Secrets of Stone and Sea, page 9
“But why sing about sinking?” asked Peter.
“Perhaps it was a way to whistle in the dark,” Grandma said. “Sailing was a dangerous job, and maybe singing about danger made them feel more comfortable with it.”
“Wait, doesn’t Seaspire have a chantey about the Sea—I mean, the creature attacking us?” Peter remembered Grandma singing it.
Now Grandma looked a little uneasy. “Oh yes, that one.”
“Can we hear it? It might be important.”
“Perhaps,” Grandma said. “All right. A sailor came to the stony point, bringing his loaf of bread…”
It was wild hearing a chantey about the ritual that raised Poseidon, or the Sea, as he preferred to be called. Especially one that was so catchy.
Grandma struck the ground with her cane in rhythm as she sang. The words’ beats varied, with some lines having more syllables than others, but under it all a regular beat in sets of four and three kept the song thrumming like an even heartbeat. By the second verse, Kai joined in, singing with Grandma on the chorus. Peter found himself walking to the rhythm. No wonder sailors used the songs to stay in time with one another!
Once Grandma finished, Kai pushed her to sing it again, so he could learn it. Meanwhile, Peter listened for clues about the Sea and how to defeat it, but soon gave up when he realized the chantey was only about the ritual. It seemed MacHale’s poems would be more useful now. So he just kept an eye on the harbor.
All seemed at peace. Kai was better at spotting patterns, but Peter would have noticed anything strange, and he didn’t. Just the gently gray sky and the passersby talking and laughing.
Slow but sure, Grandma led them from end to end of the horseshoe-shaped harbor. Every so often, her phone would ring, but she’d silence it, smile at them, and say, “I’ll deal with that later.”
It was Dad. Peter was sure of it.
Ignoring the frequent phone calls, Grandma and the boys explored, stopping at important sites like Hammond Castle. They even took a ferry out to Ten Pound Island to see its lighthouse. A salty breeze mussed Peter’s hair, and he developed a small blister on his right heel. They walked all day, eating the sandwiches and chips that Grandma had packed, and searching the harbor for any kind of clue.
Gloucester Harbor seemed to be the place to spot marine wildlife; Peter hadn’t seen these numbers of crabs at Seaspire’s beach. Blue ones, that Grandma said were common.
But the shadows lengthened, and the sky turned grayish blue, and they’d found nothing. Grandma, Kai, and Peter returned to Eastern Point Lighthouse in one final sweep of the harbor and to sit with a takeout dinner of burgers and fries.
“Let’s take our food over to the Dog Bar. That’s it right there,” Grandma said, gesturing to a long pierlike structure of gray stone. “Maybe we’ll see something.”
“We checked the Dog Bar this morning,” Kai grumbled. “And again after lunch. We didn’t see anything then. Why is everything in this area named after dogs, anyway?”
But they went, Grandma sighing with relief and rubbing her leg as they sat. It was quiet, all other visitors gone for the day. A crab clacked its claws at her. A few drops of light rain began to fall.
As Peter nibbled his burger, he couldn’t help feeling a bit cheated. No clues to the next seal found. The thought surprised him. He didn’t really want to find the seal and get deeper into this nightmare, did he?
If he did, it was only because he was curious. He wanted to know what was hiding beneath the layers of history and myth, whatever had made him able to activate the seals and Kai to read every language.
There was something there. He could feel, like, ripples in the harbor as something huge and scaly swam beneath the waves.
It took a moment for Peter to realize the metaphor hadn’t come to him from thin air. Waves lapped against the stone of the bar, stirred by something Peter couldn’t see. Peter crumpled his burger wrapper and stood up.
The boats had stopped coming back or going out for the night. But there, under the water, something was creating a wake.
Whatever was making that wake had to be at least fifty feet long. It curled and circled, as flexible as ribbon. Peter’s neck broke out in goose bumps. Submarines and boats didn’t move like that.
Was this their clue? Or was it the seal itself? Kai didn’t see it, busy as he was peeling pickles off his burger.
