by Wendy Orr
Very quietly, she turned the door handle. It wasn’t locked. She opened it a crack and peered down the hall.
The Professor was coming.
Nim shut the door quickly. She hugged Selkie hard and just for a minute she thought she was going to cry – but that would upset Selkie more than being in a cage.
And it was crying that got us into this mess in the first place! Nim thought, which suddenly seemed so silly she almost laughed – except now the Professor was in the room again, so instead she clapped.
‘Fantastic!’ she said, as if Selkie had just done the most wonderful trick in the world.
Then she added quickly, in case the Professor asked to see it, ‘That’s enough training for today.’
The Professor grunted. ‘Okay, kid, get the rest of those animals fed and cleaned out. If you do a good job I’ll let you do some more training in the morning.’
‘Thank you,’ Nim said politely, working as slowly and carefully as she could, because every minute she was here was a minute Selkie wasn’t locked in her cage alone.
Suddenly, she spotted a key hanging behind the door. It looked just like the Professor’s, but she’d seen him drop his into his pocket. This one had to be a spare – and if it was a spare, he might not notice if it was missing.
So Nim brushed the rotten fruit and droppings out of the monkeys’ cage, put in clean water and not-quite-rotten fruit and murmured quietly to them, trying not to let them feel how sad and angry she was to see them there.
Finally she put Selkie back in her cage, sitting beside her for a long moment to rub her head with love and cool water.
‘Just remember,’ the Professor said, with his sneering smile, ‘this place is our little secret. The Foundation’s work is very important – much too important for most people to understand. I don’t ever want to hear you talking about the animals down here.
‘So, my little stowaway friend, just keep your mouth shut and everyone will be happy: I’ll get a fat stack of money, the animals will get lovely new homes that appreciate how intelligent, unique and interesting they are – and you and your mum can stay out of jail.’
Nim swallowed hard, and nodded. He wanted her to be afraid, and she was. More afraid than she’d ever been. She was so afraid that the Professor knew he didn’t have to worry about her at all. He sat calmly down in his chair in the corner, opened a can of drink and started to read his newspaper.
‘I’ll come back in the morning,’ Nim whispered.
The Professor grunted and turned a page.
Nim backed to the door – and as she waved goodbye to Selkie, snatched the key off its hook.
THE HARDEST THING about fitting in at Pizza Night, Nim decided, was acting as if the biggest problem in her life was getting a piece with pepperoni when she wanted anchovies (because at least anchovies were fish and tasted a bit like home).
‘It’s like swimming with a new pod of dolphins,’ she told Ben and Erin, when they took their pizzas out to the deck to sit alone.
‘I wish I could do that!’ Ben exclaimed.
‘I wish we could go to your island,’ Erin said.
‘I wish you could, too,’ said Nim. Saying it made her feel hot inside, as if she were betraying Jack – but it was true. She used to wonder what it would be like to have friends that could talk. Now she’d found out, and she liked it. Nim wanted to be back on her island more than anything else, but she didn’t want to lose Erin and Ben.
She told them what the Professor had said.
‘Jail!’ repeated Erin.
‘But he’s the bad guy!’ Ben said fiercely.
‘He says he’s allowed to catch the animals, because of this Foundation. He says that’s the law, because catching them educates people and protects other animals all around the world.’
‘And he is a Professor,’ said Erin.
‘And I am a stowaway,’ said Nim.
‘But he’s still bad,’ said Ben.
‘We should ask Mum and Dad,’ said Erin.
‘No!’ shouted Nim. ‘He said he’d send me to the Captain if I ever told anyone. I shouldn’t even have told you – and if you help me you’ll get into trouble too!’
‘We don’t care,’ Ben said.
‘All that matters,’ Erin agreed, ‘is keeping you safe and getting Selkie free. So we just have to stick to our plan.’
‘But the best thing we can do right now,’ said Ben, ‘is try to look like we’re having a good time. Let’s get some more pizza!’
