Sentinels in the Deep Ocean

by StacyPlays

  Noah ran to fetch the goggles from Stacy’s satchel back at the treehouse while Stacy tied her hair back with a piece of seaweed and waded into the water toward Pearl, who was facing north toward Breeze Island.

  “You must have gone swimming pretty far this morning, huh?” Stacy said to Pearl right before dipping her entire body underwater and getting her hair wet. Noah returned with her goggles, which Stacy promptly put on. He also brought the emergency flare, which Stacy tucked into the pocket of her cutoff shorts. Before Stacy could say anything else, Pearl took off swimming.

  “Everest, bring Ribsy to Breeze Island,” Stacy said. “Who knows—we may end up needing his ability. All right, Pearl . . . lead the way!”

  Stacy swam over to Noah and climbed onto his back, clasping her hands around his large neck. Atlas positioned himself on Noah’s right side and the three wolves began swimming. At first, Noah glided along the surface of the ocean so Stacy could keep her head above water. But as they approached Breeze Island, Pearl swerved east and Noah suddenly dove deep underwater to keep up with her.

  Noah descended deeper and deeper. Atlas was nearby, allowing Stacy to breathe. She took a breath of air and looked around her. The color of the water had changed from bright turquoise to a brilliant dark blue. We’re in the deep ocean now! The wolves swam through a large school of tropical fish in a kaleidoscope of different colors. Stacy looked above her and saw a large sea turtle and then gasped as she peered below her at a massive whale with a calf. Everest, I wish you could see this. There’s a whole other world down here!

  Stacy looked up and realized that Pearl had swum in between Breeze Island and Hatch’s Island and was diving even deeper now, toward the sea floor. Suddenly, their destination came into view . . . a sunken ship! Stacy could only imagine what Everest was thinking right now—a sunken ship was probably a little more dangerous than he was expecting. Stacy looked at the massive ship as Noah dove closer. Stacy guessed it was at least a hundred years old. It had a giant mast and a lookout—Stacy knew those were called crow’s nests. Both were now covered in algae. The ship’s massive wooden hull had barnacles growing all over it and several giant, gaping holes. Is there an animal in there? Stacy took another big breath from Atlas’s air bubble and tried to mentally prepare herself for the rescue. Pearl brought them around to the back of the shipwreck to a tiny rusted porthole—much smaller than the one that had been in their boat and too small for any of her wolves to fit through. Pearl wants me to go in there? Stacy swam up to the porthole and stared into the darkness inside the ship. She wasn’t sure she could even fit through the porthole herself, but if there was an animal inside who needed help, she was willing to give it a try.

  Stacy wriggled her way through the porthole. It was a tight squeeze, but her shoulders just fit. She swam all the way inside and then immediately turned back to the porthole, grabbing the bottom rim of it to keep herself from floating away. Atlas was staring back at her. Stacy leaned into the porthole to discover he’d created an air bubble. Brilliant! I can swim back here whenever I need to take a breath. Stacy had to admit, it was less than ideal to be separated from the wolves on the other side of the porthole. She didn’t even know what animal they were rescuing yet. Guess I’d better have a look around. It’s so dark though. A thought occurred to her. She took the emergency flare from her pocket and brought it up to the air bubble in the porthole. She twisted the top off to reveal a small fire striker on the flare’s cap. She put it to the other side and pulled it hard across the top of the flare. A red flame sputtered to life, and then burned brightly. Atlas looked at Stacy, amazed. Stacy turned away from the wolf, not sure if what she was about to do would work. She plunged the flare into the water . . . it didn’t extinguish! It was getting all of the oxygen it needed to burn from a chemical stored inside it—no air necessary! Wow. Basil would love this. Okay, here goes nothing. Stacy pushed off from the porthole into the darkness, holding the flare out in front of her. The room she was in was small—probably twenty feet wide and fifteen feet long. There was a wall of windows along the back of the room, which were still intact. And on the opposite side, a door with a heavy lock on it. Oh, that’s why Pearl couldn’t find another way in besides the porthole. The room was filled with furniture that had obviously shifted around from its original location. There was a large wooden desk with a rolltop cover, an impressive chair turned on its side and covered in kelp, and a toppled-over bookcase with soggy tomes scattered around the wood plank floor. Stacy swam down into the small space between the tipped-over bookcase and the desk and found a gilded locker—a treasure chest?! This must have been the ship captain’s quarters. Stacy swam back to Atlas for a breath. She wasn’t sure how much longer the flare would last, and she still hadn’t found the animal who needed rescuing. Even with the flare, the room was just too dark and cluttered. There could be a dozen or more animals in the room with Stacy and she wouldn’t have known—there were too many good places to hide. Suddenly, Stacy noticed a flicker of movement near the ceiling of the captain’s room. She took a deep breath in and swam up, the red flare instantly illuminating the animal who needed help.

