Creature Keepers and the Hijacked Hydro-Hide

by Peter Nelson

  The giant Skunk Ape cut him off by bursting into tears. “I’m just so glad you’re alive!” He scooped Jordan up in his arms again, sobbing into his hair. He set him down and wiped a snot bubble from his nose.

  Jordan considered telling him about how he’d followed him to the Puddle of Ripeness and stolen from it, but decided it best not to upset the Skunk Ape further. Besides, what difference did it make, so long as Eldon was safely returned. And there was a new challenge at hand.

  “They have Nessie,” Jordan said. “And she’s in a lot of danger. It’s gonna take everything we’ve got to rescue her.”

  Bernard looked out over the wide-eyed central-command team, then back at Jordan. “We can be ready within the hour. Just tell us what you need.”

  As the entire base prepared for battle, Jordan debriefed Bernard from the head of the long table in the top secret secret room. He told the Skunk Ape all he knew about the fortress they were going to invade; about the strange old man who thought he was Harvey Quisling and could prove to be a reliable ally; about the powerful Señor Areck Gusto who was trying to hijack the Hydro-Hide; and most importantly about the likely whereabouts, health, and safety of Nessie.

  “So she’s . . . little?” Bernard said. “As in, she lost some weight?”

  “Not exactly. She’s been somehow . . . shrunk.” He awkwardly held out his arms as wide as they could go, to illustrate just how small the mighty Loch Ness Monster had become.

  “It doesn’t make any sense,” Bernard said. “How could this have happened?”

  “It makes perfect sense, if you’re willing to think the unthinkable.” The voice from the doorway belonged to Eldon. He was a bit pale, with a thermometer dangling out of his mouth. Doris pulled the thermometer out, read it, and rushed out of the room.

  Bernard practically leaped at Eldon and gave his Keeper a big hug. Eldon smiled at Jordan. “I believe I owe you a big Badger Ranger thank-you.” He pulled one of his badges off his sash and pinned it on Jordan’s shirt. It had on it a small, golden heart. “This is the highest Badger Badge there is. It’s for bravery, loyalty, and friendship.”

  “Thank you,” Jordan said, smiling down at the tiny badge. He looked up again. “What’s unthinkable?”

  “For a Creature Keeper to abandon his own cryptid, then put another one in danger . . . It’s hard to imagine, but apparently that’s exactly what Quisling’s done.”

  “So that old man really is Harvey Quisling. But how is that possible? You said no Creature Keeper was ever over twelve or thirteen years old.”

  “No, I said no Creature Keeper was currently over twelve or thirteen years old. When your grandfather began his life’s work, one of the first challenges he found was the cryptids’ innate fear of men. In his travels to places where there were reported sightings, even to remote tribes and villages, he’d find it was often the children who would know where he could find them, and more importantly, how to approach them once he did. The cryptids sensed an openness in children, a curiosity and kindness that hadn’t yet been corrupted. And while your grandfather possessed those traits himself, the cryptids wouldn’t allow him to get close enough to sense them in him, because he was a grown man.”

  “So, he recruited kids?”

  “Children need to be with their families,” said Eldon, “not living with some Dingonek.”

  Bernard read Jordan’s confusion. “Jungle Walrus. West African Congo,” he whispered.

  “Your grandfather needed to find helpers with a seemingly impossible combination—adults like himself, with a childlike wonder and openness to adventure—yet whose outward appearance matched their inner spirit. It’s what brought him to this part of the world.”

  “He didn’t come to Florida to find the Skunk Ape?” He glanced at Bernard, who shrugged.

  “Your grandfather came searching for a mystery greater than any cryptid,” Eldon said. “He came to find the Fountain of Youth.”

  Jordan’s eyes grew wide.

  “Unfortunately, he never found it.”

  “What?”

  “Nope. He died before he could find the Fountain of Youth. Never found it.”

  “Wait, so . . . who did?”

  “Me.” Eldon smiled.

  “You? How did you find the Fountain of Youth? Please don’t say spooring.”

  “Your grandfather theorized that the ancient fountain most likely wouldn’t be a fountain at all. Or a spring, or a pool. Not anymore, anyway. It would have been long since destroyed. He knew what would remain, if anything, would be some wellspring, maybe, deep underground. So he began studying and documenting the local plant life of the Okeeyuckachokee, looking for anything out of the ordinary.”

