The Legend of the Lost Pearl: Chronicles of Atlantis

By Moya Huxtable

In the Crystal Caves, hidden far beneath Antarctica, lives an ancient being. Medusa is the last of her kind who escaped from our sister planet, Terralius, before its apocalyptic implosion eons ago. She has seen what unfolds when all warnings of global catastrophe are ignored.

After Fleur, estranged daughter of a prominent world leader, is saved from drowning by a massive, green turtle named Midas, they embark on a perilous quest to save the Earth. Midas is no ordinary turtle, and together they journey to the Crystal Caves to seek help from Medusa and her fabled Pearl.

Far beneath the waves, Fleur witnesses both the wonder of the marine world and the horrific impact of humankind's destruction and neglect. But will she have the courage and faith to claim the mystical talisman that is our only hope in a race against time and greed?

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Feb 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9781922788788

Book preview

A family feud

The swirling, leaden waters finally overcame Fleur Wilton’s efforts, and indeed her will, to swim to shore and, with a last gulp of air, she felt the weight of the ocean close over her and engulf her. She closed her eyes and felt herself sinking into its chilling embrace. The faces of her father and mother were as clear as if they were right there alongside her and she found her mind replaying the scene of events that had led to this moment. Was it only this morning that she had quarrelled with her father? It now seemed a lifetime ago.

She had run from the house, angrily slamming the door behind her. Then she kept running, as though distance could lessen the hurt and betrayal she felt after the most recent argument with her father. If she didn’t love him so much, his actions and apparent lies would not wound so deeply. Lately it seemed that when she finally did get to see her father, which was not a lot, they always argued. She ran on, through the beautiful gardens, past the fragrant and colourful rose beds which her mother loved so much, unseeing and oblivious to everything, her eyes blurred by tears.

Out of breath and exhausted, as much by crying as by the long run, she at last burst through the seaside scrub and onto the beach that she loved so much. The water drew her to it like a shimmering silver magnet. The soft, cool sand now slowed her down and she realised how tired she was. Feeling the welcome scrunch of sand between her toes, she sank down gratefully, hugging her knees and resting her aching head to think.

She could understand why her father’s business meant so much to him. He had inherited a large and thriving company from his father, who had inherited it from his father before him. Her father had been determined to do great things and make the company even bigger. This meant that he spent a lot of time away from his family. It seemed that he was only home for a little while on the weekends and, even then, he would spend a lot of time in his study, talking on long distance telephone calls, sitting at his massive, mahogany desk and reading through the never-ending stream of documents spewing forth from the printer alongside his always active computer.

***

Sometimes Fleur’s mother would take her husband by the hand and lead him outside to join her and Fleur on the verandah. She would sit him down and gently but firmly admonish him for ‘bringing his work home’ as she put it. She told him that they were a family and, when they were together, his work would have to wait. Sometimes, she even managed to convince him to take a holiday with them. Fleur did not have any brothers or sisters, but when her family did go away together, they always had a wonderful time. They travelled to some of the most fascinating places in the world. For a young girl, Fleur had seen some incredible sights. She had seen the pyramids at Giza and ridden a camel in the deserts of Egypt. She had sailed on a 100-foot yacht in the waters of the Caribbean and watched dolphins frolicking alongside from the smooth, teak deck. She had been to Paris and holidayed in a beautiful chateau in the French countryside which was hundreds of years old and supposed to have once belonged to Marie Antoinette. She had even been allowed to sip a little of the wonderful French wine that her parents enjoyed at dinner. It tasted wonderful but made her feel sleepy, and sleep was something she only did when she had to. She had met people from all over the world and done things which, she knew, some people never experienced in a whole lifetime. She realised she was privileged and had a life that many people thought was inappropriate for someone her age, but she revelled in it and drank in the sights and sounds that fed her never-ending thirst for knowledge and life.

Clay and Jennifer Wilton treated their only child like an adult; they always had. Fleur was twelve, but she could not remember a time when she had not had long and wonderful conversations about anything and everything in the world with her parents, particularly her mother. But, as time went on, she saw less and less of her father and now when they talked, they always seemed to argue. Fleur was worried and confused about a lot of things. She read the newspapers avidly, as well as lots of magazines, wanting to learn as much as possible. She took a special interest in the places she had visited. She had not failed to notice the poor people in the streets, begging for food, or the increasing number of homeless people living in cardboard boxes in alleyways. More and more, she was frightened about the things going on around her. She read about the destruction of the rainforests in Brazil, which were being cut down and burned to feed cattle, and the avarice of local businessmen who sold the meat to large fast food companies around the world. And there were the rivers, poisoned by chemicals by men greedy for the gold in the surrounding land. There were the acid rains falling on the forests in Europe. Rain of all things! Killing the trees and turning the forests, which had once been alive with animals and birds, into huge areas of lifeless, skeletal trees where no-one would go, and no animals lived. What was once a lush forest now resembled an eerie, silent graveyard. It seemed that no matter where Fleur looked, there was something bad happening and it worried her immensely. What sort of planet would she inherit when she grew up?

What also scared her was that her father’s companies were in industries that were damaging the environment. Worst of all, he didn’t think there was anything wrong; all that seemed to matter to him was that his companies kept growing, his shares did well on the stock market, and his fortune kept growing.

***

Already worth millions of dollars, Clay Wilton inherited a shipping line when his father died. The company was doing very well, but he was determined to make it bigger. Now, ten years later, he had built an empire. Wilton Incorporated was made up of the original shipping line, and now also included ocean liners, massive oil tankers, fishing fleets and fish processing factories on the coast. He also owned two television stations, a radio station and a chain of newspapers. He had become extremely important. He ate lunch with ministers and other billionaires and was invited to many meetings in Washington, London, Hong Kong, and other major global business hubs. He sat on advisory committees for the government and was also a member of some international bodies which met in Europe from time to time. At their meetings they discussed rules and regulations which would affect business and industries all around the world.

Fleur read about oil spills and other forms of pollution in the oceans, rivers and lakes all the time. She also knew that in many areas the fishing catches were decreasing and, in order to combat this, new types of fishing vessels were being used with bigger nets and better equipment so that they could go further, stay away longer and come back with more fish. Rubbish of every kind from the land littered the ocean floor and choked its surface; tankers emptied their ballast tanks where they shouldn’t, fouling the sea around them; and coastal industrial areas poured smoke and chemicals into the air and spewed yet more rubbish and poison into the ocean.

‘Can’t you do something about it, Daddy?’ Fleur would ask her father tearfully.

Initially, he smiled indulgently. ‘Fleur, how do you think we can afford to live in such a lovely house? We have the holiday house up on Long Island, which you and your mother love so much, and you go to the most exclusive school on the East Coast. Money doesn’t grow on trees, you know.’

‘But we have more than enough money to last us forever. Even if you didn’t have the companies anymore, or if the government brought in new rules that meant they didn’t make big profits all the time, we would never be able to spend all of what Poppie left you.’

‘Now, now darling,’ he would reply gently, although by now he was starting to scowl and look irritated. ‘What about the thousands of people I employ? You wouldn’t want them to lose their jobs. They have families to look after too. I have a responsibility to them. I also have a responsibility to my shareholders. They want a better return on their money every year. That means the company must keep growing and be more efficient with what it has.’

‘What you really mean is that you don’t want to spend any money on changing things or buying new equipment to protect the environment. You don’t think it is important,’ Fleur argued.

Her father would sigh and shrug his shoulders dismissively. ‘Darling, you don’t understand. One day you will.’ Then, he would get up and leave the room or pick up his phone, and the conversation would be over.

Today had been different. It was the worst argument they had ever had. She had been in his study going through the row upon row of books on the shelves, which stretched from floor to ceiling on two massive walls. She was looking for something interesting to read over the weekend when the printer hummed into life. Curiosity got the better of her and she went over to the machine and took the document out one page at a time, reading its contents with growing hurt and anger. It was made very clear to her that her father was part of a consortium which was considering going into partnership with a Japanese company still hunting whales in the Pacific Ocean. What was even worse was that her father was going to support their proposal at the next International Whaling Commission hearing. In their opinion, there were enough whales to resume the commercial killing of these beautiful and intelligent mammals. The document ended with a financial analysis: the investment amount and how much money it should return to the investors.

She was still standing with the document in her trembling hands when her father walked through the door. He stopped and glared at her, then strode towards her and snatched the documents out of her hands.

‘How dare you read my private papers, Fleur!’ he yelled, shaking the papers in front of her.

‘You mean how dare I find out what you are doing? How could you? All this time, I thought you did really care, but that it was too difficult to change things in your company overnight. I always believed that in time you would understand that things need to change, and you would start to do something positive about it. But you never will, will you? You’re really just as greedy as everyone else and you don’t care what you do, just as long as you get more money.’

‘Fleur, you listen to me!’ her father yelled as she ran from the room.

‘No! I don’t want to hear any more of your lies!’ cried Fleur as she ran down the stairs and out of the house. It seemed incredible, that in the space of about one minute her whole world could crumble around her and the father that she loved so much could seem like a cold and distant stranger. He didn’t care about anything or anyone else—definitely not about what she thought, or even for that matter her future.

A good deed unravels

Fleur stood up and brushed the sand from her hands. She didn’t know how long she had been there, huddled on the beach with nothing but her angry thoughts for company, but the sky was getting dark and low black clouds were covering the sun. The beach was deserted, and the ocean looked grey and angry. Every now and then a big gust of wind would turn the sand into thousands of little needles stinging her legs. Nevertheless, she dawdled along the water’s edge, picking up the occasional shell or pebble and throwing it half-heartedly into the water. She couldn’t even be bothered trying to make them skip like she normally did.

She wasn’t paying attention to anything much, still daydreaming and thinking about her father, when she saw a large dark shape on the shore ahead. It moved a little and she heard a strange whistling sound. She ran over and then stopped suddenly; it was a dolphin and it was stuck in the sand. With every wave that swirled and sucked around it, it would wriggle and cry, but it seemed to just get stuck more firmly in the sand instead of freeing itself. Fleur looked around frantically, but there was no-one in sight. Then she looked back at the dolphin. It had stopped wriggling and was looking up at her, sadly, with glistening eyes. She felt her own eyes prick with tears.

‘No!’ she screamed. ‘I’m not going to let you die. Come on, I’ll help you, but you’ll have to try too.’

The one eye looking up at her seemed to soften and the little dolphin whistled back at her as though he understood. Fleur started digging in the sand around the dolphin furiously and then with every wave that flowed around and over him she would, as gently as she could, push and move him. In turn the little dolphin wriggled frantically, pushing with his pectoral fins and swishing his tail from side to side.

***

It seemed like an eternity and Fleur was very tired, but at last she had dug a good trench in the sand. Finally, as the waves flowed back into the ocean, Fleur and the dolphin moved. When it was deep enough, she let the little dolphin go, but he turned and swam towards the beach.

‘No, not that way. You must go out to sea,’ she explained, cradling the little dolphin in her arms and pushing him towards the open seas. Several times this happened and Fleur realised that there was only one thing to do: take him out deeper still.

So, with Fleur guiding the beautiful silver creature, they headed out into the deeper water. Before she knew it, she was swimming alongside the dolphin and the shore seemed a long way away.

The dolphin’s head broke the water suddenly and, with a loud blast of air, he looked at Fleur. He rolled on one side and she could swear that he smiled; she thought that he looked very happy for a second. He gave a loud, joyous squeak and, with one large flip of his tail, she was left behind. With relief, Fleur turned her head and started to swim back to shore, feeling elated.

She swam and swam before she realised she was not getting anywhere. She was caught in a terrible rip and was actually being carried further out to sea. She started to panic, screaming out for help, but there was no-one to hear her. She was exhausted and found it hard to stay afloat. The waves slapped her, filling her eyes and mouth with water. She fought bravely for a long time,

Reviews for The Legend of the Lost Pearl

[diana holt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A story for our times with fascinating insights into marine life. Some important lessons for mankind within the parables.