by Alex English
As they flew over the city, she looked down and took in the labyrinth of waterways, bustling with tiny white rowing boats. Beyond the city limits were rolling hills peppered with clusters of dark pines. With a lurching stomach, she realized that there was no pale pink sand or shimmering turquoise water and not a single waving star-palm to be seen. They must have travelled even further away from Sleepy Palms. And from Lil.
Echo took a deep breath to steady herself.
‘There’s only one entrance to the Aqualiber Vaults – that blue door.’ Old Gus pointed, passing his spyglass to Echo. She raised it to her eye. A flight of white marble steps led up from one canal to a huge, stone-columned building with an ornately carved door of brilliant blue lacquer.
‘And you want me to go in there?’
‘No.’ Old Gus shook his head. ‘It’s only open to scholars and philosophers. There’s no way any of us would get in. Besides, we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves. Might give away the location to the others.’
‘The others?’
Old Gus glared at her. ‘That’s no concern of yours.’
‘So what do you want me to do?’
Old Gus pointed away from the city wharf, across the lagoon, to a tiny islet of purplish rocks. ‘What do you see over there?’
‘Nothing much.’ Echo raised the spyglass to her eye again, but the islet was empty – a bare outcrop of craggy, lichen-crusted rock peeking through the waves.
‘Keep lookin’.’
Echo stared through the spyglass until her eye watered, scrutinizing every centimetre.
‘I still can’t see anything,’ she said.
‘Watch the birds.’
‘The birds?’ Echo squinted through the lens as a flock of fluffy white cloud gulls sailed gracefully through the air. As they descended towards the rocks, a sudden gust of air blew them upwards and they whirled off, squawking in annoyance.
Echo passed the spyglass back to Old Gus. ‘There’s air coming out of the rocks,’ she said.
Old Gus nodded with a twisted smile. ‘The library’s ventilation system. Keepin’ all those books at the perfect level of humidity takes a lot of air. And that’s where it goes in and out.’
Echo nodded slowly. So this was why Old Gus needed her. He wanted her to go down the vent! Images of dark, dripping tunnels filled her head and she shivered. ‘Won’t it be dangerous?’ she said.
Old Gus snorted. ‘I’m not yer mother. You’ll do what yer told.’
‘But why don’t you send one of your crew down?’ asked Echo. ‘Wouldn’t they be more reliable than a couple of kids?’
‘We’re all too big to fit down the vent. Even Grub. But you on the other hand…’ Old Gus looked at Echo. ‘You’ll do nicely. And I know you’ll be reliable because otherwise yer friend…’ He drew one finger across his throat again with a grimace.
Gaping jaws with rows of razor-sharp teeth filled her head and Echo’s heart clenched at the thought of Horace being dropped into the murky water of the shark tank. Did she have a choice? No, she didn’t. She finally shook her head in resignation. ‘I’ll try.’
‘There’s no try about it. Bring the map back or yer friend is shark food.’ He handed her the piece of parchment with the riddle Rashmi the Ruthless had read out in the meeting.
Echo scanned it in despair. ‘But you’ve only solved the first part. What if I can’t work out the rest of the clue?’ Her voice trembled and she had to fight to hold back tears.
‘I have faith in yer,’ growled Old Gus. ‘Fear is a powerful motivator, I find. You’ve got until noon. That’s four bells from now. Now, let’s go.’
Old Gus stationed himself at the control deck and steered Obsidian towards the little island. As they reached it, the airship slowed to a hover.
‘Hold ’er here,’ said Old Gus to one of his crew. ‘You, follow me.’
He took Echo down another corridor on the port side of the airship until they came to a closed hatchway. Old Gus pushed a button to the side of the hatch with one chunky black-nailed forefinger. The door hissed open with a clunk, letting a brisk sea breeze hit Echo full in the face. Old Gus unfurled a length of rope ladder and flung it out of the doorway. ‘Down yer go,’ he said.
