Secrets of the Deep

by E. G. Foley

  “So what’s my job on your crew?” she asked, linking her arm through his as the two aristocratic Bradford siblings walked back toward the fanciful sub.

  Then Archie gathered everyone around to hear their assignments, except for Red, who would not be coming, in any case. The Gryphon retreated to the shade under the umbrella and lay down by the panting Teddy. Both animals lounged on the sand, watching and listening curiously.

  “Right!” Archie said. “Well, it’s all pretty simple, but here are your stations. I’ll pilot, Nixie’s set to watch the boiler, and you four—on my orders—will need to work the foot pedals under your seats.”

  “Foot pedals?” Dani exclaimed.

  “For steerage and extra power,” Archie said with a nod.

  Jake glanced warily at Nixie. “Boiler? That sounds a little dangerous.”

  “Normally, yes,” she agreed, then glanced proudly at Archie. “But as it happens, your cousin has solved two of the biggest problems of undersea travel at one go—propulsion and air supply.”

  “Now, now, I didn’t make it up,” Archie protested with a modest blush, though obviously eating up her praise. “I borrowed the solution from a little-known Catalan inventor, Señor Monturiol. It’s really quite amazing—”

  “Ahem,” Jake cut him off before he went into some mind-boggling scientific explanation. “Main question: is it safe?”

  “You’re asking that?” Isabelle murmured in amusement.

  “That’s a first,” Dani agreed.

  “It’s very safe,” Nixie answered on behalf of the renowned Dr. Bradford. “Rest assured, if we have any problems, I’ve got spells at the ready. But we’re not going to need them. You see, Archie built a chemical furnace into the tail end—”

  “Stern, dear,” he corrected.

  “Of the Turtle,” she continued, sending him a stern look, indeed. “Instead of burning coal, which would turn the sub’s interior into an oven and basically roast us alive—”

  “Which can ruin your day,” Maddox muttered.

  “And burn up all your oxygen,” she agreed. “But Archie’s design uses a chemical reaction instead of coal to produce the energy.”

  “Brilliant,” said Jake.

  “We combine potassium chlorate, zinc…and what’s the other one?” she asked.

  “Manganese dioxide,” Archie said, beaming, as if any of them had a clue what that was.

  “Right,” Nixie continued. “You put these three ingredients together, and voila! The chemical reaction creates enough heat to boil water, which in turn runs the little steam engine. The most brilliant part of all?” She grinned. “The reaction gives off oxygen as a byproduct, supplying us with all the air we’ll need down there so we don’t suffocate.” The black-clad witch slung her arm cheerfully around Archie’s shoulders. “Isn’t he magnificent?”

  They could do naught but applaud the boy genius, and he turned quite red.

  “So we’re not gonna die, then,” Dani said.

  “Absolutely not,” Archie assured her.

  “Well, that’s good,” Jake said with a grin. “Wouldn’t want to miss out on the party tonight and the chance to meet more of these Italian girls. Bellissima!” He kissed his fingertips in the Italian style, and Dani promptly smacked him on the back of the head.

  Why this made him happy, Jake did not know. But, secretly, it was the delight of his life teasing her.

  The other two boys snickered, and the girls just looked at them, unamused.

  It was quite true, however. Their Grand Tour so far had proved that, indeed, the Italian girls were just as pretty as the French ones.

  Jake liked Europe well, indeed.

  “Shall we?” Nixie asked in a lofty tone.

  “Not yet. We’ve got to christen her, of course!” Archie said. “First time out and all that. It’s a seafaring tradition! Izzy, would you like to do the honors?” Ever the little English gentleman, he offered his miffed elder sister the bottle of root beer he had put aside for this occasion. “Adults usually christen ships with a bottle of champagne, but I thought this should do nicely for us.”

  Isabelle smiled fondly at him, but shook her head. “Let Nixie do it, Arch. She deserves it. She’s been helping you on this one far more than I have.”

  “Oh, could I?” Nixie clapped her hands. “I love bashing things!”

  “Be my guest. Not yet!” Archie scolded affectionately, pausing before he handed her the bottle of root beer.

