“Are you sure she won’t hurt you?”
“I’m sure.” Gunnar touched her sleeve. “I’ll be back soon.”
Claire smiled, and then she turned and ordered everyone into the mansion. The people of Artimé lined the windows, peering out, ever so curious to know how Gunnar Haluki would tame this wild beast.
When everyone was safely inside, Gunnar held his hand toward the panther and released the heart attack spells. As the panther lifted her head, the former high priest spun around. His body blurred, and when he stopped moving, a giant gray wolf—with kind blue eyes—stood in Haluki’s place.
The panther struggled to her feet as the wolf moved to help her. They put their heads close together for a long moment, as if the panther and the wolf were old friends getting reacquainted.
When the panther had recovered enough to stand and move on her own, the feline and canine friends slowly trotted off to the jungle together.
To the West
The ship traveled several hours, Sean peering anxiously ahead from his chair on the deck and Lani asking now and then if Simber could see anything.
“Still no,” Simber said. “It is endlessly the same. Waterrr and sky meeting at the horrrizon.”
By late afternoon, Alex grew restless. “Nothing new?”
“Nothing new,” Simber said.
Samheed wisely held his tongue.
Florence kept a constant watch over the sea, forever uneasy on the open water since the eel had attacked. And while she was pretty sure Karkinos had ended up munching on the squirmy tail end of the eel, no one really knew for sure if it was the same eel they’d encountered before, despite its increased size, or if there was more than one eel out there. And Florence wasn’t about to take any chances.
“Simber,” she asked suddenly, looking up, “have you seen Spike lately?”
Simber frowned. “I’m surrre she’s fine,” he said, but he dropped back anyway to look for the whale.
Alex watched him go. When the stone cheetah grew small in the distance, Alex turned to scan the horizon for any sign of land.
Some time later, when Alex went to check on the giant cat, a flash caught his eye. Spike’s sparkly spike was reflecting some sunlight. A bird-size Simber flew in the air above, heading toward the ship at a lazy pace.
“They’re coming,” Alex told Florence. The statue seemed relieved to hear it.
At first, almost no one noticed that the ship had begun to go faster. Ahab gave a shout, but he was always giving shouts about something, and no one paid much attention to him these days. Lani glanced up methodically, then went back to her map.
It was Sean, from his comfortable perch near the ship’s wheel, who looked sharply at the captain after the old statue shouted again.
“What’s that you’re saying?” he asked.
“The ghost of the whale!” Ahab cried, reaching for the ropes that would lower the sails. “She’s got ahold of the ship once more!”
Samheed rushed over to help Ahab. “What’s happening?”
“That ghoulish monster has overtaken us,” Ahab mumbled. He yanked at the ship’s wheel.
“But Pirate Island is back the other way,” Samheed said. “Are you sure?” He tied down the sails and looked at Sean. “Are we still speeding up?” he asked, incredulous.
“We are,” Sean said, perplexed.
By now Alex had felt it too, and seen the flurry of activity. “Something’s happening,” he muttered to Florence as he passed by her. “Call everyone on deck.”
Lani put away her map and strained to see what was happening. “Land?” But she soon realized the excitement had nothing to do with land.
The ship pummeled over the waves, and the sea turned choppy. Alex didn’t understand it. It couldn’t be a storm. In front of them was the same sky they’d seen all day, except the morning clouds had all dissipated. Only the sea looked different. Whitecaps fizzed and churned around the ship as its speed continued to increase. Samheed dodged obstacles as he ran to the bow to see what was happening, while Florence began calling out instructions to everyone.
“Simber!” Alex called.
The stone cheetah looked up from a quarter mile behind them, where he’d been flying along with Spike. He and the whale began moving faster to catch up with the ship. “What’s wrrrong?” bellowed the cat when he was close enough to be heard by the boy.
But Alex didn’t have time to answer, because from the front of the ship, Samheed began yelling. “Holy moly!” he said. “Captain, turn it around! Turn it around!” Samheed whirled about, fear on his face. “Somebody lower the anchor—we need to stop. NOW!”
Lani rushed to release and unfurl the anchor. Alex ran to Samheed at the bow, slipping and sliding on the deck as spray splashed everywhere. “What is it?” Alex asked. “What’s happening?”
“See for yourself,” Samheed said, distressed. He pointed ahead.
The place where the sky met the sea no longer seemed like a spot far off in the distance as it always had in the past. There seemed to be an end to the sea now, and it had grown steadily closer. The ship was barreling toward that point. Alex sucked in a breath. “Buckets of crud,” he said. “It’s the edge of the world!”
“And we’re about to fall off,” Samheed said. “At top speed. It’s pulling us to it.”
Alex stared, trying to figure out what to do, what to tell everyone else to do. His eyes grew wider with each passing second. Spray and foam created an eerie fog that rose in front of them, distorting their view. A sound like the constant rumbling of thunder began, and grew louder. He looked over his shoulder and shrieked, “Simber!”