“Would I lie to you?” Florence shouted back.
“Simber!” Alex yelled. “Over there!” He pointed out Henry and Samheed.
Simber glanced at the boys bobbing in the water, looked back at Florence, and hesitated in the air. Then he followed Alex’s instructions and flew over the sea to rescue the boys.
Just then the eel’s body twisted in Florence’s hands. Its tail sprang loose from her grip and lashed out, slapping her across one cheek and then the other. Electric sparks shot up and arced like fireworks raining down on the ship. Florence lunged and staggered as the head of the eel rose up and struck at the giant statue. The ship rocked. The eel twisted itself around Florence in jerks and spasms. Florence stumbled, her arms pinned to her chest and her stride shortened by the eel’s grasp. She lost her balance, fell backward, and sat down hard, crashing through the deck, her backside coming to rest on the deck ten feet below.
The eel screamed and lurched wildly to the port side. With a mighty twist, it lifted Florence’s body up and out of the hole as if she weighed nothing at all. The eel wound around the ebony warrior like a bandage, and then, as a unit, they rolled to one side. Florence, arms tied to her chest by the eel, managed to loosen a hand from the creature’s grasp. She flailed blindly, grabbed the railing, and shouted a muffled, “Everybody hang on!”
Simber reached the boys in the water and turned to see what had happened. “Are you okay for a bit?” he asked them.
They nodded.
“I’ll be rrright back,” he growled, and barreled back toward the ship.
Before he could reach it, the ship groaned and tilted precipitously, throwing everyone off their feet once more. With one last lunge against the railing, the eel flipped Florence and drove her over the side, but she wouldn’t let go of her grip on it. The eel smashed its head against Florence’s hand, forcing her to loosen her grip. Florence hung on for a breathless second, her mummy-wrapped body dangling over the water. “Simber,” she called, sounding oddly calm, “as it turns out, I may need a little help after all.” Her hand slipped the slightest bit, giving the entire ship a tiny jolt.
Simber roared. He reached his front legs toward her, dodging the waving tail of the eel. Stone clinked against stone as Simber’s paws encircled Florence’s forearm. When her fingers let go of the railing, Simber beat his wings with all his might, pulling up toward the sky.
But Florence, wrapped in a giant eel, was too heavy. And Simber was too late to do anything else. With a sickening scrape, Florence’s arm slid through Simber’s grasp. And with an enormous smack, Florence and the eel hit the water and disappeared.
Like a catapult, the ship snapped back, throwing everybody on board into the sea in the opposite direction. One by one, the shouts and cries of the airborne stopped abruptly as the Artiméans hit the water.
Only Simber’s roar never ceased.
When the ship had righted itself, it was clear there was nothing anyone could do about Florence except hope for her to gain the upper hand against the eel and fight her way back up.
Simber turned sharply and shouted for Alex.
“I’m here—I’m fine,” Alex called out, a short distance from the ship. “Does anybody have Kitten?”
“She’s in my pocket!” Henry yelled from the other side of the ship. He reached down and pulled her out, lifting her above the water’s surface. “Is everybody okay?”
“Fine,” groaned Carina, who had been flung into the sea twice now. “All the humans are accounted for. Creatures? Statues?”
“Yes, we’re all here,” Ms. Octavia said. “I’m going after Florence.” She dove below the surface and disappeared.
“Blast it!” cried Captain Ahab, who had entangled himself in a rope for safety and was the only one to remain on board. “My leg—I’ve lost it again.” His shout ended with a hiccup and a sob. “Oh, you shimmering beast. You wear a facade, but I know ’tis you, you simmering barrel of blubber!”
“But what can Ms. Octavia do about Florence?” Sky called out. “Even her magic wasn’t working against the eel.” She paused, then added, “Can Florence swim? How will she get back?”
Simber, silent now, lowered himself to hover just above the water. Alex grabbed a wing on its way down and vaulted onto Simber’s back. Crow followed, and Simber flew to assist the others. He began rumbling under his breath.
“Florence!” Alex called, the others joining in. “Florence?” He scanned the water, silently begging Florence to surface. Soon everybody was back on board the ship and craning their necks over the sides, looking for any sign of their Magical Warrior instructor.
“Simber,” Alex said quietly, fear creeping up to his throat, “do you know if Florence knows how to swim?”
“What?” Simber looked at him, alarmed. “You told me everrrybody on boarrrd but Kitten and Ahab could swim.”
Everybody turned to look at Alex.
“I—I guess I forgot about Florence,” Alex said in a small voice. “I wasn’t going to bring her on this journey initially, so when I was reviewing the list, I must have just . . . gotten distracted. And forgotten to ask her like I asked everybody else.” He looked down. “And in all my planning, I never pictured something like this happening. I mean, did you? Besides,” he said, feeling increasingly defensive, “Florence is . . . she’s . . . she’s supposed to be invincible.”