Secrets of Stone and Sea, page 3
Though you’d think there would be grass or moss, at least.
Kai looked at Peter’s half-eaten hot dog. “Hey, you going to eat that?”
Peter looked at the hot dog, and held it out. But before Kai could take it, Peter grinned and used it to wipe his sweaty forehead. Then, beaming, he handed it over.
“Peter, why?” Kai dropped the hot dog, repulsed. A gust of salty wind, sounding like a gasping breath, caught him in the face, and he sneezed. Red splattered the rock and the hot dog.
“I thought you’d stopped bleeding.”
“The sneeze sed it off again.” Kai pinched his nose. “God any napkins?”
“Yeah, one.” Peter passed it to Kai, who wrapped it around his nose. “Well,” Peter said, standing. “I guess no one’s eating the rest of that.”
“Bud id’s one-of-a-kind now,” Kai said, laughing. “Don’d you want to daste by soul?”
The wind flapped at the napkin in his hand. The air was colder now, as though a cloud had moved over the sun. Looking up, Kai saw that one had. In fact, the sky was full of gray clouds, blotting out the summer light. When did that happen?
The trees behind them rustled as the gusts grew. Kai understood the lighthouse stories better now; when the wind blew through the branches, they sounded like ghostly voices, calling and pleading.
He shivered. Maybe it was time to go home.
Kai pulled the napkin away from his nose. The bleeding hadn’t been as bad this time. He picked up the ruined hot dog and tossed it into the water. The waves swallowed it up like a ravenous monster. Waves leaped and crashed in the sea below.
“Maybe some fish will like it,” Kai said.
“I’m glad you got someone to taste your soul.” Peter pushed himself back from the edge, then stood up and looked around. “It’s getting stormy. We’d better go. Get up, Kai.”
But before Kai could stand, a huge gust, larger than any before it, sent him skidding away from the edge of the sea.
CHAPTER 3
RISE, OCEAN
PETER
What the heck was that? Peter had just enough time to ground his toes when the wind tore at him and bowled Kai over. As Kai sat up, nose once again dripping, Peter watched the sea out past the cliffs.
Before, the ocean had been a rich navy blue, coolly reflecting the blue sky. Now, the sky swirled with clouds that bubbled with sick grayish-green light, making the sea look as dark gray as the Spire itself.
“We should go!” Peter called. Whatever was going on, it wasn’t like any kind of tempest Peter had ever seen. He didn’t want any part of it.
But Kai was already crawling back to the edge. “Oh, man,” he said. “You have to see this.”
One struggling step at a time, Peter fought against the storm. He dropped and crawled over to Kai, who was clinging to the edge of the rocks. Peter did the same, wind whipping his hair.
The sea below churned and foamed. The waves roared like a beast. That sick green energy in the sky snaked through the water like electric eels toward the Spire. Between the Spire and the promontory, the sea swirled.
“What is this?” Kai yelled over the howling wind.
“The storm getting worse?” Peter called back. “We need to get out of here!”
The whirlpool below thundered and shot a jet of water straight into the air. As much as Peter wanted to run into the woods, away from the water, he remained transfixed, desperate to see what happened next.
The pillar of seawater swirled, veined through with bolts of green energy. They crackled so loudly that Peter wished he didn’t need his hands to hold on against the wind, so he could cover his ears. The sound grew, and grew, until Peter couldn’t stand it anymore.
And then the world shattered.
Water slammed against the boys, hurling them back. Wind shrieked around them.
Peter lay still, ears ringing, head aching. Then he sat up, spluttering, and looked at the sea.
They were no longer alone.
A figure stood on the edge of the Point. No, over the sea. On air.
And “standing” wasn’t really accurate. That would imply legs and feet.
Hovering in the air over the ocean was a being that could have slithered out of Peter’s nightmares. It was at least ten feet tall. Instead of legs, it had a scaly greenish-gold tail, like a snake’s but with jagged, dark green fins at the bottom. At the waist, that tail morphed into something that was almost human and covered in armor that looked like it was made out of seashells. Claws glittered like mother of pearl.
