I touched his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“I cut my leg on one of the stalagmites, but it’s no biggie.”
“Oh, man, sorry you got nailed,” said Mike. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I shouldn’t have swam so close.” Jack’s voice echoed in the small, confined place.
“Especially since I left the needle and thread at home,” I said, trying to distract his pain with humor.
“You sew about as good as I do painting portraits in your art studio,” he retorted with a smile.
“That bad, huh? But if I saved your life, who’d care about crooked stitches?” I inched closer. “Let me see your gash.”
Jack clung to the wall, holding back a grimace. “I’m fine. Besides, it’s the least of our worries.”
Minutes passed. I didn’t like the pressure on my lungs, but I trusted Mike. The sooner I got going, the sooner I’d find myself in an open space again. “The water’s clear. You guys ready?”
They both nodded.
I inhaled one last time and dove back down again. I kicked hard to propel myself forward, gliding over a beautiful coral garden. The formations offered vivid patterns, fantastic shapes, weird textures, and unique colors I’d never seen before: bolder, brighter, and more brilliant than any I was used to from what I’d seen on previous dives. I couldn’t resist touching a colony of green coral as I swam by. In an instant, the entire colony changed color, from green to red.
The pressure on my chest increased, and my lungs burned. I gave Mike’s arm a hard tug. He pointed upward to a giant hole in the ragged rock. I struggled, swimming as fast as I could through the natural doorway, and burst through the surface. Sucking in long gulps of air, I noticed radiant sunbeams glinting in Mike’s golden hair and Jack’s blue eyes. We were officially out of the dreary bug hotel and into the beautiful sunshine, and nothing could feel better.
Jack caught my gaze. “We did it!”
My breath came in quick, shallow heaves. “Yeah, and I’ve never seen anything like that. Those fish—”
“Told ya!” Mike pushed back his dripping hair from his eyes. “I would’ve taken you down there kickin’ and screamin’ if I had to.”
“Yeah, and you might’ve ended up with a nice shiner,” I said. He laughed, and I turned my attention upward. Unmistakably, dual suns hung in the sky. “That’s no optical illusion, you guys.”
“It’s a mock sun. I’m sure of it,” Jack insisted.
Mike pounded the water with his fists, splashing it in all directions. “Isn’t it awesome? Now, let’s go find a burger joint—and hopefully not a mock one.”
I smirked. “It’s morning, you goof.”
Drifting clouds floated above them, turning from gold to brown, and then to purple, pink, and orange. I stared at the surroundings in awe. Morning mist hung over a landscape that stretched for miles and miles. Palm trees lined the beach, and in the distance, green mountains dotted with color towered high into the sky. Canopies of leaves in the glowing hues of autumn decorated the dense trees. Where the sun seeped through, the skyline seemed to sparkle, like something right out of a fairytale.
“What’s up with the leaves?” asked Mike. “’Cause I swear it’s July, not October.”
Fall in the tropics? Even if it was, the leaves usually dried, dropped, and fell to the ground without any brilliant display of colors. “I dunno, but I’m going to paint this when I get back home—all of it! It’s going to be a masterpiece.”
Jack touched my elbow and smiled. “I know it will be, but for now let’s get to shore.”
“Race ya!” I called over my shoulder.
“Ohhh, you’re on.” Mike submerged and breached the surface a few feet past me, then cut the water with expert precision. He was so competitive and could never resist a challenge.
Jack gave me a push-off and yelled to Mike, “You’re going to need that head start. She’s gaining on you!”
I heard Jack’s chuckle and a big splash behind me. I glided through the pink water in pursuit of Mike. That’s it. Remain focused. Good body position and kicking. All I had to do was roll my head easily to the side to breathe. Nice, smooth, long, powerful strokes. Steady rhythm. I can beat these guys.
As I picked up speed, something brushed against my legs. I came to an abrupt halt, my gaze darting left and right as I scanned the surface of the water around me. I opened my mouth and took a huge breath. “What was that?”
