Aether Rising

Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Somewhere over the Eastern seaboard, 11 March 1871

Iris squinted through the telescope at the Blooming Senator, willing the escape compartment at the end to detach and float down to them. Enough light came from the moon that she could make out the ship’s air balloon, but she knew the only parts of the escape compartment she’d be able to see would be the parachutes. She fought back the panic that arose at the memory of her own harrowing escape from that very airship a mere nine months before. For Patrick’s sake, she hoped Cobb had had the compartments inspected and their parachutes fixed.

“See anything yet?” Marie asked.

“No. The ship remains intact.” Iris lowered the device and rubbed her eyes. “I don’t know if I can watch anymore. Here.” She handed the telescope to Marie and rotated her head to loosen her shoulder muscles.

Marie peered up and frowned. “I think something just fell from the ship.” She yelled through the message tube to the bridge. “Nets out! He’s sending something back.”

“Are you sure it’s from him?” Iris asked.

“We need to catch it and see.” Marie grinned, and Iris couldn’t help but smile back even though she was so tired her cheeks ached. Marie loved her adventures, and Iris knew that no matter where Marie landed, she’d be happy as long as she could continue to find challenges.

The Skycatcher tilted as it turned to intercept the tube, and Iris clutched the observation deck’s railing with one hand and Marie with the other so her friend wouldn’t tumble into the opposite bank of windows.

“I should’ve anticipated that,” Marie said and grabbed the railing. “All that time lifting rocks out of the way gave you some good arm muscles.”

“Thanks, I think,” Iris said. She was happy to hold on with both arms.

The Skycatcher righted itself, and both women slumped to the floor and shook out their arms and shoulders.

“Are you two all right up there?” Johann asked through the tube. His voice sounded tinny.

“Yes, but give us some warning next time,” Marie replied.

“Sorry, but we got it. Armand’s landing now.”

Iris looked at the glow that was the Blooming Senator until it disappeared behind the clouds. Still no parachutes.

“Something went wrong.” Disappointment made Iris slump against the cool window.

“Don’t worry, we’ll rescue him somehow,” Marie told her. “Can you manage the ladder?”

“Yes.” Iris didn’t allow her disappointment to show but knew her friend suspected her feelings. What will it take to bring us all together again?

A chill slithered between her shoulders at the thought, and she flexed them back to stop it. My arms are fatigued from having to catch Marie, that’s all.

Marie preceded Iris down the ladder, and Edward supported Iris for the last few rungs. She felt disloyal for thinking it, but she was glad to be on solid ground again. The glass-enclosed gas lamps on the side of the airship flared to life to illuminate the nets, and Johann untangled the wire-encased wax tube.

“Did he put another message on it?” Iris asked.

“Not really, just this.” Johann showed the rest of them the tube, which had a big X scratched on it.

“What does it mean?” Edward asked.

“That he doesn’t want us to come after him, maybe?” Iris wasn’t sure. “Is it too dangerous?”

The four of them exchanged stricken looks. The Irishman had been a great help to them, twice in Paris with Edward and then in the few weeks he and Chadwick Radcliffe had spent with them in the Ottoman Empire. More than his brawn and his genius way with devices, Iris missed his easy laugh and the way he found the humor in most situations. And if he got bored, he created conflict, which didn’t always work out well, but still… She didn’t trust Cobb not to harm him.

Marie frowned and took the cylinder from Johann’s hand. She unwrapped a hair that had gotten tangled in the wires when the device was reassembled.

“Looks like yours,” Johann said.

“It’s not. It’s too fine to be mine. Patrick may be in more trouble than we thought.”

“How so?” Iris asked.

“This belongs to Louisa, Cobb’s stepdaughter. I had to clean her hairbrushes often enough I recognize it. She’s not as bad as Cobb is, but she’s a spoiled young lady.”

“Is Patrick in danger?” Iris frowned up at the sky like she could make the airship reappear and reassure her the Irishman was all right.

“Only if he loses his heart to her. She’s been known to deceive men, take what she or her stepfather wants, and spit them out.”

Claire sat at the table in the dining car and watched the scenery pass by. Well, as much of the scenery as she could see through the dark. Occasionally the train would go through a field, and she’d catch a glimpse of a farmhouse beyond, the light from the hearth glowing through the windows. Sometimes the fields had steam-tillers turning the early spring soil in anticipation of planting when the sun came up.