  Stacy couldn’t believe what she was looking at. A baby dolphin was floating near the room’s ceiling . . . its nose stuck in what looked to be an old empty bottle. It must have swum in here through the porthole and now it can’t get out. Fortunately, the bottle was not covering its tiny blowhole and there was a small pocket of air in the corner of the room, which was keeping the dolphin alive. Stacy had read about bottlenose dolphins and had even heard of a ship in a bottle before, but nothing could have prepared her for a bottlenose dolphin in a ship with its nose in a bottle.

  Suddenly, the baby dolphin began frantically swimming around, thrashing its body from side to side, desperately trying to separate itself from the bottle. It swam toward the porthole but the bottle clanged on the side of it, knocking the dolphin backward. Poor thing! It must be so scared.

  Stacy’s flare fizzled out, but her eyes had adjusted to the darkness around her. She knew there was no time to lose. The dolphin calf was exhausted and needed to be back with its mother. Stacy dropped the flare and reached her arms out, trying to grasp the dolphin in her hands. It took several minutes, with Stacy returning every thirty seconds to the porthole to catch her breath before attempting to capture the dolphin again. Eventually, the dolphin tired and slowed down, giving Stacy the perfect opportunity to wrap her hands around the bottle. Holding the calf out in front of her by the end of the glass bottle, Stacy pulled as hard as she could as a dark shadow passed behind her—Yes! Got it!

  Stacy pulled the newly freed baby dolphin into her arms and swam to the porthole. Stacy took a breath first, and then pushed the dolphin through the porthole to where Pearl was waiting—presumably to bring the dolphin back to its mother. Stacy was about to swim out of the cabin too, but then she remembered the treasure chest. I wonder . . . Stacy took another breath and then dove down toward the chest. She expected it to be locked, so it came as a big surprise to her when it popped open the second her fingers touched the rusted latch. Stacy’s eyes widened in awe. Inside the chest was a beautiful tiara, bejeweled with emeralds. As she reached into the chest to take it, a cold tentacle brushed against her arm.

  Stacy grabbed the tiara and spun around into a cloud of black squid ink. BLECCCKK! Help! Stacy wiped the ink off her goggles and swam as fast as she could to the porthole. Her mouth was full of the ink and she could feel it beginning to seep through her goggles. She stuck her head into the space of air in the porthole and pulled her goggles off and spit the ink out. Noah and Atlas treaded water beside the ship, concerned.

  “BLUH, BLEH, UGHH,” Stacy spewed. The ink was all over her clothes and in her hair. “That squid was obviously just as scared of me as I was of it. Get me out of here.”

  Stacy reached for Noah and he pulled her out of the porthole. Together with Atlas, they raced Stacy up to the surface and back to Breeze Island, where Everest was waiting rather impatien
tly for them, along with Ribsy and Paisley. As they paddled to the shore, Stacy looked back in the direction of the ship and saw Pearl swimming with a pod of dolphins, including the calf and its mother—reunited. Thank goodness Pearl found the dolphin when she did. That had to be one of the craziest rescues yet. Stacy staggered out of the water holding her goggles in one hand and the jeweled tiara in the other. She looked at Everest, held up the tiara, and smiled.

