by Adam Blade
Contents
Title Page
1: Rules of the Sea
2: Undertow
3: Snapperfish
4: Shipwreck
5: Labyrinth
6: Electric Enemy
7: Killer Coils
8: The Black Caves
9: Inside the Shell
Preview: Deep Dive #3: Manak the Manta Ray
Acknowledgments
Also Available
Copyright
LIA SHOT AHEAD ON HER PET SWORDFISH, SPIKE, trailing bubbles after them. The swordfish did a 360-degree spin, showing off. Max gunned the aquabike’s engines with a turn of his wrist and roared after her.
“Keep up, Riv!” he called back.
His robodog was nosing through a school of fish. He wagged his metal tail at Max’s voice. “Crab, Max! Crab!” he barked.
“Not now,” Max said.
Rivet lifted his head, and his leg propellers whirred as he zoomed toward them. Rivet wasn’t the very latest technology when it came to dogbots, but Max’s modifications had made him one of the fastest.
Lia dipped Spike’s nose, and the swordfish cut through the water toward the seabed, darting around barnacle-covered boulders.
Anything you can do … thought Max, leaning with his body to follow her. He’d always dreamed of owning an aquabike, and this was a Lightning X4. One of the best! he thought.
Spike thumped his tail into the seabed, throwing up a cloud of sand. As Max pulled back on the bike’s handlebars to climb above it, he gently squeezed the brakes and looked over his shoulder for one last glimpse of Sumara.
Yep, I’m definitely not dreaming, he thought. That place is real. The great coral columns of the Merryn city rose through the water, shaped into towers and buildings. Stone walkways stretched between them, and colorful flags of seaweed fluttered in the currents. Glowing plants lit up the underwater streets like torches. Max shook his head in wonder. He couldn’t think of anything less like the metal skyscrapers of Aquora. Until yesterday, that island city had been his home.
So much had changed in a single day.
Max had spent his whole life above the water. His dad hated the sea — feared it, even — ever since his wife, Max’s mom, had vanished with her brother while exploring. Dad told him that before Max’s mom set out, people had made fun of her. They said she was crazy for searching out the Merryn — a legendary underwater people. But she’d been right all along. Max had found that out for himself.
Still, Max would rather she had been wrong, if it meant he could have her back.
His mom’s sub, the Leaping Dolphin, had never been recovered after it had gone missing. He’d found a scrap of it in the Merryn city of Sumara, but he still had no idea what had happened to her or her brother.
I won’t lose my dad as well, he thought.
He felt a squirm in his stomach. His father, Callum North, Chief Defense Engineer of Aquora, had been kidnapped by an evil scientist known to the Merryn people only as “the Professor.” He could control the great creatures of the sea with advanced technology. Max didn’t know why the Professor had snatched his dad, but he wasn’t going to stop searching the oceans until he’d found him again.
The Professor was no friend to the Merryn, either. He had stolen their most treasured possession, the Skull of Thallos, which gave them the power to control the sea. So far, Max and Lia had recovered one part of the skull, but there were three other sections to rescue. Without the skull, the Merryn’s aqua powers had been weakened. They couldn’t do battle with the Professor’s Robobeasts themselves, so Max had agreed to help them.
Max set his jaw as he stared back at the beautiful city. They need me, he thought. And I won’t return until the Skull of Thallos is complete.
Max lifted his hand to the scars on his neck. The new gills still felt strange, but breathing through them was as natural as … well, breathing. His skin, which should have wrinkled like he’d spent too long in the bath, was smooth as silk. All thanks to receiving the mysterious Merryn touch!
Rivet arrived at his side, red eyes flashing. “Race, Max!”
“Oh, you think you can beat me, do you?” he replied.
Rivet barked and his tail wagged faster, then he streaked off toward a clump of tall, swaying weeds. Max tipped the handlebars and shot after him. A host of crabs scuttled out of his way as he wove between the tendrils of seaweed. Ahead of him, a squid pulsed out of sight behind some sharp-looking rocks, and turned an angry orange color. Max was gaining on Rivet, and twisted the throttle to full speed.
