Chapter 2 - THE ROOM UNDER THE FLOOR
Eliza did not climb down immediately.
That saved her life.
The opening beneath the floor dropped nearly twelve feet into what had once been a cargo service compartment.
The light came from dozens of glass cylinders arranged inside metal crates.
Each cylinder contained a mineral that glowed faintly blue-white in the dark.
Not magic.
Not exactly.
But in 1898, it looked close enough.
Eliza eventually found a service ladder behind a rusted panel.
She descended slowly.
At the bottom, she saw labels stamped onto the crates.
NORTHSTAR ELECTRICAL & MINERAL COMPANY
PROPERTY OF DR. AMBROSE VALE
Inside the nearest crate were sealed tubes containing a pale green mineral powder.
Beside them sat copper coils, ceramic housings, brass instruments, and notebooks wrapped in oilcloth.
Eliza understood none of it.
Then she found one box that did not belong with the equipment.
Small.
Steel.
Locked.
She broke the latch.
Inside were:
three gold bars,
a velvet pouch of uncut gemstones,
and a ledger.
Her knees nearly gave way.
The auctioneer had sold her a ship for seventy-five dollars.
The ship contained more money than she had seen in her entire life.
But the ledger mattered more than the gold.
She did not know that yet.
On the first page was written:
MORNING STAR — PRIVATE RESEARCH CARGO
DO NOT REGISTER WITH COMPANY INVENTORY
A.V.
Eliza carried the ledger into the daylight.
She had barely reached the upper deck when someone shouted from the dock.
“MISS WARD!”
The auctioneer.
Mr. Harlan Pike.
He was not laughing now.
Two men stood behind him.
One was Sheriff Walter Beck.
The other wore an expensive gray coat.
Eliza had seen him at the auction.
He had not bid.
He had only watched.
The man removed his hat.
“Miss Ward, I’m Charles Vale.”
Eliza looked at the ledger in her hand.
Then at the name on the crate below.
Vale.
Charles smiled.
“I believe you have something that belongs to my family.”
Eliza tightened her grip on the ownership paper.
“I bought the ship.”
Charles’s smile remained.
“You bought scrap.”
“No.”
She looked back toward the hatch.
May you like
“I bought everything on it.”
Charles stopped smiling.