This movement could be writing the binding word. After all, it wasn’t like only Kai could see the hieroglyph. Peter searched the water, watching the movement. Was it creating an ancient symbol as it wrote a wake on the water?
How would he know? But it didn’t matter. Touching it would either work, activating the seal and finishing their work for the day, or have no effect. Peter laid his palm against the harbor’s surface.
The movement stopped, the waves healing the wake. And then, the wake grew, sharper and stronger, as the thing creating it charged straight at Peter.
Stumbling backward, Peter grabbed Kai and Grandma. “Run! Run!”
“Huh? What is it?” Kai asked.
Something huge thumped against the stone bar, shaking it.
Sea serpent. There’s supposed to be one here.
Peter almost fell. Kai collapsed, dropping his burger. Grandma frowned. “I don’t understand,” she said. “From what I’ve heard, the serpent is supposed to be friendly, especially to children.”
“Clearly it’s not. Run!” Peter said. The waves on the sea side of the bar churned with action.
Kai scrambled to his feet and grabbed a knife Grandma offered. But he, like Peter, turned to run.
Water splashed across the bar, soaking their shoes, as the serpent rose.
In better light, it may have shone like gold. But under the gentle rain, at night, the serpent looked greenish. Gills extended from both sides of its huge, flat head. It rose, mouth gaping to reveal fangs as long as Peter’s hand.
It and the Sea could be friends, or maybe even relatives.
“Go!” Kai said, pushing Peter.
Another wave washed over the stone, almost knocking Peter to the ground. But Grandma grabbed him under the arm and hauled him to his feet. “We need to get to land,” she said. She started to run, but her limp slowed her pace.
Land seemed so far away. Would anyone from town even be able to see that they were being attacked by a sea serpent? And if they did, would anyone believe it?
The serpent hissed and crashed its tail against the bar, right behind them.
The giant snake sank back into the water. But it wasn’t done. Peter could see it swimming beside the bar, a bronze glimmer under the dark water. It was fast.
It was faster than they were.
Grandma reached into her bag and grabbed a knife. She threw it at the snake. It bounced off scales below its head. The creature recoiled, hissing.
Grandma had bought them some time.
“Go ahead!” Grandma said. But Peter wouldn’t. Not when Grandma’s leg slowed her down. He stayed back with Kai, helping support Grandma, as water sloshed over the bar.
They’d almost reached the end of the bar, almost back to sturdy land, when the serpent, recovered, loomed ahead of them.
“Whoa!” Kai stopped, throwing out his knife arm in front of Peter. Good thing the blade was angled away from him.
Buckets of water splashed over the stone, but that was nothing compared to the scaly coils that slithered out of the ocean, looping back and forth on the path ahead of them.
The only path to land.
Grandma pointed. “The water. We have to swim for it. It’s not far.”
“No way!” Peter said. “That thing lives in the water.”
“But it’s on land now,” Grandma said, wadding up the weapons bag.
Peter and Kai shared a look, but they followed their grandmother. All three dived into the water as the sea serpent roared ahead of them.
Peter’s nose burned as salt water filled it. The freezing waves of the nighttime harbor seemed to grow as he swam with everything he had back to land.
Was the water churning more? Was the wind stronger? Why did it feel like he was swimming in a storm? And, even worse, was the serpent back in the water, pursuing them, when Peter didn’t have time or energy to look back?
A loud hiss split the air. Peter, squeezing his eyes closed, poured all his attention into swimming. He paddled, sensing a giant snake behind him, knowing that any second now, he’d feel those fangs and that would be the end—
Someone grabbed him by the shirt and arms and pulled him up. Opening his eyes, Peter saw Grandma and Kai holding his arms, both soaking, both on land. Like he was.
The serpent’s tail vanished into the water. In a moment, it was like it had never been there.
Cold seawater ran down Peter’s neck and back and into his shoes. He shivered. “It worked. How?”
“I don’t know,” Kai said. “I stabbed at it, but I’m pretty sure I missed.”
