Creature Keepers and the Hijacked Hydro-Hide

by Peter Nelson

  Eldon slipped his goggles down over his eyes and gave a thumbs-up. The plane coughed as it moved slowly out onto the bay. Bernard stood at the end of the dock and watched the old seaplane pick up speed, gliding across the water. It lifted into the air unsteadily, then circled over the tree line, disappearing out of sight.

  Bernard exhaled. “He’s gonna kill me when he gets back.”

  Abbie plunked a pile of lemons down on the lemonade stand, looked down the street at the old people slowly making their way toward her, and thought of her brother. I’m gonna kill him when he gets back.

  She opened a rickety wooden cabinet beneath the bar. There was a pitcher, mixing spoons, paper cups, a bag of sugar, and a stained, folded-up piece of paper. Hand-lettered across the top of the weathered sheet of Badger Ranger official stationery it read, Eldon Pecone’s Old-Fashioned Homemade Lemonade Stand Instructions. Beneath that was written a basic recipe for lemonade, as well as a checklist for setting up the stand.

  “Great. Another to-do list,” she sighed. “I miss Chunk. He’s the only one who gets me.”

  She thought about her pet iguana as she followed the recipe. She loved that lizard. He was wrinkled, scaly, and indifferent. Reptiles seemed ugly to most people, but they didn’t care what people thought. And Abbie felt that made them beautiful.

  “Where’s Eldon?” a croaky voice suddenly barked at her. She looked up. Standing there before her was an old, wrinkly woman in tattered bunny slippers who’d ambled up to the stand.

  “Didn’t know it was Halloween,” another, older neighbor chimed in. “Who are you supposed to be, the Bride of Dracula?” This one was a dude, and not only was he still in his bathrobe, he hadn’t bothered to close it up. He wore big, baggy boxer shorts pulled way up over his belly button. They had lobsters printed on them.

  As they both glared at her, Abbie knew she should be angered, offended, or at least irritated by these rude old people. Instead, she started laughing. She laughed right out loud, then poured them the first cups of lemonade of the day.

  A few hours into the flight, Eldon reached into a bag on the seat beside him and pulled out a peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich. He rechecked his flight instruments, sank his teeth into his lunch, and broke into song.

  “Oh, give me a home, where the Skunk Ape don’t roam! Where the Yeti isn’t hunted by men . . .”

  From where he was hidden, Jordan could hear Eldon’s song all too well. A giggle in his belly began fighting to get out.

  “. . . Where humans won’t see, Mothman or Ness-ieee! And Bigfoot’s never spotted agaaaaain!”

  That was it. The giggle would not be tamed.

  “Haw-haw-haw!”

  Eldon spun around as he coughed up a big bite of peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich, spraying it all over the seat behind him. “Who’s there?” he yelled. He put the seaplane on autopilot, and stood staring at the back of the plane in a fighting crouch position. “Whoever you are, you should know that I happen to be a First-Class Badger Ranger with a Level-Six Badger Badge in self-defense!”

  Jordan slowly stood up from behind the last seat.

  “What are you doing here?” Eldon screamed at him.

  “I thought you might need a little backup.” He snickered. “Maybe we could sing duet.”

  “Very funny.” Eldon plopped back into his seat and turned the autopilot off. “I’m turning this plane around and taking you back.”

  “No! Please. Look, I’m sorry I snuck onboard,” Jordan said. “But Bernard thought—”

  “Bernard!” Eldon spun around so quickly that he forgot he was controlling the seaplane. It veered violently for a moment, and Eldon turned back and righted it. “I’m gonna kill that Skunk Ape when I get back.”

  “Listen, I know I disobeyed you. But Bernard was really worried about this mission. He had me worried. He thinks there might be something fishy going on.”

  Eldon stared straight ahead at the clouds for a good, long time. Finally, he reached over and picked up a large, leather-bound map book off the copilot seat and nodded to it. Jordan smiled as he scrambled to the cockpit and sat down next to him.

  WUMP! Eldon dropped the book in Jordan’s lap. “This was not part of the plan. But since you’re here, you may as well make yourself useful and navigate.” Eldon nodded at the book. “We’re looking for Loch Ness. It’s in Scotland. Under S.”

  The sky outside grew dark as the tiny plane began its descent into the Scottish Highlands. No sooner had they entered a thick layer of fog, their craft was suddenly slammed by a strong wind. Jordan and Eldon jerked violently in their seats.

