Out of the Deep

by Gloria Skurzynski

  “Then what?” Olivia asked. “What caused it? Has anyone performed a necropsy so far on any of the dead marine mammals?”

  Greg sat down again, looking grim. “Yes. On one of the dolphins.”

  “And the results?” Steven asked softly.

  “Hemorrhage of the inner ear.”

  The room was silent. Sonar, Jack thought.

  “So the Navy lies,” Bindy blurted. “Hey, everybody calls me a liar, but my little exaggerations are puny compared with this coverup!”

  “Bindy!” Steven cried sharply. “That’s enough.”

  With her forefinger, Bindy pretended she was sewing her mouth shut.

  Looking angry, Olivia murmured, “Steven, why don’t you take the kids for a drive around the island. Greg and I have a few things to go over, and then I want to examine the dead marine mammals. We’ll meet later at the motel—you can take the kids back there after they’ve had a chance to see the park.”

  “Right.” Steven had them on their feet and out of the meeting room so fast, Jack felt like he was being herded by a sheepdog.

  Jack had jumped into the front seat of the car next to his dad. He didn’t want to get stuck with Bindy, who sat in the back with Ashley. Heading south from the Visitor Center, they’d done the tour the way most tourists did—from the inside of their car. Steven drove silently, his mouth clamped in a firm line. Jack was afraid to ask him to stop so they could get out to enjoy the view.

  With nothing better to do, Jack started reading the roadside signs. One said, “Wild Gardens of Acadia,” but they passed that turnoff. The next read “Abbe Museum,” and they passed that one, too. The next sign said “Bridge Clearance 12 feet 2 inches.” With interest, Jack studied the bridge that arched above the road. Made entirely of slabs of sand-colored stone, it seemed to have been put together as intricately as a jigsaw puzzle.

  He wondered if his dad was going to keep driving aimlessly, or if he had a place in mind to stop and take pictures. They’d already passed a lot of scenic spots. At last he slowed the Taurus and pulled into a small parking place. “Everybody out,” he told them. “This is the place I wanted you to see.”

  Red spruce trees towered overhead. As they walked, Jack could smell the salty Atlantic mixed with the pungent tang of evergreen. The sound of waves crashing against rock filled him with anticipation, yet he couldn’t see beyond the army of trees, which frustrated him. Jackson Hole had towering mountains, but there was something almost mystical about the ocean, and the sooner he could touch the waves, the better. Ashley, too, seemed excited. She kept dancing on ahead until she disappeared behind a bend in the trail. Jack, Steven, and Bindy trotted along behind. Silently, Jack willed Bindy to keep quiet and move faster.

  “Hey—how much farther?” Bindy asked, sucking in a gulp of air.

  “Not much,” Steven replied. “It’s just down that path.”

  “Good. I’m not much of a hiker, although I’ve played one on TV. Hah!” Bindy laughed at her own joke. “Did I ever tell you about how I did this one show where I was supposed to take a fish off a hook, but I said to the director, ‘I can’t do it ’cause its little fishy eyes are staring at me!’ and the director told me I had to for the scene, you know, so then I go, ‘Well, it’s against my religion because I’m a vegan, and vegans don’t touch flesh.’ Technically, I wasn’t actually a vegan, but my mom was, so I figured it half counted. So then the director yells to the prop guy to get a rubber fish and that’s what I ended up pulling off the hook—a wet fake trout that still grossed me out, ’cause one of its glass eyes fell right into my hand. Whew! How long is this trail?”

  “Just a little farther,” Steven replied. “We’re almost there. I wanted to take you through the back trail so you could get the full effect.”

  “So you might want to save your breath,” Jack added.

  “Hey Jack,” Ashley called out, “turn around and look at that mountain.”

  Jack glanced behind him, then twisted to the left and the right. Puzzled, he asked, “What mountain? I don’t see any mountain.”

  Ashley grinned. “Back home in Jackson Hole, we’d call it a bump in the road. Here, it’s named The Beehive. I saw a sign.”

  After a minute Jack saw what Ashley was pointing to. “That?” he exclaimed. In Wyoming, the Landons lived in the shadow of the 13,770-foot-tall highest peak of the Grand Tetons. Back there, this little Maine “mountain” would hardly qualify as a molehill. “How high is it?” he asked his dad.

