Lost

  Sarah shrieked. “Why isn’t it stopping?”

  The shark advanced toward them, until the gills appeared and then the pectoral fins; its entire front half was almost all the way out of the water, the waves continuing to ebb and flow as the creature crept closer to shore.

  And to them.

  “How’s it doing that?” asked Sarah in a shaky voice.

  Marco gasped. He grabbed Sarah’s arm and pulled her back as he pointed at the bottom of the shark. “That’s how!”

  The shiny silver skin on the sides of the shark gave way to dull yellow-and-black-scaled reptilian legs that protruded from the bottom of the creature. Each foot had five toes, each embedded with a sharp claw.

  As if to demonstrate how those powerful-looking legs and feet worked, the shark surged toward them.

  “Run!” yelled Marco. They turned and sprinted up the beach.

  Marco glanced back over his shoulder as he ran.

  Shocked at how quickly the heavy creature moved on those small but agile feet, Marco put on a burst of speed before facing all the way forward. His legs tangled and he sprawled on the ground, smacking his right knee on a rock. Wincing, he sat up.

  Sarah screamed.

  The creature scuttled toward him.

  All he could see was that bloody-red maw—and those white jagged teeth—mere yards away and closing.

  Sarah seemed frozen.

  “Run!” yelled Marco. He scrambled to his feet and began to back up, limping, looking around for a weapon. He picked up a rock, ready to throw. His heart pounded as his mouth dried up.

  No stupid rock was going to keep that thing from eating him. Still, with both hands he raised it above his head, ready to heave it—a last-chance shot of desperation.

  But the creature paused.

  “Look,” said Sarah. “The gills!”

  On either side of its head, the gills trembled, almost flapping.

  “It can’t breathe!” said Marco. “It has to go back in the water.” He hoped he was right, and even crossed his fingers as he kept backing up.

  Slowly, the creature—massive mouth still open—retreated toward the water, turning to move headfirst into the waves. There, the fin inching into the water, it slowly disappeared.

  Marco dropped the rock, which landed with a thud.

  “Are you okay?” asked Sarah.

  “Yeah.” He leaned over, head down, resting his hands on his knees. “I need a sec.”

  Sarah came up beside him. “I thought you were…” She didn’t finish.

  Marco figured he knew what she was thinking. That he had been about to become fish food. He turned his head and looked up at her. “Yeah. Me too.” He straightened back up and blew out a deep breath.

  “That, that … sharkodile.” Sarah’s voice was low and solemn as she stared down at the ground. “It can’t have been real.”

  “Any more than the rhinocorn. Or those birds, or…” He shook his head.

  Sarah stood up and gasped. “Look!”

  Marco whirled around, expecting some new and dangerous creature.

  Instead, the mouth of a cave yawned, dark and bleak in the bright sunlight. Was it the one they’d been looking for? The one Cash escaped from?

  Despite the sweat still drying on his body, Marco shivered.

  15

  Sarah watched Marco limp toward the cave. She pulled on his arm to stop him. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  He nodded. “Hurt my knee.” He flexed it a couple of times. “Not that bad. Only bruised, I think.”

  She held up the bag. “We should put our shoes back on.”

  Marco also donned his shirt. When they were ready, Sarah said, “Well, I’ll go first.” She walked ahead of Marco and stepped into the cave. For the tiniest of moments as she passed through the mouth, a shock—more like a ripple—ran through her body. She gasped, but before she could say anything, or warn Marco, he was right behind her.

  His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open.

  “Did you feel that?” Sarah asked.

  Marco nodded. He looked past Sarah, deeper into the blackness that lay ahead of them.

  Sarah reached into the bag for the flashlight, but jerked back at the touch of something ice cold. “What in the—” She reached in the bag again and pulled out the water bottle. The cold of it burned her hand and she dropped it, where it rolled next to Marco’s foot. He nudged it with his toe and the bottle rolled, no water sloshing inside.

  Sarah crouched beside it. “It’s ice. The water is ice.”

