Page 82 of The Girl Out of Time
Emily’s face dropped. “Some of them make it out. Some don’t. The way the ship struck the iceberg, the bow will get flooded first. That will alert the steerage passengers there—that section is for male passengers in the third class—but it won’t make it easier for them to get out and board the boats, even though they find out about the sinking before most of the first class does. Their promenades don’t have direct access to the boats, so they don’t knowhowto get to them.”
He hadn’t forgotten the numbers. Seven hundred to live. Fifteen hundred to die.
How many of them were from down there?
“Emmeline’s friend,” he said slowly, “the one I’ve told you about. He’s in third class. What are the chances …”
Emily sighed. “I don’t know. But whatever you do, whatever thoughts you have—don’t you dare pull a Jack on me.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“It means you don’t go and do something stupid, heroic, and self-sacrificing, okay? You take your family and go.”
“I know. It’s what I plan on doing.”
“Good. The next time you call me, I’d better see the Statue of Liberty behind you, all right?”
“I’ll see how the tablet does. It’ll need a recharge soon.”
“Call me for a few seconds then, so I know everything is fine.”
“Yes, yes, I will.” He almost moved on to saying goodbye—time to get the others and prepare for the evacuation—but he stopped, hung on Emily’s last sentence.
He’d told her many times he didn’t want to know his future, and she’d always obeyed, not telling him anything—except for the small fact of the ship going down, that is. But something was strange.
She’d studied everything. She’d put all of her efforts into this. He found it very hard to believe her first move, when she found out what ship they were on, wasn’t to go check if he and Sylvia and the children made it out. She had enough resources to do so. She was stuck in her time, but James could travel to the past and check.
“Emily,” he said. “You don’t know whether I’ll survive, do you?”
She gave him a brief, fake smile. “I’m keeping spoilers from you, Gramps, like you asked me to.”
“No. No, you’re not.”
She lowered her head. “Fine. I don’t know. The family tree isn’t reliable, and I’ve checked the passenger list and neither of you are even there—”
Probably because they got their tickets last minute, from a family who’d canceled the trip.
“—and … well, James tried to check, and he couldn’t. So you can’t say I’m keeping anything from you.”
“What do you mean, he couldn’t?”
“It won’t let him stay in the past for long enough to check. But don’t you worry about that! Only worry about getting off the ship safely.”
“But to James, our time isn’t even the past. He was born here. If he can’t travel—”
“Gramps, let it go. You can come over when you’re back in the States, and we’ll talk about it until my tongue falls off. But for now,please, skedaddle out of there.”
He grunted. “All right. I’ll call you later. But you can check the Watchers’ notes for possible solutions. I’m not sure the American branch ever noted any, but the British and the French—”
“Yeah, yeah. Go, now! You can’t be late for your evacuation.”
He nodded and ended the call. Emily and James couldn’t even discover his fate, much less try to influence it. A shiver ran down his spine, but he didn’t have the time to hang on to that worry.
The door opened, and Sylvia walked in, tiredly pulling a butterfly-shaped pin out of her hair. “Gosh, they are exhausting. I won’t mind being back home at all.” She sat down next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder. “I’d forgotten how overbearing the British elite can be. Next time, I’ll sit with Mrs. Brown. She’s much more pleasant.”
When he didn’t respond, she raised her head, round blue eyes examining him in worry. “Will? What’s wrong?”
He shifted toward her and took her hands in his. “First, promise me you won’t worry.”
