Maiden Voyage

by Sarah Jane

  “And crewmembers preparing lifeboats,” she added with alarm.

  Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and turned to her.

  “So it’s true!” Abby cried, a fresh wash of tears springing to her eyes.

  “Girls, listen to me.” Elisabeth’s voice was steady and firm. “We must stay calm. I am sure the evacuation is a precaution, but you heard what Felix said—they are loading women and children first. That is us. We will find a way out of here, find Felix, and get to a boat. We cannot panic.”

  Isabella reached up to unlatch the window … perhaps she could open it and they could climb out onto the deck. But the metal latch had frozen closed.

  “Let’s bash it in,” Lucy suggested, her face determined. She picked up a brass lamp from the writing desk. “This looks heavy enough.”

  Isabella moved aside while Lucy climbed onto the couch and raised the lamp over her head. She was about to hurl the lamp into the leaded glass, when there came a sharp knock on the door.

  Abby heard the knock and rushed to the door. “Hello! We’re trapped in here!”

  The lock clicked, and a moment later the door opened. Jasper stood in the doorway wearing a white life belt and an extremely worried expression.

  “Oh, thank goodness you’re all here,” he said. Abby was thanking each of her lucky stars. She threw her arms around Jasper without thinking, then pulled back quickly.

  “I’m so glad to see you!” she said breathlessly.

  “Is Felix with you?” Jasper asked.

  “No!” she cried in anguish. “Master Miles has him.”

  “Master Miles?” he echoed. Jasper’s face shifted into an expression Abby had never seen before—an intense combination of fear and worry. Behind him, the corridor was filling with passengers. Some of them wore heavy coats; others wore only their nightclothes. Most had vest-like life belts over their clothing.

  “Girls, we must dress warmly.” Elisabeth walked to the wardrobe and began to pull out the heaviest overcoats, distributing the garments.

  “Put these on over your coats.” Jasper located the life belts in the wardrobe and passed them around.

  “Tell me the truth,” Elisabeth said softly, looking Jasper in the eye. “Is the Titanic sinking?”

  Jasper nodded, his face grim.

  “But the Titanic is unsinkable!” Lucy declared. “We’ve heard it said over and over!”

  “She’s made of steel and is taking on water,” Jasper replied gravely. “And there’s nothing we can do to stop it.”

  Elisabeth put a hand on her daughter’s arm reassuringly. “I’m sure there are other boats in the area that will come to our aid.”

  Abby turned to Jasper, whose face was a mask. “Let’s hope so,” he replied, and together they hurried out of the stateroom.

  Isabella handed Lucy her green coat as they were pushed into the corridor. It was crowded now, and they were mashed against the passengers making their way to the boat deck.

  “No, you take it!” Lucy told her little sister. “I have the blue one.” She tried to slip an arm into the coat but a young boy careened into her, putting her off-balance. She righted herself and paused to get the coat and her life belt on, only to find herself well behind the others. She could just make out Abby up ahead, craning her neck to try to spot Felix and her awful father.

  Her awful, awful father. Just thinking about him made Lucy’s entire body cringe. She pushed him out of her thoughts and, using her small stature to sneak through the crowd, caught up to the group and took her mother’s arm.

  “Thank goodness,” her mother said, clearly relieved. “We need to stick tightly together.” Lucy smiled and reached for her sister’s hand. Her father might be the most despicable man on the ship, but her mother was more wonderful than ever. And, perhaps more importantly, stronger than ever.

  At the end of the corridor a small mob of people was waiting to get out onto the deck. As they drew closer Lucy understood why … the boat deck was swarming with passengers. The temperature had dropped from chill to freezing, and their breath hung in clouds about their faces. Shivering, Lucy buttoned the top button of her coat.

  Isabella trembled beside her and tightened her grip on Lucy’s hand.

  “Stay close,” Jasper said over the shouts of the crowd. He was two heads up in the throng and Abby was with him. “And follow me.”