Peter frowned. It was like the serpent had just let them go. But why would it do that, when its prey was in easy reach?
Grandma sighed and opened her soaked bag. “I just lost a knife, and I’ll have to clean the salt water off the others. Perhaps this was a mistake. We should go home. Regroup, and see if your dad has found anything.”
Kai stomped a soggy foot. “We spent all day looking for a clue, and we just got one! We can’t give up now.”
A clue. Yes. Why did the serpent attack now? It was minding its own business until Peter tried to activate what he thought was the seal. The serpent struck then. So maybe it was protecting the seal?
Which meant the seal had to be here, or near here. The serpent let them go when they went back to land, so it would have to be on the sea, right?
Peter walked to the harbor mouth. The lighthouse flashed behind him, still working after more than a century. The beam illuminated the falling rain and the dark waves of the open ocean.
For a minute. And then, as Peter watched, the light flickered and died. The ocean was black with night.
A glow like moonlight appeared on the waves.
A ship.
A gently glowing, ghostly ship.
CHAPTER 12
THE CHARLES HASKELL
KAI
As Kai argued with Grandma, his twin stepped out to the beach.
“Look,” Peter whispered, pointing.
Kai looked out over the water, as did Grandma. There was an old-fashioned ship there. And it was glowing.
“The Charles Haskell,” Grandma breathed.
“That’s it,” Kai said. “That’s what we came here for.”
Grandma squeezed Kai’s shoulder. “We need a boat,” she said. “Stay here, and don’t let the Haskell out of your sight. I’ll be right back to pick you up.”
Cane scratching at sand, Grandma hobbled down the beach. A few blue crabs scrabbled away as she passed them.
For several minutes, Kai and Peter didn’t speak. They watched the ghostly ship out in the waves and listened to the rain fall on the sand. Every so often, though, Kai could have sworn he heard something else. Something like music, floating over the water.
A moment later, he jolted. “The boat’s sailing away.”
“Just spotted that, did you?” Peter was shivering.
“How long does it take to get a boat?” Probably a long time. Grandma had to walk to town on her bad leg, find a boat rental open this late, and then get the boat out here. By the time she came back, the ship would be long gone.
They needed another ride out to the ship. And they had to remember to avoid the sea serpent.
Or did they? Kai had an idea.
A bad idea, but still, time was of the essence.
“Come here,” he said, pulling Peter to the Dog Bar. They stopped just before stepping onto the stone pier.
“We were out here earlier, and the snake didn’t attack,” Kai said. “What changed?”
Peter sighed. “I touched the water. I thought maybe I could activate the seal.”
Kai nodded. His heart thumped. “Do it again.”
“What?” Peter looked at Kai like he just said hungry sharks made great swimming buddies.
“Do it again. Look. I think the serpent is protecting the boat. It’s out there now. We can ride it there.”
“It attacked us, Kai! It’s a creature of the ocean.”
“Which is why it will come back here if you touch the water. We can’t let that ship get away!” Kai clenched his hand around Grandma’s old dagger. “If you have a better plan, tell me now.”
Peter muttered something about “wait for Grandma” and “not become snake food,” but then he looked at the ship and sighed. He took one step onto the bar and, still muttering, put his hand on the water again.
The waves spiked as the snake returned. It rose out of the water and bared its fangs at the boys.
Kai pulled Peter off the bar, and they watched the serpent lose interest and turn, heading to open water.
“Now,” Kai whispered.
As the long, golden body moved past him, Kai leaped onto it, wrapping his arms around the slick scales. Just behind him, Peter did the same.
Kai braced for the serpent to buck them off, but the snake had a different plan. It dived into the water, and Kai barely managed to hold his breath in time.
The water, choppy on the surface, calmed to a cold stillness beneath the waves, and the serpent dived deeper. This might have been a mistake, Kai thought as his lungs ached, then burned, then full-on screamed at him. He thought the serpent would carry them to the ship, but it looked like he was wrong. Maybe he should have planned this better.
