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Adam grinned at me. “Can I swim under the rock to see if the ruby is there?”
“Fine …” I said. “Be careful. I will start to search inside the rock.”
Adam went to dive under the rock.
“Hey, that’s not fair!” Violet gave me a hurt look. “What if me or Charlotte want to help?”
“Oh okay, Violet you can go with Adam, Charlotte come with me,” I stammered, throwing Charlotte onto my back. She giggled in excitement. Violet and Adam dived under the waves, while me and Charlotte clambered onto the edge of the rock wall.
“Look! A keyhole!” screamed Charlotte, pointing at the hole in delight.
“We don’t have a key!” I moaned.
“We do.” A familiar, smug tone rung in my ear. There, behind us, stood four people. Captain Abigale Cobblestone, Mira and the two scary men.
“What do you want, Abigale?” I said, moving Charlotte behind me, trying to balance on the edge of the rock wall.
Abigale gave me a nasty smile. “We want the map! If you give us the map, we will give you the key.”
“That doesn’t make sense. The map is useless now. We only need the key—” I broke off, suddenly realising what I had said and feeling completely stupid for telling them.
Abigale took a moment to process this, and then nodded. “Oh, that’s right! Thanks! And if you’re wondering how, we got here, we followed you.” She smiled again. I turned to Mira; she was ashamedly staring at her feet. “Move aside, kids!” the two men yelled, throwing Charlotte and I into the water. I clambered into the boat before pulling Charlotte towards me.
Abigale passed the key to Mira. “A deal’s a deal” she grumbled. I watched sadly as Mira slowly unlocked the keyhole. She stared back at me, with a smile on her face. I glared at her, pulling Charlotte closer.
Abigale, the two men, Charlotte and I leaned forward, wanting to see what the sea ruby really looked like. The rock door opened …
“There’s nothing!” Mira gasped, peeking inside the small space.
“WHAT?!” screamed Abigale, shoving herself in front of us.
“That’s because we have it!” said Violet and Adam, launching themselves out of the water and collapsing on the boat. A ruby, the size of a man’s hand was beaming like an angel, its unusual cyan colour erupting with light.
“Quickly, make a wish,” yelled Adam, throwing the ruby into my hands.
Abigale launched herself at me but fell into the water instead. I turned to look at Mira, then at all my friends. “I … I wish.” I was breathing slowly, feeling the ruby’s vibration in my hands. “I … I wish … I wish for all my loved ones to be safe, forever,” I finished.
Adam stared at me in disbelief. “I thought you wanted to wish for a race car. AHHH!” he yelled.