Chapter 3! R&R?

The next day, I wake up at 7 AM. I run outside to find the entire crew (minus Jimmy, who is sleeping, and Koki, who's in the Tortuga) is by the loch with a teenage girl. She looks about 13, and she holds a book. She has dark brown to light brown ombre hair in a ponytail. She's a little shorter then Aviva.

"Hey, Leilani." Aviva smiles. Ombre Girl turns around and just stares at me. For a second, I think it's creepy, but then I remember: oh, yeah, I died. Hopefully they already explained it.

"I can't believe it's true," she whispers. "They told me you were alive, but I doubted it."

I laugh. "You know me. So who are you?"

"Natalia," she answers. "Natalia Clarke."

I nod. "Okay, cool. So... what's the plan?"

"We were in the middle of the discussion weather to take you down to the bottom or not," Martin answers. "Since we don't know if the monster's real or not."

"Of course I'm going," I reply.

"It's dangerous, Leilani." Aviva puts her arm around me. "We don't want to lose you. Again. Plus, the monster might be a carnivore."

"So?" I ask, breaking free. "I'm Queen of the Wild. I lived by myself for two years."

"You're not going with us," Chris says, making the decision final.

"Fine," I roll my eyes as an idea pops into my head. I realize that I am probably the craziest teenager that anyone has ever seen. "I'll swim."

"Um," Natalia begins. "I-"

"I'll tell you what we find," Candice interrupts. "Hopefully we'll find the monster. And not get eaten."

"You're going, too?" I ask. "Okay, that's just not fair! If you're taking me, you should take me too! I can save you guys from getting eaten if it turns out to be carnivorous! I want to see this thing for myself!"

"Leilani," Chris groans. "Just stay around here. Candice told us about something called Edwards' Deep. We're going to explore that, and it gets over 800 feet deep. It might even get deeper!"

"Pleeeeeeeeeease?"

"No."

"But-"

"No."

The argument goes on for a few more minutes until Candice just gets sick of it. "I promise I'll tell all about it, Leilani! I won't leave out a single detail."

"I agree with Candice," Martin says, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to make her mad.

"Fine," I mutter.

"Um, what's that?" Natalia points at the loch.

We all turn around to see ripples on the water. I grab my glittery Creature Pod from my pocket and take a video. No breeze is blowing. Could it be... the Loch Ness Monster? Or is this all a really weird dream or something? Candice just stands there, but I can tell she's super excited. Of course the Nessie nerd is. But I am too. We could be famous! Oh, wait, we're already famous. Well, famous-er!

The ripples disappear, and I hit the stop button, shoving my Creature Pod into my back pocket. "Nessie? Loch Ness Monster? Whatever you'd like to be called?"

"We're going down now!" Candice exclaims, grabbing the Kratt brothers.

"We'll watch from up here!" Natalia calls as they go down.

"Not fair," I mutter. "I wanna see."

"Sorry," Aviva replies. "Maybe you can try calling from up here."

I watch the loch all day with Natalia, and we talk. Turns out she's a Nessie nerd like Candice. They'll get along. She's also president of the international fan club. She also likes silver and has a reddish brown husky named Apollo. (She's also a total book nerd like me!)

"So, Natalia, have you ever seen the monster?" I ask, looking over at her. She and I are sitting on the grass next to each other while Aviva updates some of the Creature Power Discs.

"Once. I was six. I saw its head," she replies. "It saw me and then instantly went under again. I had eaten too much candy at Amelia's birthday party, and had too much energy. I couldn't sleep, so I watched the loch. I don't think it liked me much."

I laugh. "Hopefully it likes me. I am the queen, after all."

"Of Illéa?" Natalia jokes, laughing. Illéa's from The Selection series. "All hail Her Royal Highness Queen Leilani Schreave of Illéa!"

"Leilani Schreave?" I ask, laughing. "No, no no. Leilani Corcovado-Kratt."

"Oh, no." Natalia looks past me at a woman wearing a blue T-shirt and jeans. "Not her."

"Who is she?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"That's Maria Johnson," Natalia whispers. "She's a hunter and fisher. But she doesn't do it illegally so we can't be all, get out of here. I hate her."

I squint and can make out her hair color- bright red hair like America (from The Selection). She walks down to the loch and sticks a fishing pole in the ground. I stop squinting and turn back to Natalia.

"Too bad we can't stop her."

"Yeah, too bad."

"You're WHAT?!" Aviva exclaims, startling me and Natalia. The two of us run over.

"Someone sabotaged the amphisub!" Martin exclaims. "We're stuck down here. Someone made it so we couldn't get up. Right now, we're at the bottom of the loch."

"Okay, okay! Hang on, bros and Candice!" Aviva exclaims, looking around for something. "Where's the control for the robot arm? I swear I just had it!"

Natalia and I exchange a glance. And I know she can see the fear in my eyes. A tiny glimmer of hope in my eyes. Her hazel eyes show strength and hope. I break the gaze and look at the loch.

"I'll check the Tortuga!" she calls, running off.

I help Aviva look around here, but I don't see anything. I know she made it water-proof, but would it sink or float? I don't see anything on the loch. So great, it might be in the loch. I ignore the question in my mind, and look down. It doesn't look too deep here. In fact, I can see some rocks on the bottom. But, well, might as well search the loch.

I toss off my jacket and jump in, scanning the bottom for anything that could be rectangular shaped. Then something grabs me and pulls me up.

"Aye, Leilani, we found it!" Natalia exclaims. "But it seems to be broken somehow. You know anything about engineering?"

"Nope!" I exclaim, jumping out of the loch. "AH! COLD!"

But the cold and hypothermia is my least worry right now. I try to clear my mind of the question, but I keep thinking about it. Please let something work. Please, please please!

"Aviva? Any time would be great!" Chris exclaims.

"Someone sabotaged the robot arm, too!" Aviva exclaims. "Trying to fix it here!"

"Guys, ten minutes of air left!" Candice calls.

"Well, crap," Natalia whispers.

The question demands an answer. But I try think about other things. The Loch Ness Monster... no, bad thought! Animals? No, still bad! Alessandra and Marcy? AHH! I stare at the loch and wonder.

What if they don't make it?

Dun dun dun! PLEASE NOTE, the Loch Ness Monster is not a proven animal/monster! If you want to find it, head over to Loch Ness in Scotland. This story is 100% fiction. (I've never even been to Loch Ness.)