Could Peter hold his breath long enough?
Kai held on until he couldn’t take it anymore. Kicking Peter to get his attention, Kai let go of the snake and swam for the surface. When he reached it, he gulped for air. Peter surfaced next to him, doing the same.
“Great idea, Kai,” Peter said, spitting out seawater. “I can’t imagine why I ever thought letting Grandma bring a boat would be a better idea.”
“Shh. Look.” The ghost ship was only a short swim away. He had been right all along!
Peter looked impressed. “All right, let’s go.”
The blowing wind froze Kai’s ears. The waves grew, filling the air with a rushing, roaring sound.
“Let’s hurry. I don’t think the Sea likes us being here,” Kai said.
“Well, it does claim the water as its own,” Peter said.
As the wind and waves grew, Kai and Peter struggled to catch the Charles Haskell. But, exhausted, Kai managed to get close enough to cling on to a trailing rope. It felt sturdy and real enough, even though it was glowing.
The boys used the rope to hoist themselves out of the stormy water. As soon as they left the sea, the water calmed.
Kai climbed, hand over hand, up the side of the ship, until he was able to clamber over the railing and onto the deck. Peter, soaking wet, dropped beside him.
The Charles Haskell glowed with an unearthly luster that resembled the light from a full moon, though it was still cloudy and raining. Water glazed the gleaming deck, and as the ocean rocked the ship, wooden beams creaked and sighed.
But those weren’t the only sounds. Kai heard ropes and sails snapping tight. Heavy objects moving. Fish slapping against the wood. And voices. Men, calling to one another. Even singing.
The song seemed to echo in his own heartbeat.
Kai looked at Peter, who had a hand to his ear. “I hear it,” Peter said.
“It really is a haunted ship.” Running a hand along the railing, Kai walked around the deck, stepping carefully. What if he walked through a ghost? Would he even know if he had?
“That’s not good,” Peter said. “The trees attacked us in Dogtown. I don’t want to know what ghosts we can’t even see could do to us.”
That was a good point. “Then let’s get that seal and get out of here.”
Peter nodded, and the boys moved together to the center of the ship.
The light dimmed. At first, Kai wondered if a cloud had passed over the moon, before he wiped the rain from his eyes and remembered there was no moon.
“Kai!” Peter grabbed on to him as Kai’s foot reached the deck—and then kept going.
“Whoa!” Kai fell into Peter’s arms, staring into the gaping hole that had appeared in front of him. Below, under the ship, the water rushed with the Sea’s wrath.
All around, the ship’s light dimmed and grew as patches of the ship disappeared and reappeared.
The boys hurried back to the edge of the boat and grasped the railing.
“It’s fading,” Kai whispered. “The ship is fading.”
“It wasn’t a real ship, anyway,” Peter said, his eyes huge. “But what are we going to do?”
“Find the seal.” But how?
Last time, at Dogtown, there was a pattern. The trees, all fallen the same way, led the way to finding the seal. Kai was certain there was a marker here, too. He just had to find it.
Kai spread his stance and held on to the railing. If a patch disappeared, he should still have enough stability to save himself. Now, to find a pattern.
The deck shimmered and danced as pieces appeared and disappeared. Kai searched. The floor vanished under Peter, who yelled and scrambled to grab Kai.
“Got you!” Kai reached, but he was too late. Peter’s hand slipped past his as Peter fell through the missing deck toward the water below.
No, no, no!
Should he jump after Peter? He had to do something!
“Oof!”
Peter had landed on his back on a lower deck. A patch of the ship to Peter’s left started to reappear, and Peter, frantic, rolled to it as the space under him vanished.
“I’m fine,” Peter called up, and Kai sagged with relief.
Three seconds later, Peter had to roll back to the previous spot as the vanished patch switched places again.
The deck under Kai shifted at the same time, but this time, Kai let go and slid down the side of the ship to meet Peter below.
The floor under Kai opened up, revealing the sea, but Peter, now on his knees, grabbed Kai’s shirt and pulled him to the side.
