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A great divide has split open between Papa and me. The childlike admiration and trust I once held for him now withers like a dying flower, scorched by his bitter words.
“I want to go with Jack,” I whisper, my voice shaking almost as much as my heart. “I can’t live like this anymore.”
Papa stares at me, looking like I just struck him across the face. Pain and fury stir in his eyes. “Fine,” he replies, his voice as cold as ice. “Go.”
I can hardly believe my ears at first. I don’t think Jack can, either. We both stand there, frozen with shock.
“Go!” Papa barks, gesturing sharply toward the door. “Get out! Both of you.”
I recoil back a step and feel the warmth of Jack’s hand slide into mine, but my gaze remains fixed on Papa until he storms out of the house. I stare at the empty doorway, a deep ache splitting my heart.
Jack’s voice shakes me out of my daze. “Orca.”
“Yes?”
“Grab some clothes. Let’s go.”
I nod and obey his command, going to my room and sliding open drawers, lingering only as long as it takes to shove several sets of clothes into a linen bag. The last thing I slip into the bag is Adam’s journal. Then I rejoin Jack in the living room, where he stands guard as if ready to defend me with fists against my father.
Lucius hides by the sofa, cowering from the conflict and watching me with droopy eyes. I kiss his head and whisper, “Goodbye, Lucius. I’ll be back, I promise. Be good for Papa, okay?”
“Come on, Orca,” Jack says. “We have to go.”
I pull myself away, and Lucius whines—making me want to cry. But I will be back. I loop the bag over my shoulder and follow Jack outside.
A little voice in the back of my mind tells me to wait, to think, to be sure I’m doing the right thing.
No, I tell myself. I am doing the right thing.
I’m following my heart, and following one’s heart can never be wrong.
* * *
Jack helps me onto the starboard float of the red-and-white seaplane, reaching up to open the door for me. I carefully scale the short ladder and climb into the cabin.
While Jack unties the mooring lines, my curious gaze wanders over the wall of instruments: meters and knobs and dials and levers. It’s all a fathomless chaos of information, somehow beautiful in its complexity. The cabin is small and cozy, but spacious enough to seat six passengers. Windows line the aircraft on either side, promising an unforgettable view once we take off.
Jack grins as he climbs into the pilot’s seat, unclipping his sunglasses from his bomber jacket.
“Do you know what all those things do?” I ask, gesturing toward the instruments.
“I have to know in order to fly this thing.”
“That’s amazing. It must have taken an age to learn everything.”
Jack shrugs one shoulder. “I had a good teacher.”
“Adam?”
He nods, passing me a strange device with an arched band connecting two padded circles. “Here, put these on.”
“What is it?”
Jack looks at me like I’m crazy. “Headphones. They go over your ears like this.” He slides a pair onto his head, and now I see how they work.
“Oh!” I fix them over my ears and marvel at how muffled everything sounds. “But how will I hear you?”
Jack turns one of the knobs, and a whoosh fills my ears, along with the sound of his voice as if he is inside the headphones.