Fred rubbed his spiny back against Ben’s leg. Fred had mozzarella strings tangled from his grinning mouth to his claws. He liked pizza, and he liked Ben more and more.
NIM FELT LONELY, climbing back up into her lifeboat with Fred while Erin and Ben stood watch outside their cabin door.
It felt lonely, and when she’d pulled the cover over, it felt dark – black as the deepest sea.
Then she heard a knock – the three quick knocks and two slow that were their signal – then the rocking of someone climbing the struts.
Ben stuck his head in to hand her a torch.
Nim turned it on, and saw why Erin had looked as if she was going to burst with her own secret when she’d said, ‘Sleep tight, Nim!’
The boat had been turned into a bedroom. There were two blankets to sleep on, two towels for covers, a pillow for her and one for Fred, a bottle of water and a banana.
But best of all was remembering the look on Erin and Ben’s faces when she’d shown them the key to Selkie’s prison. They’d touched it as if it were magic – and even though Nim wasn’t a magician, just knowing it was in her pocket made her almost as powerful.
IT WAS SO early the sun wasn’t up when Erin rapped three ‘wake up!’ knocks on the metal strut.
Still half asleep, Nim dropped her pillows and blankets over the side to Erin, just in case a Troppo Tourist used the boat during the day. Then she swung down to the deck, with Fred following. The cool morning air woke them quickly. While Erin tiptoed back into her cabin to hide the bedding, Nim and Fred raced down to the Animal Room. When there was no one around to step on him, Fred liked walking.
With a quick check that no one was watching, Nim unlocked the door and they slipped inside.
‘Hurry!’ she whispered to Selkie as she undid the cage. She felt sorry for the others, but she couldn’t help them yet.
Selkie galumphed down the hall after her and into the elevator, honking with surprise when it went up. Fred grinned a little wider, as if he’d been doing this since he was hatched.
It was dark and deserted as they came out onto the Sea Lion Deck. They raced to the Waterslide Pool and dived into the clear water.
Selkie snorted and rolled, dived and leapt, around and around the pool as fast as she could. Fred sank to the bottom and came up again, sneezing with disgust because he couldn’t find any seaweed.
Nim swam with Selkie and dived with Fred; she couldn’t swim as fast as a sea lion or hold her breath as long as a marine iguana, but she liked trying. She didn’t know exactly how they were going to escape, but she did know they’d all need to be as strong, as fast, and as good at everything as they could possibly be.
The sky began to pale. A man hurried past, buttoning his white chef’s jacket.
Nim signed to Selkie, and Selkie dived as silently as a whisper. Fred was already down at the bottom again; he was sure there must be seaweed somewhere. Nim kept on swimming and tried not to splash.
‘You’re up early!’ the chef called. ‘Trying to beat the rush?’
‘Yes,’ said Nim, and he hurried on by.
Nim knew it was too dangerous to stay any longer. They slipped out and back to the hold, with nothing but a quickly drying trail of water to tell where they’d been.
JACK WOKE UP with the sun. He’d steered all night, with a few quick naps in between. Now the daylight showed him that he still had a long, long way to go – there was no sign of land in all this wide blue sea.
A frigate bird circled low to se
e if he had any fish. ‘Nothing today, Galileo!’ Jack called. He wished he could tuck a note into the big bird’s leg band, but even Galileo couldn’t find Nim in a city.
For just a minute Jack wondered what he’d do if Nim wasn’t with Alex – but he pushed that thought away.
As Galileo disappeared into the sky, Jack shouted, ‘You’re right, I should put those lines out now! Thanks for reminding me!’
He checked his compass, pointed the sail to head four points further east, threw his fishing lines in, and had a drink of water and some coconut for breakfast.
‘I’ll be with you soon, Nim!’ he called.
Then he added more quietly, ‘And you too, Alex. I hope.’