Instead of hair, the creature had tentacles that writhed like tongues tasting the air. A scaly face with no nose, and eyes set wide on the head, like a fish’s. Those eyes were yellow with a snake’s slitted pupils. At first, those eyes roved, and if Peter had to put a word on it, he’d say the creature looked lost.
But its eyes found Peter and Kai, and it smiled. Peter shuddered. The thing’s teeth were needle sharp and crowded in its mouth.
The creature spoke, but Peter didn’t understand a word. Gaping, he slapped blindly for Kai, finally finding him huddled on the rock just an arm’s reach away.
“What the…? What happened?” Kai mumbled. He sat up, shook his head, and saw the creature. “Oh.”
For a moment, time froze: the wind whistling, the sky dark with storm clouds, the boys staring at the creature, the creature contemplating the boys. Then it spoke again.
“You bleed still?”
Peter would have expected the words to hiss, like a snake or like water receding from a sandy beach. But instead, this creature’s voice rumbled, deep and melodious.
Kai touched his nose. “Um, yeah. I guess I do.”
The creature didn’t move. Those snaky eyes peered at the boys, then flicked around to the lighthouse. “This place,” it said. “Much has changed since I was cast away, and yet they still build their towers to keep watch. Why have you brought me back, if such towers remain?”
“Brought you?” Peter felt like he was caught in a dream. Nothing made sense, but what could he do but let it sweep him along?
“It was you who called me,” the creature said. “And you who bleeds, so you must have opened the gate to my prison.” He waved at the swirling water behind him.
Although the creature mentioned Kai’s bloody nose, it never took its eyes off Peter. Like it thought Peter was the one bleeding, or something.
“Look,” Peter said. “I’m not bleeding. Kai is. And we didn’t open any gate.”
“Yeah,” Kai said, standing. “So, Fishface, you can go back where you came from.”
The thing didn’t appreciate that. Thunder boomed, and the sea rippled with huge waves. “Would you so soon return me to where I was bound?” the creature growled. “You, foolish human, who lies when you say you did not open the gate, and bid me rise?”
“Actually, I said we didn’t open any gate—” Peter started.
The creature wasn’t listening to him. “I had dreamed of humans who would not take back what they once gave so freely. Who would honor me, and what I could bring them, instead of giving in to their greed.”
It snarled, and a huge gust of wind bowled Kai back to the ground.
“But I was deceived,” the creature said. “I feel the land’s disgusting power, and I see the way you cling to it as you demand my departure. But I will not be dominated. I will make no mistake this time.”
It lifted its fist, and another pillar of water shot out of the sea. Peter yelled but couldn’t hear himself over the rushing, swirling water.
The creature looked furious. “Your kind summoned and then feared me, cowering behind your filthy land. This time, you shall not fear without reason.”
The water surged beneath them. Peter screamed as the water crashed down. Kai grabbed him and rolled, pulling them both out of the way.
“Let’s go!” Kai yelled. Peter nodded. They both rose and ran.
Peter clung to Kai as they weaved through the trees. They took the trail that led back to the park. The wind screeched, and behind them, timbers moaned and creaked.
Don’t look back. Don’t look back! But then, a river of seawater, mud, and broken branches burst through the woods, directly in their path.
Despite his own warnings, Peter looked toward the sea. The forest had become a stormy twilight, and through the trees, he could see the creature hovering above the cliffs, an enormous wave rising behind it. It should have been a special effect in a movie, or video game. But this was a real wave.
This was so much worse than the rafting trip.
“Should you escape me,” the creature said, “know that when the moon lends me her strength, I will blast the land with my power. I will send waves and floods until the mightiest mountains are brought low. This is my vow, human, and this will I keep!”
Thunder boomed, and the giant wave started to fall.
Kai wrenched Peter’s arm. “Go! Go!”
Peter didn’t need telling twice. He scrambled over fallen trunks, breath ragged in his throat. Just a little farther, and they’d reach the park at the edge of the forest and be safe with their family.
