There was a staircase that led down to the floor below. They walked down it. The light was dimmer as the sunlight couldn’t reach down this far.
“Be careful,” Cyrus said, taking the lead. “We have no clue what may be down here. Whether it’s nothing or something very dangerous.”
Katie and Tyson nodded. They reached another door and Cyrus pushed it open. It was just another hallway. There were several doors on the left side. To the right was a series of small round windows.
Katie gasped when she looked out one of the windows, but out of surprise, not fear. There was a small, yellowfish swimming lazily in the water all by itself. The part of the ship they were in was submerged underwater.
“How is it dry here?” Katie asked.
“This part of the ship must be secured and sealed tight enough not to let water in,” Cyrus answered.
They made their way down the hallway, opening each door as they passed it. Most of the doors led to smaller rooms, almost like closets, that were all left a mess with their contents all along the floor.
Katie grew impatient after the eighth door they opened only to discover that it was no different than the rest, but she was still determined to find something. They opened another door that led to a different room, larger than the others, and empty.
Katie was ready to turn back, but Tyson said, “Wait.”
Tyson walked into the room towards the other side. There was another door there. Katie and Cyrus followed him.
The door was open slightly and led to a dark hall. Tyson opened the door fully and found that the hall was just another staircase leading down.
“The ghost said your mother’s necklace was at the bottom of the ship, right?” Tyson asked.
“Yeah, of course,” Katie said, excitement growing.
“Then let’s go down below to the bottom,” answered Tyson.
Cyrus almost looked as if he were surprised and followed Tyson down the stairs, with Katie close behind.
The staircase turned around once, and they landed at the foot of another door. The ceiling was low and the walls were roughly made. The interior design down here wasn’t like the rest of the ship. Down here, they were in the hull, and everything was becoming difficult to see. The light didn’t want to make its way down into the depths of the ship. Large crates were piled up around the hall, some of them on top of each other. Slowly they made their way through the hall.
At the end of the hall, there was yet another door. This one looked inexpertly made. Tyson forced it open with some difficulty.
They entered the room and looked around. The walls were curved outwards and up and were all silver-gray.
“I think we’ve reached the bottom,” Katie said.
“That seems to be the case,” Cyrus said.
They walked deeper into the room. It was almost completely empty, save for some large broken crates that lined the walls.
The room was eerie and wasn’t well lit. Three small lamps were hanging from the ceiling that emitted the only light they had.
“Those are powered by sunlight,” Cyrus explained when he saw Tyson looking curiously at them.
“How?” Katie asked. “I don’t think they get any sun down here.”
“They don’t need direct sunlight,” Cyrus said. “They just need the smallest amount of radiation from the sunlight.”
“Katie,” Tyson called out. He walked towards her, “Is this it?”
He held out his hand. There was a golden chain with a small pendant on it. The ring was black. The uppermost star was a light blue and hanging in the middle was a smoky-like shape.
“Yes,” Katie breathed.
“Here,” Tyson said gently and placed the necklace in Katie’s hand. Katie looked at it curiously.
“Essence of Inspira,” Cyrus said. “That was the spirit essence that fed your mother’s powers. We all have one. Mine is the Griffin Pailath. Yours is the Dolphin of Alaysia.”
“What do these mean?” Katie asked.
Without warning, something hit the ship’s side. Cyrus was thrown off balance as the ship shook. There was a loud crash behind them. Without thinking, Katie stuffed the necklace deep into her shoe, the chain wrapped around her toe.
She looked back and saw that one of the crates was sticking through the doorway. She ran over to it. The crate was blocking their only way out. She tried to move it, but it wouldn’t budge.
The ship was hit again, and more crates toppled over, nearly hitting Katie.
“We’re trapped!” Katie shouted.
“Katie!” Tyson yelled. She looked at where he was pointing. The floor was wet. She looked to the side. There was a thin crack in the hull of the ship, allowing water to rapidly seep in. Within a minute, the water rose to her ankles.
Cyrus got up. “We have to find a way out of here. Quickly.”
Tyson and Cyrus ran over to the crates and attempted to move the wooden crates. Even with their combined strength, they couldn’t move them.
There was another blow to the ship from the other side. This one caused another long gash to break through the hull, spilling more water into the room.
“Hurry!” Tyson shouted. He let out a cry and exerted all his strength to break loose the fallen crates but succeeded only in falling into the now waist-deep water.
Cyrus stood in the water and looked around. He wasn’t sure what to do. He thought intently for a solution but knew that it would have to be up to Katie to save them.
“Katie!” he shouted at her. The water was now high enough that they were treading
