The Neptune Promise Read online

  :They probably flunked me because my heartrate went nuts when that shark came by,: Lena says. :It’s so creepy in the Twilight Zone, I’m totally fine with not going down there again. I like working in the kitchen and teaching my jewelry classes better anyway.: Lena has started a seashell jewelry craze, and most of the kids at Safety Harbor now wear shell necklaces or bracelets.

  :And I have plenty to keep me busy in engineering,: Penn says.

  :Come on, Lena, aren’t you sorry you won’t have a chance to run into some hagfish?: Dai kids her.

  :I honestly don’t want to meet a fish that burrows into dead whales and eats them from the inside out, thank you very much.:

  :Have you encountered hagfish before?: I ask Dai on a private send.

  :I ran into several schools of them when I was poking around in some deep spots closer to Atlantea. They left me alone, but they would have torn me apart if I’d been bleeding,: he says soberly.

  My father is crazy not to use Dai on this salvage mission. He knows so much more about the deep than the rest of us. The moment I realize what I’m thinking, I tighten my mental shields, but not before Dai sends me a puzzled glance. A group of kids start yelling next to us, and I’m relieved when Dai looks away from me to frown at them.

  The psychic noise in the mess hall is so intense right now because everyone’s excited about Ocho and Shadow’s concert tonight. It’s taken them months to recreate the omniphone and water organ they built at Atlantea. With Penn and Rad’s help, they’ve finally completed both instruments.

  :So, how are you feeling about your big concert?: Ree asks Shadow.

  :I’m so nervous, I can’t eat anything,: Shadow confesses.

  Her eyes look very dark in her pale face. Tonight she wears her beautiful long, black hair loose, and it floats about her head like a living cloud. Kuron mixed octopus genes with Shadow’s DNA, which makes her incredibly strong, and she can change the color of her skin at will. When she wants to hide, she can blend in perfectly with any background. She and Sunny spend most of their working hours teaching and supervising the younger kids in the colony, who get super excited when Shadow agrees to play hide-and-seek with them.

  :Everyone is going to love your music,: I promise her and Ocho.

  :There’s no reason to be nervous,: Sunny says to them both. :You used to give us amazing concerts all the time.:

  :Yeah, but there’s a big difference between playing for ten people and playing for three hundred,: Ocho says with a grimace. With his five arms and two legs, his octopus genes are more obvious than Shadow’s. He used to have six arms, but one had to be amputated after he helped us fight our way out of Atlantea. Tonight, the color of his skin keeps shifting from pink to pale gray, a sure sign he’s anxious.

  :Hey, we’d better head out if we want to get primo viewing spots for the concert,: Rad says.

  When we arrive at our new official concert cave, I’m glad that so many of the helper staff, including my father, are already here. Dad waves at me and I smile because he looks just as excited as the kids about this concert.

  Shadow’s keyboard sits on a platform raised above yards and yards of black tubing that funnels water and air through organ pipes. Ocho’s new omniphone is even more spectacular than the one he had at Atlantea. On four long, metal twisting arms, he’s fastened a variety of objects including hubcaps, metal sheets and spoons.

  When Shadow and Ocho nod to show they are ready, my father swims out in front of them to address their audience. “Tonight we’re in for a treat. Shadow and Ocho have worked hard to build their instruments and to create the music you are about to hear. We are proud of each and every member of the Neptune Project because, in a very real sense, you are all pioneers. Shadow and Ocho are talented pioneers in the field of sea music. Creating your own music is another positive step toward building a real home for yourselves beneath the waves. And since I know you don’t want to listen to me talk anymore, here they are!”

  A psychic hush falls over the crowd as my father swims off to the side. Shadow raises her head and says clearly, :We call this song, ‘Summer Storm.’:

  She bows her head and begins to play. I shiver with pleasure as the first deep, rich notes from the water organ envelop me. Music beneath the waves feels more intense than on land because seawater, which conducts sound well, fills our eardrums and surrounds our bodies.

  The wordless melody starts out slowly and majestically, and I imagine massive Pacific rollers smashing against a rocky shore. Then Shadow adds more complicated harmonies, and I can picture the waves frothing against the rocks while summer rain falls in torrents.

