The Shark Rider (7 page)

Other campers began to show up. Tristan noticed Anthony Price walking toward the jungle wall. He was a short, skinny boy with a pug nose and small, pouty lips. He was one year ahead of Tristan. The guy was a pretty good swimmer and could communicate with fish, but he always seemed to give Tristan dirty looks. As Tristan wondered if he'd done something to make
the other teen mad, he saw Brianna arrive. He couldn't help but notice her. She was also in the Squids' bungalow. Just looking at her made Tristan blush. She had smooth, light mocha-colored skin, curly dark hair that fell in ringlets to her shoulders, and soft, brown eyes. Not only that, she had a really cool ocean skill. Brianna could suck in air and blow up like a puffer or balloon-fish. Tristan wasn't sure what it was good for, but being self-inflatable was a seriously wicked talent. He seemed to get all tongue-tied and especially klutzy whenever she was around.

At lunch, Tristan sat alone at the Snapper table and stared unhappily at his bowl of split-pea soup. He eyed a nice crispy bacon floater and scooped it up. Just as he put the spoonful of soup into his mouth, someone smacked him hard on the back. Tristan spewed pea soup out over the table and some dribbled down his chin. The other campers stared his way and laughed. Tristan turned bright red. Wiping the green gunk off his face, he turned to see who'd caused him to lose his peas and pig.

“Hey, dude! Like, how's it going?” Ryder laughed as he walked by, heading toward a group of older campers.

Tristan was about to say something extremely rude when he saw Hugh. He'd been right behind Ryder.

“Hi,” Hugh said, smiling. Just like the day they first met, he seemed particularly well groomed and very neatly dressed. His short, dark hair was tidily combed and smooth, coming to just above his ears. And his monogrammed, dark blue polo shirt was well ironed
and matched the smartly creased plaid shorts that went to his knees.

Hugh saw Tristan looking him over. He glanced down at his clothes. “Mom. Made me wear it. Got my Snapper shirt right here.” He held up his Sea Camp backpack.

Tristan smiled. “It's not
that
bad.”

Hugh looked at Tristan like he just said his favorite color was pink and he liked to wear bunny suits.

“Okay, it's pretty bad.”

Hugh put his backpack down and headed for the buffet. Tristan happily finished his pea soup and started on a grilled cheese sandwich. He refilled his glass with pink-tinged water from a pitcher on the table and filled one for Hugh.

“Thanks,” Hugh said. He had a heaping plate of non-seafood food. He was a little taller than last year, but still shorter than Tristan and definitely still on the pudgy side.

“Nice photo,” Hugh noted as he bit into a hamburger. Ketchup and pickles popped out the back.

Tristan looked at him. “What photo?”

“Duh, the one of you on the shark with your hand in its mouth.”

Tristan had been so distracted over the last few days, he'd actually forgotten about the photo. “Oh,
that
photo.”

Realizing that others might have seen it too, he looked around. Some of the other campers were glancing his way and whispering.

“Stupid move, I know,” he said.

“Hey, I didn't say that. No way I would have done it, though.”

“Yeah, my parents didn't like it very much. They're not sure I should be here. One more
incident
and I'm history.”

“No way. It's not your fault you could tell what an about-to-be-murdered shark was thinking.”

“Yeah, that's what I said.”

“Hey, have you seen Sam yet? Is she here?” Hugh asked.

“Not yet,” Tristan said, glancing around hopefully. He then filled Hugh in about overhearing that Rickerton tried to hack into Sea Camp, and that the director thought there might be spies in the park.

“Oh, man,” Hugh said. “Maybe, uh, it's not him? Maybe it's someone from the government, like the director said.”

“Maybe.”

After lunch they went to the Snapper bungalow so Hugh could change. Stepping through the bamboo door, they ran smack into two girls coming out. The timing was perfectly bad and resulted in a multiple, head-on camper collision. Hugh remained standing while Tristan tumbled down the short flight of stairs they just climbed. The two girls were sprawled out on the shiny wood floor in front of Hugh.

“Hey, just like when we first met,” Hugh laughed.

“You think that was funny, pudge pot?” Rosina snarled from the ground. Her hair was still straggly and dishwater brown, but at least it looked like it had
been combed within the last week or so. She had on her navy blue camp T-shirt and a pair of well-worn cutoff jeans.

“Uh, sorry,” Hugh said, giving her a helping hand up. He then reached over to assist Sam.

“No broken bones, I guess,” Rosina said a little less sourly.

“Hi, Hugh.” Sam gave him a hug. “Where's Tristan?”

“Down here,” Tristan called out, sitting in the sand, brushing it out of his hair and off his clothes.

“Things never change.” Sam laughed as she ran down the steps to help Tristan up. She gave him a hug, her gray-blue eyes twinkling with delight. Sam's wheat-colored hair was in a ponytail, and she, too, was wearing her camp T-shirt.

“Just got here. Dad's finally coming around—said it was okay for me to come back. Have you been to the Rehab Center? What about the lagoon? Saw that photo, Tristan—what were you thinking? What . . .”

“Yup, things don't change, do they,” Tristan said, interrupting. Sam still had a habit of speed talking whenever she was nervous or excited.

“Have you seen Ryder or the twins?” Sam asked.

“Ran into Ryder at lunch. No sign of the twins,” Tristan told her.

They had several hours before the camp welcome dinner. Tristan eagerly suggested they go for a swim in the lagoon.