  “Hold on,” Eldon said. “This could get bumpy.”

  Jordan looked out the window. Through the fog he caught glimpses of craggy hills and rugged peaks. “Eldon, there isn’t any flat land!”

  “We’re in a seaplane. We don’t need flat land; we need flat water. There.” He pointed at a dark blotch below. “That must be the loch!” Eldon pushed forward on the control stick. The plane nosedived; Jordan’s belly flopped. Eldon yanked back again, and the plane leveled out.

  SPLASH! They landed hard, tossing Jordan forward, and then jerking him back in his seat. An instant later they skimmed to a stop, bobbing gently up and down. Eldon turned off the engine. “And thanks to Nessie, the loch is always flat.”

  Jordan looked down at the open book in his lap. He ran his finger along the rocky topography of the Scottish Highlands, stopping on a strip of deep green on the hand-drawn map. He looked out the window at the dark water beneath him and smiled.

  Jordan was floating in the middle of Loch Ness.

  15

  Thwack! The sound outside the plane startled Eldon and Jordan. Thwack! They jumped out of their seats. Something hit the plane. Thwack! The windshield cracked. They peered closely at it. Nothing there but a small mud stain. Eldon hit a switch and the seaplane’s wiper wiped away the mud. Thwack! Thwack! Two more, just outside the door.

  Jordan jumped up and moved toward it. Thwack! Thwack! These hit one side of the plane, then the other. Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Jordan lifted the latch and cracked open the door. Outside, the water was flat, still, and black as coffee. Tiny mud stains spotted the side of the plane. Thwack! Jordan ducked just in time as something flew past his head, bounced off the plane, and hit the water with a splash!

  Jordan stared down at the water. A large, shimmery shape shifted just beneath the surface of the loch. Nessie? The shape disappeared into the murkiness. Jordan turned to face Eldon. “I think I found her! I found the Loch Ness Mons—”

  Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Shards of silver suddenly exploded from the water, attacking the plane. Something hit Jordan in the head. “Ow!” He reached back and lost his grip, falling straight into the thousands of projectiles erupting from Loch Ness.

  “JORDAN!”

  Thwack! Thwack! Thwack-thwack-thwack! The plane was being pummeled with small silver objects. Eldon rushed to the open door. He slipped on something on the seaplane floor and glanced down—dozens of tiny, spiky-backed fish flopped around at his feet. Thwack! Thwack-thwack! Thwack! They were now hitting the plane from all sides. Eldon peered out the door into the blinding hailstorm. He didn’t see Jordan. He took a deep breath and flung himself into the water.

  “Jordan!” he cried out, splashing around. The fish were flying past his face. One wriggled up the pant leg of his Badger Ranger shorts. “Aaah!”

  “Eldon! Over here!” Eldon spotted Jordan through the fish blizzard. He was standing and waving at him. Standing? Eldon stopped thrashing around and stood up. The water was only waist deep, and getting lower by the second, as if some force was sucking the water backward. He felt the current rushing by him and grabbed the side of the plane.

  “Hold on!” The water continued to flush past them toward the far end of the loch. The seaplane began to drift with it, until the water grew so shallow it grounded itself in the mucky bottom, surrounded by tiny fish flapping around in the dark mud.

&n
bsp; “What’s going on?” Jordan shouted from the other side of the plane.

  “I’ll tell ya what’s goin’ on, laddies!” A thick, Scottish brogue answered him. They both looked up to see a burly, barrel-chested kid in a plaid raincoat, floppy rain hat, and rubber waders trudging toward them through the fish-filled mud. “Yer about to get flushed away with them sticklebacks, if ya don’t hop back onboard that flyin’ boat a yers!”

  Jordan looked where he was pointing, in the direction where the water was flowing. It was the far end of the loch, where they’d flown over for a water landing. He didn’t remember that large, smooth, black mountain in the distance, which now seemed to be rising up like the back of a giant. Jordan froze, then looked down at the mud. The loch hadn’t drained—it had ebbed. And that mountain in the distance wasn’t a mountain—it was the water of Loch Ness, pulling back and gathering into a giant wave that was about to come crashing back down, right where they were stuck.