‘Fine.’ Echo clenched her fists to steady herself. She’d get into the library, find the stupid map and get straight back out again. Horace would be fine and they’d be on their way back to the Scarlet Margaret in no time. She took a deep breath. She would keep telling herself this, however unlikely it might seem, or she’d never hold her nerve. Echo turned her back to the doorway, grabbed the rough rope in both hands and made her way down the swaying ladder.
Echo landed on the rocks, followed by Old Gus and Mei. She looked around. This place was nothing like the lazy warmth of Sleepy Palms or the icy blizzard at Shark’s Fin Peak. Instead, the air was cool and fresh, filled with the scent of pine trees. Over on the mainland, Echo could see the city of Aqualiber, with its grand waterfront houses of pale stone and the labyrinth of canals winding between them.
‘Come on, no time for sightseein’.’ Old Gus prodded Echo between the shoulder blades with his sword.
Mei strode past them and went over to the air vent. She knelt down and prised off the grille with her cutlass. There was a metallic ping and one of the bolts flew into the air. Old Gus joined her and they worked quickly, loosening the metal grid until finally they pulled it free to reveal a narrow, sloping tunnel.
Echo peered into the ventilation shaft. A gust of warm, musty air pushed her back and she wrinkled her nose.
Old Gus and Mei fastened one end of a rope ladder to the edge of the opening where the grille had been attached and Mei gave it a hearty tug. ‘Seems to hold, Cap’n,’ she said.
Old Gus nodded and threw the rest of the ladder into the shaft. Echo heard it slithering open and bouncing down the walls. After a few moments, there was a distant thud as the end hit the bottom far below. Just how deep was this tunnel? And what was waiting for her at the bottom? Did Old Gus even know?
‘Get down there,’ said Old Gus, with a sneer.
Echo took a last quick look around, then spat on both hands, rubbed them together and clambered backwards down the ladder and into the darkness.
As she descended into the warm murk, she heard Old Gus cry after her, ‘Noon, remember! We’ll be waitin’!’
As if she could forget. Echo tried to push her worries about Horace out of her mind as she squeezed her way down. The ventilation shaft was indeed too narrow for adults to have fitted through, and it was hard work inching her way down the rope ladder, banging elbows and knees on the metallic sides of the shaft and catching her clothing on the rivets that held the sections together.
She glanced down into the gloom, but couldn’t make anything out. Who knew how deep this ventilation duct even went? If she lost her grip for a moment and fell… Echo shook herself. No, she wouldn’t think about that. She couldn’t fall at the first hurdle. She had to get into the library, solve the rest of the clue and find that map. The sooner she did that, the sooner Horace would be safe, and the sooner they’d be back on the Scarlet Margaret with Lil and the crew.
Echo set her jaw and kept going.
* * *
By the time she’d reached the bottom of the shaft, Echo’s hands were raw and so stiff she could barely grip the ropes any more. She collapsed on to the floor and looked around.
She had emerged into a large, dimly lit room with walls of thick blueish-purple glass bricks that bent the light into strange, rippling shadows. A series of huge fans whirred on the far wall, their blades slicing the air rhythmically and sending a steady wind whistling through the room.
‘Where now?’ said Echo aloud.
Gilbert crawled out of her jerkin pocket and blinked, then pointed his snout at the only exit – a corridor that curved away from them through the murky glass.
‘Well, here we go,’ said Echo, taking a deep breath and gathering all her courage. She’d been to libraries bef
ore, first in the castle at Lockfort (even though it had been out of bounds) and then in Port Tourbillon. But both those times she had been with Horace. And nobody had been in deathly danger, she thought grimly. She stroked Gilbert’s scaly tail and made off down the glass-walled corridor.
When she got to the end, she gasped.
She was standing on an endlessly long balcony, high above the library stacks. The roof of the building was made entirely of glass and above them Echo saw shoals of iridescent fish slide past. Of course, they were beneath the sea! She leaned over the balcony rails and took in the enormity of the library below. Stack after stack of shelves stretched out as far as she could see.
‘How big is this place?’ she murmured. ‘It goes on forever!’
