Moonfin

by L. L. Mintie

  She walked over to the still edge and knelt down to wash seawater over Iddo. He had grown stronger on their trek down in Lizzy’s arms, the Glimmruyn in her doing its magic.

  Iddo wiggled and gyrated—Brruuuuhhhh!—he shook, sorting himself out in the life-giving water.

  “Be careful and stay away from Moonfin, my friend,” Lizzy warned him. “We’ll give you a head start before we let her out.”

  “And I will let Xili and the others know you are on your way, if you succeed here,” he said, shining eyes bobbing above the water’s edge.

  She released him into the water.

  “Lizzy, wait,” he latched fervently onto her forearm with a tentacle, surprising her, “there are some things you should know before we part ways. First, the chain that holds Moonfin isn’t from here. Dr. Krell forged the chain somewhere else—he knew it was the only metal that could hold her …” He filled her mind with images of rock ores from faraway places.

  “Okay, then we can find the key or remotely unlock—”

  “But if you cannot, there is the most common substance on earth that can dissolve the chain!”

  Lizzy waited as he searched confusedly for the words to explain.

  “Well, what is it? We’re in a bit of a time crunch here.”

  “I’m thinking of it—give me a minute. It’s a chemical substance from the chicle tree grown in different parts of your world … or, like it—yes, um…. Oh, I am so unfamiliar with these human terms you use!”

  “Yes, you are! And where am I going to find a chicle tree down here? We’ll have to look for another way, don’t worry.” She smiled at his befuddled words, happy he was regaining his silly-self back.

  “Secondly, the code to the gate is a mirror. I mean a puzzle … a puzzle mirror. Arrggh, I can’t get anything right!”

  Iddo swiftly wrapped a second prickly tentacle around her head, pulling her close.

  “I fear a test is in front of you. Your human side will battle your Glimmruyn,” he said in a low and dramatic tone. A wild eye popped out of his head and floated only inches from her face.

  Her brows shot up like two horseshoes. “Uhhh—I don’t understand what you mean.”

  “Don’t forget who you are.”

  “Relax, Iddo, I’ll be fine—and you have to stop doing that popping-eye thing, please. It’s creepy.”

  His bubble-eye turned hastily downward, and slipping under the water, he disappeared out of sight.

  They watched as his swaggering wake moved across the glassy surface.

  “How’s he doing?” Kai asked Lizzy.

  “I think he’ll make it. I sensed something changing in him, though—I’ll have to leave that up to Xili and the others right now.”

  They checked out their surroundings and found metal boxes, diving equipment, and medical supply stations bolted along the rock wall.

  “Typical stuff found in a doctor’s office but with a twist,” said Kai, pulling a gigantic harpoon from its brackets. “This looks like the world’s biggest needle.”

  “Brutal,” said Jeff, comparing his arm to the metal shaft. “I wouldn’t want to get shot with that six-foot barb.”

  Lizzy scanned the quiet sea. “It’s awfully calm. Moonfin could be sleeping.”

  “Then let’s not wake her. I’m not going anywhere near that edge. A big slimy antenna could whip out at any moment and wrap around my leg and drag me to the bottom and….” Jeff’s voice trailed off as he trudged up the sand to look at some gargantuan metal harnesses (he’ll keep his feet on solid ground, thank you very much).

  Kai and Lizzy branched off in the opposite direction and found what they were looking for within minutes: the control console near the water. It was old and rusty like the elevator, abandoned technology not used for eons. They were lucky to have found it. Now if only they could get it to work …

  Lizzy stepped up onto the platform.

  “An old Nexys design!” She placed trembling fingers to the rolling ball imbedded in the metal panel, and the screen flickered on. It didn’t take long to find the gate icon—it was one of only a few programs left in the system. But when she pressed on it, instead of a standard code encryption, a picture immediately popped up.

  She gasped.

  “What?” said Kai.

  “It’s … it’s not the usual log-in. I think this system is so outdated, that instead of tearing it down, Krell must’ve created a puzzle all the techs could easily do, but anyone from the outside couldn’t break into.”

