Nico turned to Peter. His friend was staring amusedly at the players at the craps table near the exit, intent on repeating the same scene over and over again: the players arguing. The same player kept showing the result on the table, saying that he had won before but now he had lost, but the dealer did not respond and the game resumed without explanation, always the same.

  “Leo's gone,” Nico said, alarmed.

  Peter turned with his usual amused look and crooked smile. Nico got irritated: “How can you laugh at this?”

  Peter shook his head. “I'm not laughing because you say you've lost your friend. I'm laughing because something's wrong here.”

  “Yes, something is wrong, because you brought us to an area outside the map and now Leo has been logged out, and who knows if he's a ghost or what... I need to figure out if Leo disconnected from the game, and if he did, why are Kiah and I still here?”

  Peter shook his head and shrugged. “I don't think anything like that happened. How could it? Either the system hooks you up or it doesn't. Besides, he seemed to be the most into the game.”

  “Who cares if he was into the game or not... We need to find out if he's a digital ghost, if we can see him, if he can interact with us.”

  “Calm down, you scatterbrain: it's not long since we boarded the ship. They should have served lunch, but the breakfast buffets are still there.”

  Nico nodded, scratching his head. “You're right, sorry, I panicked, but you know how it is: we're traveling on a ship that's not canonical to the game system,” Nico concluded, irritated.

  Peter laughed. “Your friend will be here somewhere, don't worry. The problem is what's happening here.”

  Nico looked around more carefully: the scenes, at all the tables and in all corners of the large game room, were repeating themselves regularly. Nico shook his head.

  “I thought I was having déjà vu.”

  Peter laughed, with a crooked smile. “This isn't your imagination: it's one of Giacomo's tricks.”

  “I don't care if your friend the Captain is having fun at the expense of the paying public, I have to find Leo,” said Nico, taking a step forward, but Peter held him back. “Remember what I said? It's better not to split up.”

  Nico nodded. “Okay, but come with me. I need to figure out where Leo is.”

  Peter nodded.

  “Let's ask the people who were playing at Leo's table, maybe they can tell us where he went. Maybe he just went for a walk,” said Nico with a glimmer of hope.

  Peter shrugged again. “Okay, let's go ask at the table.”

  Nico and Peter walked among the tables like spectators, without any of those people giving them a second glance. At the craps table where Leo had been playing, there was no one in Leo's place.

  At the table were two men placing bets, while a young croupier, wearing shorts and a gold sequined vest unbuttoned over his bare chest, shook the dice in a glass and then announced the bets before throwing the dice onto the counter. “The house wins!” said the calm croupier, and the man dressed in rags, the same one as always, slammed his fist on the table in protest as the house collected the winnings.

  The croupier smiled in their direction: he was a tall boy with thick dark curls and deep eyes, charming, like all the waiters, both men and women, on that ship.

  “Would you like to sit down, gentlemen?” the croupier asked Nico and Peter.

  Nico shook his head and Peter began to look around, searching for someone or something; Nico didn't know.

  “Excuse me, may I interrupt?” Nico asked the man dressed in rags, while the other was placing his bet.

  “What is it?” asked the man, pulling the last coin from his glass and placing it on the table.

  “There was a boy sitting here next to you, tall, with straw-colored hair, unkempt, freckles...”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  The croupier took the dice and threw them into the cup.

  “I didn't see anyone,” the man roared. “Leave me alone.”

  “But...”

  The croupier threw the dice onto the table; Nico saw them crash onto the surface, bouncing between the bets.

  “Go away, kid, it's my last bet, and what the fuck...” he roared, baring a row of uneven, black and yellow teeth, chipped in several places; then he turned towards the counter.

  Nico turned to leave when he heard someone shout, “The house wins!” and the man, with the same movement, slammed his fist on the table.

  As Nico turned to go and talk to Kiah and the others, he kicked a wooden cup with his foot; he grabbed it and turned it over in his hands. “Run out of coins, handsome sailor?” asked Keily, the young waitress with fiery red curly hair. Nico hadn't heard her coming.

  Nico blushed. “No, that's not my glass.”

  Keily smiled affably. “Well, give it to me then, better that way, no? You can go back to having fun.”

