Cry of the Sea (27 page)

I laughed and agreed to meet him.

When I got off the phone we flipped on the
news radio station and listened for updates on my parents. It was
hard hearing all those reporters say such awful things about my
parents and me. A couple times I punched the button to turn it off,
and we’d all sit in the car silently for a few minutes. Then,
because I couldn’t stand not knowing more, I’d creep my finger back
and turn the damn thing on again. The reporters made me out to be
nothing more than a clever prankster. They flat out made fun of my
mom and all her efforts. They laughed at her attempts to make
Affron the bad guy in this whole mermaid/oil scheme. They said she
and my dad needed to get their hippie liberal noses out of big
business and go live in a tree house somewhere.

“That would be best for the Sawfeather
family,” the talk show host quipped, “because they wouldn’t have
any electricity to make their computers work. You love your
redwoods and screech owls so much? Go live with them.”

I felt really guilty for not being back at
the beach to help my folks fend off these horrible insults, but I
would have been useless to them. Finding the mermaids was the only
thing that would help now. It would help keep my mom’s reputation
and integrity intact, my dad’s mission from failing, and the
mermaids alive.

Before we knew it, we were past Seattle and
heading toward the mountains. The trees were lush and beautiful.
All our cell phones were dying because we hadn’t been able to
recharge them, so I turned mine completely off to save what I had
left for that emergency call to my mom. We finally got to Anacortes
and parked side by side in the ferry lot. Everyone got out
stretching after being cramped up for so many hours.

“You guys drive slow,” Ted said. “I could
have shaved half an hour off our time if I’d been in front.”

“You’d have gotten lost if you were in
front,” Regina snapped. Ted looked like he was about to snap back
at her, but at a glance from her he dropped his head and stared at
his feet. Gary smacked Ted and walked away. I guessed what they had
talked about during their ride and I wondered how long it would
take before Ted listened to Gary and broke up with Princess Regina.
I knew another pretty blonde girl who would treat him a lot
better.

Her Royal Highness looked at me, “So what’s
going on?”

“We’re meeting a reporter here,” I told
her.

“Just one?” She seemed disappointed. “Where
are the rest?”

“Still bugging my mom and dad at the beach.
Haven’t you been listening to the news?”

Marlee sneered. “News? Ugh. Boring. Who
listens to that?”

Carter just threw up his hands and laughed.
“Really? Haley, I don’t get what you see in these people.”

Haley mumbled only loud enough for me to
hear, “Me either.”

I smiled but didn’t let on that I’d heard her
say anything. “Let’s look into the ferry schedule and get some
tickets.” I ushered everyone toward the ticket window.

The lady behind the glass peered over her
bifocals at me. “Shouldn’t you all be in school?”

“We’re in college,” I lied. Carter waved his
college I.D. at her.

“And it’s after 3:00 in the afternoon,”
Regina informed her.

The ticket lady snorted. Maybe everyone under
forty looked like a kid to her.

I asked, “Do you know of an aquarium on one
of the islands?”

“There’s a zoo in Vancouver,” she replied. “I
think they have a small exhibit there of some tropical fish and
amphibians.”

“No,” I said. “That’s not what I mean. I’m
talking about something more like a place where marine biologists
take care of and study sea creatures.”

“I don’t know anything about that,” she
answered plainly. “You still want tickets?”

I paused, not really sure how many tickets to
get. Did we need to take all three cars? “We need at least one for
the pick-up. How long does it take to get to Orcas Island?”

“An hour and a half.”

I turned around and bit my lip as I shook my
head at Carter. “That’s pushing it. What if they close before
4:30?”

“We
never close at 4:30.”

“I don’t want to have come up here for
nothing.”

The lady leaned closer to the window. “Do you
want the tickets or not? The ferry will be here in about fifteen
minutes.”

A loud whirring filled the air, and wind
began to whip at us. The Channel 4 News helicopter lowered into
view and prepared to land in the empty end of the parking lot.

“Ah! My hair!” Regina screamed, frantically
trying to grab her blonde hair with her fists to keep it out of her
face. Marlee screamed too. Gary laughed at the girls, and Ted
turned his back to Regina and also burst out laughing.

