High Tide (9781481413824)

“L
et's go, Adam!” Mitzi cried. “Let's really move this thing!”

“You want fast?” I hollered over the roar of the water scooter. “You got it!”

Laughing, I spun the scooter in a wide curve—away from the docks of Logan Beach and farther out into the ocean.

Glancing back, I saw the tall lifeguard chair looming up out of the long stretch of white sand. Twenty minutes until I have to be on duty, I thought. Plenty of time to give Mitzi the ride of her life.

“Hurry up, Adam!” Mitzi shrieked in my ear. “I want to feel this thing fly!”

I laughed again. Talk about a great summer!

Lifeguarding was hard, hot work, but totally worth it. After all, it's how I met Mitzi. The day I spotted
her walking by the lifeguard station, I practically drooled.

Long blond hair, legs that went on forever, and a smile that almost knocked me out of the chair.

And now here she was, riding behind me on the water scooter, her arms wrapped around my waist.

As I said, a great summer.

I took the scooter a little father out, then revved the engine and tore across the water. We bounced and rocked, zipping back and forth under the hot sun, laughing every time a big wave tried to slap us sideways.

I could have done it all afternoon.

But I had only ten more minutes before my shift on the beach.

“One more pass!” I yelled to Mitzi. “Then we'll have to take it in so I can go to work!”

“Okay, but can we do this again tomorrow?” she yelled back.

“Sure!”

“And after you're through working, let's get a hamburger!”

“Sure!” I repeated with a grin. “Then what?”

“Then let's take a long walk on the beach, under the moonlight,” she suggested with a laugh.

As Mitzi squeezed me tightly, I grinned again.

Did I say “great” summer?

Make that
excellent!

“Hang on!” I cried. Turning again, I pointed the scooter toward the docks. Then I let it rip.

As the scooter roared across the water, Mitzi tightened her arms around me and shrieked with laughter. She leaned her head against my back, and I felt her blond hair whipping around my neck.

When we were halfway back to the docks, I spotted a huge wave rising up on our left. “Look out!” I shouted. “We're in for a soaking!”

I gunned the engine, hoping to get past the highest part of the wave before it tumbled down on us.

The wave curled higher.

Mitzi squeezed me tighter.

“Whooooooaaa!” The wave slammed down.

We beat it by a split second!

As we slapped over the tail end of it, Mitzi's arms suddenly dropped from around my waist. Over the roar of the scooter I heard a loud splash behind me.

Girl overboard! I thought. Adam Malfitano to the rescue!

I whirled the water scooter around in a tight circle and started back to pick her up.

Through the spray of water, I saw Mitzi's blond head bob out of the frothing ocean.

Nooooo!

Too close! Too close to me!

I couldn't stop in time.

I cut back on the power and swerved to the side.

Too late!

The scooter bumped wildly as it rolled over Mitzi's thrashing body.

“Nooo!” I opened my mouth in a wail of horror.

I spun the scooter around and gaped as a dark red stain spread out over the water.

Blood.

Mitzi's blood.

Turning the foamy waves pink.

Darkening the blue-gray water. Spreading out . . . spreading . . . spreading . . .

“Nooo!” I screamed again. “Mitzi!”

I leapt off the water scooter into the cold, churning waters.

Another wave tumbled over me. It shot me away from her, toward the shore. I fought the pull of the current and struggled to plow my way toward Mitzi.

It took only a couple of strokes to reach her. She thrashed frantically, trying to keep her head above the water. I gasped.

Streams of blood criss-crossed her face. Blood gushing from a jagged wound in her forehead.

Her eyes wide with terror and pain, Mitzi opened her mouth to scream. Instead, she gulped water and began to sink again.

I reached down and grabbed her arm to haul her up. Her arm was slick with blood, but I managed to pull her head above the water.

Panicked, she threw her bloody arms around my neck—and started to drag me under.

I yanked free, grabbed her around the waist, and hauled her up again.

She kept fighting, spattering blood across my face. Her fist slammed into the side of my head.

I lost my grip on her.

I'll never be able to get her ashore! I thought.

I have to find help!

