The others looked at one another for guidance. Had Tesla invented something very dangerous? Or was he talking about something else? Jasper cleared his throat. “I’m . . . we’re not exactly sure what you—”
“Then I leave you,” Tesla said, turning on his heels once again and heading to the door. The children and Miss Brett walked toward him, hoping to follow him out and get some sort of explanation as to why they were here, but Tesla ignored them. He placed his hand on the doorknob and turned. Without warning and without a sound, all his hair, short as it was, was standing on end, and so was theirs—just as on the train during Komar Romak’s attack.
Tesla turned. “I bid you adieu . . . ach, goodness!” He hurried over to one of the big machines and turned some knobs. “Not that it makes a difference, since it was only gathering, not expending.” And with that, he left the room,
Miss Brett and the children all smoothed back their hair. All except Noah, “I like it,” he said. “It will be the new style!”
“It is done,” said the bunny-ears man as Miss Brett and the children left the building. “The train waits.”
“What is done?” asked Miss Brett.
“The loading,” said the bunny-ears man.
“The loading what?” asked Noah.
But the bunny-ears man simply gestured for them all to get onto the waiting train, then boarded himself.
“very well,” said Miss Brett, as she led the children back onto the train.
Back on the train, things were as they had always been. A delicious supper was followed by warm milk by the fire. But there was so much to think about—more than ever, in fact. They were going somewhere, but the mysterious men in black kept all explanations to themselves.
Consequently, getting to sleep again was a feat. Troubled thoughts had led to troubled sleep these last couple nights, and at least a couple of the passengers on the train would meet in the hallways in the middle of the night.
Now, as the train went slowly toward some unknown destination, Faye wandered the hallways, thinking. Deep in her own thoughts, she came upon Noah, deep in his. At first, she slipped back into a doorway when she saw him there, standing and looking out the window. Then she realized he was singing quietly to himself.
Noah could be such an idiot, she thought, that witnessing his musical talent was always something of a shock. She had heard him play violin only twice and was very impressed both times. She had never heard him sing, though—not seriously. Nothing Noah ever did was serious. It was as if he didn’t know how to be serious. But there he was, singing something operatic. And his voice was beautiful.
Faye quietly stepped back into the corridor. She stood and listened, not wanting to interrupt,
“That was beautiful,” she said when he finished, stepping into the light.
“Gadzooks!” exclaimed Noah, his hand to his heart. “Are you trying to give a fellow heart failure?”
“Noah,” Faye said, “you really have talent. Why are you always so ridiculous?”
“Thanks,” he said with a sniff. “I think.”
“I’m sorry, that didn’t come out right,” said Faye. “What I meant to say was that everyone thinks you’re a bit ridiculous and then don’t realize you’re talented.”
“When you say ‘everyone,’ you mean you, right?” Noah winked as he headed back to his room. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone you were being nice. You don’t want anyone to know you aren’t the snow queen, correct, Lady Faye?” He waved and closed the door behind him.
Noah, for all his silliness, was absolutely right. This only served to make Faye really, really angry. Instead of walking the halls, she stomped back to her room and flung herself onto her bed, How dare he call her a “snow queen.” How dare he! She had been awfully unkind. But hadn’t he deserved it? Or had he?
Faye’s anger began to change into an uncomfortable bemusement. Huffing and puffing was the behavior of a spoilt child. Noah had hit a sore spot. Taking a deep breath, she sat up. She would have to be better about it. She stood, took another deep breath, and went back into the corridor to look out the window. The train was not moving very fast. She had a feeling they were almost where they were going. She smiled to herself, glad to be leaving this train.
Meanwhile, Jasper was tossing in his bed. Lucy had been talking in her sleep, something about a unicorn and someone named Lulaberry and her buttercup hat pin. Finally as Lulaberry seemed unable to descend her elephant, Jasper left Lucy to her babbling dream world, put on his slippers, and stepped into the corridor. The light of the moon was bright, and he could see that Faye was still standing, smiling to herself, looking out the window into the night. Jasper was not happy with the fact that whenever Faye smiled, he seemed to break out in a great red blush from ear to ear.