As they walked, Tristan told Sam about the new security cameras in the park and about the last two days spent watching for spies, possibly some of Rickerton's men. He also described the lengthy new reptiles in the sea turtle pond, though he neglected to mention his near face-to-face introduction to one. Rosina walked slightly behind and snapped at them whenever they tried to talk to her or include her in the conversation.

“What's her problem, anyway?” Hugh said quietly to Tristan and Sam.

Sam whispered, “Not sure. Maybe she's nervous. She was never a great swimmer. I'm kinda nervous too. Just hope my webbing comes back and I haven't forgotten anything from last year.”

“You forgot to mention this whole evil rich guy possibly coming after us thing,” Hugh said sarcastically. “Nervous? Who's nervous?”

“Look, it may not even be him,” Tristan said. “And Hugh, you're not still freaked out about swimming in the lagoon are you?”

Hugh shrugged.

“But you did great last year,” Sam told him. “Remember the octopus, fish, and squid in the Bahamas? You were a star. I thought you got over all that.”

“That seems like a long time ago,” Hugh mumbled, dragging his feet as they arrived at the dock.

For as much as Hugh was hesitant, Tristan was equally, if not more, excited. He loved swimming in the lagoon, going fast and looking for sea creatures. Tristan whipped off his T-shirt and took a long swig of the pink Sea Camp water they'd brought along.

“Hope the stuff in here still works,” Tristan said, just before he dove into the lagoon and sped away underwater.

Sam jumped in next and chased after Tristan. Hugh sat down on the dock, staring into the water below. Rosina sat next to him. A large bird suddenly swooped down, grazing the tops of their heads. Both teens ducked so quickly they nearly fell into the water. The pelican landed and waddled over to them.

Rosina's face lit up. “Hi, Henry.”

A small flock of white birds flew low over their heads, again causing the teens to duck.

“I wish they'd stop doing that,” Hugh groaned.

The winged newcomers landed nearby and began milling about. The six white birds were smaller than Henry, each with a long, curved, reddish-pink bill. When they walked, the birds' heads bobbed back and forth like they were doing the funky chicken dance.

“What type of birds are those?” Hugh asked curiously.

“Henry says they're ibis. Not the smartest birds in the sky.”

The ibis took no notice of the teens. They were busy plucking small insects out of the dock's wooden planks. Two of the birds collided and got their long bills twisted together. Another ibis was backing up while feeding and fell off the dock.

Henry shook his head at the other birds and then hopped closer to Hugh. The pelican reached out with his nearly two-foot-long bill to poke him.

“Hey, watch it,” Hugh said.

“He says the water's warm. You should go in.”

Henry poked Hugh again. Only this time it was more of a shove, and Hugh tumbled off the dock into the water.

Rosina laughed. “Good one, Henry.”

Hugh popped up, grabbed Rosina's feet, and pulled her into the lagoon.

Tristan and Sam swam over just in time to see Rosina stand up and move toward Hugh. Fire blazed in her eyes.

“C'mon, it was just a joke,” Hugh said, backing away. “Look, you're in the water now, just like me.”

She stopped and looked at her hands. The others gazed at theirs. Sure enough, there was a thin film of skin between their fingers.

Rosina stepped next to Hugh. She patted him encouragingly on the arm. “How's it going, Hugh?”

The others were shocked until Hugh said, “That's disgusting.” Slimy mucus ran down his arm.

“I still got it,” Rosina bragged. She raised her hands out of the water. Strands of transparent slime hung from her fingers.

“Yup, looks like your mucus deployment skills are working alright,” Sam noted.

“How about your echolocation?” Tristan asked.

“I don't know. Let me give it a try.”

Sam ducked underwater and made a clicking noise. She popped back up, swam to where it was a little deeper, and went under.

“Kind of hard to tell,” Sam told them after swimming
back. “I'm a little rusty. But I think we have a visitor.”

Hugh looked at her nervously. “A dolphin? Scarface or Toosha?”

“No, I don't think so.” Sam pointed to a large gray dorsal fin at the surface about thirty feet away. It was moving toward them, fast.

Hugh scrambled behind Tristan.

Tristan ducked underwater. He saw the upturned snout of a large shark heading directly for them. And it wasn't slowing down. Tristan's heart beat faster, and he began backing up. He bumped into Hugh, and they got all tangled up. Just before the shark crashed into them, it swerved sharply, like a snowboarder coming to a quick stop. A wave of water washed over the teens. In his head, Tristan heard the shark say:
Did I scare you? How 'bout your friends?

Tristan relaxed, laughed, and thought: O
h yes, Snaggle-Tooth, very scary. We were terrified, too scared to move.

Hey, how'd you know it was me?

I recognized you. How are the teeth?

Tristan turned to the others. “Don't worry. It's just Snaggle-Tooth. He wants to show you his teeth.”

Sam ducked underwater to look at the shark. Hugh and Rosina put their faces in the water more hesitantly. When they were all looking below the surface, Snaggle-Tooth opened his mouth and smiled, exposing a set of perfectly aligned, pointy white teeth.

Sam popped back up. “Very nice.”

Hugh and Rosina just nodded uncomfortably, smiling awkwardly. They both looked about ready to run for it.

Tristan told the shark how impressed they were with his teeth.

Not as good as my old ones for catching fish, but much better for chewing and grabbing onto things.
The shark swam near Hugh's leg.
Want to see?

No, no, that's okay
, Tristan responded quickly.