A boat, I thought. A surfer or a swimmer. Somebody has to be out here to help us!

Somebody!

Blinking the blood and salt water from my eyes, I whirled around and gazed across the tossing ocean.

And screamed in terror as a dark shape loomed up in front of me.

T
he water scooter!

It spun around.

And now it was roaring at me!

The sound echoed like thunder as it sped through the rippling water. But there was something wrong. Horribly wrong. The protective hull of the scooter had cracked open—and the propellor was exposed.

Its deadly blades sliced the waves in half, coming at me like sharp knives.

“Nooo!” I let out a shriek—and dove aside.

Too late.

Pain shot through me as the scooter roared by.

My leg! It sliced through my leg!

I screamed in agony and swallowed a mouthful of water. Choking, I sank below the surface, then fought my way back up.

The water scooter had turned. It was coming back!

I had to get out of there before it shredded me to hamburger!

Gasping and dazed with pain, I spun around, looking for Mitzi.

I spotted her blood-streaked face bobbing out of the water. The roar of the water scooter filled my ears again. Grew louder. Louder.

The scooter was roaring back at me!

My left leg hung useless, throbbing and bleeding. I kicked with my right leg and tried to drag myself out of the path of the scooter.

But it came too fast, racing toward me like some kind of evil monster.

I thrashed my arms desperately.

Kicked with my good leg.

Tried to pull myself out of its way again.

But the scooter moved too fast. It cut into my arm.

Its monstrous roar drowned out my screams.

Pain shot through my body. The scooter was on me again.

Again.

Cutting into my other arm. My back. Slicing across my shoulders.

I kept screaming as the scooter roared back and forth, cutting me every time it rolled over me.

“Adam! Help me!” Mitzi gasped and choked as she fought to keep her head above the water. “Please—help me!”

Her head went under, then bobbed up again. “Adam, help! Help me!”

The water scooter roar grew louder, drowning out Mitzi's cries.

Panicked and shivering with pain, I stretched an
arm out and dragged myself through the churning, blood-soaked waves.

As I grabbed onto her shoulder, Mitzi wrapped her arms around my neck. “Help me!” she begged. “Get me out of here, Adam! Help me before . . . before . . .”

But I couldn't help her. I could barely stay afloat.

All we could do was cling together as the roar of the water scooter grew louder and closer.

“Adam!” Mitzi cried my name once more. Then the bloody, foaming water surged into her mouth.

The water lapped at my chin, over my lips. I tilted my head back and dragged air in through my nose.

Holding tightly to each other, Mitzi and I sank beneath the surface of the ocean.

The sound of the water scooter faded.

Mitzi and I sank down. So quiet down here. So dark and quiet . . .

So this is what it feels like to drown.

“W
e'll die!” I shouted. “We're drowning!”

“Adam!” a voice cried out.

“We're drowning. We're dying!” I yelled.

Someone grabbed my shoulder and shook it hard. “Adam!” the voice repeated. “Wake up, man! Wake up! You're having a nightmare!”

Gasping for air, I snapped my eyes open and stared up at Ian. Ian Schultz. My roommate.

Ian gazed back at me, his features twisted in worry and surprise.

“You awake now, Adam? You okay?”

I sat up and glanced around. My heart still hammered, but it slowed down when I realized exactly where I was.

In my bed. My apartment. The same apartment I'd shared with Ian last summer.

A cool ocean breeze blew in the window. The sky outside was kind of a pearly gray, the way it gets just before the sun comes up.

I could hear waves lapping against the shore, and gulls already shrieking as they started to search for food.

Normal sounds. Everything normal.

Ian ran a hand through his tangled, sandy hair and blinked at me. “It was the same nightmare, wasn't it?”

I took a shaky breath and nodded. “Yeah. Mitzi and I get ripped up by the scooter. And then we're sinking, going farther and farther under the water. Everything's black, and I can't breathe!”

I shuddered.

The nightmare had started last summer, right after Mitzi died. We'd gone out on the water scooter together, just as in the dream. She fell off. And as I spun the scooter around, it slammed into Mitzi—hard. It tore open her forehead. Fractured her skull.