Had they reached their destination?
Christina froze, only then realizing that while she and Dorothy had been shut inside the sealed cabin, the unmanned ghost ship had continued traveling at an astonishing speed, delivering them to their destination in just half an hour.
But even Tina herself had no idea where that destination was. Only the Genie sealed inside the Magic Wishing Lamp knew all seven sealing sites, and he only told the sisters the location of the next one each time. He had lured them from familiar Tingen City to the metropolis of Backlund, then tossed them onto a beach near Bayam through the magical Random Door. Now, he had put them aboard this ghost ship.
Tina had not even had time to ask the Genie where the fourth destination was. How could this ghost ship, this manifested Miss Adele, possibly know?
With that question in mind, Tina and Dorothy were lifted by an invisible force toward the dark, hard ceiling. The steel barrier opened, revealing the blue sky above, tinged with leaden gray.
Salty sea wind and a roar of noise instantly surrounded Tina. She narrowed her eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness and looked around, surprised to find herself back on the broad deck. The ironclad beneath her feet had already docked in an enormous harbor.
Compared with Bayam's somewhat primitive, busy, chaotic docks, this harbor operated far more efficiently. Long, narrow piers stretched into deep water like tentacles. Huge cranes, powered by steam, lifted heavy cargo onto waiting freighters. Passengers either walked directly onto the piers or took shuttle boats to gangways leading aboard ocean liners. With the help of pilot boats, departing vessels left the waters sheltered by the breakwaters and entered a sea so deep blue it was almost black.
Of all the