ALEX WOKE WITH a start. She was sure someone had knocked on her cabin door: three quick raps. Then there was a thump of someone jumping onto the deck, and whispering.
It was just the children from the cabin next door. She’d heard them during the day; it sounded as if there were two very little girls, a boy and another girl about Nim’s age, and maybe even another girl. She could never hear what they said, just the buzz of their voices and thumps from their cabin when they jumped to the floor or dumped things out of cupboards.
Alex wondered what they were like. She wondered if they’d know how to be friends with Nim. Maybe I’d have been better at it if I’d met other kids before I went to the island, she thought.
‘Because if you’d been better at it,’ she told herself, ‘you wouldn’t be on this ship right now!’
‘And don’t you dare cry again!’ she added, and made herself go back to sleep.
NIM HAD GOT Selkie back just in time. It was now bright, busy daylight, and people were swarming everywhere, settling into deck chairs and crowding the rails. One of them would have probably noticed a sea lion galumphing through the ship.
It was busy out on the water, too: there were more ships ahead, behind, and coming towards them. They were going down a wide river with bright green hills close on either side, and Nim felt tight and closed-in when she could suddenly see only a narrow strip of water instead of the wide blue sea she was used to.
The river became skinnier and the banks grew steeper, until it was such a narrow canal that their ship was nearly touching both concrete sides. Very gently, they were tugged up to a pair of locked giant doors. Another pair of doors shut behind them – and just as Nim was wondering where the ship could go next, it started going up as if it were in an elevator.
Nim tried to look as if she were used to being on ships that went up and down elevators, until she saw that nearly everyone on board had come out to watch and take pictures.
‘Amazing!’
‘How does it work?’
‘The water comes in through culverts from a lake.’
‘I’ve wanted to see this all my life!’
But everything’s strange to me! thought Nim. How am I supposed to know which ones are strange to everyone else?
She saw Erin and Ben, with their parents and little sisters, watching from outside their cabin while their mother videoed the giant elevator doors.
Now the dock on the other side of the railing was the same height as the deck. If she jumped over the railing right now she could probably escape the ship.
‘But we can’t leave without Selkie,’ she whispered to Fred. Fred rubbed his head under her chin.
The ship went up higher and higher till they were way too far above the dock to jump.
Anyway, thought Nim, if we’d got off here, how would I ever find Alex?
And how would I ever find home?
Maybe we’ll have to stay on the ship for ever, and never go ashore again.
THAT AFTERNOON IN the Kids’ Klub, Kelvin taught them to play Spiderweb. The person who was Spider stood in the middle with their hands above their head, while all the other kids squashed up in a circle around them. When Kelvin shouted ‘Web!’ they had to reach behind, grab the first two hands they met, and keep on holding them while they all wiggled around, forward and back, to get back into a circle – while the Spider tried to get through to the other side.
‘But no hitting or kicking!’ Kristie warned. ‘Spiders don’t hurt their own net!’
Nim was good at being Spider, because she could squirm under arms or slither through legs faster than anyone. But what she liked best was holding tight to Erin or Ben or kids she didn’t know, and just being part of the web.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date: Saturday 3 July, 5:45pm
Subject: More information
Dear Jack
I thought you might have answered by now but I guess you are very busy since I’m not there to help you with the science stuff.
Today the Professor took pictures of me holding the birds and cage animals. He says the Foundation likes to see pictures like this to show how intelligent, unique and interesting the animals are, to prove why they should be protected. He dressed one of the spider monkeys up like a baby and I thought it looked silly and it couldn’t have swung around even if it wasn’t in a cage, but I played a swinging game with it afterwards to cheer it up.
Selkie is a lot happier today because she had a swim in the pool and Fred was happy because he tasted pizza last night and today Ben brought him a whole pocketful of salad for lunch. I’ve had lots of different food, too. Ben and Erin said I shouldn’t ask for a seaweed sandwich because people would think that was strange and they might guess I’m a stowaway. It’s quite funny because when you want food here you don’t have to make it or catch it yourself.
