She decided not to tell them how the enormous explosion appeared to have utterly destroyed the car that carried them away from her
“Mummy! Daddy!” Lucy shouted as she ran through the dining car, past the delicious roast beef and caramelized fennel with buttery artichokes and lemon sauce on the table.
The others moved far more slowly through the dining car Wallace wanted to touch everything he saw—just a quick touch, to be sure each thing was real. Noah and Jasper seemed to wander somewhat in a daze. Faye stood for a long time, looking out the window and thinking. Only minutes ago, they believed themselves orphans, and now all seemed to be as it had been before. The emotional strain weighed heavy on them all, as if they had all experienced a nightmare together—but a nightmare that was incredibly real. Could it be that their parents were unharmed? That thought was a relief to Noah, and still unreal to Jasper and Wallace. For Lucy, this was all the result of her wishes.
Though Faye was relieved, too, the pangs in her gut that turned into lumps in her throat were symptoms of an unexplainable sense of betrayal.
How could any of this have happened? Or, even more disturbing, how could any of their parents have let this happen? Or, yet again, could it even have happened? They all knew what they had seen. It had been real.
But this was their train, no question. It contained everything it had before. They walked through the dining car to look at their rooms. Miss Brett followed quietly behind them.
“Mummy!” called Lucy, throwing the door open, but the room she and Jasper had shared with their parents was now empty.
“They’re not under the beds,” Jasper coaxed, touching his sister gently on the shoulder as she crawled out from under her parents’ bed.
Lucy jumped up and ran back to Miss Brett, who was walking down the corridor with the others. “Where’s Mummy?” the little girl asked, excitedly.
“I don’t know, sweet angel.” Miss Brett was wiping her eyes on her sleeve.
“Well, did you see them?” asked Faye. She, Noah, and Wallace were leaning against the window in the hall. They, too, had been to their rooms and found no sign of their parents.
“Of course I saw them. We were all together, and then . . .” Miss Brett was trying to think. She and the other adults had all been on the train.
“Maybe they can’t hear us,” said Lucy, hopefully.
Noah put his fingers between his lips and blew an ear-splitting whistle. Faye covered her ears and kicked him in the shin.
“They’d hear that,” he said. But no one came.
“I don’t understand,” Miss Brett muttered to herself. She tried not to look concerned, but she was. How could they all disappear?
“Well, where did they go?” demanded Faye.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know,” said Miss Brett. “I . . . I was alone in the dining car when I saw you . . . when you drove away. Then I was distracted. I don’t know where your parents went.”
“Then everything is all right,” Jasper said with an emphasis he did not really feel. “Miss Brett didn’t see anything happen—anything bad—so surely they’re fine.”
Miss Brett hoped she hid well the horror she knew must still be reflected in her eyes. She nodded, but without firm conviction. Faye, Noah, and Wallace looked around their rooms once more. It was not as if there were places to hide. And why would their parents be hiding? More important, why would their parents be hiding from them?
All their rooms were as they had been. Noah fell back onto his bed, but not before checking, once again, that his smudge was still on the window. Lucy was busy chatting to herself and jumping on her bed. Jasper gingerly sat down on his bed, and Wallace simply stood, looking in his room.
“This is impossible,” said Faye. She stood, looking around. She clutched her beaded necklace hanging from the tall mirror. It was exactly where she had put it the night before. She touched it carefully, as if it might dissolve in her hand. But it was real. She reached beneath her pillow. Her nightdress was folded, just as she had left it.
“Come,” Miss Brett said, standing in the passageway between the rooms. “Some food will do us all good.”
Wallace, still dazed, looked up at her. “Is this real?”
Miss Brett kissed the top of his head. “I believe it is real, Wallace. I believe we are all here and everyone is all right.”
Reaching under her pillow, Lucy pulled out the ancient green journal tied with a pink ribbon. The others would have preferred a leather strap or twine—something more dignified—but Lucy had wanted to use her favorite bright-pink lace ribbon, and no one felt it right to argue.
