“No offense, but your dad ain’t the brightest bulb. He’d have been caught by now if he’d done something like that.” I gave her a cuff on the ear. She smacked me back. “Whoa. You honestly think your dad might be a killer, then get all offended when I diss his intelligence? Nuh uh,” she said.
I laughed. Charlie had a way of giving things new perspective.
We told my dad our story about needing to get up early to shoot the sunrise. He bought it. By 6:00 AM, I felt crazy relieved to be out of the house and on the road. Charlie leaned her arm out the window, smoking one of three cigarettes I stole from May. Part of our deal. Pink blasted from the radio until a commercial came on and Charlie turned it down. Another part of our deal.
“I can stream something from my phone,” I offered.
“I thought you liked Pink.”
“I do, but I hate the radio.”
Charlie shrugged and smiled. “My car. My rules.”
I laughed. “Why do you even like the radio? It’s only half music.”
She took another drag from her cigarette and puffed it out the window smoothly. “It makes me feel connected to… here. Where we live. You can stream stuff from your phone, but it comes from somewhere else. I don’t even know where.”
I didn’t understand, but I was happy we were on our way to Hina so I didn’t argue.
Many cheesy commercials with occasional music later, we arrived at the dock. An older man and his son hosed down a snazzy-looking fishing boat. Sun streamed through wispy pink clouds across the silver-blue ocean surface. Perfect day for a dive.
“Where are they?”
I looked at my phone. 6:40. “They’re just late.”
We got out of the car and walked. I looked at several boats. Noah Genda, Valium, Day Tripper. I smiled.
“This must be the boat,” I said. It was the only one with a dive platform on back. Atlantis.
Atlantis was about thirty-five feet long, white with blue trim at the bottom and two orange life preservers stowed on the roof near the radar antenna. A red dive flag with the white slash was emblazoned on one side. A metal ladder lay folded up at the rear.
I turned to see if anyone else was on the dock and froze. A girl stood with the old man and his son while they hosed down their boat. She had her back to me, face up to the sun.
Alyx!
My legs moved without thought. I raced the seventy feet down the dock and arrived breathless at the boat.
“Alyx!” I cried out.
Chapter Eleven
I was halfway up the metal walkway that connected the boat to the dock. It clanged under my footsteps. They all turned, including the girl, who wasn’t Alyx. The boy hid behind his grandfather and the girl froze.
“Sorry,” I apologized, backing down the walkway. Given the confusion on their faces, I must have looked crazy. “From the back, you looked like someone. My sister, she’s missing.” I walked back down the dock.
“You okay?” Charlie asked.
I gave her a thumbs up, but shook my head. “They must think I’m nuts.”
“Who cares?” Charlie shrugged.
Just when I thought we’d been stood up, a big van pulled into the parking lot. A giant of a guy with a curly main of dark hair and blue-grey eyes got out. He stretched and yawned like a lion.
When he saw me and Charlie, he froze for a moment and our eyes locked. He looked familiar, like someone I’d seen on TV. Others appeared, both guys and girls, including Nate. He walked toward me.
“Hey, Nate,” I said, hoping I sounded relaxed. “I brought my friend, Charlie.” Charlie lifted her hand and gave a shy wave.
Nate nodded and smiled. “Hey, Alysa, glad you made it,” he said and he walked past as if I were some acquaintance. As if he hadn’t spilled his heart on the rock while we sat looking out over the ocean. As if he barely knew me. I was crushed.
Before I could recover, the giant charismatic man stood in front of me.
“I’m Ivan,” he said, his voice a deep growl. “Aloha.” He used the traditional Hawaiian greeting but it sounded kinda awkward coming from him.
Up close, he was even more imposing. His hand swallowed mine like a warm mouth. A shiver snaked up my spine when we made contact. I felt small, breakable and young. For the first time, I wondered if this had been a good idea. Now we were playing with the big kids.
“And this is…?”
“Charlie, I hope it’s okay I brought her.”
“No problem. I hear you’re quite the diver, Alysa.”
“Nate told you that?” I asked, sounding like an idiot.
