Finn and Maybeck splashed more holes in the ranks of the needlefish, protecting the floating girls.
“Dude?” Maybeck said, his voice uncommonly anxious. “What now?”
Then, like Old Faithful, the water exploded up around the Keepers. It shot into the air five feet, ten feet, twenty in a giant plume. The explosion pushed back the needlefish, driving them away from the Keepers, creating a ring of safety.
It wasn’t just water forming this twenty-foot-high fountain, but the dainty flying fish, their fins stretched out as wings. They flew high, straight up out of the water, and then plummeted back down, a thin column growing thicker. Soon, Finn and the others found themselves in the eye of the column, the needlefish driven back and away, farther and farther until the Keepers were safe.
The column of foaming water slowly lowered and the eye of the water storm began moving slowly toward the Dream.
“They’re protecting us,” Willa said. “They want us to swim with them.”
As a group they swam toward the ship.
“Are you going to explain the flying fish?” Charlene asked Finn.
“Typhoon Lagoon,” Finn said. “King Triton’s code.”
“We have King Triton on our side?” Charlene said.
“Looks like it,” Finn said.
“How cool is that?” Charlene said.
“So does that mean we get Eric, too?” Willa said. “Because Eric is definitely hot, and if I had my choice I’d take Eric over some white-haired king merman any day.”
Charlene chimed in. “I’ve had a crush on Eric since I was about eight.”
Maybeck said, “And I thought you were crushing on me.”
“Who says I’m not?” she fired back.
“Trying to get me jealous?”
“Maybe.”
“It’s working,” Maybeck said.
With the angel fish protecting them, they moved smoothly toward the ship.
Finn spent the time considering their rescue by the flying fish, the existence of Tia Dalma on the island, the hyenas on the deck of the ship, and the crew members’ apparent obedience to some form of an Overtaker. He tried to piece together how any of it might connect to the stolen journal and their assignment to retrieve it. How it might connect to Chernabog.
“What does Tia Dalma have to do with any of this?” Finn called out.
It cooled the levity.
“Should we try to let Wayne know?” he said.
“I suppose,” said Willa.
Wayne was constantly trying to teach Finn leadership lessons. Were the challenges they were facing nothing more than tests of their control over 2.0? Was it an exercise? Finn was sick of being used. Why did everything have to be part of some lesson?
He was reminded of the mega-screen at an Orlando Magic basketball game. Three animated Magic ball caps on a table. A basketball slips under one of the caps and they shuffle and jump, the crowd trying to keep track of the cap hiding the basketball. A shell game, it was called.
He wondered again if part of the shell game was to keep Wayne and the Keepers focused on the ship while something was brewing at the Base. Which was the ultimate prize? Which was the hat containing the ball?
Now it was Wayne calling across an ocean at him: “Keep your eye on the cap with the ball! Don’t get distracted. Don’t lose focus for even a moment.”
“I get it!” Finn said aloud, shutting up the others.
“Get what?” Charlene said.
“Nothing,” Finn said.
“We’re getting close,” Maybeck said.
“We don’t want to be spotted,” said Charlene.
“Underwater,” Finn said. “I bet the flying fish will stay with us.”
The four holograms slipped out of sight. The flying fish surrounded them in a protective tunnel.
After a fair distance, Finn poked his head up. The two lifeboats were tied up to a portable dock floating below an open gangway. He swam closer, and his ears broke the surface as well. He marveled at how clear his hearing was—how far into the ship he could make out sound.
The lifeboats were empty, as were the dock and the doorway in the hull of the ship. He waved beneath the water and three more heads appeared.
“Clear,” he whispered.
“Two by two,” Willa said.
Finn motioned Charlene forward, and she slipped past him. Grabbing hold of a line used to tie a lifeboat, she pulled herself up and threw a leg onto the dock. A moment later she extended a hand to Finn and helped pull him up.
Their holograms and hair were dry—no indication they’d been swimming. They approached the open gangway at the edge and peered inside where three crewmen were busy working, their backs to them. Finn and Charlene both took a deep breath and stepped aboard. They headed quickly through the maintenance area to an open door and out into a crew member–only passageway.