She points to me, then holds up her wrist, then points to the reef.
Super big gulp. Apparently it’s time to unload this ticking timer.
Chapter 17
When I Realize Zac Has My Back
Lexi is holding her camera with one hand and motioning like Hurry up, already! with the other. Can I tell you how awful it feels to be a pawn in somebody’s worse-than-awful scheme? It reminds me of bratty Brianna getting me to do her dirty work, trying to get Elizabeth to quit the team, only on a much, much bigger scale. If I drop this timer and the dynamite Captain Jack put down here explodes, this gorgeous reef that took about five thousand years to form (that’s not an exaggeration—we learned that in school) and all the millions of sea creatures that live in and around it will be blown to smithereens. And all for money—some stupid treasure they think is somewhere around that reef. Okay, you witchy woman. I’ll drop this box, but I’ll find a way to fix this before the damage can be done. I’ve got time, right? And I’m sure Flynn has the exact coordinates of where we’re diving. I’ve just got to get to that radio and call the Coast Guard. And fast.
I carefully tuck the box next to the reef like Lexi instructed. She gives me a thumbs-up and takes a zillion more pictures, then she points to the surface. I nod and follow her slowly back up toward the sunshine and hang on to the side of the sea buoy marking our dive spot. Skipper stays right by my side.
“Great job, Mare!” Lexi says after she pops out her mouthpiece. “Really great.” She pushes her mask up onto the top of her head. I give her a weak smile, and she takes off swimming back to the big boat. She gets there before me and helps me off with my tank so I can climb up onto the dive platform.
“My girl nailed it, did she?” Flynn asks proudly as we haul our gear onto the boat. He’s up on the fly bridge with a pair of binoculars around his neck.
“I knew it!” he shouts, raising his arms above his head. “I knew you would, Mare. Of course, you were down there with the best…so thanks to you too, Lexi.” Yeah, Lexi. Thanks a whole heaping lot!
Captain Jack is on the aft deck waiting to help us into the boat. He holds out his hand to haul me up and I really, really don’t want to take it, but there’s no way I’m getting out of this water and into the big boat by myself on my Jell-O legs, so I do. But I’m not happy about it.
Zac comes up behind him with a towel.
“You okay, Marina?” he asks, throwing the towel around my shoulders. “You look a little pale.”
Um, I thought we weren’t friends anymore since I accused his precious aunt and uncle of being ruthless treasure hunters who blow up coral reefs to get what they want!
“I’m fine, you know, just…beat,” I say, unzipping my wet suit like a pro. How am I going to get up to that radio without anybody seeing me? Think, Malone. You’ve got a big brain. USE IT.
“Maybe you should go lie down for a bit,” Zac says, handing me a bottled water.
“Thanks,” I say, taking the water and slurping half of it down in one huge gulp. I can taste the salt on my lips but still, water has never tasted so delicious. “Maybe I will.” Maybe there’s a radio down there somewhere! There has to be. There just has to be.
Zac walks over to the side of the deck, like he’s looking for something, and then he comes back. He’s acting all fidgety and weird. Maybe he is still mad at me.
“That’s a great idea,” Lexi pipes in. “I’m going to go download these photos and see what we’ve got. I think you’re going to be really happy, Flynn.”
“I’m not sure I could get any happier,” Flynn says, jumping down from the fly bridge and giving me a big high five.
“Um, Jack?” Lexi says suddenly in a little-girl voice. “Did you radio for the Coast Guard?” Lexi points out toward the ocean, and sure enough, the enormous Coast Guard boat is barreling toward us.
Captain Jack looks like he’s just seen a ghost. “Of course I didn’t—I mean, why would I call the Coast Guard?”
“Well, then why are they coming this way in what looks like a big rush?” Lexi asks, sounding equally panicked.
“I called them,” Zac says, looking straight at me.
Maybe we’re friends after all.
Chapter 18
When the Truth Bubbles to the Surface
“Why’d you call the Coast Guard, Zac?” Flynn wants to know, looking very confused. Zac looks like he’s trying not to cry. It might be the saddest thing I have ever seen.
