“I won’t let anyone else get into trouble because of this,” said Simon. “I promise.”
Winter shook her head. “You can’t keep making promises like that, Simon. We’re going to help you any way we can. You know that, we know that, and there’s no point pretending we’re not all risking something by doing this. You’re risking a lot just by showing up, you know, considering how much the General hates Orion.”
“So we both hate my grandfather. That’s a good thing,” said Simon.
“It doesn’t matter. Everyone thinks you’re a bird,” she pointed out, lowering her voice. “At least Nolan’s pretending to be a mammal, so they’ll be decent to him. But birds are about as welcome in Avalon as the plague. Reptiles, too,” she added. “The reptile kingdom and the underwater kingdom have been fighting over amphibians for as long as they’ve both existed.”
Simon stared at her. “Amphibians?”
“You know. Frogs, toads, salamanders, other gross, slimy things that look like reptiles but live part-time in the water—”
“I know what amphibians are. Why are they fighting over them?”
Winter shrugged. “It’s stupid, but both kingdoms keep claiming them, and they’ve fought countless wars over it. Just—be prepared for them not to like both of us, all right?”
Still baffled, Simon nodded. “Guess it won’t be that much different from school, will it?”
Winter snorted. “At this rate, nothing ever will be.”
A few minutes later, Jam and Ariana arrived. Jam’s face was pale, and Ariana had dark circles under her eyes. While Simon knew what Jam was worried about, he couldn’t figure out what might have made Ariana lose sleep.
“Are you okay?” he said.
“I’m fine. Just tired,” she muttered, refusing to meet his curious gaze. Simon glanced at Jam and Winter, but neither of them seemed to be paying attention.
“Here, let me carry your bag,” he said, reaching for it, but Ariana’s grip tightened on the handle.
“I’m tired, not helpless,” she snapped. Simon dropped his hand sheepishly.
“Sorry, I just—I want to help.”
Her expression softened. “Sorry,” she mumbled, tucking a lock of blue hair behind her ear. “I called my mom really late. About going, I mean. She seems to think this is a good idea, but …”
Ariana trailed off, her forehead wrinkling. It took Simon a moment to realize why she might be worried about visiting the underwater kingdom, but once he did, he felt like an idiot.
“It won’t be that bad,” he said. “You won’t have to go near the ocean if you don’t want to.”
Ariana gave him a strange look. “Don’t you remember what Jam said?”
“When?” said Simon, puzzled.
Before Ariana could reply, Nolan bounded down the staircase, with Malcolm trailing after him looking worse for wear. Apparently Ariana wasn’t the only one who hadn’t gotten much sleep last night.
“I can’t believe we’re spending Christmas in California,” said Nolan, practically buzzing with excitement. His arm was still in a sling, and Malcolm carried his suitcase for him. “This is going to be the best Christmas ever.”
At least someone was happy about it. Simon offered him a wan smile. “First one we get to spend together, too.”
Nolan’s grin faded, and he eyed Simon up and down. “You look different.”
“I look like you,” he said. “Haircut.”
“A good one, too, if you ask me,” said Malcolm, patting Simon on the back. “Everyone ready?”
“As ready as we’ll ever be,” mumbled Jam. “Let’s get this over with.”
The ride to the airport was a long one in the early-morning city traffic, and by the time they reached their gate, the plane was boarding. The flight to Los Angeles was six hours long, and during those six hours, none of them spoke much. Even Nolan seemed to sense the tension between them, and he spent most of the flight with his nose in a stack of comic books he’d brought along.
Simon, on the other hand, alternated between trying to read his book, watching his friends anxiously, and doing his best not to worry about how they would get the underwater kingdom’s piece of the Predator. He couldn’t shake the feeling that they had gotten incredibly, impossibly lucky in Arizona. This time, the piece could be anywhere in the Pacific Ocean, if it was anywhere near Avalon to begin with.
