Ahab's Daughter

by Ron Vitale

  “I’m fine,” he replied, and I caught the first sound of splashing water.

  I went to take a step forward and hesitated. I stood near the hole, afraid to move any closer.

  Ishmael held his hand up to warn me off and took another hesitant step forward. “Be careful that you don’t—”

  The ground beneath him gave way, and he fell from sight. He tried to grasp onto a vine or branch, but nothing around him could support his weight. He slipped through the opening and disappeared into the darkness below. Unsure what to do, I tried to find something that could help me pull them both up. But as far as I could see, there was only grass, the dirt, and the pristine remains of the skeletons of men long ago killed in some ancient conflict.

  I covered my hands over my mouth and yelled down into the hole in front of me, “Are you both okay?”

  Clarence called up, “We’re fine.”

  Without warning, the ground shook beneath me, and the world slipped a few feet to my left. An eerie crack of rock upon rock, grinding against each other, came up from all around me. Off the side of the hill, trees swayed, and dozens of birds took flight. I grasped for something to hang onto but could find nothing but air. The world swayed again, and I fell hard to the ground. With my breath knocked out of me, I gasped, and the solid ground all around me fell and I with it.

  Darkness engulfed me, and from below, I heard a loud splash. Moments later, my feet hit the water, and a cold shock rippled through me as I sunk down into the deep. I sunk down in the blackness, and once my descent slowed, I kicked hard and used my arms to propel me back to the surface. I fought hard, and a dark fear warred with me as I kept swimming until I broke free, filling air into my wracked lungs.

  I coughed and sputtered, happy to have escaped. Light streamed in from above, and the whole underground cavern could be easily seen. Rock formations hung with centuries of precise artistry, making both the stalactites and stalagmites look like carefully planned works of art. Rust- and tan-colored rock glowed from the light of the sun. Kicking my feet, I turned on my back to float and only then noticed how close to hitting the rock formation I had come when falling.

  “Help her!” Ishmael called over from the other side of the underground lake.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll get her.” Clarence jumped into the water and swam over to me. With care, he put his arm around my shoulders and used his momentum to direct me over toward land.

  Still coughing, I dragged myself out of the water and fell on my back. The world had stopped shaking, and I took a deep breath of air.

  Ishmael pulled himself out of the water and came to my side. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, yes.” I coughed again and my chest heaved. “I just need a bit to catch my breath.”

  The ground beneath us shook again, and the aftershock, much less intense than the first earthquake, subsided after a few seconds. From up above, more dirt and rubble fell into the subterranean cavern we had discovered.

  I took stock of my surroundings and crawled over to the nearest wall. The wall was mostly smooth except for some grooves carved into it, and I rested my back against the solid rock and wiped my eyes. “Thank you both for saving me.”

  Ishmael sat next to me on my left and Clarence on my right. The earth settled around us, and Clarence was the first to speak. “If there’s not a way out of this cavern, then we’re going to die here.” He glanced up at the smooth walls. “There’s no way we’re climbing out. Not without help, that is.”

  “I think I saw a passageway heading out on the other side.” Ishmael pointed and we both gazed into a dark opening.

  Taking another deep breath, I settled myself and listened. From our right, water from a stalactite dripped into a small puddle. Around me the air smelled musty with an earthy undertone. “I can’t see all the way around, but the perimeter looks wide enough for us to walk on over to the passageway.” I turned to Ishmael and asked, “Do you think it’s safe to walk deeper into the caverns if there’s another earthquake?”

  “I don’t think it’s the earthquake that we have to worry about.” He stood up and brushed off his pants.

  Clarence looked to him. “What do you mean?”

  “The sooner we can get out of this underground cavern, the better.” Ishmael gave me his hand, but I declined and stood up on my own.

  I watched his face, and he turned away staring toward the passageway. “What is it?”

  “We need to go now.” Ishmael jogged forward, and we followed him to the mouth of the passageway.

