Secrets of Stone and Sea, page 10
“Thanks.” Kai and Peter scrambled to safety as the floor vanished again.
They were in a dark, slimy hold. Cold ghost light painted the space pale silver. Ethereal nets swung from the beams.
And the floor was disappearing. Patches phased in and out of existence, forcing the boys into an odd dance, leaping from patch to patch. Kai misjudged one jump and only Peter pulling him to the side saved him from dropping into the water, and Kai returned the favor when Peter moved a little too late.
Peter pointed. “Look.”
The mast extended from the upper deck into the lower hold, and on it Kai saw the binding word, the same one from Dogtown. Right there in the center of the ship.
Past yards of disappearing boards.
The Charles Haskell was going back to where ghost ships usually docked, and it wasn’t going to take them with it. Sooner or later, they’d be dumped into the sea.
Kai felt like the ghostly fishermen were right next to him, shouting in his ear. He couldn’t understand the words, but the tune sounded familiar. That rhythmic beat pounded through him, reminding him of Grandma’s cane as it tapped out the chantey’s rhythm. Bang, bang, bang, bang.
And then the patch under the boys faded and they had to jump. Bang, bang, bang, and they jumped again.
It was like dancing, this side-to-side leaping with the beat pounding behind it. Kai almost smiled. Bang, bang, bang, bang, and jump again. Swing your partner round and round, avoid the water, don’t fall and drown.
Wait a minute.
These patches. They all appeared and disappeared in rhythm. Four beats, jump. Three, jump again. Back and forth. Always back and forth. Under his breath, Kai began to sing the chantey Grandma taught him. The one about the Sea ritual.
“What are you doing?” Peter asked as they shifted spots again.
“It’s on the beat!” Kai said. “Don’t you hear it? It’s that Seaspire chantey. The ship is on the beat.” He waited three beats until the patch in front of them appeared again. Then, pulling Peter, he stepped on it. “Come on.”
“A sailor came to the stony point,” Kai sang, snapping his fingers in time with the four beats. He jumped to the next patch, a step closer to the mast. “Bringing his loaf of bread.”
They were almost too late. The floor opened up just as Kai and Peter jumped to the next patch.
Gasping, Kai continued, listening to the beats rather than the words themselves. “With a heave and a throw he hurled it below.” Four. “And saw the ocean’s mouth fed.” Three.
The mast was just out of arm’s reach now. Peter picked up on the pattern and sang along at the chorus: “Rise, the ocean rise / Rise and greet the shore / With red and bread, he feeds on the dead / And meets you at the door.”
Three, three, four, three.
It was working! The deck followed the music, which Kai and Peter could hear in the invisible bustle around them.
Soon, they reached the mast. Only three beats before the floor fell out from under them.
“Get it!” Kai yelled.
Peter wasted no time. He pressed his hand against the binding word.
Immediately, the seal glowed blue. Peter gasped and closed his eyes, and Kai grabbed his brother and the mast, waiting for the deck to vanish below them.
Instead, as Peter released the binding word, the symbol spewed water like a fire hose was hooked up to it. The salty blast struck Kai in the chest, driving him and Peter away from the mast.
Thankfully, the boards stopped fading. They were solid enough to stand on.
“We got it,” Peter said. He tried to block the spray with his hands. “Now what?”
Kai wasn’t sure. He didn’t know if the sea serpent was near enough to catch a ride. And the hold was filling with seawater, very fast. “Maybe they have a lifeboat we can borrow.”
But the ghostly light blinked out, and Kai and Peter plummeted into the cold ocean below.
The icy water knocked the breath out of Kai, which was unfortunate, since he needed that air as he sank into the sea. Clawing, kicking, he fought for the surface.
He emerged to a hurricane. The Charles Haskell, having done its job, had vanished, and in its place was a storm that shrieked in Kai’s ears and burned his exposed skin with vicious spray. Waves tossed him up and down, and it was all he could do to stay afloat.
“Peter!” he called, and choked on seawater. “P-Peter!”
Where was his brother? Kai spun, almost getting sucked underwater by another swell.