  “Like, say, a giant lemon tree growing in the middle of a swamp?”

  “Bingo. He began tunneling beneath it, creating what would become this lair. But his tunneling weakened the already unstable soil system beneath the swamp. He caused sinkholes, erosion, and of course, subterranean rivers. When the heavy rains came, water would rush for miles underground, in any direction.”

  “One of which brought Eldon and I together,” Bernard said sweetly.

  “That’s right. When I dived in after that old caretaker woman,” Eldon continued, “it was one of your grandfather’s accidental hidden rivers that carried me from his abandoned house to his underground lair.”

  “And into my flooded living room,” Bernard added.

  “Discovering a Skunk Ape in an underground library room was a shock, but it wasn’t the only secret I found there. I began reading your grandfather’s writings. His records on the Okeeyuckachokee plant life, and his theories on the Fountain of Youth.

  “So he discovered that the fountain was somewhere under the swamp?”

  “He discovered that the fountain was the swamp. Its water was everywhere. A tiny bit in nearly every living thing that grows here. A drop squeezed from the lobed leaves of an oakleaf hydrangea, a molecule from the stamen of a swamp hibiscus flower. From the top of the highest cypress tree to the deepest root of—”

  “A giant lemon tree.” Jordan was catching on. “And in its lemons, too.”

  “That’s right. All around us, hiding in plain sight. All we had to figure out was how to extract it. And as it happened . . .” Eldon pointed out another Badger Badge on his sash—a little cactus next to a drop of water.

  “C’mon,” Jordan said. “A Fountain of Youth badge? Really?”

  “Water extraction. A fairly helpful survival skill, actually.”

  “So that’s the elixir—the stuff those lab kids squeeze out of the soil down here. You called it ‘swamp medicine.’ You said it helps the creatures stay hidden.”

  “And it does,” Eldon said. “But it’s not for the creatures. It’s for the Keepers.”

  “They’re old people? Made young?”

  “Not just them. The dedicated workers here at headquarters, too. Jordan, you and I are the only people down here who aren’t over eighty or ninety years old. Every member of our organization was left behind and alone—all forgotten souls living out their days in your grandfather’s old, abandoned house. But they were young at heart, with lots of living left to do. They were the ones who deserved another go-around. So I asked them if they’d like to help.”

  “You said my grandfather’s house had become an orphanage.”

  “You assumed that’s what I meant, and I let you. It was an old folks’ home, run by that awful woman. I squatted there, sneaking around to help them, working toward my Community Badge. It was an odd situation, but we were an odd family.”

  Jordan thought of everyone he’d met, all the dedicated “kids” he’d watched as they worked at Creature Keepers headquarters. Then he thought of something else. “So, Alistair . . . ?”

  “In his late eighties, the old coot,” Eldon said. “Harvey, too, until recently.”

  “How did that traitorous toad manage to grow old so quickly?” Bernard said.

  “He must have stopped taking his el
ixir, aging as he stashed it away. Who knows how long it took him to revert to his proper age.”

  “Hope it was slow and painful,” Bernard said.

  “But why would he give up his youth?”

  “Gosh, I guess for the reasons most grown-ups do. For stuff he considered more valuable. Wealth, success, fame.”

  “His crypto-zoo,” Jordan said. “He somehow gave the elixir to Nessie that night in the cave. It’s the only way he could’ve kidnapped her.”

  “It was incredibly reckless of him,” Eldon said. “We’re lucky she’s alive. There’s no telling how a cryptid might have reacted to the Fountain of Youth. It’s never been done.”

  “And that’s why he needed to get his hands on my Puddle of Ripeness,” Bernard said.

  Eldon stepped up and put his hand on his big friend’s furry shoulder. “And you stayed true to your sacred duty to protect it, even in exchange for my freedom. I know how hard that must’ve been for you, old friend. But it was the right decision.”

  Jordan felt a sudden, sick feeling in his stomach. “Sorry. Not to be a dimwit, but what exactly does this ripey puddle stuff do, again?”