  Jeff pulled up behind Kai.

  “Well, what is it?” he asked pointedly.

  She glanced nervously back at him. “It’s a mirror puzzle, like Iddo was trying to tell me. He said it’s a backdoor code—like the Tower of Hanoi, I think.”

  “The tower of what?” Jeff pushed through. “The Hanoi! I know what this is! Step aside and let the master do his thing.”

  And they did.

  Kai looked hopeful.

  “Do you need a book, or some special way to solve it?”

  “No, I have my brain.”

  Jeff cracked his knuckles and set his mind to conquer-mode, touching the screen. A virtual board with a three-headed snake materialized before them.

  “Ugh, snakes—that’s not helpful,” said Kai, squirming.

  He studied the picture for several minutes. The snakes were green and slimy, and each had a single-jeweled eye: ruby, topaz, and pearl. Four colored disks banded the snake’s head on the far left.

  “Iddo said that we can’t make a mistake, or the whole system will shut down,” said Lizzy.

  “That’s okay, because I don’t make mistakes in games of strategy,” said Jeff evenly.

  “Now, there are three snakes’ heads and four colored disks, and I can move only one disk at a time,” he related to them deftly. “It must be done in the least amount of moves—in this case fifteen. An image shone above the console:

  Kai looked from him to the virtual screen, deeply impressed.

  “We did this in Mr. Foote’s math class—but not an ugly snake,” she said. “You have to move the disks in the right order, so they end up the same exact color sequence as they started, but on the snake’s head to the far right, correct? Like a mirror image.”

  “Yes, only you can’t put a larger disk on top of the smaller ones, that’s against the rules. And something else—I’ve’ never done this in fifteen moves before.”

  “Oh no! What do you mean—the system will crash if it’s more?”

  “Yeppers. Or explode or something. Here goes nothing.”

  Jeff started with the small blue disk and moved it to head #2, and then moved the second yellow disk to head #3. After that, he moved the blue disk on top of the yellow disk, and the third red disk to head #2. He realized the small blue disk would have to be moved back to the larger green disk and so on and so forth (it may seem like a simple thing, but it’s much harder than it looks).

  He shuffled and brooded, continuing with the puzzle for quite some time, while Kai and Lizzy stood behind him sweating bullets. It didn’t help that the three-headed snake hissed and wriggled and snapped at Jeff’s hand, making it difficult to concentrate. A few caught his hand, stinging him badly with what felt like an electric shock.

  He took a step back to look over the puzzle and ran a hand over the waxy wave of sandy-blond spikes on top of his head for luck. It was the last three moves and he didn’t want to blow it. He smiled at something his grandfather had taught him once.

  “You know, there’s a legend about monks living inside a hidden cave somewhere, moving sixty-four golden disks just like these continuously. According to the story, when the puzzle is complete, the world will end.”

  “It will end if you don’t figure this puzzle out,” said Kai.

  “Yeah, and faster too. In the smallest amount of moves, it would take the monks 585 billion years to finish.”

  “Stop yapping and finish up, will you?”

  But Jeff was already one move away—
>
  “Fifteen!” shouted Lizzy, jumping up and down. “You did it!”

  Jeff grinned broadly. There wasn’t a game in existence he couldn’t beat.

  All four disks were stacked on the snake’s head to the far right in the exact order as they started. Then the three snakes merged into one complete snake, the panel went dark, and a grinding sound started up somewhere along the sea wall. And something else—

  WIIIP WIIIP WIIIP—sirens went off around the compound.

  In a horrific panic, Lizzy searched the motherboard to shut them off. Jeff and Kai dove for side panels and began ripping out wires. Thankfully, after only a few seconds, the alarm stopped. There was a moment of relieved silence, and then a very soft noise …

  It sounded like raindrops at first.

  Little pitter-patters within the walls.

  … two … three … ten …

  Soon to be thousands of them crawling, hopping, and swarming into the cavern, jumping off ledges and landing at their feet.

  RIBBIT-RIBBIT-CROAK! soon filled the air.

  “I think I know why they call this Frog Mountain!” cried Kai.

