“You’re nuts,” said Jack.
“Here’s a kiss for you, Sukie,” Annie said. She pressed her lips to the glass as if she were kissing the dolphin’s nose.
“Oh, brother,” said Jack.
But the dolphin opened her mouth and tossed her head. She seemed to be laughing.
“Hey, I know the answer to the riddle—dolphins!” said Annie. “They’re gray and plain. But they have great beauty inside.”
“You forgot the ‘rough as a rock’ part,” said Jack. “Dolphin skin looks smooth and slippery.”
“Oh, right,” said Annie.
The dolphins flipped their tails. They swam off into the light blue water.
“Wait! Don’t go!” called Annie. “Sukie!”
But the dolphins were gone.
“It’s time for us to go, too,” said Jack. He was afraid someone might be looking for the mini-sub.
“But we haven’t solved the riddle,” said Annie.
Jack studied the bright underwater world.
“I don’t see the answer,” he said. “There’s nothing plain at all out there.”
“Then maybe the answer’s in the mini-sub,” said Annie.
They looked around the tiny space.
“I’ll check the computer,” said Jack. He studied the row of pictures at the top of the screen.
He pressed the book picture.
The words SHIP’S LOG flashed onto the screen.
“What’s a ship’s log?” said Annie.
“It’s a diary of an ocean trip,” said Jack.
He peered at the computer screen and read a log entry:
MONDAY, JULY 5
“Hey, that was just last week,” said Jack. He read further:
COLLECTED ROCK AND SHELL SAMPLES
MAPPED OCEAN FLOOR
FOUND TINY CRACK IN HULL
“This is like your notebook,” said Annie.
“Yeah, the oceanographer was writing notes on the computer,” said Jack.
Jack and Annie read further:
TUESDAY, JULY 6
CRACK HAS WIDENED
MUST RETURN TO REEF SOON
“A crack where?” said Annie.
“I don’t know,” said Jack. He read further:
WEDNESDAY, JULY 7
MORE TINY CRACKS
CANNOT BE FIXED
HEADING BACK TO REEF TODAY
“Uh-oh. This doesn’t sound good,” said Jack. He read further:
THURSDAY, JULY 8
DEFECTIVE SUB
RETURN TO REEF
LEAVE FOR HELICOPTER TO TRANSPORT
TO JUNKYARD
“ ‘Defective’ means broken, right?” said Annie.
“Yep,” said Jack.
“So this sub is broken, right?” said Annie.
“Yep,” said Jack. “And it was waiting to be taken away by a helicopter. To a junkyard.”
“Yikes,” said Annie.
“Now we really have to get back,” said Jack.
“Let’s try pressing the waves picture,” said Annie.
She pressed the waves picture on the computer screen.
The mini-sub began to rise slowly.
“Oh, good,” said Jack.
The sub went past a small coral mountain. It went past schools of fish and waving plants.
“Oh!” gasped Annie.
Jack gasped, too.
Two eyes were staring out from behind a giant sea plant. They looked human—except they were as big as golf balls.
The sub moved past the giant plant. Jack breathed a sigh of relief.
“What—? Whose—?” sputtered Annie.
“Don’t ask,” said Jack.
They stared back at the plant.
Just then, a long arm came out from behind it.
Then another arm came out.
Then another—and another—and another—and another—and another—and another!
Jack and Annie stared in horror at a giant octopus.
“It’s coming after us,” said Annie.
Slowly, the octopus crept through the water. Its eight arms reached for the mini-sub.
The octopus hugged the mini-sub. Each of its eight arms had two rows of suckers. The suckers stuck to the window.
The mini-sub stopped.
The octopus stared at Jack and Annie with huge, human-like eyes.
“I don’t think it wants to hurt us,” whispered Annie. “It’s just curious.”
“I—I’m going to research it,” said Jack.
His hands shook as he flipped through the pages of the ocean book.
He found a picture of an octopus and read aloud:
The octopus tends to be a gentle, shy creature. Sometimes, though, curiosity gets the best of it and it comes out of hiding.
“Aw. See, I told you, he’s shy,” said Annie. She yelled to the octopus, “Hi! I’m Annie! He’s Jack!”
“Oh, brother,” moaned Jack. He read further:
But the octopus has huge strength. Each of its arms, or tentacles, has many suckers, which act like rubber suction cups. It is nearly impossible to free an object from their grasp.
“Oh, great,” said Jack. “We’ll never get rid of this thing.”
Just then, Jack felt a drop hit his arm. Water. He looked up at the ceiling.
“Uh-oh,” said Annie.
A thin crack ran along the ceiling. Smaller cracks branched out from it.
Water dripped from the cracks.
“We found the cracks,” said Annie.
“The octopus better let go! Before the whole ceiling breaks!” said Jack.
“Let go, please. Please!” Annie shouted at the octopus.
The creature blinked, as if trying to understand her.
“Please! Please! Please!” she shouted.
“Come on, Annie,” said Jack. “It doesn’t care if you’re polite.”
The octopus blinked at Jack.
