The stood silently for a moment before a freezing cold breeze reminded Fred that he left his jacket back at Joe's. He grabbed Sam and pulled him through the door, letting out a sigh of relief when a wave of warm air washed over them.
"I can't believe we're on the Titanic." Sam whispered faintly. "The Titanic."
"Hey, it's no big deal." Fred put a hand on his shoulder. "They did the whole women and children first thing, right? And you know when the ship is going to sink. We'll just hop on a life boat before things get bad."
"Oh, yeah?" Sam raised an eyebrow. "And what about The Book?"
"We'll find it." Fred said confidently. "I mean, it can only be in so many places right? We are on a ship in the middle of nowhere."
Sam sighed and looked unsure but then finally nodded. He suggested starting at the library first making Fred cringe internally. Libraries never really had a good meaning to him because it made him think about homework and school work; two things that were never really his forté.
"Okay so where would the library be?" He asked.
"Probably somewhere aft of the ship," Sam mumbled rubbing his chin in thought. "Second class maybe?"
"Aft, second class, right." Fred nodded already feeling lost.
"Aft means back of the ship, Fred."
"I knew that."
Sam rolled his eyes and didn't bother trying to hide a smirk. "Come on, let's see if we can find out where we are."
They started walking, passing a lot of closed doors and Fred noticed something weird. Aside from a few voices and some faint music playing, everything was oddly quiet. And...still? That was it; there was no creaking or groaning and gentle bobbing up and down. Fred had been on both a cruise ship and a fishing boat and there was always some amount of rocking involved as well as the sound of the ship's motor or engine running. The hallway was also a lot fancier than Fred had expected. The carpet was a lush red color and fancy painting hung on the wall alternating with vases of flowers that stood on pedestals.
"This is so weird." He whispered to Sam. "I feel like I'm in an art museum or a fancy hotel or something."
"This must be first class then," Sam's shoulders' tensed a little. "We have to be careful not to get mistaken for third class passengers. We aren't exactly dressed like the sons of millionaires."
Fred looked down at what he was wearing and frowned. He wasn't dressed that badly. He wore his favorite hoodie and his jeans were actually clean for once. Well, aside from some batter he accidentally spilled on his knee. And the sprinkling of flour on the left sleeve of his hoodie. He smiled to himself. Baking with Fina was a really fun if messy experience. She didn't seem to mind him making a mess or doing things wrong. She was patient with him and even found it "adorable" to put it in her words. Fred found himself frowning a little. Adorable? No, she was adorable with patches of flour on her cheeks and her hair becoming messy. He wasn't quite sure if he wanted to be described by her as adorable.
"Do you like Fina?" Sam asked suddenly.
"What?" Fred jumped and saw Sam giving him an odd look.
"Do you like Fina?" Sam repeated. "Because you've sure been spending a lot of time with her lately."
"She's fun to be around and she can cook like, crazy good food." Fred shrugged feeling a little uncomfortable. "Besides, I have a girlfriend remember?"
"Alright," Sam said quietly. "I just wanted to make sure you remembered that."
Fred narrowed his eyes was just about to ask him what exactly he meant by that when they came to a door that was held slightly ajar by a maid's cart.
"Finally," Sam sighed in relief. "Someone we can ask for directions."
They crept into the room quietly and found it almost completely dark except for one lit desk lamp. There was a small vacuum in the middle of the sitting room as well as a bucket of cleaning supplies, but no maid. There was a small noise coming from the bed room and Fred started to head in that direction until Sam tugged on his arm. Sam looked nervous and shook his head no, but Fred shrugged. They needed to find the library right? So why not ask the maid?
"Um, excuse me?" Fred said trying to be polite as possible. "We were just wondering if you could help us?"
The maid jumped and spun around in surprise. Fred peered closer trying to see her face in the darkness, but she leaned away sinking further into the darkness.
"Um, sorry," She said in a voice that sounded kinda familiar. "You may want to ask a steward, I'm just here to clean the room."
"Wait a minute," Sam said peering closer.
He reached over and flicked on a light and Fred had to close his eyes for a moment against the sudden brightness. When he opened them again he realized why the maid's voice sounded so familiar.
San-Li stood before them in a maid's outfit, blinking and rubbing her eyes.
"Oh great, just what I needed," She mumbled frowning. "You two losers."