There! With a surge of relief, Kai spotted Peter, not too far away, desperately trying to tread water. He was staring farther out to sea, eyes wide.
Kai tried to swim over, but a wave forced him back. He tried to free one hand, to wave and call, but then he saw what Peter was staring at.
The Sea was there, in the water. It didn’t say a word. It just smiled, and lowered its hand to the water beneath them.
Hundreds of claws clamped on to Kai’s clothes. Crabs. Tons of blue crabs, but bigger than the one he’d seen in their bedroom.
Kai felt the crabs’ weight, heavy as lead, tug on his legs and body. They covered him in a chitinous suit of armor, one too heavy to swim in.
“Nnngh.” Struggling to keep his head above water, Kai swiped at the crabs. A few broke away, pinching his hands in retaliation, but even more climbed onto him. Blue, jointed legs crawling over him, dragging him below.
Peter’s arm rose over the surface, crabs clinging to it. He tried to say something to Kai, but choked on the water.
Peter! Kai tried to swim to his brother, but the crabs were too heavy. His head fell beneath the waves. NO! He fought the crabs, managing to get his face above the water, but there were so many of them.
Thunder boomed. The Sea spoke. “This ends now, little human.”
Peter spluttered. “Humans.”
Waves slammed against Kai’s face. His arms ached, and his lungs screamed. He couldn’t keep this up for much longer.
Something gold and scaly snaked beneath Kai. Oh no.
The sea serpent reared over the boys. It hissed, shining fangs protruding from its mouth. Kai stared up at the snake. If it was going to strike, he was going to be brave and watch with his eyes open.
The snake attacked.
It flashed past Kai and Peter and attacked the Sea.
Coils of golden scales lashed the waves as that fanged mouth struck at the Sea, again and again.
Its golden tail thrashed, ramming into Kai. Crabs crunched and fell away. Kai swam over to Peter and started pulling crabs off his twin.
“Peter! Kai!” Kai looked up to see Grandma in a small motorboat. She held her hand over the side toward Kai. Relieved and exhausted, Kai pushed Peter ahead of him. “Him first.”
Grandma hoisted Peter out, blue crabs still clipped to his clothes.
Once Peter was safe, Grandma reached down to help Kai up. As the remaining crabs fell like rain onto the deck, Kai looked over the railing. The serpent had coiled around the Sea and was preparing another strike.
“Get him,” Kai muttered.
The Sea looked past the snake, straight at Kai. It narrowed its eyes. There was a crash of water, and then the Sea was gone. The snake, finding its prey vanished, hissed and arced back into the water.
Grandma, her harpoon in hand, stood, watching the ocean. “Don’t worry, boys,” she said. “I’ll protect you.”
But no attack came. The waves calmed, and even the rain grew gentler. The snake had apparently gone back home to rest for the night.
A crab skittered over Kai’s leg. Shuddering, he grabbed it and flung it back into the water. Both he and Peter, with Grandma’s help, spent the next minute ridding the boat of every treacherous crab.
Grandma took a deep breath and turned to the boys. “Once we’re back on shore, you can explain to me why you didn’t wait, and your story had better have a happy ending.”
“It does,” Kai said. He slumped against the boat floor. “Two down.”
“Good.” Grandma handed him the harpoon and started the boat. The smell of gas overpowered the smell of the sea, and Kai sank down. He could finally relax.
“We did it,” he said, and he and Peter bumped fists.
“Nice catch on the chantey,” Peter said.
“And nice work on the seal. But we have to give some credit to the sea serpent.”
Peter fell silent. Kai watched his brother, waiting.
Finally, Peter spoke. “Why did it help us?” He looked at Kai. “The serpent. It attacked us earlier. It’s clearly a sea creature, just like the monster. So why did it save us now?”
It was a good question. Too bad Kai had no answer.
CHAPTER 13
A MIDNIGHT SNACK
KAI
The three drove home, stopping only once for more takeout. On the way, they discussed why the sea serpent had attacked and then helped them.
“The Gloucester Harbor serpent is supposed to have a soft spot for children,” Grandma said. “I think it must have been tasked with protecting the seal, like the trees at Dogtown. But when you were in danger, it attacked the Sea to protect you.”
