Wall of Water

by Kristin F. Johnson

  Copyright © 2017 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

  All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

  Darby Creek

  A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

  241 First Avenue North

  Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA

  For reading levels and more information, look up this title at www.lernerbooks.com.

  Front cover: © Nalukai/Paul Topp/Dreamstime.com, (wave); © iStockphoto.com/Marina Mariya (swirl).

  Images in this book used with the permission of: © Nalukai/Paul Topp/Dreamstime.com, (wave); © iStockphoto.com/Marina Mariya (swirl).

  Main body text set in Janson Text LT Std 12/17.5. Typeface provided by Adobe Systems.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Johnson, Kristin F., 1968- author.

  Title: Wall of water / Kristin F. Johnson.

  Description: Minneapolis : Darby Creek, [2017] | Series: Day of disaster | Summary: “After a devastating earthquake, a teen and her family are threatened by yet another disaster. A tsunami destroys their house. Their life in paradise is shaken as they try to survive the next blow”— Provided by publisher.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2016023632 (print) | LCCN 2016034209 (ebook) | ISBN 9781512427783 (lb : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781512430967 (pb : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781512427868 (eb pdf)

  Subjects: | CYAC: Tsunamis—Fiction. | Earthquakes—Fiction. | Survival—Fiction. | Families—Fiction. | Hawaii—Fiction. | Filipino Americans—Fiction. | Racially mixed people—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.1.J624 Wal 2017 (print) | LCC PZ7.1.J624 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016023632

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  1-41503-23364-8/3/2016

  9781512435153 ePub

  9781512435160 ePub

  9781512435177 mobi

  For my niece, Katy V.

  1

  The day of the disaster dawned the same as every other day in Hawaii: perfect. That’s what Alexandra’s dad had called it when he told her that they would be moving there. Perfect temps, perfect beaches, and perfect weather. A perfect paradise.

  But perfect Hawaii didn’t have Alex’s school, her friends, or her home. Spending her senior year of high school there also meant Alex wouldn’t get to graduate with her class. Instead, she would be going to school on Oahu, Hawaii’s third-biggest island, with a bunch of strangers. But Alex had no say in the matter, so now here she was with her family in “paradise.”

  Alex sifted sand between her toes.

  “Would you look at that view?” Dad said.

  Alex glanced over at him, but said nothing. Her digging toes caught a strand of seaweed left by the tide as it rolled out into the Pacific Ocean. Alex and her family had walked down to the beach to watch the sunrise, their new routine before Mom and Dad headed off to work each day.

  “Have a bagel, Alex,” her mom said. She spread cream cheese on a bluish roll and walked it over, adding, “You like blueberry, right?”

  “Yeah. Thanks.” Alex took the bagel and bit into it.

  Mom sat down again on her towel, facing the sunrise, and sipped coffee from a mug with Aloha written across it in big, cursive letters.

  “Can I have some coffee?” Alex asked.

  “Nice try,” her mom said. “You don’t need all that caffeine. You can have some orange juice.”

  “Yuck.” Alex took another generous bite of the bagel.

  “Alex!” Drew yelled. “Come over here!”

  Her younger brother was running along the beach, playing tag with the tiny waves that crawled inland.

  Alex ignored him and pulled the phone out of her back pocket. She texted Simone, her best friend back home in Minnesota, with one hand as she finished the bagel in her other hand. Simone and Alex both had the day off, and Alex hoped they could talk later.

  ALEX: Hey!

  Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

  SIMONE: Hey.

  ALEX: What’s up?

  Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

  SIMONE: No school! Going 2 movies w/Chase!!! You?

  ALEX: Beach. Perfect weather here.

  SIMONE: He’s here! Gotta go :-)

  A pang of jealousy struck Alex as if she had been punched in the stomach. Chase was a guy they both liked. She closed the text window and shoved the phone back into her pocket. She had only been gone from Minnesota for a month and Simone already had a boyfriend. Alex felt like she had hardly met anyone.