  “Oi! Quit yer sightseein’!” The rubber-booted Scot grabbed Jordan and swung him around the other side of the plane, then shoved him and Eldon inside. He climbed aboard, slammed the door behind them, and spun around. “Strap yerselves in! We’re about to go fer a Loch Ness sleigh ride!” He jumped in the pilot’s seat as Eldon and Jordan buckled up behind him. A rumble from behind grew louder. Then louder. THEN LOUDER.

  KERRRRSPLAAASSSHHH! The seaplane jerked violently as it was swept up by the crashing loch water. Their Scottish pilot moaned and grunted, gripping the wheel as he struggled to right the seaplane. The tsunami of black water tossed them like a bath toy. Nearly toppling tail over nose, they rode the giant wave as it crashed into the empty canyon, refilling the loch. He wrestled the controller and they careened straight ahead along with the mighty water.

  “Yeah!” Jordan yelled.

  “You did it, MacAlister!” Eldon added.

  “MacAlister?” Jordan said, glancing at Eldon. “You know this madman?”

  “We’re not outta this yet, laddies!” the Scot yelled back.

  “Dead end, dead ahead!” Eldon shouted. They all turned to the windshield and saw the same thing—rushing toward them was the sheer face of a rocky cliff. The other end of the loch. They stared in horror at the wall of rock looming directly in front of them. At the last second, MacAlister jerked the controls. The three of them screamed as the seaplane veered across the downward slope of the wave, diving straight at the left side of the narrow canyon. Carving to the side as the wave continued to push them forward, MacAlister steered for a cave opening in the side wall. In a half second, the cave entrance would be underwater. MacAlister leaned on the wheel with all his might, and they slid down and across the wave, straight at it. MacAlister pushed as hard as he could, threw his head back, and let out what sounded to Jordan like some sort of Scottish war cry.

  “Odelidehleheeeeiiillllll!”

  The plane skimmed into the side entrance, which led to a shaft curving in and then straight upward. The loch water rushed in behind and beneath them, refilling the underwater cavern, lifting the seaplane like a cork in a bottle. They rose higher and higher in the dark shaft until the water leveled out, and all was suddenly calm.

  Jordan opened his eyes. The plane bobbed up and down, floating gently inside a massive cave. It was as if a great hydro-elevator had lifted them to the penthouse floor, and now they were floating on the surface of its indoor pool. The boy Eldon had called MacAlister unbuckled and jumped out first. Eldon and Jordan followed him, hopping from the edge of the plane onto the wet cave floor.

  The cave was enormous, housing not only the pool created by the vertical tunnel filled with the loch water, but a series of side tunnels, a cozy fire pit, and various pieces of handcrafted knobby wooden furniture. Taking it all in, Jordan was drawn toward an arch of sky at the opposite end of the cave. He walked to the opening and gazed down at the now peaceful waters of Loch Ness, far below.

  “Whoa.”

  “Quit gawkin’ at the view and help me save yer bucket o’ bolts!” MacAlister had tied a rope to the plane’s pontoons and was tugging away like an ox. “That there loch’s gonna flush back out again, and when she does—whoosh!—yer little plane’s gonna get flushed down with it like a wee turdlet!”

  The three of them pulled the seaplane out of the pool and onto the slippery rock floor, then stood at the mouth of the cave and waited, staring down at the darkening loch. As night fell and the moon rose over the distant cliffs, they watched the great waters of Loch Ness begin to recoil again like a monster waking from a peaceful sleep.

  GUUUURRRRGLE! A loud sucking sound echoed behind them. The pool where their plane had just been bobbing peacefully began to swirl faster and faster, forming a violent whirlpool until—FLUUSSSSHHH!—it dropped out of sight.

  Jordan and Eldon looked back down at the receding waters of Loch Ness. Shimmering in the moonlight below were thousands of the silvery fish, gleaming and sparkling as they flopped around in the mud. “Sticklebacks,” MacAlister said, pulling off his rain hat. A mop of bright red hair tumbled out. “Poor things are so confused with the water comin’ and goin.’ Bet they miss ol’ Haggis-Breath gobbling ’em up. Bet they miss her . . . almost as much . . . as I do!” SPLORF! He blew his bulbous nose and began bawling like a baby.

  “There, there, Alistair,” Eldon said. “We’ll find her.”

  “Her,” Jordan whispered. “You mean . . . the Loch Ness Monster?”

