Grimsdon

by Deborah Abela

  She slowly lifted her head. Her body was nestled in a small, bumpy hollow that she now saw was lined with fur. On either side, the deep emerald-green surface inclined upwards, as if she were surrounded by two small walls. Then the walls began to move.

  Isabella stopped breathing as an elongated neck rose into the air before her. It was fringed with a wavering black mane dripping great streams of water. The creature’s head was edged with flapping gills. It slowly turned and swooped down to Isabella’s face. Its long lashes fanned out before deep, brown eyes rimmed with red.

  ‘The Skelene.’ She pulled a knife from her ankle. ‘Stop! Don’t come any closer or I’ll...’

  The Skelene opened its mouth and ate the knife in one bite.

  ‘Oh.’

  A deep growl purred from within the beast, sending trembles throughout Isabella’s body and a rush of hot air into her face. She held her nose. ‘And you have bad breath.’

  It came closer, nudging into her cheek. It sniffed a few times and purred again. Isabella lifted her hand and patted its nose. ‘It’s nice to meet you, too.’

  The Skelene straightened its neck and turned away. Two enormous wings ending in sharp talons unfolded from the water, showering large drops over Isabella.

  She looked down and thought about trying to jump off, but the sea monster’s body was so wide she was sure she’d never make it.

  The wings whomped downwards and the Skelene began to glide through the river. The water frothed and the wind swept past as the creature gained speed. Slowly, its huge body lifted out of the water and skimmed just above the surface.

  ‘Whoah!’

  The Skelene’s body dipped to the left. Isabella’s heart seemed to skip to a stop. Her body tensed and her grip tightened.

  ‘Where are we going?’

  It only took a few more seconds before she saw that they were heading towards the city. Her body relaxed and she began to breathe more easily. Even though the wind was cold, being nestled in the furry, knobbly hollow between the Skelene’s wings was like burrowing into a warm blanket.

  The sun had begun to trickle through some breaks in the clouds, throwing a thin orange glow over Grimsdon. They swooped above the buildings toward Isabella’s street. When they flew above the Palace, the Skelene held back its wings and slowly sank onto the rooftop. It lowered its right wing, which spread out like a gangplank.

  ‘You’re too kind.’

  Isabella climbed onto the top of the wing and slid off, landing close to the beast’s webbed feet.

  The Skelene bent low and nudged Isabella in the shoulder, sending her stumbling sideways.

  ‘Hey! You’re bigger than me, remember?’

  The Skelene straightened up, stretching to over three metres tall. It purred before sitting upright and releasing a small yelp. Isabella turned to see Fly with a blanket in her arms. ‘He’s called Herman.’

  She gave the blanket to Isabella and held her hand out to the beast, who opened his mouth and seemed to smile. He took a few uneasy steps and rubbed his head against Fly’s hand. He let loose a low, rumbling growl.

  Isabella wrapped herself in the blanket. ‘This is your sea monster?’

  Fly nodded.

  ‘He’s been here before?’

  ‘Only twice. The roof hurts his feet. Normally he swims outside my window.’

  ‘He rescued me from a sneaker wave.’

  ‘I knew he would.’ Fly scratched his neck and the Skelene lifted his chin and purred again. ‘When I saw you were gone, I knew you were mad enough at Sneddon to go after him, so I asked Herman to help you.’

  ‘You talk to him?’

  ‘Not in words, but kind of in thoughts. It’s hard to explain, but he tells me stories about where he’s from. Where he’s been. He used to live in the waters around Iceland. He was drawn here by the floods. Kind of like us.’ She turned to Isabella. ‘Please don’t fight Sneddon.’

  ‘But Fly, after what he did to you, I–’

  ‘Please, Isabella,’ she whispered. ‘We can’t be without you.’

  Herman nudged Isabella. A low moan trembled in his throat.

  ‘Okay,’ Isabella said reluctantly.

  Herman lifted one of his webbed feet.

  ‘He has to go. His feet hurt.’ The Skelene purred and nodded towards Isabella. ‘He said it was nice to finally meet you.’

  ‘You too,’ Isabella patted him on the nose. ‘Thanks for the lift.’