I saw a frigate bird today. I wished it was Galileo with a message from you.
Love (as much as Galileo loves stealing fish)
Nim
‘I’VE GOT AN idea,’ Nim said, the morning after the ship went through the elevator canal, because the Professor was whistling a cheerful whistle, and she needed him to be in a good mood so she could start putting their plan into action. ‘You know how you give a lecture about animals every day? When you do the sea lion lecture on Wednesday, it could be like a show – like a circus! And I could help.’
‘There’s not enough time. I know all there is to know about training animals – it takes months for them to learn to do tricks on command.’
‘But this sea lion is amazingly smart – and so is the iguana. I bet I could get them ready for you, especially if I could train them in a pool.’
‘That beast will go to the Sea Lion Pool,’ snarled the Professor, ‘when I’m sure she won’t bite anyone else.’
I wish she’d bitten you harder! Nim thought. ‘She was probably just scared,’ she said. ‘I’m positive she won’t do it again.’
‘She’d better not,’ said the Professor, glancing at his whip.
‘Everyone could see how intelligent, unique and interesting they both are.’
‘Well, maybe we can do a show on Wednesday morning. Then if she behaves, she can stay in the Sea Lion Pool till she’s sold … till she’s relocated.’
Relocated? thought Nim, feeling as if she’d just swallowed a bucket of cold water. How would I ever get her back then?
But we won’t let that happen! she reminded herself fiercely. We’ve still got three days to get our show ready – and then we’ll escape.
‘You can have a couple of hours in the afternoons to practise. And …’ the Professor paused and stared at her as if he knew exactly what she was thinking, ‘it had better be good.’
‘BUT HOW’S IT going to be good if we can’t use the big pool?’ Nim demanded, when she and Erin and Ben were in the Kids’ Klub carving watermelons into interesting sculptures. Kristie had demonstrated how to carve a Viking’s head and a sailboat, and now each kid had a watermelon and a blunt knife, and could carve whatever they liked.
Nim used her own sharp pocketknife to carve Selkie. Erin carved a cat, and Ben made a Viking’s head that was nearly as good as Kristie’s.
Fred ate the whole middle out of a watermelon and made
an empty rowboat. Everyone clapped, and he scrambled back onto Nim’s shoulder, looking smug.
‘Do you think that could be a trick?’ Nim asked.
‘I don’t think so,’ said Erin. ‘But I have figured out how you can use the Waterslide pool for your show.’
JACK HAD BEEN on his raft for three days. He still had two coconuts and half a container of water, but he was a bit sore, very stiff, and very, very tired. It was not a big raft and it was not comfortable at all.
There was a line on the horizon that could have been cloud or … Sunshine Island? Jack hoped so.
The closer he sailed the clearer and less cloudlike the line became. By noon he was sure. It was definitely land. Jack tightened the sail and whistled for wind.
A speck of light caught his eye. A bottle was bobbing on the waves – with something inside it.
If Nim had been with him, they would have chased and grabbed it.
But they’d never ever found a message – and if Nim had been with him he wouldn’t be going to Sunshine Island on a raft made out of the wall of their hut. Jack let the bottle float by, and sailed on as fast as he could.
ALEX HAD SPENT three whole days alone in her cabin. She hadn’t spoken to anyone except Virginia the steward, when she brought her juice every morning, and came back a little later to clean. ‘What a shame you’re not feeling better!’ Virginia said. ‘You’d have so much fun if you could get out there and meet people.’ But Alex had left behind the only people she wanted to know.
She even kept her curtains closed, because all she could see was people walking by, and the lifeboat stands, which weren’t very interesting.
And, even though there were pens and writing paper in her cabin’s desk, she hadn’t written a word. For the first time in her life, there was no story in her head.
Worst of all, she didn’t care.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]