The Quest for the Kid

by Adrienne Kress

  The water was coming up to them fast now. Or rather they were coming down fast on it. He could see individual waves. He could wave back.

  They got closer and closer.

  He couldn’t help himself. He closed his eyes.

  Contact with the water was sudden and sharp. There was a loud whoosh-splash rushing sound as the water shook the ship. It didn’t jar him nearly as much as he thought it would. It was practically gentle compared to flying in a helicopter that had been attacked by a soccer ball. Hmm. His bases of comparison were very different than they used to be.

  He was still alive too, so that was cool.

  He opened his eyes.

  It was a bit strange that the dark before him felt familiar. He’d never thought he would be used to being underwater in a submarine. Never imagined being in one ever, let alone having any kind of “Oh yeah, that’s what this feels like” memory of it.

  The Kid turned on the headlights, and the outside world glowed before them. Everything stayed pretty dark, as Sebastian realized they were traveling down, not along. Down deep, it seemed. Very deep.

  There were some parts of the ocean that had never been explored before. Some parts that no human had ever been to. Creatures that had never been discovered. And of the ones that had been, Sebastian knew, some didn’t have eyes, because it was so dark that they didn’t need to see. Seeing wasn’t important.

  That thought really messed with his mind.

  The Kid leaned over and pushed a button. “Doris,” he said into a speaker, “we’ll need to activate the EM-7056 in T minus eighteen minutes.”

  A staticky “Roger that!” replied.

  The quiet that filled the submarine made Sebastian almost as uncomfortable as the dark depths they were diving into. He looked around, and it appeared that his fellow travelers were statues, frozen in time. He glanced at Evie. He could see her fingers twitch a little. It made him feel a bit better.

  He knew how deep they were going. He knew it because he’d seen the finished map. He knew that the trench itself went to a depth of 36,070 feet. The thought of going as far below the surface as mountains are tall filled him with a very strange feeling. A feeling of being very small and unimportant, and at the same time really not wanting his unimportance to end.

  Strange creatures started making appearances, passing by the windows. An anglerfish with long pointy teeth and a little lamp-like hanging lure followed along with them for a while until it got bored. Soon a small orange blob thing with tentacles danced its way across their view.* And he wasn’t sure if he’d seen what he thought he had, but a school of almost see-through small fish raced them for a moment and then vanished as if they’d never been.

  No one said anything the whole while. No one commented on the creatures or the slow descent or even the weather, of which, Sebastian supposed, there wasn’t any. No, instead they sat there in silence for a very, very long time. His back started to spasm from sitting in the same position without moving. It was only then that he realized how dry his mouth was, that he was also getting hungry. How long had it been? Maybe time had no meaning in here. Or out there. Maybe the deeper you went, the more zero time became. Like Greenwich mean time.

  No, that made no sense.

  At all.

  He was starting to get a little loopy, clearly.

  Blip.

  Oh great. Now his brain was making blip noises.

  “Did anyone else hear that?” asked Evie from the front of the ship.

  Okay, so maybe it wasn’t his brain.

  “Hear what?” asked Alistair.

  “I heard a beep sound, high-pitched. Just for a moment. Maybe I’m hearing things.” She stopped, and he knew she was doubting herself. Even though he knew she wanted nothing to do with him, he didn’t want her to think she was wrong.

  “I heard it too,” he called out.

  “A beep?” said Catherine.

  “Just listen,” said Evie.

  They all sat in silence once more, but this time listening for a blip.

  This might be a useless attempt, he thought.

  Blip.

  “There!” said Sebastian and Evie at the same time. This time she glanced over her shoulder but then turned away quickly.

  “I didn’t hear anything,” said Catherine. She sounded frustrated. Not because she didn’t believe them, but because she couldn’t seem to hear what they were hearing. Maybe the small sound was one that only kids could hear.

  “Wait,” said the Kid. “You said it was a high note?”

  Evie nodded.

  “Okay. Let’s listen again,” he said, pushing the autopilot button. He got up and walked to the far end of the console and looked down at it, shoulders hunched. Sebastian had no idea what he was doing.

  They listened.

  And waited.

  And waited.

  Blip.

  “Did you hear that?” said Sebastian.

  “No,” said Catherine.

  “I did,” said the Kid. “And I saw it.” He stood upright and looked at them all. “There’s something on our radar.”

  * “Small orange blob thing with tentacles” is the name of my pet octopus.

  Evie leaned over the Kid’s shoulder and looked at the screen. Doris was on his other side, and next to Doris was Sebastian. It took all of Evie’s willpower to keep her focus on the dot and not on him. To not exchange a worried glance.

  “Keep going,” said her grandfather from his seat. He sounded tired and frustrated.

  “But what if it meant something?” said Evie, turning to him.

  “The radar only picks up things of a certain size,” said Doris. “You know that, Alistair.”

  Evie’s grandfather rose with a sigh and walked to them. “I do know that. I also know that a single blip that no one else heard is not something to end an entire exploration over. I’m rather surprised at you, Jason. Never took you for a coward.”