  Nico nodded, watching Keily scamper away.

  Peter nudged him with his elbow, muttering under his breath, “Did you see what happened?”

  Nico shook his head.

  “Focus, man,” Peter said, amused.

  Nico turned around: the man he had been talking to a moment ago had disappeared. “But where...”

  “Shh,” said Peter, pulling him by the arm. “Pretend nothing happened and laugh.” Nico did as Peter said and laughed heartily, a fake laugh that made more than a few patrons turn around.

  “Tell me,” Nico whispered, dragging Peter into a corner.

  “The guy, the old man you were talking to earlier, the beggar... they took him away. They were quick, I think they tricked him into following them with some subterfuge, because he went along quietly and happily. They disappeared that way.”

  Peter nodded toward a corner of the room, where there was a small door half-hidden by a decorative red curtain.

  “Where do you think they're taking him?”

  Peter shook his head. “I don't know, but wherever they're taking that guy, your friend is definitely there too.”

  “We have to warn them right away...”

  Then Nico frowned, looking into Peter's feverish eyes, excited and amused, and pointed an admonishing finger at his bony chest.

  “You're not kidding me, are you? This isn't another one of your jokes? You didn't make up a lie to have fun behind my back, did you?”

  Peter laughed, with a crooked smile, and raised his hands in surrender. “I swear I saw them, they took the old beggar away.”

  Nico nodded. “Let's go.”

  They found Kiah at the card table, playing a game very similar to poker, but with different suits. Nico saw: Wheat, Sickle, Drop, Fire.

  Kiah seemed to be playing with ease. At her table sat only one woman in her fifties, stout, wearing a voluminous dark purple dress, rich in ruffles and lace, which accentuated her imposing presence. On her head she wore a large, equally voluminous hat, which completed an elegant yet severe look.

  Behind the woman stood a tall, thin man, well-groomed and elegant, always one step behind her movements, offering her now a handkerchief, now a glass with coins. He wore refined clothes, an embroidered jacket and a waistcoat, and moved with studied gestures.

  A young dark-haired croupier dealt the cards; it was a one-on-one game.

  Nico leaned over the table to see Kiah's glass: it was empty.

  “Kiah, but your glass...” Nico murmured.

  Kiah didn't look at him, her face cold, and Peter murmured, “They have to finish the game.”

  Nico watched the scene with a knot in his stomach. On the table, five cards lay in the center, shiny under the warm light of the oil lamps.

  Around them, the buzz of the casino ship had reduced to an indistinct hum.

  The plump woman brushed her face-down cards with her finger, smiling broadly and confidently. “Oh, dear,” she said softly, “You might win, you have a small chance, but I think it's over. I already have everything I need.” She gloated, her eyes fixed on Kiah.

  Nico looked first at the woman, then at Kiah, one hand resting on the cards, the other in her lap.

  The woman, with a smile on her red-painted lips, revealed her cards with a triumphant gesture: King of Clubs, King of Spades.

  Nico didn't know how to play poker, but he watched the woman's cards first, then the ones on the table, his stomach tightening even though the excitement of the game tingled at the back of his neck. The shiny cards on the table were: Ace, King, and Queen of Fire, 7 of Grain, and 2 of Sickle.

  “Three Kings...” Peter murmured, almost to himself. The woman interlaced her plump fingers under her chin, nodding with satisfaction.

  Kiah leaned forward calmly and revealed his two cards one after the other: J and 10 of Fire.

  Nico looked around hesitantly, first at Kiah, who remained impassive, then at the woman, who froze for a moment before her expression shifted from confidence to irritated surprise.

  Peter smiled.

  “What's going on?” Nico asked. “Did we lose?”

  He continued to look around, searching for someone to come and take Kiah away, but nothing happened. Then the young croupier announced, “The lady wins.”

  Only then did Kiah's face light up with a radiant smile. As the coins were pushed toward her and the woman got up irritated, followed by her companion, Kiah, still smiling, turned to Nico and Peter and asked, “So, what's going on?”

  [AUTHOR'S NOTE]

  Log updated: Readers are invited to provide comments and ratings.

  [LOG_A.032] will be released on Monday ET.

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