Alex smiled and shook his head a little, lost in thought. “Can you believe it? I actually made a creature and brought her to life,” he murmured. “That’s crazy.”

“And she’s fully devoted to you. I don’t know what she did to scare that eel off, because when I saw that slimy evil thing pop out of the water and grab you, I thought it was all over. But then she was right there, jumping through the air, chasing after you, her body shining and her spike sparkling in the sun—she’s the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen, Alex.”

Alex, a bit overwhelmed by Spike and still worried about Simber and Florence, couldn’t think of anything to say. And then he whirled around, remembering. “How’s Ms. Octavia? Is she okay?”

“She’s resting belowdecks, but we think she’ll be okay once her body has time to reshape and heal. The eel squished her pretty hard. Luckily, she’s flexible. She’ll bounce back.” Carina began updates on everyone else. “Copper and Henry have wounds we can treat. Lani’s already up and about.” Carina pointed to Lani, who was poring over a wrinkled paper and apparently having a terse discussion with Samheed. Carina gazed out over the sea once more. “It’s Florence I’m worried about.”

Alex nodded. “Me too. If I had any energy left, I’d go down there myself. But I’m afraid I’ve reached my limit on sea breathing for the day, and I’d only have to be rescued again.”

“None of us, including Simber, would want you to attempt it at this point.”

They stood side by side, not talking. After a while, Sean joined them, and then Samheed came over, leaving Lani alone with her precious paper. They stood in stoic silence: hungry, exhausted, aching. Waiting. Hoping that soon all the questions that plagued them would be answered.

» » « «

When they saw the water rippling in a line toward the ship, they thought at first it was yet another sea creature. But soon they could see the ripples were coming from the tip of a sparkling spike, as well as from two enormous feet sticking slightly out of the water.

“It’s Florence!” Carina cried. “Spike’s got her, see?” She pointed as the whale moved toward them uncharacteristically slowly, yet steadily. Behind them, in an explosion of water, Simber appeared, his wings flapping wildly as soon as they hit the air, bringing him up and out of the water.

“Simber!” Alex shouted.

The enormous stone cheetah shook in midair, trying to rid itself of the horrid droplets, and he roared when the spectators laughed at the sight.

But the laughs died away when Spike and Florence approached. Spike sidled up to the ship with Florence, who was lying on Spike’s back just under the surface. Everyone leaned over to get a look at her. Simber, still trying to rid himself of the water, flew over and joined them.

Alex looked at Florence. Her face was serene, arms folded over her stomach, eyes closed. She even had thin ebony eyelashes—Alex hadn’t noticed them before. He bit his lip and looked up at Simber. “Is she . . . Is she dead?”

Simber’s mouth opened, and then it closed. He looked away.

A wave of cold fear passed through Alex. He turned back to Florence.

And then Florence sat up on the whale’s back. “HA!” she yelled, scaring everybody half to death.

Everyone screamed in fright. Simber cracked up—figuratively, of course—roaring with laughter. And before their hearts had stopped pounding, Florence grabbed the side of the ship while Simber touched down on the other side to keep balance, and in a rather undignified manner, with a little shove from Spike, the warrior hefted herself over the side of the ship and rolled nicely to the center, then sat up on the edge of the hole she’d made earlier and let her legs dangle through to the deck below. She looked at Alex, who was still gripping his robe, staring at her.

“Now,” she said, grinning, “where did we leave off? And what enormous grunt left this big hole in your deck? How rude.”

As everyone caught their breath and Captain Ahab and the other statues came running over to see Florence, Spike Furious jumped high into the air, unable to overcome her delight in saving the day.

The captain stopped short and stared at Spike, his eyes wide.

Spike blew the water from her spout in glee.

Ahab clutched his jacket. He whispered, “Deceitful eyes, can you deny this scene before me? The splash and spout reveal her . . . but bedecked as such? Bejeweled? Nary a white speck upon her . . .” His face clouded over, and then it cleared. “ ’Tis the elusive beast disguised!” He shook his fist as Spike surfaced and jumped again, trumpeting water from her blowhole high into the air. Ahab ran to the ship’s wheel. “Thar she blows!” he cried. “Thar she blows—the great blue whale!”

The Tale of the Sacrifice

When the crew had calmed Captain Ahab enough that he was merely shaking his fist and muttering at the whale whenever she surfaced and preparing the ship to sail once more, Alex called everybody together. As on their last journey, the injured were triaged in one area, and even Ms. Octavia had managed to make it back up to the main deck, looking as wrung out as a tattered dishcloth but happy to see everyone alive all the same, most especially Florence.

After they had all greeted one another, Alex called everyone to order to introduce Copper. It was clear the woman was Sky’s mother—not just because of the orange eyes or the thorny necklace she wore, but because Copper looked like an older version of Sky, only with darker hair and lighter skin.