Suddenly, hasty footsteps fell in the hallway, and Winter froze. The footsteps stopped right outside the closet door, and with his heart in his throat, Simon motioned for them to hide among the boxes of old radio junk.
“Simon?” said a soft voice on the other side of the door. The supply closet door creaked open, and Simon jumped out of his hiding place in a dusty corner when he saw the familiar shock of blond hair.
“Jam? How did you know we were in here?”
Breathing heavily, Jam put a finger to his lips and slowly shut the door. Once the lock clicked into place, he flipped the light switch and cast them into darkness. “I saw the light underneath the door. I figured you’d try to leave, and I ran down here as fast as I could. Rhode thinks I’m in the bathroom.” Something plastic cracked, and a large blue glow stick appeared in his hand, giving them enough light to see by. “Simon, everything she said about your mom—”
“She wants to kill her,” he said darkly.
Jam winced. “I know. But she won’t do it, I swear.”
“No, she won’t,” said Nolan in a threatening voice. “If she tries—”
“She doesn’t have that kind of power, not really,” said Jam hastily. “If—if the General doesn’t make it—” He swallowed hard. “I’ll be the one in charge, not her. And even if Rhode is stupid enough to try, the flock’s on high alert. She can’t risk sending a soldier there right now, and anyway, we don’t have one to spare. We need everyone to defend the city.”
“How do you plan on doing that without a third of your soldiers?” said Winter, cutting Nolan off before he could drag out the argument any further. “Send a jiggle of jellyfish after them?”
“A jiggle of—what?” said Jam.
“You know. A pod of dolphins, a shiver of sharks, a jiggle of jellyfish.”
“That’s … not what a group of jellyfish is called,” said Jam slowly. “It’s a swarm, not—”
“Do you think I care?” snapped Winter. “What’s the point in escaping if you and everyone else inside the city gets killed?”
“They won’t,” said Jam fiercely. “I have an idea. I read it in a book—”
“Was it a military strategy book?” said Winter.
“No,” admitted Jam. “It’s a fantasy novel about a prophecy and a siege on this giant city, but I think the tactics they used might work.”
“Can we argue about this some other time?” said Simon. “We need to get out of here.”
Together the four of them crouched near the door, and Simon cracked it open enough to check the hallways. “All clear,” he whispered.
“The tunnel’s down that way, left at the third corridor,” said Jam quietly. “There’s a door on the right that should be guarded.”
“I’ll go first,” said Nolan bravely. “Once they see me, I’ll make a run for it and give you time to escape.”
One by one, they slipped out of the storage closet and crept down the hallway. Never before had Simon been more aware of the quiet hum of the air pumps that seemed to be everywhere in the compound. It was never completely silent, and Simon strained to hear any hint of a footstep that didn’t belong to them.
“Keep going straight,” whispered Jam, falling farther and farther behind. Puzzled, Simon hung back with him, until Winter and Nolan were nearly twenty feet ahead.
“What—” he began, but Jam caught his elbow.
“We need to find the piece first,” he said in a low, rushed voice. “Before the battle, before Orion has the chance to look for it.”
Simon frowned. “I don’t care about the stupid piece right now.”
“Yes, you do,” argued Jam. “If we find the piece, Rhode’s excuse for—for neutralizing your mom falls apart. The piece is my responsibility, and once she sees it, I can give it back to you. No one else will know you have it, not even Orion.”
Simon floundered. Jam was right. Even though every part of him was desperate to warn his mother before anyone could hurt her, it would only be a temporary solution. And she was safest in the middle of Orion’s army, at least for now. “We don’t know where it is,” he said lamely.
“I know where it is. So do you.”
Simon frowned. “What?”
“You took a rock from the octopus garden, right?”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the stone. “I forgot to give it to Winter.”
“It’s a good thing you did, because I think that might be the only chance we have at getting the piece back,” said Jam as they crept down the hallway. “The octopus you saw, the one who squirted ink at us—I think it’s the same one that lives there. They don’t usually hang out in groups, and we were in Gordon’s territory—”
“Gordon?”
