The Ravens of Solemano or The Order of the Mysterious Men in Black

by Eden Unger Bowditch

  When they had finished every last crumb, they looked at one another, realizing clues of their deed were written all over their faces in bits of crust and caramel and juice-covered chins from the apples. Noah placed the dish in the sink, and Wallace wiped the table after Lucy and Jasper swept the crumbs from it. As the others tiptoed back to their rooms, Faye took one last look. Yes, the room looked exactly as they had left it—minus, of course, the apple pie. She left the kitchen and the odd pot, its useless contents forgotten by all except Lucy

  Tired and overfed from their kitchen foraging, the children showed none of the usual enthusiasm for breakfast the next day—not even Noah, though he did muster some energy once he saw the hot, buttery pancakes. Lucy’s eyes brightened, too, at the sight of iced buns, but Wallace, Faye, and Jasper could barely manage toast. Faye, in truth, looked positively green,

  “I take it you found some treats on your adventures last night?” Miss Brett asked as Noah refused his usual seventh helping of pancakes and whipped cream. Trying not to smile too much (which she decided would be entirely cruel), she poured each of them a cup of tea. She added sugar and, to Faye’s cup, a few mint leaves from a very small glass bowl next to the sugar. She passed a cup to each child.

  “Sip this,” she said kindly, handing Faye her cup. “The tea and the mint will help your belly.”

  Faye followed Miss Brett’s instructions and, slowly, the green seemed to fade from her face,

  Lucy reached over and added mint leaves to her cup. She stirred and stirred, looking up from her cup as she breathed in the scent of the mint. “I don’t understand how something so lovely going into your belly can feel so horrid after it’s made itself at home.”

  Noah nodded seriously. “I ponder that myself at times like this,” he said, letting out an unexpected belch. “It seems wholly unfair, to be sure. And pardon me, of course.”

  Faye did not look as though a pardon was likely

  It was clear there would be no intense classwork today. Miss Brett suggested they make it an early day and break from lessons before lunch. She would read to them for a while, and then they would get some rest. They were thankful.

  “But this is not a holiday,” she insisted as the bedraggled crew marched toward their rooms. “Tonight, children, we’re going to check on the moon. There’s a waxing gibbous, and I want you to estimate when the moon will be full. We have the telescope set. I’ll come fetch you all at six o’clock.”

  The sky was aglow that night. Following a good rest and a warm cup of cocoa, they were all up on deck, looking through the telescope. It was truly an amazing thing, to be able to see the stars and the planets and the moon. They could see shapes on the moon, as if there were mountains and valleys, just like on Earth. The sky was utterly cloudless, and seemed simply enormous.

  “I wonder who lives there,” Lucy said as she peered at the moon through the telescope.

  “No one, I suspect,” said Wallace.

  “But you don’t know that,” said Lucy. “They could be ever so tiny or live underground, or even be the color of the moon itself. Maybe they can fly, or perhaps swim. I wonder.”

  “So, Miss Brett—you taking wagers?” asked Noah with a quick grin no one could see.

  “Wagers on what?” said Faye.

  “On who gets the closest in their estimations,” said Noah. He had often stared up at the moon through the bedroom windows of the many homes in which he had lived. He had looked out and stared at the moon as he waited for his mother to return from some fabulous event. He knew that this moon was almost full,

  Noah reached out a hand to shake, as if to challenge Faye,

  “Noah thinks he knows something,” Faye said, slapping his hand away. “As if we can’t all tell the moon is nearly full.”

  “Look at the bright star!” shouted Lucy, pointing across the deck and over to the left.

  Miss Brett looked up into the sky. “That’s Polaris,” she said, pointing up,

  “Not up, but over,” said Lucy, her finger wagging across, not toward, the sky

  Following the direction in which she pointed, everyone looked, There was indeed a very bright light, hanging low above the water. It was so low, in fact, that it seemed to be sitting on the horizon,

  Miss Brett pulled the telescope around to face the direction of Lucy’s star. But what she saw looked impossible. The star seemed to be growing.