Soon we were on the boat amid the smell of diesel and chatter of voices. Ivan stood up front, hair blowing behind him as he gunned the boat out into the open ocean. Nate spoke with one of the women, Paula. We’d only met briefly, but she was some type of ethno-biologist. She caught me staring and winked. I looked away, embarrassed.
Charlie leaned into me. “Who cares? Ignore him and let’s have fun.”
She could read me like no one else. But I laughed. She was right.
“And where are you ladies from?” A compact man in his mid-thirties plunked down next to us. “Alan Richardson.”
“Mahina,” I said. “So, you’re here to free dive?”
“Fourth time. I’ve already made it down to thirty feet, hoping to hit forty today with Ivan’s help. Been working on my statics, getting good. Seven minutes.”
Half of what he said I didn’t understand, but I’d gone much deeper than that.
“What’s a static?” Charlie asked.
“Newbies, huh? Time trials. Where you practice holding your breath in a pool or on a track.”
“I do it in the streets,” I said.
His laugh was a nasal snort. “Mmm. Sounds fun.” He rested his sweaty hand on my bare thigh. My face grew hot, and I shifted away. Alan removed his hand, but not before giving my thigh a quick grope that left white imprints on my skin.
Across the boat, Nate was immersed in his conversation with Paula. I hated that Alan had put his creepy hand on my leg, and I hated that Nate hadn’t noticed.
“Howzit?” A young guy leapt in front of us and did a handstand despite the boat’s rocking.
Charlie clapped.
“Nice gymnastics, dude,” Alan said with a dismissive wave.
“Matt, but you can call me Mattie.” Mattie plopped down from his handstand and moved to sit beside Charlie. He wasn’t much older than me. He’d woven strands of white flowers in his disheveled blond hair.
Charlie picked a flower out of his hair and smelled it. “Nice.”
“Thanks. They’re jasmine; they grow in our garden.”
“What’s with the flowers?” Alan asked.
“Is this day awesome or what?” Mattie said, ignoring him.
“I was explaining statics to the girls.”
Mattie looked at him blankly.
“Oh crap, another newbie. This your first time?”
“Diving?”
Alan nodded.
Mattie laughed. “Uh no, I’ve gone down tons of times. I don’t know all that jargon though. Ivan’s mentioned it, but pffft…” Mattie waved his hand over his head. A few flowers fell to the deck.
“How deep?” Alan asked.
“Not sure, not trying to prove anything, just connecting with the ocean.” Mattie grinned at me.
I let out a snort of laughter.
A sour look crept into Alan’s face. “If you don’t measure something, you won’t know if you’re getting better, kid. Let’s see how you do today.” Alan got up and went to talk to a woman I hadn’t met who stood at the boat railing.
“Ooops. He’s paying for us today so I better watch my mouth,” Mattie confided.
“He owns the boat?” Charlie asked.
Mattie shook his head. “Ivan owns the boat, but Alan flew from NYC to dive. Some kind of investment guy. Ivan’s kinda famous in the free dive underground. If everything works out on our expedition this summer, we’ll never
need to do this again.”
“What’s the expedition?” Charlie asked.
“Treasure,” Mattie whispered, then laughed. “Well, even better than treasure. I’ve already said too much.” He put his hand over his mouth and looked over his shoulder at Ivan.
“What about Nate? How does everyone know each other?” I asked.
“I thought you knew Nate?”
“Not for long.”
“We live together in a house down in Hina. Right in the path of the volcano, baby!”
Mattie leapt to his feet in a burst of energy, pantomiming the flow of lava. It would be annoying if he were showing off, but I didn’t get that vibe. He was the type of kid who couldn’t sit still.
“All of you guys live together?” Charlie asked, laughing.
“Well, not him,” Mattie said motioning to Alan. He crossed his legs and sat down on deck, looking at us with puppy-like brown eyes. “But, yeah, we’re like family. Nial’s been around the longest.” He motioned to an older woman in her mid-thirties who sat, arm folded, in the chair next to Ivan. “She met Ivan when he was getting his doctorate in microbiology. He’s a total genius, skipped high school and went straight to college. You met Nate; he’s been with us since last year.”