  The sun’s reach ended there, and I could see in a few feet into the darkness ahead, but then the darkness won. “Are you sure that’s the best way out?”

  “It’s the only way.” Ishmael took a few steps forward, and I watched the darkness envelop him.

  Clarence turned to me, and his right eyebrow twitched up. “I guess I need to buck up and get over my fear.” He slicked his hair back and balanced on the balls of his feet. “You might think me callous and uncouth, but I do not lie when I say that my daughter needs a cure. And I will get it for her and bring it back. I will do it.”

  Whether he tried to convince me or himself, I did not know.

  “Clarence.” I grabbed his arm to hold him still. “How do you know that the treasure will be a cure to help your daughter? Who told you that?”

  A look of surprise crossed his face. “Ishmael told me that when you were unconscious after the fighting on the ship.” He turned away from the dark opening before us and said, “He told me one hell of a story.”

  “What story?”

  Clarence laughed and slapped his hand on his thigh. “He never told you, did he?” He laughed again and coughed raggedly.

  I could hear the loose phlegm in his chest. He had not smoked in days, but I bet his hair and clothes still smelled like tobacco. “Stop fooling me and just tell me what you know.”

  He became serious, and his smile faded as he said, “He’s been here before.”

  “I know that he’s been to this island. He was stranded here after the white whale sunk the Pequod.”

  “No, I mean he’s been down here before.” Clarence pointed into the darkness. “That’s how he knows where he’s going.”

  As if on cue, Ishmael turned back and called to us, “Are you both coming or just going to stand there? We need to get moving before the next big earthquake. Come on!”

  His voice echoed in the cavern, and I let go of Clarence’s arm. “And what did he tell you about this place.”

  Clarence still held back before entering the dark passageway in front of him. “He told me that if there’s a hell, then it’s here.” The color drained from Clarence’s face, and he took a step forward and then another.

  “But the treasure? What is it?” I asked.

  He looked over his shoulder to me and said, “The demon’s tears. That’s what he said.” He closed his eyes as if to remember better. “The white beast’s tears had healed him whole after his injuries from the ship. And I believe that they’ll help save my daughter.” He stopped talking and took a leap of faith and walked into the darkness.

  I stood there for another moment, listening to the dripping of the water into the lake behind me. The ground, still steady beneath my feet, slanted slightly to lead me into the blackness ahead.

  If I turned back, I knew I could not climb out of the deep pit. Whether Nathan would find me or the islanders was only a matter of conjecture. If I wanted to survive, then I needed to step into the darkness. A tingling sensation shot up and down my right leg, and, maybe by coincidence, maybe not, my right calf muscle twitched.

  Without truly thinking of what I did, I took a few hurried first steps into the darkness and, for a full minute, saw nothing. I heard my own breathing and Clarence’s movement in front of me, but my eyesight became useless and that simply did not help. I stretched my hands out and felt the cold cavern wall on my right.

  “Watch out for some fallen rocks on the ground,” Ishmael called back to us. “We’
re almost there. Just keep coming toward my voice.”

  “I cannot see a thing.” By listening to Clarence’s unhelpful chatter, I placed him only a few feet in front of me.

  Behind us the light faded as we turned a corner, and the darkness swallowed us up whole, taking us into her cold hands and extinguishing all light from the world around us.

  “It’s cold in here.” I said the words and realized now why Clarence spoke as he did. He simply wanted to confirm that he still lived and people could hear him. Now that I had been fully submerged into the darkness, I understood.

  I stumbled a bit, walking over the loose rocks, and tripped into the cavern wall, but it held firm yet remained cold, unnaturally cold.

  Without stopping, I walked somewhat faster, careful not to trip and fall but wanting to find an end to the lack of light.

  I heard Clarence gasp in front of me and judged by the distance of his voice that the passageway had turned off to the right. Following the echo of his surprise, I moved faster, felt the passage turning, and asked, “Is everything okay?”

  “Hurry, come on!” Clarence called back to me, but his voice sounded farther away.

