The Shark Rider (17 page)

“It's beautiful,” Sam said.

“Beautiful until one of those boulders rolls on top of us,” Hugh noted sarcastically.

Tristan thought Hugh might be right. Some of the boulders around them sat solidly atop the sand or other rocks. Other boulders seemed precariously balanced at odd angles. Tristan stared at a boulder the size of a backyard shed that sat leaning steeply on a rounded edge.

“I really hope Charlie was kidding about the boulders falling,” Hugh added.

“I'm sure he was,” Tristan said swiftly, hoping it was true, and thinking if the boulder did roll, they'd be squashed like bugs.

Sam and Ryder jostled to be the first one up the next granite block stairway. Nearly sliding off on some loose sand, Tristan steadied himself and followed more slowly. The trail led to another tunnel. It was even smaller than the first one, and they all had to crouch
down to go through. On the other side, the group ran into a couple going in the opposite direction. The man had a bulging round belly. Tristan said hello and watched as the guy attempted to crawl through the tunnel. Tristan paused, thinking they'd better be ready to push from behind—literally. After a succession of curse words that definitely would have gotten Tristan grounded, the big-bellied man somehow squeezed through.

The campers scrambled over a few more boulders and then came to another opening in the rocks. A sign said “Devil's Bay” and had an arrow pointing to the left into another tunnel beneath the boulders. Footprints in the sand also led in a different direction. It looked like an unmarked trail that went up a narrow rock chute between two boulders. Ryder took the unmarked trail.

“Hey, wait,” Hugh shouted. “They said don't go off the trail.”

“C'mon, don't be such a baby,” Ryder yelled back.

Sam went up after him. Rosina shrugged and followed.

Tristan looked sympathetically at Hugh. “We can always backtrack.”

Hugh nodded uncertainly and followed. They walked up through the rock chute, crossed a granite ledge, and then scrambled down into another cavern with little more than a puddle on the floor. At the far end of the cavern, they climbed up a series of steep rock steps to a natural lookout over the top of the boulder
field. The teens clustered together and peered out over the maze of passages and pools below. In the distance, they could just make out the deep blue water of Devil's Bay.

“Hey, check out that rock. Kinda looks like a shark,” Tristan said, pointing to a big boulder sticking up. It was thick and round in the middle, but gradually narrowed to a snout-shaped peak. A wide crack positioned just below the top looked like a mouth.

“You've got sharks on the brain,” Rosina said.

“Besides, I think it looks more like a whale,” Sam noted with a laugh.

“Maybe we should head back to the trail now,” Hugh suggested.

But instead of going back, Ryder went the other way. He stepped down onto a small ledge and then disappeared.

“Woohoo!” They heard a splash.

The other campers followed and found a deep but skinny oval-shaped pool.

Ryder popped up, startling them. “C'mon, there's a cool tunnel you can swim through. Looks like it goes back to the main trail.”

“I don't know about this,” Hugh warned as the others jumped, splashing, into the pool.

Hugh sighed, shook his head, and then slid down the rock into the pool. He and Tristan swam through the tunnel, breaststroking one behind the other. Tristan gazed up at the boulder ceiling. He felt like an explorer on an adventure in some faraway land. This
was definitely one of the coolest places he'd ever been. They climbed up and over another boulder and then slid down into a narrow cavern. The walls were about six feet apart, and the water on the sandy floor was less than a foot deep.

Sam turned to Ryder. “Where does the trail go?”

He was coming from the far end of the cavern. “Uh, well, it's kinda a dead end.”

The others rolled their eyes at Ryder and turned to backtrack. Suddenly, a deep, muffled thud resounded within the cavern, and the surrounding boulders seemed to shiver for just an instant. The campers froze.

“Do they have earthquakes here?” Hugh asked nervously.

Tristan shrugged and then noticed a slight change in the light overhead. He glanced up. “Look out!”

Tristan shoved Hugh out of the way just as a small boulder crashed down from above. The others dove to the side. The round rock was about the size of an over-inflated basketball. It landed with a splash right where Hugh had been standing.

“Thanks,” Hugh said as he stood up unsteadily.

“That was close,” Sam said, also getting to her feet.

All Tristan could do was nod in agreement. It had been way too close. Hugh could have been killed. Tristan's heart was pounding. Their adventure in the boulder pile just went from exhilarating and awesome to I-want-my-mommy scary.

“Let's go back,” Rosina urged.

No one disagreed.

Rosina went first, climbing over the rock to the tunnel that led into the other pool.

“Oh crap! Super crap! Crappity crap!”

When they caught up with her, Rosina was still mumbling something about crap. She was staring at another displaced boulder. This one was much bigger. And it had created a new rock roof over the oval pool, which meant—the way back was blocked.

Rosina scowled. “Who said we should go off the trail?”

“Or that the rocks here haven't moved for thousands of years?” Hugh added. “Anyone see another way out?” There was a hint of panic in his voice.

Tristan spun around, looking. Sam tried calling for help, but they were too far off the main trail and the boulders muted the sound. They swam back through the tunnel and climbed into the adjacent cavern.

“Okay, let's look around. There must be a way out,” Tristan said, trying to stay calm. He looked up to where the boulder had fallen from, thinking maybe they could climb out. But there didn't seem to be a big enough opening or any way to climb up the smooth-sided round boulders.

“No way over here,” Sam said from the left.

“Here either,” Hugh added from the cavern's far end.

“We're, like, screwed,” Ryder groaned.

“Yeah, that's real helpful,” Tristan said. “Look, when we don't show up, they're gonna start looking for us. We just have to hang out and wait for someone to come and help us climb out or something.” He hoped.

