The Tail of Emily Windsnap - Liz Kessler [28]
“Electric eel,” she explained.
We looked at each other in silence. “What about the other key?” she said eventually, swimming over to a metal filing cabinet in the corner. I tried the drawers, but they wouldn’t pull out. I almost closed my eyes as I tried to put it in the lock at the top. Please don’t fit, please don’t fit, I said to myself. What would I find if it did?
I couldn’t even get it halfway in.
I let out a huge breath and was suddenly desperate to get out of there. “Shona, maybe this is all a big mistake,” I said, backing out of the office. But then I knocked my tail against the stool and slipped backward. A swarm of tiny black fish escaped from under the table, spinning out of the room and away from us.
“Emily!” Shona tugged my sleeve and pointed at something under the table.
I leaned forward to get a closer look. There was a wooden chest; quite big, with brass edging and a chain looped all around it. It was like something out of Treasure Island. I swam under the table, and Shona helped me drag it out. “Flipping fins,” she said quietly, staring at something dangling at the front of the chain. A brass padlock.
As I slipped the key easily into the lock and the brass hook bounced from the tumbler, I wasn’t even surprised. A line of silver fish pecked at the chest as I opened it. It was full of files. I grabbed a handful of them. The colors changed from blue to green as I lifted them toward me. Rummaging through the pile, I tried to pull the rest of them out. Then I came to a folder that was different from the others. For one thing, it was thicker. For another thing, it looked newer.
And for another, it had my name on it.
I don’t know how long I looked at the file. I realized at some point that my hand had almost gone numb from clutching it so tightly.
“What is it?” Shona came to look over my shoulder at the files. That’s when I noticed another one at the bottom of the chest. I reached down to get it. It had my mom’s name on it. Below that was another. I almost didn’t dare to look. I shut my eyes as I picked it up. When I opened them, I was looking at a name I’d been dreaming about for a week: Jake Windsnap.
I traced the words with my fingertips. Jake Windsnap. I said his name over and over, wondering if there was any way it could be a mistake or a practical joke or something. “Jake is my father,” I said out loud. Of course he was. I’d known it in my heart from the first time I’d heard his name. It just took seeing it in writing to convince my brain.
I opened the file, my hands shaking so much I almost dropped all its contents. The sheets inside it were plastic. And they all had the pitchfork image at the top: Neptune’s trident.
“But what in sharks’ name does Mr. Beeston have to do with any of this?” Shona asked.
“Maybe he knows where my dad is, after all. I mean, if they were best friends, maybe he’s trying to help him. Maybe they’ve been in touch all along.” My words came out in a rush, none of them convincing me — or Shona, by the look on her face.
“There’s only one way to find out,” she said.
I held the files out in front of me. Once I’d looked inside, there would be no going back. I couldn’t pretend I hadn’t seen whatever was in there. Maybe I didn’t want to know. I pulled at my hair, twiddling, twisting it around and around. I had to look. Whatever it said, I needed to know the truth.
I opened the file with my name on it. A scrappy bit of paper with a handwritten note scrawled across it fell on the floor. I picked it up, Shona looking over my shoulder as I read.
EW One: All clear.
Nothing to report. No mer-gene identified. Possibly negative. (50% chance.) Scale detection nil.
“What in the ocean is that supposed to mean?” asked Shona.
I shook my head, pulling a bigger sheet out of the file.
EW Eight: Moment of truth?
Subject has requested swimming lessons again. (See MPW file for cross-ref.) CFB present to witness request. Denied by mother. Unlikely to be granted in near future. Needs careful attention. Almost certainly negative mer-gene