  I jump the first time Ocho strikes a big piece of sheet metal, adding rumbling thunder to Shadow’s storm melody. All five of his hands hold hammers that he uses to clash and bash the objects on his omniphone. Toward the end, the water organ fades away, and by striking forks, spoons and glasses, Ocho creates shimmering high notes that sound like sprinkling rain.

  We go nuts after Shadow and Ocho finish their first song. Clapping doesn’t create much noise under water, so we all just yell and cheer mentally to show how much we liked the performance. Shadow and Ocho smile shyly, obviously pleased and surprised by our enthusiasm.

  Penn and Rad grin and give each other high fives. They’ve spent a ton of their free time helping Shadow build her new organ.

  Next our musicians play a rollicking tune that reminds me of sailor songs, and then one that is so achingly sad that it makes me think of people I miss, like my mother and Mako and my friend Cam. Then they play a funny song that showcases all of the weird sounds Ocho can make on his omniphone, which earns another huge round of applause.

  Shadow holds up her hand to show she wants to speak, and everyone quiets down again.

  :Ocho and I want to thank you for being such a great audience tonight. Before we play our last song, we want to dedicate this concert to Dr. Hanson and his helper staff. I know I speak for Dai, Rad, Ocho, Sunny and myself when I say we love our new home, and we are so grateful you allowed us to live with you here in Safety Harbor.:

  As I listen to Shadow, I want to believe she truly feels grateful and happy to be with us. But I know she’s a powerful hereditary telepath like Dai and me and has the strongest telepathic range of all the kids from Atlantea. That range would make it easier for her to relay information about us to the telepaths working for Kuron.

  Then I remember the way Shadow looked out for Bria while she was held captive at Atlantea, and how Shadow rushed to help Tobin after Wasp stung him with the poisonous stingers on her fingers. If it weren’t for Shadow, he’d be dead now. I look down, feeling ashamed for wondering if she’s the former Atlantean relaying information to Kuron.

  :Now it’s time to rock out,: Ocho declares, and their last piece has such an infectious rhythm that everyone starts dancing including the helper staff. I grin when James flaps about looking like a lanky stork as he dances with Roni, and Vival and Doc Iharu do the Twist. Dancing with my friends, I laugh when Robry and Bria attempt some 1950’s jitterbug twirls and flips. Several curious dolphins flash in and out of the cave, excited by the music and all the commotion.

  The cheering is so intense that when they finish, Ocho and Shadow have to play two encores. At the end of their performance, my dad goes up to congratulate them.

  “I hope you two will teach others how to play these instruments, and I definitely think we need to start having some dances. I had no idea Doc Iharu could bust moves like that.”

  As I look at Ocho and Shadow smiling as they are besieged by their new fans, I can’t believe either of them would betray us to Ran Kuron.

  chapter six

  After Shadow and Ocho’s amazing concert, it’s hard to drag myself out of my hammock the next morning for our second day of deep-water testing. This time Doc Iharu’s staff give Tobin, Kalli, Thom, Ree and me thicker seasuits with gloves and hoods. Doc Iharu has us descend the anchor line again to perform the usual series of computer and coordination tests every
hundred feet. As we dive deeper and deeper into the cold, dark sea, I’m grateful to have good friends with me. Every time I start to get nervous, Thom makes a joke or Ree makes a face that helps me to relax.

  By the time we reach six hundred feet, our target goal, the water is icy cold and blacker than midnight all around us. The extreme pressure at this depth also makes it harder to move.

  :Whoa, it feels like I’m swimming through syrup or something,: Thom says as he kicks in a circle around the anchor line.

  :My face is so stiff and cold,: Ree says, :I don’t think I could move my lips to talk landliver style.:

  We pair up with our dive partners and begin yet another round of cognition tests. As I work, I try not to think of the vast blackness over our heads that separates us from the Sunlit Zone.

  We’ve just started on our coordination tests when Tobin says suddenly, :Hey, Bria, be careful with that.:

  I turn my dive light brighter to check on him. He’s staring right at me, but there’s a glassy look in his eyes that I don’t like.