California was much warmer than snowy New York, and Simon peeled off his coat inside the SUV the General had sent for them. They passed rows and rows of palm trees, pink and yellow buildings that reminded Simon of Arizona, and at last, miles of white sand beaches where the sun shone so brightly that he had to squint as he peered out the window.
“This is where you grew up?” said Simon to Jam, who had his eyes closed as if he were pretending they were anywhere but here.
“Sort of,” he mumbled, cracking open an eye. “We’re almost to the harbor.”
“How are you so pale?” said Winter. “If I lived here, I’d be out in the sun every day.”
“And you claim you’re nothing like the other reptiles,” said Ariana with a smirk. That made Winter’s expression sour, and she turned to face her.
“You know Avalon’s on an island, right?” she said nastily. “And you know what that means, right? We’re gonna have to go on a boat.”
Oh. That’s what Ariana had been talking about, Simon realized—Jam had said that Avalon was off the coast of California, not on it. No wonder she was so anxious.
Nolan, who sat on the other side of Jam, laughed. “That’s right. You’re afraid of water, aren’t you?”
Now it was Ariana’s turn to pale, and she crossed her arms. “I’ll be fine,” she muttered, even though she didn’t sound it.
“Uh-huh. How many times do you think she’ll puke?” said Nolan to Simon. “I bet you it’ll be at least twice—”
“Let it go, okay?” said Simon. “Unless you want me to tell them what happened when you jumped into the polar bear enclosure.”
Nolan gave him a nasty look, but at least he shut up, and they spent the rest of the drive in relative silence. By the time they reached the harbor, Ariana looked like she would be proving Nolan right, and this time she didn’t protest when Simon carried her suitcase to the speedboat that was waiting for them.
A man who looked eerily similar to a pirate with his stringy black hair and leathery skin stood on the stern, and he helped them over the gap between the dock and the edge of the vessel. “Benjamin,” he said with a curt nod as Jam hopped aboard without any help.
“Dampier,” said Jam dully. “These are my friends. Simon, Nolan, Winter, and Ariana, and the Alpha of the mammal kingdom, Malcolm Thorn.”
Rather than greet them, Dampier merely sniffed and pulled up the anchor effortlessly. “Best be on our way. The General’s in a foul mood today.”
“How long until we get to Avalon?” said Malcolm, following Dampier to the controls.
“Forty minutes, with this weather,” he said, eyeing the waves. “Best hold on.”
“Forty minutes?” said Ariana, turning a sickening shade of green. Dampier took one look at her and tossed her an empty bucket.
“If you get my deck dirty, you’re cleaning it up, missy.”
Ariana clutched the bucket and didn’t say another word throughout the trip. She was, however, sick in it twice and once overboard, and Simon felt so sorry for her that he held her hair back every time. It was his fault she was here, after all, even if they’d all known they would have to get the underwater piece of the Predator eventually.
It was the longest forty minutes of Simon’s life—and probably Ariana’s, too. By the time the silhouette of an island came into view, he was fairly sure she was minutes away from passing out. Still, he couldn’t stop himself from staring as the boat neared a circular harbor and the little town of Avalon.
It looked like something out of one of his mother’s postcards. Dozens upon dozens of boats floated in the sparkling blue water, a
nd green mountains loomed above the town, as if sheltering it from whatever lay beyond. Avalon itself was tiny compared to the cities Simon was used to, and he couldn’t help wondering where the rest of it was.
“This is where the General of the underwater kingdom lives?” he said, skeptical. As stunning as it was, especially in the bright California sunshine that had made the back of his neck grow hot, it didn’t look much different from any number of seaside towns Simon had seen in movies. He couldn’t imagine this being the center of one of the five Animalgam kingdoms.
“The General?” Dampier snorted as he navigated the boat to a pier near the edge of the harbor. “He only comes here when he has to. Don’t know much about us, do you?”
“Not really,” said Simon. But considering he’d only discovered Animalgams existed four months ago, he thought he was doing pretty okay so far.
Ariana was the first off the boat, practically taking a flying leap onto the marina. Simon followed, watching the colony of seagulls that was beginning to circle them. Maybe that was normal seagull behavior, but considering Orion was close, Simon doubted it. A shiver ran through him. How long would it be before the Bird Lord knew they were in Avalon?