  The Kid looked up at him. “I’m not. I’m doing my job.”

  “Your job is to drive. So drive.” Alistair huffed back to his seat. Evie glanced at the other explorers and could see they were annoyed with her grandfather. She really didn’t need them to add another thing to the list of why they disliked him. He wasn’t a bad person, just determined. Focused. Like she was. Sometimes you had to push through your fears.

  Even if it meant being mean to people?

  That didn’t sit right with her.

  She made her way to her grandfather. “It’s okay. We’re not turning around,” she said with a smile, trying to make him feel better.

  He didn’t smile back. “What happened to my team, Evie? What happened to them? They used to be fearless, and now…” He shook his head. “It hurts when someone lets you down, doesn’t it?” Alistair gave her a knowing look.

  He was talking about Sebastian.

  Yes, it did hurt. A lot.

  But…after so much time and sleeping on it and everything…she was starting to wonder how badly Sebastian had really let her down. She didn’t say any of that to her grandfather, of course. He wanted her to agree with him, and he needed someone on his side. She was family. And your job as family was to have each other’s back.

  “It does,” she replied.

  “I saw it!” said Doris from the console.

  Evie rushed to her side. “Where?”

  Doris pointed to the upper left portion of the screen. “Watch closely,” she replied. Everyone leaned in, including Benedict, who had joined them. Evie tried hard not to blink, in case she missed it. Her eyes were watering and she held them wider. She was also holding her breath, though that probably wasn’t necessary.

  “You all look foolish,” said Alistair from behind them.

  A tiny green dot blipped on the edge of the screen, almost falling off it. Evi
e saw it, though. She saw it. “No, Grandfather. No, look!”

  She heard him stand and felt his presence as he too leaned over. She pointed where the dot had been, a little farther up from where Doris had pointed.

  They waited.

  And waited.

  Blip.

  It was a bit more to the right but still on the fringes of the screen.

  She turned to Alistair. “Did you see it?”

  He nodded but didn’t say anything. Instead he turned around and sat back down in his chair.

  “What do we do?” asked the Kid.

  “Tough question,” replied Doris. “We don’t know what it is, and we do have to remember that we all have a bias.”

  “A bias?” asked Evie.

  “Yes. After our experience with the monster last time, we are obviously jumping to the conclusion that it’s the monster again this time. There is no indication that it is.”

  “Just something big that is moving deep underwater,” said Benedict.

  “It can’t be happening again,” said Catherine quietly. “It just can’t.”

  “Why not?” asked Sebastian. “If you repeat the same thing, you get the same result.”

  Evie couldn’t help but look at him.

  “Well,” said Alistair, leaning back in his chair, “if it is, at least you can reassure yourself, Catherine, that everything you put us through did save the creature’s life.”

  “Stop blaming her,” said Doris sharply.

  Alistair shrugged but said nothing.

  “We should turn around,” said Catherine decisively. Evie kind of felt like she was right. It wasn’t worth risking everything, was it?

  “Absolutely not,” said Alistair, rising and marching up to her.

  Catherine faced him and, standing up on the platform as she was, towered over him. “Alistair, this isn’t a dictatorship. This is a team. We’ll vote.”

  “No.”

  “All in favor of turning around, raise your hand!”

  Evie saw one, two…four…and then five hands in the air, with Sebastian’s added last to the group.

  “All in favor of staying the course,” said her grandfather. He raised his hand high. Behind him so did his three thugs.

  “They don’t count!” said Sebastian.

  “Of course they do,” snapped Alistair. “They’re explorers too. They are on this mission too. They deserve a say.”

  “He’s right,” said Benedict.

  “But…but…they’re evil,” said Sebastian, glaring at them.

  “So,” said Alistair. “It’s four to four.”

  “Four to five,” said Sebastian, raising his chin slightly higher than usual.

  Alistair turned to him with a smile. “I believe you’re the one who said you weren’t part of the team. And you’re not. You’re a piece of a map. That’s all.” Sebastian sputtered at that, but said nothing. Evie for her part really thought that that was unfair. Sebastian had more than proven that he was a part of things. Plus he was on her team. The Daring Duo.

  Alistair looked at Evie. She realized only then what had happened. She was the deciding vote. She hadn’t meant to be. She’d been so busy watching the action unfold that she had forgotten she was a part of it.

  She looked at Catherine, whom she’d always trusted so much. Who had been by her side in Australia, who had risked herself for Evie so many times. But the animal expert also had disregarded her. Ignored her advice.

  She had apologized.

  But she’d still done the thing.

  Evie thought harder. Catherine always did seem to want to do the less risky option, and hadn’t Evie been right and Catherine wrong so many times? Or at least a few times? When it had counted?

  Then there was the simple fact that her grandfather was her grandfather.

  “Evie,” said Alistair, almost like he was reading her mind, “I’d never put you in harm’s way. You’re family. Trust me.”

  It was tricky, seeing as she really disagreed about what her grandfather had said about Sebastian, and even more than that, she really hated his thugs, and they were the only ones taking his side. What did it say about someone when their only friends were the bad guys?

