Can You Catch the Kraken? Read online

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  About Your Adventure

  Chapter 1: Sea Creature Search

  Chapter 2: The Kraken of Norway!

  Chapter 3: The Mediterranean Sea Serpent

  Chapter 4: The Mighty Megalodon

  Chapter 5: Sea Monsters: Real or Extinct?

  Sea Monsters Around the World

  Glossary

  Other Paths to Explore

  Read More

  Internet Sites

  About the Author

  Index

  Copyright

  Back Cover

  Cover

  Title Page

  Table of Contents

  Start of Content

  Main Body

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  back cover

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  About Your Adventure

  YOU are an oceanographer who studies and photographs marine life. You also have a strong interest in old tales about the kraken and other sea monsters. When you hear about sightings of these creatures, you’re excited at the idea of finding them and getting proof of their existence. Will you be able to track down the legendary creatures?

  Chapter One sets the scene. Then you choose which path to read. Follow the links at the bottom of each page as you read the stories. The decisions you make will change your outcome. After you finish one path, go back and read the others for new perspectives and more adventures. Use your device’s back buttons or page navigation to jump back to your last choice.

  CHAPTER 1

  SEA CREATURE SEARCH

  Splash!

  You dive into the crisp, crystal-blue water of the Caribbean Sea. All around you the sea teems with life, and you capture it all with your underwater camera. A stingray slides along the ocean floor. A group of jellyfish and a spiky puffer fish float nearby.

  You can’t believe you get to take photos of such amazing sea creatures for your job. Today your work has brought you to a reef system in the Caribbean Sea near the coast of Jamaica. You’re searching for a group, or shiver, of hammerhead sharks, and find them circling the coral reef.

  Puffer fish often make their homes in coral reefs. The sharks are a smaller variety and aren’t aggressive toward humans. Still, you keep your distance as you snap a series of photos.

  After a time, you swim toward the surface. Your scuba tank is nearly out of oxygen, and you have what you need for the day.

  You break the surface, peel out your mouthpiece, and take a deep breath of fresh air. A large boat is anchored nearby. As you swim toward it, a man emerges from the boat’s helm. His shaggy brown hair is pinned atop his head.

  “Welcome back,” he says with a wide smile as you climb aboard.

  The man is your assistant, Mattius. He helps you shrug the scuba tank from your back.

  “Did you find the sharks?” Mattius asks.

  You nod.

  “See any scary monsters?” he laughs. Mattius is aware of your other passion, cryptozoology. It is the study of creatures whose existence hasn’t been proven, such as Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster.

  “Not today,” you reply. “Why do you ask?”

  “While you were down there, I saw an article online from Norway.” Mattius replies. “A fishing boat captain claims to have seen gigantic tentacles reaching up out of the ocean.”

  Mattius’s words grab your attention. Suddenly, the beauty of the Caribbean is lost on you. You wish to know more about the sighting.

  That evening in your hotel room, you decide to look up the article Mattius mentioned on your computer.

  “It was like nothing I’d ever seen before,” the ship’s captain says in the story. “It looked like the arms of a kraken!”

  Tales of the kraken describe the legendary beast as a gigantic squid or octopus-like creature. “Kraken… ” you whisper quietly.

  The kraken is a legendary cephalopod once thought to terrorize ships in ancient times. But the giant creature’s existence has never been proven.

  But the event in Norway isn’t the only report of a mysterious sighting. You find another article about fishermen who may have spied a mythical sea serpent in the Mediterranean Sea.

  Another story covers a team of great white shark trackers. They claim to have evidence near China of the largest shark ever spotted in the world. Could it be the extinct megalodon?

  All of these reports sound appealing. Which creature do you want to track down?

  To search for the kraken, press here.

  To look for the sea serpent, press here.

  To hunt down the megalodon, press here.

  CHAPTER 2

  THE KRAKEN OF NORWAY!

  The next morning as you prepare the boat for another day at sea, you tell Mattius you’re heading off to Norway.

  “You are?”

  “I read that article you mentioned yesterday.”

  “The one about the kraken?” Mattius laughs. He doesn’t have the same interest in cryptid creatures that you do.

