I Promise You'll Get Better

Seven

Shellington heard a knock on his laboratory door. There were hushed whispers outside. One sounded a lot like Tweak. The other sounded a lot like one of the cousins. He couldn't identify which one.

"Come in!" he called, pushing aside his notebooks and nearly knocking over a rack of test tubes full of chemicals he had been studying. He grabbed the rack just in time, but one of the tubes—luckily empty--wobbled and fell out, smashing on the floor. He groaned.

"Ah, Shellington." Danielle strode into his laboratory, looking nothing but furious. "Could you help Tweak and I settle a little argument?"

"I'll have a go," Shellington said, quickly brushing the shards of glass under the desk with his foot and leaning on it. "What's happened?"

Tweak came in, looking very nervous and very guilty. Shellington immediately straightened up. He could sense something was wrong. Very wrong indeed.

"So I was exploring the Octopod along with my fellow cousins," Danielle began, hands on hips, "and I decided to visit Tweak in her workshop. And what did I find?"

"I don't know," Shellington said.

"That Tweak, the famous engineer of the Octonauts, had none other than blown up Dashi's camera!" Danielle exclaimed.

Shellington stared at Tweak. "You're joking, right?"

Tweak shook her head. "N-no, I'm not."

From behind her back she revealed the remains of the camera. It was mangled beyond any recognition, the lens shattered, the screen almost completely gone. Its sunny yellow was barely visible under a thick layer of burnt black.

"Tweak," Shellington said slowly, "you know Dashi's going to kill you, right?"

Tweak nodded silently.

Shellington didn't want to imagine Dashi's face. He took a deep breath.

"You need to tell Dashi what you've done," he said. "You can't lie to her. You've got to tell her sooner rather than later."

"I can't!" Tweak burst out, nearly dropping the camera. "She trusted us! And with what she's going through right now, she's going to be twice as upset as she would be if she hadn't been attacked! She's going to be a wreck!"

Something in Danielle's expression softened. She put an arm around Tweak.

"I'm sorry I shouted at you," she apologised. "Here. We'll do it together, yeah?"

"I'm going to break her," Tweak muttered, pupils dilated with fear. Shellington felt a pang of sympathy for her.

"Shel, we'll need you on standby to comfort Dashi," Danielle said. "She's likely to lash out at all of us, but from what I've heard, you're great at knowing what to do with her."

"Got it," Shellington said.

Tweak blinked at him gratefully. "She's my best friend. I don't want to ruin everything."

"You won't," Shellington said. Danielle looked uneasy, but didn't comment.

"Let's go," she announced. "Better to get it over and done with."

They left the lab, Tweak trailing behind. Shellington knelt down to sweep up the broken glass and throw it in the bin, before sinking down into his chair, head in hands.

He hoped Dashi was in a relatively good mood today. He didn't want to see her break down.

*

"You did what?"