“What about Paula?” I asked. She had gorgeous wavy brown hair and hazel eyes. I guessed her to be in her early thirties. Paula and Nate had changed. They now wore wetsuits.
“Paula’s awesome. She’s a college prof, a PhD. Ask her anything ocean related and she’ll tell ya.”
“How did you all meet?” Charlie asked.
“Different ways.” Mattie looked kind of nervous and checked to see if anyone was listening. “I’m from the Midwest, outside Cincinnati. My life was a mess, got kicked out by my folks and—well, anyway, no good comes from talkin’ about old ghosts. I owe Ivan everything. We all do.”
Ivan cut the engine and the boat was suddenly silent. When Ivan spoke, his voice boomed. “All right all, this is our spot. We know it well. Our blue hole of paradise. We’re not sure how deep she goes. Maybe forever.”
Admiration shone in Nial’s eyes as Ivan spoke.
“Nate, Paula, you can be safeties on our first dive,” Ivan instructed.
Nate threw a rope over the port side of the boat.
“Ah, I don’t need safeties,” Alan scoffed on his way down into the hold.
“Yeah, you do. It’s easy for anyone to black out near the surface. Even pros,” Ivan said.
Nate and Paula got in the water and swam loops around the boat while they waited. Alan returned from the hold wearing a sleek wetsuit and a fancy-looking dive watch. He dove into the water, and Ivan followed.
“Scuba diving, you pinch, not with free diving,” Ivan said, explaining equalization to Alan. This was something I already knew even though no one had taught me. The best way was to move air from your lungs into your mouth. Pinching your nose is useless deep down. The deep ocean is nothing like a swimming pool.
“Twenty meters down and lungs compress to half their size. Twice the number of O2 molecules in a smaller space. Brain thinks you got plenty of oxygen. But it’s a trick,” Ivan continued.
“That’s why I have this.” Alan pointed to his watch.
“Helpful, but you have to learn to hear your body.”
Finally, in a slurry of bubbles, the four descended. I watched the empty space where they’d been and put on a pair of goggles. I felt Nial’s eyes on me from the deck.
“Hey, you can’t—” Nial started to say. But I wasn’t about to let anyone tell me what to do. Not after watching Paula flirt with Nate all morning.
Wearing only a pair of goggles and my bathing suit, I jumped straight off the boat, sliced through the water and allowed my arms to trail behind me.
I pointed my head down toward infinity and turned myself into a missile. A few hard kicks, and I descended fast. I passed Paula and Nate without looking at them, but smiled inside. I cruised down to forty feet, where Ivan struggled to help Alan equalize.
My heart rate slowed and calm permeated me. I dove past Ivan and Alan, not because I wanted to compete, but just because I had to. Alyx called. I swam down the length of the rope. The hull of the boat hung suspended far above me. It looked so small. Alan and Ivan were already headed back up. I sunk past one hundred feet, according to the marker line. I’d beaten my record. But you need to leave energy to ascend. On the way up, your body realizes how little air you have and goes into freak-out mode.
I stopped my descent and hung suspended in the water, listening to my heart beat. About twenty beats per minute, I guessed. Being this deep is the closest you get to being dead.
Alyx? I called out in my head.
Hey sis. Remember our trip to Octopus Island?
I don’t remember anything.
Follow me, she said. I have a lot to show you.
Deep down, I saw a beautiful silver bubble. It looked a little bit like the snow globe Alyx and I used to play with. Except there were no Hula girls inside. I saw my sister and I, five-years-old, with Mommy. Bright, happy faces and big eyes. Piles of tiny outfits waiting to be packed. Mommy was planning a trip for us and we were excited.
Chapter Twelve
“Just a trip for us,” Mommy said with a smile, “for their birthday.”
Daddy frowned. “Your mother doesn’t want me to come.”
“Opportunity presented and one more adult will make their little plane too heavy.” She kissed him and folded a beach towel. “You know she’s… difficult. She’s never met the girls. We’ll all celebrate when we get back.”
“It’s just rocks over there. And the hippies on that island—”
“Yes, lovely big rocks! Rocks as tall as the sky,” Mommy interrupted him by swooping the towel toward the ceiling. She smiled at the twins with twinkling eyes, while Dad looked angry.
