Secrets of Stone and Sea by Allison K. Hymas

Author:Allison K. Hymas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

CHAPTER 15

ANOTHER VIEWPOINT

PETER

Dad acted weirdly cheerful while his arm was set and wrapped in a cast. He had to have pointed at his arm and said, “I find this humerus,” at least twelve times, despite the fact that the doctor, a pained expression on her face, told him, every time, that he’d broken his ulna.

Peter didn’t understand it.

They returned to Seaspire and a downpour that was so violent it had turned the painted fish-man on the Fudge Kitchen to a streaky mess. Blue crabs walked the sidewalks like they owned them. Peter figured they kind of did now.

When they got home and Grandma wanted to know what happened to her mace and why a tow truck brought her car home, Dad just gave a half smile and said, “Ask the boys. I need a nap,” and went upstairs.

Kai pulled Grandma into the kitchen to explain the whole adventure, and why they left without her, and how Dad broke his arm. Peter was left in the living room with Sophie.

Sophie had also been very quiet on the drive and at the hospital. Feeling awkward, Peter said, “Thanks for taking us. Without you—”

“Maybe you would have been better off without me,” Sophie said. “If you had Grandma with you, she would have gone into the tunnel with you and maybe Dad wouldn’t have been hurt.” She rubbed her arms. “Or maybe Grandma would have been hurt. What are any of us supposed to do when faced with magical burning walls?” With that, she spun and went upstairs.

Peter felt like he was back in the cave, the oppressive darkness and the huge rocks pressing down on him.

Today, he was the one who did everything. He figured out the puzzle, and he found and activated the seal. But beyond noticing that the seal wasn’t laced with explosives, he hadn’t thought. He just acted, like Kai did. And, as a result, his dad got hurt.

Who would be the next one to get hurt? Sophie? Grandma? Kai?

Himself?

All Peter could think was, If I’d remembered that the seals are destroyed when activated, I could have told Dad and Kai to leave before the room exploded.

And if I hadn’t activated the seal, no one would have been in danger.

Why did the room even explode in the first place? Dad had said the seals were there to prevent a great evil from attacking again, the evil that sank Atlantis. That was the Sea. The seals were there to send it back to wherever it came from. So, shouldn’t they be easier to find and activate?

Peter understood the idea of protecting the seals. The Atlantean survivors wouldn’t have wanted the Sea to find and destroy the seals, like it tried to do at Dogtown. They would’ve placed traps to stop the Sea from preventing those seals from activating.

But moving trees didn’t stop the Sea from trying to destroy the seal; they just made it very hard for Peter and his family to find it and activate it. The sea serpent also seemed to be there to prevent humans from finding the seal.

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