Secrets of the Deep Read online

  Table of Contents

  Secrets of the Deep (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 5)

  Epigraph 1

  Epigraph 2

  PART I

  CHAPTER 1. The Exiles

  CHAPTER 2. Deep Trouble

  CHAPTER 3. Jake Takes a Holiday

  CHAPTER 4. Maiden Voyage of the Mighty Turtle

  CHAPTER 5. Devil of the Deep Blue Sea

  CHAPTER 6. The Sunken Temple

  PART II

  CHAPTER 7. Bellissima!

  CHAPTER 8. Catch of the Day

  CHAPTER 9. Slightly Fishy

  CHAPTER 10. Under the Sea

  CHAPTER 11. Driftwood

  CHAPTER 12. Puppetmaster

  CHAPTER 13. The Colony

  PART III

  CHAPTER 14. The Rest of the Story

  CHAPTER 15. Revelations

  CHAPTER 16. The Antiquarian

  CHAPTER 17. Rock Monsters

  CHAPTER 18. A Sea Change

  CHAPTER 19. Thunderclouds Gathering

  CHAPTER 20. Dreams & Shadows

  CHAPTER 21. Nightstalkers

  CHAPTER 22. Partings

  PART IV

  CHAPTER 23. Sunset

  CHAPTER 24. Moonrise

  CHAPTER 25. Elder Witch

  CHAPTER 26. Battle Royale

  CHAPTER 27. Dark Tide Rising

  CHAPTER 28. Come the Deluge

  PART V

  CHAPTER 29. Riptide

  CHAPTER 30. Calm Before the Storm

  CHAPTER 31. Wagers

  CHAPTER 32. Blood in the Water

  CHAPTER 33. Reunions and a Reward

  CHAPTER 34. Good News & Bad News

  CHAPTER 35. Red Sky at Morning

  The Inside Scoop!

  Jake & the Gingerbread Wars

  About the Authors

  Also by E.G. Foley

  Copyright & Credits

  Review

  THE GRYPHON CHRONICLES, BOOK FIVE

  SECRETS OF THE DEEP

  E.G. Foley

  “He came,” said he, “in a storm, and he went in a storm—he came in the night and he went in the night—he came nobody knows from whence, and has gone nobody knows where. For aught I know, he has gone to sea…and may land to bother some people on the other side of the world! Though it is a thousand pities if he has gone down to Davy Jones’s Locker.”

  ~Washington Irving, 1824

  In a single day and night of misfortune, the island of Atlantis disappeared in the depths of the sea.

  ~Plato, ca. 300 B.C.

  PART I

  CHAPTER 1

  The Exiles

  In the damp, suffocating blackness before dawn, Jake Everton, the thirteen-year-old Lord Griffon, stood before his parents’ white marble mausoleum. He’d come to say goodbye.

  Around him, unseen throughout the wooded grounds of Griffon Castle, flocks of birds screeched and clamored almost angrily for sunrise. Dew dripped off the spider webs. An eerie morning fog hung over the broad lawn. The wafting curls of mist, indeed, the whole atmosphere churned with unseen threat, and Jake was eager to be gone.

  For a long moment, he stared earnestly at the locked iron grate between the pillars of Lord and Lady Griffon’s stately tomb.

  He wished he could somehow surmount this implacable barrier between them, the living and the dead, but it was impossible. So, hat in hand, he just lowered his head.

  “Well, Mum, Dad,” he forced out at length with a resolute but rather painful smile, “I just wanted to pay my respects before we leave on this supposed Grand Tour. I don’t know where we’re going, exactly, or when we might be back, but you needn’t worry. Aunt Ramona’s taking us someplace the Dark Druids will never think to look for us. Well—mainly me,” he added in a taut whisper. “I’m the one who started all the trouble. And, er, well, now it seems they sorta want to kill me.”

  But as the ever-burning memorial flame in front of the mausoleum sent shadows twisting like phantoms over its mossy marble doors, there was still no sign that his parents could even hear him.

  “Hullo?” he muttered a trifle impatiently, waiting.

  As always, no answer. Jake clenched his jaw. Blast it, what good was it being able to communicate with spirits when the dead you most wanted to talk to never showed themselves? Where are you? Why do you always ignore me? Am I such a disappointment?

