Getaway

[14] Dutiful Surgery

Wiping the sweat from behind her thick black fringe, Jayla peeks through the misted glass, and starts up the windscreen wipers, foamy soap throwing itself like a block party up against the glass.

According to the navigation, they should arrive at Bristol Harbour in just seven hours. Because they couldn't be seen dead in any airports, the crew had been sailing for over 2 months to reach their final party destination in the UK and be reunited with a special someone and the girl's families.

If anything, Jayla was really good at sailing now. Blu was proud of her. Of course, Jayla and Sapphire's parents and Aspen's were starting to worry if her, Sapphire and Aspen would ever make it home. Although, they called them when they could to reassure them all was good aboard the ship and that they were all learning lots every day and having fun along the way. And she knew they would make it. They were making it today, god damn it.

"Hey, baby," Blu swaddles in, all sexy lady.

"Haha," Jayla sticks her tongue out at him.

"The secret shows, are still gonna happen. Raven and Phoenix say they still wanna do them, even with Phoenix's leg being fucked-ed-up-dee-dup," Blu smiles with some kind of pain behind it as he perches on the seat next to the tired teenager. She's been driving for hours. It felt like years. As soon as they left the restaurant that night, Raven sweating like a de-mister, they speeded down the highway to a hotel in Ohio and checked out early, around 3am, all jumped in the car again to a port near Blu's friend's warehouse and got on the boat. She had been taking it in turns with Blu since. At least she had a chance to put all her lessons to practice...

Sensing her tiredness, he puts an arm round her.

Focusing on changing the angle of steer, Jayla squints at the control panel. Dials begin to tick and spin round, and she reads the calculations, making a decision. Taking her time, she then replies, as he swings a golden anchor necklace dangerously near to her face.

"Watch it," she puts a hand over the controls. Blu pouts.

She's not in the best of moods. In fact she is in a terrible mood. Ever since Phoenix slipped over in the shower room. It was all her fault...

Technically, it wasn't. But she wouldn't stop blaming herself for it, as she was driving the ship at the time, and hit into an old sunken wreck, causing the ship to jerk suddenly. Phoenix at the time, having been in the shower, slipped and fell. The fall did god knows what to his right leg, but he couldn't walk on it. Inside she felt awful. Every time she saw his beautiful face, it made her feel like someone had smashed a glass inside her stomach. Out here in the middle of the ocean, they couldn't get to a hospital, they couldn't even call a helicopter, or they'd give away the game.

Blu scoffs, "You watch it! You're menna be steering this thing missy, keep your hands on the wheel," nudging her to make sure she sees it's a joke.

"So," Jayla breathes a sigh of relief seeing Raven and Phoenix skip about the ship, chasing each other again. Raven with his beloved bottle of Jack Daniels in hand. Phoenix limping. Ouch. She forces a smile. Those wooden fencing swords never got old. Tutting to herself, Jayla continues, "They play Bristol tonight!" Blu leans his head out the window.

"Go Von Dohren!" And Phoenix sneaks a look back at Blu and winks at him, his teeth row upon row gleaming perfection even in the foggy start to this miserable day.

Then with a bang he shuts the window up again, to continue in privacy.

"So," he prompts.

"So, if they're not... dead and passed out on the floor by then," Now Jayla can see Phoenix lying face down to the floor, Raven in victory stance, one leg on his back, tipping his precious liquor all over the injured angel. "Err, if they recover," she winces laughing at their performance, and she begins to think maybe Blu is looking at Phoenix... Forget that.

"Yeah?" Blu snaps out of it. So he was looking at Phoneix... she thinks, shocked but finally actually smiling.

"Then we boat it away. And secretly, again, tomorrow night - same time, 9pm, we play Cardiff."

Jayla turns to the wheel again, reading a new obstacle in the radar, as it bleeps at her on the cross-grid.

"Um, I gotta go," Blu scratches his head. "Do you need anything?"

Jayla is just thinking of Blu and his apparent fixation with Phoenix. And Phoenix and his leg. And Phoenix and her. And Phoenix and Raven. And Phoenix... She can't stop it. But she looks validly distracted enough with steering the boat.

"Huh?" Jayla's voice echoes into the misted windows.

Blu messes up her hair, "Okay beautiful, see ya soon." He kisses his two fingers and places them to her head. Then he is skipping off gallantly across the ship, and as she suspected, throws himself on top of Phoenix in a pile-on.

"Boys..." Jayla mutters to herself, mentally throwing them all into her head space's waste paper basket, and switching on the in-cabin stereo, 'Dreamer Boy' her favourite DTTS (Death to the Skies) song filling the air with a dance powered sweetness, helping her to turn off her thoughts.

"I'm a dreamer boy, fucked up boy, got a broken heart and a bottle full of..."

---

Taking a coffee break, sitting in the gig room were Sapphire, Aspen and Jayla. They giggled cross-legged on the uneven wooden floor, remembering the holiday fun they had over the last few months sailing the oceans. In just two months and 18 days, they had been halfway around the world, or so it seemed. Escorted by Death to the Skies and Blu Lawless.

Tossed between them, they had bright, high saturation, crazy photos, snapped and flashed out of Blu's retro polaroid camera. Smiling, wincing, laughing and pouting and purely un-timely shots of their faces crammed together aboard the ship or at any of the various islands they had made stops at. Sorting through them all, they sat on the dance floor, watching as the neon coloured lights and lasers shot out like synth star beams from the stage, making pretty patterns over their shiny printed faces. 'Death To Your Love' shook the ship, and smoke and foam frothed into the atmosphere as Raven and Phoenix were looking magnificent practicing for the show tonight.

The secret show.

It was tonight! Jayla couldn't help getting excited over that thought and she was sure Phoenix and Raven felt equally pumped, but also nervous.

The boat was to pull up at Bristol Harbour in just an hour's time, for a 9pm show start. They had already stopped the boat and were near the coast of England, however they didn't want to make a noise too close to land as they would run the risk of getting caught before the show even started and that would be a disaster. So they were hanging back here until show time.

Aspen along with Phoenix and Raven had been working madly the last few weeks aboard the ship: at getting the show secretly promoted to fans, and fans exclusively to avoid any media coverage... As Raven was banned from leaving the USA. If he was caught here, not only was the show over, but his career for the next six months at least. As, he would have to battle with lawsuits and splash out lots of money that could be spent on music and shows for fans.

That was the last thing any of them wanted.

They still expected a crowd of about a thousand, and no doubt that would fill the ship's dance floor up. As Raven bounced up and down, and Phoenix sat with his leg propped up on a chair, still looking darkly sexy and powerful. The girls couldn't help but think the shorter of the two hadn't looked happier in a long time.

And that's when they remembered.

Leya was coming to the show tonight.