The Boot had black and white fur, four legs, and a short snout. A long tail stood straight up. It had small, triangular ears.
To Andinne and Milo, it was horrifying.
“AHHHH!” They ran deeper into the maze of books.
“Do you think it’s gone?” Milo asked Andinne when they stopped running. Andinne was panting, so it took her a few seconds to answer.
“I don’t know,” Andinne said, gasping. “I think we lost it.” She wiped sweat from her forehead.
“Wait, we didn’t, it’s right there!” Milo yelled, pointing.
“Hiss.” The creature was on top of a bookshelf near them. It leaped at Milo, claws swishing back and forth.
“Ahhh!” Milo yelled. He ran through the maze, the creature chasing him. It let out ear-splitting screeches. All of a sudden, the sound stopped.
Milo looked back. The creature was gone.
“Ow!” someone yelled from behind him. The scream rattled the walls and Milo instantly covered his ears.
“Andinne!” Milo said, recognizing her voice. He ran back to her.
“The Boot cut me,” Andinne said, sitting on the ground and clenching her teeth. A wide red gash was on her forearm, blood seeping through the fabric of her sleeve.
“Hang in there, Andinne,” Milo said, looking around cautiously for the Boot. It was nowhere to be seen. “I’m going to get you to the doctor.”
Milo carried her and knocked over several bookshelves to get out of the library. He was bruised and bleeding a little when he emerged. He struggled to lift Andinne out of the library and up the stairs. With every step, he could feel blood pouring out of Andinne’s arm, leaving a trail on the floor.
Milo busted into the doctor’s office. “Help her!”
“Get her onto a bed,” one of them said, rushing over to Milo. “She’s lost a lot of blood,” He wrapped Andinne’s arm in a white bandage, but the blood quickly gave it a reddish tinge.
“We’ll have to do a blood transfusion,” the doctor said.
“Is she going to be okay?” Milo asked.
“Yes,” the doctor said. “You can leave if you want. This might take a while.”
Milo hurried out of the room. He had to warn everybody about the Boot. He ran down the stairs, footsteps echoing against the walls of the ship. Once he reached the bottom floor, he raced down the hall and barged into Theo’s room.
“Hey! Have you ever heard of knocking?” Theo asked. He was holding a wrench and working on a machine.
“There’s a Boot!” Milo gasped, grasping the door to keep him steady.
“Where?” Theo asked as he shot an annoyed look at Milo.
“In the library! It attacked Andinne!” Milo said, pointing toward the library.
“I’ll take care of it,” Theo sighed. He left.
Milo looked around Theo’s room. There was a machine on the back wall, and there were pieces of metal scattered everywhere. He waited a few minutes, examining the machine on the back wall.
“Hey!” Theo said, rushing in. “Get out of my room.”
“Did you find the Boot?” Milo asked, turning around.
“Yes,” Theo said, shoving Milo toward the door. “You don’t need to worry about it anymore. Now get out and stop touching my machine!”
“Wait—” Milo started.
Theo pushed him out of the room and slammed the door behind him. Milo stumbled. He glared at Theo’s door. His stomach rumbled, so he went to the dining room.
When he got there, no one was in the room. All the tables were clean, the floor spotless. This was unusual for the dining room, since Sammy usually didn’t do a good job at cleaning. Lane’s doing a much better job than Sammy, Milo thought.
“Lane?” Milo called. “Can I have breakfast?” No answer.
Milo sat at a table and waited. Soon, it was almost lunchtime, and other people began to pour into the room.
“Where’s Lane?” someone asked.
“Lane?” someone else called.
“I don’t think she’s here,” Milo said. “I’ve been waiting for about half an hour, and she hasn’t shown up yet. I can’t cook, so I don’t know what to do.” He frowned.
“I guess we’ll have to make lunch ourselves then,” someone said. The crowd started walking toward the kitchen.
“Hi everybody,” Lane said, popping her head out of the kitchen. She carried plates upon plates of food, and she went to table after table, serving people.
When she got to Milo, she handed him his food. “I waited half an hour for my food, but you weren’t here,” Milo said. “Where were you?”
“I was busy,” Lane mumbled, walking away slowly from Milo’s table.
She was busy? Doing what? Milo thought. Andinne’s turning me into a conspiracy nut. I’d better stop before I go crazy.
“Attention everybody!” Theo said, standing on the stage. Milo hadn’t seen him enter the room. Everyone went quiet. “I have an important announcement. Tomorrow we will be in the South Sea!” A few people clapped.
“Why is that so important?” Milo asked, mouth full of food.
“Because we will be in the South Sea! Isn’t that exciting?”
No one clapped this time.
“No, it’s not exciting,” someone said. The crowd turned their attention away from Theo and toward their food.
“After we go to the South Sea, we will explore No Man’s Sea!”
“Get me off this ship!” yelled someone else. A few moments passed until everyone digested what Theo just said. Some people screamed.
“Are you crazy? No ship has ever come back from No Man’s Sea!” yelled Milo. He covered his ears to protect them from the screaming.
“Calm down, everybody! We will come back from No Man’s Sea alive if you don’t go crazy,” Theo yelled.
“Didn’t you hear about the SS Revi?” someone asked Theo. “They say it got pulled into No Man’s Sea by a wave ten stories tall!”
“What about the SS Werty?” someone else asked. “They say that it was trying to sail to No Man’s Land, but it got pulled down by a massive whirlpool!”
“Pfft. All those stories are fake,” Theo said, smirking.
“How do you explain the SS Revi and Werty?” Milo asked.
“They sank because they were old and broken. Obviously.” Theo’s voice was dripping with sarcasm.
The crowd calmed, but only a little. Everyone turned to talk to each other, and Milo had to cover his ears again at the loud noise.
“What if the stories are true?” someone asked. “And we all die?”
“Then we’d be very unlucky,” Theo said.
“Good thing we have lifeboats,” Milo muttered.
Theo left the dining room, and everybody started talking. Milo finished his lunch and left to see Andinne.