Author's Note:I started this story a few months ago when Harold Camping predicted the so-called end of the world, but never got around to finishing it. So here it is. And SPOILER: the world did not in fact end in 1914 ;) Also the timeline's probably not right. Sorry!
Disclaimer: I doubt Scott Westerfeld is a 13 year old girl.
They said it was the end of the world. The end days. Armageddon. The rapture. They called it a lot of things, but to Alek and Deryn, it was just one thing. Well actually, in later years they described it a lot of ways. Vibrant. Irrational. Wild. Senseless. Crazy. The best night of their life. Although that night was little more than a drunken haze, both agreed it to be unforgettable. It had all started with the Leviathan's stop in New York City. The city was a storm, everyone buzzing with the rumors of the end of the world. Many believed it, many others disregarded it as nothing more than the media creating hype to sell newspapers. Deryn was skeptical, but Alek, the ninny he was, believed it. But Alek wasn't the only crew member scared. Newkirk, along with several other crew members, fully believed the end of the world was here.
"Just think about it Deryn!" Alek would exclaim to her, eyes shining. "It makes sense!"
"Aye, but it's a bit like Newkirk and bathing." Deryn paused to grin wickedly. "Never gonna happen!"
Alek, in spite of himself, laughed at that, and soon their conversation was forgotten in the laughter. But the night before the supposed "end of world" it came up again, as the crew members were granted the evening off. This time, Alek was truly worried.
"What if it does happen?" he fretted.
"Well then…we'd better make the best of the time we have left." Deryn said mischievously. And the rest is, as they say, history.
Note: I have horrible writers block! Please read and leave prompts and reviews.