Page 68 of Valour

She kept skiing into the blizzard.

Until she came upon a perfectly circular hole in the ice.

A banging on the door woke Hester from her sleep. It was absolutely not morning yet. How dare someone wake her? She grumbled, pulling her hat down over her face. “Go away. I’m asleep.”

“Hester? Charlotte is missing.” It was Arnold’s voice through the wood. And he sounded petrified.

Hester’s blood turned cold, and she scrambled out of her sleeping bag and stuffed her feet into her boots. There were feathers all over the bed again.

She opened the door. “When did she go?”

Arnold’s face was pale and drawn. “Fifteen minutes ago. And there’s a blizzard out there. I couldn’t find my hat and—I told her to wait for me! But she is nowhere to be found.”

“You let her go out there on her own—and in a blizzard? Good Lord!” She would never forgive him for this.

“There wasn’t a blizzard when she left.”

Hester pushed past him, pulling her coat on. It was an effort not to throttle him right then and there. “Get everyone up. Meet on the ice as quickly as possible. Every minute counts.”

She pushed past him and made for the companionway steps, crashing into Septimus as she turned the corner. “Ouch. Watch it.”

“Have you seen Sooty? Your blasted cat scared her off. I swear, that cat was the sweetest in the litter when I bought it.”

Hester blinked. What on Earth was he talking about? “When you bought it?”

“Yes. When I bought it.”

She gaped at him.

He had bought the kitten.

He had given her the kitten.

She shoved him back. “You?! You sent him?!”

He rubbed his chest, scowling. “I thought you knew. I put a card in the basket.”

“I didn’t see a card. What—WHY?”

“I felt bad that you smashed your tooth out. I wanted to apologise, even though it wasn’t really my fault.”

Hester dragged a hand down her face. It all weighed up—the kitten had arrived a week after that incident. She could have raged at him, but time was of the essence. “We have more pressing matters to attend to. Charlotte has been missing for fifteen minutes.”

“Fifteen minutes? That was about the time Sooty ran off.”

Hester let out a frustrated growl. “What a coincidence. Your damned dog has gotten our Boss lost.” Lost or…Hester couldn’t bring herself to think of what else might have happened. A hole in the ice. A pile of clothing. No, they had to find Charlotte. There was no other option. “Come. Quickly.”

She hurried out onto the deck and thudded down the ramp onto the ice, where Fliss, Rufus and Valerie were already waiting, skis on.

Hester tried to make eye contact with Fliss, who lowered her gaze. If they could not make amends at a time like this, when would they?

The others soon joined them, including the Intrepid’s men. Betty’s tears were falling and freezing on the end of her nose, and Arnold was beside himself.

Hester tried to calm her racing heart. She toyed with the idea of using her magic to calm the blizzard, but bringing the orca upon them all would hardly help matters. It was an impossible choice. “We search in groups of three. Do not go out of sight of each other. I don’t want anyone else lost tonight, do you hear me?”

“Yes, Captain,” came a chorus from the gathered men and women.

“Arnold, Betty, with me,” Hester said, setting out onto the floe. She would use her magic as a last resort. Perhaps they would find Charlotte quickly.