  He stretched out his wings and brought them down in a rapid dip. Isabella was driven back by the rush of air. With only one more flap, Herman’s long, slender body lifted into the air.

  ‘Isabella?’ Griffin burst through the roof door, followed by Bea and Raffy. ‘You’re here! Is everything all right? We heard a noise and–’ he stopped when he saw the flying beast.

  ‘Am I still asleep?’ Bea rubbed her eyes.

  ‘We all must be.’ Raffy frowned. ‘That looks like a dragon.’

  ‘It’s the Skelene,’ Fly answered.

  ‘As in,’ Griffin swallowed, ‘the sea monster?’

  Isabella nodded. ‘He’s called Herman.’

  ‘So he does exist?’ Xavier ruffled his bed-hair.

  Raffy watched the beast as it turned downwards and splashed into the water. ‘My very first sea monster!’

  Griffin felt his knees buckle. ‘No-one said anything about him being able to fly.’

  ‘He’s very friendly.’ Fly took his hand. ‘And he saved Isabella from a sneaker wave.’

  ‘You were caught in a sneaker wave?’ Xavier asked. ‘How?’

  ‘I was on the harbour.’

  ‘What were you doing on the harbour?’ Griffin asked.

  ‘I went to see Sneddon.’

  ‘On your own?’ Xavier blustered.

  ‘You should have woken me,’ Griffin added. ‘Are you okay? What happened?’

  ‘I’m fine. The sneaker wave got me before I reached him.’

  ‘I can’t believe you went to see Sneddon without me,’ Xavier scolded. ‘I could have helped you.’

  ‘With Sneddon maybe, but with a sneaker wave?’ Isabella flicked her wet hair from her face. ‘Even you’re not that good.’

  ‘This isn’t funny, Isabella.’ Griffin threw his hands in the air. ‘Sneddon is very dangerous. And so are sneaker waves. What if you–’

  ‘But I didn’t. Instead, I had a ride on a sea monster.’

  ‘Without me!’ Xavier and Griffin said in unison.

  But the others weren’t listening. Bea and Raffy were drilling Isabella with questions about the Skelene: Was it scary? Was his skin scaly or smooth? Do you think he’ll come back?

  ‘I’m not sure. I hope so. Fly knows all about him, so she can tell us more – but for now I’m hungry. Let’s go make breakfast.’

  They left Xavier and Griffin sulking on the roof until, reluctantly, they joined them inside.

  That night was clearer than usual. A long stream of moonlight lit up the harbour and, in the centre, the silhouette of the Skelene jumped and dived. Cradled by the blankets and cushions of her bay window, Fly’s giggles floated over the dining room.

  ‘Is he talking to you?’ Isabella snuggled in beside her.

  ‘No,’ Fly whispered, ‘just playing.’

  ‘You know when we found you on that building?’ Isabella asked. ‘Was that your home?’

  Fly nodded. ‘My mother told me to pack my case when they knew the flood was coming. She said only to pack the essentials. My jacket, beanie, drawing books and crayons. But it came too fast. I was in my room at the top of the house and my parents had gone down to the garage to get the car out. I climbed onto the roof. The water was everywhere. I never saw them after that.’ She looked up. ‘I’m glad you found me.’

  ‘Me too, Fly.’ Isabella stopped. ‘That’s not your real name.’

  ‘No, but I prefer Fly.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  The Skelene of Grimsdon

  ‘Today’s our lucky day, Snowy.’ Jeremiah sk
ipped around in his slippers and clapped. ‘Very lucky. We have guests. And what fine guests they are. You said they’d be back, and here they are! Please sit, sit.’

  Isabella and Griffin lowered themselves onto a lounge that Jeremiah must have dragged from some other part of the library, judging by the scratch marks across the floor.

  Griffin handed over a bag. ‘We thought you’d like this.’

  Jeremiah looked inside. He rubbed the back of his fingerless gloves across his eyes. ‘Beans and oranges, ah! Carrots! It’s like Christmas.’

  He pulled a hanky from his pocket and blew into it loudly. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘We saw your sea monster,’ Isabella said.

  ‘You did?’ Jeremiah bounced on his armchair, sending great plumes of dust into the air. ‘He’s a beauty, isn’t he? Sleek, majestic. The king of the oceans.’ Jeremiah stood tall as he recited:

  Below the thunders of the upper deep,

  Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,

  His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep

  The Kraken sleepeth.

