by Lisa McMann
“I can help you with the sewing,” Ms. Octavia said. “I’m quite good. And rather fast.” She waved four or five tentacles as proof.
Sky grinned. “Then let’s not waste any more time here. Everyone’s gone to bed anyway, it seems.”
“I was just about to say that,” Alex said. “Let’s see what we can do. I haven’t felt any tremors at all, have you? Maybe we can get in and out of there before it sinks. I saw Copper head down the spiral stairs to somewhere below that main floor where the trees and plants are. At night would be an even better time to sneak in and rescue her, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes,” Henry said. “Let’s do it. I’m tired of sitting around this stupid volcano all day.”
With that, Simber delivered Octavia, Sky, Lani, and Henry to the ship so they could get started right away, and the rest of the crew so they could get some sleep.
» » « «
Five hours later, when sunrise was still a long way off, Sky shook Alex awake. “We’re ready,” she whispered.
He flashed a sleepy smile at her—there was no better face to wake up to. And then he remembered. Focus, Stowe. The smile slipped away, and he scrambled to his feet, serious once more.
Alex, Sky, Lani, Henry, and Ms. Octavia climbed onto Simber’s back, and they soared out into the night. Simber first circled the skylight to see if anyone was strapped into the wall seats. Seeing only a few pirates meandering about, Simber landed on the island, directly above the fishing hatch. He stood there for a few minutes to check for tremors, and when he was satisfied that all was well, he gave the go-ahead for the group to pile off.
“You guys totally look like pirates,” Alex said to Lani and Henry. “We’ll be back soon with the suits. He turned to Sky but didn’t look her in the eye. “Ready?”
Sky nodded. “Ready.” Her fear of the water was long gone, and she could swim with the best of them. Plus, she was so eager to finally get this rescue started that it didn’t really matter how Alex was acting.
Alex turned to Ms. Octavia. “You’re the lifeguard in case something goes wrong, okay?”
“Of course,” Ms. Octavia said.
Then Alex took off his robe and draped it over Simber’s shoulders. “And you’re the mage,” he said.
“We know how well that’ll worrrk out if we lose Arrrtimé,” the cat said dryly. But he held Alex’s gaze for the first time since they’d lost Florence. “So be carrreful.”
Ms. Octavia nodded. “Yes. And watch out for eels.”
“Believe me, we will,” Alex said. He hesitated, then held out his hand to Sky. She took it, and together, on three, they dove into the water.
They swam to one side of the hatch first, staying out of the light that came through the glass walls of the reverse aquarium. It was an interesting though slightly distorted view, looking in through the side rather than from above.
When all looked clear, Alex signaled to Sky, and they went toward the sliding hatch door. Alex moved his hand up and down the side, looking for the button that would open it and let them into the small drainage room. Finally, fumbling along a side panel, he hit it. The door slid open. There was already water in the holding place, so instead of getting whooshed into the open space by a wall of water under extreme pressure, he and Sky merely swam into the box.
The outer door slid closed behind them, and the door in front of them opened. The water in their box rushed out and fell through a grate in the floor. Alex and Sky landed haphazardly on top of the grate. “Looks like there’s probably an art to this,” Sky said, laughing under her breath as she got to her feet.
Alex grinned, and all the reasons he liked Sky rushed through his mind along with a dull ache. He had to focus. “Okay,” he whispered. “No mistakes. Let’s get the stuff. Coast is clear.”
They each grabbed a suit and a helmet and rolled the suits up carefully so they wouldn’t get wet inside when they went back out. Sky pressed the button. The inner door opened to the now waterless holding space. They stepped in, and the door closed behind them. “Stand back and hang on,” Sky muttered. “Here comes a wall of water.”
She cringed and pressed the second door’s button, bracing herself. But this time the door opened very slowly, letting the water in at a manageable speed. “Very sciency,” Alex remarked as the water level reached his neck. “Here we go.”
They took deep breaths and held them. Once Sky and Alex were completely submerged and the water had reached the top of the box, the door opened all the way. They exited and swam the distance to the surface, eventually popping up out of the water directly in front of Lani and Henry, who had leaned over the edge of the island, trying to see.
