Nim at Sea (6 page)

S
ELKIE AND
F
RED
both knew lots of tricks—but they did them only when
they
wanted to. It was hard for Nim to make them understand that to outsmart the Professor, they had to do the tricks Nim wanted when she asked.

And the Professor was watching. He was in a very bad mood because one of the baby spider monkeys had bitten him while he was giving his lecture.

First Nim fed the birds, chirping quietly to them.

“If you make bird noises, they’ll never learn to talk!” the Professor snapped. “Teach them ‘Pretty Polly’! That’s what people pay for…are interested in.” He stomped out the door.

Nim clucked to the doves once more and rushed to open Selkie’s cage. Selkie
whuffle
d and sniffed her all over, as if Nim were the one who’d been seal-napped and locked up.

“We’ll get home somehow,” Nim promised. “Because even if Alex doesn’t like me anymore, I know she’ll help us.

“The important thing is to escape. We’ve got five days to get ready.”

She looked at Selkie’s little cage and the cloudy tub of water. Five days seemed like forever.

“If I could just get you into a pool…,” she said.

Very quietly, she turned the door handle. It wasn’t locked. She opened it a crack and peered down the hall.

The Professor was coming back!

Nim shut the door quickly and hugged Selkie hard. Just for a minute she thought she was going to cry—but that would upset Selkie.

And it was crying that got us into this mess in the first place!
Nim thought, which suddenly seemed so silly she almost laughed—except now the Professor was in the room again, so instead she clapped.

“Fantastic!” she said, as if Selkie had just done the most wonderful trick in the world.

Then she added quickly, “That’s enough training for today.”

The Professor grunted. “Okay, kid. Get the rest of those animals fed and their cages cleaned out. If you do a good job, I’ll let you do some more training in the morning.”

“Thank you,” Nim said politely. She worked as slowly and carefully as she could, because every minute she was here was a minute Selkie wasn’t locked in her cage all alone.

Suddenly she spotted a key hanging behind the door. It looked just like the Professor’s, but she’d seen him drop his into his pocket. This one had to be a spare—and if it was a spare, he might not notice if it was missing!

So Nim brushed the rotten fruit and droppings out of the monkeys’ cage, put in clean water and not-quite-rotten fruit, and murmured quietly to them, trying not to let them feel how mad and sad she was to see them there. Finally she put Selkie back in her cage, sitting beside her for a long moment to rub her head with love and cool water.

“Just remember,” the Professor said with his sneering smile, “the animals down here are our little secret. The Foundation’s work is very important—much too important for most people to understand. I don’t ever want to hear you talking about the animals down here.

“So, my little stowaway friend, just keep your mouth shut and everyone will be happy: I’ll get what I’ve earned, the animals will get lovely new homes where people appreciate how intelligent, unique, and interesting they are—and you and your mom will stay out of jail.”

Nim swallowed hard and nodded. He wanted her to be afraid, and she was. More afraid than she’d ever been. She was so afraid, the Professor knew he didn’t have to worry about her at all. He sat calmly down in his chair in the corner, opened a can of soda, and started to read his newspaper.

“I’ll come back in the morning,” Nim whispered.

The Professor grunted and turned a page.

Nim backed to the door—and, as she waved goodbye to Selkie, snatched the key off its hook.

T
HE HARDEST THING
about fitting in at Pizza Night, Nim decided, was acting as if the biggest thrill in her life were getting a slice with pepperoni, especially when she really wanted anchovies (anchovies were fish and tasted a bit like home).

“It’s like swimming with a new pod of dolphins,” she told Ben and Erin when they took their pizzas out to the deck.

“I wish I could do that!” Ben exclaimed.

“I wish we could go to your island,” Erin said.

“I wish you could too,” said Nim. Saying it made her feel hot inside, as if she were betraying Jack—but it was true. She used to wonder what it would be like to have friends who could talk. Now that she’d found out, she liked it. Nim wanted to be back on her island more than anything else, but she didn’t want to lose Erin and Ben.

She told them what the Professor had said.

“Jail!” repeated Erin.

“But
he’s
the bad guy!” Ben said fiercely.