“Might want to keep that bucket, missy,” said Dampier as he helped Malcolm with their luggage. “This was the easy part.”
“What’s he talking about?” said Ariana to Jam, who pursed his lips and averted his gaze.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s against the law to tell anyone. It’s how we keep outsiders away.”
“Away from what?” she demanded. He shuffled his feet. “Away from what, Jam?”
Just then, a huge swell rose up not ten feet from the dock. At first, Simon had no idea what it was, but as they all stared, the water slid away, leaving a submarine bobbing on the surface.
“My family doesn’t really live in Avalon,” said Jam. “We live in Atlantis.”
“Atlantis?” she said, her voice trembling. “Like—like the underwater city?”
Jam nodded, and before anyone else could say a thing, Ariana fainted.
5
ATLANTIS
Ariana wasn’t unconscious long, but once she came to, it took another twenty minutes for Malcolm to coax her into the submarine. By the time she shakily climbed aboard, tears streaming down her cheeks, Dampier was grumbling about schedules, and Simon was struggling to resist the overwhelming urge to sock him in the nose.
“It’s not that bad,” said Jam desperately as the submarine descended underneath the surface. Ariana clung to Malcolm, hiding her face in his chest as her shoulders shook with silent sobs. “It’s all enclosed. You can walk around and breathe like normal.”
“Except it’s surrounded by water,” said Winter, who, despite their bickering in the car, was suddenly on Ariana’s side. “We could have let her stay in Avalon, you know.”
“I’m sorry,” said Simon, feeling about as guilty as Jam looked. “I didn’t know. I wouldn’t have—”
He stopped short. He couldn’t say he wouldn’t have asked them to come if he’d known, not in front of Malcolm and Nolan. Besides, he knew Ariana. Despite her phobia, she would have come anyway. It was the surprise, he thought, that probably affected her most—the lack of time to prepare herself for facing her greatest fear.
It didn’t matter what he said, anyway. It wouldn’t make a difference. Simon sat nearby as she continued to hide in Malcolm’s protective embrace for the entire trip below the surface, which lasted nearly as long as the boat ride had. And when he looked out the porthole and his heart fluttered with excitement at the dark water around them, he somehow felt even worse. He had no right to be enjoying this when it scared Ariana so badly.
The tension broke abruptly, however, when Nolan shouted from the other end of the submarine, where he hovered near a porthole. “Guys, come check this out!”
Winter was the only one who darted over, and her jaw dropped as she looked through the glass. “Simon, you have got to see this.”
Reluctantly Simon slid off the bench and joined them. “What am I supposed to be—” he began, but as soon as he peered through the porthole, he stopped.
Though they were deep enough now that very little sunlight penetrated the dark waters, the submarine approached a dome that shone with glittering silver light. It looked like a giant snow globe, thought Simon, but instead of a cottage or polar bear inside, there was an entire underwater city.
Atlantis.
Silver buildings rose high from the ocean floor, and several tubes ran through the giant enclosure that let out into the open ocean, acting like highways, judging by the array of underwater animals swimming through them. Though he couldn’t make out much decoration, everything was uniform in color and seemed to be organized into columns and rows. Outside the city in the glowing waters that surrounded it, entire brigades of sea creatures swam drills in unison, including jellyfish, dolphins, stingrays, swordfish, and—Simon gulped—great white sharks.
The submarine slowly navigated one of the wider tunnels at the bottom of the dome, and soon enough it stopped completely, a loud sucking sound echoing through the metal body. The door opened in the ceiling, and one by one they climbed onto the air-locked dock, where a squad of soldiers stood at attention to greet them.
Standing in front of them was a woman who looked like she might’ve been in her early twenties. She was dressed in a blue military uniform, her brown hair pulled back in a bun, and Simon spotted a horizontal scar on her cheek. As they approached, she didn’t smile. “Alpha,” she said to Malcolm. “Welcome to Atlantis. I am Colonel Rhode. We spoke yesterday.”
