We Give a Squid a Wedgie (30 page)

“We?” Celia raised her eyebrows.

“Sixth grade will be there when you get back!” Dr. Navel smiled. “How would you like to find Atlantis instead?”

“Pass,” said Celia.

“Pass,” said Oliver.

“You’d be saving the world,” their mother told them.

“No, thanks,” said Celia and Oliver together.

“Well, we’ll have to discuss that on the way,” Dr. Navel told them.

“On the way to where?” Celia wondered, shooting her brother a nervous glance.

“On the way to find those pirates,” said Dr. Navel. “And to rescue Corey Brandt.”

“Oh,” said Celia.

“And Dennis?” Oliver asked. “He’s a pretty good rooster.”

“And Dennis,” Dr. Navel agreed. “Can we count on your help?” he asked Jabir.

“As long as those pirates are at sea, the Orang Laut will help you find them,” Jabir said. His mother said something. “First we need to get something to eat,” he translated. “And clean you guys up. You smell like kraken.”

“I am so writing a letter to
Beast Busters
,” said Oliver. Celia agreed.

They still didn’t want to go off looking for Atlantis, but saving Corey Brandt, star of stage and screen, and their best friend in the world? Well, sometimes friendship had its price.

“I get to be first mate,” said Celia.

“I want to be the bosun,” said Oliver.

“You don’t even know what a bosun is,” said Celia.

“So?” Oliver told her. “Neither do you.”

“I know the first mate is in charge of the bosun,” she said.

“Then you can’t be first mate! That’s not fair!”

“I talked to a herd of giant squid!”

“Squid don’t go in herds!” said Oliver. “They go in pods!”

“Who says?” said Celia. “I’m the one who talked to them!”

“I’ll bet you didn’t even do it on purpose. You were probably trying to tell them to eat me.”

“Why would they eat you? You’re gross!”

“Am not! I’ll bet I’m delicious.”

“Are not!”

“Am too!”

“Are not!”

Drs. Claire and Ogden Navel held hands and watched their children argue as the small boat sailed toward the nearest inhabited island. It would take time to find the pirates again, but it would also take time for Sir Edmund to wake up from ­Beverly’s bite and repair his ship.

Together, conscious, and relatively safe for the first time in years, the Navel family was going on another adventure.

It was a good thing, too, because back at the Explorers Club, their television was still broken.

BY NOW,
of course you know that some of the stranger things found within this story are indeed true, from pirates and sea people to giant squid and Percy Fawcett.

In 1907, in his history of piracy, Colonel John Biddulph wrote, “There was no peace on the ocean. The sea was a vast No Man’s domain, where every man might take his prey.”

His words are as true today as they were a hundred years ago. There really are dangerous modern-­day pirates who sail the seas looking to hijack ships and they really are a motley crew of international miscreants, just as they were in the old days of notorious pirates like Barbarossa in the Mediterranean or Blackbeard in the Caribbean. You would not want to come across them in your own travels.

The Orang Laut really are some of the last sea
nomads on earth, with a rich and complex culture that is often misunderstood and, like so many nomadic cultures, mistrusted. Pollution threatens their fishing habitats and, deprived of their traditional livelihood, many are forced to leave the sea behind and settle on land. They are one of the countless societies around the world whose power to determine their own future is threatened by forces beyond their control. Their understanding of and relationship to the sea could be of great benefit for all humanity, if they are able to survive the challenges of the twenty-first century.

As for the kraken, it is an old myth from Norway and Sweden. Some believe the myth was inspired by sailors seeing very real giant squid, which can grow up to fifty feet long. Some old accounts of the kraken aren’t based on fish at all. The bubbles from the deep, rumbles in the ocean, and ships dragged down by sudden currents could all have been caused by volcanic eruptions under the sea near Iceland. Of course, the ocean is the last great unexplored region on earth, and scientists are only beginning to discover the wonders of its depths.

Percy Fawcett, the long-lost explorer, really did vanish in the Amazon. He really did have a strong
interest in Atlantis and the mysteries of the ­occult. However, the real whereabouts of Percy Fawcett’s remains are unknown. Perhaps he is in a cave on an island somewhere, waiting for a brave soul to come looking.

If you do find him, let us know by writing to:

C. Alexander London

Care of: Philomel Books

345 Hudson Street

New York, NY 10014 USA

Or visit
http://www.calexanderlondon.com