Wilhelm turned to look at Mirrah as she called to him, giving her a quick smile. "Of course." He threw another glance over his shoulder, scanning the dockside and the various dock hands and people that populated it. He thought he saw someone staring in their direction, but whoever it was had gone. He turned, climbing the plank onto the ship.

The ship left port just as the sun was setting. It was one of those rare sunsets that turned the sky a brilliant flaming red and the clouds that floated on the horizon a soft pastel orange. The light made the sea sparkle and the shadows on the dock stretch. The entire scene was quite lovely, as most of the passengers and crew members who weren't working below, had climbed up on deck to watch the spectacle before night came. But Wilhelm had stayed on the deck long enough to register that no storm was brewing on the horizon to offset their course and retreated below to their room.

The room was small and sparsely furnished with just a bed, a squat dresser, and a desk. There were a few hooks hanging on the wall beside the door, and a lantern sitting on the desk, but aside from that, the room felt like a wooden box. The small, round window let in the reddish light from the outside, shining a circle in the center of the room, and the sound of waves lapping against the thick walls just outside of his room made the wooden box feel just bearable. At least the room was well built, right? He was grateful enough to have a desk to work at.

It was at this desk that Wilhelm had situated himself. He had thrown off his overcoat, scarf, and his hat onto the bed and sat his closet suit-case against the wall beside the desk, the doors open with various drawers opened up. On the desk he had laid a few beakers and vials of chemicals as well as a square cloth and a strange contraption. It was really just a magnifying glass attached to a flexible stand, which freed up his hands. And on the square cloth, he laid out the Watcher's horn. And it was this that he was staring at intensely, as if willing it to unlock its secrets for him.

He really didn't know whether or not this was an authentic Watcher's horn. He had never seen one for himself, and from what he heard, it looked no different from any other horn. Watcher horns were similar to any other kinds of horns that were in existence: goat horns, ram's horns, cow horns, etc., or even a combination of any of those. Supposedly. Which really left him knowing that it looked like any other animal's horns. And so far, all he could pull from this particular horn was that it was black, it was heavy, and it didn't feel like any other animal's horn he had examined years ago.

There was a slight noise coming from the other side of the wooden wall that Wilhelm worked in front of. It was a noise that made Wilhelm sigh instead of jump. There was a deep voice that rumbled, followed by a high pitched voice that Wilhelm could only guess was the sound of a girl's whine. Her voice was considerably more understandable, as he heard her say something along the lines of, "You stinking ninny, how dare you hop my Muffer's Mace in the fronds! Kick it opp!" Well, it that's what it sounded like to him.

There were maybe four other occupied rooms under the deck, one being his. The occupants of the rooms roamed about above, leaving the cabin floor somewhat quiet. The occupant of the largest room, which just so happened to be next to his, was having several furnishings moved into the room, making all sorts of squeaking, clanking, grunts and curses filter through the wooden wall. It was mostly just the sound of furniture moving at first, but the girl's whining had added to the mix, making it extremely irritable.

Wilhelm reached down to his closet, pulling open a secured drawer and wondering how he could get himself some water without using the canteen as he heard the neighboring door swing open, the voices coming much clearer.

"I do not want to go up there, you imbecile!"

The deep man's voice sounded weary and annoyed. "Look, if you'd jus get outta our hair we could..."

"Out of your greasy hair?! You are in my room, if you've forgotten!"

"...tidy up your room, and put uverthing in place..."

"You broke the vase, idiot, how do you hope to pay for that?! Why don't you call your captain here so I can talk with him?!"

"... and freakin find uh place to stab a pen in my eye..."

Wilhelm heaved a sigh as the sound of the girl's voice escalated into shouts and the man's voice begged her to go up and enjoy the 'Freaking flaming sunset and shut the hell up'. The boy pinched between his eyes and rubbed his temples, turning his head to stare at the circle of light on the ground in an attempt to calm himself. He half contemplated going out there and punching the girl in the face just to knock her out and give him some peace and quiet to work. The thought seemed so intoxicating.

Before the noise could snap his last nerve, the light from the window shrunk and suddenly vanished. Wilhelm sat up straight, turning to face the window. It was completely black, almost like night fell, except the darkness was too thick for it to be night. He moved over to the window, trying to peer out and see what happened, but it was almost like staring into a wall. Actually, after a second, he realized, he was staring into a wall. A wooden wall made darker by sea water and foam. The wall moved up and down, almost following the motions of the ship he sat in. Was that another ship?

The room sudden lurched violently, accompanied by the sound of crunching and groaning wood. The impact was enough to throw Wilhelm to the floor. It took him a second, but the noises from above the deck had escalated into a dull roar of shouts and screams. Wilhelm let out a curse as one of the beakers knocked over from the impact rolled and crashed into shards of glass onto the ground, scrambled to his feet and tried to catch the others that were rolling their way toward the edge of the desk. "What the hell is going on!?" he spat under his breath.