  Lucy could hear the band playing, but could not tell exactly where the music was coming from. Someone fired a rocket into the air, momentarily lighting up the night sky and the panicked faces of the passengers.

  Isabella gazed up at the last lights from the rocket curiously. “I’ve never seen fireworks before,” she said. “They’re so beautiful.”

  It was true. The sky was clear and the stars shone sharply, like ice crystals suspended in the inky cobalt sky. They seemed to be winking in the cold air.

  “They’re signaling other ships,” Lucy explained, squeezing her little sister’s hand. What a remarkable thing to see beauty at a time like this! “But yes, they are beautiful,” she agreed. She turned her gaze back to the mass of people ahead of them, searching the backs of the heads looking for Abby and Jasper. The ship was starting to tilt to starboard, and she had to be careful about where she put her feet on the frozen deck so she didn’t slip.

  “Where is Abigail?” she called to her mother, just as a group of anxious men was pushed backward and right into them.

  “Women and children only!” a crewmember shouted at them. “No men!”

  A moment later, someone shoved the three women forward.

  “We are loading women and children! Step forward please!” the crewmember shouted. But Lucy couldn’t move. Something inside was holding her back.

  “Mother,” she said. “We need to—”

  She was interrupted by a surge in the mass of people behind her, and felt herself being shoved forward by the force of the mob. A moment later she lost hold of Isabella’s hand.

  Isabella felt her hand slip from Lucy’s grasp and her body being pulled away from the lifeboats. Which, oddly, did not fill her with panic. She could see Abby and Jasper off to one side, and knew they weren’t going to board. Having finally found her own sister, Isabella understood that nothing would keep Abby from trying to find and save her little brother if it were humanly possible. And she suddenly knew it was possible!

  “I know where Felix is!” Isabella shouted in Lucy’s direction, though it wasn’t at all clear whether Lucy could hear her over all the shouts and booms and hissing steam. “Get … Mother … onto … a … lifeboat,” she yelled as loudly as she could. It felt so strange to call Elisabeth Miles Mother, and stranger still to leave her mother and sister when they had only just been reunited. But Isabella knew she could help Abby find—and possibly save—Felix.

  She knew what it was to be alone. To be so lonely your heart felt as if it were going to crack open in your chest. If there was any way she could save Abby from that fate, she absolutely would.

  “Abby, wait!” she shouted in the other direction. Ducking elbows, Isabella forced her way through the crowd. She lost her footing when another rocket went off and distracted her, but quickly scrambled back to her feet.

  Breathless, Isabella caught up to Abby and grabbed her elbow, startling her. “This way!” she cried.

  “Isabella!” Abby shouted over the din. “I thought you were on a lifeboat!”

  Isabella shook her head. “I think I know where Phillip Miles is,” she said. “This way—hurry!”

  Lucy could still feel the warmth of her sister’s hand when she was pushed forward yet again and lost sight of Isabella completely. The Titanic was not only listing starboard now, the bow was also angling down, pointing toward the depths into which it was clearly headed. Anyone who thought the ship unsinkable was being proven wrong with each passing minute. Lucy felt her mother slip and pulled on her arm to keep her from falling.

  “Lean on me,” Lucy said as she struggled to keep herself uprig
ht.

  “We can lean on each other,” her mother replied.

  “Women and children!” a crewman loading lifeboats continued to shout. He assisted a woman and her two sons into the center of a lifeboat while two more crewmen waited and held tightly to the ropes that were attached to massive pulleys, ready to lower the boat into the dark water below.

  “I don’t want to board,” Lucy said, looking over her shoulder. Not that she actually expected to see anything behind her other than a mob of strangers. The boat deck was becoming more and more chaotic by the second as more and more passengers understood that this was not a drill … or a precaution. The Titanic would not be afloat much longer.

  “I don’t want to go without them, either,” her mother said. “We just found our Isabella!” It was hard for Lucy to see the anguish on her mother’s face—like physical pain. They were shoved roughly forward again.