“He says he’s allowed to catch the animals because of this Foundation. He says that’s the law, because catching them educates people and protects other animals all around the world.”

“And he
is
a Professor,” said Erin.

“And I
am
a stowaway,” said Nim.

“But he’s still bad,” said Ben.

“We should ask Mom and Dad,” said Erin.

“No!” shouted Nim. “He said he’d send me to the captain if I ever told anyone. I shouldn’t even have told you—and if you help me, you’ll get into trouble too!”

“We don’t care if we get in trouble,” Ben said.

“All that matters,” Erin agreed, “is keeping you safe and getting Selkie free. So we just have to stick to our plan.”

“But the best thing we can do right now,” said Ben, “is try to look like we’re having a good time. Let’s get some more pizza!”

Fred rubbed his spiny back against Ben’s leg. Fred had mozzarella strings tangled from his grinning mouth to his claws. He liked pizza, and he liked Ben more and more and more.

Nim felt lonely, climbing back up into her lifeboat with Fred while Erin and Ben stood watch outside their cabin door.

And when she pulled the cover over, it felt dark—black as the deepest sea.

Then she heard a knock—the three quick knocks and two slow that were their signal—and felt the rocking of someone climbing the metal struts. Ben stuck his head in to hand her a flashlight.

Nim turned it on and saw why Erin had looked as if she were going to burst with her own secret when she’d said, “Sleep tight, Nim!”

The boat had been turned into a bedroom. There were two blankets to sleep on, two towels for covers, a pillow for her and one for Fred, a bottle of water, and a banana.

But best of all was remembering the look on Erin’s and Ben’s faces when she’d shown them the key she’d snatched. They’d touched it as if it were magic—and even though Nim wasn’t a magician, just knowing it was in her pocket made her feel powerful.

It was so early the sun wasn’t up when Erin rapped three “wake up!” knocks on the strut.

Still half asleep, Nim dropped her pillows and blankets over the side, just in case a Troppo Tourist used the boat during the day. Then she swung down to the deck, with Fred following. The cool morning air woke them quickly. While Erin tiptoed back into her cabin to hide the bedding, Nim and Fred raced down to the Animal Room. When there was no one around to step on him, Fred liked walking.

After a quick check to make sure no one was watching, Nim unlocked the door and they slipped inside.

“Hurry!” she whispered to Selkie as she undid the cage. She felt sorry for the others, but she couldn’t help them yet.

Selkie lolloped down the hall after her and into the elevator,
honk
ing with surprise when it went up. Fred grinned a little wider, as if he’d been doing this since he was hatched.

It was dark and deserted as they came out onto the Sea Lion Deck. They raced to the waterslide pool and dived into the clear water.

Selkie snorted and rolled, dived and leapt, around and around the pool as if she were training for the race of her life. Fred sank to the bottom and came up again, sneezing with disgust because he couldn’t find any seaweed.

Nim swam with Selkie and dived with Fred; she couldn’t swim as fast as a sea lion or hold her breath as long as a marine iguana, but it felt good to try. She didn’t know exactly how they were going to escape, but she did know they’d all need to be as strong, as fast, and as good at everything as they could possibly be.

The sky began to pale. A man hurried past, buttoning his white chef’s jacket.

Nim signaled to Selkie, and Selkie dived as silently as a whisper. Fred was already down at the bottom again; he was sure there must be seaweed somewhere. Nim kept on swimming and tried not to splash.

“You’re up early!” the chef called. “Trying to beat the rush?”

“Yes,” said Nim, and he hurried on by.

Nim knew it would be too dangerous to stay any longer. They slipped out and went back to the hold, with nothing but a quickly drying trail of water to tell where they’d been.

J
ACK WOKE UP WITH
the sun. He’d steered all night, with a few quick naps in between. Daylight showed him that he still had a long, long way to go—there was no sign of land in all this wide blue sea.

A frigate bird circled low to see if he had any fish. “Nothing today, Galileo!” Jack called. He wished he could tuck a note into the big bird’s leg band, but even Galileo couldn’t find Nim in a city.

For just a minute Jack wondered what he’d do if Nim wasn’t with Alex—but he pushed that thought away.