“Get out of here!” Jack yelled at it. “Now! Beat it! Scram! Go!”
The octopus shot a cloud of black liquid into the water and disappeared into the dark cloud. Its long tentacles trailed through the water.
The mini-sub started to rise slowly again.
“You hurt his feelings,” Annie said.
“I don’t think so … ” Something bothered Jack.
He looked back at the ocean book. He read to himself:
The octopus squirts black ink to escape its enemies. One of its main enemies is the shark.
“Oh, no,” said Jack.
“What’s wrong?” asked Annie.
Jack looked out the window. The water was growing clear again.
A shadowy figure moved toward the mini-sub.
“What is that?” whispered Annie.
The fish was way bigger than the dolphins. And it had a very weird head.
Jack could feel his heart nearly stop.
“A hammerhead shark,” he breathed. “We’re really in trouble now.”
The shark swam behind the coral.
“Where did it go?” said Annie, peering out the window.
“It doesn’t matter,” said Jack. “We have to get to the top.”
“More water’s coming in,” said Annie.
“Yeah, I know. Come on … come on … faster!” Jack ordered the mini-sub.
“Even more water’s coming in,” said Annie, “lots more!”
Jack looked up. The water wasn’t dripping now—it was spurting.
“A few seconds, a few seconds,” said Jack.
Suddenly, the mini-sub burst out of the water. It bobbed on the waves like a cork. The ocean sparkled all around it.
“Safe!” shouted Annie.
Jack felt the water rising around his bare feet.
“Uh—not really … ” he said.
“Oops,” said Annie. “The octopus must have made cracks in the bottom, too.”
The water was up to their ankles now.
Jack looked out. He saw the reef in the distance.
“The
sub can make it. It doesn’t look that far,” he said.
“Go, go, go,” said Annie.
She pressed one of the steering keys.
Suddenly, the screen went blank.
“What’s happening?” said Jack.
Annie pressed the key again. Then Jack pressed the other pictures. Nothing happened.
“It’s dead,” said Annie.
“Oh, great,” said Jack.
Now the water was up to their knees.
“I guess we’ll have to swim,” said Jack. He took a deep breath.
“Right,” said Annie. “It’s a good thing we had swimming lessons this summer.”
“Right,” said Jack. “And it’s a bad thing we just saw a shark.”
Jack quickly found the picture of the shark in the book.
He read aloud:
If you ever see a shark in the water, don’t splash. Swim calmly away.
Jack closed the book.
“We better do the breast stroke,” said Annie. “So we won’t splash.”
“Yep, and stay close,” said Jack.
“Very close,” said Annie. Her eyes were wide. But she seemed very calm.
Jack took a deep breath. He tried to be calm, too. He calmly took off his glasses. He calmly put them and the book into his pack. He calmly put his pack on his back.
Annie opened the hatch.
“Be calm,” Annie said. She slipped out of the mini-sub.
“Help,” Jack said calmly. He held his nose.
Then he calmly lowered himself into the ocean.
Jack moved his arms slowly. He moved his legs slowly. He gently pushed the water out of his way as he did the breast stroke.
Calm, calm, he told himself.
Annie swam beside him. They headed for the reef.
All was calm.
Then Jack saw something out of the corner of his eye.
A dark fin was zigzagging through the water. It was heading toward them.
Jack wanted to splash. He wanted to yell. But he remembered: calm.
I better not tell Annie, he thought. She’ll stay calmer if she doesn’t know.
He began to swim faster—then faster. Annie went faster, too.
They both swam as fast, and as calmly, as they could.
Sometimes Annie went even faster than Jack, which made him swim faster. And faster.
Jack was so scared that he wasn’t tired at all. He was swimming for his life—and for Annie’s life, too.
He didn’t look back to see if the shark was still there. He didn’t want to know.
He just kept his eye on the tree house in the distance. And he kept swimming.
Jack and Annie swam and swam and swam.
It took forever for the tree house to get just a little closer.
Jack realized the reef was farther away than he had thought.
He kept swimming, but his arms and legs felt heavy.
Annie was struggling, too.
“Float!” she said. “Float!”
Jack and Annie turned onto their backs. They floated the way they had learned in swimming class.
We’ll just rest for a minute, Jack thought. Then we’ll keep going.
But the more Jack floated, the more tired he felt. Soon he was too tired even to float. He started to sink.
Then he felt something.
His heart stopped. Something pushed at him in the water.
It was slippery and alive.
Had the hammerhead caught up with them?
Jack shut his eyes and waited for the worst. He waited and waited. Finally, he opened his eyes.
In front of him was a shiny gray head—a dolphin’s head!
The dolphin pushed Jack with its nose. It made happy clicking sounds.
“Hooray!” cried Annie.
Jack looked over at her.
She was clinging to the fin of another dolphin! Her dolphin was moving through the water.
Jack grabbed the fin of his dolphin.
Then the two dolphins swam smoothly through the water, pulling Jack and Annie toward the reef.
The sun shone on the ocean. It sparkled like a diamond.