  “Get on the boat or get out of the way!” said a woman, clearly wearing every jewel she owned, and carrying a small dog as she elbowed past them.

  Lucy’s mother stepped back, away from the lifeboat. The anguish on her face disappeared, and her expression became resolute as she turned to Lucy. “We go together or not at all,” she said. But before they could move farther away, the crewman loading the boat grabbed Lucy’s arm.

  “Time to board, miss,” he said. “It’s now or never.” Lucy felt herself being lifted off her feet as a gentleman on her other side picked her up at the elbow. The two men lowered her into a lifeboat that was ringed with seats and fitted out with oars.

  “Mother!” she shouted in alarm.

  “I’m here, Lucy,” Elisabeth replied as she, too, was lifted into the boat. “I’m right here.” They had no choice now, and there was no turning back. Lucy and her mother found seats and did not speak for several long moments, both of them searching the mobbed boat deck for familiar faces. “I’m sure Isabella and the others will be on the next one.”

  Lucy suspected that her mother didn’t believe that any more than she did, but she had to have faith that if Isabella and Abby and Felix were not on the next lifeboat, they would be on the one after that. She simply had to hold out hope; it was all she could do …

  “We just found her,” Elisabeth whispered. “We will get her back.”

  Lucy squeezed her mother’s hand, swallowing the lump in her throat. The stars overhead blurred, and a moment later the crewman shouted and the lifeboat began to jerk down toward the dark and icy Atlantic.

  “Are you sure you know where he is?” Abby asked. She could feel hope rising in her chest as Isabella led her and Jasper down the aft Grand Staircase. They pushed past the rest of the passengers, all of whom were making their way up.

  We’re going the wrong way, she thought, but quickly banished the idea. You can’t think like that, she scolded herself. Besides, finding Felix was all that mattered.

  Abby was extremely grateful to Isabella—a girl she had as recently as yesterday called a coat thief—for her help. She could have easily climbed aboard a lifeboat with her newfound sister and mother and rowed out to safety. There was no reason she should care about a maid and her stowaway brother. But she did.

  As they stepped off the bottom stair, Abby’s stomach bobbed. The stern of the boat was beginning to rise and the angle made it hard to navigate the stairs.

  “The bow is sinking,” Jasper said gravely. “Where are we headed?”

  “The first-class smoking room,” Isabella replied. They pushed through a spinning door, ignoring the “no women allowed” rule, and stepped inside the smoking lounge. Even in her panic, Abby noticed how beautiful the room was with its carved mahogany paneling inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The stained-glass windows were so tall they reached above the floor of the boat deck. But not an inch of the opulent fittings, nor the rigid class rules, would help keep the Titanic afloat.

  “Where is he?” Abby asked, wringing her hands. “I don’t see him!” The room was nearly empty, save a few men huddled together. Abby wondered why they weren’t up on deck getting into boats. Surely the women and children would soon be loaded and they would begin loading the men …

  “Abby!” a voice called.

  “Felix!” Abby rushed to an alcove, where Felix was tied to a chair with a curtain cord. She was so happy to see her brother she didn’t see Phillip Miles leaning on a nearby mantle. He’d secured the boy so he could help himself to some whiskey.

  It was no surprise that Phillip Miles would depend on liquid courage—it was the reason Isabella had known where he would be.

  “Not so fast,” Miles slurred, lurching in their direction. Jasper calmly stepped between them and knocked the bottle out of Miles’s hand. But before he could move away, Miles backhanded him. Fueled by anger and assisted by the listing ship, the force of his slap sent Jasper sliding across the room. He crashed into a chair and lay on the floor, moaning slightly.

  “Jasper!” Abby and Isabella called out in unison. Isabella rushed to his side. Part of Abby wanted to rush to him, too, but she needed to free Felix. Now.

  “Fools. You should save yourselves,” Miles slurred, half laughing at Isabella and the fallen boy. “You’re all children. They would let you board a lifeboat.”