As Galileo disappeared into the sky, Jack called out, “You’re right, I should put those lines out now! Thanks for reminding me!”

He checked his compass, adjusted the sail to head four points farther east, threw his fishing lines in, and had a drink of water and some coconut for breakfast.

“I’ll be with you soon, Nim!” he called.

Then he added more quietly, “And you too, Alex. I hope.”

Alex woke with a start. She was sure someone had knocked on her cabin door: three quick raps. Then there was a
thump
of someone jumping onto the deck, and whispering.

It was just the children from the cabin next door. She’d heard them during the day; it sounded as if there were two very little girls, a boy and another girl about Nim’s age, and maybe even another girl. She could never hear what they said, just the buzz of their voices and
thump
s from their cabin when they jumped to the floor.

Alex wondered what they were like.
Maybe they’d know how to be friends with Nim,
she thought.
Maybe I’d have been better at it if I’d met other kids before I went to the island….

“If you’d been better at it,” she told herself, “you wouldn’t be on this ship right now!

“And don’t you dare cry again!” she added, and made herself go back to sleep.

Nim had got Selkie back just in time. It was now bright, busy daylight, and people were swarming everywhere, settling into deck chairs and crowding the rails. Someone would have probably noticed a sea lion galumphing through the ship.

It was busy out on the water too. There were more ships ahead, behind, and coming toward them. They were going down a wide river with bright green hills close on either side, and Nim felt tight and closed in when she could see only a narrow strip of water instead of the wide blue sea she was used to.

The river became skinnier and the banks grew steeper, until it was such a narrow canal their ship was nearly touching both concrete sides. Very gently, they were tugged up to a pair of giant locked doors. Another pair of doors shut behind them—and just as Nim was wondering where the ship could go next, it started going up as if it were in an elevator!

Nim tried to look as if she were used to being on ships that went up and down elevators, until she saw that nearly everyone on board had come out to gawk and take pictures.

“Amazing!”

“How does it work?”

“The water comes in through culverts from a lake.”

“I’ve wanted to see this all my life!”

But everything’s strange to me!
thought Nim.
How am I supposed to know which things are strange to everyone else?

She saw Erin and Ben, with their parents and little sisters, watching from outside their cabin while their mother videotaped the giant elevator doors.

Now the dock on the other side of the railing was the same height as the deck. If she jumped over the railing right now, she could probably escape the ship.

“But we can’t leave without Selkie,” she whispered to Fred. Fred rubbed his head under her chin.

The ship went up higher and higher till they were way too far above the dock to jump.

Anyway,
thought Nim,
if we got off here, how will I ever find Alex?

And how will I ever find home?

That afternoon in the Kids’ Klub, Kelvin taught them to play Spiderweb. The person who was the Spider stood in the middle with hands above their head. Then all the other kids squashed up around them. When Kelvin shouted “Web!” each kid had to reach behind and grab the first two hands they met, and keep holding on to them while everyone wiggled around, forward and backward, to make a circle—while the Spider tried to break through.

Nim was good at being the Spider, because she could squirm under arms or slither through legs faster than anyone. But what she liked best was holding tight to Erin or Ben or kids she didn’t know and just being part of the web.

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Date: Saturday 10 July, 5:45 p.m.

Subject: more information

Dear Jack,

I thought you might have answered by now, but I guess you are very busy since I’m not there to help you with the science stuff.

Today the Professor took pictures of me holding the birds and caged animals. He says the Foundation likes to see pictures like this to show how intelligent, unique, and interesting the animals are, to prove that they should be protected. He dressed one of the spider monkeys up like a baby and I thought it looked so sad. I played a swinging game with it afterward to cheer it up.

Selkie is a lot happier today because she had a swim in the pool, and Fred is happy because he tasted pizza last night and today Ben also brought him a whole pocketful of salad for lunch and I’ve had lots of different food too. Ben and Erin said I shouldn’t ask for a seaweed sandwich because people will think that’s strange and they might guess I’m a stowaway. I like some of the new foods, and when you want food here you don’t have to make it or catch it yourself.

I saw a frigate bird today. I wished it were Galileo with a message from you.

Love (as much as Galileo loves stealing fish),

Nim