Titanic: April 1912 by Kathleen Duey

Author:Kathleen Duey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

Chapter Nine

As Karolina handed Davey over to his mother, Gavin stood uneasily, a case in each hand. The slant of the deck made him feel sick with fear. If the ship was listing, it meant that it was taking on more water.

“I’ll come up to the boat deck as soon as I can get the children dressed,” Emily was saying. “God bless you for helping.”

Karolina’s face was full of concern. “Are you sure you’ll be all right?” she asked.

Gavin watched Emily nod. “You go ahead. Don’t make Rose wait.”

Gavin led the way toward the third-class entrance, walking as fast as he could. There were more people on the stairs this time, most of them carrying boxes or dragging trunks. It was hard to maneuver through them. Once they were out of the worst of the crowd, Gavin nodded at Karolina. “You were brave to help Emily.”

Karolina’s eyes caught his and held. “Are we really going to sink, Gavin? Do you think we are going to die?” She whispered it, glancing back down the stairs.

Gavin shook his head. “There will be rescue ships here soon. Maybe they’re here now.”

“I saw them sending up flares,” Karolina said as they rounded the first landing. A family was standing there. Three little children were leaning sleepily against their mother’s skirt. The father, a balding man who still looked half-asleep, was talking loudly to his wife.

“I’m telling you, they don’t want us up there,” he was saying. “The steward said it’s all for the first-class passengers, and that we are to wait here.”

“But we have to go somewhere,” his wife sniffled. Her hair was loose, tumbling down her back. “We’re going to die. Oh, dear God, I’m scared.”

Gavin led Karolina around them, trying not to hear any more of the woman’s panicked words. He could feel his own fear thundering in every heartbeat. “Listen to your wife, Mister,” he said, turning back. “You have to get up to the boat deck.” The woman looked angrily at her husband, and they began to argue.

The stairs seemed endlessly long this time. The case Gavin carried was heavy. He kept glancing back at Karolina. She was managing to keep up. Gavin looked toward the top of the stairs and shook his head. They seemed steep. Too steep.

Struggling up onto the landing, Gavin stopped, blinking, unable to believe his eyes.

“It’s slanting, like you said,” Karolina breathed, close behind him. There was both wonder and terror in her voice. And she was right. The Titanic was tipped dangerously forward, her bow lowering under the weight of the water that had poured into it.

Gavin stared into the darkness of the sky for a moment, at the ice-shard stars flickering above his head. Then he let his eyes come back to the little section of deck that served as the third-class prome­nade. It was slanting markedly downward, away from them.

He picked up the case again, looking back toward the door as someone behind them cried out. A knot of confused voices tangled together in the cold air.

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