by J. G. Kemp
The suitcase, which was still following behind, started making a loud grinding noise. It was stuck, unable to roll itself over a small bump where the planks of wood were uneven. The suitcase backed up, paused, and moved forward, only to be stopped by the same bump. It backed up again, this time turning slightly to the left, and then moved forward, and was stopped a third time. The grinding noise got louder.
The attendant grimaced and reached for the suitcase, but the boy blocked his way. “I’ve got it!” Henry snapped, and glared at the man. “I don’t need your help.”
The attendant stepped back and tipped his hat. “Sorry sir, my apologies.”
The boy struggled with the case, lugging it behind him, and bumped it hard on each step as he descended the stairs to the boat. A few steps from the bottom he let the suitcase go, and it tumbled down and landed with a thud. “Stupid thing!” he muttered.
The attendant shook his head and then faced Mary and smiled. “Time to go, Miss.” He took her suitcase and the violin and walked them on to the boat; and as he climbed back up the stairs to the dock, he reached into his blue, buttoned jacket and pulled out a small package. “Oh, almost forget, this is for you,” he said and handed the package to Mary.
She took it from him. “What is it?” she asked, puzzled.
“Not sure, the woman in that bookstore asked me to give it to you.” He pointed to Caroline’s Corner. “Now off you go, Miss.”
Mary was stunned. A package? for me? from Caroline’s Corner? She glanced towards the bookshop—there was no one there. She descended into the boat, her mind racing. Why would she give me something? How does she know me? The stairway closed, and the boat began to move. Mary wobbled back and forth and eased herself onto a bench and tore open the package.
It was a journal! A journal exactly like the old, tattered journal she had seen in the Forbidden Room. A journal exactly like the one with her grandmother’s name on the cover. She flipped through it… it was blank. She turned to the first page and there, in flowing cursive script, were the words:
Mary,
It’s time you learned the truth.
Follow the clues.
— Caroline
Chapter 4
The Unexpected Flight
“Hey, that’s cool,” came a boy’s voice. “What is it?”
Mary looked up. Benches lined the edges of the boat in a large oval, and the boy was sitting across from her, smiling. He had messy white hair and wore a dark green vest covered in pockets, and he was pointing at the journal in her hands.
The words stumbled out of Mary’s mouth. “Umm… it’s an empty journal,” she mumbled quickly and rewrapped the package on her lap.
“My name’s Benjamin… Benjamin Wild… but I go by Ben,” the boy said, and he leaned forward with his hand outstretched. “What’s your name?” His wide eyes were blue and bright.
“I’m Mary… Mary Andromeda.” She shook his hand and quickly let go and pushed her glasses farther up her nose.
“Wow, that’s a beautiful name,” Ben said excitedly, and then he quickly glanced away. His face started to turn red. “I mean… that’s cool.”
A girl sitting beside him gave him a gentle punch on the shoulder. “Yeah, it is a cool name… and beautiful.” She winked at Mary. The girl had big, brown eyes and a smile that stretched from ear to ear. “I’m Julee… Julee Joy… and I go by Julee.” She elbowed Ben in the ribs and extended her hand to Mary. Her frizzy black hair was braided in two long braids which hung down in front of her shoulders. “I like your dress,” she added. “It looks like a sunrise.”
“Thanks,” Mary replied, “I like yours too. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Julee’s dress was a vibrant red and yellow and green, woven with triangle, diamond, and circle designs. Mary imagined the patterns spinning and twisting and blending into each other, as if the dress were alive. “…and your shoes!” Mary added. Julee’s brown leather boots were speckled with shiny red sequins that looked like rubies.
“Why, thank you,” Julee said in a glamorous voice as she flipped her ponytails over her shoulders. “I know we have to wear uniforms at the Institute. Gray uniforms. Ugh. Who knows how long it’ll be before I can wear these again.” She admired her shoes and tapped them together.
“They’re not gray, they’re slate. There’s a difference,” came another voice; it was the boy who had arrived last, the one with the robotic suitcase. He was staring out the window, eyebrows furrowed, shoulders slumped forward. “… and they’re not that bad.” He glanced at Julee and scoffed. “Better than ridiculously colorful clothes anyway.”
Julee smiled back. “Well, I just hope we don’t have to wear… slate… on the weekends.” She winked at Mary and then asked the boy. “What’s your name, by the way?” The tone in her voice was pleasant, like she had a confidence about her, like nothing could upset her. Mary liked it.
“Henry Kelvin. Just leave me alone,” the boy answered abruptly and kept staring out the window.
Julee just smiled and shrugged her shoulders.
“I’m Elliot!” blurted a voice. It came from a girl sitting near the luggage rack in the corner. Mary hadn’t noticed her. “Elliot Ki. I know it sounds like it should be spelled K…E…Y… but it’s actually spelled K…I…” Elliot reached out and shook Mary’s hand.
Elliot looked younger. She had straight black hair, cut to chin-length, and pinned behind her ears with big green hair clips. She wore blue jeans, rolled up to her knees, and brown sandals. Her t-shirt was sea green with pink, tropical flowers printed on it. She reminded Mary of her little sister.
“I had to wear a uniform at my old school,” Elliot said, her eyes were wide open, and she was nodding eagerly. “It wasn’t so bad. You don’t have to worry about what you’re going to wear everyday, and no one makes fun of you for being different.”
“So, I won’t get to wear my awesome vest?” asked Ben excitedly. “Look at all the pockets—some have zippers and some have buttons and this one has another little pocket hidden inside.” He leaned forward, showing-off the secret pocket. “My mom got it for me, in case we do any fishing at the Institute.”
Henry scoffed again from his seat by the window. “You do not go fishing at the Institute. What a suggestion.” He looked over Ben’s vest and cargo pants and hiking boots. “You don’t go hiking either.” He glanced at the others and looked back out the window and shook his head. “New kids,” he muttered and rolled his eyes.
Julee whispered something into Ben’s ear, and Elliot smiled awkwardly and shrugged her shoulders. Mary glanced out the window.
The boat began to accelerate, like the others that Mary had watched, and was facing Institute Island which was now barely visible through the hazy air. The rectangular buildings of the Institute reflected the late morning sunlight like giant mirrors. Mary felt the package on her lap and her mind started racing again: it’s time I learned the truth—about what? follow what clues? about my mom? the accident? could Caroline—
“I didn’t bring anything to write in,” said Elliot, nodding at the package on Mary’s lap. “My dad told me I wouldn’t need any paper because everything is on computers at the Institute. I wanted—” Elliot suddenly flung forward, out of her seat and onto the floor. The boat had jerked to the side and had turned towards the open sea. It was gaining speed.
“Um… what’s happening?” asked Julee, nervously.
The boat continued to accelerate. The sound of its engine grew louder and louder and louder, and the boat sped faster and faster and then began to skip, like a stone, bouncing up and down on the water. Mary flew up… and then smacked down on the bench, and then flew up… and then smacked down on the bench.
“Make it stop!” Elliot cried from the floor, her voice barely audible over the roar of the engine.
“Wow, are those wings?” Ben shouted, pointing excitedly out the window.
A sleek white wing, slicing through the water, had extended from the
side of the boat. The engine roared louder than ever, and the boat tilted upwards and suddenly, the jolting stopped. The boat was taking-off! It was rising higher and higher into the air!
“I didn’t know they could do that!” said Henry, with a glimmer in his eyes behind his round glasses.
“What’s happening?” cried Elliot, still crouched on the floor. She looked terrified as the boat continued to climb higher. It climbed and climbed and then passed through a thin layer of clouds and then leveled off. The sound of the engine decreased, and, as if nothing was out of the ordinary, the boat cruised along, flying effortlessly, high above the water. Elliot crawled off the floor and sat, confused, back on the bench.
“I’ve never been on a plane,” marveled Julee, gazing out the window at the ocean below.
“Me either,” added Ben. “We must be a thousand feet up.”
“I was on a plane once… I got sick,” said Elliot. She sat with her legs to her chest, hugging her knees. “What’s happening, why aren’t we going to the Institute?”
“It’s simply a computer malfunction,” Henry explained casually. He didn’t look concerned at all. “They are guided by satellite, I’m sure they will correct the mistake soon.”
“Hey, look at that!” Ben pointed towards the front of the plane. They were flying fast towards a dark wall of clouds which suddenly lit-up from a flash of lightning striking within them.
“That doesn’t look good,” said Julee, nervously. “I hope this thing is safe.” She looked around for a seatbelt, but there was none.
“This is an Institute plane,” said Henry with confidence. “I’m sure it can handle it.”
“But, what if we get struck by lightning?” asked Elliot.
Henry scoffed and explained, “the lightning just travels through the metal of the plane, it can’t hurt us.”
“Here we go!” shouted Ben as the plane flew into the storm, engulfed by the clouds. The clear blue sky was replaced by darker and darker shades of gray, and the plane began to shake, slowly at first, and then more and more violently. It suddenly dropped in the air… and then recovered… and then dropped again.
“I don’t like this,” said Elliot; she looked like she was going to be sick. The look reminded Mary of the time Cassie got sick on a merry-go-round, after eating too much. Mary slid next to Elliot and put her arm around her.
The turbulence continued. They were flying incredibly fast, Mary thought, but she wasn’t sure, she couldn’t compare the plane’s motion to anything outside. Through gaps in the clouds, she caught occasional glimpses of the water, far below, and then felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.
“We’re losing altitude,” declared Henry.
Elliot convulsed like she was about to throw up but nothing came out. A bolt of lightning flashed in front of them, and Julee screamed—“Ahhhhh!”—and the plane dropped suddenly and then tilted forward and began to shake harder than ever. The water was getting closer and closer and closer.
“We’re gonna crash!” shouted Ben. “Hold on!”
The nose of the plane pulled up—smack—and they touched down on the water. Mary flung forward as the boat skipped across the surface… once… twice… three times. The wings retracted. The roar of the engine died away. Elliot was shaking and gripped onto Mary’s arm as the boat moved slower… and slower… and slower.
“Hey, what’s that?” said Ben curiously, pointing out the window through the dense fog. Mary followed his outstretched finger and saw, emerging from the mist, the wooden pillars of a dock—ghostly tree trunks speckled with barnacles and slathered in slimy green algae.
“Weird,” said Julee as the boat slowly approached the dock and stopped.
A motor whirred, and there was a loud click, and the door opened, making a stairway to the wooden planks above. Chill air rushed in, along with the sound of water sloshing and seagulls squawking nearby. Mary shivered as the boat bobbed gently up and down with the waves.
“It’s so cold,” said Elliot, still huddled on the bench, clutching her legs. “Where are we?”
They all glanced at each other, speechless, as if wondering who would move first. It’s time you learned the truth, Mary thought. She stood, set the journal on the bench, rubbed her bare arms for warmth, and stepped slowly up the stairs.
The moment she reached the dock, the clouds parted, like curtains opening before a play, and there, through the mist, a colossal mountain towered high above her—snow-capped and the most brilliant green color Mary had ever seen. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a weathered post and a plank of wood laying beside it. She took two steps towards it and read, carved into the aged wood, in letters worn and barely visible, two words:
Evergreen Isle
Chapter 5
The Arrival
“Wow…!” marveled Ben, who had followed Mary and was gaping up at the mountain. Elliot quickly ran past him, to the edge of the dock; she knelt down, hung her head over the water, and threw up—
“Bleeeegh….Bleeeegh…”
Mary crouched next to her and rubbed her back. The dock was cold and wet and covered in bird-droppings, and Mary shivered again.
“I didn’t know mountains could get that big,” said Julee, stepping off the staircase. “Where are we?”
“Bleeeegh….Bleeeegh…” Elliot threw up again.
“Hey look!” Ben shouted. “A house!” He was pointing towards the shore with one hand, and shielding his eyes with the other.
At the end of the dock, there was a path which wound up to a large white house perched on top of a hill. The hillside glistened from the wet grass, and the house shone brightest of all, as if it was covered in mirrors. The brilliant, white, snow-capped peak towered above. It was so bright Mary had to look away.
“I wonder who lives there,” said Julee.
Elliot pulled her head back from the edge of the dock and sat crosslegged on the wet planks. “Sorry,” she said quietly, and tucked her hair behind her ears. “I get sick easily.” She looked down, her shoulders slumped forward.
“Oh, that’s okay,” said Mary. “My sister gets sick easily too.” She stood and held out her hand and helped Elliot stand up.
“It’s so cold,” shivered Elliot, rubbing her arms.
“I have a jacket in my suitcase,” offered Mary, who was cold too, but was starting to feel the warmth of the sun on her arms. Mary glanced towards the boat. Henry was still inside it, crouched over, looking at something in his lap. He noticed Mary watching him and quickly stood up, put the object in his pocket, and climbed the stairs to the dock.
“No, that’s okay,” said Elliot, glancing at Mary’s bare arms. “I think I’ll warm up soon.”
Henry arrived beside them and frowned at the mountain and the house on the hill. “Does anyone else have a phone?” he asked and looked around impatiently. No one answered. He scoffed, “Well, mine isn’t charged. Maybe someone up there has one, and we can call my father to get us off this ridiculous island. Whoever is responsible for this… inconvenience… is going to have to answer to him. Come on new kids.” He rolled his eyes. “What are you standing around for?”
“Um, how do you know it’s an island?” asked Elliot, innocently.
Henry scowled at her.
“It is,” said Mary. “Look at this.” She pointed to the sign that lay flat on the dock.
“Evergreen Isle,” read Ben. “I like the sound of that.” He gazed up and admired the mountain. “I’m gonna grab my backpack,” he added, “be prepared, ya know.”
“Hey grab mine too, would ya?” said Julee.
“Yeah, sure thing!” he hollered back as he skipped down the stairs to the boat.
He returned a moment later holding two backpacks. One was tan colored and covered in more pockets than were on his vest. The other was bright red and covered in colorful patches; strings of beads hung down, jangling, all around it.
Ben handed the red backpack to Julee and swung his
own over his shoulders. “Come on troop!” he announced and headed off down the dock, like he was on a march. Julee followed behind.
“Um, I guess we’re going,” said Elliot.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Mary shrugged and suddenly remembered the journal—she didn’t want to leave it behind. “Hey, wait a second, I’ll be right back.” She hurried down to the boat. The journal was sitting on the bench, right where she had left it. She pulled her violin case out of the luggage rack, set it on the bench, unzipped a side pocket, slipped the journal inside, and returned to the dock with the case in her hand. Henry looked at her suspiciously before turning briskly and walking away.
“What’s that?” Elliot asked.
“It’s my violin, I just didn’t want to leave it,” Mary replied, and began to walk towards the shore with Elliot beside her. “Do you play an instrument?” Mary asked.