The Septriones
an excerpt

CHAPTER ONE
A submarine lay on the floor between Seattle and Vashon Island. Most of the people in Seattle had seen posters advertizing an underwater tour that would take a week and explore the Puget Sound. Some people were actually excited by the idea and had sent in a request to come. But most of them received a note with apologies saying that because of the limited room in the submarine, it was already full. And so, envying the lucky passengers who were taken on board before the vessel descended into the water, they went back to their normal lives.

Only twelve people knew the truth. One was the scientist who supposedly was piloting the tour. The others were the captives he was experimenting on.

Deep beneath the waves in one room of the submarine, four young women were playing Hearts. Iris Felisar was winning and had only taken a few point cards. She was a slender girl, sitting on a tall stool and playing with her long brown hair. Amber Carter and Jamie Noridge were sitting next to each other on a couch. They were both of average build, though Amber was in better shape. They were playfully elbowing each other and had been fighting for second place for about four rounds of the game. And Nicole Delisle was in last place. She was quietly slouching in a chair, making her look even shorter than she already was. The cushioned chair partially hid her stout figure. She brushed a strand of black hair off her face and tossed a jack onto the table. Iris put a six down and went back to playing with her ponytail. Amber held her cards close to her face. She peered over her hand, looking suspiciously at Jamie, and then slid an ace to the middle of the table. Jamie slapped her card onto the table, grinning broadly. It was the queen of spades. She chuckled and pushed the undesirable card toward Amber. Amber glared at Jamie, trying to give her pins and needles. Then she pulled her reddish blonde hair over her face and her happy, mischievous expression returned.

As they kept playing cards, Nicole asked, “Jamie, has the Magician’s, um, treatment gotten any worse?”

Jamie showed a half smile. “You know he’s not a magician. He seems like the kind of mad scientist who would go around blowing things up for fun. And, yeah, his formula is making my joints even more flexible and now it’s messing with my skin.” She put down her cards and bent her left hand back. The skin on her wrist went pale and her fingers folded over until her fingernails touched her arm.

Iris shivered. “Ooh, that is gross, Jamie.”

Jamie looked at her with a mock sad face. Then she bounced up off the couch and somersaulted to the middle of the room. She lifted her arms above her head and then dropped backwards. She had seen a ballerina doing the same motion and ending in a bridge position, arching back with her tummy facing up. But Jamie was now super-flexible. Her body folded back until her hands reached the floor, so close to her feet that her head was less than six inches from the back of her knees.

Iris shivered again. “Alright, Jamie, get over here. It’s your turn to play.”

Jamie bent her knees and elbows so that her body made an O shape. She rolled up onto her knees and laughed. “I would be a ballerina like you, Iris, but I’m too flexible. I’ll have to invent my own dance style.”

Iris just shook her head and stared blankly at her cards. Jamie scampered to the couch and looked at the cards on the table. A few seconds later, from an adjacent room came a loud call like an eagle. Jamie turned her head around and looked straight behind her over the side of the couch. Iris rolled her eyes.

Amber whispered, “The boys must be having fun in there. Want to see what they’re up to?” She got up, leading the line of four ladies past the bathroom to the doorway of the bedroom. Four heads poked into the room to observe the young men at play.

In the bedroom, Robert Quiller was perched on one of the upper bunks, ready to pounce. Crouched in front of him was the oldest of the group at age twenty-six, Alexander Steel. He was looking at Robert’s muscles, a playful flicker of excitement in his blue eyes. The rest of the men stood around them. Cameron Davis opened his mouth and let out another loud squawk, urging them to fight.

The bunk creaked loudly as Robert jumped. His light brown hair brushed the low ceiling as he descended on Alex. Alex rose up to meet him, until Robert’s hands collided with his shoulders. He fell backward, but turned so they both landed on their sides. Robert kept the grip on his shoulders, but could not stop his lower body. Alex nimbly got up to hands and knees and set one knee on his opponent’s ribs. Robert pulled him down to his elbows and then swung his legs away.

Laughing and panting, they both stood up slowly without approaching each other. But when Robert looked up, Alex was no longer in front of him. He spun around, glaring at the circle of men. Malcolm Asphilon caught his gaze and shrugged, smiling. From the left side of the circle, a tall boy, Tobias Abrams, failed to smother a laugh. He put a hand over his own mouth, but laughed even harder. As Robert turned his glare on him, Alex darted out from behind Tobias. He collided with Robert and they began wrestling again.

The youngest of them, seventeen year old Brian Jeskey was in the corner of the room. While those two fought, he bounced up and down, imitating the two men wrestling, and battled an imaginary foe. Malcolm glanced over at him with a strange facial expression, but Brian just grinned back and kept fighting.

Cameron kept his eyes fixed on the wrestling match and was soon jumping with excitement. He shouted encouragement with his powerful voice. He roared like a lion, barked like a dog, and then trumpeted like an elephant. Once he called out with several voices at the same time. When he urged “Come on, Alex, you can beat him!” his voice had so much of a growl that it was difficult to understand, and Alex did not pick up any of it except his own name. He was only silent twice during the fight, when he thought Alex was hurt for real and when his own elbow hit the upper bunk behind him.

Ashton Rivers was standing between Malcolm and Cameron. While eagerly watching the two wrestlers, he stood very still in a position ready for action. His hands were tense, looking like claws in front of his hips. His mouth was open a little, but only because he was not thinking about it. He leaned forwards as Alex kicked Robert’s leg aside and knocked him over. As the two rolled around the floor fighting, Ashton looked around and saw Tobias waving to get his attention. Tobias mouthed the words “get them” and nodded vigorously. Ashton nodded back and whispered in Malcolm’s ear while Tobias told Cameron. The room was closer to silence than had been heard during the whole wrestling match. Robert and Alex paused for breath, both sitting down on the floor. Cameron started a yell and then four of them were shouting and attacking from two sides. Robert was knocked to the floor and Alex tried to scoot away. But soon all the men were a tight mass struggling together. Brian joined them last by jumping on top of the pile and landing on Malcolm’s back.

Still watching from the doorway, Nicole stepped back and chuckled, “Now they really look funny all in a pile like that. Boys.”