“Here you go,” Alex said, flinging his helmet and suit up over the edge. Sky did the same. They hauled themselves up with a little help and stood before their friends, dripping. “Nice and easy,” Alex said. He took off his shirt, squeezed the water out of it, and put it back on. “No problems. Nobody saw us.”
Sky explained how the doors worked while Lani and Henry put on the suits.
“You guys okay? You know where you’re going?” Alex asked.
“Of course, you dolt,” Lani said.
He smiled. “Just . . . don’t get caught here, okay? Your dad will kill me if anything else happens to you.”
“We won’t. In fact, Henry calculated it, and he thinks we’ll be back in ten minutes or so—if we can find the right room for Copper.”
“That’s a big if,” Alex muttered. He was definitely nervous about Operation Copper working as planned. So many things could go wrong.
“Oh!” Sky said. She rummaged through her wet pocket and pulled out a thin gold chain bracelet. “Show her this so she’ll know it’s safe to go with you. She’ll recognize it.”
Lani took it and, since she couldn’t reach her pockets with the suit on, slipped it on her wrist. “Got it.”
“Let’s go,” Henry said, bouncing a bit.
Alex gave them both a quick embrace. “Best of luck, you two,” he said. “Be smart and be careful. You can do this.”
“We know,” Lani and Henry said together, both wearing smug smiles. And with that, the Haluki children dove into the sea.
Shiver Shake Volcano Quake
Alex, Sky, and Ms. Octavia climbed up the volcano to the skylight to get a glimpse of Lani and Henry. It didn’t take the sister and brother long to figure out the doors. Soon they were tumbling onto the grate. They shed their suits and helmets and hung them up on the pegs where they belonged. Then they set out in search of Sky and Crow’s mother, looking exactly like they belonged there.
Lani wore a purple shirt and gray pants. Henry wore a red shirt and black pants. If someone looked closely, they’d find a very odd-looking seam in Henry’s pants where several pieces of clothing had been sewn together to make it work, but it wasn’t visible at first glance—at least not from the skylight.
“They’re heading to the spiral staircase,” Alex relayed to Simber, who was resting his wings nearby. “They’re going down— Nope, false alarm. Lani’s stopping and looking at something inside a glass case next to the stairs. Henry’s keeping watch. What the heck— Okay, now he’s tugging at her to hurry up.” He laughed nervously under his breath. “It’s probably a bunch of books or something. She can’t resist them. Come on, Lani.” He paused, jiggling his foot. “Okay, finally. Now they’re going down.”
Simber growled. “Ten minutes. Surrre.”
A moment later, Alex looked up. “They’re out of sight.” He blew out a breath. “I hope they find her.” He was more worried than he’d let on before. Who knew what these pirates would do if they found two kids who didn’t seem to belong to anyone?
As they waited Alex fidgeted. He and Sky both shivered, having brought nothing dry to change into. After a while, Alex retrieved his robe from Simber and held it out to Sky. “Here,” he said gruffly.
She took it and thanked him just as tersely, though she wasn’t quite sure why. They sat back against some rocks, no
t talking, and watched the scene below.
Nothing bad happened. No one walked by. It appeared to be the easiest maneuver any Unwanteds had ever undertaken. Alex clenched and unclenched his fists, wanting desperately for it to stay that way.
Across from Alex and Sky sat Ms. Octavia, looking down through the skylight at a very different angle and seeing a different scene—the glass cage full of sea creatures. “Florence looks just the same,” she remarked, more to give Simber an update than anyone else. Simber didn’t answer. Soon Ms. Octavia’s eyes drooped with fatigue. Occasionally they closed. Everyone was tired.
All of a sudden, Ms. Octavia’s eyes flew open wide. She sat up. “Alex, look.” She pointed. “The eel is back.”
Alex scrambled over to the other side of the skylight and watched the eel slither up to the glass cage. Its back half was wrapped around its latest catch. “What’s it got this time?” Alex muttered. “It had better stay away from the fishing hatch.”
Sky sat up, alarmed. “What if it comes over as Lani and Henry and my mother are escaping?” She couldn’t hide the panic in her voice. “What if it attacks them?”
