We stayed out on deck in the sun most of the next day, watching the dolphins leap joyfully out of the water as they raced alongside us.
Leo Nackley seemed relaxed and happy, looking out over the water and even smiling at the sight of the dolphins. I overheard him tell his son that it was all but certain they’d find oil, and that they should start thinking about where they would have the party honoring Lazlo for his find.
Late in the afternoon, Joyce, Lazlo, and I spent some time going over the charts. At dinner Joyce announced that we’d be nearing our target by early the next morning.
“That’s great. I’ll make the first trip down in the submersible device,” Lazlo said. “My father and Jack will come along and Miss West will pilot it. Any questions?”
Zander, Sukey, M.K., and I didn’t need to look at each other to know we were all thinking the same thing: We’d need to make our move tonight. “Sounds good to me,” I said. “Though I do wish we were back on St. Beatrice. I wonder what Coleman’s doing right now?”
“I wonder too,” Zander said. “Maybe he’s already in bed.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” I tried to keep my voice casual. “It will probably be hours before he goes to bed. He’s such a night owl. He often stayed up until 2 a.m. when we were staying with him.”
Lazlo and Kemal gave me strange looks.
I lay in my berth that night, listening to the sound of the waves lapping at the starboard hull next to my head, fighting to stay awake. I could hear Zander’s even breathing below me and I wanted to say something, to make sure he didn’t fall asleep, but I couldn’t risk it with Jack and Kemal in the berths across the way. Finally, at ten minutes to two I slid out of my berth and hoisted myself up through the stern hatch. Joyce was on watch in the cockpit, so I couldn’t use the companionway to get up on deck. I hoped the others would remember to use the hatch, too.
I crept carefully back toward the stern. When I turned around, I could see Joyce on watch in the cockpit. Her back was to me, and as long as we didn’t make too much noise lowering Amy into the water, I thought we could get away without her knowing. The Nackleys would probably blame her for letting us escape, and I felt a pang of regret. I hoped she wouldn’t get into too much trouble. I knew I was probably deluding myself, though.
The water was a little choppy and the wind had come up. The sails flapped and the masthead fly rippled noisily at the top of the mast. It was a strange wind. I couldn’t tell what direction it was coming from and it seemed to keep reversing course. Because of the double hulls, the Fair Beatrice didn’t rock the way a regular sailboat would in high wind. Instead it jerked back and forth with the waves. I could feel the water tug at us, the wind pulling the catamaran this way and that. In the cockpit, Joyce moved around, checking charts, using her binoculars to examine the water.
When I leaned over the stern, I could see Amy crouched belowdecks in the moonlight.
We had to get her into the water.
I checked to make sure the lines secured to the stern davits were ready. I checked my watch: 2:05. Come on, Zander. Come on, M.K. Come on, Sukey. I checked the lines again.
“Planning a trip, Mr. West?”
I spun around. Leo Nackley leaned against the railing on the other side of the stern. He’d been waiting, watching me from the moment I’d come up on deck.
I froze, trying to think of a reason why I was awake.
“Do you have somewhere else to be?” he asked me.
“No, no. I was just checking on the submersible. I couldn’t sleep. I thought I heard a crash and just wanted to make sure.”
The Fair Beatrice rocked abruptly, the waves and wind pulling her one way and then the other, and I reached out to grab the railing.
“I don’t believe you,” he said. “I actually don’t believe anything you say. I think you’re a liar.” He stepped forward and the moonlight caught him full on the face. His eyes were narrowed and angry. I didn’t say anything. I was pretty sure this was it. I’d been caught. He would get Dad’s map, and I would be kicked out of the Academy—maybe worse. Any second now, the others were going to come up on to deck, and then they would be caught too. I felt terrible about Sukey. We had forced her into this, and now she’d pay the price for our mistake.
Suddenly, the boat tipped up on to one hull, throwing me back against the stern and knocking Leo Nackley off his feet. I could hear the main mast creaking, and then the other hull hit the water with a loud slap. Amy slammed against the stern and I heard a sickening screech of metal on wood. Nackley hauled himself up. “You know,” he said. “I was talking to someone at the Newly Discovered Lands Museum recently. He was very suspicious about that gold Lazlo found in Arizona. He said it didn’t have enough—what was it? Sediment. For gold that had been sitting in a cave for hundreds of years, there wasn’t enough sediment. He said that he thought the gold had been moved.”
“Really? That’s odd.” The boat had really started moving now, jerking to and fro on the waves. I grabbed the deck railing to steady myself as I was almost knocked off my feet again.
“It is odd. What’s also odd is that your brother proposed an expedition to the exact place that your father visited on his expedition when he was a student. I remember that expedition. He almost got the whole team killed. He disappeared for nearly a week. And when he came home, everyone talked about what a hero he was.”
He took a step toward me. “I think you have a map that shows the exact location of the oil. I think you wanted to find it and keep it all for yourself so you and your brother and sister would get the credit—and the money. Just the way your father and his friends in his secret Mapmakers’ Guild wanted to keep everything to themselves. Now you’re going to give it to me.”
