The Shark Rider

Text copyright © 2015 Ellen Prager

Illustrations copyright © 2015 Antonio Javier Caparo

Published by Mighty Media Press Junior Readers, an imprint of Mighty Media Press, a division of Mighty Media, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, write to Mighty Media Press, 1201 Currie Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55403, U.S.A,
www.mightymediapress.com
.

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Copyright © 2011 MetaMetrics, Inc. All rights reserved.

Illustrations: Antonio Javier Caparo

Design by Mighty Media, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota

Interior: Chris Long · Cover: Anders Hanson

Editor: Karen Latchana Kenney

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Prager, Ellen J.

The shark rider / by Ellen Prager; illustrated by Antonio Javier Caparo.

pages
     
cm. — (Tristan Hunt and the Sea Guardians; book 2)

Summary: “Tristan Hunt is having trouble keeping his newfound underwater talents a secret. And if undercover spies and a mysterious illness threatening to expose his special summer camp in the Florida Keys weren't enough, reports of dying fish and disappearing sponge in the Caribbean call Tristan and his friends back into action” —Provided by publisher.

ISBN 978-1-938063-52-7 (ebook)

[1. Camps—Fiction.
  
2. Ability—Fiction.
  
3. Marine animals—Fiction.
  
4. Wildlife conservation—Fiction.
  
5. Florida Keys (Fla.)—Fiction.]
  
I. Caparó, Antonio Javier, illustrator.
  
II. Title.

PZ7.P88642Sg 2015 [Fic]—dc23

2014043985

Distributed by Publishers Group West

To all my finned friends and those who love them too.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  
1
    
A DAY AT THE BEACH

  
2
    
STRANGER AT THE WALL

  
3
    
SHARK CHOW

  
4
    
THE SECRET ASSIGNMENT

  
5
    
TEETH MADE FOR CHEWING

  
6
    
SURF'S UP

  
7
    
SQUIDS VS. SNAPPERS

  
8
    
A FISHY SITUATION

  
9
    
SPY GADGETS 'R' US

10
    
THE
R/V REEF RUNNER

11
    
SEASICK

12
    
TREASURE CAVES

13
    
GIANT BOWLING BALLS

14
    
DINNER AT THE YACHT CLUB

15
    
ADRIFT

16
    
HERDED BY SHARKS

17
    
THE PSYCHO SPA

18
    
GOLDEN-FRIED DELICIOUSNESS

19
    
AN AFTERNOON NAP

20
    
PAJAMA PANTS

21
    
A HUGH SURPRISE

22
    
NEW ARRIVALS

23
    
HAMMER TIME

24
    
THE SHARK-MOBILE

25
    
A CRAZY PLAN

26
    
UNFINISHED BUSINESS

        
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

        
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

        
STINGRAY CITY
SNEAK PEEK

1

A DAY AT THE BEACH

I
F ONLY HE HADN'T ACTED SO RASHLY
. B
UT THEY
were going to murder the shark. Tristan sat on his bed and stared at the aquarium. The tropical fish stared back knowingly, shaking their heads—just like his dad had. Sea Camp was going to start in a week. No way his parents would let him go back now.

Tristan's foot thumped nervously on the floor as he waited for their decision. He thought about his science teacher, Mrs. Hawk, and when she announced they were going on a field trip to the beach. He'd been so excited. Tristan hadn't been near the ocean for months. His parents were still kind of freaked out about the whole Sea Camp thing. They acted like he'd turn into a mutant seaweed monster if he went anywhere near seawater. Now he'd probably be banned
from going close to the ocean until he was really old, like thirty or something. Looking back, the day started off only slightly horrible, basically like normal.

The bus arrived at the beach parking lot mid-morning. As soon as it stopped, most of the students jumped up, anxious to get off. Tristan remained seated, trying to get a glimpse of the ocean. He knew that technically it wasn't called the ocean. Since Sarasota was on the west coast of Florida, it was actually the Gulf of Mexico. But he still thought of it as the ocean, not really sure what the difference was anyway. Stretching his neck giraffe-like, Tristan searched for the water from where he sat. Just the thought of the ocean made him long for his days at Sea Camp. Sitting in the classroom throughout the school year had been torture. Not to mention all the exams they had to take. Tristan wondered if grown-ups took so many tests. At career day, no one talked about the importance of being an expert at multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank questions.

When it was finally his turn to get up and file down the aisle, Tristan was still trying to get a glimpse of the sea. He was so distracted he didn't hear the group of hulky boys in back snickering or see the foot shoved out into the aisle in front of him.

At thirteen, Tristan Hunt was still an outsider at school. With his gangly limbs and habitual klutziness he'd always been an easy mark for practical jokes and a target for bullying. Last fall, things had been different, better—for a while. With the confidence he gained during the summer at Sea Camp, he was less apt to trip
over his own feet or stumble in whatever athletic torment was that day's gym class. He was still a klutz, just a little bit less of one. Tristan's improved self-esteem, however, came with a new, but sort of old and recurring problem. He was ever more frequently the victim of blurt mouth—an affliction that caused words to spew from his mouth without any prior thought or consideration of the consequences. His rapid-fire remarks had gotten him grounded more times than he could count.

At school, his biting comebacks incited his schoolmates' wrath and inspired them to find new ways to make him look and feel like an idiot. Two boys loosened the screws of the chair Tristan always sat in for math class. It wobbled noisily and then dumped him gawkily onto the floor in front of his classmates. At lunch, if he didn't spill his drink or splatter himself with something, someone else always seemed at the ready to make sure Tristan left the cafeteria wearing more food than he managed to consume.

Tristan tried to ignore the pranks and name-calling by thinking of last summer and his friends at Sea Camp. But having to keep all the cool stuff that happened a secret made him feel even more isolated and alone than ever. He e-mailed and texted his best friends from camp, Sam Marten and Hugh Haverford. But it wasn't the same as seeing them in person or being together. Besides, they had to be careful about what they wrote. Things had a way of getting out on the Internet.

Tristan walked distractedly down the aisle of the school bus. Almost immediately, one of his long spindly legs caught on the outstretched foot. He careened headfirst into the line of students in front of him. Like teenage dominoes they went down, one on top of another. Howls of laughter erupted from the brawny football players waiting to be the last off.