In a world of steamships and Progress, no one who sails due south across the Wild Sea ever returns.
No one knows why.
Dale Mortensen intends to solve the mystery. With the help of an old sailor and a reformed playboy searching for his missing sweetheart, he locates a captain and crew ambitious—not to mention crazy—enough to undertake the journey across the Wild Sea.
The Infinity and her crew sail south, but the truth of what really lies on the other side of the horizon is more amazing—and terrifying—than anything they can imagine.
It’s the adventure of a lifetime—and it may just get Dale and his friends killed.
Find out how this Young Adult steampunk adventure unfolds chapter-by-chapter every Thursday! Click here to start from the beginning. Or if you want to read it at your own pace, buy the ebook for $7.99 from Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords or Sony, or get it as a trade paperback from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Book Depository.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HORIZON
E. R. PASKEY
FOUR
DALE BROKE THE NEWS TO HIS AUNT before breakfast the next day. He was mildly alarmed by the tears that welled in her eyes as she threw her arms around him in a fierce hug.
“I’ll miss you, my boy,” she said into his shoulder. “You’re as good to me as one of my own sons, Dale.” She pulled back to offer him a watery smile. “But I’m glad it’s not because of Wayne and Belle.”
His stomach clenched. Wayne and Belle?
Aunt Helena tightened her grip on him; his expression had given him away. “My dear, I’ve noticed how you’ve looked at her over the last few years.” Her mouth firmed. “And how she didn’t see you. I was afraid…” she broke off, waving a hand. “Well, let’s just say that going off to seek your fortune will go easier if you aren’t nursing a broken heart along the way.”
Dale mustered a smile. “If you say so, Aunt Helena.”
“I do.” She patted his cheek. Almost instantly, her expression sobered again. “Gail…”
“I’m going to talk to her.” Dale’s face bore equal concern.
“She really loves you,” said Aunt Helena gently. “Don’t be surprised if she’s upset.”
That prompted a small smile from Dale. “I think I’d feel awful if she wasn’t,” he said truthfully, “but I don’t want to hurt her.”
Gloria swept into the kitchen just then to start making a pan of sausage gravy.
“I’ll save you two some biscuits.” Squeezing his shoulder, Aunt Helena moved back to the stove.
Dale intercepted Gail as she enthusiastically bounded down the stairs into the dining room. “Good morning, sunshine.”
“Dale!” Beaming, his little blonde cousin launched herself off the fourth stair, fully expecting him to catch her. He did. He always caught her.
“Come outside with me for a few minutes?” asked Dale. “I need to talk to you about something important.”
Gail nodded. “If you give me a piggyback ride.”
“As the princess commands.” Letting her slide back down to the floor, Dale turned around and knelt. Strong little arms fastened around his neck. “Ready?”
“Ready!” chirped Gail.
Locking his hands around her knees, Dale stood up and marched out the front door. He scanned the front yard for the best place for a tête-à-tête and settled on the plum tree. Gail loved plums. Gently, he set her down on the grass beneath the tree. Then he sprawled out beside her.
“Gail,” he began, a lump in his throat, “I’m leaving soon.”
“To go to town?” she asked brightly, investigating the grass for green plums that had fallen.
“No. I’m going back to Port Ruby, where I was born. I’m going to be a sailor again.”
That caught her attention. She whipped around to stare at him, her brown eyes wide. “You’re going back to the Wild Sea? The place that ate your parents?”
Dale found himself taken aback. He had not realized his version of events from so many years before had filtered down to his youngest cousin. He nodded slowly.
“No!” Gail clenched her fists, her brown eyes filling with tears. “I don’t want it to eat you too, Dale! Don’t go!”
He hated it when she cried. “Don’t cry, Gail. It’s not going to eat me. I promise.” At least not like that, he added silently. His plans were big enough that it was possible he could disappear too, but no…he would not think of that now.
Gail stood up, putting her on eye level with him. “You don’t have to leave,” she insisted, waving her hands. “This is your home!”
“I can’t stay here forever,” Dale told her gently. “Neither will you. Someday, you’ll grow up and a handsome prince will fall in love with you and want you to be his wife.”
Gail was not convinced. She spent the next ten minutes crying and trying to reason with her beloved older cousin, but eventually she had to admit defeat. He was gentle, but remained unmoved. She clutched at his shoulder. “You will come and visit us, won’t you?”
“I’ll visit as much as I’m able,” promised Dale. He stood up and offered her his hand. “How about some breakfast?”
Sniffing, Gail lifted her chin the way she’d seen her older sister do. “I’m sure I can’t eat a bite.”
She subsequently ate two helpings of biscuits and gravy. Dale wisely refrained from commenting.
~oOo~
HAVING prepared the two people who would take it the hardest, Dale announced his imminent departure to the rest of the family just before breakfast ended. His words were met with wide eyes and slack jaws.
“You’re going back to the Wild Sea?” demanded Gloria sharply. “To live on the coast?”
“I’m going to be a sailor,” Dale corrected her.
The color drained from her face. “But isn’t that dangerous?”
