darkened and they could see nothing past the protective bubble. Lord Engal let out his breath and said, “That's that. All we have to do now is wait until we reach the surface, and the rift in the ocean floor.”
Oh, that's all, Emilie thought, but everyone relaxed a little, breathing again.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Emilie found this return journey much more tense than the trip down, which didn't seem to make much sense. Maybe it was the fact that now she knew just how difficult and dangerous traveling in an aether current was. The first time it had just seemed like magic, the easy powerful magic of fairy stories. Now she knew it was really the hard uncertain magic of philosophical sorcery, and that it might fail at any moment and kill them all.
It didn't help that she felt as if these short days in the Hollow World had aged her at least ten years.
She spent the time with Miss Marlende, sitting in a couple of hard chairs in the chart-room. It would have been more comfortable to go down to one of the lounges, but neither of them did. It eased Emilie's nerves a little to be here, watching Lord Engal check the aether navigator and his copies of Dr. Marlende's diagrams. Sometimes he sent a sailor down to take a message with hastily scribbled figures to Dr. Marlende on the airship, or below decks to Dr. Barshion with a question.
But nothing went wrong, and tension started to segue into boredom. Emilie and Miss Marlende got up to stretch their legs, and walked around the ship a little. It was oddly quiet; everyone in the crew who wasn't manning a station had been told to stay in their quarters. It was eerie, and something of a relief to get back to the wheelhouse.
After a few hours, Mrs. Verian served a brief meal of sandwiches and tea, which Emilie helped her carry up from the galley. Having a full stomach made it harder to stay awake, at least for Emilie, and she dozed off and on for a bit, waking whenever she almost fell out of her chair.
She straightened up finally, blinking the sleep away, to see Lord Engal pacing back and forth in front of the wheel, rubbing his hands together briskly. He called a sailor in and sent him off with a hurried message for Dr. Marlende. “What's going on?” Emilie asked Miss Marlende.
“We're almost there.” Miss Marlende stretched and rolled her shoulders. “It's getting close to the time when we'll break off from the airship and make our way out through the fissure in the ocean floor.”
Emilie hugged herself, breathing out in relief. “We made it.”
Miss Marlende said, preoccupied, “I'll feel better when we're out of the current.” She glanced at Emilie. “What will you do when we get back, Emilie? Did you want us to drop you off at Silk Harbor?” She hesitated. “Or did you want to go home?”
Emilie frowned at the polished wooden floor, which was marred by sandy footprints and sandwich crumbs; it had been a few days since anyone had had time to think about things like sweeping the floors. Realistically, she knew her future at Silk Harbor was uncertain. Karthea would be hard-pressed to be able to provide her with any other wage than a place to sleep. You don't even know if she'll let you work for her. But if she won't... I'll think of something else. She said, “Silk Harbor. I still want to see if my cousin will let me help with her school.” She added tentatively, “Perhaps I can see you and Dr. Marlende again, when you're in town?”
Miss Marlende watched her, her brow furrowed in concern. “Are you certain? I'm sure whatever difficulty you had with your family- Perhaps I could help-”
“I can't go home.” Telling Kenar had been much easier, probably because he hadn't really grasped the full implication of what she had said. When she had first arrived on the boat, telling anyone else, especially Miss Marlende, had seemed impossible. But Miss Marlende knew her better now. Emilie glanced around, making sure the men in the wheelhouse were too busy to overhear, then reluctantly wrestled the words out. “Even if you and your father and Lord Engal gave me letters explaining what happened, even if you came with me and lied and swore that I'd been chaperoned the entire time, it wouldn't do any good. That's why I left.”
“Chaperoned? Oh.” Miss Marlende's frown deepened. “I think I