Alex glanced worriedly toward the spiral staircase. He didn’t see anybody ascending. No one by the fishing hatch either. “So far so good. I hope they’d see the eel in time to stay inside until it’s gone,” he muttered, knowing it wasn’t likely since the water was so murky that far down and the only light was coming from inside. The sea itself was dark just a few feet outside the glass walls.
They watched, breathless, as the eel used its tail to press something, which sparked in the water just as it had the last time. The door slid open, the eel backed into the cage, and it deposited its latest victim inside with the others.
Alex squinted, trying to see what it was, but it was hidden from view behind the giant squid, who this time tried without luck to escape. Instead the squid merely succeeded in getting one tentacle stuck in the door as it closed. The squid’s eyes reacted, widening in pain. But it was stuck fast. “Oh no,” Alex whispered.
“Poor thing,” Sky said. “I wish we could do something!”
“It’s too dangerous,” Ms. Octavia said. “It’ll hurt, but he’ll be okay. We can try to help him later when we spring Florence free. But first we need Lani and Henry to find your mother. Where are they? What’s keeping them?”
“I don’t know.” Alex’s eyes were fixed on the cage, wondering what the new creature was and why the eel was so intent on collecting them.
Just then he heard a growl from Simber.
Without looking up, he asked, “What is it, Sim?”
“I just felt a trrremorrr.”
Alex turned sharply, the cage forgotten. “I didn’t feel it. Are you sure?”
Simber’s look told him yes.
“Oh, no,” Alex said. He felt the blood drain from his face. “Lani . . . Henry . . .”
“Mother, hurry,” begged Sky.
Everyone felt the next tremor. A few pirates appeared out of nowhere as the wall seats dropped. They slipped into the seats and buckled up.
“Crud,” Alex muttered. Dread filled his heart. He strained to see the staircase, but no one was rushing up it. “Where are they?” Alex looked all around, wondering if maybe they’d come up a different way. He bit his lip hard, trying not to panic. “Come on, guys,” he murmured. “Get out of there.”
But they didn’t come.
“Sky, get on Simber’s back. You too, Ms. Octavia.” The volcano shuddered hard, sending Alex running to get on the statue’s back after the others. Simber lifted off the volcano, staying low so they could watch through the skylight.
Lani, Henry, and Copper were nowhere to be seen.
“Oh, come on,” Sky urged. She gripped Simber’s neck.
As Simber circled, Alex saw something bright flash out of the corner of his eye, but he kept his focus on the spot where they last saw Lani and Henry. When Simber turned, three heads turned with him. “There!” Alex cried. “See them? They’re coming up the stairs!”
The volcano trembled as Lani, Henry, and Copper raced to the top of the steps and bounded past the display case, around the greenery, and toward the fishing hatch. Behind them something flashed again. It was coming from the glass cage. Alex looked. And what he saw nearly caused him to fall off Simber’s back.
“Spike?” he said, in the midst of Octavia and Sky crying out for the others. “Spike Furious!” The eel’s latest capture was none other than Alex’s shiny blue whale, swimming up and over the squid. Her diamondlike horn caught the light.
But Alex didn’t have a second to think about his creature, because Lani, Henry, and Copper were running at top speed for the hatch, and a man was chasing them. Alex, Sky, Simber, and Ms. Octavia watched in horror. “Run!” Alex cried, even though he knew they couldn’t hear him.
Lani reached the hatch first. She slammed her hand on the first button as the volcano shuddered and seized, knocking her to the floor, and then Alex lost sight of everything as the volcano plunged down into the sea.
A Change of Plans
The water crashed over the site where the volcano had been and churned in an angry boil until the waves organized themselves once more, giving no indication that anything had ever been there. Once it was calm, Octavia leaped from Simber’s back and dove into the water to see if Lani, Henry, and Copper had made it out or if they were trapped.
Sky, sitting behind Alex on Simber’s back, gripped Alex’s arms in fear and worry. But Alex didn’t feel anything except pain in his stomach at the thought of his friends being sucked down deep under tons of seawater, trapped inside a hidden, hostile, and dangerous world.
Sky and Alex scanned the waves. “Should we go down?” Sky asked. “We should go down. Shouldn’t we?” Her fingers drummed Simber’s back, and she couldn’t sit still.
“No,” Alex said. “I want to as much as you, but it won’t do any good right now. Ms. Octavia will be back soon.” He shivered with nervous energy. “I don’t think they made it out. That outer door opens so slowly. . . .” He trailed off, unable to think straight enough to finish the thought.
They flew in silence as the minutes ticked by.
There was nothing else they could do but hover and wait. Eventually Simber asked, “What did you yell earlierrr, Alex? Just beforrre the island sank?”
Alex pulled his mind from his worries. He had to think about Simber’s question for a moment before he figured out what the cat was talking about. “Oh!” he said finally, and then his face clouded. “Oh, that’s right—Spike,” he said, remembering, which only added fuel to his worries. “Spike Furious. Um, yeah. Remember my whale sculpture from the Museum of Large that I brought to life the other day? I know you were watching. Anyway, she swam away, and that stupid eel captured her, too. That’s who he put in the glass cage earlier.”
Simber’s gaze never left the water, but his body tensed. “Does she brrreathe?”
Alex nodded. “Yeah, but she’s a whale, so she needs the water—”
“She’ll die in the cage, Alex. She’s going to need airrr.”
“What?” Alex asked, confused. “She nearly died from too much air in the museum. I had to . . .” He glanced at Sky, who stared at him, mouth agape, and the terrible feelings of failure became fresh all over again. “I had to put her to sleep and transport her to the water first.”
“You what?” Sky asked, incredulous.
“No, no, no!” Simber said, frustrated. “Whales need to be in the waterrr to surrrvive because they can’t move on land. Theirrr bodies arrre so heavy, they’ll crrrush themselves and overrrheat. So if you crrreated herrr as a brrreathing crrreaturrre, which it sounds like you did, she can only live a shorrrt time without any airrr.” Simber ended his sentence in a growl of frustration. He swished his tail.
Sky shook Alex’s shoulders. “Why didn’t you tell me you brought her to life? All this time I’ve been wondering, and you never said anything.”
Alex looked from Simber to Sky,
feeling helpless about what to do now. “I don’t know,” he said anxiously. “I was really sad about it. And embarrassed. I nearly killed her by accident before she got away. I didn’t feel like telling everybody, okay? I didn’t want to let you down.”
Sky stared at him, speechless. She shook her head. “So that’s why . . .” She trailed off. There was no time for this conversation. “I can’t even deal with this right now.”
Alex gripped his knees and leaned forward, his head next to Simber’s neck, straining to see through the water. “Now what? How much time does Spike have?”
“I don’t know,” Simber muttered. “Maybe thirrrty or forrrty minutes. We need to get herrr now . . . while she still has a chance.” Simber dropped lower, just above the water, and stared down, trying to see if Octavia was coming back. “Alex?” he prompted. “What’s the plan?”
“Just let me think!” Alex couldn’t look at Sky. Where could Ms. Octavia be? Spike couldn’t wait. But what was happening down there? What if Ms. Octavia needed help? He dug the heels of his hands into his eye sockets and wished that someone else had to make the life-or-death decisions for once. After a measured breath, he spoke. “Okay,” Alex said quietly. “We’re going in. I need everybody on the ship standing by. Now.”
Simber soared back up. “Coverrr yourrr earrrs,” he said to Sky and Alex. When they did, he bellowed at the top of his voice, “Ahab! Brrring forrrth the ship!”
Alex, still stunned by the news of the time-sensitive threat to Spike, grew more fearful about Ms. Octavia’s lengthening disappearance, because she could drown too. He knew there was only one choice . . . but how best to do it?
“All right, then,” he said, ripping his fingers through his tangled hair and looking over his shoulder at Sky. “It’s happening. Are you ready?”
“What’s happening?” Sky asked.
Alex hesitated. He was still figuring it all out himself. “Okay, so . . . Simber, I say we send one team down to find Octavia and the others, and another team to rescue the sea creatures and Florence. We do it simultaneously. Maybe it’ll cause confusion and we’ll be able to pull it off.”