From the diary of Griselda Vargas-Beilschmidt

47

I think Spamano is a pretty huge ship.

George doesen't think so. "I've seen bigger," he says.

"George, don't ruin the moment," Ash elbows him playfully, still keeping on being close to him even as she got off his back. "This ship will sail!" Fred barely holds back a chuckle, but Gabi seems proud and oh, so alive as he skips around and I don't need to see his face to know he's enjoying every second.

"Gabriel?" George asks as soon as he stops massaging his hurt ribs. "Do you... I'm sorry, I mean- are we supposed to be here? Where are your parents in the case we are?" That makes sense. I haven't seen a trace of either my Uncles or dads since we left in the afternoon. Gabriel stops and scurries towards us from where he was admiring the deck.

"I don't really know, George," he shruggs and looks uncertain. "I don't know!" he sounds angry...with himself, for once.

"Then there's only one thing to do - find it out!" Fred decides and starts walking in a random direction with me still sniffing his hair, because damn, do they smell good. Then he stops and looks around.

"Uuuuh," he makes a sound of nervosity "to the Captain's cabin?" he asks, glancing back at Gabi, who nods and skips off. The rest of us follows him.

Ash turns her phone light on to light us the way and to make sure nobody would trip and fall. "Clever," George mutters and am I only imagining it, or does Ashleigh's face take a bit darker hue than a moment before? I can't be sure.

The Captain's cabin is just as dark as the rest of the ship, and when Gabi is about to open the door we brace ourselves for some kind of jumpscare, me holding onto Fred impossibly tighter. He's a good pillow.

The door swing open-

and we see no one is inside.

There's no lamp or anything, so Ash grudgingly lets Gabi use her phone as he examines the room. It's not large, but it's clear it's the most comfort a guy on Spamano could get.

"Weird," Ashleigh mutters.

"What is?" George asks.

"It's clean," she explains, showing him how much- or, should I say little- dust was there on one of the shelves. "Someone had to dust it just recently."

"Woah, great thinking!" Fred pats her back.

"Well, what can I say," she laughs "Sherlock is one of the best TV shows I've seen."

George grins. "It clearly does you good," he praises, but Ash shrugs it off. With a dark face that only I could see from Fred's back, mind you.

Gabe, who's been rummaging through the small cabinet on the side of the room, finding it empty, moves to the desk. After all, the most important documents tend to be there.

There's a closed bottle of ink and a quill next to it, a globe stands on the opposite side, along with some maps, but the space between those items is empty.

Gabe reaches for the maps and looks at them in the light from the phone, then shakes his head.

"This is only a map of Baleares," he says. "Nothing else."

"Could there be some kind of a clue?" George looks over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes. Both Fred (and therefore me) and Ash move closer as well, to see for ourselves. A paper hidden in between the maps falls on the floor and we all shuffle closer to pick it up, which Gabriel does, but before we have a chance to look at it, Fred is holding his palms over Ash's and Gabe's mouths, whispering a curt "Shh!" before we hear the same he did.