Moonfin (8 page)

The mohawk-boy continued, “Yes, but how
do—you—know
that the earth is overpopulated? Have you personally counted every human being that lives here?”

“Uhh … well, I—”

“All of mankind could conceivably fit in Iceland and live very comfortably if need be.”

“Iceland? Why in the world—?”

“Can you even count the hairs in your beard, much less
all the people
on the planet?”

Mind blown.

Mr. Barklystone gaped open-mouthed in stunned silence because he couldn't, in fact, count all the hairs in his beard and didn't have an answer to his question. Everyone in the group couldn't help staring at his beard, and so, extremely flustered, he moved on to the tour portion of their orientation.

“Who is that?” whispered Kai to Jeff.

“
That
would be my cousin from out of town—Dweedle Grogg.”

“I've never heard you say anything about a cousin nearby. He is kinda spiffy-looking, isn't he?”

Jeff rolled his eyes. “We don't see them very often. They travel a lot. I mean
a lot.
”

“Wow, on business like the rest of the Pinkertons?”

“I guess you could say that—if elephants and two-headed snakes count as business partners.”

(Dweedle and his family traveled with a circus and usually came into town once a year, but the Pinkertons rarely told anyone about
that
side of the family.)

Mr. Barklystone took them around and pointed out each and every recycling bin in the building, after which he led them down the hallway to the research labs adjacent to the aquarium.

“Now, if you are an exceptional worker and demonstrate environmental consciousness, Dr. Krell might choose
you
to work here in the testing area,” he said, rocking on his tippy toes and pointing excitedly in the direction of the lab wing.

“What testing?” asked Lizzy curiously.

This got Mr. Barklystone twitterpated and talking for ten minutes on the topic of ocean pollutants.

“Currently the lab techs are checking for mercury levels in the fish livers—and also studying stomach contents.” He paused as a few “eeewwws” escaped from the more squeamish docents.

“Exactly. Plastics are
pouring
into the ocean and not breaking down
at all.
So the fish are ingesting them, and guess what? If you are not an herbivore like
moi,
you are eating the grocery bags from the supermarket.”

This seemed to jolt everyone awake.

“Plastic tuna for dinner anyone?” snickered Jeff.

Kai gave him a
look
.

“You're hilarious,” she said, not laughing. “I, for one, don't like surfing in all that junk that gets dumped in the ocean.”

 

Mr. Barklystone finished up their tour and sent them off to their designated work areas with their group leaders. Lizzy was assigned to the crab tanks.

Pulling on her gloves, she looked around the room to see what other people were doing and noticed Jeff and his cousin Dweedle were over in the corner arguing about something: “… no way … the population of the earth …
ever
fit into Iceland without building cities underground,” said Jeff, to which Dweedle replied, “I never said they'd live there
all at once
…”

Many of the volunteers had found cleaning projects to do, and some paired up with the techs, who were chopping up food and filling buckets for the scheduled feedings. She was given the task of pulling out rocks for a thorough scrubbing, and so reached into the water to grab the first one.

“HEY! STOP IT!” she heard as clear as her own thoughts.

Oh no, not
again
.

She snatched her hand back out. Down in the far corner of the tank was a fat, twitchy ghost crab, waving its claw and hopping madly.

She cautiously reached into the water again, despite his protests. “H-hello there,” she whispered, eyes darting around the room.

“Get your slimy human hand off my furniture, or I'll pinch the living daylights outa ya!” he snapped.

Lizzy stifled a giggle.

“And, by the way, did you bring me my food? I'm starving. Sheesh! This place is a dump.”

“What's your name?”

“What's it to
you
?”

He scuttled over and jabbed her hand with his clippers.

“If you must know … it's Jinx. How can you hear me? Humans are usually very stupid, if you ask me, and can never understand anything I try to tell them. I never get my food on time, and look at my living room! Such a mess! They never put anything back the right way!”

“I'm not sure why I can understand you, I just can. Why are you called Jinx? That's a funny name.” She continued to work around his snip-snipping and snap-snapping.

“I seem to get in heaps of trouble,
see
?” He held up a stubby crab arm. “My claw is gone! Got caught in some dag-blammit teeth. I'm always in the repair room with those human slice-and-dicers!” he said crustily.

“That is sad!” said Lizzy, shaking her head in kind concern.

“Yes … of course a crab should never pinch a horn shark!” Turning sullen, he tramped over to a rock in the corner of the tank and sat down in a huff.

“I can see how that would get you into trouble,” she chuckled. “Perhaps you should try—”

“What is so humorous, young lady?”

“Oh!”

The startling presence caused her to drop a heavy rock back into the tank, nearly missing Jinx, who barked a sharp, “Hey! Don't turn me into crab dip!” at her. She turned around to find Dr. Krell towering over her.

“He-hello,” Lizzy said nervously—more from the hope he didn't see her talking to a crab than anything else. His gaze swept past her face and down her arm, which was still submerged in the water. A slight wrinkle crept over his brow.

“And how are you getting along on your first day of work?” he said, smiling distractedly. “This crab can be quite a handful at times.” He nodded his unusually round head (like the shape of an orange, thought Lizzy) toward Jinx, his blue-tinted glasses dangling at the end of a thin, pointy nose.

“I'm doing great. Yeah—um—he's grumpy today,” she fumbled, pulling her arm out of the tank.

“Grumpy, huh? And you can tell that how?”

Oops.
How could she let that slip? She thought quickly and blurted, “He kept trying to pinch my hand while I cleaned his habitat—I guess he doesn't like to be bothered much.”

