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One night a violent storm blows into Stingray Bay, while three siblings try to break the holiday boredom in their parents caravan. Suddenly, they are hurled into the ocean from the cliffs and find themselves thrust into a sub–sea expedition with unexpected twists and turns everywhere. Soon, they are struggling against the clock in a dangerous journey that will take their breath away! (hr)An endless abyss seeks to crush them, deep–sea monsters try to consume them and others that have found themselves transported into this watery grave. Will a daring rescue plan hatched by General Sabaoth, the ruler of this watery domain be able to save them? Will the kids even survive a single night? What lessons will they learn on this treacherous journey? (hr)It is up to the children to make the tough decisions and to risk everything for a stranger they neither know – nor trust. What will become of these visitors in the haunted realms of the deep?
PUBLISHER: TEKTIME
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Chapter One: Lake–Mist’s Restoration
Chapter Two: Trapped!
Chapter Three: A Troubled Soul
Chapter Four: Breathtaking
Chapter Five: Mysterious New World
Chapter Six: The Abyss
Chapter Seven: Jasmine’s Discovery
Chapter Eight: Separated!
Chapter Nine: Corpses and Clashes
Chapter Ten: A Small Mercy
Chapter Eleven: Sarah Meets the General
Chapter Twelve: The Threatening Caller
Chapter Thirteen: Sam’s Narrow Escape
Chapter Fourteen: General Sabaoth
Chapter Fifteen: French Toast and Pancakes!
Epilogue:
Connect With the Author:
Other Works by This Author:
Audiobooks on various audiobook retailers:
Under The Ocean (Original)
Under the Ocean (Original — Revised 2020)
By Ian King
© 2021 Tektime Publishing
First published on Amazon 2013
This revised edition published, 2020
Tektime Edition – Copyright © 2013 Ian King.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner. This is a work of fiction. Names and characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
If you have enjoyed this eBook, please return to the place you purchased it and view some more of the authors work. Oh, and reviews are more than welcome, in fact: encouraged.
N.B. from author. If you are wondering why this is called ”Under the Ocean (Original)”, It is because this was my original version that I wrote in ’third person’,before I converted it into ’first–person version’, which is also available. I hope you enjoy it.
Table of Content:
Chapter One: Lake–Mist’s Restoration
Chapter Two: Trapped!
Chapter Three: A Troubled Soul
Chapter Four: Breathtaking
Chapter Five: Mysterious New World
Chapter Six: The Abyss
Chapter Seven: Jasmine’s Discovery
Chapter Eight: Separated!
Chapter Nine: Corpses and Clashes
Chapter Ten: A Small Mercy
Chapter Eleven: Sarah Meets the General
Chapter Twelve: The Threatening Caller
Chapter Thirteen: Sam’s Narrow Escape
Chapter Fourteen: General Sabaoth
Chapter Fifteen: French Toast and Pancakes!
Epilogue:
Connect With the Author:
Other Books by This Author:
Audiobooks by This Author
Tonight, the girls and their brother were sleeping in the caravan. It had been a long time coming, as dad had worked hard on the old, fit for dumping caravan, for quite a few weeks. It was a big job, and if you had seen it back in September (the caravan), you would have given up on her right then, but no! Dad had a vision! He saw something where no one else could and where nothing else but rot, existed. A bit of blood, sweat and tears is all it needed; apart from the new wall panels, new shelving, that wasn’t all bubbled and blistered. Also, it needed new floorboards and even new couches (which were clever and transformed into beds). Yep! It all needed to be dealt with, majorly!
No one would ever have survived a night in those bumpy old torture slabs, without waking with aches and pains from head to toe. That was all before Dads mastery had taken place.
All he needed to do today was fit in the new wardrobe, the three–way fridge and then put in the new soft cushions; the ones mum had picked out at Arthur’s Emporium last week. They were made from a plush deep–blue velvet material, fresh and royal–looking. The old stinker slabs that had rotted, (what hadn’t?) and had previously filled the caravan with nothing less than the mustiest smells around the entire bay, Stingray Bay. Now (and fortunately), they found their new home in the nearby dump.
“As soon as I get ‘Lake-mist’ finished (that is what Dad had tenderly named the caravan), you can spend the first night in it kids.” Dad made a promise a couple of weeks ago and the children eagerly anticipated its fulfillment. They would have slept in it a month ago but Dad wanted it to be absolutely completed, before they were allowed to. Perhaps, that is why he had the couch–beds finished last.
“Dad, can I make you a cuppa?” Jasmine would chant daily, in her innocent soprano voice; she considered herself to be a top restaurant waitress.
Sam wanted Dad to finish ‘Lake-mist’ now and tried constantly to lend a hand. Even if it wasn’t needed, or wanted – more to the point! He brought tools and panels, whatever Dad required. “Here you are Dad. Is there anything else I can get you?” His steely–blue eyes would always penetrate and probe for an answer. “Here’s the hammer. Is there anything else you need?” Often, Sam would receive nothing but a grunt from his busy father. Still, he didn’t mind.
“How long is it going to take?” Sarah complained incessantly. “When will you be finished?” The three kids drove Dad nuts, by not leaving him alone for a moment. However, today was the big day and the excited children chatted while playing close by, with the anticipation rushing through their veins of their soon to happen escapade, in the ’Lake-mist’. Now at last, everything was finished.
The new and improved caravan gleamed in the sunshine on the lawn behind the house. It was an eighteen–footer, painted aqua–blue on the top half and silver on the bottom. The two colours made it look like a sleek space station. The entrance was set to the right of the middle, where the axles stood firm on its pair of shiny–black, round feet. The windows were large and slightly convex, which repelled the ultra–violet light with a deep–brown tint. The inside was practically laid out, Dad had always been practical.
