Great Shark Mystery Read Online Free PDF

there?” Henry asked, remembering the card key.
    “A while ago,” Mac said vaguely. Then he steered the conversation back to the shark. “I need to know exactly what you heard Ms. Carver say.”
    “She said, ‘The only answer is to kill the great white shark,’” Henry repeated.
    “You must have misunderstood,” Mac insisted.
    “Those were her exact words,” said Henry. “She said she wasn’t happy about it, but it was too expensive.”
    “That’s terrible,” said Mac. “I never thought that would happen here. …” His voice trailed off. “I’ll go speak to Ms. Carver right away.”
    When Mac had left, the Aldens hung around the great white shark’s tank, watching the huge animal glide slowly by. Its sheer size took their breath away each time it passed. The shark’s glassy eyes stared off in an eerie way, never seeming to focus on the children the way other animals did, like the friendly dolphins. But the shark was alive—and someone wanted it dead.
    The Aldens wandered over to the other shark tank and looked at the collection of smaller sharks swimming around the algae-covered rocks piled on the sandy bottom. The sharks were a range of sizes, colors, and shapes. Some had flat whiskered snouts and hovered close to the bottom of the tank. Others had more pointed mouths and swam near the top.
    A few minutes later, Mac returned. “Ms. Carver wasn’t in her office, but I left her a note,” he said. “I’m sure there’s an explanation.”
    Mac stood with the Aldens for a moment, watching the sharks.
    “Sharks are cool,” Henry said.
    “Yes, they are,” Mac agreed. “They’ve been around for millions of years—since before the dinosaurs.”
    “Are these all sharks in this tank?” Violet asked.
    “Yes,” said Mac.
    “But they look so different from one another,” said Violet.
    “There are hundreds of kinds of sharks, and they are very different,” Mac said. “The ones in this tank aren’t dangerous to people. See that bottom-feeder down there?” Mac asked, pointing.
    The Aldens looked down toward one of the only piles of rocks that wasn’t covered with algae. A shark hovered next to it. “That’s a nurse shark. It’s named that because it sucks on sand the way a baby sucks on a bottle, searching for clams or crabs to eat. When I first started working with sharks, I lost my balance and accidentally sat down on one of those.”
    “You did?” said Benny. “What happened?”
    “Nothing,” said Mac. “I was afraid it might be mad, but it just moved away. De-spite what people think, sharks aren’t out to get you.” Mac pointed to one of the sharks higher up. “That’s a sand tiger shark, and the one with the white patch on its fin is a white-tip reef shark.” Mac checked his watch. “It’s their feeding time now, if you’d like to help me.”
    “Sure,” said Henry.
    “Um … okay,” said Benny quietly.
    Mac gave each of the children a bucket of fish. They followed him up to a raised platform next to the tank and he showed them how to drop the fish in.
    The Aldens watched the sharks grab the fish as they fell through the water, tearing at them with their sharp teeth.
    “They still look pretty fierce,” said Benny as he climbed down from the feeding platform.
    “Sharks have a bad reputation as blood-thirsty killers,” Mac said, “but actually, most species aren’t dangerous to people at all.”
    “Hear that, Benny?” Jessie said. “He’s been afraid of sharks ever since he saw the movie Danger in the Deep.”

    “That shark is dangerous, though,” Benny said, running toward the larger tank, where the great white was swimming by itself.
    “It’s very rare for sharks to attack people,” Mac said. “Each year only about fifty people in the whole world report being attacked by a shark. Sharks don’t hunt people—it’s just that sometimes they mistake a person for a seal, which is what they usually eat.”
    “In your book you said you’d been in the water