Dark Day in the Deep Sea

by Mary Pope Osborne

  The giant octopus loosened his hold on Jack and Annie.

  “The ship!” Jack gurgled before slipping under the water. His head popped back up. “Swim to the ship!” he shouted to Annie.

  Jack and Annie started swimming. The sky was still covered with clouds and the sea was still rough. But arm over arm, they swam until they got close to the ladder on the side of the ship.

  “Ahoy!” someone shouted from above. Jack looked up and saw Henry and the professor standing at the top of the ladder.

  “Climb up!” yelled Henry.

  “Hurry, children! Hurry!” cried the professor. “Before it comes back!”

  Jack swam as fast as he could to the ladder. He and Annie got there at the same time. They pulled themselves onto the ladder and climbed. When they reached the top, Henry and the professor helped them onto the deck. Henry wrapped wool blankets around them.

  “Thank goodness you are saved!” said the professor.

  “I thought you were below in the hold!” said Henry. “How did you end up in the water?”

  “The storm … the waves …,” gasped Jack, shivering.

  “The waves threw us overboard,” said Annie.

  “Why were you up on deck?” said Henry.

  “I was—I was seasick!” said Jack.

  “I followed Jack, and big waves came crashing down and washed us into the water!” said Annie.

  “Our life vests saved us at first,” said Jack. “But then they came off!”

  “Then the octopus saved us,” said Annie.

  “That monster saved you?” asked the professor.

  “No, no, not a monster,” said Jack, “a giant octopus!”

  “Yes, the monster of the deep! I do not think it saved you, boy,” said the professor. “It is a miracle it did not eat you and your sister alive!”

  “No, no, he’s—he’s not a monster. He didn’t try to do any of that—” said Jack.

  “He did save us!” said Annie. “He held us up above the water.”

  “Really!” said Jack. “He kept us from drowning. Then he got scared away by the ship.”

  “We didn’t even thank him, Jack,” said Annie. “We didn’t say good-bye.”

  Jack and Annie looked back at the water. “Hey, what’s going on over there?” said Annie. She pointed to the rear of the ship. Sailors were facing the sea, yelling and shouting.

  “What are they yelling at?” Annie asked.

  Jack and Annie threw off their blankets and took off across the deck. They saw Joe and Tommy standing at the edge of the crowd.

  “What are they doing?” Annie yelled. “What’s going on?”

  “They snared it in the net!” shouted Tommy.

  “We’ve caught the beast at last!” shouted Joe.

  “Caught it?” Annie looked at Jack.

  “Come on!” Jack cried. He and Annie pushed their way through the crowd.

  “Children, stop!” the professor shouted, hurrying after them. “Don’t get in the way!”

  But Jack and Annie squeezed through the crowd of sailors and scientists until they got to the railing of the ship. They looked down.

  The giant octopus was tangled in a net. His arms were churning the seawater into foam.

  His body had turned bright red. A cloud of dark ink billowed around him.

  “You’re hurting him!” yelled Annie. “Leave him alone!”

  “Move away!” yelled a sailor.

  Some of the sailors were yelling mean things at the octopus. Others seemed terrified. Even the captain was caught up in the panic. “Stand back!” he shouted. “It could be powerful enough to sink the ship!”

  “That’s crazy!” yelled Jack. “Leave him alone!”

  “Its tentacles are as hard as steel!” shouted one of the sailors.

  “No, they’re not!” cried Annie. “They’re soft! They saved us from drowning!”

  But everyone kept shouting:

  “Hungry for human flesh!”

  “Devour a man in one bite!”

  “Thirsty for blood!”

  “He’s not any of those things!” yelled Annie.

  “Throw the harpoons!” yelled a sailor.

  “Get your axes, swords, and knives!” yelled another.

  “Ready the guns!” said the captain.

  “No!” screamed Annie.

  “No!” roared Jack.

  “The children are right!” shouted the professor. He and Henry had squeezed through the crowd, too. They were standing behind Jack and Annie.

  Jack felt a rush of relief. “The professor says we’re right!” yelled Annie.

  “Do not destroy it, Captain!” roared the professor. “Haul it on board!”

