by Holly Hook
“Julia!” he shouts. There's no point in hiding our language now. “Control them. You have the chance!”
He's doing it so I can get in there and do the rest.
The face of my brother lights up behind my eyes. And those zombies, pleading with me to help them. They crawl closer and closer...
I run in. Three more men rush for the scuffle on the floor. I slip through. They're not too worried about a girl. I want to help Simon, to kick the captain that's wrestling him. But I can't. The plan has to come first. Simon can't die, but all these kids and families on this ship can. We'll all end up on the bottom of the sea if I don't do something.
The ship's controls and steering wheel wait in front of me. The window looks out into pitch darkness. Water flows past, lit by the ship's green running lights. They're the lights that the Russian submarine are tracking as I stand here, the ones we need to turn off.
Only I don't know how.
A shot rings out and Simon screams. I can't help it. I turn. Simon lies on the floor with an officer leaning over him, pointing another gun at his leg. Simon's face twists in pain. A golden, glittering stain spreads out on his pants. His blood. The men start shouting the sight of it. They don't know what to think.
Something snaps inside of me, even though I know Simon's safe. But he's in pain. Suffering, like so many others in my life.
“No!” I yell, lunging at the officer. Rage takes over. I'm tired of people hurting everyone I care about.
I shove the officer into one of the captains, but he barely notices. They're all transfixed by Simon's blood on the floor. It's pooling around his leg. I know he will heal, but that doesn't matter. I start wailing on the guy. He doesn't have the gun anymore. It's on the floor at my feet.
The captain—an older man—seizes my arm. I wring it out of his grasp. I'm stronger than them. They've underestimated me. I shove the captain back into his comrades. Three men struggle against each other for a second.
It's all I need. I grab the gun. Straighten up and point it at them. I've never handled one before, but right now, I don't care.
I don't need to say anything. Everyone knows what that means.
“Julia,” Simon manages on the floor. He's in pain, his voice tight. I know what it means. It's up to me until he heals. That'll take a few minutes. It's a few minutes that we might not have.
The speech has got to be getting close to finishing.
I look around. The four men stand there, holding up their hands. I don't know which controls are the lights. All I recognize is the spinning wheel thing to turn the ship. Why can't the Timeless Isabel be here? She could talk to these men. I could mess with the controls myself until the lights turn off, but that would mean turning my back on these guys.
“Julia,” Simon says from the floor. “Hold them there. Just do that. Don't shoot them.”
The gun feels cold in my grasp. Icy. I swing it between the four men, who hold their hands up in surrender. I turn my face into what I hope is a tough mask, but I'm shaking. Now I know how Frank felt those times he wielded his knife.
“Stay there,” I demand. I know they probably can't understand me, but I'm sure they get what I mean. “Simon...the lights.”
He pushes himself from the floor, leaving the gold puddle. But I don't let myself relax. I stare at the captains, two older men and two younger. I hold up my free hand. I focus on them staying there, staying still. One of the younger guy's eyes glaze over like he's in a daze, but one of the older men says something low and threatening to me. I can only control one of them at a time.
Simon's at the controls, flipping levers. He's had more time than me to study the ship. How much more time? I hope he's had quite a bit.
Switches flip. Simon's trying, anything, everything. I try not to focus on him. I keep my stare on those guys that could retake control of the ship if they wanted. How long can we keep them here? They'll turn the lights back on even after Simon manages to dim them.
And there are footfalls approaching. Reinforcements.
“Simon...hurry!”
“I...” He's running around behind me now. There's another click. “There! I got it! Lights are off.”
There's no time to sigh in relief. The door bursts open and brown-uniformed soldiers and sailors burst in.
There's no way we're getting out of this one.
Guns point at me. Click. At both of us. One of the captains points at Simon and yells something. I can guess what it means. He's a freak! He bleeds gold!
“Drop the gun,” Simon says behind me.
I do. It clatters to the floor. I hold up both hands. There's no way Simon and I can do mind tricks on this many people. They've captured us.
And I still don't know if we've--
Boom.
The ship lurches and bodies scatter. The sailors and officers topple around, shouting.
Panic rises in me. One of the torpedoes has hit.
Simon swears next to me and grabs my arm. The sailors run around, cursing, I think. One of the captains shouts an order and points to a lever on the far wall.
“They're distracted,” I yell at Simon. “Door!”
This is our only chance to escape, to avoid capture. We bolt for the exit, past a couple more black-uniformed sailors and through the hallway. There's more shouting from inside and an alarm sounds from within the bridge. We run and I wait for the next torpedo to hit.
It never comes.
Simon and I make it to where the enclosed promenade deck starts.
Still nothing.
“It looks like we stopped some of the torpedoes from hitting.” Simon grins at me as we run, but I don't miss the tension in his voice or all the screaming below us. “The submarine couldn't see where to aim. If only the one hits, that won't be enough to sink this ship. They must be closing the watertight doors under the decks. You know, like they tried to do with the Titanic.”
I think of that alarm and I agree. We rush past the enclosed deck and around a woman with some screaming children. I'm not very comforted yet. “We've got to hide,” I say. I'm glad that the running isn't wearing me out. “Once they got everything straightened out, they're going to look for us.”
