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“I heard one of the crew speaking to another about it this morning when Caitlin and I were waiting for the elevator. They were out of sight, but they were speaking Greek. Something about a stabilizer being out. Because the storm was so bad last night, they had to deter from our original course. When they put into our first port, they’ll have the stabilizer repaired. But there’s something else.”
“What?” Arman asked as they loaded into the elevator.
Levka told them privately, “I’m not sure. There’s some concern about the passenger list. I wonder if they’ve found out we’ve moved some of the passengers together so we can have the stateroom big enough for the four of us. Or it may be that the Dallas league is having the ship’s passenger manifest looked into. It may be nothing related to us, but I don’t know for certain.”
In an exasperated manner, Arman threw his hands up in the air. “I should have figured Ruric couldn’t pull this off.”
“No sense in panicking yet," Stasio said. "It reminds me of the time we got in the middle of those blokes storming the Bastille. We got out of that okay. We’ll figure out something here, too.”
Shaking his head, Arman wheeled Levka onto the pool deck.
Ruric rocked back and forth in a cozy covered swing for two, situated underneath the deck to ensure the sun never hit them. Swimmers filled the pool, and all of the lounge chairs were either occupied, or someone had spread towels over them, reserving them for future use.
Ruric stood and motioned to the chair. “My prince.”
“You could have saved us a couple of lounge chairs. What if Caitlin had wanted to stretch out?”
“Your gratitude is underwhelming, Levka. You do realize the swings are the most sought after resting place? There’s only ten on the whole ship, and some try to hang on to them day and night, leaving their belongings on them while they eat or sleep. Really quite rude.”
“So you just moved their belongings to a chair?”
Ruric smiled.
“Ruric?”
“The couple charted a starship for unknown territories, beamed right up in the transporter, and whoosh, they were gone.”
Levka glanced at a man and a woman lying on a towel in the hot sun a few feet away.
“Is that them?”
“Yeah, they probably didn’t get enough sleep last night because of the storm.”
“They’ll get sunburned.”
“They’ve been hogging this same swinging chair since the cruise began. It’s time they gave it up to someone more worthy.” Ruric bowed his head.
“Wake them and make them move to the shade.”
Ruric took a deep breath. “They weren’t cooperative before.”
“I’ll help,” Stasio said. “You take the guy. I’ll deal with the woman.”
They walked over to the man and woman while Arman helped Levka to the swing. But as soon as he sat down, one of the girls who had spoken to him on the elevator headed in his direction. No way did he want anyone but Caitlin to sit with him. Then he spied them. Caitlin and Alicia were almost to the pool, though Caitlin was giving it a wide berth as she looked for him.
Arman waved at her and hurried to intercept the other teen before she took Caitlin’s seat.
“Wow,” Caitlin said, standing before Levka in short shorts and a T-shirt. “How did you ever manage to get one of these to sit in? They’re always full.” She glanced at Stasio and Ruric who were talking to a man and woman. “Don’t tell me. They made them move.”
Levka couldn’t help but smile. “They wanted only the best for us.”
She took a seat next to him. “I noticed everything else was reserved or being used.” She sighed. “It must be nice to have such really good friends.”
“You don’t? It seems to me you would have lots.”
She rubbed her arms as he rocked the swing gently. “I used to. When I had to…to move, I lost the friends I had. It’s not the same where I live now. They are all really rich doctor’s and lawyer’s kids. Everyone has their own cliques. No one’s interested in the new kid in town.”
“Your foster father works as…?”