“The octopus that created the garden,” said Jam patiently, pushing his glasses up his nose. “He doesn’t like other people touching his stuff. I wouldn’t be surprised if he followed us.”
Simon groaned inwardly. All of this was because of a stupid octopus? “What do we do now? Give it back to him and hope he’ll hand over the piece?”
Jam shrugged. “I don’t see why he wouldn’t. He’s reasonable.”
“He squirted ink in our eyes—”
“He saved our lives,” said Jam. “Without him, the sharks would have won.”
Simon touched the sock taped to his side. With the adrenaline rushing through him right now, he didn’t feel much pain, but Jam was right. “Do you think he’s back in his—”
“Get your hands off me!”
Winter’s shriek echoed down the hallway, and Jam yanked Simon around a corner, causing them to crash into each other. Whispering a hurried apology, Simon peeked into the corridor. A soldier twisted Winter’s arm behind her back and held her in place, while another had Nolan by the scruff of the neck. The first spoke into his sleeve.
“We’ve found Simon Thorn and Winter Rivera,” he rumbled. “Lower level.”
Simon’s pulse quickened. The soldiers thought he was Nolan—or that Nolan was him. But Winter was supposed to be safe. They weren’t supposed to catch her.
“What do you think you’re doing? Let—us—go,” spat Nolan, trying to break free of the soldier’s grip.
“Colonel Rhode has ordered you to be placed in protective custody,” said the soldier. “If you come with us quietly, you’ll make this much easier on all of us.”
“I—” Nolan began to object, but in that moment, their eyes met—Simon crouching down, not completely hidden by the corner, and Nolan being manhandled by a soldier twice their size. All Nolan had to do was tell them who he was, and he would be free.
Instead, he squared his shoulders, his eyes narrowing as he turned to face the soldiers once more. “I’ll only come quietly if you take your hands off us,” he said with more authority than Simon had ever mustered in his life, but the soldiers wouldn’t know the difference.
“If you run, I’ll hog-tie you and throw you over my shoulder,” warned the soldier before nodding to his partner. They released Nolan and Winter. “Now come along. We have a nice room prepared for both of you.”
Simon watched, helpless, as the four of them marched toward the elevators in the opposite direction. It wouldn’t be long before someone figured out Nolan wasn’t him, but with any luck, this would buy him and Jam enough time to leave the compound. He didn’t want to leave Winter behind, but he didn’t have a choice, not anymore.
“Simon?” said Jam, trying to peek over his shoulder. “What’s—”
“There you are.”
Icy fear ran down Simon’s spine, and he slowly turned around, his heart pounding.
Looming behind them, her arms crossed and her blue eyes flashing with fury, was Rhode.
14
CAN OF WORMS
“What’s your excuse this time?” said Colonel Rhode. “Going to tell me you were looking for your mouse again?”
Simon opened his mouth, but nothing came out. A dozen excuses ran through his mind, each worse than the last, but it did
n’t matter—the best excuse in the world wouldn’t change the fact that there was only one reason he and Jam would be down here together.
“What are you talking about?” said Jam without missing a beat. He stood up as if they were doing nothing suspicious at all, and cautiously Simon rose with him. “This is Nolan. Your goons just arrested Simon.”
Rhode pulled out a pair of plastic zip ties from the pocket of her uniform. “If you insist on lying to a superior officer, soldier, then I’ll have no choice but to arrest you, too.”
“He’s not lying,” protested Simon. “I’m Nolan—”
“I saw you half an hour ago.” In one swift motion, she caught Simon’s wrists and bound them together with a zip tie. “Next time, if you’re going to use the identical twin lie, at least have the sense to change your outfit.”
“Rhode, you don’t understand—” began Jam.
“Don’t understand what?” she said, turning to her brother with the other zip tie in her hand. “Don’t understand that you were colluding with a potential enemy spy in order to help him escape?”