  Fleshy bellies bounded off rocks and slammed into their heads, backs, and legs. Little round toes skittered up pant legs. They were pouring out of the crevices like water from a pitcher, their croaks filling the cavern to deafening proportions.

  “The alarm must’ve called them up from below!” yelled Lizzy, dancing around furiously to avoid their clammy touch.

  Jeff was more concerned about something else at the moment. “What about the chain?” he shouted over the din, much closer to the water’s edge than he wanted to be, backed into it by the swarm of frogs. “Didn’t you say that had a separate puzzle code!”

  “We can’t unlock that electronically now—the wires are gutted—let’s hope the gate opened enough before we cut the connection!” Lizzy yelled back. “Iddo said there are keys to do it manually—let’s fan out and search!”

  They bolted toward the metal hanging boxes, pulling open doors in search of anything that looked like a key to unlock an enormous bolt, excruciatingly aware that the whole compound had been alerted to their presence. It wouldn’t be long now before security started flooding the cavern behind the toads, and being discovered by Dr. Krell struck a unique terror in their hearts, so they worked extra fast.

  “I’ll disable the elevator!” shouted Jeff, kicking a slew of little buggers into the air.

  Sploot! Woops—got a couple.

  “I found something!” yelped Kai, holding up a ring with a large glistening key on it.

  Lizzy grabbed it from her hand, turned, and froze in her tracks.

  What is that?

  She dropped the key and walked slowly up the shore as if suddenly hypnotized. “Stay here,” she said softly in a zombie-like monotone, then, tearing off up the beach, left Jeff and Kai gaping in her wake.

  “Oh, no,” whispered Kai, when she saw where Lizzy was headed.

  For on the hull of a boat, stuck in the sand, near the edge of the sea, was written this one word: Sundancer.

  Chapter 19

  A LONELY DRAGON

  Lizzy burned a white-hot trail through a sea of green croakers by the time Jeff and Kai realized where she was going, and it was too late to stop her. She skidded to a halt below the starboard bow and gazed in disbelief: The hull of the Sundancer sat moored on the sand in flawless condition. And other than a few missing beams and bolts, it looked to have just glided onto the sand without a fight.

  She pressed her hand against the aged wood and took a deep breath. It was real. She wasn’t imagining it. “So you weren’t lost out at sea after all,” she whispered as if speaking to a long lost friend.

  Clambering up the ladder and onto the deserted deck, she ran her hand across the boom and sails, her memory flooding with days long ago with her dad and brother. It was hard to believe it had been four years since she walked these creaky planks. She scuttled over to the chronometer where it sat in a waterproof case next to the wheelhouse, broken, and displaying the time of ten minutes after ten—the exact time the last report came through to the mainland.

  “It wasn’t difficult to capture this rusty bucket,” a greasy voice carried across the deck.

  Lizzy swung around to find Lee lurking in the shadows, his arms crossed, a grisly grin stretched across his waxy face.

  “Her crew never saw it coming,” he jeered.

  “How did you get—”

  “I thought I heard someone gasp upstairs. Good thing Dr. Krell didn’t catch you, or he might’ve made you into a charming addition to our island exhibits. Tell me, though … how did you escape the pits? You should be digested by now.”

  “I—uhh …” She began to boil inside.

  He studied his fingernails languidly. “It really is such a bother that you’re still alive. Now I will have to take care of you myself …”

  His words bore into her brain like a searing hot poker—it was the same hypnotic throbbing she had felt once before during the gimpit run. Then it hit her like a pop quiz in math—

  “You tried to drown me!” The fury bubbled up, and she tried to stuff it back down, but it gushed past her defenses like magma from a volcano.

  Lee chuckled and it felt like a brain-splitting boom box trapped inside her head.

  “Pathetic little Lizzy. You were a blubbering mess that day, I must say,” he mocked. “These human families are so ridiculous—thought you would have discovered that walking around on those two stumps of yours.”

  His smile faded.

  “You really don’t know, do you?”

  “Know what?” Lizzy gave him the most hateful look she could muster.