Hugh stared at his feet. “Uh, that may be a problem.”

“Why's that?”

“The water. I think it's rising.”

“Now is not the time to joke around,” Rosina snarled.

“No, I'm serious. It was at my shins when we first came in. Now it's almost at my knees.”

They all stared down.

“The tide,” Sam said worriedly. “It must be coming in.”

They scrambled around more, frantically looking for a way out. Soon the water was above their knees.

“Hey, wait. If the tide is coming in, there must be a connection to the ocean,” Hugh suggested.

“Yeah, and it could be the size of a pea,” Ryder countered.

The water crept higher.

The teens searched the shadowy cavern again, hoping to find something they missed before, some way to climb or swim out. But again, their search came up empty. They were trapped, and the water continued to rise. Hugh looked panicky. Rosina had gone pale. Tristan tried to think of something, anything, that might help.

“Hang on,” Sam said. “Did you guys hear something?” She cocked her head to the side, listening. Then, without another word, she scrambled over the rock into the connecting tunnel to the deep pool.

“Did she, like, hear someone?” Ryder asked. “I didn't hear anything.”

Hugh jumped, clearly startled. “What the . . .” He
stared down into the water where he'd just been standing.

Sam scrambled back into the cavern, grinning.

“What are you so happy about?” Rosina asked, staring at the water that was now nearly at her thighs.

“Help's here.”

Hugh leapt up again. “Something's definitely down there. It just grabbed me. I swear.”

Sam laughed, and the others looked at her like she was several cards short of a full deck.

“I thought I heard something. So I went back. There are a couple of dolphins nearby out in the ocean. They said there's an opening through the pool to where they are. It's too tight for them, but they sent help to lead us out.” She pointed to Hugh's feet.

A suckered arm poked out of the water. Sitting underwater on the sand next to Hugh was a tan octopus. The octopus flashed purple and slithered onto his foot.

“Oh, yeah, okay, we should follow him.”

“Ah, one problem,” Rosina said. “We didn't drink any Sea Camp water. You know, no webbed feet in public and all.”

“It's okay,” Sam told them. “The dolphins say it's a short swim and there's an air pocket partway through.”

Tristan breathed a sigh of relief. They'd found a way out.

“How short?” Hugh and Rosina asked in chorus.

“C'mon,” Tristan said, trying to act cool and collected. “We can do this, even without the webbing.”

“Not like we've got much choice,” Ryder moaned, voicing Tristan's own thoughts.

“Whose fault is that?” Rosina snarled.

“Hey, how could I know the dang rocks would move?”

“C'mon, let's just go,” Sam said before leading the group back through the tunnel.

In the pool on the other side, Hugh treaded water and looked up at the low boulder ceiling over their heads. He gulped. “Uh, is the water rising in here too?”

“That would be a yes,” Tristan answered, knowing exactly what Hugh was getting at. As the water rose, their breathing space was shrinking. Tristan's pulse again quickened.

“The dolphins say the airspace is just after a ledge,” Sam explained. “You can get a breath there if you need it.”

“Maybe we should just wait for help,” Rosina suggested nervously.

Treading water, Tristan stared at the getting-closer rock ceiling. “Who knows how long that could take? Besides, I don't think we have much time left in here—if you want to breathe air, that is. Hugh, you should go first with the octopus.”

“Me? Go first?”

“Him? Dude, you've got to be kidding,” Ryder jabbed.

“Yeah Hugh, you go first with the octopus,” Sam agreed, ignoring Ryder. “Then send it back to lead each of us out.”

Hugh shook his head, but then glanced up at the nearing ceiling.

“No time to argue,” Tristan urged. “You can do this, Hugh.”

The octopus pulled on Hugh's feet. “Okay, okay, I'll go.”

Hugh took a couple of deep breaths, obviously trying to relax. After one last big gulp of air, he dove down, following the octopus as it shot out through a wide hole at the far end of the pool. The last thing Tristan saw were Hugh's feet as he made a sharp right turn underwater.

The other teens paddled silently in the pool, nervously waiting as the water continued to rise. The ceiling was getting uncomfortably close. Tristan was trying hard to stay calm. He started to think that one of them should go after Hugh. He was just about to suggest it when two suckered arms poked out of the water and waved at them.

Ryder went next. A few minutes later, the octopus was back.

“Rosina, you go,” Tristan suggested.

“Uh, that's okay. You go, Sam.”

Sam didn't hesitate. She dove into the underwater tunnel, following their eight-armed guide.

Now it was just the two of them. Tristan looked at Rosina. She was super pale and shaking. “You can do this.”

Then their heads hit the boulder overhead. Tristan's heart began to hammer so hard he was sure Rosina
could hear it. He started to breathe rapidly, feeling as if he couldn't get enough air.
Where's a paper bag when you need one?
Tristan took a deep breath, trying to slow his breathing and calm down. He could do this. They still had time. Besides, it wouldn't do them any good if he totally lost it. The octopus returned. Rosina looked at Tristan, then at the octopus, then back to Tristan. She shook her head. “I . . . I can't do it.”

“Yes you can,” Tristan said. “Go for it.”

But Rosina didn't move. Her eyes were wide with fear. Tristan didn't know what to do. He couldn't just leave her there. His head scraped against the rock overhead. Soon he'd have to twist his head just to keep his mouth above the water.

“C'mon, it's just a short swim. The others made it. You can do this, but ya gotta go now,” Tristan urged, willing himself not to panic.

She shook her head. Purely on instinct, Tristan grabbed Rosina by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. “We'll go together. I'll go right behind you. Now relax and take a deep breath. You can do this.
We
can do this.”