Cranberry Clairvoyant (Azealia Banks Story)

Jewelry and Dresden Dolls

A/N: Back to past-tense? Ugh, idk with this story.

Darrius finally submitted to his feelings. He wouldn’t directly confess that he’d given up, but instead suggested that we forget about the issues at hand and go out and have some fun with everyone else, blending in like normal passengers of the ship. I had no choice but to agree; what other options were there?

The morning after his depressing episode of sadness and helplessness, we got dressed and reunited just outside of the ship. We were still in Japan, but there was much to see here. For now we weren’t allowed to be outside, since the resort had caught fire according to what the employees told us. Everyone gravitated toward the main pool area, pushing past each other as if there was something interesting to see. Milan held my hand and gave it a squeeze, and I didn’t see why she was so excited until we reached down the stairs and to the middle of the floor.

My parents sat at one of the tables. Mama waved and nodded to each of us as we passed, and when her eyes set on me, I thought for a moment that she recognized me. She waved faintly but kept staring.

“Did you see the way she looked at you? I think she recognizes you,” Destiny, who I hadn’t even realized was on my right side, said.

“What are we all down here for?” I asked, disregarding her question. I thought she recognized me too, but I didn’t want to spoil it.

“An assembly.” Darrius replied. He was beside Milan and too far from me for my liking.

 “Hello, everyone,” My mother stood from her seat and smiled at the dense group of us lined up in rows. “We do apologize for the inconvenience, but the resort we were supposed to be visiting is a bit tied up with a fire accident. We’ll have to stay inside for now. But, don’t worry. You won’t be bored. We’ve waited this long to reveal this to you—there is a room somewhere on the ship where someone used to reside. This ‘someone’ has been dead and gone for many years now, and cruised on this ship the year of their death. If you can find the room, you’ll win a special prize.”

“Your prize will be the privilege of seeing such an old and untouched room.” Dad added.

“But you’ll find something in one of the boxes there that you can keep. Anything, children. Now go on and look!”

Immediately, everyone scurried away like little mice. The only people left were Destiny, Milan, Ezekiel, Darrius and I.

“The room would most likely be on the top level. Let’s go all the way upstairs, shall we?” Destiny suggested. We shrugged and followed, since none of us seemed to have any other ideas. Darrius walked up the stairs slowly beside me, keeping us a good few feet away from the rest of the group, and then nudged my shoulder and nodded at Milan ahead of us.

It wasn’t only Milan, but Milan and Ezekiel holding hands and walking as close to each other as they could.

I laughed; never would I think that Milan and Ezekiel would find any kind of interest in each other. I’d be sure to tease her about it later.

But for now, I had to consider whose room this could be. Of course, I thought of my Grandmother, but Daddy never mentioned her ever being on the ship. If she was, he’d be sure to tell me. Maybe she’d mentioned it in a poem, and we interpreted it as something else? Darrius had the book safely secured in his pocket, so we could check if we wanted.

No one else had seen the book besides my parents. And if they caught us with it, they’d think we stole it.

“Those are too many stairs!” Destiny exclaimed once we were on the top level. Unsurprisingly, many other people were here, paired up or in groups of three or four like us. They seemed to really care about this scavenger hunt, so to speak.