Suddenly Mr Tucker cut the engine. ‘I’s can’t take us any closer,’ he said. ‘The rib will melt!’
The air was scorching now. Even the sea was hot, like a bath. Steam rose gently from its surface. They were still about fifty metres from the lava flow.
‘But where’s the path into the mountain?’ Mrs Cheddar said despairingly. ‘I can’t see it anywhere!’
Atticus couldn’t see it either. He scanned the mountain, forcing his watering eyes to focus, tracing the lava’s path as it descended. The lava followed the fissures in the rock, clinging to every crevice until it reached a point about thirty metres above the sea where a ledge jutted out horizontally beyond the boulders beneath. From there the lava dropped vertically into the sea in a glowing red wall.
It was definitely the waterfall of lava shown on Fishhook Frank’s map. But where was the path into the mountain? There were no steps or footpath hewn into the rock. There was no opening in the cliff face. And even if there had been, Atticus thought, you’d fry if you went that close to the tumbling lava.
‘I’m doomed,’ Inspector Cheddar sobbed. ‘Doomed!’
Mrs Cheddar and Mrs Tucker exchanged worried looks.
‘Fishhook Frank must have found the way in!’ Michael said bravely. ‘Or he wouldn’t have known about the underground lagoon. The path must be here somewhere!’
‘It’s no good!’ Inspector Cheddar gulped back a sob. He got out his notebook and started to scribble some more poetry. ‘Can anyone think of anything that rhymes with lava?’ he asked plaintively.
Nobody could. Atticus wished Inspector Cheddar would think of easier words to rhyme with, like ‘cat’.
‘We can’t give up now, Dad!’ Callie hugged him. She looked appealingly at Atticus. ‘Help us, Atticus,’ she whispered. ‘Please! Can’t you use your instinct or something?’
Could he? Maybe. It was definitely worth a try. His instinct had helped him before when he didn’t know what to do. Atticus tried to relax and let it take over. What possible way was there to pass beneath a waterfall of fire? Only water could protect you from fire …
Wait! Atticus felt his fur prickle with excitement. That was it!
Bones was watching him carefully. ‘What is it, Atticus?’ she meowed.
‘Water!’ he purred joyfully. ‘We’re surrounded by it! The path into the mountain must be through the sea! Otherwise, how could the mermaid have got in?’
‘Of course!’ Bones exclaimed. ‘She couldn’t walk. She could only swim!’
Now the cats knew what they were looking for, they squinted again at the wall of rock behind the ledge, lower this time, where the rock met the ocean.
‘There!’ Atticus nudged Bones. A small cave lay directly beneath the ledge, further along the narrow channel. Seawater sloshed in and out of the opening.
Atticus started pawing at Mrs Tucker’s sleeve.
Bones meowed frantically.
Mrs Tucker grabbed the binoculars.
‘Holy coley!’ she hissed. ‘Atticus has found the way in!’ She passed the binoculars round so everyone could see. ‘Look! Through the cave.’
‘But it’s full of water!’ Mrs Cheddar said doubtfully.
‘Think about it, Mum!’ Michael’s puzzled expression suddenly lifted. ‘The mermaid must have swum in …’
‘So maybe we have to as well!’ Callie finished for him.
Atticus purred like a tractor. Children were clever, like cats.
‘Of course!’ Mrs Cheddar threw her arms around her husband.
‘One slight problem,’ Inspector Cheddar sighed, biting the end of his pen, ‘how are we going to get there if we can’t take the boat?’ He frowned. ‘What rhymes with Titanic?’
‘We’ll use these.’ Mrs Tucker removed the lid of her waterproof box and drew out a blue rubber suit, flippers, a pair of goggles, some breathing apparatus and a small metal tube marked OXYGEN. ‘I’ve brought one for everyone, including Atticus and Bones. The suits are made of neoprene so they’ll withstand high or low temperatures.’ She glanced up. ‘Well, don’t look so surprised,’ she said when she saw everyone was gawping at her. ‘I did use to be a secret agent, you know. We all had these. It was standard issue.’ She handed out the kit.
Atticus watched closely. Of course it was a good idea of Mrs Tucker’s to bring neoprene diving suits for everyone just in case there was an emergency, but he’d been hoping for a fish-paste sandwich.
