by Holly Hook
He's not there.
He must have gotten separated in the herd and went looking for me. I'm the one who takes care of him. He clings to me.
“I don't know.” I give in to the monster. “Dad, I don't know. I haven't seen him since I left him with you. I don't know!”
“He was there a few minutes ago, but the crowd got too rough. He might be hiding back in our room. I'll search around," my father says. He glares at the crowd and back to me. “You stay here.”
My father pushes through the living mass and disappears down another hallway.
“He'd better hurry,” Simon tells me as I catch a breath. I can barely hear him over a fresh round of swearing and footfalls as the men rush towards the gate. The stewards hold it closed, shouting useless orders at the mass of people. “Yes. We need another way up.” He eyes me, the chocolate in his eyes barely visible with his pupils so wide, so scared. “I believe you're right that the ship is going to sink.”
“I am right.” I tap my feet as agonizing seconds pass and my father doesn't return. "You haven't seen Mel--"
Then I remember Eric, and the memory I shot into when he went under the pond.
The hallway and Melvin's shouts for help.
The rushing of the water…
“Come on!” I shout, breaking back into a run as my skirts slap against my legs.
“But your father--”
“Melvin went to your berth to look for me,” I puff out. It's close enough to the truth. He must have. Since Mother left, my brother can't stand it when I'm not around. He would have missed us as we were headed down that side hall, looking at that card and talking about that necklace. I say nothing more, conserving my air and my strength as I sprint down the hallway and past the dining area again, past the scared chatter of the passengers waiting inside for help that will never come. Simon's footfalls stay right on mine.
I slow just enough to miss running into the fork in the hallway. It's barren in this part of the ship. Dead. Everyone with any sense has left. The colors flash vivid around me. The red carpet. The white walls. The lights above which shine so gold...
A groan sounds through the ship, from everywhere at once.
The spiral stairway where Simon and I ran into each other bounces closer, but I don't slow. I can't. “Melvin!”
I stop and listen.
Then, faint, but there: “Julia? Where are you?”
Simon appears next to me, puffing. “Wow. I heard him,” he says, turning in a circle. “Melvin!”
“I'm down here!”
I swear and bolt down the staircase, all too aware of the watery rush below as Simon takes my shoulder and yanks me back.
“Let me go get him,” he says.
“No. He's my brother.” There's water bubbling up the staircase, consuming the metal rungs. It shimmers with the light that still shines underneath it. Cold air rushes up into my face. The ocean's coming in so fast, it's pushing the oxygen out of F Deck.
And it's halfway up to the ceiling.
My brother's down there.
Scared. Alone.
“Melvin!” I shriek again as I start down. The water bites into my toes with icy teeth, my shins, my knees. My skirt floats around me like a dead flower blossom.
“Julia!” He coughs. “I'm scared.”
My head clears the ceiling, and I see him.
He flails and kicks against a current that pushes him farther away from me. Melvin stops with a new round of kicks, gripping the door frame of a berth. Water rushes over his face again, closing all his features. He lifts his head, barely above the river this time, and gags out the sea. The foam behind him dies as he stops kicking. His mouth opens again, but nothing comes out.
My brother is giving up.
How did he get down here in the first place?
"Hold on!" I rush the rest of the way down the steps, losing my footing in the rushing water. Simon's hand closes around my shoulder and he yells something, but it's lost. The water gulps down my torso up to my chest. My stomach lurches. My feet lose the floor and the rungs behind me. It's cold. Colder than I could imagine, like sticking your entire body in a liquid glacier. An ache seizes my legs. My toes cramp so much that I bite back a scream. My head clears the water and I spot Melvin a couple of feet away. The sea rushes over the top of his head like he's a rock in a raging stream.
The water pushes me forward like a million hands in an angry crowd. It closes over my face again, burning my eyes and plugging my ears as I pump my legs forward, working with it. My toe meets the floor as I head uphill.
"No," I rasp, ramming into Melvin. My arms flail, trying to catch him. My numbing fingers brush against wet fabric, and then it's gone.
Another wave slaps me in the face, blinding me with bubbles.
I surface again, opening my eyes. The world's a cold, loud blur.
"Julia. Hold on. I've got him."
Simon treads water in front of me as Melvin coughs in his arms and grips his jacket. I spit out salty brew and kick to keep my head above it.
I glance back at the steps. All except for the top two have gone underwater, vanished under the foam. It pushes against me harder and harder, sending me crashing into Simon and drawing a cry from Melvin. He doesn't have the strength to do any more.
We're not going out the way we came down.
"Which way?" Simon shouts in my ear. It's a question for both of us.
A light bulb near the stairs sparks and dies. Darkness falls over the corridor, turning the water a deep, swampy blue.
I catch my breath and rake my mind to remember the deck layout.
Now's not the time to let panic take over.
An answer pops in. I'm not sure if it's right, but we have to try. There's no pushing against the water. The stairs aren't an option.
"I think there's another stairway," I choke out, turning and moving with the water.
If there isn't, I won't be here long enough to experience the 2:20 nightmare after all.
"I think there is, too," Simon says, holding Melvin higher to keep him above the rising water. He's found the energy to cry now. It's an awful sound.