She stifled a yawn. She normally wouldn’t be up so early for breakfast, especially after catching the train so late the night before, but the cook and steward were doing her and her fiancé a favor by allowing them to eat together before it opened for the regular patrons at seven. Otherwise, since they weren’t yet married, she traveled in a private car and he with the colored passengers in a car at the back.

“Right this way, Doctor.”

Claire looked up and smiled when she saw her breakfast companion. Her heart never failed to lift when he turned his gray eyes on her. A grin lit his face.

“You look beautiful,” he said and kissed her on the cheek.

“Thank you.” She felt beautiful when he looked at her even if she’d been lamenting the dark circles under her eyes that the window showed her when there wasn’t anything to see beyond it. When she slept, she heard the screams of the soldiers who had died as a result of her and Patrick O’Connell’s invention. Even though the aether weapon La Reine had ended the war and freed millions, she shuddered at the cost.

“How did you sleep?” she asked. She wanted to revel in this feeling of normalcy, manufactured though it may be by the kindness of the dining car staff.

“Fine. The n***o car is more comfortable than the barracks, but someone in there snores even worse than Patrick.”

Lawrence, the steward brought two menus and a steaming pot of coffee. He talked as he poured the fragrant liquid into their cups.

“Straight from New Orleans with a little chicory to get you going.”

“Thank you so much for doing this,” Claire said.

“It’s my pleasure, Miss. Now what can I bring you to eat?”

Claire opened her mouth to order, but the door to the dining car banged open, and she heard a voice that had haunted her nightmares.

“What is he doing in here, dining like a regular person?”

The look on Chadwick’s face confirmed it—not only was their intimate breakfast interrupted by a racist, the bigot in question was Claire’s aunt, Eliza. Claire hunched her shoulders and hid her hands underneath the table. She wore her shorter gloves, and the ropy scars at her wrists were evident. If her aunt Eliza hadn’t figured out who Chad was—and if she had, she surely would have said so—then maybe she wouldn’t recognize Claire.

“Excuse me,” Lawrence said and moved toward the disruption. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but the dining car isn’t open for general service yet.”

“I’m not here for general service. Do I look like the general public?”

Chad sipped his coffee and with a wink mouthed, “She’s the same but fatter. Do you want me to say something to her?”

“I have no doubt, and no.” Claire envied Chad’s and Lawrence’s composure. She also appreciated Chad taking her cue rather than being a typical male and confronting Eliza. There needed to be a conversation at some point, but not until Claire could talk to her mother. Now that she had all her memories back—including the ones of the evening when she’d been injured—Claire feared she would say something inappropriate to her aunt, and she didn’t want a scene.

It seemed that Eliza didn’t mind making one, however.

“I demand to be served,” Eliza was saying. “This train is too slow. I have an important meeting in Boston for my niece’s bridal shower, and I don’t trust my sister to manage the details correctly. I’ll be disembarking in Terminus to catch an airship, and I need breakfast beforehand. I can’t handle takeoff on an empty stomach.”

“If you like, I can have something sent to your car.” Lawrence seemed determined to match Eliza’s stubbornness. Claire fought the urge to cheer him on.

“How does she know?” Chad murmured.

“I telegraphed Aidan to tell Mother we’re coming home. He must have given her some of the details but not all of them.”

Eliza bowled over Lawrence’s offer with, “I don’t have room for a tray to eat in my compartment. My passage was booked at the last minute, so I only have a berth, not the car I’m used to, so I must eat here.”

“We need to leave,” Claire said. Eliza’s familiar self-importance and irritability at anyone who dared contradict her grated against Claire’s heart. Worse, it threatened to set off the blocks the Parisian neuroticists had hypnotized into her, which she thought had been healed. Her ears buzzed, and blackness appeared at the edges of her vision. Her face felt hot and cold simultaneously, and from Chad’s concerned expression, she guessed she had gone even paler than her natural state.

“Can you stand?”

“I think so.” She inhaled through her nose and exhaled out of her mouth. She hadn’t felt like this since before her hypnotic blocks had been removed. She shouldn’t have anything like that now, so why was she reacting?

It’s probably just good, old-fashioned nervous hysteria at meeting my evil aunt unprepared.

But logic wasn’t helping. She wanted to strip off her gloves to cool her hands but dared not.

