Emily Windsnap and the Monster From the Deep (15 page)

I knew this archway! I’d seen it before, or another one very much like it, when I was taken to Neptune’s courtroom. “This is one of Neptune’s palaces, isn’t it?” I asked, shuddering as I realized we were swimming over a mosaic shaped like a mass of tentacles.

The merman didn’t reply.

Through the arch, a chandelier hung from a high ceiling, jangling with the water’s rocking. That confirmed my fear. Neptune had found me.

We ducked low to swim through a smaller
arch, adorned, like the others, with elaborate jewels. A wooden door lay ahead. The merman paused to neaten his hair. Then he turned a shiny brass handle and nudged me inside.

We were in a small room. A stone desk embedded with shells took up half the space. Conches and oyster shells lay scattered on its surface. Next to it, an old merman turned as we came into the room. He had a scraggly beard and dark eyes that stared at me, holding me still.

“What’s this you’ve found, Kyle?” the merman asked in a deep grumble. As he spoke, he stroked something lying very, very still by his side. It looked like a giant snake. Greeny yellow with purple teddy bear eyes, its gills slowly opening and closing as its mouth did the same, it swayed its head gently around to face me. A moray eel!

I opened and closed my mouth too, rigid with fear. Nothing came out.

“She was trespassing, sir,” Kyle answered briskly.

“Untie her. She won’t try leaving here in a hurry, if she has any sense.” The old merman smiled at his pet. It leered back, stretching up almost as tall as him.

Kyle clenched his sharp jaw into a scowl as he pulled at the fishing line. I rubbed my wrists. “Tell us how you got here,” he demanded.

“I don’t know!” I said, tearing my eyes away from the eel. “I don’t even know where I am. I had an accident, got lost, and you found me.” Then, trying to control the quiver in my voice, I added, “Can I go home?”

“Home?” The old merman leaned toward me. The eel rolled its neck down into a spiral and closed its eyes. “And where would that be?”

I looked away from him. “Allpoints Island.”

The two of them exchanged a look. What was it? Shock?

“Allpoints Island?” Kyle blurted out. “So you know about —”

“Kyle!” the old merman snapped. “I’ll handle this.”

“Of course. Sorry.” Kyle drew back, bowing slightly.

Pausing briefly to pat the moray, the old merman swam toward me. “Now then,” he said in a voice as slimy as the eel, “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced. I’m Nathiel. And you are . . . ?”

“Why should I tell you who I am?” I said, my heart bashing against my chest. “Why won’t you let me go? What are you going to do with me?”

Nathiel laughed and turned away. “Questions, questions. Where shall we start, Kyle?”

Kyle shuffled his tail, pulling on his necklace. “Um . . .”

Nathiel waved him away. “Very well, little girl. I’ll tell you who we are. Seeing as you’ve been kind enough to drop in. We are your biggest fear . . . or your greatest protectors. Depending on how you view your situation at this moment.”

“You’re not my biggest fear,” I said, my heart thumping. “My biggest fear is much worse than you!”

“Oh yes?” Nathiel swam back toward me, no trace of kindness or favor on his face. He twitched his head and the eel rose up, uncoiling itself to slither along behind him. I flinched as it stretched almost up to my face.

“Do you know how powerful we are?” Nathiel asked in a quiet, biting voice. I shook my head quickly, without taking my eyes off the eel. “We are Neptune’s chosen ones, his elite force, the only ones he trusts with his most prized possession.” Nathiel edged an inch closer to me, his cold eyes shining into mine. “We, little visitor, are the kraken keepers.”

A million questions jammed into my mind. “The kraken keepers? But if you’re — but it’s —”

Nathiel laughed, a throaty sound that echoed around the room. The eel slowly stretched up. It was about three times taller than me.
Please don’t open your mouth, please don’t open your mouth,
I prayed silently as its jaw twitched.

With another click of Nathiel’s fingers, the eel slithered to the back of the room, folding itself once more into a perfect coil.

“Now,” Nathiel said, “that’s my side of the introductions. I think it’s time we heard a little more about you. You see, we know quite a bit about Allpoints Island, don’t we, Kyle?”

Kyle swam forward. Copying Nathiel’s sneer, he replied, “Neptune tells us everything.”

“That’s right. So, for example, he tells us about merfolk who break his laws.” Nathiel swam farther forward. “Merfolk who go meddling in places they shouldn’t,” he added, edging closer still, his nostrils flaring. “Merfolk who WAKE his beloved KRAKEN!” he shouted.

“But, I — how did you know?” I cried. My body was shaking. Water frothed around my tail. I tried to make it lie still.

Kyle stared at Nathiel. “Yes. How did you?”

