“Awfully pretty worms,” Jackson said as he and a pirate version of Flinch joined Duncan. Each of the alternate NERDS wore swords nearly as big as themselves.
“Pretty as gumdrops,” Flinch said.
“Keep your eyes in your head,” Pirate Peet said as she stomped up on deck. She aimed her sword at the girls. “These ones are fish food. I aim to push them all overboard.”
Pammy began to whimper.
Captain Peet cackled. “Any volunteers?”
The pirates laughed.
“What about you?” Peet said, placing her hand on Matilda’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, girl, the sharks won’t come for you right away. They can’t smell you unless you’re bleeding.”
Then with the most murderous face Matilda had ever seen, the pirate ran her sword across Matilda’s shoulder. It was just a knick, but it stung enough to make her cry out. A red stain appeared on her shoulder.
“Oops,” Captain Peet said, and then she shoved Matilda over the side.
Matilda fell awkwardly and hit the water hard. It was cold and the shock made her gasp. Though it was hard to think, somewhere in her murky mind she remembered that all she had was three minutes until the gate home opened. If she was going back to her world, she needed to time this exactly.
But she’d never see three minutes if she didn’t get some air. She fumbled with her utility belt, searching for the right inhalers. She knew the oxygen inhalers were painted blue, but the gray water leeched all color from the plastic. She was struggling to find the right one when something banged into her—something big. She lost her grip on one of the inhalers and watched it tumble into the blackness.
That’s when she saw the fins gliding against the bottom of her feet. It was big and gray and fast, and when she saw the flecks of blood floating off her arm she knew exactly what it was: a great white shark.
At the moment, the shark was the least of Matilda’s worries. She couldn’t breathe. Her lungs were weak to begin with, and her asthma had prevented her from learning to hold her breath for long. Kicking her feet, she rose to the surface. Her head broke through and she gasped for breath. The pirates stood above her on the ship, jeering and laughing.
“How long?” Matilda cried.
“One minute forty seconds,” Tiffany shouted back. “And we can’t wait for you.”
“Nice,” Matilda groaned. Her squad mates would not be mounting a rescue.
As she swam toward a rope that dangled from the deck into the water, she saw a shimmer and was dragged down again. The shark had caught her cheerleading skirt in its jagged teeth, narrowly missing her legs. Their eyes met and she could see the shark’s stubborn hunger. There would be no mercy from this fish.
Matilda had fought plenty of full-grown men and one very angry kindergartner, but she didn’t have any experience fighting sea life. So she did what came naturally—she punched the shark in the snout. She expected it to cry out—most people did when they were on the receiving end of her uppercuts—but instead it opened its jaws to take a bigger bite. She kicked at it violently, fueled by adrenalin and fear and the desperate desire to not become the shark’s breakfast, and managed to knock a few of its many teeth loose. Perhaps somewhere deep in her mind her subconscious took over, because without thinking she reached for her utility belt and snatched whatever inhaler she could. She pushed the plunger, and a blast of concentrated air knocked the shark for a loop. It went spinning out of control with part of her skirt in its jaws.
There was no time to celebrate; her lungs were on fire. Once again, she swam to the shimmering surface and broke through into the air. From there she could see on deck, where the tiny ball of electricity had begun to form in McKenna’s hand. If Matilda didn’t get back, she would lose her ticket home, and from what Tiffany said, they’d never be able to return to pick her up.
Gripping her inhalers, she was just about to squeeze when the shark snatched her skirt again. It pulled her down deeper and deeper until she wasn’t sure which way was up. This time she knew she only had one chance. As soon as it opened its mouth to take a bite of her, she pushed the plunger on the inhalers and flew.
The shark chased after her, matching her pace. Matilda’s heart soared when she saw the streaming sunlight above, and when she broke the surface she gasped in all the air she could. Without stopping, she used the inhalers to sail skyward in a perfect arc up over the railing of the ship and into the milky skin of the glowing portal. A glance back revealed the stunned faces of the pirates. The surprise was enough for the other girls to escape and leap in after her.
When she came out on the other side, she tumbled onto the forest floor and felt the cool night air rushing through her wet, torn clothing. Her lungs were tight and she wheezed in and out violently until she could use her medicinal inhaler. Shivering, she climbed to her feet. Most of the girls looked as if they were in shock. A few were fighting back sobs. And then there was McKenna, who stood over her bag of treasure, texting with lightning speed.
“OMG! I totally missed like a hundred texts. I’ll never catch up!”
“Is everyone OK?” Matillda asked.
“Nice job, Maddie,” Tiffany said. “You’ve got moves.”
Matilda was red with anger. She wanted to grab the girl and shake the stupidity out of her. These cheerleaders—no, these children—were playing with something that they didn’t understand. Still, Matilda couldn’t blow her cover.
“Yeah. Thanks,” she said through clenched teeth. “So, is this something you do a lot?”
Lilly nodded. “We could use someone like you, Matilda.”
“No way!” Jeannie shouted. “She shouldn’t have confronted those pirates. If she hadn’t fought them, we could have just waited for the portal to open and then left.”
“If it wasn’t for Matilda, we’d all be shark food,” Kylie argued.
Tiffany threw her hand up to command their silence. “We need to get back to the cabins. We have practice tomorrow.”
Tiffany turned and led the girls back, leaving Matilda behind.
“I’ll catch up,” she shouted after them.
When she was alone, Matilda considered each of the girls. Which one was Gerdie Baker? McKenna had the device, which made her the top suspect, but Lilly had punched the pirate with a haymaker as good as any she could throw herself. Kylie seemed the bravest during the entire event. Any one of them could be the Mathlete.
When the girls were out of earshot, Matilda tapped her nose to activate the comlink. “I need a medic out here.”
A few minutes later the School Bus hovered over the forest. A rope ladder fell and Agent Brand climbed down with a first aid kit under his arm. He met Matilda by a fallen tree and took a close look at her wound.
“I’m afraid this is going to leave a scar, Wheezer,” he said as he removed a needle and thread from the first-aid kit. After stringing the needle, he took a tiny bottle and a syringe from inside the kit. He filled the syringe with liquid and tapped the needle. “I’m not going to lie to you. This might hurt.”
Then he jabbed the syringe into her shoulder. She winced and nearly punched him in his handsome face. A second later he was stitching her wound. The injection had killed all the feeling in her arm from her shoulder down.
“I’ve been to the other side. I had to fight off a bunch of pirates.”
“Pirates, huh?”
She nodded. “You were there, you scurvy dog.”
“I’ve seen a lot of odd things, but that’s truly strange,” he said. “Wonder what I’d do if I came face-to-face with myself. Did you see yourself?”
“Nope,” Matilda said. “They’d already pushed the other me overboard.”
“This is a nasty cut. I wonder if you are in over your head, Wheezer.”
Matilda shook her head. “I’m fine.”
“Seven stitches seem to say otherwise,” he said as he squeezed some yellow salve onto her wound and dressed it with white bandages. “Not a bad job, if I do say so myself. I don’t get to use my field medic skills all that much.”