“Colonel,” said Malcolm with a terse nod. “I remember. I take it the General is waiting for us.”
“He is. I’m afraid we’re already running late, so if you would come with me. Soldier,” she added by way of greeting, barely glancing at Jam.
“Colonel,” he squeaked. Simon wondered what that was about, but he didn’t have time to ask before they began to hurry into the city at a brisk pace. All Simon could see at the edge of the dome were the tops of several towering gray buildings hovering above the wall that separated this area from the city, as well as one of the wide passageways full of water that let out fifty feet above their heads. It was oddly colorless and not at all what he might have expected from an underwater city, and he would have been disappointed if he’d let himself think about it.
As they followed Colonel Rhode, the squad of soldiers surrounded them. An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of Simon’s stomach, and he leaned in toward Jam. “Is this normal?” he whispered, and Jam shrugged.
“Not really, but it isn’t normal for strangers to be invited, either.” Jam frowned. “Just go along with it, all right? Don’t upset them.”
Right. Don’t upset the soldiers with guns holstered to their hips. Simon’s apprehension grew as they moved beyond the wall and into the city proper. It was gray building after gray building, with no pictures or art or advertisements anywhere. The only color came from the blue street signs, and Simon noted they were on Pacific Way.
At last they entered a wide silver tower. It seemed bigger than the rest somehow, looming over them with spectacular foreboding, and as Simon stepped inside the large foyer, the temperature seemed to drop. The walls were mirrored, giving the impression that the room was somehow endlessly replicated over and over again, stretching out into infinite darkness. And to make matters worse, inside the otherwise empty foyer stood another group of soldiers, each more intimidating than the last.
“You’ll all have to go through a security inspection to earn entry,” said Rhode. Malcolm raised an eyebrow, and she added, “Standard protocol, I assure you.”
In pairs, they stepped up to the guards, who searched their luggage and waved a metal detector wand over them. Malcolm and Nolan went first. Even though Malcolm was the Alpha of the entire mammal kingdom, by the time he’d finished, he’d lost his belt, boots, and the contents of his pockets. His duffel bag was searched t
horoughly as well, and only grudgingly did the soldier hand it back to him. Even Nolan didn’t escape scrutiny, though it turned out he had nothing they deemed dangerous. If they only knew, Simon thought to himself.
Jam passed through easily, but security proceeded to remove several small blades, lock picks, and other metal devices from Ariana’s pockets and luggage, making Simon wonder exactly how she’d gotten it all through airport security. By the time she was done, they had even forced her to remove her necklace, which turned out to be a secret penknife.
“I know exactly what’s there,” warned Ariana. Her face was still blotchy and puffy from all the crying, but otherwise she seemed to have pulled herself together now that they were inside the city.
“Your belongings will be returned to you at the end of your visit,” said Rhode in a no-nonsense voice, but even she was eyeing Ariana’s contraband warily.
Simon and Winter were last. While the others lingered near the door, waiting for them, the soldiers gave Simon an embarrassingly thorough pat down. As Simon reluctantly handed over his pocket watch for inspection, he found himself relieved he hadn’t brought the reptiles’ piece of the Predator with him. Even if they hadn’t known what it was, Malcolm surely would have recognized it.
“Colonel,” said the soldier rummaging through Simon’s suitcase. “We have a stowaway.”
“What?” said Simon, and he tried to see around the soldier. “You mean—”
“Unhand me this instant!” shouted a shrill voice. Simon’s insides turned to ice.
“Wait—that’s Felix. He’s my friend, and he’s harmless, I swear—”
“He’s unauthorized,” said Rhode coolly. “Detain him.”
A soldier pulled out a metal cage seemingly from nowhere and deposited a squirming Felix inside. “You can’t do that!” said Simon, horrified. “He’s not going to hurt anyone.”
“He’s unauthorized,” repeated Rhode, as if that explained everything. “If you’ll follow me. We can’t keep the General waiting.”