Arthur Quinn and the World Serpent (7 page)

She pulled air into her lungs and gasped appreciatively. ‘Thank you, thank you so much.'

‘We're not out yet,' said Arthur.

‘I'm so sorry,' Will said. ‘I got us into this.' He looked to be on the verge of tears.

‘It's all right, we'll get out,' Arthur said, trying to comfort them, although not feeling so sure himself.

‘What are we going to do?' cried Ash. ‘We'll never be able to hold our breath long enough to swim back to the ladder and this air pocket isn't going to last forever!'

Arthur could see the panic welling in both his friends and racked his brains to come up with a plan. Suddenly he had it. ‘Do you remember what my dad said in the office about the Poddle?' Will and Ash shook their heads dumbly. ‘It runs into the Liffey – that's where these waves are coming from, and from the force of them the entrance must be fairly nearby. We can get out that way instead.' The air pocket was now rapidly disappearing and they had to lean their heads back just to catch a breath.

‘It's better than waiting here to drown,' gasped Ash. ‘Let's try it.'

‘Great. But right now we should take a deep breath.'

‘Why?' They turned around to see a third wave rushing towards them. They just had time to grab hold of each other with one hand and brace themselves against the wall with the other when the wave smashed into them knocking them all back under the water.

Toppling head over heels through the water, Arthur was sure that these would be his last few minutes alive. He thought of Joe, wandering around back on the surface, probably looking for him and wondering where he'd gotten to. He thought of Miss Keegan, the young teacher who was sure to get into huge trouble now that three of her pupils had gone missing. He thought of his mother. Then in the darkness, he saw a rapidly approaching pinpoint of light. For a moment Arthur thought, this is it. I'm dying and that's Heaven. But it wasn't Heaven. It was even better!

It was an archway. And through the archway was the outside world and the River Liffey. This was the point where the Poddle joined the Liffey. For a moment his heart soared and then they crashed into the iron grate that covered the archway, something Arthur hadn't anticipated. Still underwater, the three of them looked up through the Liffey and saw the bright blue sky, sunlight filtered but glorious, yet horribly unattainable.

As more water rushed from behind them, Arthur pushed desperately at the grate. It didn't budge. He pulled at it: still no movement. He started shaking it, panicking. It would be terrible to come so close to survival and for it all to end here. Ash saw what he was trying to do and wrapped her hands around the grate just below Arthur's, pulling at it with him. It remained firmly stuck in place. Then Will joined in the fight. They all closed their eyes, grunting, putting all their strength behind them, praying that the grate would open. Suddenly there was a blinding flash of green light. It was so bright they could still see it behind their eyelids when they closed their eyes. And with that flash, the grate fell apart in their hands. It crumbled as if it was nothing more than a biscuit that had been over-dipped in tea and fell to the riverbed.

For a brief moment, Arthur, Ash and Will forgot that they were in mortal danger and just looked at the pieces of the grate floating down into the depths of the Liffey. Then the sunlight caught Arthur's eye. He gestured upwards and they swam to the surface, inhaled deeply and found that they had emerged in the heart of Dublin.

‘You are in so much trouble, Mister!' Joe said when he came into the hospital ward. He fell to his knees and wrapped his arms adoringly around Arthur. ‘So much trouble.'

When they'd surfaced in the River Liffey, some Japanese tourists taking photos from the Ha'penny Bridge had spotted them. They ran around to the boardwalk and threw a lifebuoy in. Arthur, Will and Ash each clung onto the floating ring with one arm as the tourists pulled them in. They climbed an iron ladder to dry land and safety.

‘Lucky I took swimming lessons last summer,' Ash remarked as they climbed, ‘although Max refused to learn.'

A passing garda saw the kerfuffle and instantly called for a squad car. They piled in through the back door of the car, soaking the seat in the process. With sirens ringing and blue lights flashing, the car sped off to the nearby St James's Hospital. En route, the garda sitting in the passenger seat had questioned them, asking how they'd ended up in the river and what adults had been taking care of them. Between them they'd explained as well as they could: being curious about the underground river, the tide coming in, escaping to the Liffey. Naturally, they'd left out the part about the mysterious pendant. Satisfied with their answers, the garda had radioed the station, asking that Joe Quinn at Citi-Trak and Miss Keegan be informed of the children's whereabouts.

When they'd reached St James's Accident and Emergency Department, a nurse hurriedly ushered them into hot showers and left out warm hospital pyjamas for them. They were sitting in a small and empty canteen the nurses used, sipping hot chocolate, wearing the pyjamas with towels wrapped around their shoulders when Joe, Miss Keegan and the two engineers, Ruairí and Deirdre, all rushed in.

‘So, so, so much trouble,' Joe said again as he kissed Arthur on the forehead.

‘What were you all thinking?' demanded Miss Keegan standing behind Joe.

‘We … we weren't,' Ash said.

‘Whose idea was it?'

Arthur and Ash's eyes met in silence. Will was about to speak up when Arthur interrupted him. ‘All of ours,' he said. Will looked in surprise at the other two. There was now a plaster over his left eyebrow where he'd knocked his head in the tunnel.