“So it was protecting the seal, and then we broke the seal, so it protected us instead?” Peter grimaced. “My head hurts.”
Kai felt a little bummed that the serpent hadn’t been trying to hurt him, like the adventure hadn’t been real. But then he remembered the ghost ship and the Sea trying to drown them with crabs, and he brightened.
When they got back, the storm from Gloucester Harbor had followed them home. Rain pounded and the church glowed with blue Saint Elmo’s fire. Kai hoped the graves hadn’t flooded again.
They reached Grandma’s house well past midnight. However, Dad and Sophie were still awake.
Kai’s stomach churned as Dad set a stack of papers down on his chair. They were in so much trouble.
Grandma stood up straight, hand on her cane. “Still awake, Alex?”
“You took them to the harbor,” Dad said, voice tired. “Why?”
“Because it needed to be done, and you weren’t going to do it.”
Grandma and Dad stared at each other, and then Grandma said, “The boys are exhausted. They should get some rest.”
“I agree.” Dad nodded at the stairs. “Go to bed, boys.”
Peter staggered upstairs. Kai hoped he’d at least check for crabs in his pockets before falling asleep.
Crabs. Kai didn’t know if he’d ever be able to eat at a seafood restaurant again.
Or maybe he’d eat more crabs. As revenge. Who knew?
“Kai, you too,” Dad said.
But Kai wasn’t tired. The ghost ship and sea serpent sailed through his mind on repeat, as did the Sea trying to drown them under the weight of hundreds of blue crabs.
In all honesty, he didn’t want to sleep. Last night, he’d come face-to-face with the Sea, and waking up to a leaking roof and a windstorm outside … it was too real. Too immediate. And now that they’d found the second seal and activated it, the Sea would only double its efforts.
That math seemed right to Kai.
What kind of twisted nightmare would he have to view tonight?
Would he have to see Peter drown? Peter, Kai’s brother, his twin, his other half. He had protected Peter in the real ocean, but in the dream, the Sea would have total power.
Kai just couldn’t do it.
Sophie was studying her textbook, but her laptop was next to her. “Can I borrow that?” Kai asked, pointing at it. “I want to call Mom.”
Sophie pushed it toward him with a finger, and then closed her book and went upstairs.
Dad softened, too. “That’s probably a good idea.” He turned to Grandma. “Mom, can I talk to you?”
Dad and Grandma vanished into the office to argue in hushed voices while Kai took the laptop to the kitchen table and sent a video call request to his mom. As the connection formed, he spun the shield-platter on the table.
She might be busy. But she might be around to pick up.
The call connected, and Kai’s mom appeared on the screen. She looked like she hadn’t slept all night. “Hey,” she said, cradling a mug of coffee. “How are you? Why aren’t you in bed? It must be pretty late your time.”
“Yeah,” Kai said. “Me, Peter, and Grandma had a busy day.”
Mom scooted closer to her screen. “Dad said something like that.”
“He called you?”
“Not a call. More an email. He said you three were gone when he woke up this morning, and he figured you were trying to find and activate the second seal.”
“So he told you about the seals?”
“Somewhat. He wasn’t happy to find you gone. But you’re here. I assume you found the second seal?”
Kai beamed. “Yeah, we did! We had to fight a sea serpent to get to it.”
As Mom listened, Kai told her, in epic detail, about their adventures locating and activating the seals at Dogtown and on the Charles Haskell. “A ghost ship, Mom, a real ghost ship.”
Kai finished, telling Mom all about the Sea’s attack on them in the water, and how the sea serpent fought it off. “Grandma said it protects kids, which was good for us. Anyway, we’re back now. Peter and I smell like seafood, but we’re both okay. Which is good, since I need to read the Atlantean, and Peter is the only one who can activate the seals.”
Mom leaned back. She exhaled and ran her hands through her hair. “I think I understand why your dad was so upset.”
“We’re fine, Mom.” Kai spun the serving tray again.
“Yes, but this is dangerous. Your dad spent yesterday trying to solve the riddles. I think they only scared him more. Maybe it would be wise to take a step back.”
