Sammy Keyes and the Killer Cruise Read Online Free

left the mug-shot zone and stepped around the corner.
    It was like entering an air-conditioned palace. The room was huge and ritzy, with marble and glass and brass everywhere. There were wide, swooping staircases that went up one flight, and glass elevators that went up for
miles
. And as we walked along, we passed by a whole
feast
of food, complete with a chef slicing meat off a giant roast.
    I guess Marko hadn’t done his homework, either. “Dude!” he said, about bursting with excitement. “This is killer!”
    And Marissa was right—it did feel like we were in some ritzy resort in Las Vegas instead of on a ship. “Can we eat?”I ask, because the food looks
amazing
and suddenly I’m starving.
    Darren’s shuffling through paperwork. “How about we find our rooms first?” Marko catches my eye, and I can tell he’d like to chow down now, too, but Darren’s already heading for the elevators, going, “Our rooms are on Deck 9,” so we wind up following him instead.
    The back wall of the elevator is glass and bowed out, and once the doors close, Marissa and I stand looking outward as we start going up. We can see people inside the elevators that are across a big open area from us, everything below, and even above, which is so cool. It’s like being in a glass pod flying through space. I get this urge to wave at the people going down in the elevator across from us, but I know it’s dorky, so I hold back.
    But then I realize that I
know
people in the elevator across from us.
    So I cut loose!
    “Hey! That’s JT and Kip!” Marissa says, and waves, too. And we’re acting like such doofs, jumping up and down and waving real big, that they
do
notice us, but it’s at the last minute, and then they’ve zoomed out of view.
    “Oh, maaaan,” Darren says, and he’s shaking his head.
    I give him a little shove. “Don’t
worry
so much.”
    We’re at Deck 9 now, and when we step off the elevator, Marissa asks, “What are our stateroom numbers?”
    I squint at her. “Why are they called
state
rooms?”
    Marissa shrugs. “Cabins, staterooms, whatever.”
    Darren’s checked the paperwork, and the minute hesays, “We’re in 9606 and 9608,” Marissa checks a plaque that’s mounted on the wall and announces, “Port side!” and starts toward the other side of the ship.
    “Whoa, whoa!” Darren says, calling her back.
    It takes a few steps, but Marissa does stop and come back. “They’re over here, really!”
    “I’m sure they are,” Darren tells her, “but legally, you two can’t have a room together. You have to be with someone twenty-one or older, so the travel agent signed Sammy up with me and Marissa up with Marko in rooms right next door to each other. So Sammy and Marko will just switch.”
    Marissa nods. “That’s what my mom and dad did with me and my brother. That’s what everyone does.” She looks at me and Marko. “You need to switch cards so you can get in the right room, but you can’t get off or back on the ship without trading back.”
    Marko’s not looking too convinced. “Sounds … complicated.”
    But Marissa snatches his card and my card and switches them. “It’s easy, really,” she says. “You’ll catch on.”
    “Marissa,” I tell her through my teeth. “You’re being kinda bossy.”
    Which makes her totally back down. “Oh!” She looks around at all of us. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, sorry, sorry! I’m just excited. I’ll shut up now.”
    Both the guys tell her it’s all right, and then Darren says, “Port side, huh?”
    “As opposed to what?” I ask.
    “Uh, starboard side?” Marissa says.
    “Wait. So the port will always be on
that
side,” I say,pointing to where she’d headed, “and the stars are always on the other side? How can that be? Stars are everywhere. And what happens when the boat goes the other direction?”
    “Silly,” she laughs. “When you’re facing the bow, the left is always port and the right is always starboard. Doesn’t