Lucy gazed down upon the journal. Humming to herself, she untied the ribbon and opened the cover—and she gasped.
“They’re gone!” she cried.
“Our parents?” said Wallace, looking into the room.
“They were under the pillow!”
“What?” asked Noah, following Wallace. “Who was under the pillow? Our parents?”
“Our pages. All of our lovely pages.”
“What?! What are you talking about, Lucy?” Rushing into the room, Faye pushed past her colleagues and stared down at the empty journal. “They are gone!”
The five faces stared down at the empty space that once held all of their designs and inventions.
“Someone has stolen them,” said Faye.
“And what’s new about that, Faye?” asked Noah sardonically. “Everything of ours is always stolen. Our parents, for example.”
“Bad form,” Faye growled. “That simply is not funny.”
Soon, they burst through the doors of the laboratory, and they could see that all the things there remained as they had left them. Even the rare earth sphere remained, hovering in its magnetic cell between the coils. There were, however, some overturned beakers and burettes. Two of the rare earth magnets had flung themselves up and attached themselves to the rim of the ceiling lamp, and one was lodged up the nose of a metal cupid hanging above a wall sconce. Wallace rightly assumed this had all happened when the train was racing at high speeds—more proof that this really was their train.
But their parents had simply disappeared.
Lucy, however, was not ready to believe it. “Mummy!” she called from up above. She was in the observation room with Wallace, the glass ceiling creating a strange echo when she called. She ran from the observation room and into the laboratory, where Noah, Jasper, and Faye waited. Wallace walked silently down to the laboratory
“Lucy,” Jasper said in a soft voice. With every empty room, he felt more certain that there was, indeed, something missing. “They may be busy with something, somewhere . . .”
“In a secret room,” suggested Faye, the same worry hidden poorly on her face.
“They may not want to be disturbed.” Jasper looked thankfully at Faye.
“Of course!” Lucy cried. “They must be in the salon. It’s the only place we haven’t checked.” She ran toward the salon. It was in this salon that she last lay in her mother’s lap, where they sat around the fire, and where the parents would go in the evenings to chat. “Mummy!” she called, turning the handle on the door to the salon. “Mummy, please open up. I won’t be a bother. I promise I’ll be as quiet as a mouse.
But it was locked.
They had to be in there, Jasper hoped.
“Mummy!” Lucy pounded on the door. Her voice cracked as only silence came from the other room. “Mummy!” Lucy’s tears ran into her mouth. Her hand was hurting as she continued to pound.
Miss Brett, who had followed, beckoned to Lucy. “Come over here, sweet angel,” she said. “Perhaps they—”
“Mummy!” whined Lucy, crying as she called out desperately. She dropped any pretense of play and panic filled her throat.
Miss Brett took a step toward her, but Jasper quickly blocked her way and eased himself toward the door
“I’ll go to her and see if they . . . or she . . .” He didn’t want to think about what might not be behind the door.
But he knew what he had to do.
Lucy was no longer pounding. She just stood by the door in tears, her head leaning against the handle. Jasper took a wire from his pocket. As he slipped it in the lock, Lucy looked up, offering thankful blinks to her brother. In a few moments, Jasper had unlocked the door. Lucy slipped in, but Jasper could not bring himself to follow. He knew what they would find. He didn’t want to know, but he knew. He waited for what seemed like minutes, but was more likely seconds. Then, with a deep breath, he looked back at the others and entered the salon.
The room was empty. Except for Lucy. She sat, knees to chest, by the dying fire. The flames flickered across her face as she rocked herself. Jasper reached out for the hand that carried the fingers heading for her mouth.
“Lucy?” he said gently.
“Where’s Mummy, Jasper?” Lucy said, wiping her nose on her sleeve.
“I don’t know, but we’ll find out.” He took his sister’s hand and she stood up. She hugged him suddenly and deeply, and he held her tightly in his arms as tears came down onto his cheeks.
