The Ocean Squid Explorers' Club by Alex Bell

Author:Alex Bell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2020-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

They ran out of water and soda after two more days. Ursula had never been so thirsty before in her life. Jai even agreed they could suspend their daily duty of polishing all the brass and buffing the wooden floors, since it seemed more important for them to conserve their energy. The constant thirst put everyone in a bad mood, though, and they found themselves snapping at each other, when they could be bothered to speak at all. Talking made their dry throats burn even worse and their parched lips crack, so they all became very quiet.

The explorers had hoped they’d only have to hold on for a little while longer because Gilly’s Island was just one day away, but as they got closer, they noticed something disturbing through the portholes – the seabed around them was littered with shipwrecks. There were dozens of them: explorer ships and merchant vessels, fishing boats and pirate galleons. There was even a great battleship slowly rotting away with its cannons rusting and its sails in tatters.

‘I don’t like this,’ Max muttered, staring out at the skeletal boats. ‘What’s responsible for sinking them all? There are no treacherous rocks or coastlines around here.’

Nobody had an answer, although they agreed a schedule between them for keeping watch for sea monsters, and they all secretly dreaded the juddering impact of huge tentacles suddenly wrapping around the submarine.

It was therefore a great relief to finally reach Gilly’s Island later that morning. They raised the submarine to the surface and went out on deck. The girls had donned their cloaks for the first time and Ursula loved the weight of it on her shoulders and the way it billowed out in the breeze. It made her feel like a real explorer. She’d kept her dolphin headband, though, to keep her hair out of her eyes. And Genie wore one of her hats. This one was made from papier mâché and took the form of a pirate galleon, complete with white sails, miniature cannons and a matchstick pirate captain on the bridge.

‘What an extraordinary hat!’ Max exclaimed.

‘I made it,’ Genie said, with pride.

‘I love the attention to detail.’ Ursula pointed at the pirate captain and said, ‘He’s even wearing his own little hat!’

‘There used to be an entire crew,’ Genie said. ‘They all had hats and cutlasses. And the captain had a parrot. But I wore it to school once and the other kids took it off me at break time and ripped some of it up. I managed to save the ship, but the crew all got stamped on.’

An angry look flashed over Jai’s face. He sighed and said, ‘I told you not to wear it to school, Genie. I knew they’d make fun of you.’

Genie shrugged. ‘They’d pick on me anyway, so I might as well wear my hats.’

‘You know why they pick on you, of course?’ Max asked.

‘It’s because they think I’m weird,’ Genie replied. ‘And they’re frightened of Bess.’

‘No, it’s because they’re unbearably jealous,’ Max said.

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