“Yeah, well, first we have to get up to the boat deck and check out the lifeboats.”

“Why?” Simon asked.

Kade licked his lips, narrowed his eyes. “I figure we can steal one. It’s a long row back to the lighthouse of Fastnet Isle, but we’ll meet up with another ship long before --”

“We can’t steal a lifeboat!” Simon shouted.

Alarmed, Kade clamped a hand across Simon’s mouth. After a quick glance around, Kade dragged a muffled Simon into a large alcove typically filled with passengers in deck chairs. He put Simon’s back up against the wall. “Keep it down!” Kade warned. “Do you want everyone to know we’re planning to jump ship?”

As soon as Kade took his hand away, Simon said, “But we can’t take a lifeboat.” His eyes were big behind his glasses. “First off, we can’t possibly be strong enough to row until another ship picks us up. And more importantly, there aren’t enough boats for everyone on this ship as it is. If we take one now, that’s one less they’ll have for when they’re really needed. And then the people that are supposed to be in that boat will die and history will be changed forever.”

“So?”

“So?! We can’t change history. We don’t know what would happen. What if one of those people is supposed to have a great great grandchild who’s going to find a cure for cancer or for AIDs?”

“How do you know us taking a boat would change things?” Kade asked after only a minute’s hesitation. “How do you know they weren’t one short all along?”

Simon had no answer for him. For a moment, Kade thought he’d out-brained Simon because he just stared over Kade’s shoulder, eyes wide, mouth hanging open.

“Then it’s settled,” Kade said. “Tonight, after everyone’s asleep, we’re taking a lifeboat and getting off this thing.”

“Would you mind terribly…” a girl said.

Kade whirled at the sound and came face to face with a girl with deeply tanned skin and hair the color of honey.

“… taking me with you?”