Nothing bad happened. No one walked by. It appeared to be the easiest maneuver any Unwanteds had ever undertaken. Alex clenched and unclenched his fists, wanting desperately for it to stay that way.
Across from Alex and Sky sat Ms. Octavia, looking down through the skylight at a very different angle and seeing a different scene—the glass cage full of sea creatures. “Florence looks just the same,” she remarked, more to give Simber an update than anyone else. Simber didn’t answer. Soon Ms. Octavia’s eyes drooped with fatigue. Occasionally they closed. Everyone was tired.
All of a sudden, Ms. Octavia’s eyes flew open wide. She sat up. “Alex, look.” She pointed. “The eel is back.”
Alex scrambled over to the other side of the skylight and watched the eel slither up to the glass cage. Its back half was wrapped around its latest catch. “What’s it got this time?” Alex muttered. “It had better stay away from the fishing hatch.”
Sky sat up, alarmed. “What if it comes over as Lani and Henry and my mother are escaping?” She couldn’t hide the panic in her voice. “What if it attacks them?”
Alex glanced worriedly toward the spiral staircase. He didn’t see anybody ascending. No one by the fishing hatch either. “So far so good. I hope they’d see the eel in time to stay inside until it’s gone,” he muttered, knowing it wasn’t likely since the water was so murky that far down and the only light was coming from inside. The sea itself was dark just a few feet outside the glass walls.
They watched, breathless, as the eel used its tail to press something, which sparked in the water just as it had the last time. The door slid open, the eel backed into the cage, and it deposited its latest victim inside with the others.
Alex squinted, trying to see what it was, but it was hidden from view behind the giant squid, who this time tried without luck to escape. Instead the squid merely succeeded in getting one tentacle stuck in the door as it closed. The squid’s eyes reacted, widening in pain. But it was stuck fast. “Oh no,” Alex whispered.
“Poor thing,” Sky said. “I wish we could do something!”
“It’s too dangerous,” Ms. Octavia said. “It’ll hurt, but he’ll be okay. We can try to help him later when we spring Florence free. But first we need Lani and Henry to find your mother. Where are they? What’s keeping them?”
“I don’t know.” Alex’s eyes were fixed on the cage, wondering what the new creature was and why the eel was so intent on collecting them.
Just then he heard a growl from Simber.
Without looking up, he asked, “What is it, Sim?”
“I just felt a trrremorrr.”
Alex turned sharply, the cage forgotten. “I didn’t feel it. Are you sure?”
Simber’s look told him yes.
“Oh, no,” Alex said. He felt the blood drain from his face. “Lani . . . Henry . . .”
“Mother, hurry,” begged Sky.
Everyone felt the next tremor. A few pirates appeared out of nowhere as the wall seats dropped. They slipped into the seats and buckled up.
“Crud,” Alex muttered. Dread filled his heart. He strained to see the staircase, but no one was rushing up it. “Where are they?” Alex looked all around, wondering if maybe they’d come up a different way. He bit his lip hard, trying not to panic. “Come on, guys,” he murmured. “Get out of there.”
But they didn’t come.
“Sky, get on Simber’s back. You too, Ms. Octavia.” The volcano shuddered hard, sending Alex running to get on the statue’s back after the others. Simber lifted off the volcano, staying low so they could watch through the skylight.
Lani, Henry, and Copper were nowhere to be seen.
“Oh, come on,” Sky urged. She gripped Simber’s neck.
As Simber circled, Alex saw something bright flash out of the corner of his eye, but he kept his focus on the spot where they last saw Lani and Henry. When Simber turned, three heads turned with him. “There!” Alex cried. “See them? They’re coming up the stairs!”
The volcano trembled as Lani, Henry, and Copper raced to the top of the steps and bounded past the display case, around the greenery, and toward the fishing hatch. Behind them something flashed again. It was coming from the glass cage. Alex looked. And what he saw nearly caused him to fall off Simber’s back.
“Spike?” he said, in the midst of Octavia and Sky crying out for the others. “Spike Furious!” The eel’s latest capture was none other than Alex’s shiny blue whale, swimming up and over the squid. Her diamondlike horn caught the light.
But Alex didn’t have a second to think about his creature, because Lani, Henry, and Copper were running at top speed for the hatch, and a man was chasing them. Alex, Sky, Simber, and Ms. Octavia watched in horror. “Run!” Alex cried, even though he knew they couldn’t hear him.
Lani reached the hatch first. She slammed her hand on the first button as the volcano shuddered and seized, knocking her to the floor, and then Alex lost sight of everything as the volcano plunged down into the sea.
A Change of Plans
The water crashed over the site where the volcano had been and churned in an angry boil until the waves organized themselves once more, giving no indication that anything had ever been there. Once it was calm, Octavia leaped from Simber’s back and dove into the water to see if Lani, Henry, and Copper had made it out or if they were trapped.