Island of Legends (The Unwanteds) (25 page)

“Perfect,” Alex said, relieved. So that explained how the fishermen could stay out in the water so long. Copper looked slightly relieved too, but Alex could still feel her shaking with fear. “Are you going to be okay?” he asked her.

She nodded, unable to speak because of the thornament around her neck.

“Okay. We’re almost there.”

Finally they made it to the fishing hatch. Alex spied the suits and helmets. He grabbed a helmet and placed it over Copper’s head while Sky hit the button to the sliding door. As they made their way into the box, a shout rang out above the chaotic noise around them.

“Stop! Who are you?”

Alex looked up to find two men and a woman charging toward them.

“They’re stealing my slave!” one of the men yelled.

“Get in, quick,” Alex said. They scooted inside, having to squeeze to fit all seven of them. Alex pulled Samheed back so the door would close just as the pirate reached the first button and slapped it, holding it open.

“Grab them!” the pirate yelled.

Without a thought, both Samheed and Alex pointed and shouted, “Glass!”

Instantly not one but two panes of glass stopped the pirates in their tracks and walled the Artiméans in the chamber.

“Yikes,” Alex said, sweating profusely now. “That was close.” He ignored the pirates and looked at all his companions. “It’ll take us a few minutes to reach the surface. Can
everyone handle that? Copper,” he said to Sky’s mother, “Lani says your helmet has air inside.”

“Right,” Lani said. “And it’ll seal up nice and snug around your jaw so no water can get in. You will be able to breathe normally.”

Alex flashed Lani a grateful smile. “Just don’t panic and we’ll be fine, Copper. I promise I won’t let you go.”

“You can trust them, Mother,” Crow said from Henry’s side. The bandage on Henry’s head had grown crimson with blood.

“Henry,” Alex said, “can you make it?”

Henry nodded through half-closed eyes. “I got this,” he said. His voice was weak.

“Lani?”

“Yes,” she replied. “I’m fine. Really.”

“Copper?”

The woman nodded her helmeted head. Alex could feel her hands shaking as she gripped his shoulders.

Alex breathed hard, trying to rebuild his depleted oxygen stores, though he wasn’t sure how much oxygen was left in this little box—they had to get out of there. “Let’s do this,
then. Here we go. Everybody, gather your breath and stay close to me.” He pushed the button. The outer door opened slowly, letting water in. The pirates behind them pounded on the glass, but Alex knew there was no way they’d be able to break through.

“Where’s Kitten?” Henry asked, his eyes wide open in alarm now.

“I’ve got her,” Crow said. He patted his best friend’s arm as the water rose up around his chest. “Here we go.”

Soon the water had reached the top of the box, and the door slid all the way open. Everyone looked for Alex to lead them.

Alex wasted no time. He floated out and pushed off the glass door frame to give him momentum in the right direction. He began kicking, and soon he and Copper were rising slowly through the water. Crow swam with Alex, holding on to his mother’s hand. Samheed, with Lani wrapped in his arms, pushed upward on one side of Alex. Sky held Henry, who was clearly the most injured of the three. Alex urged Sky to go a little faster if she was able. Soon she took the lead.

Alex looked back through the murky water at the glass cage, which was nearly empty now. Only Simber and Florence
remained. Florence was standing now, but Alex wasn’t sure if Simber had propped her up that way or if she’d gotten up on her own. After a few moments, he couldn’t see them any longer.

Soon the entire volcano island was out of sight and Alex could see a bright spot in the sky above. He couldn’t wait to get everybody safely on board the ship.

When something flashed, Alex almost smiled.
Spike!
he thought. He looked around for the whale, hope surging—maybe they could get a ride to the surface.

But it wasn’t Spike’s faux diamond–encrusted horn catching the light.

It was the electric spark of the slithery eel.

And it was coming their way.

A
lex grabbed Crow’s arm and pointed at the eel, then up toward the surface. “Go!” he said in his garbled, watery voice. “Hurry!”

Crow’s eyes widened in fear, but he always listened to Alex. He shot up through the water, swimming as fast as his little feet could kick.

When Sam and Sky noticed Crow, they looked at Alex. Alex showed them the eel, which came in and out of sight. It began to circle them. Alex pointed up, urging his friends to go faster, which they did. Alex tried too, but his arms and legs burned. He had the heaviest load and had spent way too many
minutes underwater today. It was exhausting, not to mention the fact that he hadn’t stopped to eat anything in forever. He didn’t know how much more strength he had in him.

Still, the presence of the eel was extremely motivating. Alex kicked through the pain and struggled onward. He could see the surface now. Everything was getting lighter. Alex pushed on, wanting to squeal in pain from the way Copper was gripping his arms. He kept telling himself that as long as she wasn’t panicking, he could handle the fingernails digging into his skin. He began to wish he’d grabbed a helmet for himself.

He watched from below with great relief as Crow made it to the surface. Soon the boy was pulled from the water, presumably by two squirrelicorns eager to finally do something. Sky and Henry were next. Henry’s legs disappeared first, and then Sky’s.

What a relief to know they were safe! Alex knew that Samheed and Lani would have to wait for the first pair of squirrelicorns to come back from dropping off Crow. Too bad Simber was still down in the aquarium with Florence.

Which made him wonder: Just how was Simber supposed to pull Florence up to the surface when he could barely propel himself there?

He closed his eyes briefly. One more obstacle. He kept kicking.