  “It doesn’t matter, because Bernard kept them from getting hold of it,” Eldon said. “Besides, we’re running out of time. The latest reports we’re getting in show that the North Sea is beginning to surge, causing flooding in ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Hamburg. It hasn’t hit the Atlantic . . . yet. Right now we need to save Nessie—as well as Harvey. He may be a turncoat, but he’s still a Creature Keeper.”

  Jordan’s stomach was doing belly flops. Things were happening too fast. He knew he should tell them about stealing from the Puddle of Ripeness. He opened his mouth, but Eldon spoke before he could find the words.

  “Jordan—you know that fortress better than anyone. You’re the only one who’s met Gusto face-to-face. And you convinced Harvey to let you rescue me. You’re our best hope for success. Will you lead us into battle and help us save the Loch Ness Monster?”

  Jordan glanced down at the Badger Badge on his shirt. He felt neither brave nor loyal as he looked back up at the hopeful, confident faces of Eldon and Bernard.

  He found the strength to say just one word.

  “Yes.”

  30

  When it was in operation, the S.S. Peek-A-Boo puttered around the perimeter of the swamp, her glass-bottom floor allowing tourists to stare past their flip-flops and sensible walking shoes at schools of fish or underwater plant life. But like the fan boat, it hadn’t been taken out in years.

  So it was a slight miracle when, after a few attempts and a sudden belch of black smoke, the S.S. Peek-A-Boo started up and slowly pulled out of the hidden boathouse on Ponce de Leon Bay. Bernard was captaining the boat, and crammed on board behind him was the entire Creature Keeper crew. Every last kid from the lemon-tree lair had come out on this rescue mission, and these passengers were as battle ready as they could be, given the fact that they had no weapons, no fighting skills, and weren’t used to being up past their bedtimes. It would be nightfall by the time they reached Lost Man’s Cove to raid the crypto-zoo and save Nessie, and while that wasn’t much to cling to, everyone hoped it would help a bit.

  Jordan had explained the layout of the crypto-zoo to everyone on the dock before boarding. They had two more things going for them: greater numbers and the element of surprise. The only thing that worried Jordan was Harvey’s console of buttons. He wasn’t sure what tricks Harvey still had at his fingertips, or even whose side he was really on. Harvey had helped Jordan once, but he wasn’t going to count on his help again. The Keeper kids would circle the building, climb the structure, and surround it completely before anyone knew they were there. With nowhere for Gusto or Harvey to hide, they’d have to give up Nessie—hopefully without a fight.

  Leading the way in the fan boat, Jordan sat atop the captain’s tower, with Eldon standing beside him. As they approached Lost Man’s Cove, Jordan cut the engine and coasted toward the crypto-zoo in the distance. Then they sat and waited along with the S.S. Peek-A-Boo for dark.

  Eldon smiled at Jordan and closed his eyes, still groggy from the effects of the gas. Jordan was anything but sleepy. He still couldn’t shake his guilt about giving away the Puddle of Ripeness. After a couple of minutes, he just couldn’t keep quiet anymore.

  “Eldon,” he began, trying to sound like he was making conversation to pass the time. “What would happen if, say, Harvey and Gusto ended up getting their hands on that puddle stuff?”

  Eldon yawned. “Super-duper dangerous. Downright destructive. Good ol’ Bernard. I don’t envy him the choice he had to make. I’m really proud of him.”

  “Yeah. He sure came through for us.” Jordan began to sweat, and chuckled nervously. “But let’s just say, y’know, that we had given Harvey the puddle. What exactly could it do, exactly?”

  “Jeez, Jordan,” Eldon said, opening one eye. “Curiosity killed the cat, remember?”

  Jordan smiled faintly at this horrible choice of phrase. Eldon continued, “It’s basically the antidote to the Fountain of Youth. With a once-a-year dose of the youth elixir, we can de-age a person and keep them as young as they want for as long as they want. But just one drop of that nasty Puddle of Ripeness will violently and painfully restore a person to their proper chronological age—in a matter of minutes.”

  Jordan’s mouth went dry. “Oh, no . . .” He looked across the water at the glass-bottom boat. It was growing dark, and he could just make out all the kids getting ready for action. Bernard waved to Jordan and pointed at the horizon. Jordan saw the setting sun casting a long shadow over the bay. “No, no, no, no!” Jordan waved back to Bernard.

