"Are you all right, Nicola?" said Sean.
"Yes," said Nicola, pressing the button on her wrist. She gave Katie's hand a quick squeeze of gratitude and let go, surprised to find that she was actually okay.
"Glad I pushed you?" asked Greta.
"I guess," said Nicola, who wasn't quite ready to forgive or thank Greta just yet. "Have you seen the tunnel entrance, Sean?"
"Yep, I'll lead the way," said Sean. "We'll have a buddy system. Katie and Nicola. Shimlara and Greta. Tyler and me. Don't lose sight of your buddy."
Everyone nodded. Sean rolled over on his stomach and held his arms close and still to his sides, so that he had a long, fishlike silhouette. He swam off with Tyler beside him. Only the tails of their suits moved, flapping slowly and rhythmically, as if the two of them had been scuba diving for years.
Shimlara and Greta followed behind them, looking just as impressive, followed by Katie and Nicola, who rolled clumsily this way and that. Nicola tried to get her tail flapping slowly like a merm
aid instead of wagging like an excited puppy. She had an awful feeling she might be the only one in the Space Brigade who didn't look like a competent scuba diver. Oh well, at least she was actually swimming and not splashing around, panicking.
Sean swam toward the inky-black entrance of a tunnel about the size of a storm water drain.
As Nicola and Katie followed behind the others, the beams of light from their helmets cut through the blackness like car headlights on a deserted road.
The rocky, cavelike walls of the tunnel were covered in a black, oily substance. Slimy green weeds floated by like cobwebs. The bottom of the tunnel was covered in jagged, skeleton-white shells. Not surprisingly, there wasn't a fish in sight. The word claustrophobia came into Nicola's head. (She loved big words with lots of syllables. They were a sort of hobby for her.)
Claustrophobia was a good word and she was pretty sure she could spell it.
It meant a fear of confined spaces.
Nicola could remember the first time she'd heard it. It was after the family had been for a visit to see their crazy great-aunt Annie, and on the way home, her dad had said that her living room made him feel claustrophobic. "She's got so many ornaments and doilies and stuff, I can feel the walls pressing in on me," he'd said. Nicola's mom had rolled her eyes and said, "Get a grip, Bob."
You should try this, Dad,thought Nicola. You wouldn't be complaining about crazy Great-aunt Annie's house then!She tried to remember the picture she'd seen of Whimsy and Volcomania. The cylinder connecting the two planets didn't get narrower as it got closer to Whimsy, did it? That would be extremely claustrophobic.
Think about something else! Anything else! Think about--oh my goodness, look at that!
A school of tiny, yellow fish was swimming straight toward them. It seemed like a good sign. Maybe that was a sign they were getting farther away from Volcomania and closer to Whimsy. As the fish reached the Space Brigade, they scattered and reformed, creating a funnel-like effect. It was beautiful--like silent, miniature fireworks.
"I wish I had an underwater camera," said Katie.
They continued swimming without talking. There was no sound except for the swish of their tails in the water and the sound of air bubbles.
Nicola realized that the color of the water was changing. The murky brown was gradually being replaced by a turquoise blue. They were definitely leaving Volcomania behind.
More schools of fish appeared. They became bigger and brighter, with unusual shapes and intricate patterns and colors, like tropical flowers. Nicola was enchanted.
"This is . . . gorgeous!"
It was Sean's voice from up ahead and it made Nicola smile to hear him use such an un-Seanlike word as gorgeous.
Then she understood.
It was like she'd just entered fairyland.
Nicola reached up and switched off her helmet light. There was no need for it anymore. Shafts of gold light from somewhere up ahead were bathing the tunnel in a gauzy stream. The slimy weeds and jagged shells and frightfully strange-looking fish had disappeared. Instead, they were swimming through a kaleidoscope of colorful coral. Lavish, ruby red petals and gold feathers swayed as if in a breeze.There were explosions of emerald green and boulders of sapphire blue. Nicola's eyes feasted as if on a glorious banquet.
The farther they swam, the more beautiful and bizarre the sea life became, appearing and disappearing, as if she were watching an illuminated merry-go-round.
A sea horse swam by with kind eyes on long stalks and floating baubles like the fringe of a shawl. A furry-skinned tortoise scurried along the sand. A creature with a comical, monkeylike face poked its head out from behind a piece of coral and then quickly pulled it back again.
And swimming right along beside her, as if it were keeping her company, was a long, sleek, white . . . shark.
Nicola swiveled her eyes to look at it.