“Almost got you …” he muttered.
A shape swept in front of him, causing him to brake hard. Max somersaulted over the handlebars. Would the jagged rocks tear the flesh from his back? Thankfully, he bounced over them and onto soft sand, though he was dizzy and confused. He turned and saw Lia sitting on top of Spike, her hands on her hips.
“What in all the seven seas do you think you’re doing?” she snapped.
Even underwater, Max felt a blush rise to his cheeks. “I was just —”
“Terrifying innocent creatures?” Lia said.
“Sorry,” said Max sheepishly. “It’s all so new to me.”
Lia’s face softened. “This isn’t a Breather playground,” she said. “We need some ground rules.”
“Don’t you mean water rules?” Max said.
Lia didn’t smile at the joke. “Number One: Respect the ocean. Don’t cause damage, and don’t harm the creatures that live here. Number Two: The ocean might be beautiful, but it holds many dangers — so be careful around every plant and creature, however innocent they look. And Number Three: Never, ever go into the undertow.”
“What’s the undertow?” asked Max. He’d just seen Rivet digging in the seabed with his nose. No bones in there, boy, he thought.
“You Breathers don’t know much, do you?” said Lia. “An undertow is an extremely fast current flowing near the seabed. It’s almost invisible, but if you get caught in one, it can be deadly. Are you listening?”
Max’s attention snapped back. “What’s that? Oh, yes … One: Respect. Two: Dangers. Three … er … What was three?”
“Undertow,” Lia said.
“Got it,” Max muttered. Rivet was pulling a sparkling pearly shell out of the sand.
“Now, I’m hungry,” said Lia, taking off her netted knapsack and feeling inside. She pulled out a disk-shaped green object, broke it in two, and offered half to Max.
“What is it?” he said.
“Seaweed cake,” she replied, taking a bite. “Delicious!”
Max brought the cake to his lips and took a nibble. It tasted like salty cardboard. “Mmm,” he said, but his voice gave him away.
Lia laughed. “You’ll get used to it.” She fed a piece of the cake to Spike. “Which way are we supposed to be going?”
Max called to Rivet. “Here, boy!”
His dogbot dropped the shell and swam over. Max opened the storage compartment in the dog’s side and took out the long white jawbone of the Skull of Thallos. The surface glowed, almost translucent.
Max let go of the jawbone, allowing it to float in the water. It slowly rotated, as if guided by invisible currents, until it pointed off to the left. “It worked!” he said. “We’ll find the next piece, no problem.”
He reached out to take the jawbone when — whoosh! — a large silver fish swooped in from nowhere and snatched the white piece. It darted away before Max even had time to gasp.
The jawbone of the Skull of Thallos had been stolen!
AFTER IT!” LIA SHOUTED, SQUEEZING SPIKE’S flanks and zipping away.
Max leaped up onto his aquabike and twisted the throttle. The handlebars almost yanked his arms from their
sockets as his body was pushed back by the force of the machine’s speed.
He drew level with Lia, her silver hair billowing behind her. The fish glinted as it darted through the water ahead. They burst through a group of tiny purple jellyfish, then dipped into an underwater trench filled with prowling manta rays. The thief wasn’t giving up. With a flick of its tail, it shot right, and Max almost lost control of the bike as he steered sharply. He couldn’t let the fish get away now! Who knew where Rivet was? It didn’t matter. He was definitely gaining.
The fish was heading straight for a shimmering patch of water. Max leaned forward in the saddle, reaching out a hand to grab its tail. Behind him, he heard Lia shout something.
“What is it?” he called back.
“Undertow!” she yelled.
Too late! The fish jerked left into the strange rippling current, and a split second later Max followed suit. The force of the water slammed Max and the bike sideways like a massive fist. The bike’s engine groaned and squealed as he fought to right it, but he had no chance in the grip of the undertow. It threw him off the saddle, so he was only holding on to the handlebars with one fist, knuckles white. His other arm flailed in the water and it was suddenly hard to draw water into his gills. He felt like he was suffocating.