But how far could the creature send the wave?
As Peter and Kai, gasping, neared the park, water slammed into their backs like an enormous hand swatting two mosquitoes. Peter’s breath was knocked out of him, and, disoriented, he swirled through filthy seawater. Salt stung his nose and eyes, and oddly, all he could think was, If it hurts my nose, I bet Kai’s really hurts.
Something hard brushed Peter’s grasping fingers, and he clutched on to it as sand and twigs grated his skin. Something strong grabbed his ankle, but all he cared about was holding his breath and praying nothing big, like a log, took his head off.
The water receded, and Peter found himself soaked, battered, and dirty, clinging to the picnic table his family had eaten at not long before. Salt water trickled in streams through the grassy fields.
The park was deserted. People must have seen the storm coming and taken shelter inside, their family included.
Good. No one else was hurt.
Kai slumped on the ground, coughing, his hand holding the table beside Peter. Splinters stuck out of his shirt.
“How bad is it?” Peter asked.
Kai waved a hand. “Nothing broken. I think.”
Peter looked around. Seaspire’s streets were as abandoned as the park. Rain pelted the twins, huge, heavy drops that felt like hammer strikes. Lightning split the sky, and thunder boomed. The town looked like the setting for a horror video game, especially with the storm raging.
They had to run. They had no idea how far the creature’s power reached. Peter knelt beside Kai. “We have to get home,” he said, yanking on Kai’s arm.
Kai pushed him away and stood, still coughing. He nodded, his shirt stained pink with diluted blood.
Holding Kai’s arm, Peter pulled his brother toward their grandmother’s house. Behind him, the storm roared, howling words that Peter couldn’t understand. Trembling, Peter ran, desperate to escape the next blow.
But no further attack came. Blinking rain out of their eyes, Peter and Kai stumbled into their grandmother’s house, slamming the door on the tempest raging outside.
CHAPTER 4
SOMETHING WICKED
KAI
Kai, aching and stinging, tripped over the spiked mace Grandma used as a shoe scraper. As Peter frantically bolted the door, Kai huddled on the ground, trying to get something resembling clarity.
His eyes blurred with salt, and after getting hit with that wave, he felt like he was breathing sand. Something hard hit his shoulder; he realized it was the floor. He’d toppled over without noticing.
Kai sat up, blinking, and Peter sank to the ground and rested his head on his knees. “We’re safe,” Peter wheezed.
For now. The house creaked like the wind was trying to tear the walls off.
Kai rubbed his face with shaking hands and hissed as he brushed raw skin and splinters. He was covered with dirt and sand. His shirt had absorbed what his nose had bled out and was currently acting as a bandage for other cuts and abrasions.
“What was that?” Kai asked.
Peter just shook his head. His own shirt was missing a sleeve, and a huge scrape ran along his chin. He put his head in his hands. “I don’t know. I don’t know. Some kind of sea god? A hallucination?”
Kai snorted. Hallucination? Hallucinations didn’t send waves to flatten forests.
A large splinter stuck out of his thumb. Carefully tugging it out, he thought of his dad, reading Shakespeare’s Macbeth aloud to their family last winter.
By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.
For some reason, that made Kai laugh, which turned into a coughing fit. Water from his hair trickled past his ears, and he thought he’d never feel dry again.
What was that thing? Kai replayed the creature’s arrival in his memory, letting it run all the way to when the wave finally caught the boys. Its power was incredible, a force of nature. What could they do against that?
There was only one thing to do. “Where’s Dad? We need to tell him what happened out there.”
Peter shook his head, spattering Kai with water. “And he’ll do what? What can Dad do that doesn’t end in him getting nearly drowned, too? Besides,” Peter said quietly, “this isn’t our problem.”
Kai couldn’t believe his ears. “Not our—not our problem? Seriously? Were you listening to that … that thing? It said we summoned it!”