He lurched forward, his hands out in front of him.
I looked around desperately. I could see Joyce in the cockpit. She still had her back to us, but if I yelled she might hear, even over the wind. But what could Joyce do? If Leo Nackley wanted my map, he was going to get it.
“I don’t have anything,” I said lamely. “I swear.”
“Oh, come on.” He was almost at my throat. There was nowhere to go but into the water.
“Kit!”
Zander, Sukey, and M.K. came up on deck just as Leo Nackley reached me, taking me by the arms and slamming me against the railing.
“What’s going on?” Zander asked, Pucci clucking at his shoulder. “What are you doing, Mr. Nackley?” He strode over, ready for a fight. I’d never been so glad to see him in my life.
“Zander,” I said quietly, my eyes on Leo Nackley as he squeezed my arms even tighter. “He thinks I have some map of Dad’s or something. I don’t know what he’s talking about.”
“Oh, for godssake, hand it over!” Leo Nackley shouted, spinning me around and grabbing my vest.
Just then the Fair Beatrice tossed onto one hull and righted herself again, throwing Zander and Leo Nackley off their feet. Nackley sprawled on the ground, swearing and furious.
I reached down and helped Zander up.
“What was that?” he asked.
“Hey!” we heard Joyce shout. “All hands on deck! Now! There’s something really strange up ahead!”
Leo Nackley gave me a final poisonous look and then made his way up toward the bow. Joyce was using her binoculars to look into the moonlit darkness. I hung on to the railing, pulling myself hand over hand up to the bow.
Joyce scanned the horizon. “There’s something up ahead.” Her voice was tight and scared.
“Is it a storm?” Lazlo and Jack and Kemal had rushed up on deck, and Lazlo grabbed the binoculars, peering through them at the horizon ahead.
I got my spyglass out of my vest and focused it on the sky. “I don’t think so,” I said. The sky looked clear, but when I tipped the glass down, the ocean was disturbed, the surface boiling and churning like soup in a pot.
“It’s coming from underneath,” I said. “This is what everyone’s talked about. It’s like it’s some kind of gas, coming up from the bottom of the ocean. Look at that.”
“It must be the oil.” Lazlo grabbed the binoculars. “It has to be the oil. We’ve found it!”
“That’s my boy,” Leo Nackley shouted. “We’ve done it!”
“Have you ever seen anything like that?” I asked Joyce.
“My father told me about something like this on the Bosphorus once,” Kemal said behind me. “It was some strange phenomenon where sturgeon were feeding in huge numbers because of the full moon. Any chance it’s a large school of fish, some kind of sea life?”
Joyce held up the binoculars again and looked. “It’s too dark to see. I can’t make out anything but water,” she said. “You’re right, though. It’s bubbling, like there’s a storm. But I can’t see a storm. We’ll have to get closer.”
“It’s King Triton’s Lair,” I whispered.
This was it. Dad had led us here. Maybe now we’d figure out why.
“Get the sub ready,” Lazlo called out.
“I don’t know,” M.K. said. “Are you sure? I don’t like the looks of this. I haven’t tested Amy in these kinds of conditions. Shouldn’t we wait until it’s light?”
The boat spun again, knocking M.K. against the railing.
“Do it,” Leo Nackley said. “Let her down.”
M.K. and I looked at each other. The wind was whipping her hair across her face.
“Mr. Nackley,” Zander said. “M.K. says it’s too dangerous. She built the submersible. She knows what it can handle.”
Lazlo pushed him aside.
“Don’t tell my father what to do, Zander West. This might be it. If an oil discharge is causing the turbulence, then we can’t miss this opportunity. I’m the leader of this expedition. You have to do as I say. Now, is it ready? Will we be able to see anything?”
“The solar cells are all charged up. She’ll have lights for three hours at least,” M.K. said. “But—”
“It’s why we’re here,” Lazlo said coldly. “We’ve got a ship that can handle it and it’s what the submersible was engineered for. I’m the expedition leader. The decision is mine. I don’t think you want to fight me on this, do you?”
“Okay,” M.K. said. “You’re in charge, Lazlo.”
“All right,” Lazlo called out. “Everyone to their posts. Sukey and Kit, you’re navigating. Joyce, you have the ship. M.K., you and Zander and Kemal get that thing ready for submersion.”
We were moving quickly now, the high wind suddenly filling the sails.
“We’ve got to get out of this storm,” Joyce called out. “Lazlo, Jack, ease out the mainsail sheet! Now!”
But Lazlo just stood there, frozen in place.
“For godssake!” Joyce came out of the cockpit, yelling to Sukey to take the wheel.
“I’ll help him,” Zander shouted. “Lazlo, ease it out!”
“There’s too much wind behind us!” I shouted, seeing how the unfurling sail was driving us straight into the worst of the bubbling water.