It was Faye who still seethed as they entered the dining car. The chef’s-hat man was placing baskets of steaming-hot bread near the places set for them at the table,
A warm onion tart was placed next to a bowl of buttery peas and a plate of roast beef,
“We’re not hungry,” said Faye.
“I’m hungry,” said Noah. “I’m tired and scared and exhausted and miserable, and I am hungry.”
“Where’s Wallace?” asked Miss Brett.
No one had noticed that Wallace was not with them,
“He was in the observatory,” said Lucy.
“He followed you down the stairs,” said Faye, remembering. “I think he followed you into the laboratory.”
Miss Brett walked into the laboratory and found Wallace at his table. He was working feverishly. There were metal cylinders and wires and light bulbs and magnets all over the table. She put her hand on his shoulder as she had done so many times before. She knew that distracting the children from their work was a delicate matter.
“Darling,” she said gently. “Sweet angel, come in and have something to eat.”
“I must finish this,” said Wallace, wiping the fog from his glasses. “I need to secure this electro-magnetic mechanism. I need to create an electric torch so nothing will burn again.”
“Oh, sweet angel.” Miss Brett gathered him in her arms. “I think that is a noble plan. Come, though. You need some energy.” She walked him slowly toward the dining car
When Wallace and Miss Brett entered, the children were still standing, Faye scolding Noah for thinking of his stomach at a time like this. They seated themselves and reached for dishes, so it took a moment before the children noticed that Wallace was still standing.
“Why are there only six chairs at the table?” asked Wallace.
Faye stood up from her seat. “Where are they?” she asked loudly.
“I don’t know, Faye,” Jasper said.
“I’m not asking you, Jasper,” she said. “I’m asking him.”
The man in the chefs hat, holding a tray full of biscuits, looked surprised. “All is away,” he said.
“Everything is always away,” growled Faye. “I want to know what you’ve done with our notes, since you seem too dull-witted to tell us where you’ve taken our parents.”
The man shook his head and left the room.
Miss Brett reached for Faye. “Faye, dear, why don’t you—”
But Faye rounded on Miss Brett. “You must know!” she cried. “You were here!”
“But I—” Miss Brett was taken by surprise. “Faye, I—”
“You’re not telling us what happened on the train,” she said. “We all saw you blown to bits, and now you’re here and they’re not!”
“Dear, I . . . I wish I could tell you.” Miss Brett was keeping her voice steady. “Your parents went to their compartments and locked the doors. I first went to tidy up in the dining car, and . . .” But she wasn’t sure she could finish.
“And what?!” demanded Faye, who was now shouting.
“Don’t talk to Miss Brett like that!” cried Lucy. “She loves us.”
“And . . . and I saw the motorcar that you were in . . . I saw it drive away, and . . .” Miss Brett pulled a corner of her skirt to wipe her cheek, because the tears were falling into her mouth,
“And?” Faye’s voice wavered. She was no longer shouting.
“And I saw it explode, with all of you in it.” Miss Brett fell back into her chair, sobbing into her skirt.
Faye’s stony defenses gave way slightly. She, too, fell back into her seat,
The beautiful meal sat uneaten and the room remained silent. Faye’s anger turned into defeat as she realized she still did not know if her parents had been killed in an explosion that seemed, otherwise, never to have happened.
Miss Brett had finally cried herself out. Once she had regained her poise, and after Lucy had come over and put her arms around her, Miss Brett knew, simply, that food would help, although eating seemed like an overwhelming task given everything else. She mustered her strength, trying to ignore the questions that plagued the children—the very same questions that roared in her own brain.
One question rose above the others and lay at the bottom of everything. Could this be connected to the elusive Komar Romak? Miss Brett had been trapped by that man. She knew firsthand how horrid he could be. And they had captured him, caught him, and cornered him. But he had escaped, somehow, from an inescapable hold. Could he still be following them, or was someone else behind this new threat? Whatever the answer, Miss Brett could not find room in her stomach with such a large weight filling it up.
“What I don’t understand,” Faye said, and Miss Brett could feel Faye coming with the question that had been burning in her own head, “is why that maniac Komar Romak would still be after us. He must have known we didn’t bring the you-know-what.”
