“What did you all do?” Wayne turned slowly back to them.
“Pan’s after Jo. You can’t let them in.”
“We’re not going to be here by the time the elevator arrives. Go, pack your things. We have a minute, maybe.”
Jo wasn’t sure if it was the panic of the situation, or the fact that Wayne gave them no warning before moving to throw off his covers, that had them scurrying from his room. Pack their things? Takako hadn’t really unpacked and Jo didn’t have anything, which fortunately left their hands free to help keep Samson as he worried away everything he wouldn’t be able to take in such a short period of time.
In the back of her mind, a timer ticked down. Every second seemed to fly by and every movement seemed to crawl.
“Are you ready?” Wayne said, breathless, a backpack over his shoulder.
“Just where are we going?” Takako asked, lifting one of Samson’s boxes as though it were filled with air and not pounds of tools. She clearly wasn’t too hung up on the “where” since she was already following him out of the room.
“Remember that bunker I mentioned? There’s a secret elevator that leads to it in the basement . . . It also has its own exit to the street le—”
“Myrth!” Samson interrupted suddenly. “We’re going to Myrth!”
“What?” Everyone paused, stopping in lock-step.
“I have a workshop there. It can be a hiding spot. If you can get us out.” He looked to Wayne.
“I don’t know if trying to leave the country is the best idea . . .” Takako muttered.
“Money finds a way,” Wayne insisted. “And it’s out of reach of Pan.”
“Yes, but—”
Jo’s head jerked away from the conversation. She could have sworn she’d just heard the softdingof the elevator. Her hands went slick with perspiration, forcing her to adjust her grip on Samson’s trunk.
“There’s no time to argue,” she interrupted. “Myrth is fine. Samson will have his workshop; he can make the bow.”
“Bow?” Wayne looked for an explanation there wasn’t time to give.
“Not quite . . .” Samson’s fingers curled over the box he was holding. “I’ll need—”
Banging on the door interrupted them all.
“To work it out later!” Jo hissed.
“This way!” Wayne started forward hastily. They all but sprinted through his penthouse to a far back room where he revealed a secret panel. With the sounds of shouting and more banging in the background, he moved his hands over the magical device to reveal a secret elevator.
The four stepped in, watching as the doors closed behind them, and feeling their stomachs rise up into their chests as the elevator descended away from the safety of Wayne’s penthouse and toward the unknown.
Chapter 8
Ready To Jump
Myrth spread out before them like an exotic tapestry unfurled.
As the tiny airship began its descent into the city proper, Jo stared in wonder at what would have been, in her time, a coastal city on the Strait of Gibraltar. It was still that, she supposed, a coastal city bordering a narrow sea between one continent and another. But that was where the similarities ended.
The city was a towering landscape of spires with domed and slanted roofs. Lush foliage created emerald contrast as they sprouted from between the white and cream buildings, topped with not red (as she would expect of Spanish Mediterranean architecture in her time) but bright cerulean clay tiles. Great birds with silver plumage and bright blue heads stood out against it all, flying from place to place and dropping off messages.
Jo stood at the edge of the airship railing, taking it all in. As they continued descending, she could see the flecks of white in the birds’ feathers, and the splashes of rainbow color in the various flags suspended over doors and balconies. She was so engrossed, she didn’t hear Samson approaching until he was at her side, elbows on the railing next to her.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“It’s hard to think.” Jo laughed softly. “It all seems so magnificent and so . . . impossible.”
