Page 129 of The Girl Out of Time
“Emmeline!” Tristan repeated after him.
“Excuse me.” Sylvia stopped the nearest steward. “Have you seen a young lady with dark hair, blue eyes, about this tall …”
The steward shook his head, as if unable to decide. “Probably, ma’am. Many have gone to the deck already. If you follow the directions, you’ll find her there, no doubt. Everyone is gathering at the boats.”
Sylvia looked at Will, and he nodded. Angry or not, Emmeline wasn’t stupid. By now, she’d have figured out something was wrong or run into someone who’d tell her what happened. She’d have followed the crew’s orders, knowing they would do the same, and they’d find each other at the evacuation point.
“If you will, ma’am,” the steward said, gesturing to the exit. Sylvia grabbed the boys and Will followed them up to the small lobby on the boat deck.
The mood outside was strangely calm, despite a deafening, whistling noise, like that of a train coming straight for them. Will craned his neck, following the noise to a cloud of steam bursting through the pipes that led up the side of the funnels. The funnels themselves produced almost no smoke; the ship had drawn to a halt.
“We are lowering the boats simply as a precaution,” one of the ship’s officers yelled a few feet away, trying to get his voice heard over the rushing of steam. “The rescue ship is but a few miles away. There is no reason to worry.”
Passengers were being organized into smaller groups, each led to a boat; they obediently and calmly followed orders, the biggest fuss being that one had forgotten a hat, and the other didn’t put on his best coat. Sylvia shivered in the cold, wrapped her coat tighter around her, and held the boys close.
The boat nearest to them, right across the entrance, was being lowered already. Will made a few steps toward it, but an officer reached out an arm. “Wait for the next one, sir, please.”
“I need to see—my daughter might be on it.” He leaned past the officer, scanning over the passengers in the boat. A few sailors, half a dozen men, and the rest women. One held a little Pomeranian in her lap, and the doglet out a few tinny barks. There couldn’t be more than thirty people in the boat; Will didn’t see Emmeline, and as he called for her, no one answered, either.
He returned to Sylvia and the boys. “She’s not there. Could be on another boat.”
“The other side?” Sylvia suggested.
“Yes. Let’s go check.” Emily’s warning rang again in his head, but in the calm of the evacuation, it was hard not to think they had more time. The boats had barely begun lowering, and the ship still looked fine.Ten more minutes.It’d be easier to find Emmeline on the deck, especially with everyone being organized so meticulously. In ten more minutes, they’d surely run into her, and they could all board a boat together.
They returned through the lobby and exited on the port side. There were more people here, and an officer was helping a group of women board the first boat, swung over the side of the ship.
“Under no circumstances am I stepping on that,” a distinguished middle-aged lady, decked in her finest jewelry, said to the officer. “There’s at least an eighty-foot drop!”
“Ma’am, please. I assure you, it is completely safe.”
“Come, Mother.” Another woman, already in the boat, extended a hand to her. “You’re holding back the line.”
A younger female voice caught Will’s attention. There—a dark-haired girl, standing by the other boat, showing him her back. Didn’t Emmeline have a coat like that?
He sprung into action, pushing his way between the women lined up for boarding. “Emmeline!” He touched her shoulder, relief flooding his body.
She turned around, unfamiliar dark eyes looking up at him. She was a similar right age, but she wasn’t his daughter.
“Apologies,” he said, taking a step back.
“Y-yes,” she muttered, her gaze flickering between him and the officer organizing the passengers. “Have you seen my husband? Lucian? I don’t know where he’s gone.”
“I’m sorry,” he said and moved away as she redirected her attention to the officer.
Will returned to his family, shaking his head at Sylvia.
“She must be around,” she said. “She must be. Where else could she have gone?”
“Maybe she’s made her way up after us,” he said. “Let’s check the starboard side again.”
They crossed the lobby once more, Will stopping for a minute and also re-checking the downstairs and the lounge, which had been vacated by now. The orchestra had begun playing by the stairs on the boat deck, the pianist striking a contrastingly cheerful tune, as if it was nothing but a post-dinner entertainment. The melody might have been pleasant at any other time, but now it frayed Will’s nerves, each additional upbeat tone shooting another wave of anxiety into his stomach.
Where on Earth was Emmeline?
The pace had picked up by the time they returned to the starboard side. Another boat had been lowered, and the remaining passengers, about thirty or so, were steadily boarding the third one. Will scanned their surroundings. There was the emergency boat at the back, and the collapsibles Emily had mentioned were still on the roof, but the rest of the boats on this part of the deck were gone.
Something whistled over their heads, and a loudpopfollowed. Gasps from the crowd dissipated in the air as a flower of pale green sparks blossomed in the velvety night sky.