  “Jasper,” Miss Brett said, trying to remain calm, “please call for one of the men in black.”

  By the time Jasper returned with the man in the captain’s uniform, Lucy’s floating star had grown in size, which meant, of course, that it had come all the closer

  “Down,” the man said.

  “Down?” Miss Brett said. “Should we go down?”

  “Must be up to go down,” the man said.

  “Up?” Noah looked up. “Up where?”

  “Up, must be down,” the man said, with more emphasis in his voice.

  “I . . .” Miss Brett felt completely at a loss. “I’m not sure I understand. You want us to go up? Or down? Or—”

  “It is up but down for up and down,” the man said, beginning to prod them all toward the door to the stairwell. Since the stairs went up to the crow’s nest, Miss Brett turned around to ask if they were to go up.

  But at that moment, the man pulled a huge lever hidden behind a panel near the door. It had great, massive gears, and created a grinding noise that made the floor vibrate beneath their feet. Suddenly, from either side of the ship, two great, curved glass walls began to rise. They formed a shell clearly designed to encompass the entire ship. The glass must have been a foot thick, tapering to a thin metallic line at the edge.

  Jasper realized at once what those magnetic edges along the side of the deck were for. “They’re going to seal it with a magnet,” he said.

  “But how will glass protect us from a bomb, or whatever is coming at us?” Faye demanded.

  “Probably not very well,” Noah said. Touching the glass, he said, “Though it feels strong, and it certainly is thick.”

  “But it might crack just from the reverberations from an explosion,” Wallace said anxiously. “It can’t be to protect us against an explosion. It must be for something else.”

  After the shell sealed itself, the man pulled another lever, and a second shell, this time coming in a curve from one side, sealed itself around the outside of the first shell. Miss Brett and the children heard what sounded like shutting latches throughout the stairwell.

  And then, something happened that made Wallace nod in comprehension. When it happened, they all finally understood what the man had been saying. The shells went up so that the ship could go down.

  With a great lurch and groan, the ship began to sink.

  Faye could feel the tightness growing in her chest as the steel shell covered the thick glass window. It was not merely closing, but closing in around her. She felt a bit dizzy and slipped, reaching out and grabbing Jasper’s arm. Jasper fell onto Faye, but caught himself on Noah’s shirttail. Noah’s shirt tore as he reached to grab Wallace, who was falling onto Lucy, who had grabbed Miss Brett around the waist and buried her face in her teacher’s apron. There was a great muddle of arms and legs and cries, and one very large belch from Noah,

  Luckily, no one fell down the stairs. And, except for Noah’s shirt, nothing was damaged and no one was injured. In fact, Lucy muffled as she was by Miss Brett’s apron, was giggling.

  “My tummy feels funny and I feel like I’m floating.” Lucy was right. The descent gave them the impression that gravity was easing. This did not keep them from tumbling, and, in truth, created more chaos as feet misread the distance to the floor

  Tangled as they were, they all stared up and watched in shock as the water began to rise along the sides of the clear glass shell,

  Within minutes, they were totally submerged. From their new position below the surface, they could clearly see fish as they came up to the glass.

  “I can�
�t breathe—” Faye gasped. Jasper pulled away from her, realizing he still held her arm. “No, it’s not . . .” She looked at Jasper, who was blushing up to his ears. “. . . Not that. I’m feeling . . . I feel . . . I’m stifled. I—”

  “Give her space!” Miss Brett said. “Faye, what you’re feeling is claustrophobia. Just try to breathe easy. Here, sit down.”