“We don’t have any choice!” Joyce shouted back. “Zander, do it!”
Now the wind was up all around us, so loud we could barely hear each other. Between the wind and the lurching, it was becoming harder and harder to stand. Sukey was trying to reach us by crawling on all fours along the deck, hanging on to the railing.
“What are you doing?” Lazlo screamed. “Get the submersible ready!”
“He’s right,” Leo Nackley screamed up at Joyce and Zander. “Get down here and help him!”
The boat lurched violently again. I could see the water swirling, and it did indeed feel like a huge whirlpool was sucking us down from below.
“We have to turn away!” Kemal shouted. “This isn’t safe!”
“I’m trying!” Joyce called.
Lazlo ignored him. “Get the submersible out!” he shouted. “We’ve got to see what’s going on under there!”
I exchanged a glance with Sukey. This might be our only chance. If we had reached King Triton’s Lair, then we needed to act fast. But how were we going to look for the shipwrecks without Lazlo knowing what we were doing? If only we could get him to stay behind on the ship.
Zander must have had the same thought. “Lazlo, don’t you think you should stay on board? You’re the expedition leader, after all.”
“No way. If we find oil, I’m going to be there,” he shouted back.
The boat gave another shuddering lurch and he was knocked off his feet as we heard M.K. screaming, “We’re going to lose Amy! Someone help me untie these ropes. We’ve got to get her up on deck. Someone help me!” She yelled a string of not very polite words.
“Is that rain or just mist?” Kemal called out.
“I don’t think it’s raining,” I shouted back. “But it’s awfully windy. And I can’t see anything. There’s some kind of fog.”
The air had suddenly become so foggy that even with the moonlight and the light from my vest, I couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of me. I could hear Joyce shouting from up near the cockpit, but I couldn’t see a thing.
Sukey and I clung to the railing. The boat spun around and around and M.K. and Lazlo struggled with the ropes keeping Amy secured.
“We’re going to lose her,” M.K. shouted.
“We’ve got to help them,” I told Sukey. She held on to me as we tried to get back to the stern.
From somewhere out of the mist, we heard Joyce’s voice.
“Everyone, put on your life vests,” Joyce shouted. “Head for the lifeboats. We may need to abandon ship.”
“No!” Lazlo yelled at her. “We’re not abandoning ship!”
“Lazlo’s in charge!” Leo Nackley screamed.
And suddenly, we were tipping up on the starboard hull. I reached for my life vest, but it slid away and washed overboard. Another huge wave washed over us all and the boat rolled nearly onto her side before righting herself again.
But the water just kept coming over the railings and we just kept spinning.
“She’s breaking apart,” Zander yelled.
Time slowed as the boat twirled and spun. I could hear yelling, M.K.’s voice and Zander’s screaming orders and Leo Nackley yelling something about the main mast.
Then I heard a crack. When I looked up to see where it had come from, I could just barely see the sky, obscured by the blanketing veil of mist. Through the strange grayness, the main mast was falling; it had snapped in two and half of it was crashing down onto the deck. I heard it fall behind me and then the boat was splitting in two, half the deck attached to one hull, the other half to the other. The sea was next to me, the surface of the water rising up like a huge opening mouth. I heard Pucci and Njamba shrieking overhead. Then there was another crack and I felt a sharp pain in my head.
The ocean rose up.
I was in the water.
It felt like needles on my back and limbs. My head throbbed and my arms and legs didn’t seem to be working the way they were supposed to. Everything was happening very slowly. My Explorer’s vest filled with air.
I thrashed my arms and legs, trying to swim; my vest was tugging me toward the surface of the water and keeping me afloat, but something strong was pulling me down. I reached for Dad’s whistle around my neck and blew as hard as I could, trying to attract someone’s attention. I reached down and felt a rope around my right foot. I tried to slip it off, but it was taut, the water too dark for me to see what was on the other end. Then Sukey was there, pointing to my feet. I tried to tell her that I knew, but I couldn’t get it off, and I flapped my arms uselessly and just kept sinking under the surface.
This was it, I told myself. I felt sorry that I hadn’t done what Dad had wanted me to do. I felt sorry that I’d put everyone else in danger. I was sorry I was going to die. And then I didn’t care about anything. I needed oxygen and I felt that my chest was going to burst if I didn’t open my mouth.
I sunk down, the desperate urge to breathe leaving me, replaced by a sense of peace.
And then things got weirder. I saw a strange glow in the water, a yellow light, like a huge eye blinking at me, warming me, keeping me safe.
I could feel myself sinking through the water and then a voice in my head told me to let go, that everything was going to be okay.
I stopped struggling.
I saw Sukey up ahead. I reached out for her, but she was too far away and something was keeping her from me, as though a pane of glass was between us in the water.
But it was okay. The eye loomed in front of me. I felt peaceful and safe.
Sukey was there. The water felt almost warm now.
And then, slowly, as though the moon was sliding over the surface of the sun, the yellow light faded away.
