drowning! I realized.
Then everything went black.
11
M y nose itched. I opened my eyes. A hard, round brown thing pressed against my face. I moved my head slightly.
I stared at a large coconut. My body lay sprawled on the edge of a lake.
I sat up slowly. My swimsuit was still soaked. Sand stuck to my face and body.
A nearby bush full of red flowers shook violently.
I scrambled to my feet, ready to run.
âIs that you, Tad?â a voice called from the bush.
Neal!
I let out a huge sigh of relief. âAre you okay?â I asked. I picked my way through the tangled roots and vines toward the bush. Shells crunched under my feet.
Neal crawled out slowly. âYeah, Iâm fine. But what happened? Where are we?â
I glanced around. Palm trees and tropical plants surrounded us. Above us was blue sky. âIt looks like a jungle,â I reported.
Neal rubbed his head. âWe were swimming in the bottom of the Atlantis pool, by the drain,â he remembered. âThen something grabbed us, and we were pulled through some sort of tube. I thought I was drowning!â
I nodded. âMe too. But how did we end up here?â
Neal shook his head. âMore important, where is here?â
âOnly one way to find out,â I figured. We decided to explore. Tall bushes, spiky plants, and gnarled tree roots surrounded us.
Thwack! âOuch!â I yelped. A thick, heavy leaf whacked me in the face.
âYikes!â Neal cried. He stumbled over a low vine.
I found a stick and tried to beat a path through the thick vegetation. Neal followed. Sweat beaded up on my forehead.
Tough work!
After a while Neal took a turn beating back the plants.
âShh!â I grabbed his arm to stop him.
âWhat?â Neal whispered.
We stood dead still and listened.
âVoices,â I murmured. I pointed in the directionthey seemed to be coming from. We crept on our hands and knees through the thick underbrush.
I peered through the bushes into a small clearing. I could see bright colors: purple and orange, red and lime green. Were they flowers? Birds?
No! They were bathing suits! My parentsâ bright, ugly bathing suits!
I leapt up. âMom! Dad!â I screamed.
They turned around as I pushed through the bushes. But my parents werenât alone! Everyone who vanished from the pool stood in the clearing. Polly, Mark and his family, the two kids in scuba gear. Even the diver from the first day.
âNeal!â a man called.
Neal followed close on my heels. âDad! Mom!â he cried as we stumbled out of the thick undergrowth.
After we all hugged one another, everyone started chattering at once.
âThe creature!â Pollyâs high voice rose above the rest. âIn the deep end! Itâs horrible. It pulled us down the drain!â
âShh.â Mom squeezed Polly tight. âItâs over now. Itâs gone. Weâre all here. Weâre together and safe.â
We were together, all right. But I wasnât so sure about the safe part.
âWeâve got to find a way out of here,â I declared.
âWe searched around this area for one,â Dad told me. âBut we havenât had any luck yet.â
âWell, letâs search some more,â I suggested.
Dad agreed. He nodded. âEveryone, stay together,â he called.
I gripped my stick. Dad and I led the way.
Whack! I sliced at the thick undergrowth. We moved through the jungle slowly in a long line.
Whack! We trudged silently along. The jungle seemed to stretch on forever.
Thunk! I hit something. Something big and hard. I stopped. Neal banged into me from behind.
âWhat was that?â Dad shouted.
âI donât know,â I answered. The thick plants and vines completely hid whatever it was I smacked. I prodded it with my stick. âThereâs something solid.â
I reached out my hand and felt through the plants. âIt feels like a wall,â I told the
Marion Chesney, M.C. Beaton