  Well, that wasn’t exactly true. She had made two friends on the island, Sienna and Maia. But they already had a history together, so even though they tried to make Alex feel at home, she was still the new girl. She didn’t get any of their inside jokes, and she didn’t know any of the places or people they talked about. They just kept saying, Sorry and You’ll go there sometime or You’ll eventually meet so-and-so.

  “Alex!” Mom called. “Get off your phone. You’re in Hawaii!”

  Alex pushed up off the ground. She dusted the damp sand from her legs and shorts before wandering down to the ocean’s edge. The blue-green water was clear enough to see coral, and the sun reflected orange and yellow off the waves farther out. Seagulls swooped and cawed. The air was warm and balmy. It would be another “perfect” day in Hawaii.

  “Bet your friends back home are jealous that you’re wearing shorts and T-shirts all year,” Dad said. “They’ll be all bundled up in parkas right now. Brrrr.” Dad fake-shivered and sipped his coffee.

  The truth was that Alex liked having seasons that changed. It made every few months feel like a new beginning. Mom had put their winter clothes in storage, including Alex’s favorite navy blue V-neck sweater, saying, “You won’t need that where we’re going.”

  The waves crashed against the shore. Drew raced back from the waves as though the water touching his feet were hot lava.

  A sign posted along the beach said, Preserve Our Natural Landscape. Please Leave All Lava Rocks and Other Natural Elements Where You Find Them.

  Alex picked up a black rock, carefully holding it between her index finger and thumb. She jogged over to her dad, who was smiling at the beautiful colors spread across the sky.

  “Look at this.” She showed him the lava rock. Tiny craters covered its surface, their edges rough like charcoal against her skin. His smile disappeared.

  “Alex, the sign says, ‘Leave rocks where you find them.’ Besides, it’s bad luck. Remember what the guide said?”

  “You mean the guy in the ‘Hang Loose’ tank and flip-flops? Is that the best news source?” Alex asked.

  “The locals know what they’re talking about,” her dad said. “We need to respect their traditions.”

  “I thought you weren’t superstitious, Mr. Science,” Alex kidded him.

  “Then look it up on your phone,” he said. Mom shot him a dirty look, and he added, “When we get home.” They had moved because Alex's dad, Michael Reyes, was invited to be a visiting professor in the marine biology department at the University of Hawaii. Mom was a writer for a test scoring company that let her telecommute, which meant she worked from a table in a coffee shop. The Reyes house had always been bookish and a bit Big Bang Theory nerdish, so anything the slightest bit “paranormal” usually ended in arguing and Googling for evidence.

  “Dad!” Drew said. “I can see the Philippines!” He pointed toward an island in the distance.

  “That’s not the P
hilippines, you dork,” Alex said, rolling her eyes.

  “Alex, don’t call your brother names,” Mom said.

  “Yeah!” Drew stuck his tongue out at Alex.

  “The Philippines is a little farther away,” Dad said.

  “You said it was close enough to visit Grandma, close enough that we might be able to see it,” Drew said.

  “Okay, I think I exaggerated a little on that one.”

  “What’s that then?” Drew asked.

  “Must be Kauai,” Dad said. “We’ll get there sometime soon.”

  “What about Grandma?” Drew said.

  “Yep. We’ll see if we can get over there too. It’d be a shame not to visit when we’re this close. She would probably never forgive me if we didn't,” Dad said.

  Alex turned the lava rock over in her hand. “Why can’t I keep this? What’s the big deal?”

  Her dad folded his arms across his chest. “Better safe than sorry, honey. We’re visitors. The beach doesn’t belong to us.”

  The rock felt light, the weight of a quarter or even a dime, though it was more the size of a golf ball.

  “Alex, listen to your father,” Mom said. She was applying sunscreen to her fair-skinned nose and arms.

  Alex stared at the rock in her hand. How could a tiny rock be bad luck?