“And how do you know it wasn’t lying?” Peter squeezed the handle of Grandma’s shoe scraper mace. “It must have been lying. We didn’t do anything. How could we have called that thing?”
Kai stopped. “I don’t know.”
Peter was right. They didn’t do anything. They went to the lighthouse, but they hadn’t said any spells or lit any candles or whatever else Kai had seen people do on TV when they were summoning monsters or whatever.
Still, Kai couldn’t believe it was a coincidence. “We must have done something. Creatures like that don’t just appear. And it said we brought it back. Why would it lie, right before sending half the harbor down on our heads?”
“I don’t know,” Peter said. “But it doesn’t matter. This isn’t our problem. It’s not.”
“Then whose is it?”
“I don’t know! A wizard, or scientist, or something. Someone who won’t mess it up.”
“Who says we’d mess it up?”
“Kai, we barely got away alive now. We’d fail. I know we would. Let’s just … pretend this didn’t happen, and we got caught in the storm with everyone else. Let someone who knows how to deal with it take it from here.”
Kai looked over at Peter shaking, holding that mace like a lifeline. “Okay,” he said. “But first, we tell Dad.”
“Kai!”
“Dad might know someone who can help. If we don’t say anything, then how would we get a message to them in time? That creature said it was going to drown the land. We can’t just sit by.”
Surely Peter understood that.
Peter opened his mouth, then shut it. “Fine,” he said finally. “But Dad’s not going to believe us.”
“Why not?” Kai used the door to pull himself standing. “I haven’t made a habit of lying to him. Have you?”
As Peter shook his head, Kai led the way toward the stairs. Maybe Dad was up there.
They’d only taken a few steps when the front door flew open and a very soaked Dad and Grandma stepped inside.
“Who bolted the door?” Grandma looked up and smiled at the boys. “See, Alexander, I told you they’d be here.”
Dad rushed over. “We couldn’t find you in the park when the storm started, and you weren’t hunkered down with Sophie at the Fudge Kitchen. Where were you? What happened? Did you get hurt? What happened to your shirt?”
“Kai got a bloody nose at Frisbee,” Peter said.
Dad sniffed. “I smell seawater. Did you go swimming? In the middle of a storm? You should have told us where you were going.”
“We didn’t go swimming, Dad,” Kai said. “We were in the woods.”
“Then why do I smell—Well. I’m glad you’re safe.” Dad smiled at them, which made Kai feel worse.
“We’re not safe, Dad,” Kai said.
Dad’s smile melted. “You want to rephrase that?”
“Not this time. We’re not safe.”
From the living room, Grandma called, “Have you seen this?”
Dad went into the living room, followed by the boys. Grandma was watching the news. On the screen, there was the forest by the park, flattened and splintered.
“What happened?” Grandma breathed.
Dad turned to Kai. “You said you were in the forest?”
“Yeah. We got hit with a tidal wave! I have the scrapes and cuts to prove it!” He held up a cut arm.
“A tidal wave…” Dad shook his head. “That’s impossible.”
“It happened. We’re fine, just a little battered. But there’s more,” Kai said. “There’s a monster in the harbor. Peter and I went to the lighthouse, and when we were there, this … fishy snake guy appeared and told us we summoned him. Then he said he was going to flood the land, um, when did he say, Peter?”
Peter sighed. “Something about when the moon gave him the power to do it.”
Kai nodded. “And that’s when we ran. Through the forest by the park. And he threw a tidal wave at us. It blasted us out of the trees and into the park. I thought I was going to get the skin peeled off my bones, leaving my guts hanging out.”
When Dad looked sick, Kai wished he hadn’t described it so graphically.
Dad looked at Peter. “And you saw this happen, too, Rocky?”
Peter nodded, not even objecting to the nickname.
Now was the moment of truth. Would Dad believe them? Would he know how to help?
Dad pulled Kai, and also Peter, into a hug. Which hurt. “It must have been traumatic. Like a monster’s attack.”
“Dad, we’re not lying, and this isn’t a metaphor,” Kai said. “There really is a monster out there.”