  Steven checked his guidebook before he answered, “520 feet above sea level. And that one over there, Gorham Mountain—” He pointed. “The book says it’s 525 feet high. But the really big one here on Mount Desert Island is called Cadillac Mountain. It stands all of 1,530 feet high.”

  “Wow!” Jack exclaimed sarcastically.

  When all three Landons began to laugh, Bindy scolded,” You guys are mountain snobs. Mountains have feelings, you know.”

  “Oh, come on…,” Jack began, but Bindy broke in with, “And I have feelings, too, like hunger. I don’t suppose there are any restaurants up ahead?”

  “Hello—it’s a national park,” Jack snapped. “There are no restaurants on the beach. Besides, how could you be all that hungry when you had five oatmeal bars less than two hours ago?”

  “Sheesh, it was just a question. Chill out, Jack-o. If I get too hungry, I’ll bite my nails.” A beat later she added, “That was a joke, in case you didn’t catch it. Besides, I can’t help it if I have a healthy appetite.”

  “If you exercised more you’d—”

  “Jack, could I talk to you for a minute?” Steven broke in.

  Sighing, Jack fell back into step next to his father. Steven didn’t have to say a word, since Jack already knew the drill: Be nice, be supportive, and above all, don’t provoke the foster kid. But what about when the foster kid provoked him?

  It took a moment for Steven to speak. A layer of pine needles muffled their footsteps, as if they were walking on blankets. The two of them swung into an easy rhythm, pulling low-hanging branches back in tandem. “You doin’ OK, Son?” his father finally asked.

  “Yeah,” Jack shrugged. “Just tired, I guess.”

  “It was a late night for us all. Don’t let your tiredness get the better of you, though. Understand?” When he reached out and ruffed Jack’s hair, Jack managed a weak smile. It wasn’t his dad’s fault that they’d gotten “The Mouth” for a foster child. Well, no matter what, the one thing Jack could take comfort in was that foster kids didn’t stay in the Landon home forever.

  From behind, he noticed that Bindy didn’t move anything like Ashley, who hopped over rocks and ducked boughs as nimbly as a deer. Bindy’s gait, in contrast, seemed almost awkward, as if her round arms and legs couldn’t quite swing in rhythm. It was hard to believe she had ever been in movies. Jack suddenly remembered that the girl in Melissa’s Dream hadn’t moved like that—the character named Amanda was a gymnast who could walk on a balance beam while talking to Melissa. One more clue that Bindy was faking. Could he ever believe a word out of her mouth?

  Steven hitched his backpack full of camera equipment farther up on his shoulders. “Hang on, Bindy, it’s just about a hundred yards more. One thing you should know—even though Sand Beach will look like it has real sand, it’s actually quite different from what you’d find anywhere else in the park. You can see that on either end, Sand Beach has rocks like the rest of the shoreline of Acadia, but along the crescent—”

  “Uh-uh,” Bindy interrupted. “Can’t get a tan on those rocks, that’s for sure. You know, a tan is mandatory on the West Coast. Everyone in Hollywood keeps their skin bronzed and their teeth white, although I think their smiles look like a bunch of piano keys with lips. So fake. Plus, everyone in Hollywood has to be stick thin. Even the guys eat salad. I’m telling you, it’s a weird place.”

  Steven nodded. “Yes, well, as I was saying, the sand on this particular beach isn’t really sand. It’s made up of ground-up shells
that’ve been bashed by the waves until they turned flaky and gritty. Olivia and I came to this park when we were first married, and I found out just how different Sand Beach was. That shell dust stuck to my wet feet like a second skin, and it was all but impossible to brush off. Look,” he pointed, “there are the steps that lead to the beach. I see Ashley’s already found her way down.”

  “If there’s no food, can I at least have some water?” Bindy begged. “You have some water in your backpack, don’t you Mr. Landon?”

  “I do. Jack, I know you’re eager to get to the beach. You go on ahead while I dig out the water bottle.”

  Jack didn’t need to be told twice. The army of spruce had broken apart to reveal a stone stairway descending to the shoreline. Bolting down the steps, he emerged onto a crescent-moon beach of pinkish beige sand that stretched the width of more than two football fields.

