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“Okay. We’ve taken care of them,” Mel said. “Let’s
go get some lunch.”
    They left the cabin, shutting the door behind them. I could hear them in the
little galley, rattling plates and silverware.
    I glanced out the porthole to my right. The boat was speeding away, far from
the Cassandra. Out to sea.
    I jiggled my hands, trying to loosen the ropes. They were tied pretty well.
If I could just get the rope to stretch a little…
    “What could this guy Ritter be up to?” Dr. D. wondered out loud. He wasn’t
really talking to me and Sheena. He was figuring things out for himself.
    “This plankton he’s invented really does make fish grow bigger,” he said. “It
could help end hunger in the world.”
    “Isn’t that good, Dr. D.?” Sheena asked.
    I rubbed my wrists against the ropes. Come on, loosen, I thought.
    “It might be good,” Dr. D. went on. “But it could be bad too. It could throw
the whole balance of nature off.”
    Rub, rub, rub. I tested the ropes. Were they a little looser?
    “I mean, what are these giant fish supposed to eat? More and more plankton?
They might eat up all the little fish. They might even start eating people. Who knows?”
    I stretched my hands against the ropes. The knot had loosened! I tried to
pull one of my hands through.
    No. Still too tight.
    “And Dr. Ritter mentioned some kinks,” my uncle continued. “Some problems. I
wonder what he was talking about. It could be anything.”
    I strained to hear what Mel and Adam were doing in the galley. It sounded as
if they had taken their lunch up on deck.
    I yanked the ropes hard. I felt something give.
    I squeezed one hand through the rope. The knot burned against my skin.
    Pulling, pulling…
    I got it out! One hand was free!
    “Dr. D.!” I whispered. I held up my free hand.
    “Good going, Billy!” he whispered back.
    I untied my other hand and leaped up to untie my uncle.
    “Billy, hurry!” Sheena urged me. “Maybe we can sneak off the boat!”
    Then the door flew open.
    “You interrupted my lunch,” Dr. Ritter said, shaking his head. “That’s not
very polite.”
    He blocked the doorway. Mel and Adam planted themselves beside him.
    “You want to get off the boat?” he asked. “That can be arranged. Mel, Adam.
Take them on deck!” he ordered.
    Mel and Adam untied Sheena and Dr. D. and dragged us upstairs. Dr. Ritter’s
lunch—sandwiches, a salad—sat half eaten on a table.
    The two men herded us to the side of the boat. I looked down.
    The ocean churned beneath us. No other boats, not a patch of land in sight.
    No one, nothing to save us.
    Nothing but sea—endless, deep sea.
    And gigantic, hungry, sea creatures.
    “Which one of you will jump first?” Dr. Ritter asked. “Or do you all want to
go together?”
    I gazed down at the thrashing waves. Then I took a deep breath—
    And got ready to jump.

 
 
20
     
     
    The waves crashed beneath me. My heart pounded so hard, it hurt.
    I sucked in a lungful of air. This could be my last breath, I realized.
    “Stop!” Dr. D. cried. “Let me jump, Ritter. Spare the kids. They can’t harm
you or your experiments.”
    “I think a family should stick together,” Dr. Ritter said. “Especially a
family of snoops.”
    “We’re not snoops!” Sheena protested. “We can’t help it if we accidentally
saw some of your big fish!”
    “We won’t tell anyone about them! Really!” I cried.
    Dr. Ritter leaned close to Sheena. “Perhaps you would like to go
first?”
    Sheena glared at him, but I saw her shaking. I knew she was really scared.
And Sheena hardly ever gets scared.
    “Leave her alone,” Dr. D. warned. “Take us to an island—any island. Whatever is nearest. Then we won’t be able to tell
anyone about your plankton experiments.”
    Dr. Ritter scowled. “There are no islands nearby. And I can’t take the
chance. Sorry.”
    Dr. D. refused to give up. He kept trying to stall, to talk his way out of
this.
    But there was no way. I could see