The fish turned and headed down into the depths and Nelson found it was fairly easy to follow them. Though he still wore jeans and a T-shirt, his flipper feet and hands propelled him on with glorious ease.
As they sank deeper and deeper into the darkness, Nelson remembered a biology lesson that covered the topic of fishes’ gills and the way they are able to extract oxygen from water. Though he could not see his own face, Nelson could feel a very pleasing rush of water passing over his cheeks and assumed that this was his new set of gills in action.
It was the first time since his journey began that Nelson wasn’t thinking of his sister or even of his monsters. His brain was so busy dealing with this new and bizarre situation that there weren’t any brain cells remaining to think about what he had left behind.
Down and down they went. Usually his ears would have popped by now, but then again, maybe he didn’t have ears anymore. The other fish kept glancing at him and he could somehow tell that it was out of kindness, as if they wanted to reassure him he would be all right. He tried to smile at them, but he wasn’t sure how to use his new fish face. As he contemplated his new body and the new life he was going to have down here in the dark, Nelson noticed that the cold water had gotten a lot warmer. In fact, the deeper they swam, the more it was like swimming in bathwater.
It was quite a shock to suddenly see the bottom of the river. The lights from the fish around him illuminated the white sand and rocks and Nelson was reminded of photographs he had seen of the surface of the moon. It was so hot down here now that Nelson would have wiped his brow if he’d had one. His fellow fish skimmed the riverbed, their beautiful silver bodies gliding between mini-volcanoes that sent small jets of white sulfur into the water. Nelson found the water around him brightening and turned to see that he and his new friends had been joined by more fish.
They were now gathering around a white stone cone that rose from the riverbed and spouted white dust into the water.
Nelson found a place among the circling fish and waited eagerly to see what happened next. Maybe it would be a light show, or this mini-volcano might erupt, or maybe they were about to have dinner. Nelson realized that he was hungry, but he had no idea what kind of food he was going to eat now that he was half boy, half fish.
* * *
Many fish had assembled, illuminating the white volcano with their lights. For a moment they all held still, and Nelson was reminded of the few times in his life he had been to church. This, like those, was one of those times to watch what everyone else was doing and copy it as best you can.
After nearly a minute of silence, one of the fish swam forward and approached the mouth of the little volcano. The fish’s body was long and thin like a barracuda, its tail was as beautiful as a butterfly wing, and its teeth were small and delicate.
The pretty fish swam into the cloud of white before flipping over and darting down into the volcano. It had vanished, and in doing so it had stemmed the flow of white dust into the river water. Nelson was amazed. Seconds later, the pretty fish emerged from the mouth of the volcano, accompanied by a puff of white. Nelson would have clapped, but his flippers weren’t much use in that department.
All eyes followed the pretty fish as it made its way toward Nelson.
I hope I don’t have to do that now, he thought. He had had enough adventures for one day and swimming to the bottom of a boiling hot mini-volcano did not appeal to him.
It was only as the pretty fish drew nearer that Nelson realized it was carrying something in its flippers. All eyes turned to Nelson as the pretty fish opened its fins to reveal something that Nelson recognized at once.
A Bang Stone. Fizzing and shaking just like the one he’d seen Nosh eat.
It was their gift. The fish wanted him to have it. And instinctively he knew why. Nelson could feel their gratitude from the light they shone around him. The stone was their way of saying, “Thanks for getting rid of that horrible whale woman and restoring paradise.”
The Bang Stone wasn’t just a gift though. It was a way out. The ground above was sealed, perhaps forever, but this stone could take him wherever he wanted to go. The fish pressed in around Nelson, eager for him to eat the stone. He wanted to thank them. He wanted to let them know how grateful he was. All he could do was look around at their wondrous faces and hope that his own face somehow showed how he felt inside.
Nelson lifted the stone and opened his mouth …
At that very second, every single fish around him vanished with a flick of its tail, plunging Nelson back into darkness once more.
Nosh had explained how it worked: you simply swallowed the stone, thought of where you wanted to go, and you would go there.
Nelson knew exactly where he wanted to go, and without hesitating he swallowed the Bang Stone, closed his eyes … and thought of his home.
* * *
The fish had done well to swim away, as seconds later there was an explosion as Nelson disappeared. The riverbed erupted in a cloud of white dust that would take three days to settle, but Nelson never heard a bang or even felt a twitch.