“Only if he heads due south.” All eyes turned to Wayne. “Supposedly. If you believe the Legend.” His eyes met his cousin’s in a challenging stare.
“And that’s all it is,” said Uncle Liev firmly. “A legend. A story somebody made up to frighten little children.” He shot a dour look at Dale.
Well. That was hardly fair, considering Wayne had been the one to bring up the taboo subject, but Dale shrugged it off. It doesn’t matter. In a few days, I’ll be gone.
Excusing himself with a mutter, Wayne left the table and disappeared outside.
Dale suppressed a frown as he watched his cousin leave. They were plowing the west field today; there would be no avoiding Wayne. He shook his head slightly to himself. Might as well get it over with.
He found Wayne in the barn, hitching up horses to the plow.
“What do you think you’re doing, leaving in the middle of planting season?” demanded Wayne, as soon as Dale’s shadow darkened the doorway. “Pa needs you here.” His eyes flashed. “I’m getting married this summer and he’s going to need some help! Davy’s not big enough to take on your job yet.”
Dale stared at his cousin, nonplussed. So it’s all right for you to go off and leave the farm to get married, but I’m not allowed to leave? He let Wayne carry on for another moment or two before he said quietly, “You’re his eldest son, Wayne. This is your responsibility. I’m just the nephew.”
He did not remind his cousin of the occasions over the years when Wayne had flung that in his face after a disagreement.
It was not necessary. Wayne’s thunderous expression shifted into grudging pleading. “Can’t you stay a little longer? Just until Davy can take over?”
Dale wanted to ask why Wayne could not put his wedding off another year, but he only lifted his broad shoulders in a shrug. “Uncle Liev can probably hire someone to help out.” Ignoring the way his cousin’s chest puffed up with anger, he continued, “I’m a year older than you, Wayne. This is my time.”
“It’s because of Belle, isn’t it?” sneered Wayne. “You can’t stand that she’s marrying me when she wouldn’t give you the time of day.”
Just as intended, the words stirred up a swell of anger in Dale’s chest. But he had long experience tamping things down; he let the urge to smash his fist into his cousin’s face pass him by. Instead, he fixed Wayne with an icy stare. “I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say you’re not awake yet.” They had been up since before dawn, but that was beside the point.
“We took you in.” Wayne’s face was mutinous.
“And I’m grateful. But that doesn’t mean I have to stay here the rest of my life.” Shaking his head, Dale held up a hand to forestall any argument. “I’ve worked on this farm just as hard as any of you. But this isn’t what I want out of life.”
“Oh, no,” said Wayne sarcastically, “you don’t want to do anything productive. You just want to go chasing after a fairy story.” The morning sun slanted through a gap in the barn door to stripe Wayne’s face.
“It’s real.”
Wayne threw his hands into the air. “Dale, listen to yourself! All you’ve got to go on are some old stories you heard as a child and a few wild yarns in those newspapers you read.”
“There have been dozens of disappearances in the last nine years,” said Dale quietly. “Nobody who sails south is ever heard from again.”
Wayne shrugged. “Occupational hazard, if you ask me. Taking a little tub out on a body of water that big? No, thank you.” He shuddered. “That’s like having a yodeling competition up in the mountains after a hard winter.”
“We’re never going to get anywhere with this.” Dale suppressed a sigh. “Look, Wayne, I think it’s best if we agree to disagree. I’m leaving in four days. That’s all there is to it.”
“And Pa and I still think you ought to stay.” Wayne shrugged, looking faintly resentful. “But what can we do?”
Dale almost wondered if his cousin was jealous that he, Dale, would be escaping Falconcrest, but dismissed the thought immediately. Wayne had a good life ahead of him. A life in a place he wanted to be, with the girl he loved.
There are worse things.
~oOo~
AUNT Helena insisted in throwing Dale a going-away party on Saturday afternoon. Embarrassed, he tried to dissuade her, but she merely smiled at him and sailed on with her plans. She promised to keep it small, but once news of the party got out, it spread like poison ivy.
Over the course of the afternoon, three quarters of the town showed up at the farm to wish Dale well. He suspected most of them were there simply for the novelty, but he was honestly flabbergasted by the rest. He had not thought people in Falconcrest would care he was leaving them.
Fifteen minutes after the first guests arrived, however, it became blindingly obvious that their friends and neighbors had all heard he intended to sail the Wild Sea. By the time several well-meaning old dears cornered him in the parlor to insist that he not do anything crazy, Dale realized the tale of his upcoming adventures had taken on a life of its own. A criminally insane life, at that, he thought, mildly panicked.
He felt trapped by the attention; people came at him on all sides to offer well-wishes and crucial bits of advice. Then most of them stood around the edges of his Aunt Helena’s parlor, dining room, and kitchen nibbling on cookies and finger food while speculating over Dale’s motives for leaving and wondering how long he would last on the Wild Sea. Considering none of them had any sailing experience and very little knowledge of the ocean, their estimations took on stranger and stranger proportions.