  “On board?” said Jack.

  “Capture it alive and whole!” said the professor. His eyes gleamed. “So we can study it!”

  “No, no, let him go,” said Jack. “Just let him swim away and be free!”

  “Please!” screamed Annie. “Let him go!”

  But neither the professor nor the captain seemed to hear Jack and Annie. They were too busy arguing over what to do with the giant octopus.

  “We must kill it, Professor!” said the captain. “It could grab the hull and drag the ship down to the bottom!”

  “But science needs it alive!” said the professor. “At least till we have examined it!”

  By now the octopus had gathered his long arms around himself, as if for protection.

  Annie burst into tears. “Henry, help him!” she sobbed. “Don’t let them kill him! Or capture him!”

  Henry looked upset, too. “Excuse me, sirs!” he shouted. “Excuse me! The girl is right! We should let him go!”

  But no one listened to Henry, either.

  “Jack!” cried Annie. She grabbed Jack. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. “Save him! We have to save him!”

  “What can we do? We’ve tried everything!” said Jack.

  Then he remembered. His own words helped him remember. And Jack knew exactly what to do.

  “Where’s my backpack?” Jack yelled to Annie.

  “What?” Annie said.

  “My backpack!” said Jack.

  “Don’t worry about that now,” said Annie. “We have to—”

  “The wand! The wand!” Jack interrupted her.

  “Oh!” said Annie. “The wand!”

  “We have to find my pack! Fast!” said Jack.

  Jack and Annie pushed past the sailors crowding the railing. They ran across the deck.

  “Did you bring it in the rowboat?” yelled Annie.

  “Yes! No! I don’t know!” said Jack. “I can’t remember!”

  “Think! Think!” said Annie.

  Jack tried to think as they ran around the upper deck of the ship. Did I have it in the row-boat? What happened in the rowboat? I felt sick in the rowboat! I hugged my backpack in the row-boat!

  “I remember!” Jack shouted. “I was holding on to it when we first came aboard!”

  “Then it’s here somewhere!” said Annie.

  “The wardroom!” said Jack.

  “Hurry!” cried Annie.

  Jack and Annie raced down two flights of steps. They looked in the wardroom. Jack’s pack wasn’t there!

  “Henry’s lab!” said Annie.

  “Yes! Yes! It’s in there!” Jack cried. “I remember now! I left it on the table. I put it down when I looked through the microscope!”

  Jack and Annie ran up one flight of steps to Henry’s lab. They tried to open the door, but it was locked!

  “We need Henry!” said Jack.

  “We don’t have time!” said Annie.

  “We don’t have a choice!” said Jack.

  Jack and Annie charged back up the stairs to the upper deck.

  The crew was still gathered at the end of the deck, yelling and shrieking about the octopus.

  Henry was coming toward them!

  “Henry, help us!” said Annie. She raced to Henry and grabbed him by the arm. She pulled him
toward the stairs. “You have to unlock your lab! We have to get Jack’s pack! It’s life or death! Hurry, hurry!”

  “Why? What?” sputtered Henry.

  “We’ll explain later!” said Jack.

  “Just hurry!” said Annie.

  Henry looked baffled, but he walked quickly and led Jack and Annie down the stairs. They nearly pushed him across the hall toward his lab. The scientist pulled out his key and unlocked the door.

  Jack and Annie burst into the lab. “Yay!” said Annie. Jack’s pack was on the table!

  Jack grabbed it and tore it open. He pulled out the Wand of Dianthus. The silver spiraled wand gleamed in the dim light of the room.

  “What is that?” asked Henry.

  “We’ll explain later!” said Annie.

  “Come on, let’s go back up!” said Jack.

  “No, we don’t have time!” cried Annie. “Use it now, Jack! Say something now! Before they hurt him!”

  Jack held up the wand.

  “Five words!” said Annie.

  “I know,” said Jack. But what five words? This was their only chance!

  “Hurry!” said Annie.

  “I am!” said Jack. “But we can’t just save him this one time. We have to make sure the ship never, ever tries to hurt him or others like him again.”