  On either end of the crescent, slabs of granite rose out of the waves, as though a race of giants had been making sand castles that suddenly turned to stone. Ashley stood at the water’s edge, hugging herself as the ocean breeze whipped her hair into tight ringlets. Except for his sister, the beach was empty. The sand gave way under his feet as he walked over to join her.

  “Where’s Bindy?” she asked, her eyes still focused on the waves.

  “Back with Dad. It’ll take her a minute.”

  “Good. No offense, but this place needs to be enjoyed in silence. Isn’t this awesome?”

  Jack nodded as he soaked up the view around him. Dozens of tidal pools shimmered like liquid glass in the dim sunlight, the largest of them surrounded by angry gulls quarreling over what was left of a fish. Beyond the tide, seawater pounded huge boulders, roiling and foaming white before retreating to the sea, only to surge again. It was the mix of colors that mesmerized Jack.

  The Virgin Islands had been painted with pastels; Acadia’s palette was forged of grays, greens, blues, and pearl.

  “I’ve hardly had a chance to talk to you,” Ashley began. She stood unmoving, her eyes on the waves. “What do you make of Bindy?”

  Jack shrugged. “I don’t know. What’s your opinion?”

  “I’m the one asking you, Jack.”

  “Well, I don’t know what to say. She’s…different.”

  “It’s just, last night, she—she told me some things. Do you believe all the stuff she tells you?”

  He hesitated just long enough to give his answer. No. The more time he spent with Bindy, the more he was convinced that everything, from her brother to Hollywood and everything in between, had been embroidered with untruths stitched upon exaggerations so that nothing real remained. Maybe the fabric underneath was true, but that was all.

  Placing his hand on his sister’s elbow, he asked, “What’s going on?”

  “After we got back and Mom moved into our room to make sure Bindy didn’t leave again,” Ashley began, her words rushing on top of each other, “Bindy started telling me this strange story about this guy in the bar that wouldn’t let her use the phone.”

  “Did Mom hear?”

  “No, she was asleep. Bindy said the guy threatened her. The whole thing really weirded me out.”

  “So did you ever tell Mom or Dad?”

  “No! Bindy made me promise to keep it a secret. Besides, Mom’s so stressed with the whale thing, and Dad was all upset about losing Bindy, and I didn’t want to give them any more problems, especially if none of it’s true. Do you think it’s true?”

  “I don’t know,” Jack shrugged. “It all sounds pretty bizarre. Besides, if some guy really did threaten her, why didn’t she tell the police? She was in the police station for over an hour, right? It doesn’t make any sense she wouldn’t tell them.”

  A wave rolled in, this time licking the toes of their shoes with foam. Neither one of them moved, and Jack felt dampness seep into his shoes. The sea suddenly seemed a deeper gray, colder and unforgiving, as if the sun were hidden behind a cloud. Glancing up, he saw that the sun was shining, just as it had been moments before.

  “Bindy said this guy told her he knew where to find her and that he would hurt her. Jack, if he could hurt her, he could hurt Mom or you or me.”

  Jack pushed his hands deep into his pockets. “I wouldn’t worry about it,” he said slowly.

  “Why not?”

  “Bindy makes up stuff. She’s talking, that’s all.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I know.”

  “But how?”

  “Because I overheard something back home, when Mom and Dad were talking in the kitchen. I’m not supposed to tell.”

  “Wait a minute! That’s not fair!” Ashley blazed. “I told you my secret! What do you know that I don’t? Come on, Jack, tell me!”

  Jack took a breath, then let it out slowly. His parents had told him not to speak of what he’d overheard, but this situation had changed in a way no one could have guessed. Bindy had graduated to spinning lies that spooked his sister, and that wasn’t right. Some things were bigger than rules.

  “OK, but don’t ever say I told you! It was about why Bindy was put into foster care.”

  “Why?” Ashley asked, wide-eyed. “I asked, but she never told me.”

  “Basically, it’s because her own family says she’s a liar.”

  “What?”

  “I didn’t hear what she said her brother did to her, but whatever it was, everyone in the school came to Cole’s defense and nobody, not one person—not her aunt or her uncle or anybody—believed Bindy. What does that tell you? Plus, Bindy took that money right off the table at the bar—remember? If she really was going to replace it, she would have put those dollar bills down when she picked up the quarters. I don’t believe her. It’s like she spins everything, twists every story to make herself look good, but I think it’s all just that—stories! I mean, just listen to her talk on and on about all the stuff she says she did. She says she’s an actress, but was she really?”