“Cheers, Jasper,” Faye said, hearing him close his door. “I see you’re having a good night’s sleep.”
“Yes, quite,” he said. “Lucy is taking up the room with her night-talking.”
Faye laughed. “I remember one dream she had. I woke up because she was pulling my arm, saying, ‘If we don’t fetch the grindle-cakes, the hydrogen molecules will leave without us!’”
Jasper had to laugh.
Then Faye looked at Jasper. Why, she thought to herself, did she feel the need to be so forthright with the boys? She must be tired. It weakened her. Faye felt the awkward silence that followed the laughter. She suddenly wanted to be alone. So Faye started toward her room, but after a few steps, she realized that Jasper might be hurt if she just walked away from him. She faced back around.
“Goodnight, Jasper,” she said, turning away before he could see the blush in her cheeks.
Jasper stood there for a moment. Then, without thinking, he walked back into his room and climbed into bed, forgetting to take off his slippers and totally unable to fall back asleep,
The sound of a blaring horn filled the air. It was not yet dawn, but with the first hints of light, the six passengers could feel that the stuttering slow-moving train had, once again, stopped. The fog outside, though, made it impossible to see where they were,
Again, there was the sound of the horn. It could have been a foghorn, loud and deep. They could have still been on Long Island, but no one could be sure. Beyond the fog, though, there was daylight, and the children could see tall silhouettes against the grayness, swaying upon the water. These were certainly ships.
Miss Brett called to the children, not sure what was coming, She wanted everyone up and dressed before someone came to demand they leave the train or whatever else might be demanded,
As they rose from their beds, the fog began to clear. Looking out the windows of the cabin, Miss Brett saw grand ships lining docks, They were at a seaport,
The children hurried from their cabins to Miss Brett’s room. She, in turn, was just opening her door when she met them outside of it,
“Miss Brett, where are we?” asked Wallace.
“Well, I don’t know exactly,” Miss Brett said. Turning, Miss Brett spotted the Park Row Building against the skyline. “We are still in New York. It must be New York Harbor.”
“Are we taking a ship?” asked Lucy.
Miss Brett opened her mouth to answer, then, knowing full well that she could not, said simply, “We shall see, Lucy. We shall see.”
They did not have to wait very long. Within moments, the man with the frilly apron came for them. He had a sack slung over his shoulder
“To sea,” he said, pointing to the water.
“What?” Miss Brett thought she had heard wrongly.
“Sea,” he said. “Go.”
“But I’m in my sleepy things. We all are,” Lucy said.
This did not seem to matter to the man. “It goes,” he said, gesturing for them to move along. But from his sack, he pulled a blanket and handed it to Lucy
“What goes?” asked Noah, who then shook his head. “Never mind. Either you won’t answer or you’ll say something I don’t understand.” Resigned, he and th
e others allowed themselves to be pushed along, each handed a blanket as they went.
Coming to the door of the train car, the children and Miss Brett descended. Before them was a large, elegant steamship. Its gangplank was extended, and things were being loaded onto the ship by familiar men in black.
“Come,” said a voice from beside the doorway
It was a man dressed in a black captain’s jacket and slacks, a black captain’s hat, and dark, rectangular glasses. They followed him from the train.
“But my things!” Faye cried.
“Come,” said the man again.
“I will not leave all of my things behind,” said Faye. She ran back toward the train to fetch her belongings and, she hoped, put on some proper clothes.
“What about our things?” asked Noah. He thought of the post-cards he kept from his mother, telling him about all of her adventures around Europe,
“Come all,” insisted the man in the captain’s uniform, his hand catching Noah by the shoulder as the boy tried to return to the train like Faye,
Faye, meanwhile, climbed aboard the train and ran down the corridor to her room. Pulling open the door, she stopped dead on the threshold.
