But Johnnie-O realized something Charlie didn’t. These Afterlights couldn’t fight, because they already had their hands full. If it took this many of them to hold the airship down, how many would have to be taken off the job until the ship would tear free?

They wasted no time. Johnnie-O pulled them from the ropes, and Charlie slapped coins into their hands one after another. They had dispatched more than ten of them by the time the others figured out what was happening. They all panicked, and began to let go of the ropes. The airship began to lurch.

“Let’s go!” Johnnie-O said. They raced toward the Hindenburg. The ramp was dragging across the ground, beginning to rise into the air. They leaped on, and pulled themselves inside.

The airship’s nose lifted higher as it caught more of the Everlost wind. Some Afterlights still dangled from the ropes, but they had the good sense to let go, and the zeppelin took to the sky, twisting and turning out of control, at the mercy of the wind. It was just the two of them in the giant craft. They hadn’t been able to save the train, or Nick’s army, but at least they saved the bucket of coins.

“Can you fly this thing?” Johnnie-O asked Charlie.

“No,” he answered, “but I got plenty of time to learn, doncha think?”

They fumbled their way through corridors until finally finding the bridge, and that’s when they realized there was a problem.

There was a bar across the door, and that bar was held in place by a huge padlock.

“Where’s the key?” asked Charlie. “There’s got to be a key.”

Johnnie-O knew exactly where the key was, because he had seen it dangling above his face dripping water into his eye.

“D’ya think we could break it?” asked Charlie. “Those fists of yours can do it, right?”

And although Johnnie-O tried, he knew it was no use. This was an Everlost door, and an Everlost padlock. Once something crossed into Everlost, it didn’t break. Ever.

The airship rose into the clouds, slowly spinning like a weather vane as it blew eastward.

“This was a bad idea,” said Charlie.

“Shut up,” said Johnnie-O. “Just shut up.”

So now Johnnie-O sat facing Charlie in the Starboard Promenade of the Hindenburg, a bucket of coins between them.

“You go first,” said Johnnie-O.

“No, you go first,” echoed Charlie.

“No, you go first!”

“No, you!”

But neither one was willing to take a coin. Instead they both stared at each other as the Hindenburg drifted across the sky, each wondering who would be the first to blink.

CHAPTER 38
Last Train Out of Memphis