  “She had to be!” Ashley protested. “She knew all of Amanda’s lines—”

  “So what? You’ve seen that movie so many times you know the lines, too. It doesn’t mean anything. The truth is—” Jack hesitated before blurting—“The truth is, Ms. Lopez said it was Bindy’s own aunt and uncle, the ones who adopted her, who are trying to get rid of her now because she lies.”

  “You mean they’re the ones who stuck her in foster care? That’s awful!”

  “Yeah. I know they’re not her birth parents, but when you adopt someone, you’re supposed to become their real parents, aren’t you? Like, be their real mom and dad? Anyway, now they’re trying to give her back. How many parents would do that?”

  “Jack, shhhhh!” Ashley hissed.

  No! It couldn’t be! In an instant Jack saw a third shadow darkening the sand, and as that realization slammed into his brain, he felt his insides turn upside down. Bindy was behind him! Bindy must have heard everything he and Ashley had been saying! Whipping around, Jack practically ran into Bindy’s thick body. A deep flush had crept across her cheeks, and tears glittered at the edges of her lashes, but her eyes were on fire. The chattering Bindy was gone; a smoldering, angry person stood in her place.

  “Where—where’s my dad?” Jack stammered.

  “Back on the path, shooting some pictures of an eagle. I kept wanting to call Aunt Marian, so he let me borrow his cell phone. So, you want proof that I was an actress? You call her.”

  “Uh—I don’t—” Jack stammered.

  “Go ahead! I know her work number. Call her and ask her if I played Amanda in Melissa’s Dream. That was the whole reason she took me in. I was a perfect, ready-made, talented little girl to match her perfectly golden son. Only I didn’t turn out the way she wanted, did I? Guess that made me disposable. Go on! Hear it from her own mouth. She’ll tell you I was in Melissa’s Dream and on television. I do not lie, Jack! Everything I talked about was true!”

  “Then why are they trying to get rid of you?” Ashley asked softly.

>   Bindy shook her head, her expression condemning Ashley for her foolishness. “Because my so-called brother Cole used to use me for a punching bag, and I finally tried to stop it. He’s smacked me around ever since I moved in with them, and for years I took it and took it—I thought I had to be grateful. Remember, I’m just an orphan!” She spat out the word as if it were poison. “Then one day a speaker came to my school and said, ‘The worst secret is the one you hold inside. If someone hurts you, you must tell.’ So I told. Look what it got me!” She laughed harshly. “There are things worse than bruises.”

  “I’m—I’m sorry, Bindy—” Ashley began, but Bindy cut her off. “Forget it. You’re just as bad, Ashley. You’re just like everyone else. If I were still pretty, you’d believe me. Pretty people don’t lie, right? Only ugly ones. The truth is, I don’t care anymore what either one of you thinks.” Her eyes were gray now, a distant, cold gray that matched the ocean. “Here, let me dial it for you. Ask my aunt. She’ll tell you.”

  Silence suddenly enveloped them, a chill silence as clouds hid the sun. It was as if all the emotion had boiled over into the sea, churning the water and shooting it over the rocks like geysers, and now the very waters reflected Jack’s insides. He wished he could take back his words, the same way the waves retreated back into the depths of the ocean. Too late for that. He didn’t know how to make it right.

  The phone’s keyboard glowed orange as Bindy held it out to him, but when Jack shook his head, she slowly let her hand drop to her side.

  Suddenly Ashley sprang forward, shielding her eyes. “Jack—Bindy—look at the water!”

  “Ashley, we have enough problems here—”

  “No, look. I see something. Over there by those big rocks. You see it too, don’t you, Bindy? That shape—like a boat—but it’s floating upside down or something. It’s a dark color.”

  Bindy rocked onto her toes. “Yeah. I see it.”

  “Where?” Jack asked, and Bindy pointed the way. Jack squinted until a shape he thought was a rock rolled forward, then was drawn back by the tide. Whatever was out there, it looked at least as big as a rowboat, only thicker.