  Faye felt like she was going to vomit. Or perhaps faint. Or both, She was furious with herself. What a weakling. What a lily-liver. But her anger only made her feel worse, “Jasper, would you please bring a cup of water from the pitcher on the table at the bottom of the stairs? Faye could use a sip of water,” said Miss Brett. But she could see Faye’s fury. “You know, this is something most people feel at some point in their lives,” Miss Brett said. “We are underwater, so it is not something to be—”

  “No one else is collapsing like some feckless damsel!” Faye cried, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

  Jasper handed her the water. She sipped. Then Jasper took her clammy hand and spoke softly

  “I remember once, I went for a ride in a hot air balloon,” he said. “We were visiting my mother’s family in France. The breeze blew through my hair and across my face. It felt like the wide-open world was all around me.” In truth, this was something Jasper hardly remembered. It had occurred while his mother was in confinement, her lying-in period, waiting for Lucy to be born. Someone had taken him, though he didn’t remember who. But Jasper did remember the feeling of being out in the biggest open world.

  Faye closed her eyes. She imagined the breeze and the open space. And her breathing began to deepen and slow.

  Wallace jerked. Out of the darkness came the sudden flash of a large blue fish swimming across the glass. “The light from the room is shining into the sea. The creatures therefore appear larger than they really are,” he said, taking off his glasses and wiping them before returning them to his nose. “The glass and the water make them seem so.” It was night, so there was almost no light outside—only what came from inside.

  “Ralph would go crazy,” Noah said, thinking of his dearest companion. “Silly dog. He’d probably give himself a heart attack trying to catch the fish.”

  Faye’s breathing was nearly normal now. She opened her eyes and looked gratefully at Jasper. Suddenly feeling awkward, her hand still in his, he looked up, away from her. He was going to let go of her hand, but Faye squeezed his fingers before he released his grasp. That was enough for Jasper.

  “It—it really is remarkable,” Faye said, once she felt strong enough to speak and steady enough to look up from Jasper’s face. It was beautiful out there. She watched, looking into the vast, dark, watery space.

  Standing, her hand still on Faye’s shoulder, Miss Brett allowed herself to marvel at the incredible ship. They were still sailing, but now below the surface of the water. She could feel the ship continuing slowly to descend, until finally it felt as though they evened out, perhaps only a few meters below the surface of the water. Surely the ship was now invisible from above.

  Silently, they moved through the water like some great creature. The lights in the ship dimmed to near total darkness, so the glow from within the ship no longer illuminated the sea outside, But after a few moments, their eyes were able to capture some of the light from the moon above, and they could see shadows moving gracefully through the water.

  The man in the jester suit appeared through the door. Miss Brett realized that she and the children were still standing, huddled, at the top of the stairs.

  “Why did we have to go down?” asked Lucy. “Are we having fun or are we scared?”

  The man did not answer

  “Is there danger?” said Noah. “Is there a reason we’re down here, other than watching fish?” Noah waited, but there was still no answer.

  “Should we go to our rooms?” Miss Brett asked. Looking around, she realized, too, that any light might make them visible. “Should we put out the lights up here?”

  “Perhaps and no,” he said. “The mirror reflects. No need total dark.”

  “You said . . .” And then Miss Brett decided she actually understood. “Ah, you meant perhaps, as in perhaps we should go to our rooms?”

  But the man just looked at her, then turned and slid down the railing onto the deck below and out of sight.

  “I don’t want to go to my room,” said Noah. “I want to see whatever crazy things happen now that we’re a giant squid.”

  “We are not a giant squid,” said Lucy. “Are we?” She looked up at Miss Brett, who could not help but smile.

  “Leviathan, then,” said Noah. “We are a giant underwater sea creature. Let’s face it.” He made a fish face, and Lucy laughed.

  “Amazing, to think we’re breathing in a ship underwater.” Miss Brett stared up, wide-eyed at the scene just beyond the glass.

  “Actually,” Wallace said, also staring out at the deep blue sea all around, “submarines, of sorts, have been around since the fifteen hundreds, but it wasn’t until almost the seventeen hundreds that the idea of controlling air pressure was introduced. The fluctuation of air pressure presents a problem, as pressure builds quickly after a rapid descent, so . . . but . . .” Wallace adjusted his glasses and his story, as his teacher clearly did not follow everything he was saying. “Real submarines, as we know them in modern times, have all been intended for war, and some have been successful.”

