Seventeen

STACY IMMEDIATELY NOTICED the look of concern in Everest’s silver eyes. And she knew exactly what he was thinking. I haven’t proven to him that I can do a rescue in the ocean. My first attempt to rescue an animal in the ocean ended up being just a floating pile of trash and then Noah and Pearl had to rescue me. And then there was the boat crash . . . that didn’t exactly end well either. Stacy stared into Everest’s eyes. Please let me do this. Noah and Pearl will be with me the entire time. And Atlas too! They’ll keep me safe. Stacy expected the alpha wolf to shake his head no. After all, this would be the first rescue where he wouldn’t be able to be there in case Stacy needed saving. He would have to put all his trust in Noah and two mesa wolves he’d known for less than a week. Remember, you’ll be able to hear my thoughts the entire time. It will be like you’re there with me. Everest looked down at the sand, mulling over his decision. Finally, he looked up, exchanged a glance with Atlas, and then turned back to Stacy and gave a short nod. Yes! Stacy rushed over to embrace him. I promise I’ll be careful, boy. I promise.

Noah ran to fetch the goggles from Stacy’s satchel back at the treehouse while Stacy tied her hair back with a piece of seaweed and waded into the water toward Pearl, who was facing north toward Breeze Island.

“You must have gone swimming pretty far this morning, huh?” Stacy said to Pearl right before dipping her entire body underwater and getting her hair wet. Noah returned with her goggles, which Stacy promptly put on. He also brought the emergency flare, which Stacy tucked into the pocket of her cutoff shorts. Before Stacy could say anything else, Pearl took off swimming.

“Everest, bring Ribsy to Breeze Island,” Stacy said. “Who knows—we may end up needing his ability. All right, Pearl . . . lead the way!”

Stacy swam over to Noah and climbed onto his back, clasping her hands around his large neck. Atlas positioned himself on Noah’s right side and the three wolves began swimming. At first, Noah glided along the surface of the ocean so Stacy could keep her head above water. But as they approached Breeze Island, Pearl swerved east and Noah suddenly dove deep underwater to keep up with her.

Noah descended deeper and deeper. Atlas was nearby, allowing Stacy to breathe. She took a breath of air and looked around her. The color of the water had changed from bright turquoise to a brilliant dark blue. We’re in the deep ocean now! The wolves swam through a large school of tropical fish in a kaleidoscope of different colors. Stacy looked above her and saw a large sea turtle and then gasped as she peered below her at a massive whale with a calf. Everest, I wish you could see this. There’s a whole other world down here!

Stacy looked up and realized that Pearl had swum in between Breeze Island and Hatch’s Island and was diving even deeper now, toward the sea floor. Suddenly, their destination came into view . . . a sunken ship! Stacy could only imagine what Everest was thinking right now—a sunken ship was probably a little more dangerous than he was expecting. Stacy looked at the massive ship as Noah dove closer. Stacy guessed it was at least a hundred years old. It had a giant mast and a lookout—Stacy knew those were called crow’s nests. Both were now covered in algae. The ship’s massive wooden hull had barnacles growing all over it and several giant, gaping holes. Is there an animal in there? Stacy took another big breath from Atlas’s air bubble and tried to mentally prepare herself for the rescue. Pearl brought them around to the back of the shipwreck to a tiny rusted porthole—much smaller than the one that had been in their boat and too small for any of her wolves to fit through. Pearl wants me to go in there? Stacy swam up to the porthole and stared into the darkness inside the ship. She wasn’t sure she could even fit through the porthole herself, but if there was an animal inside who needed help, she was willing to give it a try.