The Coast Guard boat whooshes to a halt beside the Sea Angel, which starts bobbing and tilting in the enormous swells. “Maritime law grants us permission to board this vessel,” one of the guards calls out through a loudspeaker. “Nobody move.”
“Lexi? Jack? What is going on?” Flynn wants to know.
“That’s exactly what we’d like to know,” says the first guard to hit the deck.
“My aunt and uncle,” Zac starts, pointing at Lexi and Captain Jack who both have their heads bowed in shame. “They’re not who you think they are, Flynn. Not even close.”
“What does that mean?” Flynn bellows, looking from one of them to the other. “Who are they then?”
Zac grabs my hand and gives it a squeeze. “Marina, do you want to tell him or do you want me to do it?” His sad face is ripping a big, huge hole in my heart.
“They’re treasure hunters, Dad, not conservationists,” I say, looking at Flynn and feeling all kinds of awful for having to be the one to drop this bomb. “They’re only here because they needed your permit to access the reef…and they’re trying to blow it up—with dynamite!—to get to some treasure they think is buried out here. Captain Jack put the dynamite down there on his dive earlier, and Lexi made me drop the timer when we went down together. It’s ticking backward and it’s set to blow up in a few hours!”
Captain Jack has his hands over his face. Lexi is full-on crying.
“They were trying to blow it up,” Zac corrects me. “But Marina here overheard them talking about their plan. I didn’t want to believe her at first. I really didn’t. But I know she’d never lie to me, so I found my uncle’s logbook. It’s all in here, everything they were planning to do.” He holds up the tattered book.
“Lexi, Jack, is this true? Please tell me it’s not, please,” Flynn pleads.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen this way,” Lexi cries. “We tried to get to the treasure without hurting anything. Really we did! And we were going to donate half of what we found to the Coral Reef Preservation Society. Weren’t we, Jack? Tell them!”
“We did it for you, Zac,” Captain Jack says, all choked up and red in the face. “That treasure is your legacy too, you know. It’s your birthright. Your grandfather died because of it. With that money you could have saved hundreds of reefs! Yes, we were going to sacrifice one. But you can see the big picture here, can’t you? Can’t you?”
“And what was going to happen after you blew up that reef, Uncle Jack? Huh? We all would have had to escape in the dinghy. We’d be banned from the conservationist community forever, and we’d never have seen Flynn and Marina again! How could you do this to me when you know that nothing matters to me more than being an oceanographer someday? Not money, not some stupid buried treasure, nothing! My parents trusted you to take care of me, and you could have gotten me arrested or killed! And how could you do this to Flynn and Marina, after all they’ve done for us?” Zac wipes away a tear.
“We would have made it right,” Lexi says. “You have to believe that, Zac!”
“Tell it to the judge,” a guard says, slapping handcuffs on Captain Jack. Another guard locks up Lexi.
“I’m so, so sorry,” Zac says, looking from me to Flynn and back again.
“I’m sorry too,” I tell Zac.
“I’m in shock,” Flynn says, shaking his head.
“Do I come with you?” Zac asks a guard in a tiny, sad voice.
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“You stay here,” a guard says, leading Captain Jack and the others onto the Coast Guard boat. “We’ll need all of you to make statements of course, but there’s time for that. Hey, both of you kids,” he adds, nodding to me and Zac, “nice work here. You should feel very proud of yourselves.”
Zac just hangs his head. I wrap my arms around him and squeeze him as tightly as I can.
“It’s going to be okay, Zac,” I tell him. “You did the right thing.”
“Then why do I feel totally awful?” Zac asks.
For once in my life, I’m totally speechless.
Chapter 19
When I Don’t Get to Say Good-bye
Once the Coast Guard boat leaves and is just a speck in the distance on the open sea, the Sea Angel is completely quiet. The sun looks like a big fireball hanging over the ocean, sending gorgeous purples, pinks, and oranges—my favorite color combo—across the sky against streams of lazy, puffy clouds. I can hear tiny waves lapping against the hull of the boat. It’s so peaceful that it’s hard to believe that this might have been the scene of an environmental disaster. And for what? Money? Don’t get me wrong, I think the idea of a buried treasure is as cool as the next person—but not if you have to commit a crime to get it.