‘I brought these as well to give us energy.’ Mrs Tucker rummaged in her box. She handed round bottles of water and cereal bars. ‘And this is for you, Atticus. Share it with Bones. She gave him a bowl full of chopped sardine.
Atticus munched his helping of sardine gratefully and washed it down with a drink of water while Bones did the same. Mrs Tucker was a remarkable human, he decided. She really did think of everything.
‘That should hold her.’ Mr Tucker secured the rib by tying a rope around a point on one of the craggy boulders while Callie zipped Atticus into his suit. It felt surprisingly cool, considering how tight it was. Maybe neoprene was a bit like fur, he thought. It kept you cool when it was hot and hot when it was cool.
Atticus was amazed how calm he felt. Swimming! Him! A cat! But he wasn’t just any cat, he reflected, as Michael fixed goggles over his eyes and flippers to his back paws. He was Police Cat Sergeant Atticus Grammaticus Cattypuss Claw. And he no longer hated the sea, thanks to Bones, although he was still afraid of sharks.
Callie giggled. ‘Atticus and Bones look like seals!’ she laughed.
Atticus didn’t mind. Everyone else looked pretty silly too. Like penguins!
‘What you have to remember, Atticus, is to breathe through your mouth,’ Bones told him as Mrs Tucker held out the breathing apparatus.
‘You mean you’ve done this before?’ Atticus asked.
‘Fishhook Frank taught me to snorkel,’ Bones said. ‘This is the same thing only deeper. Really, it’s beautiful down there once you get the hang of it.’ She gestured at the ocean.
‘Okay, I’ll try.’ Atticus tried not to panic as he felt the rubber mask grip his nose. He took a few shuddering breaths through his mouth. The sulphurous air tasted foul. He felt himself choking.
‘Use the breathing tube. In and out. Nice and steady,’ Bones told him.
Atticus sucked on the mouthpiece. In and out. Nice and steady. His breathing slowed. The air tasted better, and he felt like he was getting enough oxygen.
‘Good.’ Mrs Tucker nodded, satisfied. ‘Okay, team, let’s find that casket.’
The rescuers slid off the side of the rib into the steaming water.
Atticus dithered on the edge.
‘Come on, Atticus, we’ll look after you.’ Michael held out his arms.
‘Promise!’ Callie said.
Atticus closed his eyes and jumped in with a splash.
Swimming, Atticus decided, was surprisingly easy once you got the hang of it. No wonder fish liked it so much. He thought he might try and teach Mimi when he got back to Littleton-on-Sea.
And the ocean was beautiful! They were swimming along the narrow channel between Volcano Island and its ring of rocks about two metres below the surface. The water was as clear as diamonds. The sea teemed with fish of every different colour and variety. Some had funky stripes. Others had glossy spots. Some shone like rainbows with delicate fins that trailed in pretty ribbons from their backs. Atticus had never seen anything like it. Even the rocks were coated with dazzling colours. Turquoise fronds and bright yellow sponges nestled together with what looked like small trees made of broccoli, only they came in pink and orange and purple, instead of green.
As they swam towards the lava waterfall, the sea became warmer and warmer. Curiously it didn’t seem to affect the sealife. If anything it got more stunning the warmer it became. Atticus was glad they didn’t have to breathe the air. That close to the lava flow the smell must be unbearable.
Callie and Michael were up ahead of him with Inspector and Mrs Cheddar, M
r Tucker and Bones. They were making good progress. Inspector Cheddar was in the lead. He was swimming as if his life depended on it, Atticus thought. Then he remembered – his life did depend on it! Mrs Cheddar turned and beckoned, then swam off again. Atticus followed as quickly as he could. Managing flippers was tricky. He was glad Mrs Tucker was behind him. Whenever he got muddled up Mrs Tucker’s firm hand on his rear gave him a strong push forward.
They were close to the cave entrance now. Atticus could see the opening in the submerged cliff face. It was a lot bigger than he had imagined – a great cavern which descended as far as he could see into the depths of the ocean. Atticus felt nervous. It was almost as if it didn’t have a bottom at all – as if it went all the way to the centre of the earth. Maybe, he thought anxiously, that was where all the magical sea creatures lived: where they went when they had devoured anyone who threatened the mermaid. He looked about for signs of the man-eating plankton. He tried not to think about them nipping at his fur with their huge teeth.
