Manak the Manta Ray

by Adam Blade

  He handed Max a square metal case. Rivet swam to the box and sniffed it curiously. “What is it, Max?” barked the dogbot.

  Max inspected it. “It’s an Aquora submarine DiveLog — submariners use it to record their voyages.”

  But where could the Professor have gotten ahold of it? Max wondered. And why did he want me to have it? How did he even know I’d be here at this moment?

  Max felt a tingling sensation of unease. He had a feeling that whatever message was in the DiveLog, it wouldn’t be good news.

  He turned it over and his heart somersaulted as he saw the image of a leaping dolphin. It was the mark of the submarine that had taken his mother and uncle on their voyage into the ocean — a voyage from which they had never returned.

  “What is it?” Lia asked. “What is the message?”

  The DiveLog had earphones attached. Max inserted the earphones, and pressed the ACTIVATE button.

  MAX HADN’T HEARD HIS MOTHER’S VOICE SINCE he was an infant, except in dreams, but the voice that filled his ears now seemed the most familiar sound in the world.

  She was breathless. Frightened. “We don’t have much time,” Max’s mother said. “This may be the last entry I make. We’re stuck on the ocean bed and both engines have failed.”

  In the background, Max heard clanging and scraping noises, and a man’s voice — his uncle’s — too remote for Max to make out actual words, but he sounded desperately anxious.

  “The Leaping Dolphin is surrounded by ocean crawlers,” his mother said. “Hundreds of them.”

  Max’s skin prickled — ocean crawlers were giant, spiderlike creatures, with eight long legs and hungry jaws, that lived at the bottom of the sea. Max had never seen one, but he’d heard about them and they’d haunted his nightmares when he was younger. He’d thought they were fairy-tale monsters — stories to scare children with at bedtime. But then, he’d thought that about the Merryn, too, and they had turned out to be real.

  “They’re attacking,” his mother went on. Her voice was sounding more desperate. “They’re scraping at the hull of the submarine. Hairline cracks are appearing. It’s only a matter of time before they break through. Unless Dedrick can get the engines started again, it’s the end.” Max heard his mother gulp back a sob. “If this tape is ever found — if it ever reaches you, Callum, and Max — I want you to know I love you, that —”

  The man’s voice rose to a ragged yell. There were louder clangs, the sound of metal being torn, a torrent of water.

  A scream from his mother.

  A thud, and a long hiss of static.

  Then silence.

  Slowly, Max pulled out the headphones. Over the years, he had accepted the belief that his mother was dead. Yet, always, there had been a small, lingering hope that she might somehow have survived. Now that was gone forever.

  “What was it?” Lia asked. “What was the message?”

  “My mother,” said Max, shortly. He didn’t want to talk about it. “Her last words, before the ocean crawlers … before they …”

  Lia put her hand gently on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry,” she said.

  “Thanks,” Max said. He rubbed his fists in his eyes.

  “Why did the Professor send you this message?” Lia asked.

  Max shook his head. “No idea. Perhaps just to hurt me. Anyway …” He took a deep breath and raised his chin. “Speaking of the Professor, he still has my dad. Let’s get going. I lost my mother, but maybe I can still save my father.”

  “Which way is it to the Black Caves?” Lia asked Glave. “And how far?”

  “About a hundred leagues,” Glave said. He pointed. “To the northwest.”

  “Thank you,” Lia said. “Now you must go back to Sumara, with all the speed you have. Your mother and father are worried sick over you. They will be so happy and relieved at your return!”

  “Yes,” Glave said, and smiled. For the first time Max saw some life come into his face, at the thought of going home. It was as if he had only just realized his captivity was over.

  “Tell them in Sumara that we’re going to defeat the Professor for good!” Max said. “Tell them that when we come back the ocean will be safe again.”

  “I wish you all the luck that Thallos can send!” Glave said, and with a final wave he swam off toward Sumara.