I don't want to get captured by Nazis. Period. They'll probably try to torture us and kill us for having golden blood or something. And even if we didn't, we're the enemy. Our original country's at war with them. It won't be pretty.
“You're right,” Simon says. “I know where they won't come after us. Trust me.”
He leads me down some stairs. And then another set, and another. We push around countless frightened people staring at each other and asking questions. The panic this time is not as severe, the crowd not as frenzied.
Simon leads me down yet another flight.
The sound of rushing water meets my ears and I freeze.
“Julia...come on!”
“You're taking us down to where the water's rushing in?”
“Yes. They won't look for us there. The ship's not going to sink. It'll all stay contained down here. We won't die from it. Then when the ship docks, we climb out." Simon stops near a hatch in the floor. “Help me.”
Water. No.
Just no.
"I can't. I...I have a water phobia!" It's the first time I've admitted it to myself.
"We have to."
He's right. I take a deep breath and push the thoughts of the sea from my mind. But it only works for a few seconds. I lean down and we turn the handle. It squeals and the rushing noise gets worse. I drop the gun on the floor and a few men in overalls rush past us, shouting. This must be the crew area. Everyone's cleared out of this part of the ship. At least, everyone who didn't get trapped behind those watertight doors.
The hatch comes open. The smell of sea and salt rushes out and into our faces.
Along with a line of terrified men.
They scramble up a ladder and out of the hatch, a mixture of men in pajamas and overalls and sailor uniforms. One gasps for air. Another claps Si
mon on the back and mutters what must be a thanks. Yet another has blood flowing from his arm, and a red trail drips off him and down past the ladder below. They make their way up the stairwell and towards the deck. We wait while ten, twenty, thirty men make their escape.
“We saved their lives,” I breathe. “They were trapped down there before.”
But now we're going to go down and shut ourselves in a space that's filling with frigid water.
“You ready, Julia?” Simon asks.
There's a roar of panic in my ears. “I can't do it.” I just can't. That means facing it all again. My heart races. I feel like I'm about to pass out.
Simon stares me in the eyes. His chocolate eyes are wide. Reassuring. “We can't drown. Once the ship docks, we'll come back up and escape. If they capture us, the plan is over.” He kisses me hard.
He's right. I think of Melvin, screaming for me. My father who never had a chance.
We separate. I grab the gun and throw it down the ladder. I don't want the captains and their soldiers to find it and make the connection. I pat my pocket to make sure Arnelia's butterfly is still there. Check. I hope it's waterproof. It must be. Arnelia's too smart to overlook that. It's a risk we have to take.
Footfalls sound overhead. The soldiers are running through the ship, searching for us. It won't be long before they head down here. They might even think we had something to do with the torpedo.
I take a deep breath and climb down the ladder.
Water.
It sloshes at the bottom of the ladder, at the foot of the next deck. My heart freezes but I force myself down the rungs. Simon's right above me. I want to scream and scramble out of there like those sailors, but he's blocking my way. Maybe by accident, maybe on purpose.
“I've got the hatch,” he says.
It closes like a giant trash can lid. Latches.
We're stuck down here.
“Now what?” I ask. My voice echoes. I hold onto my rung. My foot wants to slip off. The water bubbles up a little higher now and I close my eyes. I've got to keep it together. I won't die down here. “We've changed history, haven't we?”
“We have. I can't believe it. I thought whatever Frank was talking about was going to come out and destroy us.”
“So Isabel will get off with her family. And that piece of garbage. They're not in this part of the ship.” I don't want to call that scum her father.
“And we'll have to find her when that happens.”
I open my eyes. The water's a little higher now and a few muffled shouts come from deep within the ship. There are still some people trapped way down here, but there's nothing we can do. They're too far away.
“So we wait here.”
“Yes. If we're lucky, the water won't rise all the way to the hatch.”
If we're lucky. He doesn't sound so sure about that.
Footfalls sound above us. There's shouting. The soldiers are up in the hall, searching the ship. I don't think the men we freed will tell on us, or even think we were heading down there.
Another shout sounds from somewhere distant in the ship. The water's nearly up to my feet by now. This part of the ship is filling fast.
I focus on a screw holding the ladder to the shaft. The air's cold. Freezing. Rushing up into my face. I can't die in this. I have to remember that. This is better than getting captured by Nazis. But what if they open the hatch to look for survivors?
But the footfalls fade away. Either they know a lot of people already escaped, or they just don't care. I stop thinking about the water and grit my teeth.
“Simon, we just saved some people who don't deserve to live.” At the same time, I feel awful for saying that.
“I know. I hate that. But it had to be this way. Just think of the others we saved. All the kids. Isabel's little sister and--”
“--and her father,” I finish. “We're going to need to get Isabel away from him.” I'm calmer if I keep talking. “How are we going to open this hatch when we dock? Those guys trapped down here couldn't do it. I heard it latch. Are we going to have to swim through the ship to find a way out?”
“Maybe. There is a torpedo hole not too far from here. The lights should stay on. The submarine didn't hit the engine room or anything. We'll be able to see.”
