Part eight.

After the Chatterboxers got their weapons back, they retreated into the bunkroom for the rest of the morning. They did, however, come out for lunch, although a couple, unwilling to leave, hung back for a few moments before catching up with the others.

Once they had finished, Captain Phillipa stood up and cleared her throat. The Chatterboxers quieted down. "Given all of the difficult things that have been happening upon this cruise, I thought that you might want a change of pace. We'll shortly be anchoring near a tropical island. I thought that you might like doing water activities: surfing, waterskiing, swimming with dolphins–"

"Dolphins?!" The Chatterboxers cried. The captain smiled.

"I see what the most popular choice is. Why don't you go and change into swimsuits, and this time stay in a group! If you brought floaties or water toys, you can bring them up as well."

The Chatterboxers hurried down the stairs to the bunkroom and returned a few minutes later in swimsuits. The Murderer hung back to complete some last minute preperations, and then quickly locked the door on the way out.

Captain Phillipa led the way out of the breakfast room up a few flights of stairs, then through a vast and decrepit old ballroom to a small balcony on the side of the ship. The Chatterboxers crowded onto the balcony after her. The wind was blowing just enough to play with their hair, and the sun shone down, reflecting up from the water into their faces. In the distance, they could see a pod of dolphins playing in the water, cutting through the waves with squeaks of joy.

The Chatterboxers had just enough time to absorb the beautful sight when Captain Phillipa pressed a button on a control panel, and to their surprise, the cHatterboxers found that the balcony was descending towards the water like a vast elevator. 

When the bottom of the balcony touched the surface of the water, it stopped descending. Luminescence made a run for the side of the balcon,m but Captain Phillipa held out a hand to stop her. She turned and addressed the Chatterboxers.

"Now, I'm sending down Allie to keep an eye on you, but all of you need to be extremely careful, right? I don't want any deaths today."

"That would sound wierd out of context." IvoryPint muttered.

"Is that clear?" Captian PHillipa asked. The Chatterboxers nodded. "Good." The captain said. "Then off you go!"

The Chatterboxers lowered themselves into the water and swam out into the middle of the dolphin pack. The dolphins were all around them, circling, leaping, sending saltwater into the Chatterboxers' faces.

They laughed and played and splashed for a while, until even the most hardened swimmers began to get winded. THe dophins chuckled to each other and then circled the Cosmic Pioneer once before heading out to sea. The Chatterboxers climbed up onto the balcony.

Raining Rainbows smiled. "That was amazing."

"And nooo deaths!" Kitten added.

"Don't jinks us, Kitten." Summer joked. The other Chatterboxers laughed nervously.

A few minutes later, Captain Phillipa brought the bacony back to the top, and the Chatterboxers streamed back into the ship and down to the dorms to change. Heroes was leading the way, talking with Emekitty and Quill. Surprisingly, the door was locked from the outside, but Heroes was able to open it. When she opened the door to the bunkroom, hr jaw dropped and her face went completely white. Emekitty backed away, and Quill shrieked.

The entire bunkroom was covered with spiders, and more were swarming in through a hole in the back corner. Big spiders, little ones, hairy and smooth, white, brown, and all of the colors in between. Webs were woven in between all of the hammocks, and spider thread hugh from the walls like old curtains. Worst of all, lying in them middle of the room with spiders swarming all over her, was a body that could only barely be recognized as Darkling's. The rest of the Chatterboxers crowded around to look inside the room. There was dead silence, and then Queen shut the door firmly. "We have to tell Captain Phillipa about this." She said. She was shaking from head to foot.

"Do you think…the Murderer…" IvoryPint asked hesitantly.

The others nodded. Luminescence looked like she was going to be sick.

"Where did all of them come from? I mean, where does that crack even lead to?" Emekitty asked.

"I don't know…" Raining Rainbows said, "But I'm beginning to think that this ship holds a while lot of stuff that Captain Phillipa hasn't told us about."

"Like the thermal detonator." Kitten said. Summer nodded.

Quill had been quietly counting everyone, and her face darkened. "Wait a second…" She said. "Where's Barnswallow?"

~~~

RIP Darkling. Yikes. Just Yikes.

Sorry it took me so long to get this up, and sorry about any typos! I'm working under a bit of a time crunch with school.

Death count: 7. 

What is your favorite animal? 

Well, that was… an very unfortunate way to die. *shivers*  My favorite animal is a wolf (obviously) but I also like most animals.

Ho, boy, that's a toughie. Probably… I dunno, puppies? I honsetly wouldn't mind if I got cuddled to death by a bunch of puppies. Actually, I WOULD mind, SO DON'T GET ANY IDEAS!!!!

(I'mmap) (uppyy!!! *Makes puppy dog eyes.*)

Bradley. STOP THINKIN' YOU'RE A WERE-WOLF!!!!!!!!

Topping!