KING NEPTUNE
“Maddie. Wake up.”
The little girl moaned softly, pulling one arm up over her head. Josh shook her gently, and then more roughly.
“C’mon, Maddie. I need you to wake up.”
This time she didn’t respond at all, other than to draw her knees up to her chest.
“EVERYONE ON THE ISLANDS. IF YOU CAN HEAR MY VOICE, COME TO THE PALACE.”
Maddie twitched awake, and she sat up, wild-eyed.
“Daddy?”
Josh put a hand on her shoulder.
“No, Maddie. It’s not Dad. It’s …” He looked toward the Palace. “It’s King Neptune.”
All around them, other children were slowly rising from the ground, pulling younger ones up by the hand, looking at one another in bewilderment. Then, a few small groups stepped tentatively onto the painted brick paths that led to the Coral Palace. The rest soon followed, not speaking, eyes glued to the spires that sparkled against cloudless blue skies.
Josh fell into step next to a thin, brown-haired girl around his own age who had been sitting nearby for the past day. She didn’t look like someone who would willingly come to the Islands. She was wearing a short black top and ripped jeans, and her bloodshot eyes were rimmed with the streaked remains of thick black eyeliner. She also had maybe ten ear piercings and a navel ring. But, like Josh, she was watching over a younger child, a boy around five years old.
Suddenly he realized she was looking at him. Looking at him looking at her.
“Got a problem?” she asked. Josh felt like she’d caught him peeping at her through a window.
“No,” he said, flushing. “No problem.” He immediately felt ridiculous. Right. There was no problem at all. Except that everyone was dead.
Neptune’s voice thundered again from the Palace, and the girl’s attitude dropped away.
“Who do you think it is?” she whispered. “Think there are some adults left?”
Josh shook his head. Given what lay all around, it didn’t seem likely.
A kid behind them, a chunky, dark-skinned boy, added his opinion. “At least it is not a recording,” he said, a slight accent coloring his perfect English. “A recording would not know what to say.” He glanced up at the towers, then moved a little closer to Josh and the girl.
“Is it all right if I walk with you?”
They nodded.
“I am Hamim,” he said.
“Josh.”
The girl hesitated, as though afraid of giving something away. Then she shrugged. “Zoe.” They walked on for a moment before Josh took a breath and asked the necessary question.
“No,” the other boy said softly. “Not anymore.”
It didn’t take long for them to reach the exquisitely manicured courtyard that stretched out from the Coral Palace and surrounded the reflecting pool. Thick green bushes in sunken planters had been sculpted to look like dolphins and sea serpents rising from the waves, and the stone and glass pathways sparkled with swirling mosaics of green and blue—except where the hideous heaps and still forms spoiled the perfect design.
Josh looked around, noticing things clearly for the first time in days. A sea of kids, maybe three or four thousand, stood silently on the pavement, staring up at the Palace. Even that large number didn’t seem like much, not in a park that on a peak day could hold sixty thousand visitors, as well as all the staff.
Josh got a hollow feeling inside, looking at them. None of the kids appeared to be much older than he, maybe thirteen or fourteen at most. A lot of the others were merely toddlers, and he could see whimpering babies being cradled in Snuglies by exhausted brothers and sisters, or sleeping in the whale-shaped strollers that were supplied by the park. Some of the younger kids were fidgeting; others stood unmoving, sucking on their thumbs and staring at nothing.
They all looked so helpless.
The speakers shrieked again, and everyone jumped.
“Jeez!” said Zoe. “Where’s that coming from?”
Josh scanned the side of the Palace, and a flicker of movement caught his attention. He pointed.
“There,” he said.
About three quarters of the way up, on the balcony from which King Neptune normally addressed the park visitors, a slim, dark-haired boy had appeared. He looked like one of the older ones—maybe around thirteen. He was fidgeting with the mouthpiece of a headset. At each touch, static crackled through the air.