  “Alex!”

  Alex jumped and dropped the rock. “Fine,” she said. Dad shook his head. Mom got up and shook the sand out of her beach towel.

  “Are we going to see a real volcano?” Drew asked, distracting Dad.

  “Maybe.” Dad finally unfolded his arms. “When we get a free day, we could fly over to the Big Island.”

  “Yay!” Drew said.

  “The last great volcanic eruption was in 2008, when Kilauea erupted, and it’s still spewing lava into the ocean. When we visit the Big Island, you can see where lava ran onto the highway and stopped right in the middle of the road.”

  Alex was used to her dad going on about geology and seismology, tectonic plates and volcanic eruptions, so she put her headphones on and turned up that song about breaking up with a first love and leaving home.

  Drew got bored with Dad’s lecture too and went back to playing tag with the waves. Mom and Dad cuffed their pants and walked through the low tide, carrying their sandals in their hands.

  Alex picked up a few other rocks and tossed them into the ocean one by one. She threw the last as far as she could. She scooped up another handful and realized she had picked up the lava rock again. She glanced up. No one was watching her. She slipped the rock into her pocket. It was so light she could barely even feel it was there.

  2

  After the sunrise, they walked home. Drew also had the day off from school—it was a teacher's workshop day or something—so Alex and her brother had a whole day to bum around. Alex was meeting Sienna and Maia at the beach later. Maybe she would show them the lava rock.

  “Have a good day, kids!” Dad said as he and Mom left for work.

  As soon as they were gone, Drew snatched Alex’s headphones off the kitchen counter.

  “Mind if I borrow these?”

  “Ugh. Okay. But don’t wreck them.”

  “I won’t. Sheesh.” Drew rolled his eyes and nestled the headphones over his ears. He plopped down on the couch, his usual spot, propped his feet up on an armrest, and laced his hands across his chest, partially covering the skateboarder doing a kickflip on his blue T-shirt. Electric guitars and drums blared out from the headphones, probably some heavy metal anthem about rebelling and shaking things up.

  “Turn it down,” Alex said. “You’re going to go deaf.”

  “What?” Drew said, lifting one side of the speakers away from his head.

  “Nothing,” Alex said. “Never mind.”

  Drew didn’t seem to care much about fitting in. He had his skateboard, and there was a skateboard park right down the block with tons of kids wheeling around and doing tricks. That was enough for him most days.

  Alex pulled out her phone. No new texts. Simone hadn’t initiated a conversation in a while. How could her best friend have forgotten about her so quickly? Chase, that’s how. Oh yeah, they had gone to the movies. Alex sighed. Maybe she would meet someone here in paradise, but they were already a month into the school year and that hadn’t happened yet.

  The first weeks at school had been a surprise. For once in her life, Alex’s brown skin and dark brown hair blended in, looks-wise, with the other kids because well over half of Hawaii’s people were Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or multiracial. But looking like them was totally different than having years of shared memories with them. She almost wished she didn’t look so similar. Back home, Alex’s blended heritage was unique. Here no one noticed her.

  She met Sienna because they were in two advanced placement classes together, English and calculus. They even lived near each other, within walking distance of the beach—which Alex had to admit was pretty cool. Sienna’s mom was from Columbia and her dad was from the East Coast, so she got the blended heritage thing. And she was a transplant too: her dad was in the service and had been assigned to Hawaii a few years ago.

  Sienna’s friend Maia lived on the other side of the beach. Alex felt that she had way more in common with Sienna than Maia did, but Mom had bugged Alex to make more than one friend. Now she could see why. If one person got a boyfriend, you would still have other people to do things with.

  Sienna and Maia were pretty cool, and she liked hanging out with them. Maybe Hawaii wasn’t so bad after all. Maybe it wasn’t perfect, but it was getting better.

  Her phone buzzed with a text.

  SIENNA: See you in a half hour?

  ALEX: Yes! See you then!