  “DON’T CALL HER A MONSTER!” MacAlister’s ruddy cheeks were suddenly in Jordan’s face. This boy was shorter than Jordan but nearly twice as wide. Standing up on tippy-toes, he was nose-to-nose with Jordan and had a wild look in his eyes.

  “Sorry,” Jordan said. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

  Eldon stepped between them. “I know you’re upset, Alistair, but he’s here to help. I’m the one who was hoping this wasn’t a true emergency. I see now how serious it is. It was Jordan here who figured I’d need assistance. And he was right.”

  Alistair stepped back, eyeing him suspiciously. “Jordan, eh?”

  “Jordan Grimsley,” Eldon said. “It’s okay. He’s George Grimsley’s grandson.”

  Alistair froze. His eyes grew wide. Then they refilled with tears, and he dropped to his knees. “I’m so sorry! Your grandfather would be ashamed to call me a Keeper! I hate meself! I’m a big, fat Creature Loser is what I am! Please forgive me!”

  “No, of course!” Jordan glanced at Eldon. “I never actually knew my grandfather, so I really don’t know what he’d think, but I’m sure he’d understand. . . .” Jordan helped the blubbering Scot to his feet. Alistair looked at him. His nose twitched. His eyes grew wider. He opened his mouth to say something and—Waahaahhhhh-TCHOO!—a sneeze exploded in Jordan’s face, blasting it so hard it blew his hair back.

  “Thanks for that,” Alistair said with a sniffle. “It helps, it really does.” He pulled off his raincoat to reveal a green-and-red tartan kilt. He kicked off his waders and plopped down.

  As Jordan wiped the Scot snot off his forehead, Eldon leaned in gently. “Jordan, why don’t you go and grab the supplies out of the plane. We’ll light a fire, dry off, and have some cocoa.”

  Jordan took a torch from Eldon and made his way toward the plane. He noticed a side cavern off the main cave and decided to check it out. Inside was a large, plush sleeping area—like a doggy bed for an over-pampered, oversized poodle. A very oversized poodle. It was the size and shape of an aboveground swimming pool. He approached the curved edge of the enormous bed. It was wet to the touch, and rippled as he made contact with it. It was a water bed in the true sense of the word, made from a spongelike material that oozed water. Jordan caught his breath. This was the perfect resting place for a giant, amphibious, cryptozoological creature after a long day of keeping the earth’s waters in balance. This was Nessie’s bed.

  A large tartan cover of the same green-and-red pattern as Alistair’s kilt hung over the bedside. Jordan smiled as he thought of the big, tough Scot sitt
ing in his cave, knitting a blankie for his Haggis-Breath. He reached up to pull it, and the blanket slid off the wet bed, covering him. He struggled to free himself and when he did, he found clumps of white fur stuck to him. He brushed off as much as he could, then looked closer at it. He looked around the room. This fur didn’t come from the blanket Alistair had made, and it wasn’t the color of his fiery red hair. And although they hadn’t met yet, Jordan was pretty sure silky-blond fur wasn’t something shed by the Loch Ness Monster, either.

  16

  “It was a foggy night. Thickest fog I’d ever seen.” Alistair MacAlister stared into the fire as he wrapped his short, stubby fingers around a steamy mug of hot cocoa. “Perfect night for ghosts.” Unfortunately for Jordan and Eldon, their host only had one green-and-red tartan kilt. As Eldon and Jordan’s clothes were drying nearby, they sat in their damp underpants.

  “I woke up before dawn, sneezin’ like crazy. Dunno if it was the sneezin’ that woke me, or the strange squealin’ noises. Horrible, high-pitched sounds. No animal I’d ever heard. I checked on Haggis-Breath, and found her gone. Somethin’ was wrong. She’d just gotten home from the Black Sea, and had gone right to bed.”

  “Hold up,” Jordan said. “The Black Sea?”

  “Oil spill,” Alistair said. “She went in and slowed the currents to keep it contained ’til the cleanup crew got there. So she was dead tired.”

  Eldon noticed Jordan’s confusion. “That shaft we came up isn’t the only tunnel in this cave,” he explained. “There are a series of complicated underground waterways, linking Loch Ness to water systems all around the world.”

  “Only Nessie has the instincts and ability to navigate ’em,” Alistair said. “From here she swims for days underwater. Goes wherever she’s needed, uses her power over currents and tides to keep the seas clean and in balance.”

  “What would happen to the seas if . . . she didn’t?”