  Jack closed his eyes. He pictured the giant octopus … his umbrella-like body and long tentacles, the gaze of his yellow eyes—a gaze that had curiosity and shyness.

  Jack thought of the sheer wonder of the octopus’s existence. The giant sea animal was incredibly amazing. He was like a miracle.

  Jack wished he and Annie could explain the miracle of the octopus to everyone. But no one would listen to them. Unless—

  “Hurry, Jack! Say the words!” said Annie.

  “Make them hear the truth!” The words had burst out of Jack.

  “What?” said Annie.

  “Make—them—hear—the—truth!” said Jack, his eyes still shut tight. “That’s my wish. Make all the guys upstairs hear the truth about the octopus.”

  “What are you talking about?” said Henry. “What is that stick you’re waving?”

  Jack opened his eyes. He shook his head at Annie. But she didn’t see him.

  “It’s a magic wand!” Annie said to Henry.

  “Actually—” said Jack, trying to think of something else to say.

  “Oh, oh, yes, I see,” said Henry. He smiled sadly. “You’re pretending, like children.”

  “We are children!” said Annie. “Come on, Jack. Let’s go tell them the truth!”

  Jack put the wand back in his pack. Then he and Annie charged out of the lab, with Henry behind them.

  The three of them climbed back up the stairs. When they stepped onto the top deck, they heard the sailors still shouting and yelling. Jack and Annie raced across the deck. They pushed through the crowd until they got to the railing.

  The octopus was still in the net, bright red and hiding his head in fear. The sailors had gathered weapons. Some were aiming harpoons. Others stood by with knives. Some pointed pistols.

  “Stop!” cried Annie.

  “Stand back!” the captain yelled at her.

  “You must bring it up alive!” begged the professor. “I beg you to let me examine it before you slay it, Captain!”

  But before the captain could answer, someone hurled a harpoon at the creature. It missed and landed in the water with a splash.

  “No!” yelled Annie.

  “Listen to us!” Jack yelled in his loudest voice. “You have to hear the truth!” He stood up on the bottom rung of the ship’s railing so everyone could hear him. “Don’t touch him!” he shouted. “He’s not going to hurt you! He deserves to live peacefully in the sea! He’s a miracle of nature!”

  But no one was listening to Jack. No one even turned to look at him.

  “Stop! Hear us!” said Annie. “We speak the truth! Leave him alone!”

  “Remove the children!” the captain roared again. “Now!”

  Tommy and Joe grabbed Jack and Annie.

  “Let us go! We have to talk to them!” yelled Annie, kicking and flailing. She and Jack broke loose from the sailors.

  “She’s right! They have to hear the truth!” yelled Jack, running toward the railing. “He’s okay where he is! He’s different from people, but he’s a miracle!”

  Again, no one seemed to hear him.

  “The magic’s not working!” Annie cried to Jack.

  “I know!” said Jack. He was desperate. No one was hearing the truth! What was wrong? He and Annie had followed the rules: They were trying to help others, not themselves. They had tried their hardest first. And Jack had used only five words.

  “Look!” a sailor shrieked. “Look at the monster!”

  Jack and Annie looked back at the water.

  The giant octopus had uncovered his head and raised it out of the water. “LEHHHHHHHH!” The sound was breathy and whispery, as if it came from the wind.

  The members of the crew lowered their weapons and stepped back in awe. “It—it speaks!” shouted a sailor.

  “MEEEEEEEEEEE!” The sound was wild and shrill, as if it came from a deep forest.

  “GOOOOOOOOO!” The sound was hollow and haunted, as if it came from an ancient gong or bell or drum.

  “HOOOOOOOOME!” The sound was unbearably sad, as if it came from the heart of the ocean.

  “IMMMMMNOOOOOMONNNSTERRR!” The octopus fell back into the water. All the seamen and scientists stared in wonder and terror.

  Then Annie’s voice rang through the silence. “Did you hear him? He said, ‘Let me go home. I’m no monster.’”

  The crew looked at each other in shock.

  “That’s what ’e said. I heard it,” one man said. “Heard it with my own ears.”

  “I heard it, too!” said another.

  “Me too!” said another.