  But he wouldn’t let anything happen to her. She knew it.

  “I vote we stay the course,” she said. Her voice was less sure-sounding than she would have liked. She made eye contact with Catherine. It was good that the animal expert was so hard to read, because Evie could now pretend Catherine wasn’t disappointed in her.

  Blip.

  “It’s back,” said Doris.

  Everyone rushed to the radar. Everyone, that is, except for Evie. And Alistair. Who smiled at her in this way that made her feel warm inside. He was proud of her. She turned to the screen and saw that one other person hadn’t rushed over. It was Sebastian. The way he was looking at her made her feel ashamed.

  “What?” she asked him, putting her hands on her hips.

  “He’s using you,” said Sebastian.

  She shook her head. She wasn’t stupid. She knew her loyalty to her grandfather meant that she was making some decisions not entirely from logic, but that was okay. Sometimes you had to feel your way through things.

  But she also felt icky. Thanks, Sebastian.

  “Boy, come,” ordered her grandfather. “Let’s do the next part of the map.” He snapped his fingers at Sebastian, who with a very audible huff followed the man to the giant table. Of course, that wasn’t helping matters for Evie, Alistair being mean to Sebastian like that.

  “It’s not necessary yet,” said Benedict from the console.

  “I want to do it. I don’t need your help with this,” said Alistair to Benedict. “It’s not like reading a map is actually that difficult. Maybe you should take a break, take a few cute pictures instead.” His voice was dripping with contempt. Evie could hear it, and she understood why he was so angry. After all, they’d all voted against him. But their votes hadn’t been personal, against Alistair. They had just voted their preferences. He didn’t need to insult Benedict like that. Maps were hard. And taking a good picture was more difficult than most people thought, and not some “cute,” easy thing to do. Not that Benedict had taken a single photograph since she’d met him.

  Benedict didn’t reply, just stared. Evie was positive he was angry, though he showed no sign of it. She turned to see Alistair and Sebastian bent over the map at the other side of the room. The men in black rose to form a kind of human wall between them and everyone else.

  Blip.

  Blip.

  Blip.

  Evie turned. She had been slightly lost in thought, but the blips brought her back to the moment. She looked at the console. The dot was blipping every second or so, still far away from the middle but moving toward them.

  “Any way we can speed up our descent?” asked Benedict.

  “I can try, but I can’t go too much faster. Doris, can you help at all?” asked the Kid, giving her a concerned look.

  “I’ll do my best,” she replied, and quickly ran to her hatch and slipped into whatever was below them.

  The Kid reached for the lever on the right side and pushed against it carefully. There was a grinding sound, like metal against metal, and more bubbles began shooting past the window. He eased up and gave Catherine a look.

  Blip.

  “Keep trying,” said Catherine.

  “Is it coming right for us?” asked Evie. “Is that us in the middle?”

  Catherine nodded.

  “Yup,” said the Kid. He cracked his knuckles and then placed his hand on the lever and pushed. This time there was no grinding sound, and he pushed a little harder. And a little harder. The grinding started once more, so he pulled back a bit. “Might be as fast as we can go,” he said.

  Cat
herine nodded. Again.

  “You’re doing a good job,” said Benedict.

  “Thanks, man,” replied the Kid, but he looked very serious. The blips weren’t stopping. In fact it felt like they were speeding up. “I think it’s time for folks to buckle in.”

  “Alistair!” called out Catherine.

  “We’re fine!” replied Alistair. Evie tried to look over to him and Sebastian, but they were hidden behind the Mr.’s.

  She looked back at Catherine, who said, “Buckle up, Evie. Take your grandfather’s seat.”

  Evie nodded and did as she was told. She strapped in tight and then glanced behind her over her shoulder. Just past Mr. K’s right arm she could see Sebastian’s head bent over the map. He’d want to do up his seat belt too; he’d want to be safe.

  She turned back around.

  The other explorers were strapping themselves into their seats.

  “If we’re lucky,” said the Kid, “this is nothing. This is only the instrument falsely going off after not being used for so long.”

  “Since when have we been lucky?” asked Benedict.

  The Kid didn’t reply. Evie looked at the seat next to her. The one Sebastian had sat in when they’d traveled from Portugal. She reached out and touched the arm.

  “Okay, guys. Whatever it is, it’s coming right for us,” said the Kid loudly. He did up his seat belt, which, considering he liked to play fast and loose with safety, meant something big was coming.

  Evie faced forward and stared into the dark. The blips were getting faster and faster. It was almost hard to hear them separately. They seemed to make one long note.

  She was holding her breath again. She needed to breathe. Like she always told Sebastian. She hoped he was doing that too. Breathing.

  There were no more blips. Just a note. Just a held note. Like an opera singer who thinks she’s an actual Valkyrie.

  Evie stared at the darkness. All she could see was darkness. The world to her sides melted away. She was floating in an abyss.

  Suddenly in the bright headlights: a large mouth and sharp teeth. She jerked back into her chair, trying to avoid it, and watched as whatever it was swam right over them. A long body ending in a long snakelike tail, gray in the light, slinking away.