Forever Begins Tomorrow by Bruce Coville Read Free Book Online Page A

gang trudged back to their headquarters.
    â€œWe move slower and work harder,” replied Roger. He hunched his shoulders. It was moving toward twilight, and even though October in the Southern Hemisphere was a time when things got warmer instead of colder, as they were used to at home, the evening breeze could still be a little chilly.
    He glanced back at the computer center, decided it was a safe distance behind them, and turned his attention to Wendy. “All right, give. What happened to you out there? Where did you go—and how did you get back to the island to get Brody?”
    â€œHow eager are you to find out?” asked the Wonderchild, trying to sound innocent but failing miserably.
    â€œWendy!”
    â€œGive me a minute. I’ve got a few changes I’d like to make around here. I might want to make a deal—”
    â€œWendy,” said Trip, glaring down at her from his full six-feet-plus height. “There are certain crimes for which no court would convict a person. I think you’re on the verge of committing one. Cut the crap and tell us what happened!”
    â€œWhen you put it that way, how can I resist?” asked Wendy, who was actually dying to tell her story. “Unfortunately, a lot of the details are a little fuzzy.”
    â€œJust start with the part where the shark knocked you senseless,” said Rachel.
    â€œWhich wasn’t much of a change,” noted Hap.
    To everyone’s surprise, Wendy ignored the dig and plunged into her story. “I don’t know how long I was actually out,” she said, slowing her pace and glancing toward the ocean. “But when I came to, I was a long way down. Talk about total panic. This was plasmarrendous! Can you imagine waking up and finding yourself under several feet of water?”
    â€œEasily,” said Ray, thinking back to his own experience.
    â€œWell, at least you went back up,” countered Wendy. “I was being pulled farther under!”
    â€œBy what?” asked Rachel.
    â€œYou mean, ‘By who?’ Or, if you want to be grammatically correct, ‘By whom?’”
    Wendy waited for the babble of reaction this statement generated to die down. Finally she said, “Let me get through the whole story. You can ask questions when I’m done. Now, not only was I being pulled down, I had some kind of patch stuck over my mouth and nose. That was probably a good thing, since I was so out of it I might have tried to take a breath before I realized I was underwater. But it scared the living daylights out of me. I thought my lungs were going to pop!”
    She shuddered at the memory.
    â€œI was so confused that at first I didn’t even realize someone was holding on to me. I struggled like crazy—until I saw one of those underwater sleds ahead of us; you know, one of those two-person jobs, with a bubble dome?”
    The others nodded. They had all seen the sleds, which were kept in storage at the marina. But they had never been able to cajole anyone into teaching them how to use the things. Roger had finally declared that he suspected this was because no one else on the island actually knew how to use them, either.
    Clearly at least one person did know how.
    â€œWhat happened then?” asked Rachel eagerly.
    â€œI blacked out again! Next time I woke up I was lying on dry ground. Guess where?”
    â€œJust tell us,” said Hap tartly.
    She made a face at him. “In the cavern!”
    Roger felt a little chill. The gang had thought they were the only ones who knew about the cavern.
    â€œI wonder why this person took you there,” he said.
    â€œI figure so no one would see the sub-sled,” said Wendy. “Remember, we always suspected there was an underwater entrance to the place.”
    â€œCome on, Wendy—tell us who saved you!” demanded Ray. “I’m dying to find out!”
    The Wonderchild spread her hands. “I don’t