Copper’s grip grew even tighter on his arms, until he felt like she was cutting off his circulation. He opened his eyes to the sight of the slithering eel closing in at his feet. Copper had seen it.

Alex didn’t have time or energy to reassure her. His hope was that the eel wouldn’t want anything to do with humans—after all, it had thrown Carina out to sea after it had grabbed her off the ship. In fact, the eel seemed to be pretty strict about collecting only weird sea creatures. Well, and Florence. But here it was, surrounding them, and it didn’t look disinterested in the least. Alex kicked faster and watched Lani’s and Samheed’s legs disappear from the water. He was almost there.

The eel wouldn’t stop circling. Alex wouldn’t stop swimming. With a final burst of energy, he shot upward, pushing Copper above him until she reached the surface. He treaded water until he felt her weight being lifted from his arms, and then he broke through and gasped for air. He wiped the water from his eyes and looked for squirrelicorns, but they were all retreating, delivering Samheed, Lani, and now Copper to the ship. Alex flipped on his back, knowing he should go back under and watch the eel, but also knowing if he didn’t catch
his breath for a second, he just might die anyway, without the eel having to do anything at all.

As he gasped and floated and waited for the first pair of squirrelicorns to return, his body spent and muscles trembling, he felt something wrap itself around his legs. Alex sprang to life, kicking and yelling. “Help!” he cried, hoping it would bring the squirrelicorns faster. He flailed about, just barely sliding out of the eel’s grasp again and again, shouting when he could get a breath, until finally the eel rose up out of the water and wrapped around Alex like kite string around a reel.

“Aah—!” Alex’s yell was cut short by the eel yanking him underwater.

Immediately he sucked in a breath of water and started to choke. The eel squeezed him and slithered around through the water, gaining momentum until it was moving at a maniacal speed. Alex’s vision grew hazy, and he couldn’t struggle anymore. He tried desperately to hold his breath, but the intake of water had messed up everything. Just before he blacked out, a flash of light caught his eye.

And this time, it wasn’t the eel.

T
he shiny, blue-painted whale with a faux diamond–encrusted spike shooting out from her forehead came zipping toward Alex and the eel at top speed. Even though she’d been captured by this same eel once before, she was not afraid. She had learned the eel’s tricks. Compelled by a voice inside her, she swam at a furious pace, aiming her spike without fear at the enormous electric eel.

That voice inside—she’d heard it before, at the beginning of everything. But the voices of the sea had been louder back then, calling her to play. She hadn’t been able to resist them.

Today in the cage she heard that voice again, coming from
the boy. From the Alex.

At the beginning, during the terrible time, the Alex was there, feeling terrible too. It reminded her of something. Of someone. Of a man, a very long time ago, who remained by her side until the end. And even though it hurt, she felt comfort knowing that the man was there, feeling terrible with her.

When she heard that voice, the voice of the Alex, and saw his eyes and understood his words, she believed in him. And when the Alex’s personal monster came to break the cage and set everyone free so they could breathe again, Spike Furious knew that she would want to stay near the Alex forever. The thought made her happy.

Now, with the Alex in grave danger, there was only one thing Spike could do to stop the bad eel from hurting him and everyone else.

She sped toward the giant eel and stabbed her spike into its side.

The creature recoiled. The Alex slipped out of its grasp. Spike Furious yanked her spike out of the eel’s side, slipped her tail under the boy as he fell lifeless through the water, and lifted his body above the surface to the air, because every creature
of the sea knows that the Alexes can’t hold their breath as long as whales can.

When Spike heard the noises from the ship, she got scared, but then she saw that the people on board were smiling and cheering. Spike smiled back and cheered with them as two creatures of the air picked up the Alex from her tail and brought him to the ship.

“Thank you, Spike! You saved Alex!” said the girl with short fur who had been near the cage with the boy.

Spike bobbed in the water, tail and snout sticking up. She liked the girl with short fur. The whale ducked her head underwater to fill her blowhole so she could speak, and repeated, “Thank you, Spike!” And for some reason, just like when she had spoken to the sea monster and the squid and the dead stone woman, it didn’t seem strange.

“Oh, you can talk,” said the girl. “How excellent. I am Carina. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Of course I can,” Spike said. She blew, and water shot up, hitting the Carina in the face.

Carina laughed and wiped her eyes. “Lovely! Alex did an excellent job with you.”

Spike nodded, somehow knowing this to be true, but not knowing quite how she’d learned of it. She submerged once more. “Where is the Alex?”

“He’s here on the deck, coughing up a lungful of water—do you hear him? But he’ll be okay, I think, because you rescued him in time.”

“It is always good to be in time,” Spike said, as if it just occurred to her. She was learning new things every minute.

“Indeed it is.” Carina glanced out to sea, a worried look on her face. “I’m wondering if you can do me a favor while we wait for Alex to feel better.”

“Oh,” Spike said, and she closed her eyes as a wave of . . . something . . . passed over her. “You want me to check on the monster with wings.” Again, Spike had no idea how she knew what Carina wanted, but the knowledge was there. She could feel it, anticipate it. “And the dead stone woman.”

“Yes, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“It is not.” Spike dove down and barreled through the water like a bullet in the direction of the cage. There was no sign of the eel, she thought with smug satisfaction.

» » « «

On board the ship, Alex felt like he might never stop coughing. As soon as he was able, and despite the outcry of those surrounding him, Alex got to his feet and stumbled over to the side of the ship. “Where’s Simber?” he demanded. “Has anyone seen him?”