NIM WAS IN a big open room with small palm trees and large, bright flowers. There were decks above her, a long hall lined with doors leading off to the left, and a white stone fountain to the right. And everywhere she looked there were people: sitting on the edge of the fountain, looking out over the rail, relaxing in deck chairs, perched at small tables with drinks and snacks, sitting at desks across from beaming Troppo Tourist crew members. They were talking and laughing and smiling and scowling and gazing around.
Nim froze.
‘Are you okay?’ Kylie asked sharply.
Nim nodded, but she could hardly breathe. She took a step closer to the fountain where water bubbled and splashed from the mouth of a carved stone dolphin. In the tiny pool around it were two dolphins swimming in endless circles.
Nim gasped. The dolphins she knew swam free and far across the sea – but these animals barely had room to splash.
‘This way,’ Kylie said, quickly steering Nim down a flight of stairs and into another long hallway with a shiny green floor, and walls lined with doors. There were no windows, and even though light shone from bright lamps in the ceiling, Nim felt as closed-in as if she were in a cave. Fred curled himself tightly around her neck, peering out from under her chin.
Kylie pulled out a key, unlocked the door marked 12 and pushed Nim into a cabin. There were two bunk beds, two sets of drawers, and a door into a tiny, shiny room. She reached in and handed Nim a towel.
‘You’d better get warm and dry before you go back to the Kids’ Klub,’ she said. ‘Were you supposed to have lunch with your mum and dad?’
‘No,’ said Nim.
‘Well, how about I get you something yummy? What about a hamburger and milkshake? A bit of lunch and you’ll feel all better.’
‘I don’t know,’ said Nim.
Kylie’s smile got even bigger and phonier. ‘You’ll be fine, you’ll see!’ She stepped out the door, called, ‘Have a shower if you want; that’ll warm you up!’ and disappeared.
Nim waited a second, and tried to open the door.
The door wouldn’t open.
Nim had lived all her life on the island. She’d read about locks, but she’d never seen one. She’d never known what it would be like to be inside a small room and not be able to get out. She pulled the knob and kicked the door as hard as she could.
‘Ow!’ she shouted, rubbing her big toe.
‘Now what do we do?’ she asked Fred.
Fred felt braver now that Kylie was gone. He crawled down from Nim’s shoulder and began to explore. In the tiny room behind the door he’d found an even tinier room with glass walls and a hard floor with a hole in the middle. Alex had told Nim about toilets that flushed and showers like waterfalls that ran as hot or as cold as you liked. When Nim wanted to get clean she swam in the sea or soaked in the rainforest pool. But now she turned the tap on – and the water gushed out just like Alex said, warm as sunshine.
‘I’ll try it if you will!’ she told Fred.
Nim stuck her arm under the spray, then her leg, and then she and Fred jumped back and forth under the water and out the door, till there were puddles on the floor, splashes up the walls and drops on the ceiling. Fred got so hot he couldn’t stay still, and raced crazily around the cabin and up and down the bunks till he was worn out. Nim turned the tap off, rubbed her hair with the towel and shook herself to dry her clothes.
She was wearing the blue shirt and red pants made with the material from the supply ship. Jack had designed the pants with drawstring legs that could be pushed up into shorts for coolness or pulled down smooth for swimming or palm-tree-climbing. There were lots of pockets for Useful Things, including one extra deep pocket with its own drawstring to keep special things safe. Nim pushed the legs up into shorts now, because they were soggy and dripping.
Everything else in the bathroom was soggy too, and quite a lot of things in the cabin – especially the pillow Fred was stretched out on.
The door opened, and Kylie came in with a tray piled with food. Her face went pale when she saw the cabin. ‘I see you had a shower!’ she exclaimed with a forced little laugh. ‘I bet you feel better now!’
‘A little bit,’ Nim said.
‘Well, this ought to fix it. Look what I’ve brought you: milkshake, hamburger, chips, some jelly and cake and banana for dessert, and a hot chocolate in case you’re still cold.’