  Those two, Jake thought, mystified every time he watched them together. They weren’t officially sweethearts or anything like that, as far as Jake knew, but they were certainly two peas in a pod.

  Nixie had brought Archie back from a horrifying brush with death, and in return, Archie’s boundless good cheer had overcome Nixella Valentine’s previous aura of gloom. She actually smiled at least once a day now, and even wore color sometimes, but only on special occasions.

  “So, would somebody like to say a few words?” Maddox suggested. “I think it’s customary to give a new vessel some sort of benediction on its maiden launch before the bottle bash.”

  “I’ll do it,” Jake volunteered.

  They all looked at him in surprise, but he was in an expansive mood, just enjoying his life. And why not? He had a lot to be grateful for. Everyone was safe; they were all together, having a grand holiday; the Dark Druids had no idea where he was; there was a party tonight to keep them all amused; and now they were on their way to explore a sunken temple. What more could a former London pickpocket want?

  “Ahem.” He folded his hands and lowered his head, and the others followed suit, smiling in amusement. “Dearly beloved: we are gathered here today to christen Archie’s new submersible, the Mighty Sea Turtle. Wait—are you sure you want to name her that?”

  “Why wouldn’t I?” Archie asked in surprise.

  “Well, y’know, because aren’t turtles notoriously…slow?”

  Archie’s eyes widened behind his spectacles. “I didn’t think of that!” he cried. “B-but it’s already painted on the hull!”

  They all burst out laughing.

  For all the advanced equations and precise figuring he had done to create his submersible in the first place, leave it to the absent-minded genius to forget the most mundane sort of questions.

  “But turtles aren’t slow underwater! Right? Right?” he exclaimed, looking around at them all laughing. “I mean on land, yes, but they can swim fast! Can’t they?”

  Dani gave him a half-hug. “Oh, Archie. What would we ever do without you?”

  “Not go exploring the sea,” Maddox said. “I like the name.”

  “Me too,” Jake agreed. “Don’t be bothered, Arch. I was only askin’.”

  Archie looked a little crestfallen. “Well, to be honest, she doesn’t really go very fast anyway.”

  “Nor should she,” Isabelle soothed. “If she traveled too quickly, we would miss the underwater views—and that’s the whole point, isn’t it?”

  “Just so,” Dani agreed with a firm nod.

  “Can we get on with it already?” Nixie asked impatiently, clearly itching to smash the bottle of root beer. “The Turtle’s a fine name.”

  “Right. Ahem. As I was saying,” Jake continued, digging his toes in the sand. “We’ve come to Sicily to launch the Mighty Sea Turtle into the Mediterranean—”

  “Ionian, actually. The Mediterranean’s farther south, as I told you. Well, it is!” Archie defended when Jake scowled at him.

  “Good luck, God bless, fair winds, and all that.”

  “The winds don’t matter underwater, do they?” Dani whispered.

  “Does somebody else want to do this?” Jake retorted.

  She giggled. “Sorry, finish.”

  “Hurry up!” Nixie complained.

  “You’re a beauty, Turtle,” Jake forged on hastily. “So keep us safe and don’t sink or anything when you take us exploring underwater. All right, your turn.” He nodded at Nixie.

  She grinned,
but when she whacked the bottle of root beer gleefully against the hull, Archie couldn’t help wincing just a little.

  Isabelle chuckled. “Don’t worry, brother, it didn’t leave a scratch.”

  Archie brightened, confirming with a glance that this was so. “Very well, then. All aboard!” He looked around at them breathlessly. “I do hope you like her.”

  “They will! Let’s go!” Nixie scrambled up the ladder rungs welded to the side, then disappeared down the round hatch in the top of the hull.

  Archie beckoned Dani and Isabelle in, but gestured to Jake and Maddox to stay where they were. “You two wait. I’ll need you to give her a push to get her off the sand and out a few feet deeper into the water.”

  “I can do it by myself if you want to get in,” Jake told Maddox, referring to his telekinesis, but the older boy shrugged, brushing sand off his hands.

  “I’m in no hurry.” Clearly he wasn’t any more eager to be locked up in the sub with Isabelle than she was with him.