I loved it. My hair blew wild like
Pocahontas. I almost broke into a rendition of “Colors of the
Wind”, but Carter grabbed my hand to pull me toward the helicopter.
Juarez Peña stepped out. He was all smiles when he saw me. Chuck
Emory was right behind him, waving.

“Bet you thought I wouldn’t make it,” he
said, patting me on the shoulder.

“Never entered my head,” I lied.

“Well, let’s do this.”

“Do what?” I asked.

“You’re coming with me on the helicopter,” he
informed me, “so we can get there as quickly as possible. The rest
will have to ferry it over.”

Carter raised his hand and pointed at
himself. “Can I come with you?”

“Not enough room.”

He shook his head and blew out some
frustrated air. But just as quickly, he overcame that with his
fabulous smile combined with a wink to me. “You
so
owe me
for this.”

“Whatever you want!” I shouted at him as he
took off toward the others. When I felt certain he was out of
earshot, I added, “I love you!”

But he turned back toward me one more time,
both his arms wide open as if to offer me the world as he walked
backward, and then he brought his hands into his heart before
pivoting back to my high school crew again.

Despite the breeze from the helicopter
blades, I felt hot all over.

“That guy seems like a good one,” Juarez Peña
said to me. “You should hang on to him.”

“I plan to.”

I boarded the helicopter and seconds later we
were over the water. There were a lot of islands; I didn’t know
there were so many. So much for paying attention to state geography
in 4
^th
grade. Peña had the pilot fly us over San Juan
Island just to be sure we were headed to the right place. The rain
from this morning had finally moved out, making it a fairly clear
afternoon for Washington. We had a good view. He pointed out most
of the buildings he saw along the coastline and told me what they
were. Nothing struck him as unfamiliar or new.

Orcas Island is nearly cut in half by East
Sound, and at first I thought it was two separate islands, each as
large as the other. Both halves were equally covered with forest
and not terribly populated. A gorgeous resort area marked the shore
on the southeastern corner of the island, and I really wanted to be
on the ground to check it out. I daydreamed about having a
honeymoon with Carter there.

I had a particularly nice image forming in my
mind of Carter stepping into the hot tub to join me on our secluded
deck, when Peña shouted, “There!” He pointed at something in the
distance, and the pilot swerved the helicopter that direction.

Nearly hidden by trees on one side, a flat,
one-story building jutted into the water as though at least half
the building was floating. I’d heard of a public aquarium in
Monterey, California that had some of the tanks built right into
the ocean, basically cutting off a real slice of Pacific for show.
They had kelp forests and all the indigenous water creatures in
them. What I saw below looked like it might be built in a similar
way, with views that looked straight out into the water. I wondered
how deep the structure went.

“That has to be it,” I agreed.

Peña had the pilot fly the helicopter back to
the resort where we could land it. There wasn’t any place for us
near the aquarium—too much woodland. Plus, the noise of the
helicopter would have brought a lot of attention. Some quick phone
calls were made back to the local news station, and resort staff
met us quickly and provided a van for us to use.

Chuck drove this time while Peña and I kept
an eye out for a sign or driveway that might lead us to that
building we’d seen from the sky. We found ourselves on a two-lane
road that wound along the coast. It was quite thin but well paved,
like it wasn’t terribly old and hadn’t been used too much. We
didn’t see any mile markers or signs for tourists at all.

The two-lane road dead-ended at a small
parking lot for the aquarium, the kind only big enough for the
staff and no guests. It didn’t have any signs on the front of the
building to announce itself, and there hadn’t been anything on the
road for the tourists like “Aquarium” and an arrow pointing the way
to tell of its existence. Most aquariums have murals painted on
them or some flashy architecture to draw the eye and make the place
inviting. Not this place. The building was square, flat and white.
It could be any office building anywhere in the world. This place
was a secret and not meant to be visited. I did catch an address,
however, and I asked Peña to text it to my mother but to let her
know not to do anything yet.