  SIENNA: :-)

  Alex straightened up and sent Simone a quick text because she wanted to tell someone she was doing something cool today.

  No response.

  Right. Date with Chase.

  Alex stuffed the phone back in her pocket and grabbed Mom’s beach towel off the counter. It still smelled of coffee and Mom’s coconut sunblock. On the way to the beach, Alex would knock on Sienna’s door, and they would walk the rest of the way together. Maia would meet them by the three palm trees that made a triangle, and they would hang up hammocks—Sienna was bringing an extra for Alex—and chill out all day.

  Alex went into the kitchen to grab a water bottle for the road and three small bags of chips. Standing on the tile floor, she felt an odd vibration. Had she left her cell phone on vibrate? Maybe that was Sienna again, asking if Alex could bring something else. Or maybe Simone was finally responding to her text.

  Alex pulled the phone out. No one had called. Huh? She could have sworn she felt—

  There it was again—more like a rumble. Thunder? She stepped toward the window, still holding the bags of chips.

  The floor beneath her moved again. It had to be an earthquake.

  3

  “Drew!”

  He was half asleep on the couch, headphones blaring and a biography of Tony Hawk open on his chest. Alex ran over and shook his leg. “Drew!”

  “Huh?” His eyes fluttered open. “What?”

  “It’s an earthquake! We have to take shelter! Come on!”

  Even as she said it, the tremor shook the ground harder.

  Drew rolled off the couch and onto his feet, the headphones wrapped around his neck. The kitchen cabinet doors rattled, and the plates and glasses inside clattered. Then the floor actually moved, and a crack split the middle of the living room ceiling.

  “Hide! Quick! Get under something sturdy!” Alex directed.

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know!”

  “The bathroom tub?” Drew asked.

  “No. Not in something. Under something. Quick! Follow me!” Alex grabbed his arm, and they ran into their parents’ bedroom.

  Drew dove under the bed. “Ow!” He rubbed his head as he scooted underneath.

  “Be careful.”

  Alex co
uldn’t fit under the bed, so she ducked under the next best thing: her mom’s desk, up against the wall. Mom had refused to leave it behind, saying that nothing would ever replace that solid oak monster. Alex crawled inside the rectangular cubby and folded up, pulling her knees to her chest. She tucked her head, just like they had done during school tornado drills in Minnesota. She placed her hands behind her neck and interlaced her fingers, protecting her spine. Was that good? It was a lot different than being in the hallways by the lockers during a drill.

  Drew was facedown under the bed. His arms shook. He glanced up at her. Above her, she heard framed photos toppling over on the desktop. One slid off and landed next to Alex: a picture from her parents’ wedding. Mom and Dad faced each other, smiling, looking so young. Where were they? Somewhere safe? The ground shook again, and a look of horror crossed Drew’s face.

  “I forgot Lulu!” he screamed.

  “Stay put!” Alex yelled. “There’s no time to get your lizard!”

  A loud crash came from outside. Drew screamed.

  “Cover your head and neck!” Alex shouted.

  Instead, Drew grabbed the photo of Mom and Dad, pulled it under the bed, and hugged it.

  The rumble reminded Alex of a train, but it felt more like riding the rickety old roller coaster at the amusement park near her old house.

  Outside something crashed, sounding like metal and glass shattering. Then suddenly the rumbles stopped. Everything went still.

  Alex didn’t move at first. She held her breath, afraid another tremor would come, but nothing happened.

  “Is it over?” Drew asked.

  “Wait,” Alex answered. “Stay put.”

  She took a deep breath and slowly lifted her head. Her hands shook, but she steadied them on the carpet and rolled onto all fours. She peeked out from under the desk and looked up toward the ceiling—and whacked her head on the desk drawer, which had opened halfway during the quake. She slid the drawer closed.

  The earthquake couldn’t have lasted more than a minute.

  When Alex stood up, her legs wobbled.