Stingray City - Ellen Prager Tristan Hunt and the Sea Guardians

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exhibit. A young visitor must have left it behind in the aquarium. It gave everyone a real start when they found the doll, upside down, legs sticking up with its head stuffed into the mouth of a giant anemone, in the exhibit. Sometimes the octopus would kidnap other creatures, like the sea star, and place them in its tank as well.

      “C’mon, he’s trying to break the habit,” Hugh said. “It took me three nights of convincing and, of course, the video footage from the security cameras, to get him to confess. After that, the guy in charge agreed to put some toys in his tank at night and add a few new tank mates.”

      Tristan had been with Hugh for moral support on one of the nights he was trying to get the octopus to confess. Hugh was used to working with Old “six arm” Jack, the elderly octopus back at the Rehab Center at camp. But Monterey’s bright-red octopus was about ten times larger—hence the name giant Pacific octopus. Its four-foot-long arms were lined with huge white suction cups, and its bulbous head was nearly two feet across. Hugh had become pretty good about swimming with sea creatures and talking to them, but the giant octopus kind of freaked him out.

      As they walked out the aquarium exit, Hugh said, “Remind me to tell someone about the kidnapped sea star.”

      The group was staying with Pete, the aquarium’s director of communications, at his house nearby. As Tristan got ready for bed, he wondered what new tasks they’d be assigned next at the aquarium. For the most part, he liked their nights there. He felt like they were accomplishing something useful and helping out in ways other people couldn’t. Plus, at night it was quiet with only a few people around. The daytime crowds made Tristan nervous. He was constantly looking over his shoulder, wondering if people were staring at him or the others weirdly or if Rickerton had discovered where they were and had sent a goon or two to spy on them. Back at camp, Tristan had hoped they’d be able to help search for Rickerton. But once Director Davis sent the teens to the aquarium to hide, suggesting that they may not be safe at home, Tristan lost a little of his nerve.

       2

       NIGHT DUTY

      THE NEXT NIGHT, THE TEENS WERE ASSIGNED TWO new tasks: one in the sea otter enclosure, the other in the giant kelp exhibit. They decided to go to the kelp exhibit first. It was one of the aquarium’s centerpieces, meant to showcase the lush beds of giant kelp growing along California’s coast.

      In the soft glow that lit the aquarium’s passageways at night, Tristan stood staring at the giant kelp tank. It was eerily dark, and he saw little but his own reflection on the sixteen-foot-tall viewing window.

      Ryder cupped his hands around his face and stuck his nose up against the clear acrylic wall. “Can’t see a thing.”

      Pete was with them. “Ready for your next job?” he asked.

      The teens nodded uncertainly.

      “How about a little swim in the kelp?” asked the approaching senior kelp curator. She was carrying a bucket.

      Tristan didn’t think the others looked ready to dive into the inky blackness of the massive giant kelp exhibit. He wasn’t so sure either. During the day, with sunlight illuminating the tank from above, the giant kelp exhibit was bright and lively. The towering, yellowy-brown seaweed resembled tall, rubbery trees with skinny stalks and long, floppy fronds for branches. And all sorts of wondrous creatures swam about, like small schools of silver sardines and silky smooth leopard sharks. But at night, the giant kelp tank reminded Tristan of a pitch-black underwater forest full of hidden creatures. It was downright creepy.

      “What’s the problem here?” Hugh asked nervously.

      “No problem,” the curator responded. “Windows just need cleaning.” She handed each of the teens a soft brush from her bucket.

      “I thought you had divers to do that,” Rosina said grumpily.

      “Oh, we do, but it will be nice to give them a break. It’s a big job to keep all that acrylic clean and free of algae.”

      The curator led the teens behind the scenes to the top of the tank. Along with the brush, each was given a wetsuit, a small headlamp, and weights to make them neutrally buoyant. In addition, they each got a suction cup with a handle on it.

      Tristan looked down into the dark water. The kelp swayed gently due to the motion of a nearby wave machine. A small fin sliced through the water at the surface. The others turned anxiously to him.

      “Leopard shark,” he told them.

      “It’s very safe,” the curator said. “Our divers go in there all the time. Nothing to worry about.”

      The teens each popped a rubbery, red pill into their mouths. It was the latest and most concentrated version of Sea Camp’s amazing algae water. A compound from the algae strengthened their skills and gave them webbed hands and feet in the ocean.

      “Glad Coach Fred gave us plenty of these,” Hugh noted.

      “Yeah, and since we’ve been using the new ones, I think I can stay underwater longer,” Tristan added.

      “Me too,” agreed Sam.

      “Yeah, and my slime is better than ever,” Rosina noted, smiling sweetly at Tristan. He quickly looked away.

      One at a time, the teens slipped into the water at the top of the dark kelp forest exhibit. They switched on their headlamps and sank down along the huge viewing window. The campers each chose a spot, attached the suction cup handle to the window to hold on to, and began brushing. Almost immediately, Tristan felt something graze his leg. He looked down. A three-foot-long leopard shark with black spots on its smooth, light-brown body hovered just slightly to his left. Tristan heard a voice in his head: Yo, missed a spot over here.

      Yeah, yeah, that’s real funny, Tristan thought. He brushed off a layer of fine brown fuzz, which he assumed was algae. He worked his way over to the spot the leopard shark had pointed out. The animal aimed its snout at another section of the wall. Tristan decided it was going to be a long night.

      When he needed air, Tristan let go of the suction cup handle and swam to the surface. On his way back down, several other leopard sharks started to swim in tight circles around him. Tristan could hear them all talking at once. They were giving him directions on how best to clean off the algae, where to scrub, and commenting on how slow he was. It was going to be a very long night.

      Nearby, Hugh and Rosina were having their own problems. A small school of sardines circled Hugh, while a big orange rockfish was trying to lie down on his head. Hugh kept pushing the rockfish away and it kept coming back, ready for landing. Meanwhile, a monkey-faced eel was attempting to snuggle up next to Rosina—and anyone who knew Rosina knew she wasn’t exactly the snuggling type.

      After about an hour of cleaning and dealing with some seriously annoying leopard sharks, Tristan thought he heard music. He stopped brushing and listened. The other teens did the same. Then Tristan heard the tune more clearly. Dunt, dunt . . . dunt, dunt . . .

      It was the eerie theme to the movie Jaws. A little weirded out, Tristan swiveled around, trying to figure out where the music was coming from. When he happened to glance out the viewing window, he saw Pete laughing and motioning for them to quit working and swim to the surface.

      “Couldn’t resist,” the communications director said as they climbed out of the tank. “Piped in the music through an underwater hydrophone. That one always gets a good reaction.”

      “Dude, like, so funny,” Ryder said, trying to look cool, but clearly just as creeped out as the rest of them.

      Tristan and the others took off their wetsuits, rinsed, and dried off. They then followed Pete to the sea otter exhibit. They walked by the floor-to-ceiling windows and doorway that led

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