30

When it was in operation, the S.S. Peek-A-Boo puttered around the perimeter of the swamp, her glass-bottom floor allowing tourists to stare past their flip-flops and sensible walking shoes at schools of fish or underwater plant life. But like the fan boat, it hadn’t been taken out in years.

So it was a slight miracle when, after a few attempts and a sudden belch of black smoke, the S.S. Peek-A-Boo started up and slowly pulled out of the hidden boathouse on Ponce de Leon Bay. Bernard was captaining the boat, and crammed on board behind him was the entire Creature Keeper crew. Every last kid from the lemon-tree lair had come out on this rescue mission, and these passengers were as battle ready as they could be, given the fact that they had no weapons, no fighting skills, and weren’t used to being up past their bedtimes. It would be nightfall by the time they reached Lost Man’s Cove to raid the crypto-zoo and save Nessie, and while that wasn’t much to cling to, everyone hoped it would help a bit.

Jordan had explained the layout of the crypto-zoo to everyone on the dock before boarding. They had two more things going for them: greater numbers and the element of surprise. The only thing that worried Jordan was Harvey’s console of buttons. He wasn’t sure what tricks Harvey still had at his fingertips, or even whose side he was really on. Harvey had helped Jordan once, but he wasn’t going to count on his help again. The Keeper kids would circle the building, climb the structure, and surround it completely before anyone knew they were there. With nowhere for Gusto or Harvey to hide, they’d have to give up Nessie—hopefully without a fight.

Leading the way in the fan boat, Jordan sat atop the captain’s tower, with Eldon standing beside him. As they approached Lost Man’s Cove, Jordan cut the engine and coasted toward the crypto-zoo in the distance. Then they sat and waited along with the S.S. Peek-A-Boo for dark.

Eldon smiled at Jordan and closed his eyes, still groggy from the effects of the gas. Jordan was anything but sleepy. He still couldn’t shake his guilt about giving away the Puddle of Ripeness. After a couple of minutes, he just couldn’t keep quiet anymore.

“Eldon,” he began, trying to sound like he was making conversation to pass the time. “What would happen if, say, Harvey and Gusto ended up getting their hands on that puddle stuff?”

Eldon yawned. “Super-duper dangerous. Downright destructive. Good ol’ Bernard. I don’t envy him the choice he had to make. I’m really proud of him.”

“Yeah. He sure came through for us.” Jordan began to sweat, and chuckled nervously. “But let’s just say, y’know, that we had given Harvey the puddle. What exactly could it do, exactly?”

“Jeez, Jordan,” Eldon said, opening one eye. “Curiosity killed the cat, remember?”

Jordan smiled faintly at this horrible choice of phrase. Eldon continued, “It’s basically the antidote to the Fountain of Youth. With a once-a-year dose of the youth elixir, we can de-age a person and keep them as young as they want for as long as they want. But just one drop of that nasty Puddle of Ripeness will violently and painfully restore a person to their proper chronological age—in a matter of minutes.”

Jordan’s mouth went dry. “Oh, no . . .” He looked across the water at the glass-bottom boat. It was growing dark, and he could just make out all the kids getting ready for action. Bernard waved to Jordan and pointed at the horizon. Jordan saw the setting sun casting a long shadow over the bay. “No, no, no, no!” Jordan waved back to Bernard.

“Jordan, what’s wrong with you?”

“We have to get them out of here. This is a trap! We have to warn them!”

Jordan stood on the tower waving his arms wildly to Bernard on the other boat. Suddenly, a surge of water between the two crafts began bubbling beneath the surface.

Jordan turned to Eldon. “I didn’t know. I had to save you. I didn’t think it would matter.”

“Jordan. What are you talking about?”

“I gave it to them. I gave them the Puddle of Ripeness.”

“You what?”

WHOOOOOSH! The top-heavy fan boat teetered violently as something big suddenly rose from the water with a powerful surge between the two small crafts. It pushed the little fan boat toward the shore, tipping it over. Jordan and Eldon scrambled over the metal bars, leaning with all their weight to try to right the clunky vessel.

It was a submarine. Long and large, it breached the surface, sending waves out in every direction. It had bubble windows along the side and a large, oval, flat-topped turret on top. This was the oval platform Jordan and Eldon were trapped on beneath the crypto-zoo. The space beneath the crypto-zoo wasn’t just a roomy basement, or even an alligator-infested water-dungeon. It was a submarine garage.