Jack felt safe now. His dolphin was taking good care of him.
The dolphins slowed down as they neared the reef.
Jack lowered his feet. He felt the bumpy coral. He let go of the dolphin’s fin and stood up in the water.
Annie stood, too.
Then she threw her arms around her dolphin and gave her a big hug.
“Thank you, Sukie!” she cried. And she kissed the dolphin’s nose.
Sukie tossed her head and clicked at Annie.
“Kiss Sam now!” Annie said to Jack.
“You’re nuts,” said Jack.
But Sam nuzzled Jack’s head. Then he put his flippers around Jack’s neck.
Jack couldn’t resist. He threw his arms around the dolphin and gave him a quick kiss.
Sam nodded and made clicking sounds like laughter. Then he turned to Sukie.
The two dolphins chattered to each other for a moment. They nodded at Jack and Annie and swam gracefully away.
“Bye, Sukie! Bye, Sam!” Annie shouted.
“Thanks!” Jack shouted.
The dolphins leapt high into the air. Then they dove back into the water with a SPLASH!
Jack and Annie laughed. “I wish we could swim like that,” said Jack.
Jack and Annie watched the dolphins until they disappeared.
“I miss them already,” Annie said softly.
“Me too,” said Jack.
He sat down in the shallow water.
“I’m really tired,” he said.
Annie sat beside him.
“Me too,” she said.
The warm water lapped around their shorts and T-shirts.
Jack pulled off his pack. He took out his glasses and put them on. They were blurry with water.
“Guess what,” said Annie.
“What?” said Jack.
“I saw the shark when we were swimming,” Annie said. “But I didn’t tell you. I wanted you to stay calm.”
Jack stared at her. “I saw it, too. I just swam faster so you would swim faster.”
“And I swam faster so you would swim faster,” said Annie.
“I guess we swam double-fast then,” Jack said. He shook his head with wonder.
“What now?” said Annie.
“We go home,” said Jack.
“But we haven’t solved Morgan’s riddle yet,” said Annie.
Jack sighed.
He pulled his notebook out of his pack. It was soaked.
He pulled out the ocean book. It was soaked, too.
“We’ve failed,” he said. “My research is all wet. We’ll never be Master Librarians now.”
Jack put everything away. “Let’s go,” he said sadly.
He stood up. Then he started across the pink reef toward the tree house. Annie followed him.
“Ouch!” Annie said.
“What’s wrong?” Jack looked back.
“I stepped on something.” Annie bent down to rub her foot.
“What?” said Jack. “A shell?”
“Yeah, this … ” She picked up a large gray shell. “Boy, is it rough. Rough and gray as a rock—”
“And plain as plain can be!” whispered Jack. They had found the answer.
The shell looked like a clamshell—only bigger and with more ridges.
“How could this ugly shell be the answer to the riddle?” said Annie. “What about the part that says, ‘There’s great beauty in me’?”
“Wait—research,” said Jack. He opened the soaked ocean book.
The pages were stuck together. But he was able to turn a few.
He found a picture of the gray shell. He read:
Divers search for oysters in deep water. But sometimes oysters wash up on reefs or beaches. Inside some oysters you can find a pearl. The pearl’s natural beauty makes it a treasure.
“It must have a pearl i
nside it!” said Jack.
Annie peered into the crack between the two halves of the shell. “I can’t see anything,” she said. “How does a pearl get in there, anyway?”
Jack read aloud from the wet page:
Sometimes a grain of sand will get between the oyster’s shell and its skin. This irritates the oyster. So it makes a pearly material to surround the grain of sand. In this way, over a few years, a pearl is formed.
“I can’t tell if there’s a pearl in there or not,” said Annie.
“Maybe we should bang it against a rock,” said Jack.
“Now that would really irritate the oyster,” said Annie.
“Yeah.”
“Maybe we should just leave it alone,” said Annie.
She gently put the oyster back in the water.
“But how will we know if oyster is the right answer to the riddle?” said Jack.
“Morgan said we’ll know,” said Annie. “Come on.”
Jack pushed his glasses into place. Then he and Annie picked up their shoes and socks.
They climbed through the window of the tree house.
Morgan’s scroll was lying on the floor.
It was open.
“Look!” said Annie.
She and Jack stared at the scroll. The riddle had faded away.
In its place was one shimmering silver word:
OYSTER
“Morgan’s magic,” whispered Annie.
Jack let out a huge sigh. “We got it right,” he said.
“And here’s the Pennsylvania book,” said Annie. “Let’s go home.”
She opened the book. She pointed to a picture of the Frog Creek woods.
“I wish we could go there!” she said.
The wind started to blow.
The tree house started to spin.
The wind blew harder and harder.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still.
Dawn light slanted into the tree house.
No time at all had passed since they’d left. Day was breaking.
Jack rolled up the ancient scroll. He tucked it into the corner.
“We solved the first riddle,” he said. “Three more to go.”
“I don’t see another scroll,” said Annie. “Maybe tomorrow we’ll get the next riddle.”
Dolphins at Daybreak Page 2
