Oceania: The Underwater City by Eliza Taye (novels for teenagers .TXT) 📕

Luckily, the beach was downhill from where I had just come, which would have made it impossible for anyone near the beach to see me hide my bike.

Before I reached the rabbit hole, I jogged in place, scanning the area cautiously. Pausing, I reached down and pretended to tie a loose shoelace. When I rose to my full height, I searched around again. I couldn’t see anyone in the vicinity, but I was still worried.

I jogged past the rabbit hole for a while, peering in every direction—including side to side and up in the air. I wasn’t leaving anything to chance.

Nothing.

Satisfied, I sprinted full speed back to my personal entrance to the beach and scrambled under the fence in record time. Pumping my legs as fast as I could, I darted down the sandy hill towards the ocean and veered right toward the rocky outcroppings that would hide me from the prying eyes of anyone who might pass by. So far, I hadn’t seen or heard anyone driving down the road until the cop car yesterday, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.

Slowing my pace to a casual walk, I danced through the sandy gaps of the jagged rocks until I found a place to sit on one that partially curved upwards like the back of a barstool.

Regretting I had to leave my backpack behind in order to maintain my appearance of a casual jogger, I stared out towards the sea to pass the time.

Today, the wind blew in big sporadic gusts, whipping loose strands of my hair across my face. I pulled out the hair-tie I was wearing and smoothed my hair back up into the ponytail once more. It was no use.

Giving up, I let my hair down to blow wildly, shoving my hair-tie onto my left wrist. Staring out at the ocean, I watched the waves roll in and wash back out. The roar of the sea was louder today, probably because of the increase in wind speed. Out past the breakers, they rolled higher than I had ever seen them before.

Glancing up to the sky with my hand protecting my eyes from the sun’s harmful rays, there didn’t appear to be a cloud in the sky. Clearly, there wasn’t a storm brewing, so it must just be a windy day.

Leaning back on the rock, attempting to get more comfortable on the hard surface, I heard something fall down and clank against a rock onto the sand. Tucking my hair behind my ear to keep it from whacking me in the face as I tried to see what had fallen. My vision came upon what resembled a black, sleek communicator device. Picking it up and twisting it around in my hand, it was clearly no communicator I’d ever seen before. Rounded like a sphere, it was the size of a pool table cue ball with one small indentation of a button on the top.

Wondering if this might be a device from Oceania, I excitedly pressed the black button. A whining sound I had grown accustomed to hearing from robots adjusting their parts emitted from the device, as a small slit opened on part of the spherical surface opposite the button. I felt resistance and vibrations inside the sphere as it popped out of my hand and onto the sand. A bluish-white beam shot into the space directly in front of me and a hologram materialized.

It was Dylan—but only him from the waist up. The rest of him disappeared into the bluish white beam.

“Hi, Allie, sorry I haven’t been able to contact you for a few days. I’m also sorry I had to leave so abruptly at the botanical gardens. Dr. Wilcox told me how he helped you escape Oceania and that you’re using the SCUBAPS. I’m assuming that you made it safely to the surface and have returned to the beach. Well, I mean if you hadn’t, you wouldn’t be viewing this right now.”

Dylan’s hologram scratched the back of his head, something I knew Dylan did when he was nervous.

“I got into some really deep trouble for using the seamobile in excess without a prior grant approval, which is why I had to leave you a holomessage. I’m barred from going to the surface, which is why Dr. Wilcox had to help me. He gave me an ‘assignment’ that gives me enough time to get close to the surface. I’m being tracked, so I cannot come to the beach where we meet. Use this device to find your way to a place about ten miles from here to the north. I’m waiting there with Dr. Wilcox in a submarine. Simply plug in the coordinates of this sphere, which I have set to show up every time the button is pressed from now on, and the suit’s GPS will take you there. Hope to see you soon, Allie. Bye.”

Dylan’s holographic image retracted into the device and was immediately replaced with a map listing coordinates at the bottom right-hand corner of the projection.

Wrenching my omniphone off my arm, I quickly jotted down the coordinates so that I’d have my own record of them. Pressing the solitary button, the holographic map disappeared and the sphere returned to an ordinary orb.

If Dylan had stated that he was in big trouble, I wondered if the Master Coders knew about me. Did they know I was a Land Dweller and that I had been illegally visiting their city? Why hadn’t Dylan said more on the holomessage?

Trying to put aside my worries, I placed my omniphone into my pocket and carried the orb with me to where I’d hidden the SCUBAPS and Jet Propulsion 500. At first, I had to search for it, but then I easily found them both wedged in the same crevice I’d placed them in days before.

The sleek, black suit had maintained its shape well, although I noticed it wasn’t