  Max and Lia set off side by side, in the direction of the Black Caves. Max’s mind was buzzing. Why had the Professor sent Glave to them? He must have known that Lia’s cousin would direct them toward his lair. It was as if the Professor was luring them to him.

  And how did the Professor get ahold of the DiveLog? Why did he send it to Max? How did he even know it had anything to do with Max? How did he know who Max’s mother was? Their enemy seemed to know more than it was possible for him to know.

  Unless … A thought stirred, half formed, in Max’s mind. Unless the Professor is …

  “What are you thinking about?” Lia asked.

  “I’m thinking that I can’t wait to come face-to-face with the Professor,” Max said. “And anything he can throw at us.”

  He gunned the engine of the aquabike and accelerated, so that Rivet and Lia and Spike had to put on speed to keep up. Together they forged through the ocean, drawing ever closer to the Black Caves.

  I’m not going to let the Professor’s mind games get to me, Max thought. Nothing is going to stop me from rescuing my dad!

  THE OCEAN CURRENTS TICKLED MAX’S SKIN LIKE an autumn breeze. He shivered and tightened his grip on the aquabike’s handles. The bike’s thermometer reading was dipping more the farther north they traveled, but that wasn’t the only thing making him jittery. Every mile they traveled was a mile closer to the Black Caves and their enemy, the Professor.

  Closer to my dad, too, thought Max.

  The Professor had kidnapped his father, Callum North, from their home in Aquora. According to Max’s Merryn friend, Lia, the Professor was collecting experts to help build weapons. The Professor wanted to take over the oceans of Nemos. So it made sense for him to take Max’s dad, who was the Chief Engineer of Aquora. Max just couldn’t work out how the Professor had found Callum in the first place.

  I won’t lose both my parents to the sea, he thought.

  Max’s mother had disappeared on a voyage years before, along with her brother. They had been looking for Sumara, the city of the Merryn — a legendary race of underwater beings. But neither had ever come back. Just two more explorers lost in the perilous oceans of Nemos. Max had been to Sumara himself — that’s where he’d met his friend, Lia, whose help had been invaluable on their trip so far.

  Silt danced in the water ahead, so Max switched on the headlights. The beams caught Spike’s flashing tail as the swordfish swam through the water with Lia on his back. No, the Merryn were definitely not just a legend. Lia glared back, her eyes wide, and her silver hair billowing like a cloud.

  “You may as well announce to everyone that we’re coming!” she said.

  Max dipped the beams, twisted the throttle, and drew up alongside her. His dogbot, Rivet, followed with a pulse of his propeller.

  “Sorry,” Max said to the Merryn princess. “I’m still learning, I guess.”

  Lia scanned the sea ahead. “I’ve never been this far from home before. I can sense something out there.”

  “Tell me about it,” Max replied, nervously patting the harpoon gun strapped to the side of the bike.

  They’d traveled miles from Sumara, where Lia’s father ruled. They were even farther from the city of Aquora, where Max had grown up with his dad. It seemed like a lifetime ago since he’d first ventured into the ocean after the Professor’s evil Robobeast Cephalox the Cyber Squid. Max had nearly drowned. Only Lia’s Merryn touch had saved his life. His fingers searched his neck for the gills she’d given him. It was still hard to believe he could breathe underwater without a diving suit.

  Max reached out to rub Rivet’s metal head. “I can’t help thinking we could be heading into a trap
.”

  Lia shrugged. “I don’t think we have a choice. We have to track down the Professor.”

  Aside from snatching Max’s dad, the Professor had stolen the Skull of Thallos from Sumara. Without it, the Merryn had lost their powers to control the seas, which meant their whole race was in danger. The Professor was using the skull fragments and robot technology to control the giant Beasts of the ocean, turning them into vicious fighting machines. Max and Lia had defeated three Robobeasts and recovered one piece of the skull after each battle — but every battle had been more deadly than the one before.

  “You’re shivering,” said Lia. “Hang on a moment. I know what you need to warm you up.”