‘I'm so sorry, Joe,' said Deirdre.

‘We both are,' added Ruairí. ‘We don't know how they got away from us.'

‘You were just distracted,' Ash said, then quickly added, ‘by some other kids. It wasn't their fault, Mr Quinn.'

‘Well, you're all okay now. Apart from the odd cut or bruise. But either way, it was a really stupid and dangerous thing to do,' said Joe, getting to his feet and totally missing the secret glances between the three children. He turned to the engineers. ‘You two can go back to the site. Thanks for coming with us but it looks like we've got everything under control here.'

They told Joe to give them a call if he needed anything, nodded quick goodbyes to the kids and left. On their way out, they met a garda coming into the canteen.

‘Excuse me,' he said, standing in the doorway, ‘Mr Quinn? Miss Keegan? Can I speak to you for a minute?'

‘We'll be right back,' said Miss Keegan, pointing her finger at all three of them. ‘Don't go looking for any underground rivers while we're away.' They stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind them.

‘Thank you,' said Will. ‘You didn't have to do that.'

‘It's as much our fault for following you,' Arthur said.

They sat in silence for a moment before Ash said, ‘Your dad didn't seem too angry. Mine will kill me when he finds out I lost my new phone. Plus all the life-endangering stuff.'

‘He's just relieved now,' said Arthur, ‘but when we get home he'll probably ground me for life.' He turned to Will. ‘What about your dad?'

‘My dad's dead.'

‘Oh, I …'

‘It's okay. He died a few years ago. In a car crash.'

‘I'm so sorry, Will. I … I know how it feels.'

‘You do?' asked Ash.

‘Yeah, I do. My … my mum passed away in … in March.' Out of habit, he fingered the ribbon tied around his wrist.

‘Oh, Arthur!' She laid her hand over his. ‘I kind of guessed but didn't want to ask.'

‘It's tough,' said Will. He looked at Arthur directly, tears glistening in his eyes. ‘And it doesn't get much easier with time.'

Arthur nodded.

‘I'm sorry,' Will said.

‘It's okay.'

‘No. I'm sorry for how I acted.' He put his hand out to Arthur. ‘Fresh start, Artie?'

‘It's Arthur.'

‘Fresh start, Arthur?'

Arthur took Will's hand and shook it firmly, optimistically. ‘Fresh start, Will.'

Just then he remembered the pendant. He picked up his soaking trousers from where they'd been lying by his feet and pulled the pendant out of the pocket. It hadn't been damaged by the flood, but then it had probably spent years under the water anyway, maybe hundreds of years. Even though it was no larger than the palm of his hand, it felt heavy – or rather, heavier than it should have been. Denser, somehow. Will and Ash shuffled their seats in for a closer look.

‘Can I see it?' Ash put out her hand and Arthur gave it to her. She held it up and scrutinised it.

‘It looks like bronze,' said Will. Ash offered it to him but he declined. She looked at it again.

‘Well, it's definitely some kind of pendant for a necklace,' she said, handing it back to Arthur, ‘but what's with the rope and the tree?'

‘It's not a rope,' Arthur said. ‘Look closer. It's a snake. See? There's the mouth and the fangs.'

‘Oh yeah. It kind of gives me the creeps. And it's weird the way it was stuck down there in the tunnel wall. It looked like it was put there on purpose, but why would anyone do that? And who? The Vikings maybe? Your dad did mention that Vikings used the Poddle years ago.'

‘Could be. But what I'm most curious about is that weird flash that made the grate fall out.'

‘Yeah, what was that?' exclaimed Will.

‘I thought it was just my imagination. Or that I'd knocked my head,' Ash said. ‘But it really happened, didn't it?'

Just then Joe and Miss Keegan re-entered the room. Arthur quickly hid the pendant in the top pocket of his pyjamas.

‘Let's go home,' Joe said.

Joe had taken a half day from work and now drove Ash and Arthur home. Miss Keegan gave Will a lift; when the three had gone missing, the class had been dismissed early for the day, she'd explained.

When they reached their estate, Ash ran into her house; only Stace and Max were home this early and both were very confused to see their sister wearing flannel pyjamas and carrying her soaking school uniform in a plastic bag.

When Arthur got home, he put his uniform straight in the wash and went to go upstairs to change.

‘One second, young man,' said Joe sternly. Arthur came back to him, shuffling his feet sheepishly. ‘I'm glad you're safe. But don't ever do anything stupid like that ever again, do you hear me?' His face wore a stony, stern expression.

‘I'm sorry, Dad.'

His face softened. ‘Promise me you won't do anything like that again. I've lost enough this year without losing you too.' They closed their arms around each other in a tight hug, both grateful that they were still alive to do it.

As Arthur slept that night, the pendant sat on his bedside table. He turned over in his sleep, groaning. If he'd been awake, he would have seen the pendant start to glow. An eerie green light emanated from the bronze medal. But Arthur was trapped in a nightmare, dreaming of dark tunnels and letters he couldn't understand and hissing, hidden monsters.