  “Are we at war?” Lucy asked, her fingers moving stealthily toward her mouth,

  “No, I mean . . . this is something completely . . . well, it is different, however . . .” And Wallace had nothing else to say.

  “Are we?” asked Lucy, looking from face to face.

  “We’re not at war, Lucy,” said Jasper. “Just . . . just making sure we’re not under attack.”

  “To guard us, sweet angel, just in case,” Miss Brett added. “That’s all. Nothing to worry about.”

  Without warning, they once again crumpled into a heap as the ship came to a sudden stop.

  Then, just as suddenly, the engines went silent. Miss Brett pulled the children close to her, arms around them all. She knew that the glass was reflecting and that her arms could not do anything to protect them if there was danger, but she wanted them near. It was all she could do,

  Then they heard it. Only because of the silence could they hear the hum of another vessel. They could feel the wake as another ship passed along the surface—a huge ship that sailed directly above them, lights blazing on all sides. They could even see the hull as it passed overhead, like a giant whale. They could feel the rhythmic churning of the water around the propeller below the ship. The silence was so eerie, and the boat so big. The silence, Miss Brett knew, kept them from being spotted. Was that Komar Romak above the water line? Had he found them?

  She looked at the children and put her finger to her lips. Lucy smiled and giggled silently. She, too, put her finger to her lips.

  It seemed like forever as the ship passed slowly above them. They could see the hull and, around it, a giant shadow as the ship belched black smoke that filled the sky above it. How could they hide like this in plain sight? How could the ship not see them sitting right below? The children and Miss Brett could even feel the rippling water rocking their submarine vessel as the ship finished passing overhead. Then, after several silent minutes, their own engines began to rumble anew. The boat began to move again. But now they sailed underwater.

  Miss Brett let out a big sigh. Her whole body relaxed and she gave the children a shaky smile. Lucy seemed thrilled.

  “We were hiding,” said Lucy, knowingly. “And nobody found us.”

  If, in the morning, any of the children had interest in sitting up on the deck and taking in the air, they would have to find something else to do.

  In truth, there was a bit of sun, but only the rays that cut through the water. The daylight brightened the ocean around them, and what they could see was truly amazing, until the distance faded into blue. The sea life
that scooted, floated, and swayed around them made them feel as if they were in a strange land, a distant planet, or a magical world. But was it a world far enough away to elude the danger?

  Creatures of all shapes and sizes and colors came swimming past, like huge tuna and several giants that looked like lumpy rocks gliding gracefully in the water

  “What are those?” asked Lucy staring at the strange creatures.

  “I know! Those are ocean sunfish,” Noah said. “I saw one caught off the coast of Brazil.”

  “What did it say?” asked Lucy.

  “It didn’t say much,” Noah said. “It was dead.” Lucy’s lip began to quiver. “But not that dead,” said Noah quickly.

  “Look, Lucy!” Jasper pointed and turned Lucy back to the window as an enormous school of tiny herring swam by, bathing the entire dome in a sparkle of silver fish. Some smaller, colorful fish swam alongside the ship, coming close as if to investigate this enormous glass-encased creature. More schools of tiny herring moved as one, and larger mackerel made shadows against the glass. Breaking up the silvery mass, a swordfish jetted by, headed for the surface. The children watched, eyes wide, as if they were observing an incredible underwater ballet.

  “It is truly lovely, isn’t it?” Miss Brett found that she, too, could not keep her eyes off the great glass ceiling,

  She smiled, expecting the return of smiling, awed faces. But Jasper’s face was shadowed not with awe, but with worry. This was not uncommon, and Miss Brett was quick to understand it. Why had they suddenly disappeared under the sea and, if they were hiding from danger, had they truly managed to escape it?

  Quietly she stood, leaving them to observe the underwater world. She had two errands to run. The first was to stop the man in the black frilly apron passing through the corridor at the bottom of the stairs.

  “Excuse me!” Miss Brett called.

  He stopped.

  “Are we out of danger?” she asked. “That is, were we in danger? I mean to say that we were obviously in danger, but—”