Emilie and the Sky World Read Online Free Page A

professor wasn’t even sure it was something they needed to worry about yet, though she seemed to feel that worrying about it was the best course. So Emilie had just said that the professor needed to speak to Dr Marlende urgently and had missed him when he was in town, and that they were going to escort her to Meneport, and that Emilie would write as soon as she had a chance.
    By the time they reached the port to meet the professor, Daniel had had the idea to send a wire directly to the office of the docks where the Marlendes would take the airship. It might not be delivered before they arrived, but it was worth a try, and they were sure to reach Dr Marlende more quickly if he knew they were coming.
    While Daniel was busy, Emilie took the money he had given her and purchased three passages on the steamer, something she had never done before. She considered it her first act as Miss Marlende’s assistant that didn’t involve being shot at.
    This was a fast steamer, and they should arrive at Meneport sometime late that night, so they hadn’t bothered with a cabin. On the second deck of the steamer, there was a large glassed-in space with upholstered benches for seating. Daniel was ensconced on one with their bags, reading though one of the notebooks Professor Abindon had brought.
    Emilie was too restless to sit down and went out on deck to stand at the railing. They were leaving the harbor, the cliffs turned golden by the afternoon sun. The wind was cool and refreshing, the sky blue and dotted with white clouds. Emilie leaned on the railing and watched the coast go by, feeling the now-familiar chug of the engines through the deck boards. There were gray stone houses in the little pockets of green fields in between the cliffs, with narrow sandy beaches at their feet. Sailing boats and a small tug clung close to the shore, avoiding the path of the larger steamer.
    Professor Abindon moved up to stand at the railing beside her. After a moment, the professor said, “Daniel looks tired.”
    “He hasn’t had much time to recover,” Emilie said, and realized neither had she. Only a few days ago, they had been fighting for their lives, and now they were eating dinner with Karthea and buying steamer passages and worrying about what the newspapers printed about them. Even with the aetheric disruption to be concerned about, it didn’t seem real.
    “I suppose…” The professor’s gloved hands tightened on the railing. She seemed to change her mind about what she had intended to say. “Vale was well when you left her?”
    “Yes, very well. Oh, she was tired. So was Dr Marlende.” Emilie realized then what the professor wanted to ask. She was upset when she found out that Miss Marlende hadn’t answered any of her wires. And Miss Marlende must not have bothered to open any of them, or she would have surely taken a moment to reply. The professor and Miss Marlende must have quarreled about something fairly serious. Emilie tried to explain her position without implying that she suspected there had been an argument. “I wasn’t her assistant until after we got to Silk Harbor. I mean, I wasn’t there when she and Kenar were trying to find a way to get to the aetheric stream, when they went to Lord Engal for help. So… I really don’t know anything about that.” She winced, having the feeling she had just made the whole thing all that much more awkward.
    From the disgruntled expression on the professor’s face, she apparently agreed. Professor Abindon said, under her breath, “Well, we’ll see when we get there.”
     
    They arrived late that night. Emilie had gone inside to doze on one of the hard benches, but woke in time to watch from the deck as the ship approached the port.
    Mist drifted across the water, but she could see the gas and electric lights of the city sparking in the darkness like low-lying stars, hinting at the shapes of buildings and the presence of streets. She hadn’t seen this before, the Sovereign ’s