02 The Reef

Chapter 02 The Reef A breeze blew through the window. Sea gulls cried. Waves lapped the shore. Annie picked up the riddle scroll. She unrolled it. Together she and Jack read the riddle: Rough and gray as rock, I’m plain as plain can be. But hidden deep inside There’s great beauty in me. What am I?

“ Let’s go find the answer, ” said Annie. She and Jack looked out the window. The tree house wasn’t in a tree. It was on the ground. “ Why is the ground pink?” said Jack. “ I don’t know, ” said Annie. “ But I’m going out there. ” “ I’m going to do a little research first, ” said Jack. Annie climbed out of the tree house. Jack picked up the ocean book and flipped through it. He found a picture of a pink island surrounded by water. He read: This is a coral reef. Corals are tiny sea animals. After they die, their skeletons remain. Over time, the reef builds up from stacks of coral skeletons.

“ Oh, man, tiny skeletons, ” said Jack. He pulled out his notebook and wrote: Millions of Coral skeletons “ Jack! Jack! Come look at this, ” cried Annie. “ What is it?” “ I don’t know. But you’ll love it! ” she said. Jack threw his notebook and the ocean book into his pack. He climbed out the window. “ Is it the answer to the riddle?” he called. “ I don’t think so. It doesn’t look very plain, ” said Annie. She was standing at the edge of the water. Beside her was a strange-looking machine. Jack hurried over the bumpy coral to get a better look.

The machine was half on the reef and half in the clear blue water. It looked like a huge white bubble with a big window. “ Is it a special kind of boat?” asked Annie. Jack found a picture of the machine in the ocean book. He read: Scientists who study the ocean are called oceanographers. Sometimes they travel in small diving vessels called submersibles, or “ mini-subs, ” to study the ocean floor. “ It’s a mini-sub, ” said Jack. He pulled out his notebook. “ Let’s get inside it, ” said Annie. “ No! ” said Jack. Actually, he did want to see what the sub looked like inside. But he shook his head. “ We can’t. It’s not ours. ” “ Just a teeny peek, ” said Annie. “ It might help us figure out the riddle. ”

Jack sighed. “ Okay. But we have to be careful. Don’t touch anything, ” he said. “ Don’t worry, ” said Annie. “ And take off your shoes so they won’t get wet, ” said Jack. He and Annie slipped off their shoes and socks and threw them toward the tree house. Then they stepped carefully over the sharp coral. Annie turned the handle on the hatch of the mini-sub. It opened. She and Jack climbed inside. The hatch slammed shut. The mini-sub was tiny. Two seats faced the big window. In front of the seats was a computer built into a control panel. Annie sat down.