‘Thank you,’ said Nim. She stared at the food and wondered what to try first: the banana was the only thing she recognised. She put it in her pocket when Kylie wasn’t looking.
‘Those are interesting shorts you’re wearing,’ Kylie said. ‘I thought they were a wetsuit.’
‘They’re wet shorts,’ Nim explained. She opened the hamburger and found some lettuce. Something else I know! Nim thought, but Fred snatched it and gulped it down. She’d have to try the strange foods.
The milkshake slid cold down her throat, and then hot chocolate warmed it up again. Nim tried a mouthful of slippery green jelly. She liked the way it squished it through her teeth. She ate a handful of hot salty chips, and the pickle from the hamburger. Fred did too. Fred liked the jelly best. Nim liked the hot chocolate. And the salty chips. It was hard to decide.
Kylie watched Nim and Fred trying the food, mouthful by mouthful. ‘That’s an interesting way to eat,’ she said.
‘It’s interesting food,’ Nim said politely.
Suddenly there was a faint rumble from somewhere deep inside the ship, and the floor beneath Nim’s bare feet began a steady, chugging tremble. The ship’s engines had started.
If I don’t get out of here, thought Nim, it’ll be too late!
‘Do you feel well enough to go back to the Kids’ Klub?’
Nim nodded. She had to start looking for Selkie somewhere.
‘Do you want to take that – I mean, your friend – with you?’
Fred rushed to the plate, slurped down the last of the jelly and raced up to Nim’s shoulder. Nim picked up a pink-and-purple jacket. She thought a disguise might be useful. She threw the jacket over Fred on her shoulder so he was disguised too, all except for his watching eyes and iguana grin.
They followed Kylie down the hall to a fish tank with a sign that said PIRANHA DECK. Nim held Fred’s tail to make extra sure he didn’t fall in.
Kylie stopped and pressed a button on the wall opposite the tank. Doors slid open, and she ushered Nim and Fred into a small empty room. All that was in it was a doormat that said THURSDAY, a mirror on the wall to see their own frightened faces, and a row of buttons beside the door with a picture of an animal on each one. Kylie pressed the ARMADILLO button and the doors slid shut.
Nim knew about elevators: Alex had told her about her home, an apartment building that was half as high as Fire Mountain, with elevators that took her up and down if she ever wanted to go out. What Nim didn’t know was that the elevator would leave her stomach down at the bottom while it whisked the rest of her up to the top. Fred didn’t know either. He was so surprised he sneezed his last mouthful of jelly all over Nim’s neck.
‘Yuck, Fred!’ said Nim. It was the first completely true thing she’d said since she’d got on the ship.
‘I bet your friends will be glad to see you,’ Kylie said, as the elevator stopped.
The only friends Nim had ever had were Selkie and Fred, plus Chica the sea turtle and Galileo the frigate bird – but Chica only came ashore once a year to lay her eggs and Galileo was only your friend if you had a fish in your hand. So for just a minute Nim thought, Selkie’s here!
But when the elevator doors opened, the sign said ARMADILLO DECK, and the cage beneath it held two little armadillos rolled into tight armour-plated balls.
Kylie turned, and Nim followed her towards a swimming pool. Selkie wasn’t in it, or in the little pool behind it with spray that fountained up like water through the rocks of her own Keyhole Cove. They walked on, past a door marked TROPPO TEENS, past another marked TROPPO TOTS, and opened the KIDS’ KLUB door.
Inside, people were making things at tables, others were playing games on giant computer screens, some were running and others were talking; some were bigger than Nim and some smaller. They were as crowded and noisy as seagulls on a beach – and, except for another Troppo Tourist woman whose pink-and-purple T-shirt said KRISTIE, they were all …
… Kids! Nim thought. I didn’t think there’d be this many kids in a whole city!
Kylie pushed her firmly into the room, and pulled Kristie out the door. ‘Not quite right in the head,’ Nim heard her say. ‘She shouldn’t have been allowed to go snorkelling – and look at the lizard she caught out there! We couldn’t get it away from her.’