Boulders and sea shrubs streaked past on either side as the underwater torrent sucked him along, bouncing him off the seabed. Max caught flashes of the silver fish, also swept up in the undertow, but always just ahead of him. He saw Rivet, too, barking madly and tumbling over and over in a tangle of useless leg propellers, waving paws, and a flicking tail.
At least we’re in this together! thought Max. But he couldn’t get a breath, and his lungs felt crushed. This would be a terrible way to die. Had he been given the Merryn touch only to drown?
Black spots began to crowd the edges of his vision.
There’d be no one to stop the Professor.
Sorry, Dad, he thought. I’ve let you down….
A hand grabbed his arm. Through streaming bubbles he saw Lia’s face, her teeth gritted as she yanked him toward her. Next thing he knew he was moving sideways, and the rushing in his ears was gone. As his vision cleared, he saw strands of seaweed floating down from above his head, a topsy-turvy fish swimming past. It took him a moment to understand, but … the ocean floor was above his head! He was floating upside down.
“I feel sick,” he murmured.
Lia grabbed both arms and spun him around. She floated in front of him.
“Get your bearings,” she ordered. “Concentrate! It’s important. You don’t want to die down here, do you?”
Max’s head ached, but he shook it clear. He looked around and saw the channel of the undertow rippling past like a heat haze. They were in a small, shallow crater, with rising shelves of ocean floor on each side. The aquabike rested a short distance away, half-buried in sand like some sort of high-tech shipwreck.
“What about Rivet?” he said.
A series of short barks made him turn. Spike was swimming over the ridge away from the undertow, Rivet gripping a dorsal fin with his front paws. Spike twisted in the water and cast off the dogbot, then gave him a whack on the behind with his powerful tail. Rivet swam in jerky movements toward them. His eyes were facing in different directions, but his tail was wagging. Max banged a fist on the dogbot’s head and the eyes swiveled back into place.
“Fun, Max!” Rivet barked. “Again!”
“I don’t think so, Riv,” he said. “That was close.” He turned to Lia. “You were amazing. Thank —”
The Merryn stabbed a webbed finger at Max’s chest. “Didn’t I tell you?” she said. “Rule Number Three! How short are Breather memories?”
“I know, I’m sorry,” said Max, “but you didn’t actually tell me what an undertow looked like.”
“I can’t believe I went after you!” said Lia, smacking her forehead. “Count yourself lucky, Max. Next time might be different.”
Max felt guilt settle in his stomach. She was really upset, and all because he couldn’t remember three simple rules. “I’m sorry,” he said. “And thank you. I mean it. You saved my life.”
“For the second time.”
“For the second time, yes,” said Max. “Come on, I’m not going to kiss your foot-fins.”
Lia rolled her eyes. “Breathers!” she muttered.
Max swam over to his aquabike. Straining against the seabed, he pulled it loose and checked the controls. Thankfully it didn’t seem damaged, other than a cracked screen over the depth gauge. He could fix it easily enough when they had a chance to rest.
“We lost the jawbone,” said Lia, gazing at the empty space where the fish had swum off. She looked as though she was about to cry. “I’ve let my dad down.”
Max realized the Quest meant as much to her as it did to him. Her dad was the Merryn king, and he’d put his trust in both of them. Spike rolled onto his side and nuzzled up to Lia.
“We might be able to find the fish again if we follow the undertow,” said Max. “Or it might drop the jawbone when it realizes it can’t eat it.” He turned on the bike’s thrusters and climbed toward the edge of the crater. “Wow!” he gasped as he reached the top. “Come and check this out!”
Lia guided Spike toward him, and together they rose over the lip of the crater into warm and gentle currents. Lia gasped, too. The water ahead was almost sky blue, filled with plants and fish more colorful than Max had ever seen. There were scarlet sea snakes fluttering through the water, and lobsters with green eyes on stalks, picking their way across the ocean bed. Looming over all of it was a vast wall of white coral, glistening with sparkling points like a million diamonds. It rose from the seafloor up as high as Max could see. “What is this place?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” said Lia, “but it’s beautiful!”