A hatch on top of the turret slammed open. All was silent as the water began to calm again. Señor Areck Gusto climbed out of the top of the sub. He stood grinning atop the platform, wrapped in his long, black trench coat. He waved down to the glass-bottom boat, now drifting dangerously close to him.

From their near-beached and tipped-over fan boat, Jordan and Eldon could see both the submarine and the glass-bottom boat in the deeper water. Helplessly, Jordan watched as Gusto addressed the frightened, huddled Keeper kids on the S.S. Peek-A-Boo.

“Greetings, Creature Keepers!” Gusto called out. “You all look so excited to be out of your safe little swamp burrow for the first time in, what? Years? Decades? We’ll soon find out!”

“What do you want?” Bernard yelled up at the sub. The water had grown still again and the sound carried easily in the calm night air. Jordan could imagine Bernard’s dilemma—wanting to leap onto the sub to throttle that skinny weasel, but not wanting to leave his crew behind. Eldon was trying to start the waterlogged engine but wasn’t having any luck.

“I don’t want anything to do with your putrid hide, Stink Monkey,” Gusto sneered. “I’m interested in your passengers. I’d like to see who they really are!” He pulled from his trench-coat pocket a green, glowing orb, the same vile color as the Puddle of Ripeness. He held up the ball and smiled down on them. “You’re outside getting some fresh air; whaddya say we play some catch, kids! It’s such a fun game for everyone—young and old!”

He reached back and hurled the sphere at the S.S. Peek-A-Boo. POOM! It exploded into a ball of thick, green gas. Laughing a horrible laugh, he threw another. POOM! It burst at the other end of the glass-bottom boat, engulfing everyone on board in the thick, putrid smoke.

“NO!” Jordan yelled over the screams and explosions. He looked down at Eldon, who was staring across the water, frozen in shock. “We’ve got to do something!”

Eldon looked back at the crypto-zoo. “Nessie might still be in there somewhere. Quisling, too.”

“Okay. You go for them, I’ll swim out toward the others. But Eldon—” The two boys looked each other in the eye. “Just promise me you’ll save Nessie first.”

Eldon dived toward the shore. Jordan hit the water and began swimming toward the S.S. Peek-A-Boo. POOM! Another ripeness bomb went off. POOM! POOM!

“HA-HA-HA!” Gusto’s laughter echoed over the still water. Even swimming as fast as he could, Jordan felt like he was getting no closer at all to the horrible scene. But he could make out the tall Latino’s lanky body atop the submarine, looking down on his victims.

He could hear him, too. And what he heard sent a chill down his spine. “Now, then,” Gusto snarled. “I’m looking for George Grimsley. One of you has to be my old friend, but I’m afraid you old folk all look the same to me. C’mon, George, don’t be a coward! Show yourself and I’ll spare your crewmates any more suffering!” He snapped his clawlike fingers as he thought of something. “Ooh! I know what’s got you so shy, Georgie boy! You want me to show my new skin, too, is that it? Fair enough!”

Jordan stopped swimming. He stared up and across the water as Gusto threw off his trench coat. A blinding light shot out—twinkling and sparkling from his body in every direction. It was dizzying to stare at, and yet Jordan couldn’t look away. He was wearing Nessie’s Hydro-Hide. It had been fashioned into a tight-fitting body suit, like a second skin.

Gusto posed for a moment, grinning down at the glass-bottom boat. “Well? You still won’t show yourself and spare your friends, Grimsley? Very well. Because of your cowardice, they’ll suffer your fate, as well.”

“NO!” Jordan’s cry from the water went unheard as Gusto suddenly leaped into the air, twenty, thirty, forty feet, then—SPLASH!—hit the water like a comet crashing into the Earth. His body of light plunged deep into the cove. The water around the submarine and the S.S. Peek-A-Boo immediately began to swirl. Round and round, faster and faster, it formed a giant whirlpool. Both the submarine and the glass-bottom boat were pulled into a crazy circle, drawing closer to the center.

Jordan was also swept up and could hear the cries onboard the Peek-A-Boo. They were not the cries of children. They were the moans of elderly people.

FLOOOOOOSSSHHHH!

The descending whirlpool suddenly reversed course, acting like a massive water cannon. It blasted a solid funnel of water straight up into the air. The glass-bottom boat was nearly upended by the huge spout. Jordan was tossed and tumbled by the sudden blast. Dancing high atop the gushing geyser, in his sparkling Hydro-Hide suit, was Señor Areck Gusto, looking like a fallen angel.