  “It’s a sign,” said a sailor. “We can’t hurt ’im—”

  “Or any other like ’im!” said another.

  All eyes turned to the captain. He stood still for a moment, staring down at the giant octopus in the net. The captain looked at the professor. The professor seemed stunned. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

  The captain looked at Jack and Annie. “Please hear him,” Annie said. “He told you the truth.”

  The captain stared at the octopus for a long moment. Then he raised his hand. “Free him,” he said softly.

  The sailors slowly put down their harpoons, axes, pistols, and ropes.

  “Sir, I request permission to cut the creature from the net,” Henry said to the captain.

  The captain nodded. “Permission granted, Mr. Moseley,” said the captain.

  “Help me,” Henry said to Jack and Annie.

  “Sure!” said Jack.

  “We’ll come, too, mate,” said Joe.

  Joe and Tommy hurried after Henry, Jack, and Annie to a row of small boats on the deck. The sailors lowered one of the boats down to the surface of the water. Then Jack, Annie, Joe, Tommy, and Henry all climbed down the ladder and stepped inside.

  Everyone else watched from the deck. Joe and Tommy rowed along the side of the ship until they came to the spot where the giant octopus was trapped. The two sailors held the boat steady with their oars. “Grab the net,” Henry said to Jack and Annie.

  Jack reached out and grabbed a corner of the net. Annie helped him pull it out of the water. Henry used a big knife to slice through the thick rope strands.

  Even though the rowboat rocked violently, Jack didn’t feel sick at all.

  Jack, Annie, and Henry pulled the torn net into the small boat. Jack kept staring at the octopus. He looked back at all of them with his great eyes, his tentacles spread about him like a giant flower. His fierce red color had changed back to gray.

  “Good-bye, you,” Annie said softly. “Go home now.”

  The octopus lifted two of his tentacles as if to wave good-bye. Then he slipped under the su
rface of the water and vanished.

  Jack looked up. The captain, the professor, and the crew members were all gazing silently down at the water.

  Henry gave the captain a salute. The captain saluted back. Then everyone on board clapped and shouted.

  Overhead the clouds had disappeared, as if a curtain had been pulled away from the sky. Pink and red swirls of light streaked the blue.

  The cheering died down. “Let us disturb these waters no more!” commanded the captain. “Unfurl the sails! Get the steam up in the boilers!”

  Henry turned to Jack and Annie. “While they prepare the ship, shall we return you to shore?” he asked.

  “Yes, please,” said Annie.

  Jack just nodded. He was totally exhausted.

  As Joe and Tommy started rowing back toward land, the wind shifted and died down to a breeze.

  “I predict a fine, clear night tonight,” said Tommy.

  “And tomorrow, too,” said Joe. “The wind should be brisk.”

  “A good time to sail,” said Tommy.

  When they drew close to shore, Tommy and Joe both jumped out of the boat. Splashing through the shallows, they pulled the boat up onto the beach. Jack and Annie hopped out. Henry climbed out after them.

  “Thanks!” Jack said to the sailors.

  Henry walked with Annie and Jack up to the dunes. “Are you sure you’ll be all right?” he asked. “What will you do when night comes on?”

  “Don’t worry,” said Jack. “We’ll get back to our parents before dark.”

  “Lucky you,” Henry said wistfully. “I wish I could be back to my own family before dark.”

  “I hope you keep having a good voyage,” said Annie.

  “And I hope you learn a lot,” said Jack. “Bye.”

  “Wait, before you go—” said Henry. “I want to give you something.” Henry reached into the pocket of his vest and took out the beautiful nautilus shell. “The real reason I ran into my lab when the storm came was to get this,” he said. “I didn’t want to risk losing it. But now I would like to give it to you.”

  “Oh, no, Henry. You love it. You keep it,” said Annie.

  “I do love it,” said Henry. “But I want you two to have it. Today you taught me—no, you taught all of us—an important lesson. It is a dark day in the deep sea when we cause innocent creatures to suffer. The professor said we can conquer our fears through knowledge. But you taught us that our fears can best be conquered through compassion. Even we scientists must never forget to have compassion for all living creatures. My compassion for the little creature that once lived in this shell made me very happy.”