Stacy wriggled her way through the porthole. It was a tight squeeze, but her shoulders just fit. She swam all the way inside and then immediately turned back to the porthole, grabbing the bottom rim of it to keep herself from floating away. Atlas was staring back at her. Stacy leaned into the porthole to discover he’d created an air bubble. Brilliant! I can swim back here whenever I need to take a breath. Stacy had to admit, it was less than ideal to be separated from the wolves on the other side of the porthole. She didn’t even know what animal they were rescuing yet. Guess I’d better have a look around. It’s so dark though. A thought occurred to her. She took the emergency flare from her pocket and brought it up to the air bubble in the porthole. She twisted the top off to reveal a small fire striker on the flare’s cap. She put it to the other side and pulled it hard across the top of the flare. A red flame sputtered to life, and then burned brightly. Atlas looked at Stacy, amazed. Stacy turned away from the wolf, not sure if what she was about to do would work. She plunged the flare into the water . . . it didn’t extinguish! It was getting all of the oxygen it needed to burn from a chemical stored inside it—no air necessary! Wow. Basil would love this. Okay, here goes nothing. Stacy pushed off from the porthole into the darkness, holding the flare out in front of her. The room she was in was small—probably twenty feet wide and fifteen feet long. There was a wall of windows along the back of the room, which were still intact. And on the opposite side, a door with a heavy lock on it. Oh, that’s why Pearl couldn’t find another way in besides the porthole. The room was filled with furniture that had obviously shifted around from its original location. There was a large wooden desk with a rolltop cover, an impressive chair turned on its side and covered in kelp, and a toppled-over bookcase with soggy tomes scattered around the wood plank floor. Stacy swam down into the small space between the tipped-over bookcase and the desk and found a gilded locker—a treasure chest?! This must have been the ship captain’s quarters. Stacy swam back to Atlas for a breath. She wasn’t sure how much longer the flare would last, and she still hadn’t found the animal who needed rescuing. Even with the flare, the room was just too dark and cluttered. There could be a dozen or more animals in the room with Stacy and she wouldn’t have known—there were too many good places to hide. Suddenly, Stacy noticed a flicker of movement near the ceiling of the captain’s room. She took a deep breath in and swam up, the red flare instantly illuminating the animal who needed help.

Stacy couldn’t believe what she was looking at. A baby dolphin was floating near the room’s ceiling . . . its nose stuck in what looked to be an old empty bottle. It must have swum in here through the porthole and now it can’t get out. Fortunately, the bottle was not covering its tiny blowhole and there was a small pocket of air in the corner of the room, which was keeping the dolphin alive. Stacy had read about bottlenose dolphins and had even heard of a ship in a bottle before, but nothing could have prepared her for a bottlenose dolphin in a ship with its nose in a bottle.

Suddenly, the baby dolphin began frantically swimming around, thrashing its body from side to side, desperately trying to separate itself from the bottle. It swam toward the porthole but the bottle clanged on the side of it, knocking the dolphin backward. Poor thing! It must be so scared.

Stacy’s flare fizzled out, but her eyes had adjusted to the darkness around her. She knew there was no time to lose. The dolphin calf was exhausted and needed to be back with its mother. Stacy dropped the flare and reached her arms out, trying to grasp the dolphin in her hands. It took several minutes, with Stacy returning every thirty seconds to the porthole to catch her breath before attempting to capture the dolphin again. Eventually, the dolphin tired and slowed down, giving Stacy the perfect opportunity to wrap her hands around the bottle. Holding the calf out in front of her by the end of the glass bottle, Stacy pulled as hard as she could as a dark shadow passed behind her—Yes! Got it!

Stacy pulled the newly freed baby dolphin into her arms and swam to the porthole. Stacy took a breath first, and then pushed the dolphin through the porthole to where Pearl was waiting—presumably to bring the dolphin back to its mother. Stacy was about to swim out of the cabin too, but then she remembered the treasure chest. I wonder . . . Stacy took another breath and then dove down toward the chest. She expected it to be locked, so it came as a big surprise to her when it popped open the second her fingers touched the rusted latch. Stacy’s eyes widened in awe. Inside the chest was a beautiful tiara, bejeweled with emeralds. As she reached into the chest to take it, a cold tentacle brushed against her arm.

Stacy grabbed the tiara and spun around into a cloud of black squid ink. BLECCCKK! Help! Stacy wiped the ink off her goggles and swam as fast as she could to the porthole. Her mouth was full of the ink and she could feel it beginning to seep through her goggles. She stuck her head into the space of air in the porthole and pulled her goggles off and spit the ink out. Noah and Atlas treaded water beside the ship, concerned.

“BLUH, BLEH, UGHH,” Stacy spewed. The ink was all over her clothes and in her hair. “That squid was obviously just as scared of me as I was of it. Get me out of here.”

Stacy reached for Noah and he pulled her out of the porthole. Together with Atlas, they raced Stacy up to the surface and back to Breeze Island, where Everest was waiting rather impatiently for them, along with Ribsy and Paisley. As they paddled to the shore, Stacy looked back in the direction of the ship and saw Pearl swimming with a pod of dolphins, including the calf and its mother—reunited. Thank goodness Pearl found the dolphin when she did. That had to be one of the craziest rescues yet. Stacy staggered out of the water holding her goggles in one hand and the jeweled tiara in the other. She looked at Everest, held up the tiara, and smiled.

“At least I got a reward!”