A prickle of fear ran down her spine. These vaults were huge. Even if she could solve the clue, how was she ever going to find the map in somewhere as large as this? And what would happen to Horace if she failed?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
‘Oh, Gilbert,’ Echo said in dismay, as they looked over the balcony railing. ‘It’s hopeless.’
Below them, the library spread out like a never-ending labyrinth of bookshelves. Echo’s head spun. How could she possibly find the map in all of this?
The little lizard curled his tail round her neck and nudged her cheek gently as if to say, Keep your chin up – we can do it.
Echo stroked his scales. He was right: they could do it. They had to. She took a deep breath and looked further along the balcony. A few metres away, the balustrade of a spiral staircase emerged from the floor.
‘Come on,’ she said. ‘We’d better get started.’
* * *
The descent down the spiral stairs was dizzyingly long and, by the time they got to the bottom, Echo felt like they must have travelled to the centre of the earth. From down here, the glass ceiling was so far away the glowing fish looked like constellations in a night sky. The only clues they were underwater were the strange shadows that rippled over the floor from above.
Echo crept into the library’s vast, shadowy chamber. The walls were covered in bookcases with gaps forming open archways leading to the different sections. The ventilation system blew a steady stream of salty air that stirred the ruffles on Echo’s shirt and blew her curls across her eyes. At first glance, she thought the library floor was made of sand, but, when she looked more closely, she saw it was an intricate pattern of hexagonal tiles in shades of beige and gold that shimmered like the sandy seabed itself. The bookshelves looked as if they had been constructed from driftwood: greyish, weathered and worn smooth by the sea.
But there wasn’t time to watch and wonder, she reminded herself. There were only a few short hours until Horace would be shark food! Echo went to the first shelf and ran her fingers along the spines of the books.
‘I suppose this is as good a place to start as any,’ she said.
Gilbert scuttled down her shoulder and began to inspect them too, cocking his conical eyes this way and that as he inched along the shelf.
Echo read title after title, hoping that one of them would give her a flash of inspiration or yield some kind of clue, but there was nothing about time or maps or the Cutlass of Calinthe, or anything at all that might help her. She frowned and kept searching.
Gilbert gave a sudden chirp and Echo jerked her head up to see that he had frozen mid-step and turned danger red.
‘What is it?’ she hissed.
But Gilbert just bobbed his head as if to say, Listen.
Echo froze. Somewhere in the depths of the library, she could hear a rhythmic, squeaking sound. And it was getting louder.
As the squeaking got closer and faster, there was a sudden crash and Echo heard something rattle across the tiles like marbles.
‘Ouch!’ came a cross voice. ‘Oh, so unfair. How did you get there? On shelves, you should be. Not on the floor to trip me and slip me. Oh my beans!’
There was a metallic scraping noise and another bang, and then the strange squeaking started up again.
Echo, who had been mesmerized by what she’d heard, hadn’t even thought to hide. She glanced around in panic. Where was there for her to go? The room they were in didn’t harbour any hiding places. The only option was back up the spiral staircase. She grabbed Gilbert, flung him over her shoulder and made for the archway.
‘Can I help you?’ croaked the voice behind them, just as Echo was about to throw herself through. She turned to see a most peculiar sight.
There, astride a shiny red tricycle, was a tiny, wizened old man wearing a charcoal velvet cloak. He took a crumpled paper bag from his pocket and offered it to Echo.
‘Jelly bean?’
‘Er… thank you,’ said Echo, reaching uncertainly and plucking out a shiny pink sweet.
‘Would the little lizard like one too?’ asked the man.
Gilbert bobbed his head and flicked his tongue out eagerly in response.
The man tossed a blue bean into the air and Gilbert caught it neatly in his mouth.
Echo shrugged and carefully put the sweet into her mouth too, letting it melt creamily on her tongue. It tasted of strawberries and cinnamon. Her stomach rumbled.
‘Gerund Rooksbill, chief librarian of the Aqualiber Vaults,’ said the man, extending a tanned, crinkly hand. ‘Just let me know what it is you’re looking for and I’ll point you in the right direction. I am duty-bound to assist anyone who is searching for information. Even if they appear to be –’ he cleared his throat and looked her up and down – ‘some kind of pirate.’
