Read Online Deep Trouble by R. L. Stine - Free Book Online

hard around the latch.
    “It’s working!” he said.
    Maybe there’s hope, I thought. Maybe we’ll get out of here!
    Dr. D. stopped scraping and tugged at the latch.
    It moved!
    It opened!
    “We’re free!” cried Sheena.
    We all pushed at the screen. We pushed again.
    “Come on, kids, push harder,” urged Dr. D.
    We pushed again. The screen didn’t move. The latch hadn’t opened it after
all. Two other latches held the screen in place.
    Two latches we couldn’t reach.
    We all grew silent. The only sounds now were Sheena’s soft, frightened sobs
and the steady wash of the waves.
    The water had risen nearly to the top of the tank. Soon it would come rushing
in on us.
    Suddenly, the ocean darkened. The waters grew choppy, and the tank rocked a
little faster.
    “What’s that noise?” Sheena asked.
    I listened.
    Through the churning of the water, I heard a strange sound. It was very
faint, as if coming from far away.
    A shrill, high-pitched whistle.
    “It sounds like a siren,” Dr. D. murmured. “Lots of sirens.”
    The eerie wails rose and fell over the water.
    Louder. Closer.
    The sound—as shrill as the screech of metal—surrounded us.
    Suddenly, dark, shadowy forms swirled around the tank.
    We pressed our faces to the glass.
    “That sound. I’ve never heard anything like it. What can it be?” asked Dr. D.
    “It—it’s coming from all around!” I stammered.
    The dark water tossed, churned by the shadowy forms. I peered through the
foam, straining to see.
    Suddenly, out of the murky water, a face appeared. It pressed itself against
the glass, right in front of my face!
    I gasped and pulled back.
    Then I saw more faces. We were surrounded by small, girlish faces. Their wide
eyes peered in at us menacingly.
    “Mermaids!” I shrieked.
    “Dozens of them!” Dr. D. murmured in hushed amazement.
    They churned the water with their long tails.
    Their hair, dark tangles in the black water, floated around their faces. The
tank rocked harder and harder.
    “What do they want?” cried Sheena, her voice shrill and trembling.
    “They look angry,” Dr. D. whispered.
    I stared out at the mermaids, swirling around us like ghosts. They reached
out their hands and began clutching at the tank. They smacked their tails on the
water. The dark waters tossed and churned.
    Suddenly I knew. I knew what they wanted.
    “Revenge,” I murmured. “They’ve come for revenge. We took their friend. And
now they’re going to pay us back.”

 
 
24
     
     
    Shadowy hands pressed against the glass.
    “They’re pulling us under!” Dr. D. cried.
    I gasped in terror, staring out at the hands, black outlines against the
glass.
    Then, suddenly, the tank began to rise. Up out of the water, higher and
higher.
    “Huh? What’s happening?” asked Sheena.
    “They—they’re pushing us back up!” I cried happily.
    “The mermaids aren’t taking revenge—they’re saving us!” Dr. D. exclaimed.
    The tank brushed up against the Cassandra. I could see the mermaids’
tiny hands working above us.
    The clamps popped open. The screen was pulled off.
    With a happy groan, Dr. D. boosted Sheena up. She scrambled on board the
boat.
    Then I climbed aboard, and we both helped pull Dr. D. out of the tank.
    We were drenched, shivering from the cold. But we were safe.
    The mermaids swarmed around the boat, their pale eyes peering up at us.
    “Thank you,” Dr. D. called down to them. “Thank you for saving our lives.”
    I realized this was the second time a mermaid had saved my life. I owed them
more than ever now.
    “We’ve got to get the kidnapped mermaid back,” I said. “Who knows what
Alexander and those creeps will do to her!”
    “Yeah,” cried Sheena. “Look what they tried to do to us!”
    “I wish we could rescue her,” Dr. D. murmured, shaking his head. “But I don’t
see how we can. How will we find the kidnappers’ boat in the dark? They’re long
gone by now.”
    But I knew there had to be a way. I