  Abby focused on untying the knots around Felix’s wrists, trying to ignore what the terrible man was saying. The cords were tightly tied, pressing into her brother’s skin. Her slender fingers tugged frantically but the knots did not yield. Finally, she managed to loosen an end, but out of the corner of her eye she could see Miles wobbling closer.

  “Leave the boy. He’s mine!” Miles shouted, and lunged. He reached out and yanked Felix to his side, gripping him so tightly that his knuckles turned white. “You’re my ticket onto one of those lifeboats,” he said.

  “I’m not going anywhere with you!” Felix shouted, trying to punch his captor.

  Abby grabbed for her brother, and missed. “No!” She caught Miles’s free arm and pulled, pleading with him to release her brother.

  Miles tried to shake her off. When that didn’t work he kicked her, buckling her leg and sending her careening into Isabella and Jasper. The three of them tumbled into one of the square tables and were pitched to the sloping floor.

  “Abby!” Felix tried to wiggle free, but Phillip Miles only tightened his grip. And before anyone could stop him, he raced away, half carrying and half dragging the only family she had in the world.

  Isabella struggled to find her footing on the slanting floor as she watched Phillip Miles retreat. Abby was back on her feet in an instant, but Jasper had landed badly. He had to use the wall to pull himself up. The table had tumbled onto one of his legs, and Isabella noticed he wasn’t bearing weight on it.

  “I have to go after them!” Abby cried, though she didn’t need to explain. Felix’s frantic shouts were already fading.

  “Go!” Isabella told her. She offered her shoulder to Jasper and they followed as quickly as they could, limping along and using the walls for support.

  By the time they emerged on the boat deck, Abby had disappeared. Jasper scanned the deck, pointing toward the rail, and they made their way through the milling crowd. The hundreds of remaining passengers were stumbling about, stunned or panicked, and many were shrieking. Isabella wanted to push them all out of her way. Her situation was dire! But, she quickly realized as she took in the scene, so was everyone’s. She shouldered her way through as best she could, trying not to think about how many people were still aboard and hoping that her mother and sister were not amongst them.

  “Almost all the lifeboats are gone!” Jasper said, leaning over the rail to assess the crowd. He squinted toward the back of the boat.

  “That’s nonsense!” a man behind them shouted. “There have to be more boats. They haven’t finished loading the women and children!”

  Despite the man’s words, Isabella realized that Jasper was speaking the truth. She could only see two boats from where she was standing—one being lowered on ropes, though it w
as only half-full—and another just being loaded. But how could that be? There were still hundreds upon hundreds of passengers on board!

  Surely there were more lifeboats on the other side … and in the rear …

  Besides tilting and sloping, the Titanic was riding lower in the water—much lower. The dark ocean felt far too close. Riding a wave of panic, the crowd surged toward the last visible boat. Isabella was pushed against the rail and saw a man leap for the lifeboat being lowered down the side. Screams and shouts of fear and protest … and then horror filled the air as the desperate man missed and plummeted into the Atlantic.

  “Please remain calm,” one of the crewmen shouted. His voice was drowned out by the panicked cries of the people around them.

  Isabella scanned every face she could, looking for Abby, Felix, Miles …

  Some men, realizing there would be nothing left for them to board, were lashing together deck chairs in an attempt to make a raft. Others were simply flinging the chairs over the rails in the hopes they would offer someone something to cling to.

  “Abby!” Jasper called again and again. “Abby!”

  Isabella continued to search each face, looking for one that was familiar, but saw only despair, despondency, and hysteria. Every face told a story. It was unbearable, and yet she could not stop searching. She looked into the eyes of the crewman loading the boat. He’d lost control of the situation and his expression was perhaps hardest to bear. It was his job to help these people … and he could not.

  Suddenly gunshots rang out so close that Isabella was deafened. For a moment the world lost all sound. Then over the ringing that replaced the silence she once again heard Jasper’s desperate cries. “Abby! Felix!”