When I find Frank and Isabel, I'll kill them.
We move along, my feet hitting the floor again. The water gets a little shallower, a little easier to move through.
"Don't slow down," Simon yells next to me.
I've lost the feeling in my legs except for an ache in my thighs. If drowning doesn't get us, the cold will.
"Where is it?" I ask.
"Should be around here somewhere," he says over Melvin's cries.
Bedding and suitcases float in open berths. Lights explode and die. Water flows in streams down hallways.
And then metal steps spiral back up to freedom. Half of the steps are still dry and free of the ocean.
"There." I grab Simon's sleeve and point.
He reaches out and grabs the rail. I'm not sure how he keeps Melvin in his other arm. The water tries to push me past him, but I reach out and catch the side of a step.
It takes all of my strength to push against the water and plant my feet on the first stair. My body's heavy. I pull myself up beside Simon and push Melvin's head down so it clears the ceiling above him. I take a glance at the water. It slaps the ceiling where Melvin hung on for his life in the doorway.
A triumphant laugh bubbles out of me as my feet clear the water and my skirt hangs wet around my legs, sticking to them. We did it. I should flip the bird to Time and most of all, to Frank. I wonder if they'll see me if I do.
"What's so funny?" Simon asks as he hikes Melvin up.
My brother coughs again as water drips from his shoes. "I want Julia."
"Nothing," I say, holding out my arms. The laugh dies inside me and a sob of relief tries to bump in and take its place. "I'll take him. We need to get to the upper deck."
"You sure?" He hands Melvin to me. His weight is heavier than I expected as his fingers grab at my shoulders, stiff. His hair sticks to his head as more water soaks through my
clothes. It doesn't matter. I'm just as drenched as he is.
"We need to get to the upper deck," I tell him again.
"But you need a coat," Simon tells me. "We should stop by your berth."
I dare a glance back. Farther down the hallway, the first of the ocean turns the carpet of E deck from red to brick. A violent shudder grips me. "No time for that."
"We're going to die," Melvin mutters in a heavy, tired voice.
"No, we're not," I say, holding him tighter. "We're going to find Father. We're going to get off this ship." I pray that I'm not lying.
"Bad man," Melvin says, hugging me around the neck so tight that I can't breathe. "Bad man made me go down the stairs. Make him stay away, Julia. You can scare him."
I feel as if I've been punched in the stomach. I slow down near the laundry room, not far from the dining area.
"Julia?" Simon asks, catching up with me. He glances back down the hall, to where the water continues its march just out of our view. "What's he talking about?"
I catch my breath and force myself to keep going. "Did he have strange eyes?" I ask my brother.
"Yellow," he says at last. "His eyes were shiny yellow."
It's not Eric's answer exactly, but it's close enough. I hike him up onto my shoulder and swear. The Timeless know what I'm up to.
They're here.
"This isn't making any sense," Simon butts in. He stands in front of me, forcing me to stop. "Julia, what exactly is going on? Besides the ship sinking, that is? First that certificate, and now this?"
I take his arm with my free one. "I can't explain. You wouldn't believe me." We have to get moving again. Frank could be anywhere. "They won't open the gates at the main stairway for us. There has to be another way."
I close my eyes and think, breathing slow to help my mind work. Somewhere in this hall is a way up the second class section. It should be easier to get to the boats from there as long as the gates are down. That's the major question. But still, we have to try.
Nobody's coming to help us.
"Okay." I take a deep breath and let go of Simon. "I think there's a way up, but we need to find my father first."
"I'm not sure there's time." Simon takes another look back. "The water's coming in too fast. I'll look for him once you're in a boat. He wouldn't want you to stay here and search."
"But we're not leaving him."
Melvin wraps both arms around me. He's warming up. I need to keep it that way.
"In a minute." I brush his hair back with my hand.
Then a horrible thought worms its way into me, chewing at my insides.
They won't let my father in one of the boats. Me and Melvin, yes. Simon, no. Most of the men won't escape. Simon has another savior waiting for him, one that will rip him away from me whether or not I survive.
My father will plunge into the water even if he manages to get topside.
And even if I live through this night, I'll never see Nancy or Monica again.
I'm about to lose all of them, forever this time.
I tear up as I realize what's about to happen.
"Julia," Simon is serious as he looks at me. "I'm sure your father would want you and Melvin to get out of here."
"I know he would." It hurts to speak. How can I tell Simon the whole truth? He won't believe a word I say until the gold light opens up behind him and he disappears from me forever. And then it will be too late.
"I want you to get out of here," he says, desperate.
He knows he's not going with me. I can tell from the way his shoulders fall and his gaze goes down to the floor. But it only lasts a second, and he takes my wrist tighter than he ever has. “Okay. Where's this exit?”
“This way,” I say, keeping the double doors in my mind. I pull Melvin away from my legs and pick him up, leaning back with his weight. He has his thumb in his mouth again and he's not even asleep. It's not a good sign. He hasn't done that since our mother left us.
The double doors that I think lead up to the second class section should be past the dining area. I don't stop to see how many people still huddle inside. There's no time and there's nothing I can do.
