The rustic spires of Caeli rose up around them, the snap of dyed red cloth ricocheting through the close cut buildings like the echoing crack of a bullwhip. Oceanus was a world of layers, with a dense clustered land mass at its heart, constantly shifting on carefully interlocked tectonic plates. Caeli was one of two cities on Oceanus, two cities, one above, one below, and neither aware of the other. To most anyway, Mack mused as he fell in step with Eleni. The streets of Caeli were bustling with their usual late afternoon fervor, not a hint of concern over the apocalyptic doom trawling their oceans.

Krakens. He sneered. He hated the cold bastards and he didn't relish how much might he'd have to summon on his own to send them scuttling back their own dark realm. The thought planted a cold seed of dread inside him. From the beginning, the Edgewise and Mack maintained a symbiotic relationship, relying on one another for protection, for power and energy. He'd never questioned that relationship. Never doubted the Edgewise as anything but a neutral and even benevolent entity. Why had it tinkered with his mind? Why had it altered his very memory? His hand brushed his vest pocket, listening for the crinkle of the photograph even as the connection to his blood reminded him it existed. A piece of evidence without context left him with nothing but doubts. Mack glanced over his shoulder at his apprentice, her expression rapt as she absorbed their surroundings.

A woman the Edgewise insisted he bring into their world despite the weakness she created in the tavern's defenses. It would be easy to shift the blame to her, easy and unfair. He couldn't do such a disservice to her. No, he had to figure this out on his own, preferably before their mystery madman brought the multiverse down around their ears.

"Bloody Krakens," he muttered. He nudged Eleni. "How long have they been here?"

Eleni pursed her lips, gold eyes squinting as she looked out over the bustling market. "Near a month by my reckon.'"

Mack frowned. That was about the time they'd been gone. "For that length of time, this world is remarkably unscathed."

The Captain grinned at him, revealing her pearl like teeth. A few of them might have been actual pearls. "Well, aren't you confident in our self sufficiency."

He raised a brow at her. "Your people are plenty self sufficient, but I know how the Kraken operate--" He stopped, circling to the same horrible thought he'd had since boarding her ship. Of course Caeli would be relatively unscathed if the Kraken were pre-occupied elsewhere.

"What? What is it? You might know Krakens but I know you, Macklemore. Where has your mind gone?"

He glanced around the bustling street, Eleni's words swallowed up in the cacophony of bartering merchants and customers, haggling over prices on everything from fresh fish to engine parts. That sort of milling activity was a form of camouflage but he couldn't risk the casual passerby picking up a word of what he had to say. "We need a private place to talk, Eleni. Can you secure us a room at the Drunken Eel?"

"Do I look like your personal assistant?" She scowled up at him.

"I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important," he said. She huffed at him but slipped off through the crowd with practiced ease. He followed her iron grey curls until they disappeared and turned to find his apprentice plowing straight into disaster.

"Care for a sample, young lady?" A merchant held up a jar of fruit suspended in viscous fluid, opening it in offering to Cal. Eugene wasn't in sight to warn her. Typical.

"I've never had one of these before. What do they taste like?" She gingerly plucked one free, eyes going wide at the ropy fluid dripping from her fingers.

"Sea plums, a delicacy of the region," said the merchant.

Mack snatched it out of her hand, popping it in his mouth before it reached her lips. He bit back a grimace, swallowing it near whole as Calponia gaped at him. "Delicious, good sir, but I'm afraid we have business elsewhere." He gave the merchant a polite nod and steered his apprentice away by her elbow before the astonished fellow could respond. His stomach gave a jolly roll as he lead Cal out of eyesight from the merchant, releasing her to lean against the wall as he debated voiding his stomach in the nearest trash receptacle.

"Why do I have the feeling you just took one for the team?" Cal hovered over him, her expression caught between irritation and worry.

"That 'local delicacy' would have you gripping the ground and praying for the sweet release of death, if it didn't make you black out drunk first." He held up a hand, keeping his mouth closed for an internal belch as the potent Calien alcohol flushed through his system. "Which Eugene knows and should have kept you from experiencing. Where is that bloody vampire?"

Eugene materialized next to him. Mack swatted him into the nearby wall, because he was too inebriated to check his reflexes, but to his credit, the vampire didn't drop the bag of food he held. The impact merely made Eugene grunt where a lesser being would have been knocked unconscious; he offered the bag to Cal with an apologetic expression.

"Sorry it took so long. These people have a much 'hardier' digestive systems than humans," he said, frowning at Mack. "What's wrong with you?"

"Uh, I was offered something called a sea plum, which Mack kindly consumed on my behalf."

Eugene blanched, glancing down at the hand still braced against his shoulder before peering closer at Mack's face. "You're holding yourself up like this, aren't you?"

"Shut up, you're thinking too loud," Mack muttered.

Calponia covered her mouth and turned away. Her shoulders shook. After a suspiciously long, minute she turned back to them. "Why in the world did you eat that?" There was a lingering hint of laughter in her voice.