  He squared his shoulders, though, and reminded himself he had survived without them just fine for most of his life. He managed to nod. “Very well,” he said in answer to their continued silence. “I can understand why you’d disapprove of me. Yes, I might’ve been a thief for a while to survive. But at least I’m not a coward,” he added in a fierce whisper, staring hard at the shadows as if to challenge them.

  “I’m not afraid,” he vowed. “You think I want to go to ground somewhere? Of course not. I’d rather fight than hide, same as you. Same as Derek, o-or Tex. But the Elders won’t let me. They say I’m just a kid.”

  He glared at the tree-shaped insignia of the Order his parents had served so bravely. It was carved above the mausoleum doors, below the gryphon rampant of the Everton family crest.

  “But so be it,” Jake conceded in resentment. “After all, I’ve got to think about the others.”

  With a restless glance toward the drive, he saw his sleepy fellow travelers up and dressed and carrying the last of their things out to the two heavy-laden carriages parked in front of Griffon Castle.

  Under a mound of traveling trunks strapped to the roof of each, the coaches waited to take them to the coast, where they would then board a ship across the Channel to start their Grand Tour, pretending all the while that they were not going into hiding and running for their lives, but merely off on holiday.

  Ah well. Despite their pretense, all six kids going on the journey understood the threat just as well as their two adult chaperones. That didn’t stop any of them from being excited about the famous sights they’d see along the way.

  Even better, Great-Great Aunt Ramona had promised to end their wanderings at some fancy seaside villa, where they would lie low in luxury until it was safe to return to England.

  Even though Jake knew it would be fun, he hated knowing that his actions, his stubborn decision to destroy Garnock the Sorcerer in Wales, had turned everyone he cared about into targets for a cult of evil warlocks.

  Blimey. He shook his head and heaved a grim sigh. Well, it was a little late now to be finally thinking about the consequences, wasn’t it?

  As his best mate and cousin, Archie Bradford, the boy genius, had summed it up recently in a philosophical mood: “It’s Newton’s Third Law, coz. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

  Indeed.

  But if Jake had known at the time that his blowing up Garnock might become the opening salvo in a great magical war between the Order of the Yew Tree and its age-old enemies, the Dark Druids, he probably never would’ve done it.

  Only, he had.

  And frankly, his getting murdered for the deed might be the best-case scenario.

  Yet there was hope even now that war might still be avoided.

  Jake’s rugged idol, Guardian Derek Stone and that wild cowboy, the American Lightrider, Agent Josephus Munroe, better known as Tex, were out there somewhere on a spy mission with Aleeyah the Djinni, trying to figure out exactly what the Dark Druids were up to.

  Even the kids’ shapeshifting tutor, Henry du Val, had been sent off to take part in the effort. Henry had gone to faraway forests ruled by the dashing vampire double agent Prince Janos, to listen in his wolf form for any whispers amongst the bad-leaning species of wild animals—wolves, bats, ravens, snakes. Some of them might have information, and Henry was tasked with sniffing out any clues.
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  Poor Miss Helena, Jake thought with a frown. He really didn’t know how the girls’ elegant governess could stand to look at him these days, considering that Henry was her twin brother and Derek was her beau.

  If anything happened to either man all because of his actions, Jake knew he couldn’t live with himself.

  As it was, he had to remind himself continually of what Derek had said to him before he’d left: that it wasn’t really his fault. That the Dark Druids had been looking for any excuse to renew hostilities for a very long time. They’d never be happy until they controlled the whole Earth, Derek had said. The Order of the Yew Tree had always stopped them, and always would. Nevertheless, every hundred years or so, the blackguards took it into their twisted minds to try yet again.

  Any semblance of a reason would have sufficed, Derek had assured him with a fatherly squeeze on the shoulder before he’d gone.

  Jake just wished he hadn’t been the one to give it to them.

  “Jacob!” Great-Great Aunt Ramona called sternly just then from across the sweeping lawn.

  He turned, and with the predawn darkness beginning to fade to gray, could just make out her tall, prim, very proper figure.

  The Dowager Baroness Bradford was no ordinary aristocratic old dragon lady. She also happened to be a powerful white witch, and an honorary Elder of the Order. “Come and make sure you have all your things,” she commanded. “We’ll be leaving in a trice!”

