Free Maggie Malone Makes a Splash by Jenna McCarthy Page A

there’s no volume on this stupid metal plate!
    â€œFrank?” I plead. “Frank, speak up! I can’t hear you !”
    Nothing.
    Okay, Malone. Think. There’s no getting to Flynn. Who else can I talk to? It’s not like I know a lot of people out here in this huge ocean. It’s just the Sea Angel and… the Coast Guar d ! I’ll call the Coast Guard! They gave us their call number when they were here. One-one-one-one. Eleven-eleven. I just have to get to the radio without anyone seeing or hearing me and give them a jingle. Easy peasy!
    I slide out of the bathroom, closing the door softly behind me, and run on cat feet past Zac’s bedroom. He’s blaring some kind of music with crazy drums. That helps! I pass the tiny kitchen and haul myself up the ladder to the fly bridge where the radio is.
    â€œWhat are you doing up here?” Captain Jack asks as I reach the top. He’s hunched over a map, which he quickly folds and shoves under a logbook when he sees me. “Lexi’s all tanked up and ready to go—she’s waiting for you on the dive platform. We’re on a tight schedule here, Marina, and we don’t have all day. Now quit dillydallying and get your butt in that water .”
    Yikes. My butt’s about to be in water, all right. Hot water.

Chapter 16

When I Take a Dive with Ursula the Sea Witch
    â€œGrab your fins and I’ll help you with your tank,” Lexi says, all kittens and sunshine. I’m shaking like a skinny, wet dog. I pick up a pair of pink fins and step into one and then the other. I have to take giant, marching-band kick steps so I don’t trip over the tips as I cross the deck.
    â€œUh, you know you can wait until you get in the water to put those on.” Lexi laughs. Laughs! Who can laugh at a time like this? “There’s nothing to be nervous about, honey. Today is going to be a breeze. You’re ready.”
    Nothing to be nervous about, huh? I don’t know about you, Lexi, but I don’t go around blowing up endangered coral reefs every day!
    Skipper is in his usual spot by the stern and he’s as amped up as ever. He sees me and does one of those standup tail scoots, nodding his big head the whole time. At least I have him on my side. I can see Captain Jack watching us from the fly bridge, and Zac is nowhere in sight. Except for Skipper, it really is just me and Lexi. I sit down on the dive platform, my legs and fins dangling in the water, and Lexi hauls a tank up and onto my back. This thing must weigh a hundred pounds! She straps me in and seems to be checking out all of my equipment.
    â€œOkay, you’re all set,” Lexi says. I just nod. “Oh! I almost forgot! You’ll need to take the sonar unit this time,” she says, handing me the box . The box with the ticking timer in it. Oh no she didn’t!
    â€œThe sonar unit?” I say with a gulp, clutching the otter box with shaking hands.
    â€œYeah, when we get down below the reef, you’re going to find a nice safe spot to tuck it, but very carefully, you know, so you don’t hurt the reef,” she tells me, slipping into her own tank and fastening a thousand buckles and hooks. “We’re going to use it to take some measurements—Captain Jack has a receiver up there on the fly bridge—and then we’ll come back and get it in a few days.”
    â€œDoes…my dad know about this?” I ask, stalling for time.
    â€œWell, of course he does, silly,” Lexi says dismissively. “He’s the boss. But to be honest, he doesn’t love the idea of us getting as close to that reef as we need to get to place it, so you probably shouldn’t mention it. You know, just so you don’t upset him. But he’s totally on board. He knows that we’re all here to do what’s best for that reef.” She nods her head a lot when she says this last rotten, stinking lie.
    â€œWhat exactly are