  “At least I got a reward!”

  Eighteen

  STACY LIT A fire with her flint and steel. It was the next morning and, after several dips in the lagoon, Stacy had finally washed all the cephalopod ink from her hair. It was the first gloomy day the pack had seen since arriving on the island and, after such an action-packed day yesterday, Stacy decided she would rest all day while the wolves continued to work on their various projects. She had a simple but delicious breakfast of bananas, rice, cassava root, and coconut milk and then settled into the hammock underneath the palm trees. Stacy was resolved that today was the day she would finally decode the rest of the tundra explorer’s journal. She was determined to finish the translation and read the journal in its entirety—something she was almost able to do now without needing to check the key.

  Today is a dark day. We returned to the tundra to discover that Diamond went into labor earlier than we anticipated. She is dead. Two pups are also dead, but one survived. Somehow. Ames is missing. We suspect he left when things took a turn for the worse during the birthing, hoping to find us. I cannot fully express the pain of discovering such a grisly scene in a place that has also brought me so much joy over the last decade. We will continue looking for Ames and introduce the surviving pup to the taiga pack in a few weeks when he is stable and can eat meat. His eyes are open already. They are a beautiful rust brown. We’ve named him Garnet.

  Oh, Wink. A tear rolled down Stacy’s cheek. She brushed it away. Everest, who was lying next to Stacy in the hammock, buried his head in the fabric. Wink survived because that’s his ability. Just like Basil was fast as a pup and Addison was so smart she picked up some of the rune language—the wolves’ future powers were present even from birth. That’s why Wink lived. That’s why Wink was younger than the rest of the pack when I came to live with them in the taiga. That’s why Diamond’s name was crossed out in the rune along with the two numbers next to Garnet. And the “Where are you” was a message from the tundra explorer to Ames. He was searching the tundra for help. He never found it. He would have returned to see the names scratched out. Poor Ames! He was left all alone in the ice cavern, waiting for the explorer to return. He carved “Here now” into the ice and continued to look for the explorer. He used what little strength he had left to carve runes out on the tundra that Addison found, hoping to be reunited with his family. Stacy turned the last page of the journal and read the final entry.

  We’re back in the tundra after introducing Garnet to the taiga litter. The introduction went well. Ames is still not here. I am very concerned that something has happened to him. I’m going to leave this journal here, seeing as I have filled it. I will buy another one the next time I am in the village for supplies. One piece of good news is that the art my partner produced while living in the Arctic with me has been well received by the public. So much so that it has afforded us a helicopter that will make trips to the tundra and taiga much easier. Our daughter is getting old enough that we want to start bringing her along with us as well. Our first trip with her will be to the taiga to check up on Garnet’s progress. After that, we will launch a larger search effort for Ames. Beyond that—we’ve heard of a sighting of a pair of white wolves with four pups in the southern mesa biome. We may use the helicopter to investigate. If there are more wolves of this kind in the mesa, we hope to find them before hunters do. Until then, good-bye.

  Nineteen

  STACY SAT IN the hammock in shock. A helicopter? Our daughter? A trip to the taiga? The tundra explorer . . . she was my mother. Everest nuzzled Stacy’s shoulder. Stacy felt like she was losing her parents all over again. She’d hoped to someday meet the explorer. Learn from her. Now that would never happen. She was dead. And my father was the artist. We were all in the helicopter together—but only I survived. They never made it to the mesa biome. The mesa pack . . . hunters must have killed their parents. And I am the only person in the world who knows about these wolves. The weight of this thought pushed down on Stacy’s shoulders. It’s up to me. To protect them . . . it’s up to me. Stacy was devastated, but a small part of her was also so proud to be the daughter of such an amazing woman. Caring for the wolves—the way she had been for years—was carrying on her parents’ legacy. Everything she’d gone through—the expedition on the tundra, coming back to the mesa, and helping Pearl—it was what needed to be done.

