Masquerade ✔

Chapter 45

Alright. After taking 15 seconds to panic, Clara calmed herself down. Mrs. Norrington said that the platform had to be retracted manually, which meant that Harrison's mother would have to go down to the ship's control room and pull the switch herself. That gave Clara maybe five minutes.

But five minutes to do what. The door wouldn't budge. She looked over the side of the ship and immediately pulled back as she started to get lightheaded. There was nothing between her and the ground. From this distance, they probably wouldn't be able to identify her body. The Norringtons would report her as missing, and that would be the end of it.

"Get it together, Clara," Clara growled to herself. "No point in thinking about that when you should be thinking about how to escape."

She inspected the side of the ship. There had to be rigging for maintenance work. She peered down one side, but didn't see anything. But on the other side, a set of rings protruding from the ship, just within her reach. They led all the way up and down, likely places where maintenance workers would harness themselves while doing their work.

But did Clara dare go for it? Because then what? She couldn't hold on forever, she could maybe climb up and down them, but she knew there was an enormous risk of losing her grip, and there was no telling if Harrison or Araminta would even think to check out here for her.

Clara squinted, looking past the rings, and then up and down, looking for anything that could help her.

She found what she was looking for. But just thinking about it made her stomach drop.

About ten feet up from where she was, coils of rope lay attached to the side of the ship. If she could get to those, she could use them to climb up or down, and find a way in. It would be a lot easier to climb rope than cling to rings.

But the only place Clara could think of to go was the transport dock, and that was all the way on the other side of the ship. And most of the windows of the rest of the manor didn't even open for safety reasons. She figured there was a maintenance entrance, but she had no idea where.

Clara sucked in her breath. Most of the windows didn't open, but the ones in the kitchen did. They had to in order to let out heat. And she was probably only 30 feet above, so if she could get to the rope, it would be easy enough to repel down.

Easy. Nothing about this was easy.

"Alright, Clara," she muttered. "It's the only plan you have. Get a move on."

Not allowing herself time to think, Clara swung one leg over the railing, carefully placing her foot in the small gap between bars, clenching the top rail with a death grip. In another careful, fluid movement, both feet were on the other side and Clara found herself hanging over several thousand feet of open air.

Now she had to reach. Keeping one hand firmly on the rail, Clara stretched her other trembling arm out, keeping her stomach pressed against the side of the ship. Her fingers strained to reach the rings, and while her fingertips brushed the metal, they couldn't quite make it.

Clara hunched back over the railing to keep her strength. She would have to jump.

She felt the platform lurch. She would have to jump now.

"Please let this work," Clara breathed to herself. "One, two, three, go!"

As the platform began to move in, Clara launched herself off and into the open air. The leap felt like it took forever. And then her hand felt the metal ring, and she frantically grasped for it. She missed.