“He’s not a spy,” said Jam, right as Simon blurted, “I’m not a spy!”
She looked back and forth between them. “The matter will be decided at your tribunal. Now, soldier, if you would be so kind as to come quietly, that would save us both yet another headache tonight.”
Jam clenched his fists. “If you’re going to restrain Simon, then you’ll have to restrain me, too.”
A flicker of annoyance passed over Rhode’s face, and she reached for his hands. “All right, if you—”
It happened so fast that Simon barely registered what was going on. One second, she was slipping the zip tie over Jam’s wrists, and the next, he lurched forward, shoving her into the wall. His torso blocked Simon’s view, but Rhode cried out, and when Jam backed away, her hands were bound together, not his.
“This is treason!” she shouted, lunging toward them. “Guards!”
Jam stepped out of his sister’s path and stuck his foot out. She tripped and fell to the floor with a loud oomf, and Jam promptly sat on her. “Run, Simon!” he said as his sister struggled beneath him.
Simon didn’t need to be told twice. Shooting Jam a grateful look, he sprinted down the hallway. Within seconds, shouts echoed seemingly from every direction as soldiers came running toward him, and he ducked into a nearby storage room stocked with cleaning supplies. The plastic zip tie cut into his wrists, but he barely registered the pain. What was he supposed to do now? He was surrounded. Even if he did figure out a way to get through the basement exit, no doubt Rhode would search the tunnel before he could get too far, and he had no idea what might be waiting for him at the exit.
But what were his other options? Shift into a tuna crab again and hope someone on the dock noticed him? That would take too long. The only other way out he knew about was through the planetarium. This late at night, it probably wouldn’t be guarded, and if he could escape the compound …
The thought of Al and Floyd waiting on the other side made him sick with fear, but Simon had no other choice. Maybe they wouldn’t be there. Maybe they would remember him. Or maybe they wouldn’t, and maybe he would become an unsatisfying midnight snack for a pair of great white sharks.
It was a risk he had to take.
Footsteps sounded against the concrete floor nearby, and Simon heard the soldiers opening doors. He had seconds to hide. Huddled among mops and bottles of bleach, Simon squeezed his eyes shut and shifted into a fly once again, hoping against hope the transformation was completed before they found him.
He made it by milliseconds. Just as the door opened, the zip tie fell from his hands, and the closet morphed into a kaleidoscope of images allowing him to see all around. The soldier stepped inside and methodically searched every corner, even underneath the low metal shelves. Simon remained perfectly still.
“All clear,” announced the soldier, and as he left the closet, Simon slipped out with him, flying into the hallway toward the stairs.
The basement was swarming with soldiers now. There had to be dozens of them down there, combing through every room and crawl space. Unsure whether or not there were any insects in Atlantis, Simon flew from corner to corner, careful not to allow anyone to see him, but he did make one slight detour to the spot where Rhode had caught them.
Jam sat up against the wall, his hands bound and a small smile on his face. While Simon considered letting him know he was all right, instead he flew in the other direction. If he wanted to help Jam, the best thing he could do now was find the piece and prove their innocence.
His flight up the stairwell and through the ground level was much easier compared to the basement. Most of the guards seemed to have moved down there, leaving few stationed at the exit, and within minutes, Simon burst out of the compound and onto Pacific Way.
The streets of Atlantis were crammed with soldiers marching toward the edge of the dome. Men, women—even some teenagers who didn’t look much older than Simon. The entire city was mobilizing, and fear struck Simon as he watched them grimly pass by. How many of them wouldn’t be coming home?
He couldn’t think like that right now. Steeling himself against the flood of regret and guilt, he flew as fast as he could toward the planetarium. Despite the thousands of people marching through the streets, it was abandoned, and Simon slipped through an opening underneath the door. As soon as he reached the edge of the water inside the sea stars’ tunnel, he shifted into a dolphin and dived in. Between his lack of sleep, his injuries, and the effort of sneaking out of the city, he was exhausted, but he swam as hard as he could through the eerily still water. If he found the piece, he could return it to Jam in time to sneak out again and warn his mother before dawn. He just had to keep going.
