Chapter 16

Last night, me and Mr. Crepsley had paid a visit to Mr. Hynderpan. He had deliberated on answering our questions, and in the end, he told us he would tell us tomorrow. So we left.

"What do you think? Can we trust him?" I asked Mr. Crepsley, as we walked along the shore.

"Well….." Mr. Crepsley looked at the sea, deep In thought. "I have seen people like him before. He has probably lost someone to Mr. Tiny, a loved one..that is why he might have been a bit hesitant on answering us."

The next day, after school, we headed straight to " Hynderpan's Tick Tock Clocks" Mr. Hynderpan was dusting some clocks when we arrived. He looked up as the doorbell rang as we opened the door. He cleared away his cleaning materials, and switched the store sign to "CLOSED" . Quietly, he motioned us into the back room.

He kept himself busy moving around. "Tea?" he offered us. We agreed, and he set down some teacups and a bowl of sugar lumps In front of us. Then, he sat down opposite us. When I had a closer look at him, I noticed he looked more ragged and pale. He also had shadows under his eyes. "Last night, you asked me about my relationship with Mr. Tiny. Well, Mr. Tiny took my daughter."

"It was 5 years ago. My daughter was just 4. She loved sailing. She would be my little sea hand. One day, we were recuperating at an inn when I got a knock on the bedroom door. I opened it to reveal a peculiar man. He wore really thick glasses, and donned a bright yellow suit and green wellington boots. He introduced himself as Desmond Tiny"

Mr. Hynderpan paused to take a sip of tea. He sat there for a while, sipping and staring into space, before he put down the cup and continued.

"Desmond invited me to lunch at the fish and chips store down the street. He asked me about my ship and the places I sail to. Then he told me about this island, the Isle of Nome, I think it was called. He told me I had to find this particular thing on that island, but I had to watch out for the island's inhabitants. He told me, as long as I did what he asked, he would reward me handsomely."

"I asked him to plot the coordinates of the island for me. 25° North, 71° West." He stopped and stared at us expectantly.

"I don't really get i-" I started to say, when Mr. Crepsley spoke up:" The Bermuda Triangle." I tried to rack my brains for all I knew of it. From what I remembered, it was this island with weird things happening. Ships who go near it get into storms, or their compasses malfunction weirdly. Planes crash. The point is, they're never discovered again. It was a mysterious island.

"What….did you say then?" Mr. Crepsley said in a tone I recognized. He knew something, but he didn't want to alert Mr. Hynderpan of what he knew. "Well, any old sailor knows of that place, and I was thinking about…my daughter… so I told him no, that he could find someone else to do it. He didn't take my rejection too lightly, though. He kept trying to get me to go there, for some reason. At that moment, Mandy came up to me. Mandy's my daughter. She showed me some pretty seashells she found. Mr. Tiny watched us for a while, I remember, then he stood up. "Are you sure you're going to reject my offer, Hynderpan?" "I'll pass." I told him firmly. He gave a little smile, and went away."

" The next morning…" Mr. Hynderpan started to choke up a little bit.. "Mandy was gone. On he—he-her b-bb-ed was a n-note fr-from Mr. T-T-Tiny." His sadness turned to anger then, and he pounded his fist on the table. The cups of tea rattled, and a bit spilled.

"Sorry." Mr. Hynderpan said to us, recomposing. He got up and rummaged around asset of drawers for a bit. "Here" he said, handing us a piece of paper. It was starting to yellow a bit around the edges, and it was slightly crumpled. It was the note Mr. Tiny left on Mandy's bed.

I read it out loud to Mr. Crespley.

"As you might have found out, your daughter is missing from her bed. I took her. I will keep her until you agree to do the job for me. I will not reveal the item until you agree to the job. Till then, she will be mine. This offer will never expire. It is no use trying to trick me.

~D. Tiny "

"I tried to save her on numerous occasions. I found Mr. Tiny's lair. He had it underneath a water treatment plant. But, it was no use. Because…..Mandy was his puppet. Mandy was being controlled by him, and my efforts were to no avail." Mr. Hynderpan said.

"Call him." Mr. Crepsley said quietly. "Agree to his offer."

"But-!" Mr. Hynderpan argued, but was cut off by Mr. Crepsley.

"Look, do you want your daughter back or not? From what you said, a simple rescue plan will not work. We have to go to the island, get him to make the trade with us first. Get him to hand us your daughter first. Then me and KayLi will distract him while you take your daughter and run. And we will help you on the Isle of Nome." Mr. Crepsley said. "I know how it feels like to care about someone and not have them with you, but if you do not do anything about it, your daughter will never be set free!" Mr. Crepsley was yelling now, pain in his eyes.

Stunned, Mr. Hynderpan nodded. I watched as Mr. Crepsley calmed down. "I am sorry." He said, looking down on the floor. "I got out of hand."

"But you convinced me. I'll do whatever it takes to save my daughter." Mr. Hynderpan looked at us, determination in his eyes.

We decided Mr. Hynderpan would go to Mr. Tiny alone, and convince him he was travelling alone. When the deal was made and the item revealed, Mr. Hynderpan would locate us and we would set sail for the island.

End of Chapter 16. I was in a good mood tonight, so I wrote a chapter of the story. Happy Halloween! =)