Hidden Monster

by Amanda Strong

I hate them both! Okay, I don’t hate them, but what the heck! I fumed, ranted, and all but punched the wall. I had followed Kate obediently to Tonbo’s office, let her leave me sitting at the round table, and then sat for a good hour waiting for him to show up. What happened to him dying to get started?

  Maybe it’s just as well. I needed time to simmer down. Tonbo was under the impression I came here to be tested. The only ones who had been playing the deceit cards were my friends. Even if this whole plan was to keep me out of harm’s way and get answers, Blake hadn’t been up front about it. He’d thought he had to scheme and plot to it. He promised me no more lying. I didn’t like what that reminded me of. Was I fool to trust him? I dug my nails into my jeans, thinking of not only Blake, but Mack too.

  Argh, what is it with those two? Why didn’t they just tell me in the first place? Because, I never would have agreed to this.

  “I don’t care if they did it to protect me, I’m still mad,” I mumbled, just to break the silence.

  “Well, hopefully not with me too,” I heard from behind.

  I spun around in my chair and saw Tonbo walking into the room.

  “Oh no, I’m just…”

  “I know you’re upset, Samantha. Blake debated whether to tell you last night. He came to see me before the incident.”

  My face flamed—did everyone on the island know about my humiliating moment?

  “I told him not to tell you. That it’d be best if he just left.”

  I stared at Tonbo. “Why?”

  “Because, Samantha, you are a very complicated damsel. You have anger within you, and you are stubborn. You wouldn’t have agreed, and Blake can’t stand to upset you. After what happened in the water, it gave Blake the strength to go. He wants to know why you are the way you are. And that’s why he didn’t say goodbye.”

  “What do you mean, what happened in the water?”

  “Blake knocked at your door for a good while and even after he’d broken the door in, it took him a few more minutes to find you under the pond. We can hold our breath for a very long time, my dear, but no one to this day has held it that long. You should’ve died.”

  “Oh. So is that why everyone knows about it?” I asked. Kate had referred to it too, and I began wondering who else knew.

  Tonbo nodded. “Why else would they? It’s unheard of, unprecedented.”

  “I didn’t realize; I didn’t know.” So it’s not because I was naked and all that. That probably never crossed anyone’s mind but mine. Then his words hit me. I should be dead?

  “But Tonbo, it didn’t feel like I’d been under that long. I don’t understand. One minute I’m under and the next, Blake’s freaking out, trying to save me. It doesn’t make sense.”

  “I worried about this.” Tonbo sat on the chair next to me. “Samantha, you used to have blackout spells before, right?”

  I nodded, slowly realizing what had happened. I’d passed out under water, and somehow managed to hold my breath. Scary thought. It was my first blackout since becoming a damsel.

  “I’d hoped that was over now that I am what I am.”

  Tonbo squeezed my hand and sighed. “Not every serum’s foolproof and whoever messed with yours added quite a bit of extras. One of which just might be sperm whale DNA.”

  “Really?”

  “It’s something we’d played with in the past, but hadn’t put into practice just yet. We have to run clinical tests to see if the benefits outweigh the risks. We do that with any alterations that are made. Anyway, whoever mixed your own unique blend probably stumbled upon our research and decided to implement it regardless. Sperm whales can hold their breath for over an hour, though typical dives last more like a half hour. So…” He rubbed his hands together, his eyes lighting up with energy. “Shall we proceed to my water tank?”

  “Um…”

  Tonbo cackled. “Oh, I’m just teasing you, my dear. I’d never dunk you for that long. In fact, no dunking necessary. We have a very nice lab upstairs. Want to see it? Much can be discovered by even a simple collection of blood.”

  I agreed. “Okay, sounds good.”

  Tonbo practically jumped to feet. “Excellent, off we go then!”

  Even though he’d joked about the water tank, my legs still wobbled as we exited his office. Just how mad of a scientist is he? We flew to the tenth floor and stopped in front of two metal, double doors, with a bright blue, flat monitor screen hanging next to them. Tonbo reached up and placed his palm against it; it buzzed, a white line tracing his handprint, like a child drawing with chalk, and then dinged.

  “Welcome, Tonbo,” a singsong voice said from the box.

  “Why, thank you,” he sang back.

  The doors slid open, revealing an elevator. We climbed in, and Tonbo said, “My lab takes up the top ten floors and as you see, not just anyone can enter. Very few actually.”

  “So why can’t we trace who got into the serum? Wouldn’t it have to be one of your scientists, someone who had access?” I asked, pressing my back against the wall. Elevators always made me dizzy.

  “Yes, you’d think it’d be that simple. But unfortunately, about a month before your abduction, there was a computer glitch. Someone hacked their way in and overrode the system. It shut down video surveillance cameras and the door scanner. Since it happened at night, we didn’t catch it until morning. And by then, it was too late. Serum had gone missing. When Blake found out you were gone, he searched for you, yes, but he raided here for anything and everything. Trust me when I say we raked over every detail. Whoever took you, Samantha, was smart and covered their tracks well.”

  I considered his words as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. My eyes widened. Now this did look just like a scene of a CSI crime lab, white lab coats everywhere, glassed-in rooms, and tables with odd-looking equipment and machinery on it. Right smack dab in the middle was a breadfruit tree.

  He caught my gaze and shrugged. “In case my trainees get hungry.”