He puffed up his chest. ‘Anyway, this isn’t an ordinary library, you know? All the knowledge of the world is stored here. It could take you a lifetime to find what you need if you don’t have the right guide.’
‘Oh,’ said Echo. She had to admit that Gerund was right. There were so many rooms, so many shelves, so many books. And they only had until noon! She glanced at Gilbert, who bobbed his head encouragingly. Yes, she would just have to trust this funny old man.
‘I’m trying to solve a riddle,’ she said.
Gerund wrinkled his nose. ‘I’m afraid I’m not very good at those. Facts are more my forte. To help you get started, why don’t we see what I’ve got on riddles? Follow me!’
Before Echo could answer, Gerund had jumped on to his tricycle and pedalled off at speed, cloak flying and wheels squeaking, leaving her staring, open-mouthed.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Echo raced after the librarian through the maze of rooms. Although he rode fast, and he often disappeared from view, she was able to keep up by following the sound of his squeaking wheels. Every so often, there’d be a crash and a shout of, ‘Oh my beans!’ and Echo would run round the latest corner to find him sprawled on the floor, his tricycle upside down, with its wheels spinning, and jelly beans strewn all around. But he would soon pick himself up and be off, with Echo yet again jogging to keep up.
Finally, when Echo thought she could run no more, they reached the centre of the library, where a clock tower stretched up into the heavens. The librarian stopped in front of a bank of wheels and dials.
Echo skidded to a halt behind him, nearly dislodging Gilbert from where he clung round her neck.
‘Here we are,’ said the librarian. ‘Just a little reconfiguring to do.’
‘Reconfiguring?’ Echo frowned in confusion. Could she really trust him? The clock began to bong and she glanced up at the tower. It was already nearly nine bells in the morning. No time to lose!
Gerund took several cards punched with holes from a box and slotted them into the front of the machine, then turned the wheels. There was a grinding, clicking sound and, to Echo’s astonishment, the bookshelves all around them revolved on their axes and reconfigured themselves.
‘That should do it,’ said Gerund. ‘Here we have riddles, puzzles and paradoxes.’ He gestured to the next room and Echo followed him inside.
* * *
Echo, Gerund and Gilbert searched the shelves for what seemed like hours,
but no matter how many books they scoured they found nothing that would help Echo solve the riddle.
‘Tell me more about this riddle,’ said Gerund, popping a jelly bean into his mouth.
‘Here.’ Echo handed him the parchment that Old Gus had given her.
‘To find the way to dragon caves, seek knowledge underneath the waves,’ read Gerund.
‘Knowledge underneath the waves is the Aqualiber Vaults,’ said Echo. ‘Old Gus worked out that part.’
‘Next it says: for seventy rungs you’ll need to climb, if you’re to find the map in time.’
‘But where are the rungs? And I know we’re running out of time, but how does that help—’
BONG! At that moment, the clock above rang the hour again, drowning out Echo’s words. She glanced anxiously up at it. Ten bells. Only two hours until Horace was shark food!
Gilbert suddenly gave an excited chirrup and raced up the bookshelf, right to the top. He pointed his tail at the clock.
‘I know, Gilbert. I’m going as fast as I can!’ Echo snapped, then crumpled in despair. ‘Oh, it’s impossible. Horace is going to die a gruesome Thunder Shark death and my mother will never find me and I’ll be lost for ever under the sea with nothing to eat but jelly beans and it’s all my fault!’
Gerund’s face fell and Echo flushed with guilt. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said quietly. ‘The jelly beans were very nice really.’
There was an awkward silence, then Gilbert raced down the shelves, grabbed her sleeve in his mouth and tugged at it.
‘What?’
He pointed his tail at the clock again.
‘Yes, I can see it’s ten bells already. You’re not helping!’
Gilbert shook his scaly head in exasperation and jabbed his tail at the clock for a third time.
‘What do you… Oh! Wait, that’s it!’ Echo said. ‘You’re right!’ She picked him up and planted a kiss on his snout, making his scales turn pink.