As far as Dale was concerned, the only bright spot in the otherwise tortuous event was Belle Master’s arrival with her family. She actually approached Dale, weaving her way between other party guests, and—for the first time in her life—looked him straight in the eye. “I hear you’re off to have a grand adventure.”
Caught off-guard, Dale shuffled his feet and tried not to blush. “Well, I don’t know about that.”
“Still,” continued Belle, “it’s terribly exciting.” Wayne hovered at her elbow; she did not spare him a glance. Instead, she offered Dale a wistful little pout. “I’d like to see the sea someday.”
Swallowing, Dale looked at his cousin, who was starting to turn brick red. “Well, maybe someday you will.”
“You will have to come back sometime and tell us all about it.” Belle touched his arm. “Don’t forget about us.”
Dale felt rooted to the spot. Is she flirting with me? He could not believe his ears. Belle Masters had never so much as acknowledged his existence, and now she was touching him and telling him with a soulful glint in her blue eyes that he had better not forget about Falconcrest? His eyes were so wide he was sure they were about to fall out of his head and roll around on his aunt’s freshly-scrubbed floor, where they were bound to be squashed by someone’s specially polished boot. And then where would I be?
“Dale?” Belle was batting her eyelashes at him, looking slightly confused.
Not as confused as I feel. With a start, Dale came to himself. “I, uh, I’ll see what I can do, Belle.”
She only had time for a coy smile before Wayne bustled her off to find her parents.
Bemused, Dale shook his head to clear it. Had I known that all it took to get Belle’s interest was to leave Falconcrest to become a sailor… He chopped the thought off at its knees. She’s Wayne’s girl.
Speaking of Wayne, his cousin had not looked happy. Dale had no doubts he would be receiving an earful later. He pushed the thought away. Not my fault.
Over the next few hours, he tried slipping away a few times, but Aunt Helena seemed to have a sense for when he was about to bolt. At those precise moments, she appeared to link arms with him and lead her nephew off to greet some other neighbor or another who wanted to wish him a safe journey. She was beaming, practically glowing with pride in him, and Dale found he did not have the heart to refuse her.
Aunt Helena was the closest thing he had to a mother, and today she was showing the world she was proud of him. A lump formed in Dale’s throat and stuck fast. If his voice was a little gruffer than usual, no one commented on it.
~oOo~
THE sun had sunk behind the mountain by the time their last friend and neighbor departed. The entire family—sans Wayne, who was driving Belle home; she had opted to stay longer after her parents left—collapsed into chairs in the kitchen and surveyed the damage.
Gloria propped her feet up on the rungs of Davy’s chair, fanning herself rapidly. The hem of her skirt slid down her legs to reveal the tops of her button-up shoes, but she did not seem to care. “Oh, my stars,” she said breathlessly. “What a day. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many people in this house before—why, it looked like the entire town came to visit!”
Aunt Helena nodded. She was humming under her breath. “I’m glad they came to see Dale off.”
Uncle Liev said nothing, but he nodded.
“Mama,” complained Gail, after making a round of the kitchen and the food tables, “they ate all the cookies.”
“Don’t remind me.” Gloria draped the wrist of the hand not holding the fan over her eyes. “I’ve never seen three days’ worth of work disappear so quickly either.”
“It was worth it,” said Aunt Helena firmly, looking at Dale. Her cheeks were still pink and her eyes, though tired, were soft. “People will miss you, Dale.”
He scuffed the toe of his shoe along the stone floor of the kitchen. “If you say so, Aunt Helena.”
Wayne now returned, striding up the back steps, through the door, and into the crowded kitchen. His mood had not improved. Dropping into the last remaining chair at the table, he announced, “Belle wants a honeymoon by the seashore now.”
“Oh, does she?” Gloria let her wrist fall as she turned to look at her older brother. “That sounds interesting.”
Scowling, Wayne tipped his head in Dale’s direction. “It’s all because you’re leaving.”
“Perhaps she’ll change her mind in another week or two,” said Aunt Helena mildly.
“One can only hope,” muttered Wayne.
“And what’s wrong with that?” Gloria sat straight up in her chair, bringing her feet back down to the floor with two little taps of her heels.
“Nothing,” Wayne waved a hand irritably, “except that I don’t think we’ll be able to afford a honeymoon by the Wild Sea. That’s all.” Standing up, he motioned to the door. “We’ve got to go see to the cows.”
Casting commiserating looks at each other, Dale and Davy followed him out to the barn.
As his hands worked in automatic rhythm to send little jets of warm milk into his bucket, Dale marveled at the fact that this would be one of the last times he would perform this chore for the foreseeable future. The thought created a wondrous, fluttery feeling of excitement in the middle of his chest. In two days, I’ll set eyes on the Wild Sea for the first time in nine years.
He could hardly wait.
Find out how this Young Adult steampunk adventure unfolds chapter-by-chapter every Thursday! Or if you want to keep reading right now, buy the ebook for $7.99 from Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords or Sony, or get it as a trade paperback from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Book Depository.
Copyright © 2013 E. R. Paskey
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