They swam into the cave and on towards the centre of the mountain. FLIP, FLAP, FLIP, FLAP. The sunlight above them faded. Everything was darker, colder, scarier. Atticus could hardly see. FLIP, FLAP, FLIP, FLAP. All Atticus could hear was the gentle swish of flippers and the strange echo of his breath in the mouth tube. He could barely make out the Cheddars. Mr Tucker and Bones had disappeared. He was sure something was lurking in the water, watching them. He kicked on. FLIP, FLAP, FLIP, FLAP, FLIP, FLAP.
Gradually the light became stronger again: the water became clearer. Atticus relaxed a little.
Mrs Cheddar pointed upwards. It was weird being under water, Atticus reflected. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Mrs Cheddar started swimming towards the surface. The rest of the group followed her.
POP! Atticus’s head emerged out of the water beside Callie’s and Michael’s and Bones’s. He looked about.
‘We did it, everyone!’ Mrs Tucker popped up beside him and removed her mouthpiece. ‘We made it to the lagoon!’ She helped Atticus out of his breathing apparatus and goggles. He took in a lungful of air. The air was pure. It smelt of flowers. He took in another lungful, glad to be free of the sour stink of the volcano.
‘Wow!’ Callie gasped.
‘It’s beautiful!’ Michael breathed.
Atticus looked around in astonishment. He had thought the sea was amazing but the lagoon was out of this world!
The lagoon was cut out of rock. Waterfalls (real ones, made of water not lava) tumbled into it from high above. The biggest white flowers Atticus had ever seen wound their way on dense creeping vines up the face of the rock towards the roof of the volcano. Tiny birds hovered in the air collecting nectar. Delicate butterflies fluttered to and fro. Atticus listened, entranced. You could hear their wings beat!
‘Where’s the light coming from?’ Callie asked in awe.
‘There are light tunnels,’ Michael pointed upwards. ‘Look.’
Atticus gazed up. High above them the rock was studded with light, like a night full of bright stars.
‘The tunnels must lead to the outside,’ Michael said. ‘That’s how the light gets in.’
‘There!’ Inspector Cheddar exclaimed suddenly. ‘There she is! The mermaid!’
Atticus looked round.
A little way away, at the base of a waterfall, was the mermaid. She was lying on a rock, flapping her tail gently back and forth in the water, admiring herself in a mirror and brushing her long blonde hair.
Atticus blinked. He eyed the mermaid warily. This wasn’t at all what he had expected. Where was the casket? And why wasn’t the mermaid asleep?
‘Isn’t she supposed to be in a casket?’ Callie whispered.
Atticus purred. That was exactly what he was thinking.
‘Casket, basket!’ Inspector Cheddar cried. ‘Who cares!! She must have woken up after her thousand-year nap and let herself out for a swim.’
He pulled himself out of the water in his neoprene suit and shot off, leaping and bounding athletically across the rocks, like Bones.
Atticus frowned. Something didn’t feel right. Fishhook Frank’s map didn’t say anything about the mermaid letting herself out for a swim. X marked the spot. It showed the casket in the middle of the lagoon under the volcano. With the mermaid presumably still in it, asleep. He squinted across the lagoon but he couldn’t see anything. The casket would be under the water, where the mermaid could breathe. She couldn’t survive for long out of the water. That’s how the old woman had managed to trick her in the first place.
‘I don’t like this,’ Atticus meowed to Bones.
Mrs Tucker didn’t either. She was staring intently at the mermaid. ‘Hmmmm,’ she said. ‘I wonder …’ She didn’t say what she wondered. She started after the Inspector. ‘Let’s take a closer look. Come on.’
The rest of the party followed, picking their way carefully over the rocks, except Bones who bounded across like a gazelle.
Up ahead, Inspector Cheddar had already reached the mermaid.
‘Magic mermaid on the shore, please grant me what I’m wishing wish for!’ he yelled ecstatically. Finally he would be free of the curse! His eyeballs wouldn’t explode after all! He wouldn’t get the squirts or the shakes, the lumps, the bumps or the camel humps. Inspector Cheddar felt so happy at that moment, he was even prepared to forgive Atticus.
The mermaid didn’t appear to have heard him. She carried on brushing her hair.
‘Magic mermaid on the shore, please grant me what I’m wishing for!’ Inspector Cheddar repeated.
The mermaid turned round and glared at him.