Not with the Timeless here already.
Melvin and I are expendable. Mistakes. Threats.
We pass a trio of girls running towards the dining hall. They're black and white blurs, but I can't miss the fear on their faces, the growing panic. Another door to a berth hangs open, probably from the ship's tilt, revealing a young couple seated inside in front of the sink, waiting for something, anything, to happen.
"Move!" I yell at them without slowing. "The ship's sinking. Why are you sitting there?"
I don't stop to see if they react. Holding Melvin closer, I search the hall for the second class entrance.
Is my father still running around down here, looking for us? He'll spend the next hour in agony, wondering where we are and crying out our names as the ship tilts higher and higher to make its final plunge…
"Julia. Don't stop!" Simon claps his hand on me from behind. "I'll come back down and look for your father. I promise."
I know he will. That's another thought that makes me hurt inside.
There.
A gate stretches across a wide doorway. Behind it, stairs climb up into the upper decks of the ship. No one rushes up them. I stop and catch sight of a lock, with chains cruelly wrapped around the bars of the gate.
Something's off.
The bars are already bent like someone's already broken through. And there were never chains on these gates before.
My grip almost loosens on Melvin as Simon joins me in studying it. His mouth falls open. "What's this?" he asks, raising his eyebrows at me in confusion.
"I don't know," I say, backing away from the door.
"Bad man!" Melvin shouts, clawing at my arms. "Make him go away."
My heart leaps.
Frank stands on the other side of the gate, eyes as golden as the morning sun. There's no sense in hiding it from us. Simon's going to learn the explanation soon enough. Even the hall around us has gone silent, like the others have sensed an even worse danger than the rising water.
"Stay away from them," I growl, pushing my way in front of Simon. They still want to take him. They still want Melvin and I to die. It's the only reason Frank isn’t hiding what he truly is.
"Sorry, Julia," he says in that oh-so-polite-and-heart-melting voice that does nothing but make me sick. He looks at Simon for a second, who stares back, awestruck. "I didn't think there would be such a problem. Now we have to take matters in our own hands."
Chapter Sixteen
I take in Frank, dressed in the same punk T-shirt he wore when he asked me to the Spring Formal. He's even wearing the same jeans, the ones with the tiny hole in the left knee. His eyes shine with their cold light. He's a union of the madness I'm in now and the sanity I left behind when I said yes to the dance.
I let Melvin jump down. He scurries to the other side of the hall. Something inside me snaps and I lunge for the bars.
They rattle with the force of my slamming into them. Frank jumps back, nearly tripping on the second class steps on the other side. He holds up both hands at me and frowns like I'm a junkyard dog on a chain.
"Let us up!" I shout at the top of my lungs. "My brother's only five. Do you have any idea what you're putting him through? And you're changing history by putting these chains here. You could get in trouble for that, right?"
Frank swallows. He doesn't have an answer.
"Yes!" Simon bellows next to me, crowding me out of the way. "I don’t care what kind of sideshow freak you are. Open this gate before I show you what your insides look like."
Frank stumbles back another step, catches his footing, and races up the staircase. I grip the bars as I watch his tennis shoes vanish from view. He’s still a coward, unable to face what he’s doing.
"Get back here!" Simon shouts, shaking the bars. He's red. Purple, almost. "Did you hear me? You can't keep us trapped down
here!"
With a sigh, he lets his head fall to the bars. There he stands, hopeless, with Melvin watching him in silence.
I break the spell. "We'll need to find another way up."
Simon lifts his face from the bars.
"What was he?" he asks, eyes wide. His mouth hangs open and he blinks. "He's what Melvin was talking about, isn't he?"
There's no time to explain. There must be another way up. But Frank's had way more time than me to study the insides of the Titanic. He must know every way up from the crew ladders to the Grand Staircase.
"An emergency ladder," I say. It's the last hope.
The fear clears from Simon's eyes as he nods. "Good idea. I think there's one near the dining hall." He looks towards the front of the ship where we know the water’s pouring in and rising.
I grab Melvin again and rush after him, letting him lead the way as I struggle to remember what ladders lead to the upper decks. I can't. There's so many. The ship is too big. My panic threatens to consume everything inside, reducing me to bare animal instinct.
"No! Not that way!" Melvin shouts as I run. He squirms to free himself from my grasp. The thought of the water is too much for him.
"We're not going back to the water," I reassure him. "I promise. We're finding another way up."
I barely realize that we're almost at the third class dining area when Simon stops. I almost crash into him.
Some of the people in the dining room have finally decided they want to try for it, because several of them crowd in front of another, narrower gate as a pair of men ram into it, trying to break it down. Through the mass of people, I can see another lock wrapped around like a chain snake. I feel as if we're at the base of the main staircase all over again.
"Now what?" I ask, pulling on Simon's shoulder.
"It looks like they almost have it," he says, managing a smile. "There!"
With a squeal that makes Melvin reach over and cover his ears, the gate crashes to the side as the men in the front push through. The chain hangs against the bars, broken and dead.
A cheer goes up around us.
I just might survive this and save my brother. Even if we board a lifeboat and I never see Nancy again, I've kept my promise.