***
A surge of water crashed against my legs. The beach was still about 400 feet away, but at least land was in sight. I blew out a half-breath as I flung one arm out to try and swim for the shore. My stomach knotted as something gritty, like sandpaper, brushed across my ankles…again. I instinctively jerked back and swallowed hard, hoping it was something harmless, perhaps a sea turtle? “I felt something.”
Jack treaded water a few feet behind me. “You mean, like a fish?”
“I…I don’t know. The water’s too dark to see.”
“It’s rocks, man. I just nailed one with my knee, but don’t worry, I’m fine.” Mike pumped his hands as he rose three feet out of the water, presumably standing on one of the underwater rock formations, all covered in slimy seaweed. I’d better start watching for jagged rocks since we were getting closer to shore.
“C’mon, Mike!” I said. “My feet are dying to touch land.”
His gaze darted about. “Hey, something’s not right.”
“You’re sinking,” I noted.
Mike’s brows twitched as the water swirled around his knees, his waist, his chest, and then his neck. He flapped his arms about as if struggling to keep his balance.
“Whatever it is, it’s starting to roll like a submerged log…and I’m no lumberjack!”
The ocean changed to a turquoise hue and my breath caught in my throat. Mike was standing on a twenty-foot fish! A whale?
At the same time, I heard Jack gasp next to me. “That’s no rock. Get off!”
Why isn’t Mike swimming for the hills? A rush of bubbles surrounded him and his eyes widened. I flailed my arms to get his attention. “It’s alive, Mike! Get outta there!”
A giant tail slashed past his legs with a whoosh, and then the thing was gone. Mike had been thrown aside and disappeared under the waves.
“Mike!” I said, my heart racing. The water turned emerald green. It was so dark, I couldn’t even see my hands and feet. “I’m going to go find him!”
With perfect timing, as always, a blond head burst through the surface. “Whoa!”
I let out a sigh as I hugged him hard. “Are you okay?”
“Don’t worry. I’m fine,” he said, inhaling deeply.
“What was that thing?” I asked.
The line of Jack’s jaw set. “A shark…and judging by its size, I bet it was a Great White!”
I covered my mouth with my hands to stifle a scream. Only one word flashed in my head: shore. All I wanted was to feel the soil under my feet again. “I’m soooo outta here.” I took off with a vertical kick and a fast-paced hand-over-hand stroke.
“Slow down, Casey!” Mike yelled.
“But it’s…it’s a freaking shark! I want to get away from it,” I yelled back, my heart pounding.
Jack caught up to swim beside me. “Try to use smooth strokes. You don’t want Jaws thinking you’re a wounded fish. Splashing around is like ringing a dinner bell and screaming, ‘Come and get it.’”
My stomach turned at the scary thought.
“The the last thing we wanna do is invite Jaws to dinner,” said Jack.
“Gotcha!” I slowed my arms and legs, controlling each movement as I headed for shore.
“Hey, guys. I’m afraid the dinner invitation’s already been sent out,” came Mike’s voice from behind me.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “Who invited the shark?”
“Well, by accident…Jack sort of did. Sharks could’ve picked up the scent of his blood from that gash on his leg.”
; Before Jack could reply, a splash in the distance caught my attention. Tiny ripples moved across the surface. My pulse quickened. I had to get out fast before… The water turned to a greenish tone of light blue. A dark shape headed straight for us—slow, careful, deliberate. A triangular gray fin broke the surface about thirty feet away.
I froze, the sound of my breathing carrying through the eerie silence. I tried to hold my breath, certain that the shark would attack. Instead, the shape disappeared. My gaze darted back and forth, but the ocean was calm, without a ripple in sight. “It’s gone. Swim!”
“It’s back,” roared Mike, “and coming right for us!”
The fin approached, and it was now only a few feet away. I screamed. Would this be my final moment? The beast slowed down and sank underneath us like a submerging submarine. A shudder ran through me. I watched in disbelief as the menacing shadow glided below. So I make it through a horrible thunderstorm and lose my parents only to be eaten by a shark in the end? Oh, this can’t be happening.
