucking invincible.''

''Yeah, ok, Oscar, enough with the bragging. If I hadn't stopped you from ordering another pint, we would've never gotten on the ship in time.''

''Well, I'm perfectly capable to drink and run at the same time,'' said Oscar, a blond boy around his twenties, with extremely light eyes. He was a very slim boy, opposite to his friend, who had a lot of muscles. Merlin wouldn't want to see that one angry at him.

''I'd like to see you try,'' said the muscle-man.

Oscar sounded confident when he extended his hand. ''Only if you buy me a pint, Percy.''

23:05 PM. 11 April '12

Dear mum,

I hope you're well. I'm well, too. It's been over half a day since we said our goodbyes, and I'm sailing over the Atlantic – how did everything change so fast?

My cabin is okay, there isn't that much space, but, don't worry, I'll survive. I'm sharing the cabin with three other guys: James, Percy, and Oscar. The last two won their tickets with a game of poker. I wonder with whom else I could've been sharing... probably two very stupid guys. What kind of idiots risk their tickets for a game of poker? Percy and Oscar are two complete idiots as well, but in a good way. Since there are only two bath tubs for the whole third class, they are going to try to take a bath in the swimming pool of the first class. It's 23:19 pm at this moment, so it's dark enough (obviously), and quiet enough (how come everyone is so tired? Lazy sods) for them to figure out a way to reach it without getting caught. James didn't want to get into trouble since he has got two kids, but what would happen, say you got caught? They won't throw you off board. Me, I don't really feel like joining Oscar and Percy. I'm not scared, I think it's brilliant – but I like sitting here more. I'm looking at the stars and the moon. It's so peaceful here, so bright and clear. The salty air makes my face and hair a bit sticky, but it's quite funny when you lick your lips and you taste that saltiness. Oh god, I don't know what this letter is getting to – maybe I should stop before this turns into a bad romantic novel.

Sometimes I wish that dad had taught –

Merlin jumped up by the sound of a door. For a moment he thought it was James, but the sound came from one of the floors above his. He concentrated on the source of the sound, which soon he had found. His eyes were focussed on a girl in a white nightgown. She was walking over to the stairs that led to the deck Merlin was on. The strange thing was that she had her eyes closed while doing it, yet she didn't trip or miss a step. Merlin put his notebook and fountain-pen down, his attention drawn to the mysterious girl. She must've stepped straight out of bed, he noticed, her long dark hair messy and tangled. The girl had somehow managed to walk on the stairs without opening her eyes – now she was heading for the back part of the boat. Merlin stood up, not trusting the situation. He wanted to call out for some help, but the deck was deserted. Like he'd written to his mum: lazy sods.

It looked like the girl (or was she a woman? Her face looked so innocent) was floating over the deck. When she'd reached the steel railing, she spun around on her feet to lean against it with her back. Her eyes suddenly opened and pierced right through Merlin's. Merlin's heart stopped for a second, that was how unpredictable all of this was. Her light eyes stared at something in the distance and she never blinked.

''Hello?'' Merlin tried carefully. ''Can you hear me? Hello?'' Without success. Before Merlin had a grasp on what was going on, he heard himself gasp for air. The colour of the girl's blue irises had changed to orange. He felt some kind of rush spreading in his body. He felt it in the tip of his toes. This was magic, she was magic. She had to be. As if she were in trance, she grabbed the steel railing with her pale hands and made it break like it was a small twig. Merlin felt his heartbeat raise like that of a hummingbird: what was happening? With the railing soon consumed by the sea, there was no more railing her back could lean again.

Merlin was the only one to witness the odd, terrifying situation, and Merlin was the girl's only hope at surviving if she was going to do what he hoped she wouldn't do. He had just finished this prayer a few seconds before she spread her arms and let herself fall in the dark.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! First Morgana scene!

I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. :') It was lots of fun to write.