Chapter Ten
It took Morgan a week to make it to the South Side of London to the new orphanage. She approached the building and it looked no different than the previous rat hole she had lived in. She sighed and approached the gate. Suddenly, a voice from across the way yelled, "Scientist Challenger Looking For Group To Return To The Lost World!" It was newsboy. Morgan's heart jumped…the Lost World. It was perfect. She could go with Challenger to the Lost World.
Morgan turned away from the orphanage gates with a huge smile on her face. She had finally gotten a break. Now she just had to convince George Challenger that she was worth taking on this trip.
The Roxton household had received their morning paper with a whoop and a holler by Lord John Roxton. The news that Challenger was mounting a return expedition after more than ten years excited him beyond words.
"John, why are you yelling like a savage?" Marguerite asked lightheartedly as she helped Jude with his spoon.
"Challenger is mounting a return expedition to the Plateau!"
"Oh," she said very unenthusiastically.
"You don't sound very excited. We could take the boys to see Ned and Veronica. I know you miss them."
"Of course I miss them, John. They're our dearest friends, but I don't want to go back to that horrid place."
"It's not horrid, it brought us together."
"It also killed our daughter."
"That's not true, we were well off the Plateau before Morgan fell overboard. We were in the middle of the Atlantic. So that is not the reason why you don't want to go back."
"I just don't want to, John. Our life is here with our sons, not back there."
"Marguerite…" he started.
"No, John. I'm not going back there." His face fell. He loved the Plateau despite all the troubles they had been through during their seven years there. He missed Ned and Veronica, and he wanted to see his godchildren, all four of them. Ned had written him after each of them had been born. Little Arthur was born around the same time as John, and a year later came Abigail. Two years after that came Edward Layton, or Layton for short, and then there was Maggie Malone, named after her Aunt Marguerite. Veronica had sent them pictures but he had wanted to see them and meet them in person.
John didn't want to get angry with his wife, but he knew that they all needed a change. London wasn't what it used to be before the Plateau. London wasn't home anymore: the Plateau was home. "Yes, you are going back, Marguerite. We're all going home."