“I’ve been waiting for you, darling,” Mrs. Fine says a little dreamily, her eyelids fluttering. “We were told to put these on and go to the Boat Deck. But at this hour? It’s hardly the time for drills. Why, hello, dog walker.” She blinks at Jamie, then turns her eyes to me. “Oh, and another dog walker?”
“I think it’s best to do as they suggest,” Jamie tells the women. “Let me help you with that.” Jamie helps Mrs. Fine clip the straps on the life belt while she holds her silver-blond braid to one side.
One of the first-class stewards approaches. “Ma’am, miss, you must go up to the Boat Deck. Come, I shall accompany you.” His grey eyes brush over Jamie and me. “And you should get back to your own cabins. Your steward will direct you.”
Why can’t he direct us to the Boat Deck as well?
The steward sets off, with Mrs. Fine in tow.
Jamie squeezes my shoulder. “Valora, go with Charlotte.”
“But I—”
“She and her mum might need help getting to the lifeboats.” The phoenix glares at the dragon, a vein throbbing in his neck. “Don’t worry. I’m just going to fetch the others. We’ll figure out what’s what and meet you up on the Boat Deck.”
The dragon withdraws her talons. “Fine.”
Charlotte catches Jamie by the arm. “You’ll be okay, right?”
“O’ course. Strudel and I have a date for tomorrow, don’t we, girl?”
Strudel pants happily between them. I begin to turn away, but not before seeing Charlotte place a kiss on Jamie’s lips.
Jamie whispers to Charlotte, and she whispers back, something stubborn animating her features. A tense moment seems to freeze them.
At last, Charlotte nods. Then like the sun as it sets over a hungry sea, she slips from his grasp.
A crowd waitsfor the lifts, so the steward leads whoever is willing to walk up the stairs. But Mrs. Fine doesn’t want to walk. Dutifully, Charlotte waits with her, and I wait with Charlotte, though each moment that passes squeezes my accordion heart tighter and tighter.
“We paid good money for this trip,” a man in a silk robe complains to his wife. “Why shouldwedo these drills?”
Another man bites down on a cigar, his chest puffed with importance. “They’ll sort it out. I heard it was an accident on the Orlop Deck. Probably some bloke was drinking on the job and blew out a boiler.”
Judging by the smirk on his face, he’s probably never seen a boiler before. A blown boiler would be catastrophic for the men working it—and for the ship.
I can’t help thinking of Drummer. What if something happened in Boiler Room 6? He could be injured, or worse. And here I am, waiting in this stuffy lobby with these nobs who can’t be bothered to climb the stairs to their own safety.Charlotte and her mother don’t need my help. Jamie only sent me here to keep me out of the way.
Charlotte squeezes my arm. “Once we get to America, I was thinking, maybe I can take in Wink and Olly through the Home for Little Souls. I want to help.”
“We’re joining the circus,” I say, though the words suddenly strike me as childish.
“Of course. I only meant, just in case.”
Just in casewhat?
I need to find out what’s going on. Jamie will kill me for going back for the others, but he somehow tricked me into going with Charlotte in the first place. Well, he can rant at me later.
I force a smile. “Help your mother. I’m sorry, but I must go check on something.”
“No, Valora, stay with us.”
“I’ll be okay.” And with that, I hurry back toward the Collar.
Back on the third-class side of E-Deck, a crowd has collected where the Collar crosses Scotland Road. Most are making their way up the staircase, lugging bags or sacks.
A feeling of dread untethers me, pulling me in different directions. I collect snippets of conversations, and though I don’t understand all the languages, I feel the worry in them as sure as I feel my heartbeat pounding in my head.
A woman with a red nose clutches a man in a dressing robe. “Did you hear that racket? It was like iron dragged over a thousand marbles. I knew we should’ve stayed in London.”