"It's terribly insulting to refuse something offered here, especially from a merchant as it's considered a gift," said Eugene.

Calponia fidgeted. "Saved from social faux pas and a gods' awful stomach-ache, my hero." She lifted Mack's free arm over her shoulders, taking more of his weight as Eleni emerged from the crowd.

"What happened to him?"

"Sea plum," said Calponia.

Eleni rolled her eyes. "Well, come on. He can have a sit down and a cuppa at the Drunken Eel."

"We'll get him there," said Cal but Eugene plucked Mack off her, slinging him over his shoulder as the tavern master groaned.

"I've got him," said the vampire. Mack groaned again, his insides rumbling loud enough for them to hear. "Throw up on my coat and I'm tossing you into the sea."

"Are you sure you can--"

Mack heard Calponia's voice cut off as gravity dragged on his guts. The vampire was moving with that bloody awful speed of his, setting Mack down gently on a convenient bench by the Eel's door as his insides roiled.

"I hate you," he groaned, dropping his head in his hands. "I told you never to do that again."

"Yes, but I'm useful," said the vampire.

"Go ahead, be smug. I suppose vampires never get nauseous?"

Eugene looked thoughtful. "I had spoiled blood once, but it just made me rather irritable for a few hours."

Eleni appeared in front of them, a breathless Calponia on her heels. "You just had to bring one of them here," she hissed the accusation at Mack, glaring at Eugene with marked distrust.

The vampire straightened, tugging on his cuffs. "Is there a problem, Captain?"

"I don't have a problem, fanger, but those flashy moves will attract you some unwanted attention in the markets," said Eleni, as she pulled Mack to his feet and hustled the group inside.

"Let me worry about that," Eugene murmured. Mack spun around on unsteady feet, and poked the vampire in the chest.

"No massacres, I like coming here and won't have you embarrassing me," he growled, nearly toppling over as Cal and Eleni caught him and guided him to a closed off room at the back of the busy tavern.

"Love, can you hop to the bar and order some pep up juice for this poor sod?" Eleni spoke to Cal but Eugene laid a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll go," he said, with enough ice in his voice to make the Captain shiver. He left the room at normal speed.

After a somewhat awkward silence, Cal sank into the chair next to Mack, absently nibbling sea crust biscuits from the bag the vampire gave her. "What sort of trouble would he attract?"

Eleni shrugged, but a grin stole over her face. "Oh nothing your lad couldn't handle, love. They might try to rough him up, if they've had enough drink to make em' stupid but most will just give him a wide berth and the evil eye."

"He's not my lad," muttered Cal and to Mack's great irritation she looked disappointed by that fact.

"I'll never understand women," said Mack.

"I can attest to that," said Eleni.

Eugene stalked into the room, placing a steaming cup in front of Mack while covering his face with his sleeve. "Your 'juice'- guh," he said, rearing back to the far side of the room as he scrubbed at his nose.

Eleni slapped a hand like a sledgehammer between Mack's shoulder blades. "Drink up, lad, so you can tell me why I spent 20 cockeels for this overpriced private room?"

Mack knew better than to argue. He pinched his nose as he poured the concoction down his throat. Never smell your medicine, a tip he'd picked up in his travels through the realms. As long as it made you better, who gave a rat's ass how horrible it was? The pep up juice burned like dragon fire straight down to his gut where it flared with the intensity of a dwarf star before wickering out. Mack grunted, holding on to the table until the heat settled. He blinked to clear the sunspots from his vision and found Cal staring at him.

"I think there was literal smoke coming out your ears," she whispered.

He nodded, patting the table to make sure he still had feeling in his external limbs. "Let that be a lesson, no sea plums."

"I'll stick to the bread, thanks," said Cal.

Eleni cleared her throat, tapping her botted foot pointedly on the floor. "I have cargo to unload, lad."

"Your insistence on calling me 'lad' has not gone unnoticed, Captain," said Mack, earning another grin. He sighed heavily, leaning forward. "Have you heard the whispers of Infra?"

Eleni stiffened as her mirthful expression drained away. "Tell me you didn't bring me here to discuss a child's bedtime story?" When he only looked at her, she planted her hands flat on the table. "It's a myth, Mack."

"So were Krakens, once upon a time," said Eugene.

The Captain's shoulders hunched at his words, her fingertips lifting to drum the table top. "And so were vampires," she said. Her expression was grave as she looked up at Mack. "That's where you think the Krakens are taking root, like festering wound, in the world below." The words resonated once spoken, weight and meaning tangled together as they rolled from the Captain's reluctant tongue. She shook her head. "Even if that was the case, what would you have me do? Sail you there? I can't navigate to a place that doesn't exist."

"I can tell you with complete certainty, your missing fleet captain is there now," said Mack. "And I know you can track him, once you know where he is." 

"Ravelock," Eleni whispered, her hands changing position to reflect her agitation, nails digging into the softened wood of the scarred table. Her golden eyes paled as she looked up at Mack, a plea and a promise in their wet sheen. "How are you so certain?" 

Mack raised his brows. "Because he was born there."