The Dark Deeps (Hunchback Assignments Series #2)

Under a Hunter's Moon\ The stars saved her life that evening. Colette Chiyoko Brunet was in her cabin aboard the steamship Vendetta, seated at a small oak table papered with maps, diagrams, newspaper clippings, and agents' reports. The oil lamp swayed on its chain as each wave struck the ship. In her eighteen years of life she had never had an experience more frustrating than this mission. Even the taunting of her fellow French agents, who called her la sorcière ainoko—the half-breed witch—was nothing to what she had undergone this night. They would be snorting derisively now if they knew of her failure.\ She glared at the papers: a map with several points ticked off, sailors' accounts of sightings of a sea monster or a giant narwhal, and a pencil drawing of a massive metallic fish with the name Ictíneo written below it.\ She pressed her fingers against her forehead. What was the answer? What had been sinking the ships in this quadrant? She wanted to tear the documents to shreds. She had spent two weeks on the Vendetta, searching for the "peculiarity" that lurked in the depths. The French government had financed the mission. Ministers believed that the secret of the attacks could unlock some new underwater military weapon for France. Colette had no inkling how they had come to that conclusion. They'd given her a mess of scribbles and madman's tales, nothing more. Did they intend for her to fail?\ Calm down. She sat back. Ah, Papa, she thought. Her father had been an artillery captain in the French army and had married her mother, Amaya, during his first visit to Japan. He'd spent his every spare moment training Colette to survive in un monde sévère, a harsh world. The analytical lessons and the discipline stuck early, her mind becoming so sharp it cut through most myths and falsifications. Ah, Papa, I am failing tonight.\ An overwhelming sadness consumed her when she thought of her father's death in the Boshin War, on Japanese soil. A land that was half hers. She knew he'd be proud of her, of everything she'd done in her short life. She had risen to a prominent position in the world of French secret agents, despite her ainoko—half French, half Japanese—blood.\ Colette stood. Fresh air and a view of the sky would help her focus. She tied up her black hair, wrapped a long sable coat about herself and opened the metal door to her cabin, then tiptoed past the snuffling and snoring sailors in their bunks. Next to them was a locker of rifles. She gently ran her hand across the stock of the last gun, then climbed the iron stairs.\ The November wind chilled and awakened her. The deck was deserted, but there was a light in the bridge and an ember glow from the crow's nest—a cigarette. Colette imagined that the only others who were awake labored in the engine room, feeding coal to the furnaces to keep the steam engines chugging.\ She breathed deeply and strode across the deck, grabbed the rope railing, and gazed out over the Atlantic. She smelled the salt water and heard the splashing waves, but the sea was so dark it was as if they were sailing through ink.\ On the outside the Vendetta looked like a research ship, with the crew dressed as ordinary sailors. Colette knew better. They were marines handpicked from the First Regiment of L'infanterie de marine. The rifles were on board in case they had to defend themselves. A ten-pounder gun was hidden under a canvas in the bow of the ship. Hunters had to be prepared to hunt.\ She looked to the heavens. Her father had taught her the constellations; she easily picked out la Grande Ourse, and was comforted. She relaxed her mind by triangulating her position in the Atlantic. They had spent the past few days zigging and zagging through the same coordinates—her maps had indicated that the "peculiarity" usually appeared here.\ Colette leaned against the railing. The darkness reminded her that she was no closer to finding her prey. Tomorrow, the Vendetta's coal stores would be too low for them to sail further and they would have to return to Marseille in failure. Colette would be laughed out of the position she had fought to win. There were always other agents scheming to take her place.\ A shattering noise startled her; then she fell hard against the railing, then to the deck, smashing her head. She lay still for a moment, realizing she'd been inches from plunging to a watery death. The Klaxons sounded and she struggled to her feet, but there was something wrong with her legs. No, not her legs—the deck of the Vendetta listed sharply toward starboard.\ "Helm, hard to starboard!" the captain shouted from the bridge.\ My papers! she thought. The deck was at such an angle that she would have to climb toward the stairwell. She took a step, leaning forward; then the ship lurched and she slipped and struck the railing again, jarring her ribs.\ "Mademoiselle Brunet, are you hurt?" It was a seaman, one hand on a rope, the other extended toward her. Marlin from Cherbourg. The son of a tailor.\ She took his warm hand and stood again. "Did we hit an iceberg?"\ "Not at this time of year," he said.\ "A naval mine?" She hadn't heard an explosion. "What have we struck?"\ "Something struck us," another voice said. She turned to see Chief Petty Officer Fortant, holding his balding head, blood seeping down his left cheek. "The hull has been breached!"\ "You're injured!" Colette exclaimed.\ "It doesn't matter. We've got to move! We're sinking fast!"