Chapter 10

Enter the Twilight Zone

Oh… my… god…

The moment I looked over that edge and saw how deep that chasm was I felt chills going down my dorsal fin… And worst of all… that's where we were supposed to swim. Down there!

…

Hey, guys! It's Lenny again! And we weren't swimming for long before all the buildings disappeared and there was nothing left but a few little seaweeds and some sand.

"Hey, how much further is this chasm?" I asked. "My tailfin is killing me."

"Yeah, and so will I if you moan a minute longer!" Emily sounded a little stressed.

"Hey, EJ." Oscar tried to cool her down a little. "I know these past few days have been pretty tough, but come on, don't take it out on Lenny."

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to. It's just…by brother."

Angie noticed Emily's eyes starting to water. "Oh, honey." Angie stopped swimming for the moment while she comforted Emily. "Come here." She cuddled Emily gently as Emily tried not to cry.

I felt so sorry for Emily… I know what it's like to lose a brother… and I was determined not to let Emily go through the same thing I went through.

Oscar and I swam on as Emily and Angie kinda lagged behind a little… But Emily suddenly looked up and called out to us.

"Lenny! Oscar! Stop!"

"What? What?" Oscar stopped in mid-swim.

Emily swam towards us with Angie as she told us why. "Just look down, and you'll see what I'm talking about."

Me and Oscar looked down alright… "Whoa!" There was nothing but black below us. We'd swam right of the edge of the chasm!

"Yikes!" Oscar dashed straight back to the edge, with me following behind.

"I'm guessing that this is the drop off." Said Angie as she gazed out at the edge of the chasm.

Once I was close to the ground again I just took a moment to take a look at this drop off…

The floor of the sea disappeared in front of us and beyond that there was nothing but ocean, and below that there was nothing but darkness.

We looked to the left… the edge continued to beyond the horizon. We looked to the right, same story.

We looked down… whoa… the drop was so deep you couldn't see the bottom.

"We've gotta go down there?" I said.

"Yep." Emily nodded. "That's my home."

"Are you sure it's safe?" Asked Angie.

"No."

"No?"

"I'm afraid the Twilight Zone is one of the hardest places in the ocean." Emily explained. "Because it's so dark and so cold and it's swarming and crawling with predators."

"Oh…Is that right." Oscar all of a sudden didn't sound so enthusiastic any more.

"Yeah, and listen to this: It's said that some people have recalled a vision."

"What do you mean by 'a vision'?" I asked.

"Well, if you see a vision of three little girls dressed like witches, dancing around a cauldron and chanting incantations then it means that you're near death."

"Ok…(!)" Oscar sounded just a little tentative. "Nice little incentive(!)"

Emily then sighed as she realized just how apprehensive. "I know it sounds scary." She said. "But my five-year-old little brother's somewhere down there and I have no chance getting him back all on my own. But I never asked you to come here. You all came here by your own free will and no-one has do go down there if they don't want to."

Emily's little speech about her lost brother touched our hearts.

I swam close to the sea floor and looked over the edge of the drop. "Down there?"

"Down there." Said Emily.

Oscar soon peered over the edge too, but there was nothing to look at except blue and black. But some how, he didn't seem so scared anymore. "I remember Ty." He said. "And I'd hate to see anything happen to that little dude. So you can count me in."

"Me too." Said Angie as she placed her fin on her plump tummy. "If anything ever happened to my baby I don't know what I'd do. I'll help you find Tyler. I promise you we'll find him."

Now it was my turn. "I know what it's like to lose a brother…" I said as I was suddenly reminded of Frankie. "I don't want you to have to go through the same thing that I went through. I'm going too!"

Emily smiled a sweet and thankful smile at us all. "Thank you." She said. "Thank you so much…"

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Oscar suddenly got his confidence back. "Let's go catch the guys who think that they can mess with EJ and her cool-dude little brother!"

"Right!" I leaped into action. "Everybody climb aboard!"

Angie, Oscar and Emily swam onto my back and took hold of my dorsal fin.

"I'll be your eyes." Emily said. "You won't be able to see a thing down there and you won't be able to navigate without me… and one last thing…" Emily then gave a final warning: "Don't get lost in the dark."

Those words gave me chills, I can pretty much guess that Angie and Oscar had chills too. But I soon snapped out of it and suddenly tried to be brave.

"Alright, everybody hold on… 'Cause here we go!"

I dived over the edge of the chasm and plunged down into the darkness.

"Whoa…!" My three friends all cried as I dived over the edge.

I was speeding into the blue and black… but I soon slowed down when my visibility started to blur a little.

"Hey, guys!" Emily called out. "Look up at the sun, guys…" She said.

Angie and Oscar looked up at the surface of the water when the light shone down. "Take one good look at the sun… 'Cause it might be the last time it ever shines on you…"

…And after only about thirty seconds… the light disappeared altogether and we found ourselves in pitch black… We found our selves in the Twilight Zone…!