  “That’s impossible,” said Marco. But he leaned over to touch the bottle. The water in the bottle was solid ice. “But it was warm. Not even half an hour ago it was warm.”

  Sarah said, “I’m getting out of here. Come on.” She turned to walk out, but suddenly a blue film covered the mouth of the cave and sent her flying backward, screaming. She landed on her back, and her head bounced off the floor of the cave.

  Marco knelt beside her. “Are you hurt?”

  Sarah scrunched up her face and put a hand at the back of her head. “I don’t think so. What was that?”

  Marco turned to look at the mouth of the cave, clear once again. He stood up.

  “Don’t try it!” called Sarah.

  “I won’t,” said Marco. With his foot, he rolled the water bottle to position it. Then he gave it a hard swipe with the side of his foot, sending it careening toward the mouth of the cave.

  Instantly, the space turned blue and the water bottle exploded, sending shards of cold plastic and ice everywhere. Sarah shrieked as they both put up their hands to shield their faces.

  When it stopped, Marco lowered his arms and looked at Sarah. “Well, I guess we’re not going out that way.” He looked at the dark passageway looming ahead. “Ready?”

  She got to her feet, still rubbing her head. “Do I have a choice?”

  Marco shook his head.

  She took the flashlight and walked just in front of Marco. She had to admit, she was happy he was with her. He seemed almost protective of her since he’d saved her on the cliff. And she didn’t know what she’d have done if he’d gotten eaten up on the beach. She was beginning to feel like she could trust him. And, to be honest, she liked him as much as she liked Nacho. As stepbrothers went, they weren’t all that bad.

  The rock ceiling was only a few feet above their heads. Sarah stretched her arms out to the side, and there were barely a few inches to spare. She sighed.

  “Better than the last time,” said Marco.

  “Oh yeah,” said Sarah. She was relieved that this time, instead of everything closing in as they moved forward, the ceiling gradually drifted higher, until it was way over their heads. The walls widened, expanding enough so that they could walk side by side.

  Sarah realized that the blackness of the cave had lightened considerably. She stopped walking and flicked off the flashlight. Although the way in front of them was dim, they could still see. She flicked the flashlight back on. “Why is it so light?” she asked.

  Marco pointed ahead of them. “It gets even lighter up there.”

  A few more yards, and Sarah shut off the flashlight and stowed it in the bag. Marco stepped forward and the place suddenly brightened, so much that it seemed like they were outside in the sun.

  Sarah tilted her head back and gasped. The ceiling seemed like it was miles overhead. The sides and straight in front of them were lit only a few yards in, so she couldn’t tell how big the space was.

  Marco took a step forward.

  Snap! Snap! Snap!

  The noises continued as lights flipped on, bank by bank, illuminating the space beyond.

  Sarah took in the sight in front of them. Not believing at first, she shut her eyes, and then opened them again.

  “Whoa.”

  They stood in a cavern so humongous she couldn’t even see the end.

  “This thing must be like six or seven soccer fields long,” said Marco. “Longer maybe.”

  “What
are those?” asked Sarah.

  Rows of white modules lined both sides of the cavern. Their fronts made of glass, but too frosty to see inside. She stood in front of the closest one, which only reached as high as her waist. She turned her head and looked down the rows, where the modules gradually grew bigger and wider, some as tall as houses. She focused on the one in front of her and set a hand on the glass. “Ow!” She snatched it back.

  Marco touched it lightly with his fingertips. “Cold,” he said. But he set his hand on the frost, holding it there a moment. When he took it away, a little of the frost had melted. He did it again, until he had a clear patch the size of a dollar bill. He leaned down.

  “Careful!” said Sarah.

  “I’m just taking a look,” he said. He peered inside, then stood back up. “It’s a goat.”

  “It’s a what?” asked Sarah.

  Marco shrugged. “A goat. A billy goat.”

  “Let me see.” Sarah held her face up to the clear patch of glass. A white billy goat, with a great scruff of a beard, stood motionless inside. But as she watched, his chest moved slightly and the tiniest bit of steam came out his nostrils.