\ "But I must have my papers!"\ "No time!" Fortant replied, pulling her toward the line of lifeboats swinging like pendulums on their davits. "Your papers will go down with the ship."\ That gave her some solace; at least no one else would read them. Briefly she thought of the lives lost in retrieving those documents from foreign embassies and enemy agents. Such information always had a price.\ The ship made a metallic moaning as it listed further. Sailors leapt into the water from the forecastle. The door on the bridge banged open, revealing the captain holding firmly to the wheel, bellowing orders. What few men were able to climb out of the hold lost their footing on the deck and fell headlong into the water.\ Marlin was already lowering a lifeboat.\ "Get in!" Fortant shoved Colette into the boat and then he and Marlin tumbled in after her. The boat swung wildly.\ "What about the sailors below deck?"\ "Faster with that rope, seaman!" Fortant said. The lifeboat slipped closer to the water.\ "What about the others?" she demanded, working to keep her voice from cracking.\ Fortant shook his head. "There is nothing to be done."\ She shuddered to think of the sailors in their cots and the engineers and stokers far below in the engine room. At least a hundred men.\ Marlin and Fortant worked the ropes, the pulleys squealing. "We don't want to be near the Vendetta when she goes down," Fortant said.\ With a lurch they smashed into the side of the ship; to her shame Colette let out a yelp. When they finally hit the water, they were nearly swamped by the splash. The men grabbed oars.\ "Row hard, Marlin!" Fortant yelled. "Harder, you dog! She'll suck us down with her."\ As their boat rode the waves, Colette looked back at the vast sides of the Vendetta, the stern lifting higher and higher, gleaming wet in the moonlight. The roar of wind and waves could not drown out the desperate cries of the sailors in the water. The lifeboat tossed up and down as they rowed away.\ "We'll return for the survivors, once the Vendetta has sunk," Fortant said. "I've never seen a ship go down so fast." His face glistened with fresh blood.\ "Let me row! You're still bleeding," Colette said.\ "No! I must do it."\ Stupid, bullheaded man! she wanted to shout. She shivered; her feet felt much colder than the rest of her body, though she wore good boots. She reached down to touch her feet, then snapped upright. "We're taking on water!"\ "Bail!" Fortant yelled.\ Colette found a tobacco tin, dumped out its contents, and bailed for all she was worth, but she made no headway. She felt for the breach under the water and was horrified at what she found. "The hole is huge!" she shouted at Fortant.\ "There's an emergency kit under your bench!" he grunted.\ A metal case was fastened right under the seat. Her hands were frozen, so it took several tries to unlatch it. Inside she felt the handle of a gun, which she yanked out of its clasps.\ "Fire the flare! If there are ships out here"—Fortant sounded doubtful—"they will come."\ She held the gun above her head, pointed at the heavens, and pulled the trigger. The light was so bright that she was blinded for a few moments. The flare floated lazily in the sky, reflecting on the water. The Vendetta had disappeared, but in the distance heads bobbed and occasional shouts for help could be heard.\ "There are no other boats," Marlin said.\ The water was now up to Colette's knees. The three of them bailed as hard as they could, but after a few minutes Fortant fell over. Colette and Marlin pulled him upright.\ "We can't save the boat," Fortant sputtered. "Cling to the wreck."\ "I'll fire another flare," Colette yelled, and pulled the trigger. What she saw by its light sent a wave of panic through her chest.\ Shark fins. They were circling the boat, bright white in the moonlight.\ "Mon dieu!" Fortant gasped. "My blood has attracted them! I am sorry—there is only one way to save you." Before Colette or Marlin could grab him, he heaved himself over the side.\ "Chief Fortant! Chief Fortant!" Marlin cried, but the chief slowly swam away. He let out a scream and Colette and Marlin heard splashing and thrashing, then nothing more.\ The lifeboat went on sinking. "We're too heavy!" Colette shouted. A wave hit, flipping the boat and tossing them into the ocean. The frigid water numbed Colette's thoughts. She flailed around, eyes burning in the salty water. Feeling something solid, she grabbed on to the overturned boat.\ Marlin was already clinging to the other side. "Perhaps we've drifted far enough away from the sharks."\ Her teeth were clattering too hard to reply.\ "Don't kick!" he whispered. "They're attracted to motion."\ He needn't have worried. Her legs were already frozen and still. The cold was forcing its way inside her body, cooling her blood, slowing her heart. The ocean was oddly quiet; the men had stopped shouting for help.\ "Are they gone?" she said softly, but Marlin replied with a harsh grunt.\ "Marlin!"\ "I think one took my foot," he rasped. His eyes were wide with fear. "I'm too numb to be certain."\ "Climb higher on the lifeboat!"\ "I—" Then he was gone, sucked into the depths.\ "Marlin? No! No! Where are you? Marlin?"\ Something thumped into her leg and she stifled a scream. Don't move! Don't move!\ Several shark fins passed near, then turned away. She felt an unexpected sensation, as if she were being lifted up, into the air. Something larger than a shark rose in the water below her.