  He chuckled to himself. ‘Lord Alfred Tennyson wrote that in 1830. And here it is, the sea monster in our very midst. Isn’t it marvelous?’

  ‘I would have used other words to describe it,’ Griffin mumbled.

  ‘I thought you said he was called the Skelene?’ Xavier frowned.

  ‘He’s had many names over the centuries.’

  ‘This one rescued me from a sneaker wave,’ Isabella added.

  ‘He did?’

  ‘I would have died without him.’

  Jeremiah slapped his hand on the lounge again for another explosion of dust. ‘Well, that makes him even more magnificent!’

  ‘Fly calls him Herman.’

  ‘Fly?’

  ‘A little girl who lives with us,’ Isabella explained. ‘She talks to him, through her thoughts.’

  ‘They are highly intelligent.’

  ‘Do you think there might be other sea monsters?’ Griffin asked.

  Jeremiah tugged at his beard. ‘Since this one exists, there are bound to be more.’

  Griffin slumped in his chair. ‘Great.’

  ‘We’ve come to ask you a favour,’ Isabella said.

  ‘A favour?’ Jeremiah sat upright. ‘Yes, yes, if I can.’

  ‘Xavier and I went inland with a flying machine he built.’

  ‘Inland? On a flying machine?’

  Xavier shrugged. ‘Any genius could have done it.’

  ‘It’s like you guessed,’ Isabella said. ‘There are a lot of poor people living in tent citites. Whole neighbourhoods have been wrecked and abandoned.’

  Jeremiah looked pained. ‘Part of me hoped I was wrong.’

  ‘Do you know where the documents about the floods were kept?’

  ‘Parliament House. In their library.’

  ‘Do you think they’d have survived the floods?’ Isabella asked.

  ‘The library is high enough, but maybe years of mould, water rats ... Who knows?’

  ‘Could you help us look for them?’

  Jeremiah took Snowy and hugged him. ‘It’s in the past. Maybe we shouldn’t...’

  ‘I need to know why they did nothing. Why all those people are now suffering...’ Isabella looked down. ‘And to see if there’s anything from my dad. A letter or paper he wrote.’

  Jeremiah paused. ‘Might be hard to get inside.’

  ‘We know some kids who live there,’ Xavier said.

  Jeremiah’s head tilted as if he’d misunderstood. ‘There are kids living in Parliament House?

  ‘Quite a few of them,’ Griffin said.

  ‘There are more who survived?’ Jeremiah shook his head. ‘Did you hear that, Snowy?’

  ‘I can’t guarantee they’ll let you in,’ Xavier said. ‘Most of the kids have had pretty bad experiences with adults, so you won’t be very popular.’

  ‘But Jeremiah’s not an adult,’ Griffin said.

  ‘Eh?’ Jeremiah pouted.

  ‘I mean you’re not like the other adults,’ Griffin clarified.

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Still doesn’t mean they’ll let him in,’ Xavier said.

  ‘It can’t hurt to try,’ Isabella said.

  ‘It might,’ Xavier warned.

  Jeremiah tugged nervously at his many coats.

  ‘They won’t hurt you.’ Isabella stood up. ‘They’ve learnt not to mess with us. Plus, Griffin gave them the technology to have their first hot bath in years, so they owe us.’

  ‘They have hot baths?’ Jeremiah asked dreamily.

  ‘We can arrange one for you if you like,’ Isabella said. ‘Just as soon as we do some scavenging in Parliament House.’

  The Submariner piloted its way towards Parliament House. The water bubbled past them and, to Griffin’s dislike, so too did the giant bodies of a fluther of jellyfish and the many-toothed jaws of a swarm of silver eels.

  ‘Do you think we’re nearly there?’ Griffin’s voice trembled.

  Jeremiah checked his compass. ‘From my reckoning,’ his fingers scanned over his scribbled map of the watery underbelly of Grimsdon, ‘it should be right ahead of us.’

  Slowly, the large stone foundations and lower floors of Parliament House wavered into view.

  ‘Griffin, slowly raise her up, me boy.’