“I know, I know!” cried Lucy raising her hand. “You mean our flying machine!”
“He must know it didn’t come with us,” said Faye. “Why is he still being such a bother?”
“How would he know we didn’t have it?” asked Noah. “You think he was posing as a baggage steward?”
“Well.” Faye thought about it. But a different question seemed to loom larger in her mind. Somewhere inside, she pondered the same question Jasper asked aloud:
“Are we sure that he was after the aeroplane?”
“What else could it have been?” said Noah. “He asked about it, didn’t he?”
Faye considered the question. Had he asked for the flying machine? Had he said “aeroplane” or specifically noted what it was he wanted? They knew he wanted something and, at the time, it was only logical to assume he wanted their invention,
“Pardon me . . . um, please, Miss Brett, may I have some peas?” Wallace had been holding out his plate to her as she stared off without looking,
“Sorry, dear. Yes, of course,” said Miss Brett. Still lost in thought, she spooned in much too much as Noah slipped his plate under her spoon to catch the next spoonful she was dishing out,
Had Komar Romak asked for the young inventors’ flying machine? Miss Brett let her mind wander back to the time Komar Romak held her captive. “I wonder,” she said to herself.
The possibility that he could still be pursuing them, and even still, the aeroplane, was beyond them all. Faye stared into her tea. Jasper put his arm out to pull Lucy’s hand from her mouth. Noah had stopped moving, a fork poised to feed a mouth frozen in midair. Blinking, he seemed finally to notice and stuffed the food between his lips.
Miss Brett looked at Wallace with deep concern. She picked up the serving spoon and scooped out the last of the peas onto Lucy’s plate.
Komar Romak was still out there. He was still just over the horizon.
“How much longer?” asked Lucy.
“Longer for what?” Jasper said.
�
��Not you, silly. Mr. Poofy Trousers.” Lucy pointed to the man serving tea. He wore what could only be considered a bathing cap, a pair of dark goggles, and poofy trousers that seemed to tie at the ankles.
“What is long?” the man asked.
“We are,” said Lucy. “But how long?”
“Not for you,” he said.
“For anyone?” Lucy asked.
“Not so,” he said.
“Well, that’s a good thing, yes?”
“So.”
“So,” said Lucy. Smiling to the others, she said, “Isn’t that good to know?”
Noah once again held his fork halfway to his mouth. Faye sat holding her cup to her lips. Miss Brett still clutched the empty bowl, and Jasper just sat, his mouth agape. Wallace looked at the others, then at Lucy
“Did you really understand him, Lucy?” asked Wallace.
Lucy looked at the others. “Well, of course I did, silly.”
“Did you understand each other?” Noah asked, swallowing the mouthful that had not yet made its way down. “He could understand you, too?”
“Of course,” said Lucy. “What isn’t to understand?”
“Well, what did he say? And what, pray tell, did you ask?” Faye took a sip from her cup.
“It won’t be long, and then we won’t be on the train anymore,” Lucy said, as if this were a matter of fact that all would appreciate as such.
Noah coughed, his bite stuck in his throat. “Won’t be long?”
“Well, where is it that we’re supposed to be, then?” Faye’s cup clattered in its saucer.
“I don’t know, but we’ll be there, won’t we?” said Lucy, nibbling all of the crispy edges of her potato. “Maybe our mummies and daddies, too.”
The table was quiet after that. Thoughts turned to parents, Would their parents be there? Would they want to be there if they could? Noah put his fork down. Suddenly, he was less hungry. All of this not knowing was filling his gut,
Like waves of confusion, each mystery crashed on the shores of his thoughts. Noah hoped that his deepest, darkest fears were not well-founded, and that, instead, his parents simply lacked a choice, and were forced to go away. But somehow, he felt that he was, once again, being left behind by people with more interesting, more important things to do. With a sharp pang, he thought of his mother. She could not be blamed for any of this,
The Ravens of Solemano or The Order of the Mysterious Men in Black Page 5