  She leaned forward and whispered close to Spike’s head. The swordfish dipped his sharp nose and dove. The dark water swallowed him and Lia up. Max waited, glad he had Rivet’s red eyes and flashing lights to keep him company. He wondered whether he’d ever get the chance to confront the Professor face-to-face. One of Lia’s Merryn friends, Glave, had told them a terrible Robobeast guarded the Black Caves — Kraya the Blood Shark. Even the name was scary enough to make Max want to turn back.

  Lia emerged from the seafloor, trailing what looked like a rug in her hand. She slipped off Spike’s back and held it out. “Put this on,” she said.

  As Lia got closer, Max realized it was a blanket of waving orange tendrils. She had torn two armholes in it.

  “What is it?” asked Max.

  “Fur-weed,” said Lia. “We make blankets out of it for Merryn tadpoles.”

  “Tadpoles?”

  “Our young,” she said. “You know, hatchlings?”

  Max slipped on the vest and instantly felt warmer. “You come from eggs?”

  Lia frowned. “Of course. Everyone knows that.”

  Max grinned. “Never mind. Should we check the skull for directions?”

  “Let’s keep moving,” Lia replied. “I don’t like it here.”

  They swam on through the murk. Gradually the water became clear enough for Max to switch off his bike’s lights completely. The ocean floor stretched for miles on all sides, completely flat and bare but for a few pebbles and scraps of dying weed. The water was empty of fish or any other marine life.

  Max felt more relaxed now that he could see farther. Rivet was obviously glad to be out of the murky patch, too, and nosed playfully around Spike’s belly until the swordfish gave him a whack with his tail and darted off to scour the seabed.

  “Here, boy!” Max beckoned to the dogbot, and Rivet swam over.

  “Fish hit me, Max,” he barked.

  “You asked for it,” said Max, sliding open Rivet’s back panel. Bright blue light burst out and made him blink. “Wow!” said Max. He opened his eyes a crack and took out the glowing Skull of Thallos. The three fragments — a jawbone, eye sockets, and horns — were magically fused together. Each piece had pointed the way to the next, but they’d never glowed this brightly before.

  “We must be really close,” said Lia.

  “I don’t understand,” said Max. “There’s nothing around —”

  A deep rumble from the seabed drowned out his words and he felt the water pulse. “What in the seven seas is that?” he asked, quickly stowing away the skull.

  “I don’t know,” said Lia, “but I don’t think we should stay here. Spike!”

  The ocean shook again.

  “Go up!” Lia cried. “Quickly!”

  Max gasped as a crack opened in the seabed — a huge black ring of broken sand, running all around them. There was another rumble and a whirring sound as two enormous curved glass walls rose from the ocean floor. Before they had time to move, the glass snapped shut over their heads like a giant transparent eyelid.

  On the other side of the shield, Spike swam frantically back and forth, knocking against the prison wall with his sword. Inside, Rivet barked wildly, then lowered his head and set his propellers to full throttle. He charged at the glass but bounced off with a dull clang. The dogbot sank back through the water dizzily.

  “Hard, Max,” said Rivet.

  Lia swam to the line where the two halves of the dome met, and Max followed her on his aquabike. There was a faint ridge at the join, but he couldn’t get his fingers in to pry them apart. The dome had to be at least a hand’s width thick.

  Lia slammed her fist against the glass.

  “We’re trapped!” she said.

  #1: CEPHALOX THE CYBER SQUID

  #2: SILDA THE ELECTRIC EEL

  #3: MANAK THE MANTA RAY

  #4: KRAYA THE BLOOD SHARK

  Deep Dive series created by Beast Quest Ltd., London.

  Copyright © 2013 by Beast Quest Ltd. All rights reserved.

  Cover and interior art by Justin Wyatt for Artful Dodgers

  Cover color by Bob Wakelin for Artful Dodgers

  Cover design by Nina Goffi

  Published by Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, by arrangement with Working Partners Ltd. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  First printing, February 2013

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-53911-1

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.