Voyage (Powerless Nation #2) Read Online Free Page B

matters now is getting everyone ready to evacuate. That includes you.”
    Sena looked into the man’s face. He was slim and young, but steady, and there was resolve in his eyes.
    “Yes sir,” she said. As she left, the room flooded with more members of the ship’s crew, all clamoring to help. She had to admire how quickly the staff captain had stepped into his new role. She knew how hard it was when people you counted on let you down. 
    Captain Brady had the heart of a true captain. Maybe they’d survive this after all.
     
    When Sena stepped out from the staff-only door, she immediately noticed the smell of burning plastic and hot metal. There were people all around her and she was soon swept along in the crush of panicked passengers trying to get to the lifeboats. After getting her bearings and making sure they were taking her in the right direction, Sena allowed herself to be carried along with the crowd.
    Many of the passengers were in swimsuits, probably coming from the indoor pool area. They shivered in the brisk air and wrapped towels closely around themselves, trying to keep ahold of life preservers. Some held fussy children, but most were older, holding hands and trying to stay together.
    Luckily, since her cabin was near the front of the ship, her muster station wasn’t very far from the bridge. That was where her luck ended. The place where her assigned lifeboat should have been hanging was empty — the lifeboat was gone. 
    Around her, passengers complained:
    “The nerve of him. Just because he’s the captain doesn’t mean he can take off with our lifeboat.”
    “I thought the captain was supposed to go down with the ship.”
    “We’re all gonna die!” This was from a little old lady with curly white hair that stuck out at crazy angles.
    Sena looked for her classmates. They were crowded tightly at one end of the muster station, trying to remember how to put on the life vests. Some of the girls were crying, and others stared in shock. Miss Friedel, looking harried, attempted to get a headcount. 
    “Where are the girls in 2109?” she called.
    That was Sena's room. “I’m here,” she waved her hand, and scanned the group for her bunkmates. There was no sign of them.
    “Charity? Paris?” called Sena. “Has anyone seen Jessica?”
    “They all got massages earlier,” offered a male voice. Sena turned and saw that it was Kade. “Last time I saw them they said they were going back to their room to change.”
    Sena was sick. Her roommates were probably lost. They had no idea where the muster station was or what to do in an emergency and it was all her fault. If she hadn’t agreed to check in for them at the drill, they’d be here now.
    They could die, and she’d be the one to blame.
    “How long ago did you see them?” she asked Kade.
    “Not long, maybe twenty minutes.”
    “I’ve got to find them,” she told him.
    “What if you’re not back when it’s time to board the lifeboats?”
    Sena pointed at the empty lifeboat mount and raised an eyebrow.
    “Good point. We’d better go now while Miss Frizzle isn’t looking.”
    The teacher spoke animatedly to a crew-member about the missing lifeboat. She insisted they find room for the kids on another lifeboat without splitting them up. 
    The crew-member nodded and spoke in soothing tones to Ms. Friedel, “Everything is going to be fine, it’s no big deal. These kinds of things just happen sometimes when you’re on a boat.”
    Ms. Friedel's cheeks turned red and she raised her voice in anger and disbelief. Sena thought her head might explode.
    “Are you coming or what?” Sena looked over in surprise. Kade beckoned to her from a doorway leading into the ship.
    “You can’t come,” said Sena in dismay. She didn’t want to be responsible for Kade missing the lifeboat too.
    Wisps of smoke trailed lazily from the open door and up into the hazy sky. “Come on, Sena, stop wasting time. Let’s go.”
    Inside the long hallway, daylight