  “The very one,” you reply. “I’m going to try to get some
photographs of the creature.”

  “Then I wish you the best of luck,” Mattius says.

  That evening after you and Mattius bring in the boat, you pack your things and prepare for a long plane ride.

  The following morning, you board a nearly full flight from Kingston, Jamaica, to Oslo, Norway. You’re headed from the heat and sunshine of the Caribbean to the icy-cold Nordic north.

  Ancient sailors often imagined that dangerous creatures lurked in the sea off the coast of Norway. On the plane you read more about the mythical kraken. The creature was first popularized in old Norse sagas, or epic tales and poems about heroic characters. Later, sailors often drew pictures of the beast with its tentacles wrapped around large ships. Ancient tales about the kraken often describe its unspeakable size.

  You also learn that ancient sailors likely mistook giant squids to be the legendary beast. You wonder just what the sailors in Norway saw, and you’re anxious to hear their story.

  Once you arrive in Oslo, you take a small plane to the port city where the fishing ship is docked. The docks are filled with crates of fresh seafood and people bundled up against the chilly wind.

  You wander about, searching for the fishing boat. According to the article, the boat’s name is Valhalla. It’s named after the enormous hall found in Asgard, the home of the Norse gods. After a time, you find the fishing boat. Its name is painted in blue on the white hull.

  As you approach, a muscular man with a thick beard appears wearing a blue beanie cap. He exits the ship and steps on the dock in front of you.

  “Can I help you?” he asks in a gruff voice.

  You introduce yourself and tell him you’ve come to find out more about the reported creature.

  “Hmm. Name’s Sven Olmansen.” Sven thrusts out a rough hand for you to shake.

  “You’ve got the right boat. We’re about to take it out for the night,” Sven explains. “You’re welcome to join us.”

  “Right now? Uh, sure… that would be great,” you reply.

  As the small crew of the Valhalla prepares to leave port, Sven is quite talkative. He shares all the details of the crew’s creature sighting as he guides the ship out of port and steers toward the North Sea.

  “There’s two ways we can go,” Sven explains. “We can play it safe and stay in the inlet over there. Or we can head for more treacherous waters. What say you?”

  To steer toward the small inlet, press here.

  To head for open waters, press here.

  You nod in the direction of the small inlet.

  “Now, keep in mind,” Sven says. “This ain’t where we come across the beast. But it’s an okay place to search.”

  “I think it’s best to stay out of the more dangerous area,” you explain. “That way, if we see anything, it’ll be easier to get good photographs.”

  You remove your camera from its case as Sven turns the ship portside. The Valhalla slides left into the small inlet where the water is smoother.

  After a while, the ocean burns bright orange and red as the sun sets across the water. Soon only moonlight will guide the ship across the waves. You can feel the excitement building as the boat glides across the smooth water.

  An hour later, darkness has fallen. It’s been two hours since leaving port. You haven’t seen a hint of anything under the water’s surface.

  But suddenly, as you scan the water’s surface, you see a shadow pass by.

  “Wait!” You wave to Sven to kill the boat’s engine and point to the water. “Over there!”

  As you raise your camera, another crew member turns on a large spotlight and points it at the water. Again, the shadow passes. Only this time it appears to slip under the boat. If you hadn’t been in shallow waters, you may have missed it. You switch your camera over to record high-quality video.

  “She’s near!” Sven shouts. “Should I follow it? Or head to deeper waters?”

  To follow the shadow, press here.

  To continue on to deeper waters, press here.

  “Follow that shape!” you direct the captain.

  Sven turns the ship even further to port, heading into the shallows. The spotlight catches the shadow again. But the shadow is swallowed in darkness just as you hit “record” on the camera.

  You’ve lost sight of the shadow. As Sven brings the ship around, you hear a sickening scrape, and the boat lurches.

  “What’s happened?” you shout.

  “Rocks!” Sven replies. “The hull caught a sharp one. Sorry, friend, but your search for the kraken is over. We gotta head back to port. Now.”

  Your spirits sink in defeat. Your chances of finding the shadow again are slim to none. This isn’t how you hoped your adventure would end.

  THE END

  To read another adventure, press here.