Nothing was there—literally, nothing. Her beads, her shoes, her clothes, and even her bed and lamp were all gone. They couldn’t have been off the train more than five minutes, but everything had vanished.
This made her very angry. She took several breaths before turning around and slowly heading back to the others.
The man in the captain’s suit was still holding Noah by the scruff, though Noah seemed to have given up all hope of escape. Noah was the first to see Faye and was surprised to see her empty-handed.
“Where are your things, Faye?” Noah called as Faye walked towards them. Faye just shook her head. She didn’t feel like shouting across to the others.
“What happened?” asked Jasper, his hand holding Lucy’s tight.
“Everything was gone,” Faye said once she was with them.
“Of course it is,” Lucy said. “He told us they’d be bringing everything for us, silly.”
“And when did he do that?” asked Faye in frustration.
“As we were walking,” said Lucy. “But you ran back anyway.”
Jasper looked at his sister. Clearly, she understood something the rest of them did not,
They marched together, following the man in the captain’s uniform. Miss Brett hoped Lucy was right.
The man in the captain’s suit pointed to the entrance. He turned and walked along the edge of the deck, then climbed a ladder, disappearing over the handrail above.
Not knowing what else to do, the children and Miss Brett boarded the ship, finding themselves in a most elegant entrance. The carpet was a deep red and looked as if it was made of silk. Lucy bent down and rubbed her hand on it.
“The floor’s so soft,” she said. “I could sleep on it.” Lucy yawned, and the idea of just curling up right there did not seem like a bad idea at all.
But instead, the children and Miss Brett continued down a wide corridor with lovely paintings adorning the walls and Greek or Roman statues lining the hall, which opened to a big room with high ceilings, a giant chandelier, and a fountain in the center. The huge windows were as tall as the ceiling, and outside, where sea met sky, the horizon stretched as far as they could see. There was a large archway on each side of the room.
“One way must be the sleeping quarters,” said Miss Brett. “The other must lead somewhere else.”
A man in black wearing a very tall, fuzzy hat bent at the very top, a fuzzy black vest, and a large bow tie appeared in the archway on the left and gestured for them to follow. Yawning and exhausted, with the boat’s gentle rocking making them wish for nothing more than a bed upon which to return to sleep, Miss Brett and her brood were led down the hallway
The man stopped at the first door. He gestured for Miss Brett to go inside. She did not, instead staying with the children. He went and opened four other doors and gestured toward the children. Each cabin seemed to have been prepared exclusively for each of them. They knew this because of what each contained,
“Oh, my bunny doll!” Lucy hurried to one of the beds in the room next to Miss Brett’s. Jasper looked around and quickly discovered that their cabin looked remarkably like the cabin on the train, except, notably, their parents’ bed was missing.
“Look, they’ve brought our beds!” Lucy exclaimed.
“Don’t be silly Lucy. They couldn’t possibly have,” said Jasper. But whether or not they were the ones from the train, these beds were tidily made, pillows fluffed, and looked exactly like those they had just left. And there, on Lucy’s bed, was her bunny doll, with its new ribbon sewn to its hat,
Faye, in her room, considered how all of her things had been missing from her cabin on the train. From the look of things, all of her possessions, including her bed, her bedclothes, and her dressing robe, were there. With these fellows, it seemed anything was possible.
“All right now,” Miss Brett said from back out in the hallway. She looked outside. The sun was rising in the late October sky “I want everyone to get back into bed and get some sleep—even if it’s just for a morning nap.” Who knows what today will bring? she thought.
“Oh, Miss Brett,” said Lucy “but I’m not the least bit sleepy.” But she yawned an enormous yawn,
“We’ll see about that,” Miss Brett said, wrapping around Lucy’s shoulders the blanket she had been given and pointing to Lucy’s room. Lucy trudged through the cabin door into the room she would share with her brother.
She flopped onto her bed, then reached for Miss Brett, who had followed her in. Placing a kiss on Lucy’s forehead, Miss Brett felt the little girl pull her face close and whisper something in her ear.