  “Yes, ma’am! Be right there,” he shouted back, then turned hesitantly one last time to his parents’ ornate tomb.

  Considering he might not make it back alive, this seemed like the closest chance he’d ever get to give them a proper goodbye. Then again, he might be joining them pretty soon in there if he didn’t watch his back.

  “Right. Well, we’re off, then,” he murmured. “Like I said, no need to worry about me. Aunt Ramona’s got everything in hand. The ol’ girl’s sworn to keep us safe, even if she has to use magic again, and you know how she feels about that.”

  Silence.

  “So, if you have any parting advice for your son,” he added hopefully, “now’s the time. I’m listening… Dani says I never listen, but if there’s anything at all you’d like to say to me…”

  Jake closed his eyes, waiting with his supernatural senses finely attuned for any subtle answer.

  When still none came, he flicked his blue eyes open angrily and lifted his gaze to the dark dome of the sky, feeling unspeakably abandoned—and rather enraged at his parents. Honestly, was Heaven so comfy that the earl and countess, dead for over a decade, couldn’t be bothered to spare him one moment of their shining blasted eternity?

  True, he admitted, Dr. Celestus had said they might not be allowed to visit him like other ghosts did once they had fully crossed over. And that one would know, since the mild-mannered, seemingly human physician had turned out to be a bona fide angel, wings and all.

  Oh, forget it, Jake thought, turning away. He could barely remember his parents, anyway.

  With that, he stalked away, but he must’ve been more on edge about the looming threat than he’d realized, for when the greenery nearby suddenly rustled, he nearly jumped out of his skin.

  He reached at once for the magical dagger at his side, Risker—but it wasn’t some assassin of the dark arts come to murder him.

  “Becaw!”

  “Blimey, Red! You nearly made my heart stop,” Jake muttered, clutching his chest with a belated chuckle.

  “Caw?” The family Gryphon tilted his head as he prowled out of the leafy shadows, a magnificent, graceful, lion-sized version of the carved one above the mausoleum doors.

  His heart still pounding, Jake welcomed the noble beast with a smile and threw an arm across his neck where the feathery part of Red’s head met the tawny fur of his lion body. “Come on, boy, you can walk me to the carriage.”

  “Caw,” Red said sadly, nudging Jake’s side with his large golden beak.

  “Aye, I’m going to miss you, too. But don’t worry; you’ll be joining us soon. It’s not like we can take you with us traipsing through museums and cathedrals. Once we’ve seen the sights and get to wherever it is we’ll be staying, one of the Lightriders will bring you to me through a portal, all right?”

  “Jake!” a high-pitched voice piped up from the drive before the castle entrance. “Hurry up! You’ll make us miss the ship!” Dani O’Dell held up what appeared to be some sort of tin. “I’ve got snacks!”

  His lips flattened into a sardonic line. “She always knows how to bribe me,” he remarked to Red, then called back, “I’ll be right there!”

  After Dani had bounded up into the first carriage, Jake looked wryly at Red. “Well, you heard the carrot-head. Guess I’d better step to it.”

  “Ca-caw,” Red said sternly as they walked across the lawn.

  “What, look after Dani? She looks after me. Don’t you know that by now?” Jake paused mid-stride, however, when a thick twist of fog ahead began to churn and suddenly whirled into the shape of a friendly spirit of his acquaintance.

  “Ahh, there you are, ragazzo!” the fat, jolly opera ghost greeted him, materializing on the lawn a few feet ahead of him.

  “Constanzio! Well, this is a pleasant surprise.” The King of the Tenors had helped Jake get through his Assessment just a week ago or so. “Shouldn’t you be haunting Merlin Hall?”

  “I had to come to see you bambinos off, of course! I could not let you leave to visit my beloved homeland without wishing you a proper buon viaggio.”

  “Huh?”

  “Bon voyage, my charming lad! Ahh, you are going to love Italy, Jacob! It’s so beautiful!” Constanzio kissed his fingertips in the Italian style as he strolled floatingly beside Jake and Red as they continued toward the castle. “Such food! Such culture! Such art! And the ladies, heh-heh? You are old enough by now to spot le donna bellissime, I think?”

