by Deb Mercier
Now is the time to leave. You turn to go below and tell Conseil and Ned, but several crewmen push past you onto the platform. You watch as they lower the iron railing around the platform. They are preparing for the Nautilus to submerge.
You hurry down to the drawing room. You open the doors and say simply, “It’s time.” You are so nervous; your heart feels like it will beat right out of your chest.
You all pass quickly through the library. But the moment you reach the central staircase, you hear the upper panels clang shut. Ned tries to rush up the stairs, but you stop him. A hissing noise tells you that water is running into the reservoirs.
The Nautilus has sunk beneath the surface of the waves. It is too late to act.
The three of you gather together in your room. The Nautilus trembles with sudden speed. You feel the shock as the Nautilus rams the warship. Rattling and scraping, the submarine tears through the other ship like a needle through cloth.
You scream and run from your room. You dash into the drawing room, terrified of what you will see. Captain Nemo is there, standing at the windows.
The Nautilus keeps pace with the ship as it sinks into the abyss. Men crowd the ratlines and cling to the masts, struggling under the water.
An explosion rips through the warship. It sinks faster. Your eyes widen in horror. Soon the ruined ship and its crew disappear into the dark depths of the ocean.
You turn to Captain Nemo in disbelief. He strides across the drawing room and opens the door to his own cabin. He leaves the door open. On the end wall you see the portrait of a young woman and two little children. Captain Nemo stares at the portrait. He stretches his arms toward it and bursts into deep sobs.
11. Goodbye, Captain Nemo
You make your way back to your room, where Ned and Conseil wait in silence. You feel horror at the thought of Captain Nemo. Whatever he has suffered, he has no right to punish others this way. He has made you a witness to his revenge, and it sickens you.
A short while later, you return to the drawing room. The instruments tell you the Nautilus is moving toward northern seas with frightening speed.
***
Whenever the submarine surfaces for air, it only stays briefly above the waves. You can only guess, but it feels like the Nautilus has been speeding north for fifteen or twenty days.
You have seen nothing of Captain Nemo or his crew. It’s like the submarine is run by ghosts. Ned, too, has withdrawn into his room, his patience at an end.
Yet, one morning, you wake to find Ned leaning over you. “We are leaving,” he says in a low voice.
You sit up. “When?”
“Tonight,” he replies. “No one is watching. Everyone on board seems half asleep. You will be ready?”
“Where are we?” you ask.
“In sight of land—twenty miles to the east.”
“What country is it?” you ask.
“I don’t care,” says Ned.
He is right. Anything will be better than staying aboard—even being swallowed by the sea.
“The sea is bad, the wind violent, but twenty miles in that light boat of the Nautilus doesn’t frighten me,” says Ned. “Unknown to the crew, I have stored away food and some bottles of water on the boat.”
The day feels like the longest of your life. You stretch out on your bed to try and calm your nerves. Your journey aboard the Nautilus plays through your mind. Each event passes before your eyes like scenes in a play.
Evening comes, and you take a last look at all of the treasures in the library and drawing room. You wish you could take them with you.
Finally, you return to your room and dress in strong sea clothing. You collect your journal and your notes and place them carefully inside your jacket.
You hear the sad, distant strains of the piano. A new thought terrifies you. If Captain Nemo is playing, it means he is in the drawing room. You will have to walk right past him to join Ned and Conseil. He may discover you. But if you wait for the captain to leave, you might be too late to join your companions. Should you go, or should you wait? What will you choose to do?
Sneak away now.
Wait for Nemo to leave.
You hesitate, your ear pressed to your door. The piano plays on. You’ll have to go soon, but you must wait for the captain to leave the drawing room.
Suddenly, the floor under your feet seems to spin. You open your door and hear one word repeated over and over from above: “Maelstrom!”
With a terrible feeling of dread, you guess that you are upon the dangerous coast of Norway. It is here that giant whirlpools form and swallow ships whole.
The Nautilus is swept up in a tightening spiral. Your stomach heaves.
You realize that you will never leave the Nautilus. Faster and faster, you and her crew spin into the depths of the deadly whirlpool.
You can only hope that Ned and Conseil didn’t wait like you did—that they are safe in the small boat, away from the whirlpool’s grasp.
It is your last hopeful thought, as you and the Nautilus are sucked into the giant whirlpool, never to be heard from again.
Try again.
You cannot wait. The time is now.
You sneak quietly down the hall and stand outside the drawing room. You open it gently. The room is dark. Captain Nemo is there, playing the piano. He does not see you. He’s caught up in the music.
You creep along, avoiding the slightest sound. It seems to take forever to reach the door opening into the library. Your hand freezes on the handle when Captain Nemo sighs and stands.
He walks toward you silently, gliding like a ghost. You can see his chest heaving with sobs. You hear him murmur, “Almighty God, enough. Enough!”
You run for the staircase. You reach the boat faster than you ever thought possible and climb aboard. “Let’s go!” you exclaim.