After a series of roadside stops for pee breaks, one blurred into the next. Finally, they arrived at the seaplane. They’d never been on a plane before, but they were so sleepy they conked out before take-off. Soon they arrived. They stayed in a home beside a lighthouse. What Mommy called a bed-and-breakfast.
“This is where Grandma lives,” Mommy said.
“But we don’t have a bed,” Alyx reminded her.
“We have one bed; we all share it,” Mommy said. “But tomorrow we each get our own breakfast.”
Big fluffy pancakes, each taller than the plate was thick, waited for them the next day, drenched in pineapple and mango syrup fresh from Grandma’s garden.
“You can help pick mangos when you get back. I have a baby tree, just your size.” Grandma’s clothes were long and flowing like a priest. She had puffy gray hair with eyes that crinkled like papier-mâché when she smiled.
“Which way to the beach?” Mommy asked her.
“The beach? I never called it a beach. Those cliffs. Oh my, not at all.” Grandma found this funny. Oh ho ho. Hee, hee.
She was like a female Santa Claus. Alyx mimicked Grandma’s laugh, but quietly, and the girls laughed so hard that Alyx peed her pants.
Mommy squatted and looked Alyx straight in the eye. “Alyx, you need to be good like your sister.” She turned back to Grandma. “But how will I get down there with the girls?” They went to the garden and whispered together.
So, Alysa and Alyx whispered, too.
“Her hands smell like candy; I dare you to lick them.”
“I want more pancakes.”
“I still have to pee.”
“You peed your pants.”
“Did not.”
“Did too.”
When Mommy came back, she had a plan. She borrowed a big backpack from Grandma.
“We’ll take it slow,” Mommy said.
Down one rock and then the next, some water and some rest. The ocean seemed so far below.
“When will we get there?” Alyx asked.
“My legs are tired,” Alysa sighed. “How many more rocks?”
“Just a few
, and I have a present for you when we arrive,” Mommy promised, lifting them one after the other down to the stone ledge she stood on.
“A thousand rocks?” Alyx asked.
“Maybe twenty,” Mommy said.
The twins held up their hands together. “Twenty.”
“Yes, as many rocks as you girls have fingers.”
“Tell us the story of the Big Burp,” Alyx said.
Mommy smiled. “Why do you always ask for that story, Alyx?”
Alyx shrugged and grinned.
“Well, it’s the perfect story for today. Once upon a time, the god of creation decided to make some worlds. You see, for a god, making a world isn’t hard. No different than us getting up early on a Sunday morning and making a cake. A god might create worlds and see how they turned out.”
“With rainbow sprinkles?” Alysa asked.
“So, he created a blue world, a gray world, a brown world, yes, Alysa, even a rainbow-sprinkle world. Worlds that had animals, worlds that had people, some with unimaginably strange and fantastic creatures. Not all the worlds survived.”
Mommy stopped and sat on a rock. “Let me catch my breath; all this talking and walking has me pooped,”
“Poop,” Alyx whispered to Alysa, and they laughed.
“Just like with cakes, some worlds were delicious, some ended up with strange shapes and some got burnt. After a while, the god got distracted and moved on to something else, maybe playing a video game or picking his nose. After many, many generations, all the worlds began to fall apart.”
Mommy began to walk again. “Not much further now,” she told them.
“Like forgotten cake in an old tin, they grew moldy and stale. All those worlds disintegrated and collapsed together until millions fit into a single, tiny crumb. One day, the god came back and spotted the crumb. Out of curiosity, he put it on his tongue and swallowed it. When it hit his stomach, he let out the loudest burp you could imagine!”
Alyx and Alyssa giggled. “Louder than Daddy?”
“One hundred trillion times louder than Daddy! And from that big loud burp, our world was born. Little bits and piece of all those former worlds became ours. There was only one animal clever enough to stay exactly the way she lived in her former life. Octopus. She shrunk herself tinier than a speck. Then she expanded to watch the new world being born around her. Only she knows the secrets of the earliest times,” Mommy said.
The Atlantis Twins Page 5