Finally, he stood still, looking out over the crowd.
“Hi.”
The simple greeting was at odds with the voice, which some device in the sound equipment was altering to create the regal timbre of the ocean king. The boy himself suddenly seemed to realize how unsettling the sound was, and he disappeared inside the Palace. When he returned a few minutes later, his voice was still amplified, but the tone now matched his appearance.
“I’m Milo. My dad works … used to work in engineering. He was in charge of the sound systems here.” He stopped, and even at this distance Josh could see him struggle to keep speaking. “I don’t know what happened. I guess none of us do. But I think maybe it’s time we got organized.”
Josh heard a collective sigh come from the kids around him, then realized that he, too, had slumped in relief. Someone was taking charge. Finally.
“Anyone who wants to help—maybe all of us who are a little older, or who know how to do stuff—come meet in Neptune’s Theatre. Just make sure all the little kids have someone to watch them, okay?”
The boy pulled something from his pocket and flipped it open with a twitch of his wrist. “My cell has 2:20. Let’s meet … I don’t know, around 3:00.” The eyes of the assembled children stayed fixed on him. He stared back for a moment, then shrugged. “I guess that’s it.”
He stepped away from the balcony, pulling the headset off as he did, and disappeared into the Palace.
Josh continued to look up at the balcony for a several seconds, unutterably grateful to the unknown boy. For the first time since … since it happened, he felt a rush of energy. At least now there was something he could do.
He looked over at the brown-haired girl. “Zoe, would you watch Maddie? My sister? I want to go to that meeting, help figure out what to do.”
She hesitated, looking off in the direction of the theatre. “I was going to ask you to take care of Sam. I want to go, too.”
They eyed each other, neither willing to be the good guy. A few feet away, Josh saw the boy Hamim watching them. He gave Josh a sympathetic smile.
“I’ll tell you everything,” said Josh, returning his attention to Zoe. “I promise.”
“Guys suck at listening. You stay with the kids, and I’ll go.”
But the little boy next to her began shaking violently. He grabbed at her shirt, eyes wild with terror, a cry erupting from him and building into a frenzied howl. Zoe’s expression changed, mirroring her brother’s terror. She dropped to her knees and threw her arms around him.
“Okay, Sam, okay, baby! Shh. I won’t go anywhere.”
The odd noise subsided, but Sam didn’t let go of her. Zoe looked up at Josh, her face white. “Guess you’ve got a sitter.”
Josh felt a little awkward, like he’d won something on a cheat. But Zoe clearly couldn’t leave. He crouched next to his sister, taking both of her hands in his.
“You okay, Maddie?”
She nodded.
“Good. ’Cause I’m going to take care of you. Just like I always have. All right?”
She gave him a small smile, and the trust in her eyes ripped at his heart. She was such a brave little kid. He swallowed past a thick knot in his throat.
“The first thing I’m going to do is, I’m going to go talk to King Neptune. See if he can help us. All right?”
Her eyes widened. “You’re going to talk to the King?”
“Yeah.”
Her mouth opened slightly. Without another word, she nodded. Josh glanced again at Zoe. She’d been watching them, he realized, and her expression had softened, just a little. Josh turned Maddie around, gesturing toward the older girl.
“This is Zoe. She’ll take care of you ’til I get back.”
“Hi, Maddie,” said Zoe, her voice suddenly gentle. She put her hand on her brother, who was again staring blankly ahead of him. “This is Sam. Sam, say hi.” But the boy remained silent. Zoe stroked his head, her brow furrowed. Then she sighed, and got to her feet.
“Okay,” she said to Josh. “I’ll take them to find some food. We’ll meet you back on the beach, where we were before.”
“Thanks.” But he still felt uncomfortable leaving.
“What are you waiting for?” asked Zoe, the flinty tone returning. “This offer has a time limit.”
“Okay, okay. I’m going.”
“Yeah, you are. But remember—you’re going to tell me everything.”