  She stood back up. “He’s frozen.”

  Sarah looked on the front of the nodule.

  “What are you looking for?” asked Marco.

  “A handle. Or something to open it.” Sarah ran her hands down the front of the frost-covered nodule and felt some lumps. She blew on the frost, which wasn’t as heavy as that on the glass, and it melted fairly quickly. “Look!”

  A keypad about the size of a cell phone, with symbols, lay about halfway down the side of the nodule. Sarah reached out to touch one, but Marco grabbed her wrist. “Hey! I don’t think you should do that.”

  She shot him a defiant look, but realized he was right. “I won’t.” Her eyes narrowed. “Hey, I’ve seen these letters before. Or symbols, whatever they are.”

  Marco leaned in to see them better. “Yeah. Where have I…” His eyes widened and he turned to meet Sarah’s gaze. “The symbols. They’re the same ones.”

  “The same ones what?” asked Sarah.

  “The same ones that are on the trunk,” said Marco. “The mermaid trunk.”

  16

  Marco peered in disbelief at the symbols, the same ones that curved around the top of the trunk that he’d dragged off the ruined HMS Moonflight. He scratched his head. “I don’t get it.” He asked Sarah, “They’re the same, right? I’m not just imagining things?”

  Sarah squinted at the module. “Yeah. I think so.” She frowned. “But how could they be the same as the ones on the trunk Fox brought to the island?”

  Marco thought about it for a moment. “Maybe we assumed that he’d brought it here. But what if he didn’t? What if he found it here when he was marooned, left with the plan of coming back for it, but then Captain Norm came and found it?”

  “But he came from Africa. It sounded like he got it there.” She frowned. “But how can it be the same?” asked Sarah. “The same people who did all this”—she spread out her arms—“made the trunk too?”

  “I don’t know.” Marco shook his head as he stood back up. He wasn’t sure they were even talking about people anymore. None of it seemed natural. None of it seemed like it belonged on this planet. It all seemed way more like it was not of this Earth.

  He shivered as he stepped to the next module. There, he held his palms on the frost glass as long as he could, then blew on them to warm up before setting them there again. A small, misshapen circle cleared and he looked through it. A white goat stood there, motionless like the first. “Another goat.” He took a longer look. There was no beard or horns. “This one’s female, I think.”

  “Let me see.” Sarah bent to see in, and then straightened back up. “But they’re normal, right? Like no extra horns or wings or weird feet or anything?”

  Marco looked into the first module again. “No, they seem like normal goats.” He took a step back and shook his head. Why was there an island full of weird animals, and then a cave with normal ones? He couldn’t make any sense of it.

  Sarah strode down the row of modules, like she was looking for something. Finally, she stopped at one that was taller than their house back in California. The glass front stretched up about ten feet, but she set a hand on the frost at eye level. Marco caught up with her and set a hand on it too. A few moments later, they had a patch about the size of an envelope. Sarah leaned forward.

  “What do you see?” asked Marco.

  “Weird.” She didn’t say anything for a moment, and then she stepped back. Sarah scrunched up her nose and shrugged. “They’re like … gray tree trunks or something. I can’t tell.”

  Marco stepped close to the glass, so near that his breath fogged it up. Inside the module he saw two thick, gray trees. At least, that’s what they looked like. He was taller than Sarah, and stood up on his tiptoes and looked down. Four semicircles of a slightly different color were embedded on the front of the bottom of the gray things.

  Marco sucked in. Not just semicircles. They were … toenails. “Whoa.” He stepped back. “Not trees.”

  “What?” asked Sarah.

  Marco said, “I’m pretty sure those aren’t trees.” He reached up as high as he could and placed his hands there until he couldn’t stand the cold, then did it again until he had a clear spot. He knelt down. “Here, get up on my shoulders.”

  “Why?” Sarah made a face.

  He pointed up. “To get a better look.”

  She set the bag down. “Fine.” Sarah pushed on his shoulders. “Lower.”

  Marco sunk down more, even though it hurt his injured knee.