The answer seemed to satisfy him, and he continued, “Well, well, I hear your father is up in Alaska doing some work for the Fisheries … counting king crab and all that. Your mother says that one day you want to be a biologist just like him. Is that true?”

“Yes, sir, and my brother—Brandon was studying marine biology … before the accident, that is. I want to follow in both their footsteps someday.”

He was silent for a moment, his mouth twisting into a very charming, yet uncomfortable grin.

“I don't think you will find anything at Otter Island,” he said coolly.

Lizzy's heart gave a leap.

“Wh-who said anything about Otter Island?” she stammered, wondering why he would immediately bring up that particular place. “I was thinking more about work with the Coast Guard. Both my brother and father patrolled with them.”

“I thought that's what you meant by following in their footsteps … well, I misunderstood you, of course.”
Oh, careless mistake!
It was obvious he would need to keep a close eye on this girl.

They stood locked in a checkmate stare for several seconds. The air was tense. Dr. Krell's jaw muscle flexed as he considered his next move. He glanced down her arm again, which was dry by now, and his curiosity grew.

Continuing to smile unflinchingly, he said, “I'd like you to move over to the lab. I think you would be an excellent help to the staff there. Would you like that?”

Lizzy's face brightened. “I would love to!” That meant more time with her mom in the research wing.

“Good, you can start tomorrow. Check in with Lee, my assistant. He'll show you the ropes.”

“Thanks, I'll do that!”

She leaned down to pull a piece of driftwood out of the crab tank. Dr. Krell turned to go, paused, adjusted his glasses, and watched while Lizzy lugged the hefty chunk of wood to a tray, breathing out a faint “interesting.” His billowing lab coat disappeared down the hallway.

Lizzy self-consciously thrust her hand in her pocket.
He must've seen. Only when they're wet do they show
.

“Hey, what did Dr. Krell want?” asked Kai, she and Jeff walking up.

“I think he was checking out the new summer crew. He invited me to join the lab team.” She smiled. “Get to see more of my mom.”

“Ooooh, the fish guts room—lucky you,” said Jeff.

Lizzy ignored him.

“He also brought up Otter Island and then acted all
weird
about it.”

“Weird for Dr. Krell is par for the course,” said Kai.

Jeff picked up a stick and started poking the crab menacingly with it.

“Hey, I thought of something. Captain Quinn knows tons about this aquarium back when it was built—he's lived here forever. We can stop in at Bubba's diner and ask him later, since he eats there every day. He would know about any secret rooms being built.”

“Maybe—and Otter Island too.” Dr. Krell
was
acting weird about the place a minute ago. And she never did get a chance to ask Captain Quinn about the day the Sundancer disappeared…. He might know some things …

Lizzy pointed at the stick Jeff was holding. “I wouldn't do that. He doesn't like humans very much.”

“You
spoke
to it?”

“Yep, and a jaded little creature he is. Did you guys find out anything else?”

Jeff lost the stick to the crab's death grip and looked over at Kai, who shrugged her shoulders in reply.

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” she said.

“I found a rickety drawer with a dried-up ice cream sandwich inside, must've been here since the place opened three years ago,” said Jeff.

Kai and Lizzy scrunched up their faces.

“What is it with you and gross things, Jeff?”

“You should talk, Lizzy. Tell us what you did to that butterscotch pudding again?”

“Fine, you don't have to rub it in,” she said, cheeks turning pink.

“Oh wait! I did notice something,” piped up Kai. “That jumbo-headed octopus you call ‘Iddo' wasn't in his tank today.”

Lizzy's stomach lurched.

“That is a problem. We could already be too late.” She couldn't explain it, but she knew it was her job to protect Iddo. A sense of urgency rose up within her.

“Do you guys believe me
at all
about any of this?” She looked imploringly at them both.

Kai hesitated a moment. “It is a strange coincidence that Iddo is missing after you said he'd be in danger,” she said. “I guess it wouldn't hurt to do some snooping around.”

Lizzy smiled, looking braver on the outside than she felt on the inside.

“Okay, right then—let's do it. We'll track down Captain Quinn at Bubba's after work and see if he knows anything, then sneak back here tonight after the aquarium closes. We can search around the outside for a way in.”

“Yeah, that way ol' hawk-eye Barklystone won't be watching our every move,” said Jeff with shifty eyes.

Kai shook her head.

“No.”

“No, what?”

“I know what you're thinking, and we're not going looking for that ice cream sandwich again or any other weird thing like that tonight.”

Sigh
. “Fine.”

Chapter 7
BUBBA'S

A
t first all they could see was the long pier jutting out into the ocean from the billowing fog, but as they made the last turn down the long dirt road, Bubba's came into sight—a big ol' red shack on stilts with smelly smoke puffing out the top. The creaky docks rocked with trawlers since it was a whole lot easier to get to by water than by land, and the fishermen liked to eat there because the tourists didn't. They also had the best clam chowder in town, which annoyed the Pinkertons, who tried to steal the recipe from Bubba every chance they got.

Lizzy, Kai, and Jeff parked their bikes in back and scooted up the worn driftwood steps. It was dinnertime and the place was packed with cantankerous men bellowing for their evening grub. Many had been on the sea for weeks where polite manners were often dumped out with the latrine pots. They found an open booth and slid onto its sticky, green seats.

Kai dug a finger into a small tear in the upholstery and pulled out a stale crouton.

“What would you say the color of this vinyl is?”

“Pea soup,” said Lizzy. “My dad used to take me here for chili fries when I was little. This place hasn't changed a bit.”