“How did you know, sweet angel?” Miss Brett whispered back. But not waiting for an answer, she said, “Now go to sleep.”
“I’m not . . . not the least”—she yawned—“bit . . .” But she was curled up under her covers and asleep before she could conclude her denial.
Finding this move to the boat yet one more fantastical thing to consider among the fantastical things always happening to them, Jasper lay awake on his bed for some time before sleep accepted its welcome. Noah, like Lucy, let the ponderings give way to exhaustion, and to the sleep that followed immediately upon head hitting pillow. And Faye, finally, allowed sleep to come, knowing full well there was nothing she could do about her predicament.
It was Wallace, however, who did not sleep until he quietly snuck into Miss Brett’s room. His teacher was asleep in her rocking chair. Wallace climbed into her lap, finding it a bit smaller than it had once been. And Miss Brett, upon finding the sleeping boy in her lap, woke groggily, carried him back to his room, tucked him in, and went back to sleep herself.
It was the gentle rocking of the ship that made for such a deep and comforting sleep. When Jasper woke, he found the sea all around them. They had sailed through the early morning.
Jasper watched the undulating ocean through his porthole, stretched, and then noticed Lucy was not there. Her bed had been carefully made, and she was not in it,
“Lucy?” he called, but there was no answer.
Quickly, he dressed, realizing he was not sure what time it was. It was daytime—perhaps close to noon. He wondered what the others were doing and if Lucy had gone to join them,
Opening his door, Jasper peeked out. He checked the lock on his door to be sure he wouldn’t lock himself out if he closed the door behind him. Cautiously, he stepped out. Walking down the hall, Jasper decided to knock on the doors next to his. But neither Faye, Noah, Wallace, nor Miss Brett answered. Jasper walked a bit faster, but he did not know where he was headed.
Coming to the end of the hallway, he opened a door that led up to the deck. Breathing in the chilly sea air, Jasper felt refreshed. But the fresh air did not change the fact that he was alone. Where was everyone? They had to be here . . . didn’t they?
But the disappearance of people he loved was part of life for him. He took another deep breath and walked along the deck. There was no land in sight—only sea to the horizon in every direction. At a door, he entered and found a staircase. He descended the wide spiral stairs and walked along another corridor. This led to another stairway. He walked down instead of up, and his nose soon met the smells of breads and cakes. This had to be the kitchen or the dining room. His stomach grumbled. Yes, he was hungry. He let his hunger lead him.
He opened the wide doors at the end of the walkway and entered a beautiful, sunlit room. There was a large table in the center of the room. And there they were. Jasper breathed deeply, relieved, feeling a bit silly that he’d worried about not finding them. They were, after all, on a ship in the middle of the ocean. Capturing his calm, he walked over to the table. The others sat around the table—except Lucy
“About time,” said Noah, still in his pajamas. He was, as usual, filling his face with food.
“I take it you slept well, Jasper,” said Miss Brett. She was pouring tea into her cup.
“Yes, Miss Brett,” he said. “Have you seen—” But he did not need to finish. Lucy came through another set of doors, skipping into the room, singing to herself. She, too, was in pajamas, but wore a warm, fuzzy dressing robe and a wooly cap.
“You’re awake, Jasper!” she said happily, throwing off the cap and robe. “You were ever so not when I came up here. Everyone’s been terribly slow to wake up. Noah came just before you.”
Noah winked at Jasper and reached for another sandwich.
“I had better see if I can find one of our minders,” Miss Brett said, putting her cup down. She suspected that, at the rate Noah was going, they would be needing some more sandwiches for Jasper. She went to find the kitchen.
“I’ve been playing on the decks. It is lovely here.” Lucy twirled around and landed in a seat at the table. She took a piece of toast from the basket and piled jam upon it. “I’ve been investigating.”
The Ravens of Solemano or The Order of the Mysterious Men in Black Page 8