  Jake snickered, but admittedly blushed. Having just turned thirteen a few days ago, he was feeling terribly grown up.

  Laughing, Constanzio attempted to tousle Jake’s hair with a ghostly hand. “Aha, I already know the girls chase you, you young scoundrel.”

  “Nah, it’s just the castle and the earldom, that’s all,” Jake denied, puffing up his chest nonetheless, ridiculously pleased.

  “Well, don’t flirt with them in Italy, or you’ll anger their papas,” Constanzio warned. “Trust me. They’re very strict down there.”

  “I don’t even know how to flirt,” Jake said with a snort.

  “Wise lad. Don’t learn. It only causes trouble. Now, heed me. I have some thoughts on your itinerary. In Florence, do not forget to see the doors of the great Baptistery. In Rome, you must toss a coin in the Trevi Fountain and make a wish; this is essential. And in Venice, you must ride on a gondola beneath the Bridge of Sighs—”

  “I don’t know if we’re actually going to Venice,” Jake interrupted. “Aunt Ramona says the Dark Druids are strong there.”

  “Oh, that’s right.” The famous dead tenor snapped his ghostly fingers. “Pity. I forgot—a few of their dreadful founding families did get their start there centuries ago among the old Black Nobility. Never mind Venice, then. There’s Naples! The great, gilded opera house! Ah, I sang there many times. Standing ovations! The shouts of ‘Encore!’” He sighed. “How I miss them! I sang in most of the magnificent theaters of Europe, from Sicily to St. Petersburg.”

  “Oh, I don’t think we’re going as far as Russia. Aunt Ramona promised us we’d wind up somewhere on a warm, sunny beach. She says we’re doing France first. Maybe Belgium? I hear they have outrageous chocolate there. Anyway, I’m not sure which port she has us sailing into. She’s been keeping everything fairly secret to confuse our friends.”

  “Understood. Well, I’m sure you’ll be, as you British say, safe as houses, once you are away from here. Her Ladyship knows many cloaking spells, and now you’ve got Miss Valentine, as well. I hear young Nixie is as brilliant a student of magic as yo
ur cousin Archie is with his inventions.”

  Jake nodded. “Maddox St. Trinian is coming, too. Do you know him? He’s a Guardian apprentice, but he’s sixteen, so he’s only got another year or two of his training. He’s kind of a dull stick, but he can fight. Derek sent him along to watch my back while he’s away.”

  “That is good. But let’s not forget your own prodigious skills.”

  Jake sighed, for the compliment merely reminded him of the parents from whom he’d inherited his two supernatural gifts—and who apparently had nothing to say to him. The telekinesis had come from his sire, the ability to communicate with ghosts from his dam.

  Constanzio misunderstood the reason for his gloomy exhalation. “You’ll be fine out there. Just try to have fun and enjoy yourselves. That, my boy, is what Italy’s all about.” The late, great opera star gave him a roguish wink.

  Jake managed a smile. “Thanks for coming to see me off, signore. Say, would you keep an eye on Red for me while I’m gone?”

  “Why, it would be my honor.” Constanzio bowed to the Gryphon, who bowed back.

  “Aunt Ramona has arranged for one of the Lightriders to bring him to me through a portal once we figure out where we’ll be hunkering down for the long term. But he gets lonely.” Jake turned to his pet. “Now, Red: you’ll be staying at the menagerie at Merlin Hall again for a while. You made yourself a very comfortable nest while we were there, as I recall, and the nice Green Man will make sure you have all you need. But you’ve got to promise me you won’t eat any of the Dreaming Sheep.”

  Red snuffled at his teasing remark.

  Jake gazed at him. “I’ll miss you, boy. It’ll be hard being separated. But don’t worry; we’ll be together again in a few weeks, and then we’ll have loads of fun. I promise.” Jake hugged his large pet, feeling a bit of a lump in his throat.

  “Becaw, caw, caw,” said the Gryphon.

  “Of course I’ll be good! Aren’t I always?” Jake exclaimed.

  Red huffed and shook his feathery mane.

  Jake laughed. “You know me too well.” He turned to the ghost. “Constanzio, you must promise to bring us any news of Derek and Tex the moment you hear something. And Henry, too, of course. If they come back from their missions while we’re away—”