Shortly before he burst out of the tunnel, he became aware of two shapes lurking near the mouth of the sea stars’ tunnel. His pulse raced, and his insides knotted with nerves. Al and Floyd.
“Hi, guys,” he said as he swam into the open ocean. “Remember me? I’m Jam’s friend.”
The sharks circled him, somehow seeming even bigger than they had before. “I don’t remember no friend of his. You remember?” said the larger one—Al, Simon thought.
“Don’t recall,” said the second. He was smaller, but he had just as many teeth as the first. “Can’t remember the last time we ate, either, and dolphin sounds awful good right about now.”
“Injured dolphin,” said Al, sniffing the water. “Not fresh, but it’ll do.”
“Wait,” said Simon as the two sharks approached. “I’m an Animalgam. Jam—Benjamin Fluke, the General’s son—I’m his friend—you can’t eat me.”
“He won’t know where you’ve gone,” said Al. “I won’t tell. Will you, Floyd?”
“Tell what?” said the smaller shark with a sinister chuckle.
Sheer panic seized Simon, and without thinking, he darted past the great white sharks toward the surface. If he could reach the sky, he could shift into a bird and fly away, but as long as he was in the ocean, as long as he was bleeding and the sharks could smell him—
“Where d’you think you’re going?” Al rammed into him, knocking his smaller dolphin body off course. Simon’s side exploded in pain, and he spun around wildly until he wasn’t sure which way was up.
“I know where he’s going, and it isn’t away from here,” said Floyd, catching Simon by the tail and flinging him back toward Al. His sharp teeth dug into Simon’s dolphin skin, but it was a scratch at best. They were playing with him.
All he had to do was shift into an orca, and he would chase them away. No one would ever believe them, and even if they did, Simon didn’t care. If he didn’t do anything, he’d become a shark snack, so his options were fairly limited.
“I’m giving you one last chance to let me go,” said Simon as he formed an image of a killer whale in his mind. “If you don’t—”
Stars exploded in front of him as Al’s tail made contact with his head.
Dizzy and disoriented, Simon floated in the water without moving, his thoughts scrambled and pain pouring through him from every direction.
“Time for dinner,” said Al in a menacing voice, sounding oddly like he was far away. The edges of Simon’s vision went dark, and part of him was quietly resigned to the fact that this was it. The sharks would eat him, and no one would ever discover where he went. Orion would find the pieces and put the Predator back together, but most of all, Simon would never see his family or his friends again. And they would never know how much he cared, or how sorry he was for letting this happen.
As he sank toward the waiting sharks, the last thing he thought he saw was a giant silhouette speeding through the open ocean and heading straight for him. And as his consciousness faded, he could have sworn he heard it say his name.
“Simon!”
“Simon? Simon. Simon.”
His head felt like someone had been hammering against his skull, and he winced, pressing his palm to his temple. Dimly it occurred to him that he must have shifted back into a human at some point without realizing it. “What …?”
“He’s awake,” said a familiar female voice. Simon opened his eyes, but his vision was fuzzy, and the colorful blobs didn’t look like anything at all, let alone someone he recognized.
“It’s about time,” said a ragged voice—this one male and new. “I told you to use the smelling salts, Zia.”
Zia Stone. Simon’s thoughts swam, and he tried to sit up. That only made his head hurt more, and he groaned.
“Don’t try to move too much,” she said, and he felt a hand on his shoulder. “The sharks got in a few good hits, and you’ll be sore for a while. No lasting damage, though, thankfully.”
“Where …,” he managed. Zia’s face began to focus. There was a worry line between her eyes, and she was sitting on the edge of the sofa where he lay.
“You’re safe, Simon, I promise. It was a close call, but we found you before those goons finished you off,” she said. The lights were dim, but Simon could hear the soft splashes of water against the hull, and he slowly realized that the rocking sensation was coming from the waves, not his head.