  “My first clue was when you spoke to that infernal octopus in the pool beneath the aquarium.” He tapped his forehead rapidly, the sharp thump-thump ripped loudly through her skull. “And when I dragged you into the sea, I saw you take a breath from that conch shell—that was very clever! Then there was that whole shark debacle…. Shara is such an amateur.”

  “What about the shark? Were you there?”

  Lizzy tried hard to piece together his words—that Lee was, in truth, the eel that tried to murder her. It was hard to think straight with this blasted marching band inside her head!

  “I had hoped we could be friends for Jade’s sake, you know. Your sister and I have become very close.”

  Lizzy managed to laugh through the immense pain.

  “I don’t think Jade likes disgusting eels much,” she said derisively. “Besides, I don’t know what you mean—”

  “Stupid girl!” he spat viciously. “I know that you are Glimmruyn! You cannot hide it from me!” He started toward her in a rapid lunge, eyes glowing fiercely and skin speckling black. The change was instantaneous, and in seconds the powerful eel wrapped his murky flesh-trunk around her, pulling her to the mast and trapping her in place.

  “SNIRCHER!” Lizzy exhaled out of her squashed lungs.

  “Tsk, tsk, you should have stayed put in the pits—far less painful way to go,” he sneered, squeezing her tighter.

  Whispers like tongues of fire licked at her brain. The pain she felt at seeing the Sundancer helpless filled her heart with a rabid rage. She tried to resist with all her might, but felt herself slipping away into the red-hot pool of anger.

  “That’s right. I can feel the hate within you like a black poison!” he leered nastily.

  Lizzy writhed within his tight grasp, fighting her way back to reason. He’s a Snircher … his power is in magnifying the bad feelings … get a grip on your emotions and he will lose …

  “I see your lies for what they are! You fill up our minds with the worst part of human emotion until”—she paused to catch her breath, trying to keep her cool—“we think that’s who we are.” The anger washed over her like a firestorm. The pain was so real—she almost expected to look down and see blisters erupting on her skin.

  “Hissssss, I do no such thing! It is who you are!”

/>   “LIAR! It’s only a feeling. Humans are stronger than that! You make us think we aren’t. It’s all an illusion to hide the truth—that we have power over you.”

  “Your fury makes me the more powerful one!” he shrieked. Stinking, putrid spittle oozed from his pores and splattered across Lizzy’s face.

  “ERRF!—that’s gross!” she gagged.

  Then thinking he could drag Lizzy to the sea and drown her as before, the Snircher plunged into the water, his eel trunk completely engulfing her small body. Swimming down, down, down to the ocean floor, he began to squeeze the life right out of her. But what he didn’t know was that her Glimmruyn abilities were growing stronger, and it was water that unleashed her power.

  Lee sent a bolt of electricity through his belly, attempting to knock her unconscious. But this energy only accelerated her change. The transformation started as bubbles of light, her long brown curls flashing bronze and her eyes awash to the deepest color of moss-green. Her arms and legs changed to a fiery translucence, which increased her speed and strength by a hundredfold. Lizzy glanced down and she could see her raiment clearly: it was as the kelp beds that danced in the sea—a luminous green with streaks of gold undulating across the front of her body.

  A momentary look of panic crossed the eel’s face.

  Oh nooo! This wasn’t the result he expected! The little human girl in his grasp couldn’t change into what she did! He sent another shock through his eel trunk—a grave blunder—for Lizzy’s magnified power thrust it back like a lightning bolt bouncing off a mirror and jolted it back through the eel instead.

  CRACK!

  He fell limp. His body crumpled senseless, paralyzed by the electrical overload.

  Lizzy wasn’t entirely sure what just happened.

  She stood lingering over his helpless form, a battle raging inside her. Torrid hatred made her want to kill the evil Snircher eel in the worst, most painful way, as one would squash a rattle snake in their yard. She no longer cared about anything else but to make him pay for her pain and loss. And she, in that split second, would use her powers to do it …

  The Snircher recovered in a snap, still looking very confounded. He winced in pain and looked down to find blistering scorch marks streaked across his trunk.