Rivet suddenly shot through the water between them and hurled himself headlong into a carpet of black seaweed. The thick, dark plants writhed, and drifts of sand rose above the dogbot’s wagging tail. When he emerged, he was holding the silver fish in his jaws. And in the fish’s mouth was …
“The jawbone of Thallos!” Lia gasped.
“The fish was just hiding. Well done, Rivet!” Max cried.
He looked at Lia, and saw that she was beaming the biggest, whitest smile. Rivet swam toward them with the fish squirming in his mouth. The fish had ragged, sharp teeth, and Max wasn’t looking forward to prying out the jawbone. But as soon as he touched the Skull of Thallos, the fish released it without a fight.
“Weird!” said Lia. “It’s almost like the skull controlled the fish.”
“Better let this catch go,” Max said to the dogbot.
Rivet whined, but opened his mouth. The fish streaked off, panicked but unhurt.
Max let the jawbone float in the water. It glowed a faint blue and tipped to point upward toward the looming white cliff.
“Looks like we go that way,” said Lia.
“I don’t understand,” said Max. “Why did the fish stop here?”
“Maybe the power of the skull was guiding it,” said Lia, shrugging. “It wasn’t hiding very well, was it? Not if Rivet could find it. Maybe the skull brought it here. And if so, maybe the next piece is nearby.”
Max shivered, even though the water was warm. If the second piece of the skull was close, then so was a Robobeast. He looked at his three companions. Cephalox the Cyber Squid had almost defeated them. Are we ready to face the Professor again?
AS THEY STARED AT THE LOOMING WHITE CORAL, Max pressed the green button behind Rivet’s ear and the dogbot’s back compartment slid open. Max slotted the piece of the jawbone inside and closed the panel. “Keep it safe, boy,” he said.
Rivet gave an electronic whimper. “Scared, Max.”
“I know,” said Max. “Me, too.”
“Let’s go,” said Lia.
Spike rose upward, eyes alert, with the Merryn girl clutching his fin. Max rode his aquabike beside them. Up close, he saw th
at the coral cliffs weren’t as smooth and solid as they’d looked. The coral grew in swirls and branches, patterns that made Max’s eyes blur. There were thousands of holes in the wall, leading deeper into the coral. Tiny fish swam around the openings, darting in and out. Here and there patches of weeds clung to the wall. Max saw a chameleon fish flatten itself against the white, its scales fading from brown to white so that, in the blink of an eye, Max could no longer tell where it was. Sparkling points shone like polished crystals. The stone seemed almost warm and alive. Max reached out to lay his hand against it.
“Don’t,” said Lia.
Max felt a sharp pain in his palm. “Ouch!”
He snatched back his hand and saw a trail of blood clouding out from a cut.
Lia sighed through her gills and turned Spike around to face him. “What was Rule Number Two?” she asked.
Max tried to remember.
Lia raised her eyebrows and Spike blew a chain of bubbles. “The ocean is full of dangers,” she said. “Everything can be a threat. Stay alert, Max.”
She climbed off Spike and swam close to the rock face. She broke off several wide strands of gray seaweed. “Hold out your hand.”
Max did as he was told, and Lia placed the weeds around his palm. It stuck to his skin like melted wax. “It’s called clotleaf,” she said, stuffing the remaining strands in her knapsack. “It’ll seal up your wound.”
“Thanks,” said Max.
Rivet barked and did a full turn in the water as if he was chasing his tail. “Danger, Max!”
“Looks like Rivet’s got a problem,” said Max. “That undertow must have loosened his screws.”
Lia’s head jerked around and her nose twitched as she sniffed the water. She glanced down and her eyes widened. “There’s nothing wrong with Rivet,” she said. “We need to go — quickly!”
“Why?” Max turned in the water, but he couldn’t see anything.
