Deep Trouble Read Online Free PDF Page B

of pain
in my leg.
    I tried to pull my leg away. I couldn’t.
    It was caught in the jaws of the shark.
    My mind screamed with terror.
    The shark. The shark.
    It’s got me!

 
 
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    My entire body burned with pain. I slipped heavily into the water.
    The shark knew he had me. I had no strength left to fight.
    Then something splashed nearby.
    The shark released my leg and jerked toward the splash.
    I had no time to catch my breath. The shark circled back. It charged at me.
    The gaping jaws moved in for the kill.
    I shut my eyes and let out a shrill scream of terror.
    A second passed. Then another.
    Nothing happened.
    I heard a loud thump.
    I opened my eyes.
    Something had come between me and the shark, a few feet in front of me.
    I stared. The water churned white. A long, shiny green fish tail rose out of the water and splashed back down.
    Another fish was fighting the shark!
    The shark rolled over, then attacked. The green fish tail smacked the shark
hard. The shark went under.
    I couldn’t see what was happening. The water rocked higher, tossing up
frothy, white waves.
    All around me the water bubbled and churned, white with foam. Over the crash
of the water, I heard shrill animal squeals.
    Sharks don’t squeal, do they? I thought. What is making that sound?
    The shark surfaced, its toothy jaws gaping. It snapped them at something,
once, twice. Snapping at air.
    The long, green fish tail rose out of the water and smacked the shark hard. A
direct hit on its broad hammerhead.
    The shark shut its jaws and sank below the surface.
    Then I heard a loud bump! The water stopped churning.
    A second later, the huge gray fin surfaced a few yards away, speeding off in
the other direction.
    The shark was swimming away!
    I stared at the green fish tail as it arced over the dark, swelling water.
    As the waters calmed, I heard a low, musical sound. It was beautiful and slightly sad. Whistling and humming at the same
time.
    It sounded something like a whale. But this creature was much smaller than a
whale.
    The green tail swung around. Then the creature lifted its head.
    A head with long, blond hair.
    The mermaid!

 
 
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    Bobbing in the water, I forgot my burning pain as I gaped at her.
    To my amazement, the mermaid looked just as the zoo people had said she
would.
    Her head and shoulders were smaller than mine, but her flashing green tail
stretched out, long and powerful. Her wide, sea-green eyes sparkled. Her skin
gave off a pale pink glow.
    I stared at her, unable to speak.
    She’s real! I thought. And she’s so beautiful!
    At last I found my voice. “You—you saved me,” I stammered. “You saved my
life. Thank you!”
    She shyly lowered her eyes and cooed at me through shell-pink lips. What was
she trying to say?
    “What can I do in return?” I asked her. “I’ll do anything I can.”
    She smiled, and uttered that haunting low hum.
    She was trying to talk to me. I wished I could understand her.
    She reached for my hand and examined it, frowning over the red burns from the
fire coral. Her hand felt cool. She passed it over the palm of my hand, and the
pain from the burns began to fade away.
    “Wow!” I exclaimed. I must have sounded pretty stupid, but I didn’t know what
else to say. Her touch was like magic. When she held my hand, I could float
without treading water. Just as she did.
    Was this another dream?
    I closed my eyes and opened them again.
    I was still floating in the sea, staring at a blond-haired mermaid.
    No. Not a dream.
    She smiled again and shook her head, making those low singing sounds.
    I could hardly believe that only a few minutes before I’d been frantically
fighting off a hungry shark.
    I raised my head and searched the waters. The shark had vanished. The water
had calmed, shimmering like gold now under the morning sunlight. And there I
was, floating in the sea off a deserted island with a real mermaid.
    Sheena will never believe this, I thought. Not in a million