Dark Day in the Deep Sea

“It could be powerful enough to sink the ship!”
    “That’s crazy!” yelled Jack. “Leave him alone!”
    “Its tentacles are as hard as steel!” shouted one of the sailors.
    “No, they’re not!” cried Annie. “They’re soft! They saved us from drowning!”
    But everyone kept shouting:
    “Hungry for human flesh!”
    “Devour a man in one bite!”
    “Thirsty for blood!”
    “He’s not
any
of those things!” yelled Annie.
    “Throw the harpoons!” yelled a sailor.
    “Get your axes, swords, and knives!” yelled another.
    “Ready the guns!” said the captain.
    “No!” screamed Annie.
    “No!” roared Jack.
    “The children are right!” shouted the professor. He and Henry had squeezed through the crowd, too. They were standing behind Jack and Annie.
    Jack felt a rush of relief. “The professor says we’re right!” yelled Annie.
    “Do not destroy it, Captain!” roared the professor. “Haul it on board!”
    “On board?” said Jack.
    “Capture it alive and whole!” said the professor. His eyes gleamed. “So we can study it!”
    “No, no, let him go,” said Jack. “Just let him swim away and be free!”
    “Please!” screamed Annie. “Let him go!”
    But neither the professor nor the captain seemed to hear Jack and Annie. They were too busy arguing over what to do with the giant octopus.
    “We must kill it, Professor!” said the captain. “It could grab the hull and drag the ship down to the bottom!”
    “But science needs it alive!” said the professor. “At least till we have examined it!”
    By now the octopus had gathered his long arms around himself, as if for protection.
    Annie burst into tears. “Henry, help him!” she sobbed. “Don’t let them kill him! Or capture him!”
    Henry looked upset, too. “Excuse me, sirs!” he shouted. “Excuse me! The girl is right! We should let him go!”
    But no one listened to Henry, either.
    “Jack!” cried Annie. She grabbed Jack. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. “Save him! We have to save him!”
    “What can we do? We’ve tried everything!” said Jack.
    Then he remembered. His own words helped him remember. And Jack knew
exactly
what to do.

“ W here’s my backpack?” Jack yelled to Annie.
    “What?” Annie said.
    “My backpack!” said Jack.
    “Don’t worry about that now,” said Annie. “We have to—”
    “The wand! The wand!” Jack interrupted her.
    “Oh!” said Annie. “The wand!”
    “We have to find my pack! Fast!” said Jack.
    Jack and Annie pushed past the sailors crowding the railing. They ran across the deck.
    “Did you bring it in the rowboat?” yelled Annie.
    “Yes! No! I don’t know!” said Jack. “I can’t remember!”
    “Think! Think!” said Annie.
    Jack tried to think as they ran around the upper deck of the ship.
Did I have it in the row-boat? What happened in the rowboat? I felt sick in the rowboat! I hugged my backpack in the row-boat!
    “I remember!” Jack shouted. “I was holding on to it when we first came aboard!”
    “Then it’s here somewhere!” said Annie.
    “The wardroom!” said Jack.
    “Hurry!” cried Annie.
    Jack and Annie raced down two flights of steps. They looked in the wardroom. Jack’s pack wasn’t there!
    “Henry’s lab!” said Annie.
    “Yes! Yes! It’s in there!” Jack cried. “I remember now! I left it on the table. I put it down when I looked through the microscope!”
    Jack and Annie ran up one flight of steps toHenry’s lab. They tried to open the door, but it was locked!
    “We need Henry!” said Jack.
    “We don’t have time!” said Annie.
    “We don’t have a choice!” said Jack.
    Jack and Annie charged back up the stairs to the upper deck.
    The crew was still gathered at the end of the deck, yelling and shrieking about the octopus.
    Henry was coming toward them!
    “Henry, help us!” said Annie. She raced to Henry and grabbed him by the arm. She pulled him toward the stairs. “You have to unlock your lab! We have to get Jack’s pack! It’s life or death! Hurry,
hurry
!”
    “Why? What?” sputtered Henry.
    “We’ll explain later!” said Jack.
    “Just hurry!” said Annie.
    Henry looked baffled, but he walked quickly and led Jack and Annie down the stairs. They nearly pushed him across the hall toward his lab.The scientist pulled out his key and unlocked the door.
    Jack and Annie burst into the lab. “Yay!” said Annie. Jack’s pack was on the table!
    Jack grabbed it and tore it open. He pulled out the Wand