I walk out onto the deck where Zac is sitting by himself.
“I’m sorry about your aunt and uncle,” I say because I have to say something.
“Yeah, it stinks when people turn out to not be what you think they are,” Zac says.
“But it’s better to know…right?” I say hopefully.
“I guess…” Zac trails off. “Want me to come with you on Skipper’s evening swim?”
“Sounds great,” I say with a smile, grabbing my goggles off a hook. I’m beyond exhausted, but I can tell Zac needs a friend right now—and I know he’d do it for me. He leans down and bangs the side of boat to call Skipper, who shows up squealing in about one second.
“Last one in is a steaming pile of…” I hear Zac say, but I’ve already taken a flying leap off the back of the boat.
“A steaming pile of what, Zac?” I ask, looking up from the water. Skipper nuzzles me under the arm as I tread water, laughing.
“A steaming pile of pancakes!” Zac yells, doing his best cannonball and spraying me with the big splash. This time I’m ready with a full breath when Skipper tucks his adorable nose under my arm and takes off. We’re flying through the water, and Zac is doing his perfect butterfly stroke behind. There’s no way he can keep up with us.
Just like before, Skipper slows to a stop and motions with his whole head to the buoy in the distance. Zac catches up with us and we all race to the buoy. I do the breaststroke this time, and I’m wishing there was some way I could take these swimming skills back to the Mountain View Pool with me. I’d also like to take Zac and this precious dolphin, but I already know that’s not how it works.
I get to the buoy before Zac, after Skipper of course, and give it a big slap before finding a place to hold on and catch my breath. Zac swims up next to me in a matter of seconds.
“I’m pretty sure you’re part dolphin,” he says between big breaths. “Which would explain your swimming and why Skipper has such a big crush on you.”
Crush? Did he say crush? Oh wait, he was talking about Skipper. Still, it’s too late to stop it. My face lights up like a traffic signal. I take a big breath and sink down into the water, floating like a big X. I’m only wearing a tiny pair of goggles and it’s almost dark, but I can see a big sea turtle swimming by and bunches of beautiful fish flitting left and right. I can’t believe I have to leave this underwater world behind. When I can’t hold my breath any longer, I come back up for air and see Zac, holding on to the buoy and staring off toward the setting sun.
“It’s still hard to believe my aunt and uncle are such horrible people,” he says, shaking his head. “They’ve been like my parents out here all year long.”
“Maybe they’re not truly awful. Sometimes people forget what’s important and do really bad things,” I say, trying to come up with some helpful genie guidance on the fly, “because they want something so badly.” I think about Brianna back at swim team tryouts. She wanted to be the best so badly that she was willing to do anything to get rid of a little competition.
“You’re such a good friend, Marina,” Zac says, looking straight at me. “And the only person in the world who could know exactly how I feel.” I smile right back at him, once again at a loss for words.
Just then, Flynn rings the big, brass ship’s bell to call us in for dinner. The same bell Captain Jack rang for lunch this afternoon. Could that really have been this afternoon? It feels like a million years ago.
Skipper circles back to us when he hears this, and the three of us swim back to the Sea Angel. I’ve never gotten to know anyone so well in one day in the MMBs. As I swim effortlessly back to the boat, I start to feel really sad that it’s all going to be over soon. And I’ll never see Zac or Skipper or Flynn again.
Flynn is waiting at the back of the boat with big beach towels for us. “You kids are heroes,” he says, taking us under each arm. “I hope you realize that.”
“Thanks Flynn,” Zac says. He looks uncomfortable with the praise so I try to save him.
“More importantly, what’s for dinner?” I ask.
“What else? Spaghetti and meatballs!” Flynn says with a smile. Sweeter words have never been spoken.