When the door was opened (or ’air lock’, as the children had affectionately named it), the guests would be welcomed with automatically–lit steps. All eyes were likely to be drawn to the warm brown kitchenette and stainless bench top, which was positioned across on the other side of the plush maroon carpet. The carpet had a soft, homely sensation for the bare feet of its new guests.
Sam – no surprises here – was the first one to dash inside. As he slowed before hitting into the kitchenette, he breathed in deeply the smells of the freshly varnished walls and painted cupboards. It wasn’t unpleasant, it was friendly and carried a sense of adventure about it.
To the left, under the front window of the caravan, there were laid out two long couches, which ran down either side of the cosy cabin, they were set up against the opposite walls. They were, at that time, turned into a big double bed, unmade with the blankets folded neatly at the foot.
The blankets were usually stored inside the cleverly constructed underside lid of the couches, for easy access so when you needed them they were sure to make any night of adventure a comfortable one. It didn’t matter if you were in the backyard, or on a wild trail in the mountains. At least, you would always be warm and dry.
The caravan – or space station – was parked near the cliff’s edge, behind the house. Its perfect position was enough to give it huge appeal for an adventure right there. And because it had been perched on one of the highest cliffs around, it would now let the children see right out of the rear window (and hear) all the way down to the frothing white–capped waves which tumbled and rolled methodically, in and out from Stingray Bay.
It was only a short walk from the end of their lawn to the main sandy access of the beach. When they reached the track, they’d usually follow it down to the left, treading carefully, it was pretty steep and littered with loose stones and rocks.
The thoroughly used stairway to the beach looked like a giant hydro–slide with aged banks and no water, but instead, a sky ceiling. It cut deep through the high cliff and often caused a wind tunnel effect when the chilly southerlies blew inland from the sea.
As the wind chased through the narrow gap it could easily catch anyone who didn’t know about it, unaware. When the kids arrived at the end of the hydro–slide, they only needed to run a short distance and then the cold, refreshing salt water would sneak up and grip their unsuspecting toes and feet, like chilly–ice fingers.
In the early morning, which it wasn’t at the moment, it had been low tide. The children had been on the beach; they often saw the high cliff to the left and imagined it to be a massive ANZAC soldier, stationed in the deep water. His feet would be enveloped up to his ankles and around his stone–like boots there lay, so many scattered rocks looking like cannon balls of various shapes and sizes. They were piled up higgledy–piggledy and he was guarding the bay with his shadow, casting over the track exit to the beach, until nearly 10 am that particular day.
This afternoon – which it then was – the soldier looked dull and blotchy as the sun camouflaged his rustic features with patchy shadows. The high tide came up to his knees and hid the cannon balls from view. The children headed back up the track to see how far Dad had progressed with Lake–mist, besides, the clouds were looking a little black and heavy, threatening rain for the night.
Jasmine was the oldest and she had already organised the midnight feast of biscuits and jelly. Her warm blonde hair was shoulder length, straight and tidy and gently sat around her narrow, cheerful face. Her slight shoulders were in proportion to her tall, skinny frame. She, like the other two, had big–blue eyes and Scandinavian features.
Sarah was the youngest. Her hair grew in crumpled waves and it was shorter, but thicker. It was more like a bird’s nest. She was the blonder of the three and her face was rounder than her sister’s. She had sneaked the bottle of orange juice and had hidden it... the one that Mum had warned them not to touch.
“Do you think Mum will notice it missing?” Sarah whispered to Jasmine.
“I don’t think so,”
“I heard what you said Sarah, and I’m telling Mum that you have pinched the orange juice when we get back inside.” Sam always loved to find ways to stir up the girls.
He was solid, but still a little on the skinny side. His little barrel chest lead up to his rounded head and sun burnt face. He had a dimple on his right cheek when he smiled; all the girls at school thought it was cute. That is why they often tried to make him smile and laugh, which wasn’t very hard to do. His hair was shorter and darker than the girls, bearing a striking resemblance to that of a sun–bleached hedgehog.
“But don’t you want to drink some of this lovely, tasty juice tonight?” Jasmine asked tactfully. “You can even have the first drink, if you want.”
“Ahh, well... yeah. I do want some,” he said after thinking about that for a moment. “Okay, we won’t tell Mum.” It was funny that Sam at first disagreed because he was usually the first one to think up any naughty things to do; however, it was almost as if he was growing up a little and taking more responsibility for what he, or the girls might get up to.
Sam put Sarah in charge of the torch. He was always the bossy one, besides, Sarah seemed to get more scared of the dark than the older two. Nevertheless, she was too excited to be worrying about silly darkness and monsters on this night.
As the evening drew closer, the sky had turned a deep purple like a bruise, and it was thick with big billowing clouds. The air became tangibly weighted, and the family watched as brilliant lightning flashing across the sky, followed by the roaring clap of thunder a few moments later.
“I know how you can tell how far away the thunder is, Sam,” Jasmine declared in her ‘better than thou voice’. These two were always trying to out–do one another. “You –”
“I know too...” Sam butted in as usual. “You count one, one–thousand, two one–thousand then three one–thousand, that’s how.”
“Saaammm!” Jasmine bemoaned in her best whine she could muster. “You’re so rude – you’re always butting in, butt head!” Sam continued, while holding out his pointer finger like a schoolteacher...
“Every time you count, that means that it’s only one mile away. Everyone knows that.” Jasmine let out a frustrated grunt, laced with disapproval and she stomped away in a huff to get the strawberry jelly from the fridge.
In the house, before they went out, they counted as close as ten, one–thousand, the storm was only ten miles away and getting closer!
“Are you three going to be okay in the caravan tonight?” Dad asked sternly, with concern in his voice.
“I’ll look after the girls’ Dad, I’m brave!”