I clutched Jack’s arm and gasped. “It’s so…it’s as long as a school bus.” Pulling my legs up as high as I could, I blinked. It looked as though the giant shadow had split in two. I blinked again and pointed a shaking finger. In a high-pitched voice, I began to count more monstrous fins breaking the surface of the ocean. “I see two…four…ten…” More monstrous fins rose out of the ocean. “Guys! Guys! We need to get out of here,” I screamed louder as the sharks circled. “We’re in shark-infested water! They’re…they’re everywhere!”
“Crap! Keep on swimming,” Jack shouted.
I waited for Mike to take off, but he didn’t move. “What are you waiting for?” I asked him in a strained voice.
His eyes bulged. “They’re blocking our path to shore!”
I gasped.
Jack held up a clenched fist. “Fight! If one attacks, give it a hard blow on its snout, eyes, or gills.”
A large dorsal fin passed inches from my feet. I shuddered as the shark glided through the water like a torpedo.
“Casey, ditch your silver ring!” said Jack.
“What?” I gulped. “Why?”
“It’s too shiny. They’ll mistake it for fish scales.”
Without any further questions, I slipped the band off.
“Lose the necklace too!” added Mike.
“My locket? But—”
He nodded. “Hurry!”
With trembling fingers, I ripped the chain off. I held my locket and my ring tightly in my hand. The water turned clear, and I could see long, sleek shapes darting past us.
Mike stroked the skin of a passing shark. “Its belly’s white.”
“It is a Great White,” whispered Jack.
“What’re you doing, Mike?” I asked, my stomach clenching.
“If it’s going to eat me, then I at least deserve a chance to touch it.”
“You’re nuts!” I yelled. It was official: Mike would continue to be reckless, even when faced with death.
Giant locomotives swam past me. My hands closed into fists, and I was prepared to fight. This has to be a dream, some kind of nightmare. I pressed my eyes shut and reopened them, but the sharks still surrounded me.
SMACK! When the shark hit, I felt a crushing blow to my chest, like getting sacked when I played football with the guys. I sank a few feet beneath the surface and noticed the glint of silver as my locket and ring sank into the depths below me. Sharp pain radiated through my body, and it wasn’t until a salty rush of water gushed into my mouth that I jerked back to reality and began kicking and flailing my arms. I emerged, sputtering water.
“You okay?” Mike asked, his lips pressed together in a hard line.
“Casey!” shouted Jack, eyes wide.
My chest heaved and I sucked in giant gulps of air. I touched Jack’s chest gingerly. “I’m okay…I think. Why the games? They keep swimming around us, and bumping into us. Why haven’t they just eaten us?” I shuddered at the thought. “Not that I want them too.”
“They don’t know what we are,” said Jack. “They’re curious. It’s how sharks investigate.”
Every horrible shark story I had ever heard or seen on the Syfy Channel about mega-sharks played out in my head. I glanced at the circling dorsal fins. “We’ll have to swim past them. It’s our only chance…or else we’re dead!”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” said Mike.
With a giant kick, I took off through the water. As I did, a shark rose out of the water and swam toward me, filling my vision with its beady black eyes, huge fin, and flared gills. Its giant tail sliced the water with slow side-to-side strokes. I had planned on getting up close and personal with numerous sea creatures while on vacation, but a close encounter with nature’s most efficient killing machine wasn’t one of them.
Terrifying jaws stretched open, revealing three rows of razor-sharp teeth. My heartbeat doubled—no, tripled—as I stared helplessly right into the creature’s jaws. My eyes widened as I let out a long, piercing scream. The beast’s body arched upward and then slammed fiercely back down into the ocean. Spirals of water shot high in the air, and then rained down over me. The deluge of water created intense waves that rocked me back and forth. I gasped as the monster disappeared into the ocean depths.
“Stay where you are, Casey!” Mike shouted. “Its instinct is to go after scared animals, the ones that run away. I’ll throw it off by swimming right up to it.”
I gripped Mike’s forearm and shook my head. “That’s a crazy idea.”
“No way! Quit being an idiot, Mike!” said Jack. “If that shark doesn’t get you, the others will.”
Mike took off his shark tooth necklace and held it like a dagger. “If I have to, I’ll blind the sucker with one of his uncle’s teeth!”