  To learn more about the kraken, press here.

  You watch the water for the shape to return. The crew member manning the spotlight shines it out across the inky blackness of water. Small slivers of moonlight make the water twinkle and shine.

  “There!” You point again as the shape cruises under the ship. You grab the ship’s railing and brace yourself. You can’t help but think about images from old books that show powerful tentacles wrapped around a ship and dragging it under.

  But the shape quickly disappears.

  “Head for deeper water!” you direct Sven. The shape seemed to be swimming in that direction.

  Sven twists the ship’s wheel, and the Valhalla heads away from the inlet.

  Press here.

  “It may be easier to see the creature from shallow waters,” you tell Sven. “But I think we’ll have the best chance of finding the creature in deeper water.”

  “Good call,” Sven says. He steers the craft toward the beautiful sunset of orange and red.

  The deep water is choppy, and for a time even an experienced oceanographer like yourself feels a bit queasy. Your stomach settles as the sun dips below the horizon and darkness descends on you.

  “Fire up the spotlight!” Sven orders. A crew member on the main deck flips the switch on a large light. Then he begins scanning the black waves for motion.

  The Valhalla bobs and shifts in the rough night waters. You have your camera at the ready. But a long time passes, and you see nothing.

  However, just as you’re about to ask Sven to turn around…

  “There!” You shout and point.

  The crewman swings the spotlight to where you pointed. A large shape swiftly passes through the light. When the shadow is caught in the light’s glare, you snap off some photos.

  Click! Ca-click!

  It’s not enough. You want to get closer. You’ve brought your scuba gear with you aboard the boat. You also have an underwater light. Do you dare go into the water with the large shape looming near?

  To go into the water, press here.

  To remain on the boat, press here.

  The Valhalla bobs and shifts in the rough night waters. You have your camera at the ready. But a long time passes, and you see nothing.

  However, just as you’re about to ask Sven to turn around…

  “There!” You shout and point.

  The crewman swings the spotlight to where you pointed. A large shape swiftly passes through the light. When the shadow is caught in the light’s glare, you snap off some photos.

  Click! Ca-click!

  It’s not enough. You want to get closer. You’ve brought your scuba gear with you aboard the boat. You also have an underwater light. Do you dare go into the water with the large shape looming near?

  To go into the water, press here.

  To remain on the boat, press here.

  You’ve already come this far. You know that if you want to capture good images of the beast, you’ll need to get into the water.

  “Sven,” you say to the ca
ptain, “I’m going in.”

  “Do you think it’s safe?”

  “I’ve done it before. I’ll be fine.”

  You put on your scuba gear and ready your underwater camera. With the crew’s help, you safely splash into the sea.

  You’ve never grown used to being underwater at night. It’s pure blackness. You click on the light attached to your gear. A steady beam makes the area around you suddenly glow bright.

  Small fish scurry away from you. There’s no sign of the large shape you saw earlier. You hope it didn’t slip away as you were putting on your scuba gear.

  You decide to explore the area around you. The sea floor is deep, and there appears to be a crevasse carving its way across it. There’s also a ridge of rock jutting out of the darkness.

  Whoosh!

  Divers must use extreme caution when exploring the dark ocean floor. Something large swims overhead. You crane your neck to see, casting the area in light. Could it be the mysterious shape from earlier?

  You try to get a fix on the location of the shape but cannot. You swing the light back and forth, but you see nothing besides fish and other typical ocean life. Certainly nothing that would make spectacular photos.

  But the shape must be nearby.

  You look around, and your eyes land on the crevasse in the ocean floor. Then you see the rocky ridge. Either would be a good place for a large creature to slip off to. But you can only explore one.

  To go to the rocks, press here.

  To go toward the crevasse, press here.

  The rocky ridge has openings wide enough for a large creature to hide. You direct your beam of light at them. But you see nothing.

  You’ll have to get closer.

  You swim toward the rock, scaring away a small octopus on the sea floor. It stirs up a plume of silt as it disappears. Other than that, there is very little sign of life.

  The holes in the rock are large enough for you to swim through. You swim into one and cast your light in front of you.

  Nothing.

  You turn back to head out of the rocks when something darts out at you.