“Fantastic.”
The water's lapping at my feet now. It's cold. Freezing. I suck in a breath. A fresh wave of panic explodes in me. The knives will come next, then the numbness. I'm hyperventilating.
“Julia, I think it's slowing down.”
“No, it isn't!” My voice is shrill in the narrow space.
“I'm not lying. It's not rising as fast. Those watertight doors seem to be doing their job.”
I dare to look down. The water's not bubbling as much anymore. But I also don't hear any more shouts from below. Any crew members left down here must have drowned.
We might be the only people alive in this part of the ship.
“If this wasn't so tight, I'd trade places with you,” Simon says from above me.
“I know you would.” I hiccup. “I think I'll be okay.”
“Now we have to wait. I'm sure the ship will dock in the morning and let everyone off. That's when we find a way out of here."
“And then we find Isabel.”
“Yes. And we give her the butterfly. Restore her memories."
“It's still here in my pocket. Simon, what if we don't get out of here in time? It'll be a lot harder to find Isabel if we don't get off with her.”
“I know. I'm not looking forward to when we reach land.” He looks down at me, hair hanging in his face. “We're taking a trip into Nazi Germany.”
Chapter Seventeen
The water stops rising at my ankles. I scrunch up as much as I can on the ladder, hooking my arm around the rung to keep my feet out of it. It's no less cold than it was on the Titanic. The echoes are the same. The smell's the same. The cold's the same, too. The memory of me swimming after Melvin in that enclosed hallway rises up again and again, screaming right along with him. Simon waits above me. Minutes crawl past. Hours, too. The ship's engine keeps rumbling somewhere far away, so I know we're still moving.
“We need to make a break for it when the engine stops,” Simon tells me some time later. “The soldiers will probably wait for us where everyone else is getting off the ship. I think we should swim to shore. They won't be expecting that.”
“Good idea.” I'm getting more and more used to the water sloshing below us. I'm getting over the fear of being in this tunnel. Now a new fear rises inside of me and that's what we're going to face when the ship docks.
"You're going to suggest we swim out of the torpedo hole, right?"
He doesn't answer for a moment. Then, "Yes. I've tested the hatch. It won't open from this down here, anyway."
"Rats." That means the only way out is through the water. A fresh wave of panic surges through me. “Are my lungs going to burn and all that? Will we pass out?” I don't want to admit that it's the cold that scares me the most.
“It's only bad the first minute. After that, it'll be fine. I've swam underwater before. It's not that bad. There should be enough light for us to find the torpedo hole and swim out. The soldiers won't expect us to take that route.”
“I don't like this.”
Simon scoots down a little. “The Timeless don't need air. That's why we can run without getting out of breath. It'll be like that.”
As if on cue, the ship's engines stop.
We're at shore.
“That doesn't make me feel better.” I know I should be braver than this. I shouldn't let some water stop me after all we've been through. I won't let it stop me. We have to move now or we'll miss Isabel. I don't even think Simon knows where she's going to go after this. I take a deep breath. “I'm ready.”
“Once we're at the bottom of the stairwell, we link hands. There should be enough room.” Simon takes one step down the ladder. “Then we swim. We won't get lost.”
I clos
e my eyes. Climb down. Ice wraps around my feet, my shins. I bite in a scream, not so much from the pain but from the terror. Another step. The water rises to my waist. Then my chest. I stop. Don't think about it. Suck in a breath, and go under.
The world turns to gurgling and pain. I flail and fall. My feet hit bottom. My lungs start to burn. I've got to take a breath. No. Simon said this would pass. The burning gets worse. I open my eyes to light and blurriness. Simon's legs fall into my vision. I've drifted back from the stairwell and into a blue and white hallway. A single light shines above me. It's amazing it hasn't gone out.
And Simon's there, hair floating. We link hands and he squeezes. He smiles.
The burning is gone.
It feels strange, like I've just sucked in that breath a second ago. I want to laugh at myself for getting so worked up over this. We can get out and find Isabel. I squeeze my dress pocket shut. Arnelia's device floats inside. I hope water doesn't affect how it works, but this is the only choice we have.
Above us, people must be ready to disembark. Isabel and her family must have their suitcases ready. They may even be waiting in line now, ready to go through the guards that are no doubt gathering, waiting for us. It's my hope that maybe we'll delay everyone from getting off the ship. They'll want to check everyone to make sure they're not us.
Or maybe they'll want the civilians off before they tear apart this place looking for us.
I pull on Simon. We've got to go.
It's slow, walking through the water. The cold fades and numbness takes its place. I can no longer feel my feet, my hands. I have to check to make sure that Simon and I still have a hold of each other.
There's a fork in the hallway ahead. Everything's still blurry, but I can make out doorways. Things inside that might be bunks. And a bare foot, peeking out from the corner and floating near the ceiling.
My heart about stops. I look down at the floor. We can't slow. Light forms weird wavy lines on the tile. The quality of it is changing. It's getting bluer, more natural, more--
Something brushes my head. I keep my gaze down. Simon tugs at me. We swish forward and around the corner. He's leading us now.
