Part 31 (2/2)

The rumbling increased, like there was giant machinery in the walls. The stone catwalk above us started to slide into the wall. The spiral stairs too.

There was a high-pitched grating sound from above. I leaned out from the side of the craft. So did Lilly. ”Owen, that ball of rock in the ceiling is moving,” she said, ”and...”

I saw it rising, and then Lilly's voice was drowned out by the deafening roar of water gus.h.i.+ng in through the hole in its place. It poured down in a giant cascade, hit the copper umbrella, and sprayed out in all directions, creating a curtain of water falling all around us, filling the chamber while we sat there, mostly dry.

”Wow,” said Lilly. ”Okay, this could work!”

We started to rise, the water lifting the craft from the floor. The mast hit the umbrella and there was a loud click as it locked into the center. The copper rods snapped away. The umbrella rose with us, deflecting the spray.

Something slammed against the copper and then tumbled by us. I saw the obsidian ball from the map room disappear into the frothing water.

”Ah,” said Leech, sounding disappointed. ”Good-bye, star chart.”

”Did you need that?” I shouted to him.

Leech stared at the water. ”Well, it was helpful, but I'll be all right.”

We were already parallel with the platform. Water rushed into the skull chamber.

We rose, cresting the walls of the lower chamber, rising up into the map room. The water swirled everywhere, and among the bubbles were papers.

”Your maps, too!” Lilly yelled to Leech.

He looked down and I thought he would freak out to see the wet pages, their ink bleeding away, but he just smiled. ”It's okay,” he said in his old c.o.c.ky Leech way. He tapped his head. ”It's all in here.” But then his smile faded as he scanned the room. ”I think Paul got my case, though. Those were the best ones. But he can't make too much sense out of them without me.”

The room filled. We bobbed on the frothy water, nearing the curved ceiling. Water was slos.h.i.+ng all over us, now. Spray in our eyes. The craft was getting tossed around. Its rear corner slammed into the roof. We were nearing the top, starting to rise up into the hole where the marble ball had been. The craft began to spin. Water everywhere.

”Hang on to something!” I shouted.

The craft lurched and reeled. We surged upward, spinning faster. The cascade roared against the copper umbrella. Waves drenched us. Everything was lost to spray and bubbles, light and shadows. But I could feel that we were still rising. There was brightness above us. And in a final thrust and deafening roar, we shot up out of the sunken temple, up the center eye of the whirling water, to the surface.

Waves slapped around, then calmed. The craft settled. We were drifting on the lake, not far from sh.o.r.e, off to the side of the Aquinara. Breeze. Birds. Warm sun on our wet skin. We sat there for a moment, breathing hard, but amazed by the sudden peace around us.

”Wow,” said Leech, ”that actually worked.”

Lilly started scanning the water. ”They'll get boats out here soon,” she said.

”Yeah.” I stood and popped open the seat compartment. I could feel the usual westerly wind coming from the direction of the city. I pulled out the sail and the short coils of rope, as I'd seen Luk do in the memory. The materials were stiff, but the fibers were amazingly still in working shape. How long had they sat down there, waiting for me?

I put my feet on the pedal rudder and angled so that we would be running downwind. I tied a guideline to a hole at one corner of the triangular sail, and then I stood and tied the sail straight off the front of the copper poles and mast with anchor-hitch knots that my fingers tied without thinking. The sail grabbed the wind, billowing out in front of us, and yanked us straight down the lake.

”How did you learn how to sail when you drowned during the swim test?” Leech asked. ”Was it on all your secret nights out?”

He did know about those. I just tapped my head like he had. ”No, in here.”

”So, you really are the other Atlantean,” he said.

”Yeah, it's the three of us.”

”Great,” said Leech.

Right then I wondered if this could really work. Given all we'd been through, and all the danger we were in, I still couldn't help wondering if I could possibly survive being with Leech.

”Here they come!” Lilly shouted. She was pointing to the jetty by the Aquinara. Two speedboats were peeling away from it, toward us.

We were gathering speed, a frothing wake behind us. I leaned over the side of the craft. There, beneath the waves, I could see the spinning disks of metal. With enough speed, they'd create the charge for the heat cell.

I grabbed the line and pulled in tighter on the sail, creating more resistance. We surged ahead.

”They're closing!” Lilly shouted. ”They're probably going to have guns!”

I looked down at the clay pot, the little copper nozzle. Nothing there yet. I adjusted the sail and rudder. We needed more speed.

”This isn't gonna happen,” said Leech, watching the boats approach.

”Move!” I pushed his shoulder and opened the compartment where he'd been sitting, pulled out the thermal and started unfolding it. I threw it up on top of the copper poles and started tying lines. There were three holes around the triangular opening in the thermal, which corresponded to a gap in the poles.

I dropped back to the rudder. The boats were coming from our left. Our speed was increasing, but slowly. Too slowly.

”Can you angle right?” Lilly called. ”Look!”

She pointed ahead, and I saw other boats coming toward us. Five small sailboats tacking up the lake. If I moved right, they would get between us and the speedboats. I pulled in on the sail and angled the rudder.

”Hey,” said Leech.

And then we heard the shouting. Arms were waving from the sailboats. As we closed, we saw their faces. Noah, Jalen, Beaker, Paige, Mina... all the Hyenas and Foxes.

”Cut them off!” Leech shouted, waving his arm toward the approaching speedboats.

Something started to hum in the craft. Vibrations in the floorboards. Almost there. I hauled the sail in close and tweaked our angle. ”We're almost there!” I shouted over the wind.

The camp sailboats were cutting at an angle past us. The speedboats were closing in, but the sailboats crossed their path. The speedboats swerved hard. I saw Jalen yank the rudder of his sailboat and send it spinning right in front of one of the speedboats, which had to throw itself into a chaotic turn.

But the other boat was already roaring around them.

”Great! That only got us a couple seconds,” said Leech.

A spark flashed on the heat cell. Then another. Popping sounds, and a little blue flame jetted from the copper nozzle on the pot, flaring to orange. ”That might be all we need!” I shouted. The thermal sail began to rise, filling, forming the small hot-air balloon.

The roar of the motorboat grew behind us. I glanced back and saw it gaining, getting too close.

But then we began to skip off the waves. The balloon was growing. Two big bounces... and we were up! Airborne. We rose, the wind still filling the sail and propelling us ahead. I looked down to see our cabin mates waving and cheering, and the speedboats rapidly shrinking.

Lilly rubbed my shoulder. ”Nice.”

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