Inspector Cheddar started. The mermaid was as ugly as a troll! Her face was all wrinkly and the skin round her neck and elbows sagged like a plucked chicken. He wished she was wearing something more than a shell bra and a tail. He wondered if it would be rude to offer her his neoprene suit.
‘Vot do you vant?’ the mermaid demanded.
Inspector Cheddar grimaced. The mermaid didn’t just have an ugly face, she had a horrible voice as well: like a frog with tonsillitis.
‘I’ve come to ask for a wish,’ he said impatiently.
‘Vell I vish you hadn’t,’ the mermaid said. ‘I’m all out of vishes today.’
‘You mean someone got here before I did?’ Inspector Cheddar said aghast.
‘Yeah, big bloke vith boots, an eye patch and a long beard.’ The mermaid scratched her armpit. ‘Or it might have been a jumper.’
‘Captain Black Beard-Jumper!’ Inspector Cheddar groaned. ‘I’m doomed! Any minute now I’m going to get the curse of the black spot!’
‘Vell don’t give it to me,’ the mermaid said. ‘Or Biscuit,’ she added softly.
‘Biscuit?’ Inspector Cheddar repeated. ‘Who’s Biscuit?’
The mermaid grinned. Her teeth were black. ‘You remember Biscuit,’ she said. ‘He’s furry, vith big teeth. Likes rats. Come here, my orange angel of darkness.’
A large ginger cat stepped out of the shadows and joined the mermaid on the rock.
‘Wait a minute!’ Inspector Cheddar said. There was something familiar about the mermaid. And he’d definitely seen the cat somewhere before. ‘Have you been to Egypt recently?’ he asked suspiciously.
The mermaid didn’t reply. Instead she reached up with one bony hand and pulled off her long blonde wig. Beneath it was a grizzled mat of grey hair, bristling with sharp-looking hairpins.
Inspector Cheddar recognised the mermaid now. He’d already been on the receiving end of those hairpins on more than one occasion. ‘Klob!’ he gasped. ‘It’s you!’
‘Surprise!’ The mermaid said.
ZIP! A hairpin flew through the air towards Inspector Cheddar and hit him in the leg. He toppled to the rock, snoring.
Bones was the first to reach the scene. She looked at the mermaid in confusion.
‘Bones!’ Atticus meowed desperately. Klob and Biscuit! What were they doing here?! ‘Be careful! It’s a trap!’ But Bones was too far
ahead. She couldn’t hear him.
ZIP! A second hairpin flew towards Bones. She collapsed beside the Inspector, fast asleep.
‘Dad!’ Callie screamed.
‘Bones!’ Mr Tucker howled.
‘I knew it!’ Mrs Tucker muttered. ‘I had a feeling Klob might turn up.’
‘Biscuit,’ Klob shouted. ‘Ve’ve got company.’
Ginger Biscuit growled. POP. POP. POP. POP. He popped out his claws one by one as the rescuers approached.
Atticus ducked down out of sight. If Klob and Biscuit got control of the mermaid it was almost worse than if the pirates did! Without thinking, he crept behind a vine and hid amongst the flowers.
Mrs Cheddar ran to her husband. ‘You witch!’ she screamed at Klob. ‘How could you?’
‘Dad, wake up!’ Michael started shaking him.
‘He von’t vake up,’ Zenia Klob said in a bored voice. ‘I put extra super concentrated sleeping potion on my hairpins today.’
‘How did you get here, Klob?’ Mrs Tucker demanded.
‘Easy,’ Klob answered. ‘I took a submarine. Much qvicker than sailing.’
Atticus listened from behind the flowers. A submarine! That was what he had seen from the ship yesterday. A periscope from a submarine! Klob must have followed the pirates when they bought the magpies. And sailed after them in the submarine to the Ocean of Terror. But how had she beaten the Destiny to the lagoon? Atticus scratched his ear, puzzled. How did Zenia Klob even know there was a lagoon?!! Or a mermaid?!!! Let alone how to find it?!!!! Apart from themselves, only Fishhook Frank and Captain Black Beard-Jumper knew that … Atticus felt his fur stiffen with fear. Oh no! He wanted to cry out: to warn Mrs Tucker and the Cheddars, but if he did, then he would be discovered and he wouldn’t be able to help them escape from what he sensed was about to happen.
Atticus Claw Goes Ashore Page 11