Deadweather and Sunrise by Geoff Rodkey Page B

so spectacular that both Millicent and her parents would realize I was worthy of her.
    At first, the fantasies were grand and world-shaking—leading an army, conquering a new land, building an empire of my own.
    But those all seemed to take an awfully long time and require endless levels of planning. So eventually they went out the window, replaced by feats of bravery and daring—saving Millicent from a burning building, or pulling her from raging floodwaters, or single-handedly fighting off a band of ruthless savages intent on murdering her.
    At first, the savages seemed more promising than the other options. After all, I could wait around forever before a building caught fire with Millicent in it. And Cloud Manor was on awfullyhigh ground, so a flood seemed just as unlikely. But the Natives in the silver mine were not only foreign and mysterious, they were close at hand, and if they ever descended from the mine to Cloud Manor, they might create useful peril in all kinds of ways.
    But something felt wrong about making villains of those tiny, hardworking specks I’d glimpsed from the sea as they toiled away on the far side of the mountain. They didn’t seem ruthless so much as put-upon, and I couldn’t imagine they had much in the way of weapons, so vanquishing them, even in my head, felt less thrilling than sad.
    Then I hit on the idea of swapping them out for pirates, who were not only reliably well-armed, but villainous by occupation.
    It was a little trickier to work out the specifics—Millicent had said her father controlled the pirates, which I only half believed, but if true, it complicated things immensely. Eventually, I put together an elaborate fantasy in which the pirates, seeking bloody satisfaction from an unpaid gambling debt, infiltrated Sunrise dressed as Rovian businessmen and stormed Cloud Manor, taking the entire family hostage. Armed at first with only my wits, then a length of rope, then a succession of knives, followed by a brace of pistols, a rack of muskets, and finally a sword from the scabbard of Burn Healy himself, I slaughtered a truly staggering number of pirates, until their corpses had piled up like cordwood in the hallways of Cloud Manor and earned me such tearful gratitude from Millicent and her parents that our eventual marriage was decided upon within minutes of Healy’s body hitting the floor.
    It sounds crazy now. But that’s how much I loved Millicent—enough to kill pirates for her. And not just a few pirates. A lot of them.
    And that was the state of my mind three weeks into my stay, when Mr. Pembroke stopped Millicent and me in the entry hall on our way out for an afternoon ride. He’d left before breakfast that morning on an errand to Blisstown and was just coming back in the door with a sheaf of papers.
    “Precious, why don’t you go out alone today? I have some matters I need to discuss with Egg.”
    “Make it quick, Daddy. It’s no fun riding alone.” Millicent stuck her tongue out at him. Then she turned to me. “I’ll take the meadow path. Catch up when you can.”
    We both watched her go. Then Roger Pembroke placed a hand on my shoulder.
    “Come into my study. We’ll be more comfortable.”

COMING DOWN
    B y the time I sat down in one of the big leather chairs facing Mr. Pembroke’s desk, my stomach was hollow and fluttery, and my whole body felt weak. Something was clearly about to change for me, and for the first time in my life I didn’t WANT anything to change.
    Pembroke stood a few feet in front of me, leaning back against his desk with his arms folded.
    “It’s been three weeks now since your family disappeared. The last of the search teams I dispatched has returned. Like the others, they found no trace. And…”
    He took a deep breath. “Given what we know of wind conditions, and the extent of ocean to our west, I believe… and I want to be completely honest, because as painful as it is, you’re a very intelligent young man, and you deserve the