“Hang on,” says Ned. He sets to work on the remaining bolts that hold the small boat to the Nautilus.
Suddenly, you hear a noise. Voices call to each other loudly. Have you been discovered?
No one seems to be looking at you. Instead, you hear one word repeated over and over: “Maelstrom! Maelstrom!”
It is a dreadful word to hear in your situation. You guess instantly that you are upon the dangerous coast of Norway. It is here that giant whirlpools form and swallow ships whole.
From every point on the horizon, enormous waves meet, forming a gulf whose power extends over twelve miles. You’ve heard tales of this whirlpool; it swallows anything in its path: ships, whales, anything. So this is where the captain has brought the Nautilus.
The submarine is swept up in the tightening spiral. The boat is still attached to the submarine, carried along at great speed. Your stomach heaves.
With a shriek of tortured metal, the bolts holding the boat to the Nautilus tear free. You hang on desperately as the boat is hurled like a stone from a sling into the middle of the whirlpool. You feel your head strike something with a blinding pain. Everything goes black.
***
When you open your eyes, you are lying in a hut. Ned and Conseil kneel by your side. They grab you in a bear hug.
They tell you that you are in Norway. You will have to wait for a boat that runs to the southern part of the country. From there, you can make your way home to France.
You don’t mind the wait. It gives you time to reflect on your adventures. In less than ten months, you have crossed 20,000 leagues under the sea. You’ve seen ocean wonders that others can only imagine.
You hope the Nautilus has escaped the whirlpool. You hope that Captain Nemo still lives and that one day the beauty of the ocean will cure him of his hatred.
You turn to the last page of your journal and write a question asked three thousand years ago by a philosopher named Ecclesiastes: “That which is
far off and deep, who can find it out?”
Two people can now give an answer: Captain Nemo and you.
Epilogue
You snap to alertness, blinking in bright sunlight. Where are you? You feel dizzy, as if you just got off the world’s most massive roller coaster.
Like a tidal wave, your memories come rushing back. You’re in the condo that your parents rented. You look down at the book still clutched in your hands: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
Was it all just a dream? It doesn’t feel like it. Your mind is awake like never before. You are strangely aware of yourself and your environment.
You slide the book back onto the shelf and rush to the window. You hear the crash of the waves, and you can’t wait to get out there.
You quickly find your goggles, and you race down the steps and across the hot sand. The crashing waves that terrified you before now call out to you.
There’s an amazing world under them, just waiting for you to explore. Who knows what you’ll find? And as you plunge into the ocean to join your family, you realize that’s the whole point.
You grin through a mouthful of tangy saltwater. The unknown isn’t something to fear... it’s an opportunity to discover.
Jules Verne was born on February 8, 1828, in Nantes, France. At a young age, he fell in love with literature and theater. He worked as a secretary at a theater, wrote plays, and published several short stories.
In 1857, Verne got married. He worked as a broker at the Paris Stock Market, but his mind was always on writing. He dreamed of a new kind of novel, one that mixed scientific fact with adventure fiction.
In September 1863, Verne published the first of his “Extraordinary Journeys” titled Five Weeks in a Balloon. It became a best-seller. Over the next two decades, Verne wrote many science-adventure novels, including Journey to the Center of the Earth, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in Eighty Days.
Verne died in 1905, but his new idea—science-fiction—lives on in a big way. Thanks to the imagination of Jules Verne, the world gained a whole new way of looking at science, as well as a whole new way of writing and reading adventures.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was first published in France as two volumes—the first in 1869 and the second in 1870. The book belongs to a line of science-fiction adventure novels called “Extraordinary Journeys.”
It is believed that Jules Verne was inspired by a fellow writer, George Sand. In 1865, after reading several of Verne’s adventures, Sand wrote, “I have only one regret concerning these stories, which is to have finished them and not to have a dozen more to read.” Four years later, Verne finished 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
Verne’s novel had a strange way of predicting the future, especially in regard to technology. For instance, submarines weren’t used for travel and exploration in 1869, but Verne featured one in his book. Even Verne’s details that seemed crazy at the time—like a huge machine running on electricity—are things we now experience every day.
This version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is presented as a Choose Your Path adventure, with the greatest of respect for its original author, Jules Verne.
With a mask and snorkel, Deb Mercier spent many happy hours as a kid submerged under the waves of Pelican Lake in northern Minnesota.
As an adult, Deb has written several middle-grade books (including Choose Your Path books), two picture books, and many newspaper articles.
Deb and her family live in rural Minnesota. She is the news editor at the Pope County Tribune, loves pizza, and saves turtles from roadways whenever possible. For more information about Deb and her latest projects, please visit www.debmercier.com.
Bram Stoker’s
Dracula
Edgar Allan Poe’s
The Pit and the Pendulum
Greek Mythology’s
Adventures of Perseus
Howard Pyle’s
Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Jack London’s
Call of the Wild
Jules Verne’s
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes