by Adam Blade
They swam across to a boulder at the side of the cavern and sat side by side. Max bit off a chunk of the cake and chewed thoughtfully. The Professor was an evil man, but he wasn’t stupid. He didn’t simply kill for the sake of it, and as long as Max’s father was useful to him, he’d be safe.
I just have to find him before his usefulness runs out….
“All we can do for now is follow the skull,” he said. “The Professor will be guarding the last two pieces with all his might.”
He swallowed the last of the seaweed cake, and called Rivet to him. Opening the storage compartment in the dogbot’s back, he took out both pieces of the skull. “What now?” he asked.
Lia took them from him and held the two sections together, matching their cracked edges. A flash of blue light made Max cover his eyes, but it faded quickly. When he looked again, the fragments of skull had become one, fused together without even a mark to show they were ever broken. The long jawbone jutted out beneath the powerful, staring brow. There was still a gaping hole in the middle of the face, and the top edges were broken.
“Thallos must have been a strange-looking creature,” said Max.
Lia scowled at him, but her smile quickly returned. The faint blue glow seemed to shine from her skin for a moment. “I can feel it,” she said. “The power is coming back.”
Max could sense something, too, as if the water all around was filled with life. Even Spike was staring, hypnotized by the skull.
“Tell me more about Thallos,” said Max.
Lia ran her hands over the smooth bone. “We have all sorts of legends, but nobody really knows much. He was an ancient creature, and a powerful one. Once the Merryn were wanderers — we traveled the seas in tribes. But the skull drew us together. By living close to it, we developed our powers.”
Max thought back over all he’d learned since coming underwater. Before the Professor had struck, the Merryn had the ability to control the seas. Not using barriers and tide-breaks and fancy technology like the humans of Aquora City, but with the power of their minds. They could communicate with every living creature under the waves, and lived in peace.
The Professor had ruined that when he took the skull and broke it. Even though Max had gills now, he still felt a little ashamed to be a human — a Breather. He knew he’d do everything in his power to help recover the other skull pieces.
Lia released the skull and it turned in the water, directing them away from the coral reef.
“Let’s go get the aquabike,” Max said. “I can’t keep getting lifts from Rivet.”
They swam back out of the cavern through the narrow passage and found the bike floating in the water. A small octopus had wrapped its legs around the handlebars and lazily detached itself as they approached. Max checked the controls and fuel gauge. “Should be fine,” he said, climbing into the saddle.
“We should rest first,” said Lia. “There’s a big ocean out there, with lots of dangers.”
Max opened his mouth to argue, but a wave of weariness washed over him. He hadn’t slept since he’d been in his bed on the 523rd floor of Tower Alpha Four; the place he’d once called home.
“You’re right,” he said. “But we can’t sleep in the open. The Professor might send one of his creatures after us.”
“I know just the thing,” said Lia. “Follow me.”
Max set the bike to CRUISE, and they traveled steeply downward, leveling off at the seabed. A carpet of bushy weeds rippled in the gentle current. Lia was scanning the way ahead and steered off to the left. The ground dipped away in a small crater, and at the bottom two giant spiral shells lay on their sides. Each was as big as an Aquora City transporter. The white edges of the shells curled away, perfectly smooth and speckled with pink flecks.
“Does anything live in there?” asked Max.
Lia shook her head. “Not anymore.”
She leaped off Spike and folded herself into the shell’s opening.
“Keep a lookout, Rivet,” Max said.
He parked the aquabike beside the shell and climbed in. The surface felt strangely warm and soft and made a perfect bed.
It wasn’t long before he could hear the soft rumble of Lia’s snores. Spike lay beside her with his eyes half-closed. Max knew that he’d fall asleep soon, but his head was still buzzing with thoughts. Once, a year or so ago, he’d stood with his father, watching the fishing boats draw up at Aquora docks. One of the fishermen, an old man with a white beard and deep lines crossing his face, had shown them a shell he’d dredged up in his nets. It looked like the ones they slept in now, but smaller, about the size of a clenched fist.
“There you go, youngster,” the fisherman had said, tossing the shell over. “A present for you. Close your eyes and hold it up to your ear.”
Max’s father had frowned, but nodded.
Max did as he was told, and pressed the cold shell against his ear. At once he’d heard an echoing, swirling sound, like crashing waves whipped by winds.
“Can you hear it?” the fisherman had asked. “The sound of the sea?”
Max smiled at the memory. He’d thought it was magic, those howling winds and the rush of water, trapped inside a tiny shell. His father had hated the sea ever since Max’s mom disappeared, but he’d let Max listen to that sound.
Max turned over in his shell bed to make himself more comfortable, and listened to the sounds of the sea all around him. Rivet lay in the sand on the seabed, his ears pricked up for sounds, his watchful eyes dimly red. Beyond him, a cloud of silver fish danced in the current like a thousand spinning coins. A school of jellyfish bobbed through the depths, trailing their fluorescent purple bodies.
His father had been right to be fearful — but Max wouldn’t let himself be afraid.
“I’m coming for you, Dad,” he whispered.
He only wished his father could hear him.
WE’D BETTER GET MOVING,” MAX SAID WHEN they finished eating. They had to find the next piece of the Skull of Thallos, stolen by the evil Professor. Without the skull, the Merryn’s aqua powers were fading, and Lia’s people would not be able to defend themselves against the Professor’s plans to enslave them all and rule the ocean. But Max also had his own reason for wanting to defeat the Professor. He’d kidnapped Max’s dad.
“Did you have enough to eat?” Lia asked.
“Definitely,” Max said.
He touched Rivet’s head, and the robodog, who had been in sleep mode, instantly awoke. His stumpy robot tail wagged from side to side. “Morning, Max. Morning, girl. Morning, fish.”
“Good boy, Rivet.” Max opened the storage compartment in Rivet’s back and got out the two-part piece of the Skull of Thallos that they had taken from the Robobeasts, Cephalox and Silda. The pieces had fused together, as though they had never been separated, to form the lower half of the skull. It glowed with a soft, steady blue light. Max looked at the pointed jaw and the gaping eye sockets and could hardly stop himself from shuddering.
He released the skull. It floated in the water in front of him, then slowly turned and held steady.
“To the North!” Lia said.
“How do you know that way’s North?” Max asked. “There’s no sun down here to get your bearings from.”
“I’m Merryn,” Lia said. “We always know where we are in the sea.”
Max got on his aquabike and revved the engine. Rivet paddled over to his side, and Max returned the skull to Rivet’s back compartment. Lia sat astride Spike and led the way out of the cave.
Soon they were cruising through the ocean at top speed. They didn’t speak much as they raced over undersea hills and valleys, past shoals of fish and fields of gently waving seaweed. Max was thinking about the clue they had found in the Professor’s abandoned submarine — was it only yesterday? They now knew that the Professor’s base was the Black Caves. And that must be where Max’s dad was being held. But where in all the oceans of Nemos could the Black Caves be?
“Wait!” Lia said. She touched Spi
ke’s side to slow him down. Max hit the brakes.
“What?”
Lia looked worried. “If we keep going North, we’ll reach the Forest of Souls.”
“Is that bad?” Max asked.
“We mustn’t go there unprepared!” Lia said.
Abruptly, she swung Spike around and headed off to the side.
“Where are you going?” called Max.
Lia shouted something over her shoulder, but Max couldn’t hear.
He twisted the throttle and raced to catch up with her. There was only one thought in his head now. What is the Forest of Souls?
* * *
Max saw Lia and Spike stop beside a huge black rock. He eased the aquabike to a halt by their side.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Watch.” Lia made a piercing, whistling sound from the back of her throat. For a second, nothing happened. Then a host of little golden gleams of light shot out from cracks in the boulder — thousands of them, dancing around Max and Lia in a glittering swarm.
Max saw that they were tiny fish. Each was no longer than the joint of a finger, and they glowed different shades, some gold, some orange, some copper, some yellow, some almost white. He and Lia were standing in a sphere of shifting light. The sparkles were reflected in Rivet’s metal sides, and the sand on the ocean floor shone brilliant silver.
“Wow,” Max said softly. “That’s incredible.”
Lia seemed pleased. “They’re pretty, aren’t they? They’re called glindles.”
“They’re beautiful,” Max said. “Thanks for showing them to me — only, do we have time for this? I mean, we’re on a mission here.”
“They’ll light our way through the Forest of Souls,” Lia said.
“Isn’t there a danger that these … glindles will attract predators?”
Lia shook her head. “Absolutely not. Glindles give off a scent that repels other sea creatures. They will light the way and keep us safe from the creatures that lurk in the Forest of Souls.”
Max felt a twinge of unease. “What creatures?”
“No one knows for sure,” Lia said in a low voice, as if she feared someone was listening. “There are only rumors — legends. But it is said that dangerous monsters dwell there.”
Max began to wonder if they would need something more than fish scent to get them safely through.
Lia made the whistling noise again, and the glindles followed her in a gleaming crowd as she steered Spike back toward the north.
Max rode beside her, enjoying the sensation of moving in a bubble of light. From time to time, Lia took scraps of kelp or fungus from her tunic and gave it to the glindles to nibble. Spike turned to look at her reproachfully, and she fed him, too.
After a time, Max saw that Rivet was struggling — the poor dogbot wasn’t built to keep up with Spike or the aquabike.
“Here, Rivet!” Max patted the space at the back of the bike. Rivet wagged his stumpy tail and jumped up behind Max. He sat there, resting his propellers, as they rode farther and farther north.
Eventually, the scenery began to change. The dark green seaweed that was dotting the ocean bed began to grow more thickly. The fronds grew taller — huge feathery arms that swayed in the ocean currents like the branches of trees in a breeze. Max began to feel hemmed in by the forest of dark, slimy seaweed that surrounded them, soaring far above their heads. If it hadn’t been for the glindles, they would hardly have been able to see a thing.
“Is this it?” Max said. “The Forest of Souls?”
Lia inclined her head. “It is the beginning.”
“Then let’s check our location,” Max said.
Max reached behind him and took out the Skull of Thallos from Rivet’s storage compartment. He held it in front of him, and frowned. Something was wrong. The skull wasn’t glowing as steadily as before. Its light pulsed weakly, faded away, then flared up briefly before fading away again.
He let go of it, watching to see where it pointed. But the skull just bobbed in the water in front of him, slowly turning around, not settling on any direction.
“It’s not working anymore!” Max groaned. “Is that because we’re in the Forest of Souls?”
“It must be,” Lia said in that same hushed voice she’d used earlier. “We must be very, very careful. No Merryn would enter this forest willingly.”
Max felt like saying, Neither would I, but stopped himself. If he wanted to be brave, he had to sound brave. “It’ll be fine,” he said. “We know we’re going in the right direction, and as long as we stick together we’re bound to find some clue. If the Robobeast is hiding in here, we’ll find it. We have the glindles, don’t we?”
Lia nodded slowly. She patted Spike and they moved on. The fronds of seaweed became even thicker, pressing in on them.
Then, suddenly, they emerged into a clearing. Lia was ahead and Max heard her cry out in alarm. “Max!”
The next moment his own stomach twisted with fear.
Standing in the clearing, as if awaiting their arrival, was a green creature, the size of a man. There were frills around its lizard-like head. Beady black eyes stared straight at them and its mouth was twisted in an evil grin.
Max tensed. This must be one of the creatures that live here, he thought. And if I have to fight my way past it … bring it on!
With special thanks to Michael Ford
For Lucas Allan
#1: CEPHALOX THE CYBER SQUID
#2: SILDA THE ELECTRIC EEL
#3: MANAK THE MANTA RAY
#4: KRAYA THE BLOOD SHARK
Deep Dive series created by Beast Quest Ltd., London.
Copyright © 2012 by Beast Quest Ltd. All rights reserved.
Cover and interior art by Justin Wyatt for Artful Dodgers
Cover color by Bob Wakelin for Artful Dodgers
Cover design by Nina Goffi
Published by Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, by arrangement with Working Partners Ltd. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
First printing, November 2012
e-ISBN 978-0-545-51030-1
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.