“Okay. We’re ready to go! Everyone, seat belts!” announced Doris, appearing from a hatch in the middle of the wooden floor in front of the large table.
Sebastian jumped at her sudden appearance and was up on his feet instantly. If there was one thing he believed in, it was being strapped down inside a moving vehicle. No one had to order him twice!
The only problem was…“Where do we sit?” he asked.
“Ah!” said Doris with that mischievous grin. “Jason, if you please!”
The Kid mirrored the grin with one of his own and then hit a yellow button on his console. There was a rumble from somewhere below, and then four chairs emerged from within the platform and rose next to the console, two on each side. They settled to a stop. And the rumbling ceased.
“Cool,” said Evie, going over to one to check it out. Sebastian did too and noticed on closer inspection that one brown leather chair had an imprint of a fox on the back of it.
He looked at the one Evie was staring at, and there was a camera tooled into the leather. They both made their way to the other side and saw a wrench on one and a compass on the last. Evie touched the imprinted material softly with her hand.
“Would you like to sit in Alistair’s chair?” asked Doris, placing a hand on Evie’s shoulder. Evie didn’t say anything, just nodded. She carefully climbed into it and sat, her arms on the rests. A bit like a little queen. She smiled at Sebastian. “Sebastian, take my seat,” said Doris, pointing to the chair with the wrench imprint.
“Oh no, that’s okay,” he said. Though, as he said it, he glanced around for where exactly he could sit that would be safe and had a seat belt.
“No, please do. I have to stay with the engines and keep a close eye on them. I haven’t driven this gal such a distance in a very long time.” Doris wiped her forehead with a handkerchief and looked around the room with pride.
“As long as you’re sure,” he said.
“I’m sure, I’m sure. Sit, sit,” she said, and without actually waiting for his answer, she turned and made her way back to the trapdoor in the floor.
Sebastian watched Evie, who seemed to be really enjoying sitting in her grandfather’s chair, and then he turned and climbed into his. It was a very comfortable chair, he had to admit, and it was hard not to put his arms on the rests as if he was on a throne. He peered down to one side and was thrilled to see a seat belt. He grabbed it and attached it into its other side.
To his left, beyond Evie, Catherine and Benedict were sitting down too. Benedict seemed engrossed in his map, hardly caring where he was, but Catherine had an odd look on her face as she got comfortable. Almost like she was scared the chair was going to eat her. Which was strange, since for one thing, chairs don’t do that,* and for another, even if the chair were alive, there was no one better to tame the beast and not get eaten than Catherine.
There was a whirr then as the engines came to life. Through the window Sebastian could see a rush of bubbles stream past and then subside. There was a sudden loud metal clunk that reverberated through the vessel. He instinctively looked up, but all he could see was the shiny copper ceiling above, reflecting his worried face.
“And we’re free!” said the Kid. “Doris has unlatched us, and we’re ready to sail.”
It certainly seemed like they were no longer attached to whatever had been keeping them in place. The view out the window was bobbing slightly now.
Sebastian watched the Kid closely. From his angle he could see the Kid pushing various buttons and staring at the glass window. He really hoped the Kid remembered how to pilot this thing.
“And we’re off!” The submarine moved downward and then jerked to a stop. The view in front of them floated a bit to the left. “Wait. One second….Now we’re off!” said the Kid, and this time they pulled downward smoothly and slowly through the water. Sebastian thought it was very helpful that the Kid liked to narrate as he went, but maybe at this point all his attention should be on his driving.
Fortunately, there weren’t any more false starts. They carefully glided down and forward through the water, and as they did, fish scurried away from the window this way and that, and sometimes even the other way.
“We’re doing it,” said Evie softly beside him.
He turned to her. She was staring out the window, and he wasn’t entirely sure if she was speaking to him or to herself.
“We are,” he said.
Nodding, she gave him a look closely followed by a smile. She leaned in. “I can’t believe this is happening,” she whispered.
“Honestly, me neither.” There was so much about this that he couldn’t believe. That he of all people was on a submarine, that he was with an exploring team on a rescue mission, that he still hadn’t called his parents, that he was lying to Evie about that, that he was no longer sure about pretty much anything he had ever been sure of…
It was a lot.
He was grateful the journey wasn’t going to be long and that it wouldn’t be deep. He didn’t need to imagine the weight of all the water on top of them added to the weight of everything he was feeling.
When had he gotten this dramatic?
“We’re going pretty steadily,” said the Kid. At that, both Benedict and Catherine rose from their seats and returned to the table.
“I guess that means we can get up,” said Sebastian, unbuckling himself from his seat and glancing at Evie. She was sitting still in place. Staring ahead. “I mean, not that we have to.”
“I think I just want to sit here a while longer. You can explore, though,” she said, not really paying that much attention to him.
“Okay.” For some reason it felt strange standing and walking away from her. Especially when she was acting so “off” at the moment. He made his way over to Benedict and Catherine.
“Is there much of a plan?” he asked, examining the map they were staring at. It was of London and the river that ran through it. The Thames, it was called, and Sebastian knew it pretty well. He’d looked at a lot of maps of London over time. He’d liked watching the evolution of the city from ancient Roman and medieval eras to now, how the waterways were used for transportation and how that changed with technology. It was neat.
“Well, that depends,” said Benedict, bending over a portion of the map.
“On what?”
“On what you are referring to. If you meant a plan for traveling to the Cutty Sark, we do. It’s straightforward enough. If you mean anything to do with Alistair…” Both he and Catherine looked over Sebastian’s shoulder, and he turned around. They were staring at the back of Evie’s head.
“You can tell me,” said Sebastian, turning back quickly. If there was something he should know, that Evie should know, he needed them to share it.
“There is a lot of uncertainty,” said Catherine. “We don’t know exactly where he is. And we don’t even know if…” She stopped.
“What?” asked Sebastian.
“We don’t even know if he’s alive,” replied Benedict coolly.
Sebastian’s heart dropped. It was true. It was very true. They had no real knowledge of anything. At all. He thought back to this entire experience. Everything he had gone through. It had all been to help Evie. But now here he was, in a giant machine underwater, traveling somewhere to help someone he wasn’t even sure needed his help. Someone who the rest of the team weren’t even sure needed help. And, worse, who could be beyond their help.
How on earth had he put himself in this situation? Because of a love of adventure? He wasn’t even sure yet if he did love adventures. Right now he was feeling pretty darn tired of them. They took longer than you expected. There were lots of boring moments, lots of tedious traveling from one place to another. And then, when things weren’t tedious, they were downright dangerous. Life-threatening. Okay, maybe you got to go to a K-pop concert and an opera. And, okay, maybe getting to know new places and people was kind of exciting.
But…
What was his point again?
“Sebastian, are you okay?” asked Doris, joining them at the table.
“What?”
“You look…odd,” she said.
“Oh yeah, I’m okay. Uh, is there some place I could lie down? I’m very tired.”
Doris was on her feet immediately. “Oh, you’re right! It’s very late, for all of us. Follow me!” She turned and called out to Evie still sitting in her grandfather’s chair. “Evie, do you want to join us? I’m showing Sebastian his quarters.”
“I’m okay, thanks,” replied Evie.
“Okay, great!” Doris turned back to Sebastian.
She led him off the bridge and into one of the passageways. After a little walking they arrived in front of a low curved door. “Here’s your quarters. It’s one of our guest quarters. Pretty nice, really. We always treated our guests well.”
She turned the metal handle, and it squeaked loudly, as did the hinges as she pushed the door open. “I should probably get some WD-40 for this, huh?”
Automatic lights flickered on in two wall sconces, revealing a cozy room. Though it was small, there was enough space inside for a bunk bed over a simple mahogany desk. And on the far wall was a porthole.
“If you need us, you know where to find us,” she said.
“Thanks,” he replied, stepping into the room.
“You have a nice sleep.” The door closed in a slightly too loud squeak and slam.
He climbed up the short ladder to the bunk bed and lay down on his back, feeling utterly mentally exhausted. Maybe it was time to create a pros-and-cons list. To work toward making an actual decision. He’d been coasting for too long. Did he want adventures, or didn’t he? Was he the same Sebastian as he had been before he’d met Evie and started working for the Explorers Society? Or had he changed? If he had changed, had he changed since he’d changed? That was a new one. Had he maybe once thought adventuring was fun but now was over it?
What about the simple fact that the team was back together and no one really needed his help anymore?
His eyes closed heavily, but he forced them open again, wide.
No! This time he wasn’t falling asleep. This time he’d find out the answer first!