“Go get showered and meet me in the salon in fifteen, guys,” Flynn tells us. I swing around the railing and go down the steep stairs. A shower sounds amazing right about now. After I get cleaned up, I slip into a striped cotton slip dress that’s so soft it feels like it’s been washed about seven dozen times and pull on a fleece hoodie. I pile my hair on top of my head the way Auntie Fi does. A few curls fall down, but honestly, I’m starving and can’t be bothered by my misbehaving mane.
“Maybe the best spaghetti and meatballs I’ve ever had,” I say, dotting my mouth with my napkin to make sure there’s no tomato sauce smeared across my face as we finish eating. “Thank you, Flynn—I mean, Dad!” Keep it together, Malone! You’re in the last little stretch of this marathon day!
Flynn just laughs. “You kids must be exhausted. I’ve got the dishes. You two go get some sleep,” he says and kisses me on the forehead.
“See you in the morning, Marina,” Zac says, looking back at me before he goes down the stairs.
“Okay…good night, Zac,” I call back, because what else can I say? It’s really hard not to say good-bye.
I sleepily brush my teeth with Marina’s toothbrush. Kind of gross, I know, but think about it. Not a lot of options, right? I can’t remember being this tired. Ever. I shuffle to the bed and literally fall into it. As the waves lap gently at the sides of the boat, I drift off into a deep, deep sleep.
Chapter 20
When I Have to Deal with What I Left Behind
“Way back when, before I knew, some fairy tales they just don’t come true…”
Out of nowhere, my blissful sleep is interrupted by the sounds of Becca Starr’s chart-topping hit. Is this a sound check? Am I supposed to be on stage somewhere? Is the band rehearsing without me? Wait a minute, I’m not Becca Starr anymore! I’m Marina Tide, ocean explorer, super swimmer, and most of all, friend to Skipper. And of course, Zac.
Zac.
I hit my snooze button and bolt upright in bed—a bed that’s not rocking softly from side to side anymore—and pry my exhausted eyelids open. There’s my cozy polka-dot chair in the corner. The purple vanity table that I helped my mom paint is right next to my closet, and my fluffy zebra-striped rug is right in the middle of it all. I’m home. I’m Maggie Malone again. And if I’m not mistaken or smack in the middle of some crazy dream, I saved an entire coral reef yesterday, swam with my own pet dolphin (well, he was my own for the day), dove clear down to the dark a
nd faraway bottom of the ocean, and hung out with pretty much the coolest, sweetest (and cutest) guy on the planet.
The memories come flooding back, and I feel dizzier than the time Stella and I had a contest to see who could spin in a circle the most times in one minute. (I beat Stella sixty-three to sixty-one. And then I puked. But I won! I tried not to gloat or anything afterward though, because my dad always says if you’re a poor winner, you might as well be the loser.)
I look at my wall calendar and realize it’s Tuesday. The crazy thing about the MMBs—oh, who am I kidding? Everything about the MMBs is crazy! I guess maybe I should say one of the craziest things about the MMBs—is that time stops when I wear them. So even though I had this incredible, jam-packed day full of giant turtles and deep-sea diving and crime-busting and Zac, it was still only yesterday that I tried out for the swim team and made second alternate. Which means that my first practice, alongside Brianna, the pint-size witch of the Pinkerton Minnows, is today. And I was supposed to convince Elizabeth to quit…or else. Instead, she unfriended me because she thinks I’m a big, fat liar. This day ought to be fun.
After I get dressed and brush my teeth and scrunch my hair with wet hands, I stuff my goggles and new team suit into my backpack and breeze through the kitchen. I thought about just switching to yearbook, but then Elizabeth would be shark bait. Even though she doesn’t want to be my friend anymore, I can’t let her be munched by Brianna the piranha. There’s a toasted bagel on the counter smeared with strawberry cream cheese, next to a note from my mom scrawled on a napkin in bright red Sharpie. “Hope you have the best day EVER. Love you more!”
Maggie Malone Makes a Splash Page 7