  Sarah swung a leg over each shoulder. “I’m gonna fall!” She put her hands on the module to steady herself.

  “Going up.” Marco stood. “Can you see?”

  “To the left a little!”

  Marco tried to move, but lost his balance and tipped to the left.

  Sarah squealed. “Watch it!”

  Marco righted himself, then leaned forward so he could put his hands on the cold module to keep his balance.

  “Okay, that’s good.” Sarah leaned closer to the glass. “Oh, whoa.”

  “What?” asked Marco. The strain on his legs wasn’t bad because his stepsister wasn’t very heavy, but his hands burned from the cold glass.

  “It’s an elephant. With tusks. Frozen, like the goats.” She rapped her knuckles on the top of his head. “Let me down.”

  “Gladly.” Marco squatted and held up his hands.

  She grasped them. “On three. One, two, three!”

  He pushed up and she vaulted over his head to the floor. He straightened up and flexed his knee a couple times. “Seriously? An elephant?”

  She nodded, then added, “A normal one. No extra parts.”

  “Wow,” said Marco. He tilted his head at the next module, which was identical in size and shape. “You think that one’s a female?”

  Sarah nodded. “Yeah.” She narrowed her eyes. “Is this some kind of Noah’s Ark?” She looked down the rows. “You think there’s two of everything frozen in here?”

  “Maybe.” Marco shivered. His shirt was still damp with sweat, and he was getting chilled more and more as they stayed there. “And we’re going to be the next two frozen if we don’t find a way out of here.”

  “Okay,” said Sarah. She scooped up the bag. “But can we look in one more?”

  Marco nodded. “Pick a shorter one though.” He started doing jumping jacks, trying to warm up as Sarah ran across the cavern to the other row of modules. She picked one that was only a few feet taller than she was and stuck her hand on the frost. Marco joined her as she pulled off her hand and looked in. “Oh.”

  “Lemme see.” Marco waited until Sarah moved, then looked in. A black-and-white cow, small rivulets of steam coming out of its large, shiny pink nostrils. “A Holstein.” He glanced at the module next to it and raised his eyebrows. “My guess is there’s a bull in that one.
”

  “I’ll see,” said Sarah. She blew on her hands, then placed them on the frost, clearing a spot. She leaned in. “Yeah, I’d say so. Huge horns.”

  Marco said, “So some are domestic animals and some are wild.”

  “This is so weird.” Sarah hugged herself, her arms covered with goose bumps. “I want to find my dad.”

  Marco nodded. He wanted to find his brother, if he was there, and then get out. He shivered again, then pointed. “Let’s follow the rows. They have to end at some point, right?”

  “Yeah.” Sarah reached out and touched the frost-covered keypad with symbols. Then she leaned over and looked at the one on the module next to it. “They’re different.”

  “Different how?” asked Marco.

  Sarah compared them again. “I think they’re the names of the animals. But in whatever weird language it is.” She met his gaze. “It’s like … the module was made for the animal. With the animal’s name on it. Before the animal was ever in it.”

  Marco frowned. “As if the modules are for—”

  They both uttered the word at the same time:

  “Collecting.”

  A collection.

  Marco turned and looked around the cavern at all the modules.

  They were standing in the midst of someone’s collection. And they needed to get out before they became part of it.

  17

  Sarah started shaking. She didn’t know whether it was from the cold or from fear, but she couldn’t stand still. “Let’s go.” She grabbed Marco’s arm and started jogging toward the end of the row. They had gone about a hundred yards when Marco came to a halt in front of a module.

  “Look,” he said. The module’s glass was clear. “It’s empty.”

  Sarah ran her fingertips over the keypad. “I wonder what is meant to be in here.”

  “I don’t want to know,” said Marco. “Let’s keep going.”

  They walked fast, past more empty modules, until they were nearly at the end. Sarah asked, “It’s a wall! What do we do when we—” She stopped when she saw Marco.

  He was in front of a module that came up to his chest. The glass in front of it was just beginning to frost over, and only a few white stars had formed on it. His mouth hung open as he stepped closer.