  “Jordan, what’s wrong with you?”

  “We have to get them out of here. This is a trap! We have to warn them!”

  Jordan stood on the tower waving his arms wildly to Bernard on the other boat. Suddenly, a surge of water between the two crafts began bubbling beneath the surface.

  Jordan turned to Eldon. “I didn’t know. I had to save you. I didn’t think it would matter.”

  “Jordan. What are you talking about?”

  “I gave it to them. I gave them the Puddle of Ripeness.”

  “You what?”

  WHOOOOOSH! The top-heavy fan boat teetered violently as something big suddenly rose from the water with a powerful surge between the two small crafts. It pushed the little fan boat toward the shore, tipping it over. Jordan and Eldon scrambled over the metal bars, leaning with all their weight to try to right the clunky vessel.

  It was a submarine. Long and large, it breached the surface, sending waves out in every direction. It had bubble windows along the side and a large, oval, flat-topped turret on top. This was the oval platform Jordan and Eldon were trapped on beneath the crypto-zoo. The space beneath the crypto-zoo wasn’t just a roomy basement, or even an alligator-infested water-dungeon. It was a submarine garage.

  A hatch on top of the turret slammed open. All was silent as the water began to calm again. Señor Areck Gusto climbed out of the top of the sub. He stood grinning atop the platform, wrapped in his long, black trench coat. He waved down to the glass-bottom boat, now drifting dangerously close to him.

  From their near-beached and tipped-over fan boat, Jordan and Eldon could see both the submarine and the glass-bottom boat in the deeper water. Helplessly, Jordan watched as Gusto addressed the frightened, huddled Keeper kids on the S.S. Peek-A-Boo.

  “Greetings, Creature Keepers!” Gusto called out. “You all look so excited to be out of your safe little swamp burrow for the first time in, what? Years? Decades? We’ll soon find out!”

  “What do you want?” Bernard yelled up at the sub. The water had grown still again and the sound carried easily in the calm night air. Jordan could imagine Bernard’s dilemma—wanting to leap onto the sub to throttle that skinny weasel, but not wanting to leave his crew behind. Eldon was trying to start the waterlogged engine but wasn’t having any luck.

 
“I don’t want anything to do with your putrid hide, Stink Monkey,” Gusto sneered. “I’m interested in your passengers. I’d like to see who they really are!” He pulled from his trench-coat pocket a green, glowing orb, the same vile color as the Puddle of Ripeness. He held up the ball and smiled down on them. “You’re outside getting some fresh air; whaddya say we play some catch, kids! It’s such a fun game for everyone—young and old!”

  He reached back and hurled the sphere at the S.S. Peek-A-Boo. POOM! It exploded into a ball of thick, green gas. Laughing a horrible laugh, he threw another. POOM! It burst at the other end of the glass-bottom boat, engulfing everyone on board in the thick, putrid smoke.

  “NO!” Jordan yelled over the screams and explosions. He looked down at Eldon, who was staring across the water, frozen in shock. “We’ve got to do something!”

  Eldon looked back at the crypto-zoo. “Nessie might still be in there somewhere. Quisling, too.”

  “Okay. You go for them, I’ll swim out toward the others. But Eldon—” The two boys looked each other in the eye. “Just promise me you’ll save Nessie first.”

  Eldon dived toward the shore. Jordan hit the water and began swimming toward the S.S. Peek-A-Boo. POOM! Another ripeness bomb went off. POOM! POOM!

  “HA-HA-HA!” Gusto’s laughter echoed over the still water. Even swimming as fast as he could, Jordan felt like he was getting no closer at all to the horrible scene. But he could make out the tall Latino’s lanky body atop the submarine, looking down on his victims.

  He could hear him, too. And what he heard sent a chill down his spine. “Now, then,” Gusto snarled. “I’m looking for George Grimsley. One of you has to be my old friend, but I’m afraid you old folk all look the same to me. C’mon, George, don’t be a coward! Show yourself and I’ll spare your crewmates any more suffering!” He snapped his clawlike fingers as he thought of something. “Ooh! I know what’s got you so shy, Georgie boy! You want me to show my new skin, too, is that it? Fair enough!”