“We can’t do that! We have to act now or we’ll run out of time. You should see this town. I’m tired of the rain and floods and the creepy blue lights.”
“And I get that. But charging into danger without a plan could lead to a greater setback than you have time for. Or worse.” Mom sighed. “I know you need to do this, and soon. But your dad and I just want you to make sure you’re doing it as safely as you can.”
Kai nodded, but still felt like Mom didn’t really get it. So he changed the subject. “You haven’t dug up anything else out there, have you? Any more Atlantean?”
“Right. Right, right, right.” Mom fidgeted with papers on the table beside her. “We did, actually. Here. Can you see this?” She held up a photograph of a stone panel, maybe part of a wall.
Kai squinted at the screen. “Yeah, I can. It says, up at the top there, ‘Glory to the Twins,’ and I swear, I didn’t make that up.”
Mom laughed. “Until you said that, I believed you.” When Kai started to protest, she raised a hand. “No, seriously. I trust you. Go on.”
“Okay, so it says, ‘Glory to the Twins,’ and then it says, ‘Here have we brought the gleam of the sea-waves and the brightness of the lily, the sun’s own warmth. May two become one and may one bless us with bounty precious beyond compare.’ Um, it may not be a perfect translation. Some of the words have multiple meanings.”
“Like?”
“Well, ‘lily’ is some kind of day flower, but it might not mean an actual lily.”
Kai spun the shield again. There was more than that. The word for “twin,” again, seemed to have other meanings. And why even mention twins?
There was a pattern in here. The idea of twins kept repeating. But why?
“We found something else,” Mom said. “It’s on a metal plate. Hold on.” She got up and came back a few minutes later with a bronze tablet. Green corrosion covered the surface. “It may be hard to read.”
Kai squinted. “I’m only getting a few words here and there. Um, there’s ‘sacred’ again, and I think I see something about ‘heart’ and ‘life,’ so that sounds serious, but I don’t know exactly what it says.” He leaned forward, his nose touching the screen. “Um, that word might be ‘sea,’ though. This could be important.”
Mom nodded. “How about I clean it up and send you a better image tomorrow?”
“Thanks! And could you send me pictures of everything else you’ve found? I’ll tell you what they say.” Kai grinned. “Does the rest of the team know you have such a talented translator?”
Mom snorted. “Don’t let your head get too big. But sure, I’ll send you the rest. They may help you and Peter.” Mom peered at Kai. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine,” Kai said. “It’s actually kind of cool. How many kids can say they rode a sea serpent and a ghost ship in Gloucester Harbor?” He settled back. “But I don’t know about Peter.”
“Is Peter hurt?”
“No. He’s fine. We’re both fine.” Kai tried to figure out how to say what he meant. “Well, Peter’s … acting scared. And he’s gone kind of quiet.” Peter hadn’t said a word on the drive home.
“Well, people react to challenges in different ways. This one seems to enliven you, but maybe Peter feels overwhelmed.”
Kai frowned. That didn’t make sense. Peter was his identical twin. Kai knew him better than anyone did. Shouldn’t Kai have noticed before if Peter was stressed-out?
Was this related to the distance between him and Peter?
In the end, he didn’t say anything. It wasn’t something Mom would understand.
“Just take care of Peter,” Mom said.
That’s all he’d been trying to do. “I will.”
“All right. Now, get some sleep. I’m sure tomorrow will be another busy day for you. Plus, I have a call I need to make.”
Kai yawned. He’d put off sleep for too long. “Good night, Mom.”
“Good night. I love you. Stay safe.”
“I will. I’ll keep us both safe. Good night. Or morning. Whatever.”
Kai hung up. He trudged upstairs, sudden weariness dragging him down. His heart sank when he walked into the bedroom he shared with Peter and saw his twin had kicked off his covers and flailed like ants were biting him. Another nightmare waited for him.
But he needed his sleep. Tomorrow, he’d need his strength. So Kai climbed into bed, still dressed, and slipped into a nightmare where the Sea, just as Kai predicted, showed him visions of Seaspire, his family, and especially Peter, slipping beneath the waves.