Jack’s terrified voice cut through the air. “It’s coming back this way!”
“I’m sure this’ll work,” Mike mumbled as he plunged after the creature.
“No!” I said.
Jack yelled for him to come back, but Mike didn’t.
A flash of blue-gray glided under me. I leaned forward in the water, scanning the depths. With great speed, a massive and distorted image shot toward me. My heart lurched. Death was imminent. This is it! The shark’s huge mouth hung agape, exposing those terrifying, gnashing teeth. Its mouth was so big that it wouldn’t even have to chew; I’d be eaten in one gulp.
Suddenly, a blue-gray creature popped its head out of the water, sprinkling droplets on my face. Opening its great mouth, it emitted a squeak and a series of rattling sounds, like someone clicking their tongue. Instantly recognizing the beast as a friendly one, I let out the breath frozen in my lungs. I giggled with relief; it wasn’t a shark, but a bottlenose dolphin.
Mike swam toward me, his loud voice piercing the air. “The shark I was chasing…it’s gone.”
I smiled as more dolphins breached high out of the water like acrobats performing a show. A large adult dolphin squeaked louder than the rest. It slapped the water with its tail and urgently nudged Mike.
“Okay, okay! I’m going back,” said Mike. “Bad idea to face the shark.” The mammal herded him back to me and Jack, in the same way a cowboy rounds up his cattle.
I wrapped my arms around Mike. “What am I going to do with you?” I hugged him tightly. Why does he pull such crazy stunts? If something happens to him while he’s trying to protect me, I’d never be able to live with myself.
I felt a shove on my arm, like bumping into a wet inner tube, followed by a gentle poke in the side. Turning, I saw a dolphin. It seemed to be smiling at me, and unlike the mouthful of teeth on the shark, the dolphin’s just looked like a big, goofy grin.
It was as if the friendly dolphins knew we were in trouble and needed help. The other dolphins drew closer, pushing me, Mike, and Jack toward one another. Slapping their tail flukes against the surface of the water, the creatures swam in tight circles, closing us off from the sharks and creating a defensive barrier, like offensive
linemen protecting their quarterback. The sea bubbled and splashed as more clicks, whistles, and squeals filled the air. I threw up an arm to shield my face from all of the saltwater.
My mouth dropped as I watched the scene unfold before my eyes. Other dolphins made clapping sounds with their jaws and ganged up on the sharks. Repeatedly, they used their long, pointed snouts to ram the sharks, poking them in their gray gills and massive white bellies. A wave of relief swept over me as the sharks turned and swam out of sight. I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm my racing heart.
When I turned to face Mike and Jack, their smiles said it all: Against all odds, we’d survived. We all slapped each other on the back, giving out high-fives. The dolphins squeaked and leapt high into the air; they somersaulted and dove back into the sea, their waves splashing over my entire body. It reminded me again of some spectacular show at Sea World.
I let my fingers run over the smooth skin of a passing dolphin. “I owe everything to these guys. Gazing down the throat of a shark wasn’t on my to-do list for this trip, that’s for sure.”
Mike laughed and gave one of our newfound marine friends a pat on the head. “Yeah, it’s funny. I guess Flipper saved us from Jaws. If I had any fish, I’d give him and his friends like a million of them.”
“There are stories of dolphins rescuing humans, clear back to the times of ancient Greece,” said Jack. “No one knows why they protect us, but for some reason they do.”
A hopeful smile danced on Mike’s lips. “Do you think one will give me a ride through the waves? You know…like, I could hang onto its fins.”
“Seriously?” asked Jack.
“Yeah.” Mike flashed his perfect smile.
I couldn’t help but smile, too, as the dolphins swam circles around us before taking off. I waved goodbye to my good Sea-maritans as they quickly vanished into the distance.
“C’mon guys, let’s get moving.” I started swimming for shore, with my two friends right behind me. We’d been saved once, but those sharks could come back any minute and there’d be no second chance.
After what seemed like hours of slogging through the waves, I broke into a smile. “Hey, I can finally touch the bottom!”
Suspending Reality (Five Fantasy Stories) Page 68