  I rushed onward for fear that I would be left behind in the dark and would lose my way. I stumbled onward, submerged in the complete blackness around me and stumbled into a wall in front of me. The smoothness of the stone, and its coldness, comforted me for some reason.

  “I can’t see you. Where are you?”

  From my right and in front of me, I heard Clarence. “You have to come in here and see this. It’s beautiful.”

  I walked a few steps closer to him and entered into a large cavern illuminated with the beautiful glow of phosphorescence. Clarence and Ishmael stood in front of me marveling at the sight.

  The greenish-blue light from the lichen lit up the cavern with beauty and grace. I joined the others and stared up in awe taking in each shade of color. Woven like veins across the ceiling and the walls, the lichen glowed like a living web of life stretched out over the length of the cavern, and I stood, small and insignificant, in the great mass of life around me.

  “You’re right, it is beautiful.” I spun around and the colors swirled in my vision. “How much farther until we find the way out?”

  Ishmael’s hair glowed in the bioluminescent light. He smiled and his white teeth took on a bluish sheen from the phosphorescence. “I remember this from when I was last stranded on the island. You go through this area, go down a bit more, and then it slopes upward. Trust me, we’ll be out soon.”

  “You want us to go deeper into the cave?” Clarence asked. “I appreciate how beautiful this all looks, but I don’t love being down deep under the earth in these dark caves.”

  I chuckled and scratched the back of my neck. “Neither do I. We should get going. If another earthquake comes on us, I don’t fancy being stuck under here when the ground starts to sway.”

  Ishmael pointed ahead. “Follow me and I’ll get us out of here as quickly as I can.” He turned away from us and hurried off toward the other end of the cave.

  I passed Clarence who still stared up at the ceiling.

  “Hey, wait up,” Clarence called after me. He grabbed my arm and pulled at me.

  “What is it?” I stopped and asked.

  “The back of your neck.” He went to touch whatever he saw but pulled away.

  On instinct, I turned but could not see the spot. I shrugged off the shirt from my shoulder and then saw it. Lines, like filament, ran down my shoulder over my upper arm to my elbow. The lines glowed red and looked to be etched into my skin. I rubbed at them and could feel nothing different on the surface of my skin. “It doesn’t seem to be on my skin but under it.”

  Clarence backed away from me and lowered his hand. “The right side of your face has it now too.”

  I held up my left hand and saw the glow there as well. Intricate spider lines crisscrossed my skin. I felt no pain or anything odd. “Maybe it’s from when I touched the wall earlier?”

  “I don’t see anything on me.” Clarence had nothing glowing on his skin like me. “Why are you lighting up like that? It doesn’t look normal.”

  “That’s because you’re not like us.” Ishmael’s deep voice boomed throughout the cavern, and he spoke differently than normal.

  “What do you mean?” Clarence asked, his voice quivering.

  “Ishmael is an emissary of mine.”

  Afraid to ask, I struggled to speak but overcame my fear. “Who are you?”

  Ishmael faced me and said, “I am Kanaloa the dark squid god.” He had taken his shirt off, and the intricate tattoo map on his chest had returned and glowed like the lines on my skin. He walked toward us, lit up like a living lichen, glowing all with purpose and delight.

  I backed away from him and did not know where I could go to escape.

  Ignoring me, Ishmael pointed at Clarence. “It’s time now that you knew the truth.” His lopsided grin frightened me, and I froze in place, imagining the tendrils of color streaming through my body that etched new life there, awakening me to a new sense of self. “It’s time that you found that treasure that you seek, but I fear it’s not what you might have thought.”

  “Stay back. Stay away from me!” Clarence shouted out in fear and dropped into a defensive posture, pulling a small knife out. He pointed the weapon at Ishmael, and the blade’s tip shone in the unkindly light.

  “Goodbye, Clarence.” Ishmael raised both his arms, and they glowed in a twisted fiery phosphorescence. He held his arms above his head like he would bring rain down on us from the heavens and then dropped them both to his side as though he carried a heavy weight. And with that, all the light in the room disappeared. The lichen ceased to glow, the tendrils in my skin blinked out, and Ishmael, for a split second, absorbed all the light into himself, and then that went dark as well.