  I’ve got to get back to the taiga and tell Addison all of this. As much as Stacy loved island life, she knew they would need to leave soon so she could tell the rest of the pack what she’d learned from the journal . . . and so she could pay what she owed for Pip’s visit to the animal hospital. Pip! I’d forgotten about him for a minute. Pip and Milquetoast and Page and Molly . . . they’re my responsibility to take care of. But . . . will the mesa wolves come with us? They seem to like it here, but will they be okay on their own?

  Suddenly, Paisley came running toward Stacy and Everest, beckoning them to follow her.

  “What is it, Pais?” Stacy said, scrambling out of the hammock. They followed Paisley to the dead beach. Stacy stopped running and bent over to catch her breath. When she looked up, she couldn’t believe what she was looking at. . . .

  Twenty

  STACY GAZED OUT over the ocean at the thriving coral reef. The water was teeming with tropical fish swimming among the vibrant blues, pinks, yellows, and reds of the reef. Paisley did it! She restored the coral! The mangrove forest was flourishing, and Paisley had even begun growing a protective wall of palm trees and shrubs to create a barrier around the entire island to hide. They’ll be safe here; everyone will think this island is overgrown. They’ll have no idea about the tropical paradise inside. Everest appeared alongside Stacy, holding her swimming goggles so that Stacy could get a better view of the revitalized section of the ocean.

  “Thank you, Everest,” Stacy said to him. Then she put on the goggles and dove into the warm water to inspect the coral with Paisley and Pearl.

  Stacy couldn’t believe how much the reef had changed during the short time she had been on the island. It was so beautiful and lush—like an underwater forest. She saw animals everywhere she looked. There were sea horses and little orange-and-white-striped clown fish. She even saw Ouch the pufferfish and Hatch, the baby sea turtle, who had practically doubled in size since the last time she saw him. There were yellow sponges, crabs, and starfish too. And the dolphins were there! Stacy could see that the revitalization of the coral reef had strengthened the ocean’s food web. Everyone would be able to eat and survive now that Paisley had rehabilitated the coral. She’d literally saved hundreds of animals in an area that had likely taken hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of years to form.

  Stacy came up for air and turned on her back to float. Obviously, the reef still had a way to go to be completely healed, to have the chance to expand and grow. But with Paisley here, there was no question in Stacy’s mind that it would happen. Paisley will see to it. Stacy thought about the mesa pack as she swam to the shore and sat down on the sand to wait for the sun to dry her off. The mesa wolves fit in perfectly here. Obviously Pearl needs to be here and can swim all around the islands to see if any animals need rescuing . . . the sea turtles like Hatch, dolphins like the one from the shipwreck, whales, fish, squid, sharks, jellyfish . . . she can bring them to Ribsy, who can heal them. Atlas can keep watch for passing ships and protect the birds—seagulls, hummingbirds, plovers, and pelicans—who live here. And Paisley’s talent is with the island vegetation. Making sure all the plants and trees and coral and kelp are sustained. She can maintain the reef and t
ake care of any litter that washes up on the shore. They’ll keep this part of the world safe—just like my pack does back in the taiga. They’re the sentinels of this ocean!

  Everest walked over and sat next to Stacy. Stacy looked to him and he nodded. He agrees with me. They looked out at Pearl, Ribsy, Atlas, and Paisley all playing together in the surf. They belong here. They’ve found their mission.

  It occurred to Stacy that she’d found her mission as well. Without the Arctic explorer . . . my mother . . . around to study and protect the wolves with abilities, this was Stacy’s secret to keep now. Her wolf pack would continue to protect the animals and nature around them in the taiga. And the mesa pack, now permanently relocated to the ocean, would protect the environment here. Who knows! Maybe I’ll find other wolves in the future in different parts of the world—I could create a rescue network of the wolves, living in secrecy and guarding the planet!