Chad stood and said, “Lawrence, thank you, but my fiancée isn’t feeling well. We’re going to head back to her cabin.”

“I’ll send something along for you momentarily,” the steward replied calmly, as if he wasn’t engaged in a battle of wills.

“Good,” Eliza said. “I’m glad somebody knows his place.” She settled into the booth nearest her with an audible puff of air from her skirts.

Now Claire had a different problem, walking by Eliza without being recognized. She hoped her aunt would be too engrossed in the menu, but she guessed not. Most people were fascinated, and many appalled, when they saw her and Chad together.

Chad helped Claire stand and held her while she accustomed herself to the motion of the train under her boots and the wobbliness that had come to her knees. He walked between her and Eliza, but the older woman said, “Stop! You look familiar, negro.”

“I’m sorry, but I have to get my fiancée to her room.”

Claire turned as if she was looking out of the window. Come on, come on…

“You’re not allowed in that part of the train.”

“I’ll pretend to be her servant. Good day, Madam.”

He and Claire rushed from the dining car and through the connection into the first coach compartment. They didn’t stop until they reached her berth, one of the smaller ones but still big enough for two people comfortably.

“Guess I’m stuck here until Terminus,” Chad said with a grin. “I’ll slip off and back to my car when we stop.”

“Don’t.” Claire took his hand. “Stay here with me. It’s not right for you to have to ride back there. It’s not right for anyone, and I won’t see you again until we arrive.”

“You know I agree with you,” he said and took her in his arms. “But that’s how it is for now. Just wait till we’re in Boston and can use our influence to change things. We’re war heroes, remember?”

She nodded but didn’t tell him she didn’t feel like much of a hero. He had enough to worry about.

“Since when are you such an optimist?” Claire teased instead.

“Since I have reason to be one.” He leaned in for a kiss, and Claire closed her eyes, ready to lose herself in it.

Once again their romantic moment was interrupted by the arrival of her aunt, who flung the door open.

“I thought that was you, Claire McPhee. You should have learned your lesson. You’re getting off with me at Terminus so you can explain to the Ladies’ Guild why you won’t be having a wedding, after all.”

Claire straightened but held Chad’s hand. “No, Aunt Eliza, I will do no such thing. Doctor Chadwick Radcliffe and I are engaged.” She narrowed her eyes and dared her aunt to contradict her.

“Is this her?” The conductor appeared behind Eliza.

“Yes, this is my poor niece.” Eliza dabbed her eyes. “She’s been under the influence of this n***o charlatan and is convinced she’s engaged to him. She’s had hysteria before. We had to send her for treatment in Paris.”

Claire fought the wave of heat that rose from her chest and threatened to close her throat. She kept her voice calm and, she hoped, professional. “I am Doctor Claire McPhee,” she said, “and this is my fiancé, Doctor Chadwick Radcliffe. We’re on our way from Fort Daniels in Tennessee back to Boston. Perhaps you’ve heard of the decisive Union victory there?”

“Yes, but the papers said that was an Irishman, not a n***o or a girl.” The conductor sniffed. “Look here, if this lady says you’re not right in the head, I’m not going to argue with her. Now come along.”

Two burly stewards came in, but instead of grabbing Claire, they took hold of Chad so he couldn’t help her.

“I will do no such thing, and unhand my fiancé! Telegraph to Fort Daniels at the next stop and ask for Major Longchamp. He’ll send word corroborating our story.”

“Don’t believe a word she says, poor dear.” Eliza patted Claire on the arm and added in a stage whisper, “She spent time in an asylum. They hypnotized her so she’d seem normal.”

Claire drew back as much as she could in the small space. “I am normal. I am a neuroticist, and you’re suffering from delusions of grandeur.”

“No, I’m simply your caring aunt, and they’re not delusions.” Eliza took Claire by the upper arm and pulled her from the room. “Now come along. You’ve kept me from having breakfast, and I’m going to be very cross with you.”

“Now as for you,” the conductor said to Chad, “I’m going to hand you over to the authorities at the next stop…”

With a sinking feeling, Claire realized what she should have since she first knew Eliza was on the train—her aunt had bribed the conductor. And now Claire was stuck and Chad would be ejected in Terminus, lucky if they waited for the train to slow first. She hoped she could get help for Chad once she arrived in Boston.