\ VOYA\ - Amy Wyckoff\ Modo is a talented fourteen-year-old British spy with the ability to transform his appearance at will. At the outset of this adventure, Mr. Socrates sends Modo and Octavia on a mission to locate a French spy named Colette Brunet, and to uncover the secrets of the mysterious Ictineo, a high-tech submarine cleverly designed to look like a large fish. Using the coordinates where Ictineo was last seen, Modo and Octavia successfully locate the submarine that then attacks their ship, causing Modo to fall overboard. He saves himself by entering the submarine, which is home to the Icarians, a group of people who have built an astonishing underwater utopian world. To Modo's surprise, Ms. Brunet is also on board but Modo is unsure about whether to trust her. When the ruthless Clockwork Guild attacks the submarine, the two spies must work together in an attempt to save all that the Icarians have worked so hard to create. The second installment in Slade's Hunchback Assignments is a suspenseful deep-sea adventure with Steampunk flair. The Dark Deeps begins a new adventure so readers new to the series can enjoy this one on its own. Readers will be holding their breath as they voraciously read to the final pages to discover how Modo and Brunet manage to escape the clutches of the Clockwork Guild and Griff, the invisible man. During each brush with death, readers will surely be cheering for Modo, Octavia, and Brunet. Reviewer: Amy Wyckoff\ \ \ \ \ Children's Literature\ - Peg Glisson\ Fourteen-year-old Modo is a disfigured, shape-shifting spy for England's Permanent Association. In this second steampunk adventure of "The Hunchback Assignments" series, Mr. Socrates sends him and slightly older Octavia to New York to track down a missing British agent as well as French spy Colette Brunet. Information garnered sends the pair to the seas near Iceland as they try to identify the sea monster mysteriously attacking ships there. When the "monster" rams their ship, Modo falls overboard and rescues himself by boarding the attacker, the mysterious Ictineo, a submarine from the underwater utopian city Icaria, commanded by intelligent, fearless Captain Delfina Monturiol. Also onboard is another captive, the French spy Colette. Griff, an invisible agent of the Clockwork Guild who was tailing Modo, also slips aboard. Modo and Colette plot to gain their freedom; Griff tries to convince Modo he is another agent of Mr. Socrates; and all three seek to be first to inform their leaders of their discovery. When the Clockwork Guild attacks the Ictineo, Modo and Colette join the battle to preserve what the Icarians have built. This exciting tale offers an exciting underwater world, conflicted characters, romance, and thrilling, bold undertakings. Slade's creation of the undersea world is fascinating and thought provoking. The inclusion of a sketch of a pen and ink sketch of the Ictineo is most helpful. Viewpoints shift seamlessly between chapters, although Octavia's and Mr. Socrates roles are greatly diminished from Book One. Certainly themes of appearance and loyalty are explored, but let us be clear: this is primarily a rip-roaring adventure, which can be read independently of Book One. Reviewer: Peg Glisson\ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsVolume two of Slade's steampunk series starts with a shipwreck, the lone survivor of which is raised by the evil Clockwork Guild and transformed into Modo's perfect nemesis: The one doesn't dare show his true face, and the other has been rendered invisible and has no face to show. But the meditation on how appearance and personality intersect is secondary to the fabulous Jules Verne–inspired underseas adventure. Ships are vanishing, and Modo and the beautiful Octavia's investigation results in Modo and rival French agent Colette (another stunning teen) landing aboard the Ictinéo, a submarine whose crew come from an astounding underwater Utopia (geothermal springs, massive amounts of rivets and metal plates feature prominently; citizens are comrades, and even the disabled and old are considered valuable members of society). Even as Modo seeks his freedom and races Colette to tell his supervisors of the submarine, the Clockwork Guild seeks the Ictinéo, and in the end a battle is inevitable. Slade's dialogue continues to be clunky, but the adventure continues to soar—anyone who hasn't started the series yet should grab both volumes right now. (Steampunk. 10 & up)\ \ \ \ \ \ School Library JournalGr 7–10—Modo is back with more bizarre shape-shifting, daring espionage, and exciting steampunk adventures. Mr. Socrates's agents have been following the exploits of a French spy named Colette Chiyoko Brunet when she disappears unexpectedly. Modo and his partner from the first book, Octavia, are ordered to pose as husband and wife in order to investigate something referred to in Colette's documents as the Ictíneo, or "new fish." They suspect that this may be a new kind of boat, or mechanical narwhal designed to sink ships. What they don't realize is that someone very dangerous is also on its trail. Modo and Octavia's journey will lead Modo to the depths of the ocean and straight into another conflict with the Clockwork Guild. Modo is an innocent character who is easily teased and is very honorable. His tentative affection for the streetwise and reckless Octavia is touching, but, like Modo, readers aren't sure that she can be trusted with his greatest secret: the deformity of his real face. In this book, readers begin to see that there is more to the stoic Mr. Socrates than was originally revealed. The only problem with the characterization is that the "bad guys" are simply evil, with little nuance of character. On the surface, this is a simple Victorian adventure that will be accessible to lower-level readers. However, there are allusions and references to some of great classic authors that will allow this novel to be an exciting read for those who want to mine more from its depths.—Heather M. Campbell, formerly at Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO\ \