The Explorer's Apprentice

65:What Rose Wouldn't Do

Arabelle D’Ewes
 
“Move! Move it, idiot! This is an emergency!”

“Hey!” An angry man the width of a beanpole tries to block her way. “No cutting! You’ll get a boat just like the rest of us!”

Belle stares him down. The edges of her vision are red. How dare he. How dare he try to stop me. “Keep your freaking boat!” she yells, forcing him aside. “I need to find Jack!”

Here and there, ship guards mill about aimlessly, waving their arms like morons, as if this affects the flow of traffic. They’re still calling it an “evacuation.” They still believe only the first class deserve to be evacuated first. Belle dashes past the pale, waxy faces and sees nothing but despair. Dead men walking.

Trying to move through the mass of people is like trying to wade through caramel. Too many hoop skirts, too many coattails. People shout in protest as she treads on their fine silks. You pompous, selfish people, Arabelle thinks, cursing each and every one of them. Selfish! How can you care about your clothes at a time like this? How can you stand there—after all of this, after all the people you’ve laughed with and cried with and fallen in love with, on this ship of dreams—and still think you are better than another human being? How can you care about anything right now other than the lives of other people?

Belle sees without looking. She checks each face, subconsciously, for the one face she wants to see most.

I care, Jack! I don’t care about the jewels or the gold or all the money in the world! I care about you! I would give it all up for you!

She barrels her way through the shoving shoulders furiously. She is the most powerful force in the world right now. Nothing and no one can stop her. Not her mother. Not Malcolm. Not a sinking ship. Not the face of death. Not even Rose. I would give up my chance at life for you.
Arabelle dashes down the stairs to first class.

“What are you doing?” The elevator attendant blocks her way. “First class is evacuating!”

“Consider me second class, then!” Belle pushes past and jams the button for the floor below.
Would Rose do this, Jack?

She’s out of the doors before the elevator stops all the way. Belle runs through the deserted hallway until the reaches Rose’s room.

Would Rose risk her life to come save you?

She turns the doorknob and slams the door open.

“Miss Arabelle!” Mr. Lovejoy straightens up in surprise. He just has time to stash a gold statue and a gun in his pocket. “I was just… picking up a few things for the Bukaters. What… what are you doing here?”

Jack’s not here. Mr. Lovejoy arrested him and locked him up. He arrested my Jack.

“Looking for someone?”