I wished Carter was here with us, but I
figured the gang was still a good forty minutes out. I turned on my
phone long enough to text him our location, so they’d know where to
go after they landed. Then I shut the phone back off again, hoping
my directions were enough to get them to the right place.

As I got out of the van, Chuck reached for
his camera.

“No,” I said. “Don’t come in with me yet. I’m
still going to try my Invited Intern routine and see if it can gain
me some access. I need you guys to wait out here for the others or
until I call for help.”

“I think we should go in there guns blazing,”
Chuck said. “Don’t give them time to hide anything.”

Juarez patted Chuck on the knee to calm him
down. “We’ll wait, June, but not for long. We’ll be right outside
the door. If we don’t hear from you in a reasonable time, we’re
barging in.”

I agreed, hoping that a reasonable amount of
time was more than a minute or two. I didn’t have any idea what I
was getting into.

Two thin windows flanked the unremarkable
front door of the building, and I couldn’t see much through them.
The beauty of the interior instantly took me aback when I stepped
inside. The hardwood floors shined between ornate floor rugs; the
walls were painted in gorgeous sunset colors with tropical fish
aquariums built right into them. Compared to the drab and nearly
invisible exterior of the building, the colors and richness of this
front lobby was vivid and unexpected. The lobby ran the entire
width of the building with a receptionist desk smack dab in the
center, featuring one lone woman who put down her novel when I came
through the door.

She looked exactly like I imagined with the
bob haircut and sweater. I had it right except her nose was much
bigger.

“Yes, you’ve missed the hiking trail by a
couple miles,” she answered as though certain that was my question
because she’d been asked a hundred times before. “All you have to
do is go back down the road and watch for the small brown marker
sign. It’ll be on the right hand side of the road. You kind of have
to look for it, because it is too low down, in my opinion.”

Honestly, I almost said “Oh, thanks. I’ll be
sure to look for it” and walked out. My tongue felt thick in my
mouth as it hit me that I really didn’t have any idea what the heck
I was doing. But I didn’t turn around and leave. I kept walking
toward her.

“I’m uh... not looking for a hiking trail.”
Her eyebrows went up with curiosity, but her chin plopped down on
her hand as though there was nothing I could say that would be
something she hadn’t heard before. “I’m here to see Dr. Carl
Schneider.”

The boredom fled as alarm filled her eyes
instead. I wondered if the receptionist knew who I was. Could she
remember my voice as well as I remembered hers? Had she told
anybody about the call?

“I’m afraid Dr. Schneider is busy at the
moment,” the receptionist said too smoothly.

I didn’t want to look like I didn’t know what
do next. I placed my hands on the front of the desk and leaned in
to the receptionist. “Look,” I commanded. “I am Juniper Sawfeather.
You may have heard of me. I have a news crew outside from Channel
Four, and they really want to get in here to see if I’m right about
some secret research Dr. Schneider and your people are doing. If
you don’t want me to call them in this very second, you will direct
me to Dr. Schneider or whoever he works for right now.”

The receptionist craned her head past me to
look through the thin windows beside the front door. Juarez Peña
stood there with a news camera in his hands and waved at her.

The woman’s fingers trembled as she pushed
the intercom button. “Sir? A Juniper Sawfeather is here to see you
and Dr. Schneider. She’s here with Channel 4 News television.” She
paused to listen. “Yes sir. I’ll send her right down.” The
receptionist took her finger off the button and slipped both hands
under the desk where I couldn’t see them fidget. “Mr. Cortlandt
will see you in his office.”

A door opened down toward the far left of the
lobby, and another woman that I guessed was Mr. Cortlandt’s
personal secretary motioned for me to follow her. She led me
through a curving hallway of closed doors and steps that went ever
downward. Not a sound emanated from any of the offices we passed,
making me wonder if anyone was here. I noticed that the place was
devoid of any music. A deep silence filled the air that made me too
aware of how fast I was breathing. The secretary opened the last
door at the end of the hall for me and gestured for me to step
inside. I did and she closed it behind me, leaving me alone with
Mr. Cortlandt who sat at his desk facing away from me.