They headed for the middle doors.
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean.”
“He’s so Philby. He can really bug me.” She asked, “You know?”
Finn didn’t answer.
“What about you with Amanda?” she said.
“Never mind.” Then, softly, “Yes. Lately, he bugs me a lot. But you can’t tell him. I’m trusting you.”
“I know that.”
“He likes you.”
“He likes Storey.”
“Not like he likes you, he doesn’t.”
“Oh, yes he does. Believe me, I know.”
“You’re wrong.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Willa said.
“Yes you do,” Finn said.
“Shut up.”
“Will not.”
“Will too.”
He blew off some steam through a heavy sigh.
“What are we going to do if we find her?” Willa said. “Tia—”
“I know who you mean,” he said. “Improvise.”
“That doesn’t sound promising.”
“I’m open to suggestions.”
“I was just saying—”
“I know what you’re saying. And I’m saying I’m open to suggestions.”
“I want to get her back. Your mother. I just don’t see…”
“We’ll think of something,” Finn said. “Or not.”
He peered out through the solid door and then proceeded onto the Deck 4 interior landing. It had become second nature, this kind of thing. Willa did the same and they quickly descended the stairs together.
“He’s gone,” she said. “The machine. No more sound. We can get our phones.”
“He likes you, too,” Finn repeated. “And don’t tell me to shut up.”
“Shut up!” she said, bounding down the stairs with what looked to Finn like an added spring to her step.
Minutes later they had their Wave Phones in hand. They left Philby’s where it was.
“Entering the galley’s going to be a piece of cake,” Finn said.
“That’s a terrible pun,” she said.
“I thought it was funny.”
They’d reached the entrance to the Parrot Cay restaurant, through which they could access the galley area.
“If we’re caught,” Finn said, “we’re just trying to get a midnight snack.”
“Got it.”
Walking through the empty, darkened restaurant, where there was typically so much activity, reminded Finn of being in the parks after dark. Neither spoke a word, both of them overcome by the change in the room.
At the far end they found the doorways the waitstaff used while serving the food and clearing the tables. Doorways that led into the galleys. Without speaking, they entered a world of stainless steel countertops and plastic bins. Everything was neat and tidy and stowed away to where not even a hand towel was out of place. The area that stretched ahead of them was divided by task: salad preparation, dish cleaning, stove-top cooking, grill cooking. There were glass-doored refrigerators as big as rooms and soup pots the size of small hot tubs.
“It’s like Alice in Wonderland,” Willa said, “where she shrinks and everything’s bigger.”
Finn had been thinking the same thing, but wasn’t about to admit it.
“It’s not warm enough,” he said.
“You’re right,” she said, as if she hadn’t thought of it. “Not warm at all.”
“Also not the kind of place to hide a server.”
“Is that another pun?” she asked.
“No! I swear! I didn’t mean that one.”
Willa carefully opened one of the glass doors and liberated an egg custard tart. She shoved the whole thing into her mouth. “Umm-ver—dllcous,” she said.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full.”
She tried to say “Shut up,” but only spewed pastry crumbs.
Finn ate a strawberry-topped pastry, and it tasted so good he followed it with a pineapple turnover. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten. He ate a third and fourth and would have kept going except that Willa gave him the most disapproving look ever and he stopped. “The only OT we have any chance of finding here is Maleficent, and I’d rather not.”
“Makes two of us.” She added, “We’re not getting into the engine room without Philby’s help. It’s not going to happen.”
“The question is, where is he?”
“The question is,” Willa said, “why did everyone trust that girl Storey so much?”
“You sound jealous. It’s beneath you.”
“As if.”
“She helped me. A couple of different times. She’s on our side.”