Free Emily Windsnap and the Monster From the Deep by Liz Kessler

long it had. That’s how long it NEEDED. That’s when I would have been here for it. But no! Someone couldn’t wait that long. SOMEONE had to wake it early. Do you KNOW what happens when my kraken has not had the sleep it needs?”
    The caves responded with silence. No one was going to attempt to answer Neptune in this kind of mood. Not that he was known for having any other kind of mood.
    “I’ll tell you. It wakes in a rage. Too much of a rage for even NEPTUNE to calm it. My truly loyal servant — someone has robbed me of it!”
    “What will it do?” someone asked.
    “The first signs are relatively small. It will lash around in its lair, creating freak waves. This is what it does while it is still in its cave. As far as we know, it still IS in there. But it will find its way to open seas sooner or later, and when it does, it will set out on the only path it knows.” Neptune paused as he slowly surveyed the caves. “Destruction.”
    My tail was shaking again. “It’s okay, little ’un,” Dad whispered, pulling me close. “I’ll look after you.” He knew nothing. Nothing.
    “That is why I am the ONLY one who should wake the kraken. The one who wakes it is the ONLY one who —” Neptune stopped abruptly. He smoothed back his hair and straightened his beard.
    “Well. Let me just tell you this. Without my direction, it can destroy anything in its wake. Perhaps this whole island will crumble from its rage.”
    The end of the island? All because of me?I tried to swallow and found I couldn’t. I had to fix this!
    “Oh yes,” Neptune continued. “And you should know this: it can bring ships toward it. Apart from a few of my loyal aides, the kraken is the only creature who knows how to pierce the magic of the Bermuda Triangle. Once the kraken leaves its cave, you are no longer safe. Discovery cannot be far away. When this happens, the days of Allpoints Island are numbered.”
    Neptune sucked in his breath again. “I have not yet decided what I shall do about you all. In the meantime, I want to know WHO DID THIS! I WILL find out! It is IMPERATIVE that he or she come to me!”
    He stared around the caves in the silence. An occasional drop of water plopped softly into the water. No! I couldn’t. I couldn’t ! I wasn’t going to get Mom and Dad thrown off the island. I wasn’t going back to that awful jail. I had to think of something.
    “WELL?” he bellowed.
    Then someone coughed gently. There was a bustling sound up on the stone benches. Someone was getting up. Millie! What on earth was she doing?
    She flung her black cape over her shoulderand stepped toward a barrier at the edge of the pool.
    “Your Majesty,” she said firmly. “I’m not one to interfere, but I may be able to help you.”
    Neptune almost smiled. He looked as though he was smiling, anyway. It might just as easily have been anger twisting his face into a contorted frown. He pulled on his beard. “ Help me?” he repeated.
    “I can see things,” Millie explained. “I don’t like to boast, but I have been told I have something of a gift. I just need your star sign.”
    “My STAR SIGN?” Neptune yelled.
    “Yes, you know, your horoscope, your —”
    “I know what you mean! It’s PISCES, of course!”
    “Thank you,” Millie said through tight lips. “That anger won’t do your karma any good at all,” she added in a stage whisper. Then she closed her eyes and folded her hands over her chest. “I believe I can tell you exactly what has happened,” she said. “I just need some quiet.”
    Neptune looked as though he was about to burst, but he didn’t speak. Nor did anyone else. Could she really see what had happened? Millie’s cosmic ways didn’t often come to much, but she did have an accurate moment now and then. What if this was one of them?
    “I see riches of some sort,” Millie murmured. “What is it? Gold? Let me focus.”
    Gold! She was describing the cave! No! Trust Millie to have one of her flukes and get it