  This should be fun, Jake thought, increasingly annoyed at their semi-polite feud.

  Archie, meanwhile, stood by the ladder and handed the girls up, narrating some of the sub’s features. “She has a double hull, outer one of copper, to help resist water pressure at depth—and thank you, Maddox, for your exquisite welding on the hull cylinder, by the way. Maddox helped make her as beautiful as she is functional.”

  “Well done, sir!” Dani said brightly, pausing halfway up the ladder to admire the ornate metal swirls and flourishes that adorned the submarine. “You really have a talent for metalworking, Maddox.”

  The serious lad bowed playfully at the acknowledgement, then Dani waved toward the beach. “Bye, Teddy! Be good! We won’t be long. Watch him for me, Red.”

  “Becaw,” the Gryphon called back, and Teddy barked.

  Then Dani climbed down the hatch.

  Archie’s commentary continued as Isabelle ascended the ladder next in her elaborate bathing costume.

  “The inner hull is made of wood—oak, to be exact—so it’s rather like being in a nice, big barrel. Quite cozy, if I say so myself. And leak-proof.” He glanced at the Turtle as though trying to think what he could tell them about her. “Hmm, double-paned viewing ports all around, so everybody gets their own window. And thank you to Isabelle for choosing the red leather seats for the cabin. My sister did the interior decorating,” he told Jake and Maddox. “That’s why it’s so posh.”

  “It was the least that I could do,” Izzy replied, placing a dainty foot through the hatch. “You worked so hard, Arch, I had to do my part.”

  With a smile, she ducked down inside.

  Archie pointed toward the bottom of the sub’s exterior. “I put four ballast tanks underneath to manage buoyancy and pitch, but added a few lead weights to keep us steady. They can be released with a lever if we need to ascend quickly.”

  “Are we ever going to go?” Jake asked, shaking his head.

  “Right. Sorry, I ramble when I’m excited. Let me get to the cockpit and take the captain’s seat, then you two give her a push. Don’t be long!”

  Maddox and Jake exchanged a wry look, then positioned themselves aft, on either side of the hull cylinder. They gave Archie a moment to reach the helm, then Dani tapped on the round window near Jake and gestured that they could go now.

  “One, two, three!” Maddox said.

  Working in tandem, Jake and he threw their weight against the vessel, driving it forward from the sand into slightly deeper water. Then they sloshed through the waist-deep surf, hurrying to catch up; Archie fired up the engine and the little propellers started whirring, foaming up a wake.

  As the Turtle began drifting away from the beach, Jake quickly climbed the ladder, pulling himself up out of waves. Upon hurrying down the hatch, he saw that someone had put a towel down on the two empty chairs left for him and Maddox.

  Somehow he knew the thoughtful gesture must’ve come from Dani, and he took the chair across the narrow aisle from her.

  “Isn’t it cozy in here?” she asked, beaming, as he took his place beside her.

  Jake nodded, taking it all in. The dim interior of the Turtle’s cabin was rounded, with snug wood paneling and elegant brass sconces. Behind their frosted glass shades, small candles burned, providing light for the cabin. It wasn’t really needed yet, since they were still in the sunny shallows, but as they traveled deeper, it was sure to get dark, he supposed—especially if they were able to actually go inside that underwater temple.

  Four cushy red leather seats awaited the passengers, each with a pair of foot pedals under it for backup propulsion. Brass handles below the back passenger portholes controlled the angle of the sailplanes on both sides. Like rigid fish fins, the sailplanes could be adjusted to help maneuver the craft with more finesse than the rudder and engine could provide alone.

  The Turtle also had a mechanical arm below the headlamps, tucked into its sturdy housing on the bottom of the bow. When needed, the arm could be cranked out and controlled by levers for the purpose of taking scientific samples of things they might find under the sea.

  As for the cockpit, it featured a wide front window, two chairs facing forward, and a teakwood dashboard covered in brass levers and knobs and gadgets of all kinds.

  To the rear of the cabin, the small, noisy steam-powered engine was screened off by a tin wall with an arched doorway cut into it. There sat Nixie on a stool, close enough to still be a part of their adventure, but well positioned to mind the boiler and keep an eye on the engine.

