Page 65 of Delirium

He coughed out a laugh. “I mean…there’s a possibility…” Nash paced the small room, muttering to himself, something about crankshafts and pistons. I let him talk it out before he paused. “Let’s go tell the others what’s going on.”

Luckily, we didn’t have to go far. James still stood in the cabin hallway, looking even paler than when I’d left him. He blinked when he saw me, wiping any expression from his face. A ping of disappointment rocketed through me.

I wanted whatever he had dreamed to be real for him. I really did. I couldn’t lie to him, but watching him put his careful mask back in place hurt more than I expected.

“Have you seen Camp?” Nash asked.

James shook his head. “Is everything okay? That noise didn’t exactly sound great.”

“Let’s get Camp first.” Nash rapped on the door, until Camp swung it open, still half asleep.

“Um, ‘sup?” He pushed his messy hair away from his face, and I could see the moment everything clicked for him, seeing all of us standing around. “Shit. What’s wrong?”

Nash sighed. “The engine temporarily died on us just now. I tried all my normal tricks, but I can’t get her to turn over. Something’s wrong down below.”

“What do you meantemporarily?” James snapped, color rushing back to his face. “How does something break temporarily? It’s either broken or it’s not broken, Nash. Don’t fuck us around. Speak it straight.”

Nash whipped his head around to glare at James. “Fine. It’s broken, okay? It happened once before this season, and I was able to jerry-rig something together and finish the tour. There’s a possibility I might be able to do it again, but it’s less likely this time. A fix of a fix isn’t exactly the most reliable.”

“Wait, are you saying you knew something was wrong before we left the dock?” I paused. “You knew there was a problem that needed fixing, and you still took our money and loaded us up on this deathtrap of a boat?”

He glared at me. “It’s not exactly like I’m rolling in the dough, okay? I needed the money James offered me to get the repairs done.”

“So, what I’m hearing is, we’re now dead in the water, not even a mile away from a creepy-ass city I want nothing to do with ever again, and you don’t know if you can fix it?” Camp pinched the bridge of his nose. “Please tell me you’re kidding. This is a bad joke, right? I’m being set up for a punchline?”

Camp put the situation into an almost humorous light, and I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. “This is insane. Absolutely insane. This is what I get for wanting an adventure, right?”

Nash held up a hand. “I just need some time. I’ll have to open up the engine hatch and see what the problem is first. I just wanted to let everyone know that it may take a while. I might be able to fix it. I did before”

“There’s a lot resting on amight, Nash.” James’ voice was quiet, laced with a cold that sent a shiver right through me. “This entire trip has apparently been hanging on a hope and a wish, and maybe a touch of luck. What’s your plan if you don’t fix it?”

“We hike out of here.” Nash held up a hand again as soon as we all started speaking at once. “I know it’s not the ideal situation, but it is something I’ve trained for. I have tents and hiking gear stored away. We leave theCarpe Diemwhere she’s at, and we hike out.”

“How far of a hike is it to the closest village that could help?” I chanced a glance at James under my lashes, wondering how sick he really was, or if I was just overreacting.

“A couple days, give or take, depending on where we are exactly. But it might not even come to that. Give me today, let me see what I can swing with the old girl here, and maybe we’ll be out of here in a few hours.”

I wanted to believe Nash. I really did. But as his normally confident demeanor dimmed, the words didn’t feel true. I didn’t think he believed he could fix this either.

Like it or not, we didn’t have a choice.

“Okay,” I whispered. “Let’s see if you can fix it.”

Nash shot me a grateful look.

Camp sighed. “It’s not like we have a better option. I really don’t like being so close to that weird-ass city, though. Something was wrong about that place.”

“For once, we don’t disagree.” James and Camp met each other’s eyes, and something unspoken flashed between them, something I wished I could decipher.

“Alright. I’m going to head down below, and come dinner time tonight we’ll know our game plan. Just hang out, make yourselves comfortable. I’ll get this fixed. I always do.” Nash clapped his hands together with a smile, a weak impression of his normal self.

James returned to his cabin without another word. Camp faced me, cocking his head. “You wanna come hang out with me?”

I nodded. A distraction wouldn’t be the worst thing. “Yeah. Give me a second and I’ll be right there.”

He stepped back into his room, closing the door behind him. I turned to Nash.

“How sure are you that you can fix this?”

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