  :Um, Tobin, it’s me, Nere. Bria’s back at Safety Harbor.:

  :I’m glad Nere’s been helping you work with the dolphins,: he says.

  Hurriedly, I key a message to the testing staff. I think something weird is going on with Tobin. He’s seems to think I’m his little sister.

  “He’s probably hallucinating due to the pressure or the cold. His core temperature and his blood pressure are a little low. You’d better come up now,” Doc Iharu says. “We were almost done with your tests anyway. Keep a close eye on Tobin as you ascend.”

  I warn the others that Tobin is having problems. Our entire group clusters around him as we start kicking our way up the anchor chain, and I stay right by his side.

  :I’m not giving up on Nere, you know,: he says suddenly, and my cheeks heat. I’m really glad he’s talking to me on a private send.

  :Maybe she just doesn’t feel like she can handle a boyfriend right now,: I say. :I know she cares about you. You’re one of her best friends.:

  :That’s me all right, permanently stuck in the friend zone.: I wince at the bitterness and hurt in his tone.

  :You won’t be stuck in that zone forever. One of these days Nere is going to make up her mind. She knows she’s lucky you care about her so much.:

  :I’d be better for her than Dai. It’s not his fault he’s so messed up, but he’ll never be normal. I’m worried he’s going to hurt her physically someday.:

  I don’t know what to say. Dai is amazingly strong because of all the shark genes his father spliced into his DNA, but Dai would never knowingly hurt me. During our long trip to Safety Harbor, one time he did grip my shoulders hard enough to give me bruises, but I’ve never told anyone that happened.

  We’re passing the three hundred foot flag now, and the pressure is beginning to ease. I wonder if Tobin is going to remember any of this conversation later. At two hundred feet, his eyes look more focused.

  :How are you feeling?: I ask him.

  :I have a whopper of a headache,: he admits, :and I feel tired.:

  :Do you know who I am?:

  :Of course, you’re Nere Hanson,: he says, looking puzzled, and then he gets it. :Uh-oh, did I think you were someone else?:

  :You got me confused with Bria.:

  :Wow, guess the pressure got to my brain,: he says and he’s quiet for a minute or two. :I don’t remember talking to you or Bria down there. Did I say anything I shouldn’t have?:

  :Well, you did offer to take all my morning mess shifts for the next month,: I say, hoping to distract him from more awkward topics.

  :That I don’t believe for a moment,: Tobin smiles, :but if I said it under pressure, so to speak, it doesn’t count.:

  :Of course it doesn’t.: I smile back at him, but I’ll be thinking about what he said to me down there in the dark just the same.

  ~~~

  The next day we find out that Tobin has been excused from further testing. So only Kalli, Ree, Thom and I report to the transport hub for a final day of deep-water diving. Our goal is to descend to one thousand feet below the surface, which is close to the depth of the wreck we need to salvage. This time we’re allowed to wear heating packs that circulate warm water throughout our thick seasuits.

  The heating pack feels bulky and awkward on my back, but as we descend slowly through the endless dark, I’m grateful for the heat it generates. Since seawater contains so much salt, it freezes at a lower temperature than fresh water, and it feels way colder than freezing down here, the kind of cold that makes your face hurt and your bones ache. I check in with Janni topside every hundred feet because the testers want to see if my telepathy is strong enough to reach the surface from greater depths.

  At last we reach the flag at one thousand feet. The floor of the strait is only another fifty feet below us, but the water is so dark and full of sediment, I can’t see it even when I shine my dive light around.

  :Welcome to thirty atmospheres of pressure,: Kalli says.

  :I feel like I’m moving in slow motion,: I say to the others. Even the simplest task like raising my hand to read my wrist computer takes more strength and energy. Slowly and carefully, we complete our tests without incident.

  :Hey Janni, can you still “hear” me okay?: I ask her.

  :I can hear you loud and clear,: comes her reply. :Your path rating must be crazy high. You’re the first telepath we’ve been able to communicate with consistently at this depth.:

  :We’re done and we’re on our way back up,: I tell her.

  :Roger that. The topside staff will have some fresh heating packs and some hot cider waiting for you.:

  I relay her words to the others.

  :A hot drink sounds awesome right now,: Thom says.

  :I feel like I could sleep for a week,: Ree says. :This deep-water stuff takes it out of you.:

  That night Ree, Kalli and I tie ourselves into our hammocks and fall sound asleep long before the rest of the girls in our dorm cave come to bed.

  Sometime in the night, I begin dreaming vividly. I’m all alone inside a dark, shadowy wreck, and I’ve never been so cold. Whitey and Wasp chase me, but I can’t move quickly because of the dense water. I kick as hard and as fast as I can, but they’re getting closer. If they do catch me, Whitey will tear me apart with his great white teeth, or Wasp will sting me with the lethal sea wasp stingers on her hands. My lungs burn as I twist and turn through a maze of cabins and long passageways.

  :Wait for me!: I call to my friends waiting outside.

  At last, I find an open hatch and dive through it to escape the wreck. I look around for Dai, Ree and the rest. As the black sea devours the light from my dive torch, I realize there’s no one out there. I’m all alone. The weight of the water crushes me, and I’m so cold and tired, I’m not sure I can make it to the surface.

  :Hey, Nere, wake up.:

  I open my eyes to find Kalli’s shaking my shoulder. :You were having a nightmare. I thought you’d rather wake up.:

  :Whew,: I say shakily. I’m so glad to find myself in the girls’ dorm cave at Safety Harbor. :Y-you’re right that I’d rather be awake. Thanks, and I’m sorry if I bothered you.:

  :No biggie,: she says with a tired smile. :My dreams have been pretty disturbing tonight, too. I guess spending all that time in the dark and the cold does weird things to our brains.:

  I lay awake trembling for a long time. I’m so terrified that my nightmare might return, I don’t want to fall asleep again. At one point I turn over and study Bria sleeping in the hammock next to mine. She’s smiling which makes me smile. She’s probably dreaming about training dolphins.

  I’m so lucky to have Bria, Tobin, Kalli and Dai and the rest of my friends, the dolphins and my family. Being left behind in the freezing black sea was the scariest part of the nightmare, but my friends would never abandon me like that. Comforted by that thought, I finally doze off again.

  Right after breakfast, my father calls Thom, Ree, Kalli, Rohan and me ov
er to speak with him.

  “Congratulations on your excellent results on your deep-water tests. Because you handled the pressure, cold and stress down there so well, you five have been selected for special deep-water rescue training that will begin in two days on the wreck of the Skookumaru.”

  As I meet my father’s somber gaze through his scuba mask, I realize this is the team they’re planning to send to search for Idaine’s computer. They must be calling it rescue training, instead of salvage training, to keep Dai and the other kids from Atlantea from guessing its real purpose.

  For the rest of the day I throw myself into my normal duties as a dolphin trainer. Mariah and I work with several of the youngest kids in the colony, teaching them the signals to ask a dolphin for a tow or to do a search. Mariah loves children and is endlessly patient with the younger ones. It’s so nice working in the bright green water of the Sunlit Zone where I can see well in every direction. I dread returning to the dark, cold deep.

  The next morning at breakfast, our friends tease us mercilessly about our rescue training.

  :Maybe Ree will find the guapo mer-guy of her dreams hanging out in that wreck,: Lena kids her.

  :She can’t possibly find anyone down there more handsome than me,: Rad claims, his coffee eyes alight with laughter. Rad and Ree have been together ever since he came back with us from Atlantea. She fell for him after he risked his life to free us from the horrible collars that Kuron made us wear.

  :Or anyone more modest, Sparkhead.: Ree rolls her eyes at him.

  :You know that hanging out with me has been the most electrifying experience of your life,: Rad says with a smirk.

  :Don’t even start with the shocking puns,: she groans. Rad has some electric eel DNA which means he can generate electrical fields.

  :Maybe we’ll see some of those bioluminescent fish that hang out in the Twilight Zone,: Kalli suggests, returning to the topic of our mission today. :Angler fish sound so cool. They dangle a glowing fishing lure from their foreheads to trap other fish down there in the dark.: