A bubble of laughter rose up my throat, colored in disbelief.
I rapped on the door but it was heavy metal and my strikes were absorbed with dull thuds.
“Verity?” Alex’s voice echoed up the circular room, sounding uncertain.
“I’m still here,” I called back, and tried striking the door again.
No response.
I peeked down the staircase. Alex was looking up at me with hopeful eyes.
“It’s locked.”
“Locked?” he echoed. “But Frederick should have been here by now. Perhaps he’s still back on the island, waiting for us with the boat.”
“Perhaps,” I murmured, hoping with all my might it was true.A strange current charged the air. The storm was approaching fast. I made my way back down the stairs. On the last step, my foot slipped out from beneath me, sliding on a slick patch of lichens. Alex grabbed at my elbow, steadying me.
“Are you all right?”
I nodded.
“Why don’t you take the lead this time?” Alex suggested. “You’ll have a better view of the light ahead.”
Gratefully, I stepped into the dark tunnel. We reached the glass dome and kept going.
The smoking room was dark and as I made my way up the spiral stairs, feeling Alex’s eyes on me like a weight, I could already tell we were too late. The storm was here.
“Frederick?” I called out, stepping onto the platform.
It was empty. The boat was gone.
Overhead the sky had turned dark as the rain clouds we’d spotted earlier rolled in, ready to open up. I squinted against the rising winds, hoping to see a stray footman outdoors, who I could shout to for help. But the party preparations had been put on hold. Everyone seemed to have scurried indoors to wait out the storm.
I considered jumping in and swimming to shore. I could alert the staff about the locked door and we’d free Alex. But that would take so much time and my dress would be utterly ruined.
“I could leave the dress here,” I muttered to myself, weighing out options. Bending over the railing, I dipped my fingers into the water and winced. It was still cold from its spring thaw but I’d swam in worse before, off Salten. Losing the full skirts would make it easier to freely kick and I’d certainly need all the speed Icould get. Those giant carp had seemed likely to attack anything that moved.
The wind picked up, snapping stray hairs across my face like little whips. A bolt of lightning shot out from a dark cloud, hitting a tree on the shoreline. The force of the following thunder exploded through my chest and I shook my head. The last place I’d want to be during a lightning storm was on the open water. It would be a death sentence.
Another glittering branch danced overhead, hopping from cloud to cloud, searching for an outlet. It was absolute madness to remain out here. I scurried back to the stairs as the sky opened up, raining torrents down upon me. I was soaked through in an instant.
I hurried down the stairs, clinging to the wooden handrail. It was much darker in the smoking room now. The skylights glowed faintly overhead but it wasn’t enough to lift the gloom. Rain pounded down on them, a painfully loud cacophony.
“No Frederick, no boat,” I told Alex, rubbing my arms against the flurry of shivers racing down them. “Are there lights in here?”
Several hurricane lamps were positioned throughout the room, but we couldn’t find any matches. With so much rain coming down the open stairwell, a growing puddle inched its way into the room, heading for a drain.
“You said the dome glows at night, didn’t you?” I shouted, trying to be heard over the chaos. Another crack of thunder rumbled, shaking the bottles of liquor at the bar.
Alex held his hands over his ears. “What?”
“Gas lights. In the dome?”
He nodded and turned back for the tunnel, wheels racing. Atthe entrance to the dome, he found a little brass plate and flipped its toggle.
Several lamps came to life, brightening the green murkiness. With a cry of relief, I sank down on a bench tucked between Gerard’s flowerbeds. Water dripped from my hair, setting my teeth to chatter.
A sharp thud from the glass made me jump away.