“I
didn’t
know!” Nathiel replied. “Swam right into it, didn’t she? Come on, Kyle. What do you get if you add the kraken on the loose, an island full of merfolk who know nothing about it, and a scared merchild clearly running away from trouble? It’s a simple case of mathematics.”

“So we’ve found her?” Kyle said.

“We’ve done good work.” Nathiel patted Kyle’s
arm. “Neptune will be very pleased with us. Very pleased indeed.”

“Neptune? You’re going to tell him?” My voice quivered.

“Of course! That is the whole point. Don’t you realize the danger we are all in, you foolish girl?”

“But Neptune! He’ll be furious with me.”

“You think we give a fin about that?” Kyle snapped. “We need you. All of us. There’s more than just yourself to consider.”

“What do you mean? What use am I to you?”

Nathiel shook his head. “Kyle, I’ve had enough of this whining. I think it’s time we got the boss in.”

“The boss? Neptune? He’s coming here?” I squeaked.

“Not Neptune, no. One of his most trusted aides.” Nathiel picked up a conch. Turning away from me, he spoke softly into it. I couldn’t hear what he said. I quickly scanned the room, looking for an escape. My eyes met the eel’s.
Try it,
they seemed to say. I shivered back against the wall.

“He’ll be along very shortly.” Nathiel put the conch down and tidied some shells on his desk.

A moment later, the door opened. I squeezed my eyes shut in terror. Someone was swimming
toward me. I bit my lip as hard as I could, forcing tears away.

“Well, what have we here, then?” a voice said. A creepy voice.

A very familiar voice.

My eyes snapped open to see a crooked smile, an odd pair of eyes: one green, one blue. A scruffy-looking merman who wasn’t all he seemed. Here he was again, all the way from Brightport.

It couldn’t be! The so-called lighthouse keeper. Mom’s so-called friend who was anything but that in reality.

“Hello, Emily,” said Mr. Beeston.

He turned to the others. “Good work, both of you,” he said, snapping something around my wrists. Handcuffs made from lobster’s legs! They bit and scratched at me.

Then he pushed me toward the door. “I’ll take over now,” he said before turning back to give me another of his lopsided smiles. “It’s time we were reacquainted.”

How could they let this happen? Twice! I can’t
believe
my parents! My dad. It’s all his fault. I can’t believe I agreed to this nightmare vacation in the first place.

We’re hanging on to our useless, broken boat, lying across it, gripping onto ropes. Only problem is, it’s upside down! How long before it sinks and we
totally
end our vacation in style? I grab the rope tighter as the swells carry us up and down. My stomach seesaws with them.

Are we through that, that whatever it was, that great big sheet of glass in the middle of the ocean?

And the other thing.

I refuse to think about it. It didn’t happen. Mom and Dad haven’t mentioned it. I must have imagined it. Delirious, that’s what I am. It was probably just the waves. Or a vision, because I’d seen it before. Yes. That’s it. Definitely. A mirage.

There’s nothing to worry about. I’m just cracking up.

“Maureen, Mandy — look!” Dad lets go of the rope with one hand and points out to sea.

It’s a ship. Coming toward us!

“Wave! Both of you! Splash your feet!” Dad yells. For the first time in our lives, Mom and I do what he says without arguing.

The ship’s coming closer and closer. Have they seen us? They
must
have! There’s nothing except us moving for miles all around. We’re kicking and yelling, every atom of hope screaming out of us.

“I can’t splash anymore, Dad. My legs are killing me.” I stop kicking for a moment while I catch my breath. The ship’s stopped moving. They haven’t seen us, after all. That’s it. There’s nothing we can do now. The realization slams into my mind like a block of ice: we’re going to die.

But then I notice something attached to the ship.

“Look!”

They’re lowering a lifeboat into the water! It’s coming to get us.

We’ve been saved!

Mr. Beeston unhooked the lobster claws from my wrists and pulled out a couple of jelly-like cushions. He motioned for me to sit down on one of them while settling himself on the other. I’d hardly ever seen him as a merman. He was half-human and half-merperson like me, the only other one I’d met. He looked just as creepy either way, with his crooked teeth and his crooked smile and the odd-colored eyes that stared at you from the corners.

We were in a bubble-shaped room. It felt like the inside of a huge round shell. No windows, just one small hole divided by thick metal bars. Tiny chinks of light threw pencil-thin beams across the darkness. A black damselfish with
fluorescent purple spots and a bright yellow tail weaved between the rays.

I tried to stay calm. My mind wouldn’t stop racing, though. What were they going to do with me? Would anyone find me? Dad? Shona? Were they looking for me? And what about Mom and Millie? My heart ached at the thought of them on that ship. They’d be miles away by now.

“What are you doing here?” I asked in a daze. Among the millions of questions racing around in my head, it was the only one I could seem to form into words.