  “This is so exciting!” Across the aisle from Jake, Dani bounced lightly in her padded leather seat. “Do you think we’ll see a shark? I’m dreadfully afraid of them. My eldest brother Patrick-in-the-Navy said a shark bit the leg off his lieutenant.”

  “Oh, Dani, Patrick loves telling cock-and-bull tales,” Jake replied. “All seven of your brothers are full o’ blarney.”

  Just then, Maddox swung down the ladder.

  As the last one in, he pulled the hatch closed, then gripped the round handle with both hands and spun it, twisting it until he had sealed the door shut. “All set.”

  As Maddox took his seat across from Isabelle, Archie glanced back from the captain’s chair, checking on his passengers. Anticipation was building.

  “Nixie? Everything in order?”

  “Aye, aye, Captain!” she called from the stern.

  Archie grinned at his crew. “Shall we?”

  “Let’s go!” they hollered impatiently, then all started cheering as Archie faced forward again, opened the throttle, and sent the Turtle surging forward into the sea.

  Bubbles raced past the round windows as the little sub plunged.

  “Look at all the barnacles growing on that rock…” Dani suddenly gasped. “I saw a fish!”

  “Imagine that,” Maddox teased her softly.

  “You’re going to see a lot more than that today, I warrant,” Jake said.

  “How deep can she go?” Maddox asked Archie.

  “About a hundred feet. Maybe a bit more, but that’s all I feel comfortable with for now, with all of you here. She can stay safely submerged for a good three hours—five in a pinch—but I’d rather not tax her on her first trip out. We don’t want to end up in Davy Jones’s Locker.”

  “What’s that?” Jake asked.

  “Oh, I know!” Dani said eagerly, raising her hand. “To go to Davy Jones’s Locker means drowning at sea.” She hurried to explain before anyone could stop her. “Patrick told me every sailor who goes to sea packs all his personal belongings in a long wooden box called a sea locker. If he dies during the voyage, they use his locker for his coffin and bury him at sea.”

  “Well, that’s grim,” said Jake.

  “Er, you’ve included life rings?” Maddox asked, looking askance at Dani after that grim anecdote—told in such a cheerful tone.

  Archie nodded. “The seats of your chairs float—they’re made of cork—and they detach. In case of emergency, just grab
one, hold on, and it’ll pop you up to the surface. Also, under your seats, you’ll find I’ve provided each of you with one of those underwater breathing masks I invented a few years ago.”

  Jake checked under his seat and found the brass-rimmed, double-glassed breathing apparatus that his cousin had originally devised to help the Thames naiads filter pollution out of the river water that they had to breathe. These clever devices allowed Captain Lydia Brackwater and her maidens to carry out their duties of tending the great river without suffocating.

  Archie had later adapted the mask for use by humans, adding an alternative setting that filtered breathable oxygen out of the water. In any case, it was good to know the boy genius had provided them with multiple safety options in case anything went wrong.

  While Archie drove and Nixie minded the engine, the rest of them stared out the windows in wonder.

  It was warm and stuffy and rather noisy in the cabin from the engine, but the seats were comfortable.

  “She can go both forward and reverse at variable speeds,” Archie continued. “Same principle as the diving bell, which has been known about since the days of Alexander the Great. Basically it’s a trapped air bubble in here that keeps air pressure the same on the inside as it is on the outside, near a state of neutral buoyancy…”

  His voice trailed off as he realized no one was listening. They were all too enchanted by the views out the portholes, so he just drove, quite in his element, letting his passengers enjoy the ride.

  Archie worked the rudder with one hand and various levers with the other, while the chemicals cooked together silently in the furnace, driving heat into the boiler, which in turn forced the steam pressure back to the dual propellers near the tail cone.

  These whirred steadily, pushing the Turtle forward on to her first adventure.

  “So far, so good,” Maddox remarked as they descended slowly.

  The water wasn’t very deep yet, maybe twenty feet. The sandy bottom angled downward on a gentle slope.

  Thanks to the abundant afternoon sunshine, the cabin was filled with wondrous blue-green light that shimmered over their skin in dancing shadows and waves.