The airship was called the Grygia and I remembered reading about it when it was built. It had cost millions and millions of Allied Dollars and BNDL had held a huge celebration, saying that it would allow Explorers to go into even more remote areas of the New Lands to look for resources. There had been protests, but ANDLC had handed out food rations to the protesters and they hadn’t lasted very long. I’d always been curious about the Grygia. According to BNDL, it was the biggest airship in the world.
The giant, egg-shaped gas envelope was painted a glittering silver color that made it look like a huge cloud. The BNDL logo was painted in black on the side of the silver gondola, and below it, in fancy script, was the airship’s name. The gondola, where the passengers rode in luxury, was huge, and I remembered what I’d read about it being able to carry forty or more passengers for extended trips around the world.
The airship settled down into the canyon and the door to the gondola opened. Agents Wolff and DeRosa got out first, followed by Mr. Mountmorris. Agent Wolff was wearing her military uniform and her hair had been styled in an elaborate arrangement of silver knots and whirls on top of her head. Mr. Mountmorris was wearing a bright green suit made of some kind of shiny material that didn’t look like it breathed very well. He looked hot and miserable. Through my spyglass, I could see the huge red welt where Agent DeRosa’s head had hit the wooden floor in the dining room.
The three of us shrank back against the tent, out of sight, just as M.K. came up behind us. “Got it,” she said, handing me my vest, which was reassuringly heavy. “Everything’s there. The maps, too. They left them right on the table.” Her eyes widened when she saw the airship and who had been riding in it. “Let’s get out of here.”
I heard the door of the gondola open again through my spyglass. “Well?” Mr. Mountmorris called to Nackley. “Where are the children?”
“Oh, they’re tied up,” Nackley said. “We’ll have to decide what to do about…”
I didn’t need to hear any more. “Let’s go,” I whispered.
The four of us started running. We didn’t look back.
“We don’t have long,” Zander called back once we were out of sight of the camp. “They’ll be after us on the IronSteeds as soon as they realize we’re gone. We’ve got to go straight to this secret canyon.”
“Um… about the secret canyon,” I started to say.
“What about my pack?” Sukey yelled. “It’s back in the cave.”
Zander waved her away. “There isn’t time. Don’t worry, we have everything we need in our Explorer’s vests.”
We ran as fast as we could and were at the waterfall in forty-five minutes, completely out of breath and drenched in sweat. I couldn’t believe they hadn’t noticed we were gone and come after us, and I knew we didn’t have much time.
“Waterfall!” Pucci squawked, alighting on my shoulder. We stood there for a moment looking up at the veil of black water.
“This is where it shows the canyon on the map.” I was winded and I struggled to form the words. “If it’s there, it’s at the back of the waterfall. It’s the only place I couldn’t see.”
“There’s something scary about that waterfall,” Sukey said.
“You’re sure it’s not over the top or something?” Zander asked. But we could all see that there was no secret canyon next to or on top of the huge waterfall.
“Hey,” M.K. said, “do you remember how Dad used to say that if you couldn’t find a way over or around, you had to go through?”
“That was how he discovered the Baltese Pass,” I said. “The way through was disguised by some kind of creeping moss.”
“Baltese creeping reindeer moss,” Zander said. “It covered the entrance to the pass, but when he hacked it away with a machete…”
We all looked at each other.
“Good thing the vests are waterproof,” Zander said. “You all stay right here.” He dipped a foot in, shivered when he felt how cold it was, and then jumped in. Pucci followed. We watched them take off through the pool and disappear behind the veil of black water.
“Is he afraid of anything?” Sukey asked, admiration in her voice.
I was irritated. I’d figured out the secret to the map, but if Zander found the hidden canyon, he would get all the credit, since he’d been brave enough to leap into a waterfall.
“Where is he?” I searched the water for Zander’s blond head. “He should be more careful. If he gets into trouble, we’ll have to go save him.”
We waited a few minutes before Sukey called his name, trying not to be too loud. When there was no answer, M.K. and I started in, too.
There was something eerie about the silence that followed, and finally, after another five minutes, I said, “We’ve got to go after him. They’ll be here in a minute.”
We waded in, calling Zander’s name. The vests were waterproof and protected everything inside from the water, but our clothes were soaked within seconds and they became as heavy as if we were trying to swim in suits of armor.
The current was strong; we had to fight to stay on our feet, and as I tried to walk toward the back of the pool, behind the violent splash of water from the falls, I could feel the water swirling around me, trying to pull me under. If Zander had gone below the surface in order to see if there was an underwater entrance to the canyon, he could easily have been pulled into the center of the pool. I ducked my head under, holding my glasses with one hand and opening my eyes against the blackness of the water. I couldn’t see a thing.
“Where is he?” I called to Sukey and M.K. “I can’t see anything under there.” I was starting to panic now, imagining Zander drowned. Pucci was circling over the water. Suddenly he disappeared, too, a dark silhouette above us one minute and gone the next.
“Do you think he’s in trouble?” M.K. called.
“I don’t know.” I kept scanning the water. “I can’t find him. He isn’t here.”
“He’s a good swimmer,” M.K. said hopefully. “He once swam two miles from a capsized canoe.”
I dipped my head under again. It was so cold that my eyes ached and so dark that I couldn’t see anything.
And then we heard a faint voice—Zander’s—calling over the clamor of the waterfall.
“That’s him!” I paddled frantically, trying to follow the direction of the voice, but the waterfall swallowed any other sound and we still couldn’t see him.
“Zander,” we called. “Where are you?”
“Over here!” His voice was coming from behind the waterfall.
We waded through the water, feeling the spray of the waterfall on our faces. We waded around behind the veil of water, where the rock rose steeply out of the pool, covered with a pale green moss.
“Up here,” called Zander’s voice, and we had to tilt our heads all the way back to see him, up above us, perched in a small cave in the rock behind the waterfall. Pucci was sitting on his shoulder, and when he saw us, he squawked loudly.
“I found it!” Zander yelled down to us as we stared up at him in disbelief. “There’s a tunnel back here. Just where it shows on the map. It must lead into the secret canyon!”