  It was only then, in the total darkness, that I heard Clarence’s terrified screams.

  ***

  Nathan ran up the last few feet of the hill and caught up with Pahukumaa and Josep. Zeke waved them over to where he stood on the top of the hill. He pointed out at the brilliant blue sea and said, “I wish we were out in the ocean. It’s a beautiful day for it.”

  Pahukumaa shielded his eyes from the bright sun and scanned the surrounding horizon. “There’s no ship. None at all.”

  Josep spun all the way around, taking in the sight. “I do not see any wreckage or survivors. Maybe they decided to leave us here?”

  From Nathan’s vantage point, the whitecaps below looked like the decorations on a cake he once saw at his cousin’s birthday party. When the white tips moved closer to the beach, the waves broke and crashed onto the beach below. “What do you think happened?”

  “They left us here. That’s what happened.” Josep kicked the ground with his boot. “That’s what I think.”

  Zeke shook his head but made no sound. He scratched his chin, and after a pause, he replied, “Our ship didn’t move. The island did.”

  Nathan turned to him and laughed. “What do you mean by that?”

  Josep and Pahukumaa remained quiet and listened. Zeke faced Nathan and reached out to straighten his shirt which looked worse for wear. “The crew of our ship and all of our mates didn’t leave us here, the island moved overnight, and now we’re somewhere else.”

  As if in response to Zeke, several birds flew directly overhead and screeched a warning. Nathan glanced up at them when the ground suddenly shook and slid sideways. The earthquake came without warning, and the first bout knocked them off their feet. Nathan grasped at the long blades of grass between his fingers, and the fruitless action did nothing to secure him to the ground. A crack sounded, seemingly out of thin air, and the world heaved upward.

  Out in the ocean, Nathan watched as the sea pulled back more and more, gathering itself into position as though the earth had slanted away from the island. After a few more moments of pure panic, the shaking stopped, but the ocean still gathered itself into
a huge wave that would crest and smash against the ocean washing the beaches clean.

  Pahukumaa pointed out at the gathering wave and said, “Our rowboat. It’ll be destroyed.”

  Josep crossed himself and remained on the ground. “Better the boat than us.”

  Zeke pulled himself up and stared out to sea. The large wave smashed against the beach and washed up past the sand into the jungle. Almost before they could see the water’s effects, it drained back out to sea and began building into another, even larger, wave.

  “I’m not going back down there.” Nathan watched the destruction left from the wave. “We’ll be safe up here, won’t we?” He stood back up again and changed his train of thought. “Morgan. She might be down there still.”

  Zeke searched around the top of the hill and replied, “There is nothing we can do for her and her friends now. If they’re still down there, we can’t go back and get them.”

  “I should go back.” Nathan said the words out loud, and even to him, the words sounded hollow and forced.

  To mock him, the ground shook again. The second time, they all fell to the ground hard, and the intensity of the quake rose a magnitude from the one before. A flock of strange black birds flew up out of the jungle high into the sky. The dirt between Nathan’s hands shook with a fierce vibration, knocking loose the stones on the top of the hill. A large crack from the splitting of rocks came from behind them. Lying flat on their bellies, they hugged the ground like men desperate to stay on the edge of a cliff. The sun beat down on them, the ground swayed, and each of them waited the worst of it out.

  Seconds later, the earthquake subsided, and its power drained back out into the sea. Zeke sat back up and looked out to the west. The sea drew back, forming another wave that dwarfed the previous ones.

  Zeke stood firm and turned away from the ocean.

  With the wave still forming, it grew larger by the second. Pahukumaa pulled at Josep’s sleeve. “I don’t wish to stay out here. We should go.”

  Josep took a few steps away from the edge of the cliff but then stopped. “Zeke, what is it? We should go. Better to be in a safer place than to stay out here. That wave, look at it!”