  Griffin pumped the lever that expelled water from between the walls of the vessel. When it surfaced, Jeremiah quickly turned the valve, sealing the cavity. The Submariner bobbed silently beside the sandstone block walls of Parliament House.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Isabella asked Jeremiah. He nodded and opened the hatch.

  After tying the Submariner to a metal railing, they climbed through one of the tall, arched windows and stood in a small anteroom lined with wooden panels and paintings of gentle countryside settings. Across the door was graffitied the words:

  ENTER AT YOUR PERIL!

  Below was a painting of a skull.

  ‘Are you sure we’ll be okay?’ Jeremiah tucked Snowy up to his chin.

  ‘It’s just their way of being funny,’ Xavier said.

  He opened the door onto a series of corridors until they approached the main hall of the Haggle. It brimmed with the usual tables and was alive with the sounds of kids.

  ‘So many kids,’ Jeremiah surveyed the room. ‘They must belong to someone.’

  A hush fell over the hall. All eyes zeroed in on the scruffy adult in the coats and tied-up slippers, carrying a toy bear. Isabella took Jeremiah’s hand and led them through the silent crowd, some with their mouths open, to Raven, who was seated at his lounge area.

  ‘You brought an adult?’ He stood and glared at them through his fringe.

  ‘One of the good ones,’ Isabella said.

  Raven looked Jeremiah up and down. ‘He’d be very rare then.’

  ‘We think so,’ she said firmly.

  Behind them, kids with towels draped over their shoulders stood in a long queue that snaked from the bathroom.

  ‘There was never any deal about an adult.’

  ‘I wouldn’t bring one here unless I knew I could trust him.’

  Raven looked unconvinced. ‘I’ve never met one yet who could be trusted.’

  ‘How are the warm baths?’ Griffin asked pointedly.

  ‘They’re good, but I’m not sure even they’re worth having to put up with an adult.’

  ‘So you’d rather be without warm baths?’ Isabella asked.

  Raven sneered. ‘You have thirty seconds to convince me why I shouldn’t have him thrown out.’

  Isabella smiled. ‘This is Jeremiah Pain.’ She gently took the old man’s arm and drew him beside her.

  Jeremiah wiped his hand on his trouser leg and held it out to Raven, who stared at the stuffed toy in the old man’s other hand.

  Xavier leant into him. ‘Okay, so he’s a little mad, but he’s harmless.’

  ‘Jeremiah’s a scientist who tried to convince the government that the floods were coming. He had
a plan to stop them, but they wouldn’t listen.’

  Raven scowled. ‘The floods could have been stopped?’

  ‘I believe so.’ Jeremiah almost bowed.

  ‘Why didn’t they listen?’

  ‘We’re not sure,’ Isabella said, ‘but we think there might be some answers in the library.’

  ‘It’s in the far east wing,’ Jeremiah blurted. ‘I can show you.’

  ‘What’s the good of knowing now?’

  ‘My dad worked with Jeremiah,’ Isabella said. ‘He didn’t survive the floods and everything we had together is lost. This might be my only chance to find something that was his. Please, Raven.’

  Raven’s whole body seemed to soften. ‘Okay.’ He stepped carefully over to Jeremiah, brushed his long coat aside and tucked an axe into his belt. ‘But the old man stays in my sight the whole time.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  A Disturbing Revelation

  The far east wing was tucked at the end of a series of long corridors, several spiral staircases and through an assortment of large and ornately carved doors, the last of which made Jeremiah stop: ‘This is it.’

  He tried to open it, but it was locked.

  Raven slipped the axe out of his belt. ‘You’d better step aside old man, if you don’t want to get hurt.’

  Jeremiah shuffled out of the way and patted Snowy.

  Raven swung the axe. Jeremiah flinched each time it gouged into the wood. With a few more swings, the lock clanged to the floor.

  Raven held up the axe before tucking it back into his belt. ‘It’s amazing what you can do when you get fired-up.’

  The door creaked open into a high-ceilinged room with rows of shelves stretching into the distance. Metal ladders hung from the tops on rollers.

  Jeremiah took a step and then stopped.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Isabella asked.

  ‘It’s been a long time since I’ve had to face any of this.’ He shivered as if a chill had run through his bones.