‘Never mind – the Professor can deal with that.’
Nim wasn’t listening.
In the books Nim had read, kids had adventures together; sometimes they were friends at the beginning of the story and other times they fought and ended up friends in the end. But how are you supposed to know what to do, Nim wondered, when you can’t even figure out what they’re doing – and they don’t even notice you?
She backed against the wall and watched them as if they were a flock of birds that weren’t used to her yet.
A girl in front of one of the giant computer screens stopped spinning her steering wheel and looked right at Nim. She smiled, and Nim tried to smile back. The girl came over.
‘I’m Erin. Did you get on at that port two days ago, too? I thought we were the only ones.’ She pointed to a slightly smaller dark-haired boy who was riding a strange sort of motorbike that kept bouncing him off the seat but didn’t go anywhere. ‘That’s Ben.’
Fred stuck his head out from under the jacket and sneezed.
‘Cool!’ said Erin. ‘What’s his name?’
Suddenly a bunch of kids were around them, so close Nim could hardly breathe, asking questions so fast no one even noticed she wasn’t answering.
‘Can I touch it?’
‘What is it?’
‘How come the Professor let you have it?’
Fred sneezed again, harder, and they jumped back.
Kristie came back inside and the kids turned to her.
‘Look what the Professor gave her!’
‘Of course!’ Kristie exclaimed. ‘You must be the Professor’s kid!’
Nim didn’t know what a Professor’s kid was, but she knew that it might be the disguise that would let her save Selkie.
‘All right then, why don’t you tell us about your little friend here?’
‘He’s a marine iguana,’ Nim began. ‘He can swim and dive … ’
‘Does he do tricks?’
‘Show us some tricks!’
Nim thought fast. Fred could do lots of things. He could gulp down coconut so fast he wouldn’t even notice a pearl inside. He could play coconut soccer. He could sink like a stone to the bottom of Keyhole Cove. He could ride on Nim’s shoulder and sneeze on her neck.
‘Ladies and Gentlemen!’ she began, imitating Alex’s best story-telling voice, ‘Allow me to present: Fred!’
Fred stuck his head out from behind her neck to see why she was calling him, saw all the people staring, and stared back even harder.
It wasn’t exactly a trick, but: ‘Fred here is a champion starer,’ said Nim. ‘He can stare hard enough to make anyone look away!’
‘Not me!’ said a red-haired boy. He came closer and stared into Fred’s eyes. Fred stared back. The boy moved closer. Fred sneezed.
‘Gross!’ shouted the boy, and jumped back into the crowd.
Everyone laughed and clapped.
‘Thank you, Fred!’ said Nim. ‘What would you like to do for your next trick?’
Fred stared at her. His mouth opened and shut as if he was eating.
‘I don’t have any coconut,’ said Nim.
Fred brought his face right up to hers and stared harder.
Everyone laughed again. ‘Does he really understand?’ asked a girl in a sunflower hat.
‘No,’ said Kristie. ‘I went to the Professor’s lecture on reptiles and he said they don’t understand language.’
‘Is he really hungry?’ Erin asked Nim.
‘Fred’s always hungry,’ said Nim.
Erin reached for a plate of fruit on a table and held out a segment of mandarin. Fred snatched, started to gulp – and spat mashed mandarin across the room.
Kids jumped, yelled and laughed. All except Erin, and Ben, who’d finally got off the jolting motorbike and was watching quietly.
‘I’m sorry, Fred!’ Erin said, and gave him a kiwi fruit. Fred didn’t like kiwi fruit either. Chomps of green mush flew across the room and everyone laughed harder. Erin looked as if she was going to cry.
‘He likes strawberries,’ said Nim.
Erin grabbed a strawberry, Fred gulped it down – and didn’t spit it out.
Everyone clapped.
‘Fred has lots of other tricks,’ said Nim, ‘but he mostly does them with another performer. He needs to go rehearse with her now.’
Fred settled himself back on her shoulder, and Nim marched out the door.
Oh, Selkie! she thought. Where are you?