Pretty in Pearls: A Forgive My Fins Novella (HarperTeen Impulse) Read Online Free PDF Page B

closer. I spin around in a full circle, desperate for a way out. But I’m surrounded. On all sides, including above. I’m caught in a jellyfish bloom.
    And I know I’m going to die.

     4
     
    I thought you were leaving?” Riatus asks.
    Jellyfish, jellyfish, jellyfish.
    My mind can’t think of anything but the swarm of massive, deadly beasts that have me trapped. In some deep corner of my mind, I know that they are not close enough, dense enough to have me literally trapped. But I can’t move. I retreat, like always, into my panic.
    “Peri,” he says, his voice growing fainter even though he must be swimming closer, “you need to go home.”
    It happened when I was just a guppy, barely six years old. My family had gone to the Sea Star Amusement Park for the day. On the way home, my baby brother started chasing after me with a dead squid. We swam too far, not paying attention to where we were going, and before we knew it we were at the center of a smack even bigger than this one.
    He died almost instantly.
    I clung to life long enough for my parents to get me to the hospital. Physical recovery took a long time. Emotional recovery is still kind of a work in progress.
    “Peri, what’s wrong?”
    Riatus’s face drifts into my hazy vision. I try to focus on him, on his pretty, pale eyes and his dark, slashing brows. He looks worried. I don’t want him to worry. Not about me.
    I go through this every time. I know I do, I know I shouldn’t, and I’m still helpless to stop.
    He looks up and to the left, behind me. “Oh carp.”
    He’s seen them.
    His hands wrap around my upper arms. “I’m going to get you out of here,” he says. “Slow and steady. Okay?”
    I nod, because that’s the only response I can manage.
    He pulls me close, up against his body. One arm moves to wrap around my waist. It’s so strong and secure that I actually feel a little better. Like I can breathe a little more.
    Only when I drag in a deep breath, it pushes my chest into his.
    That causes a whole different kind of reaction.
    In a gentle, fluid movement, Riatus waves his tail fin. The movement sends us floating. Panic rises. What if he calculates wrong? What if he’s sending us right into the deadly tentacles? What if we get caught in them and their stingers spear into our flesh, overloading our nervous systems with their paralyzing toxins?
    My breathing speeds up and my vision starts to close in around me.
    “I’ve got you,” Riatus says, his voice gentle and soothing. “We’re going to be fine.”
    His fingertips brush my cheek. I close my eyes, narrowing my focus to his touch. Putting all of my faith into him, putting my life in his hands. And I trust him.
    I put my cheek against his chest. Every movement ripples through his body, against me, rocking me gently. It’s soothing. Calming.
    “Almost there,” he whispers next to my ear.
    I lose myself in the rhythmic movement. I push everything else out of my mind and focus on him, on the feeling of his body next to mine and the certainty that he will get me out of this alive. He will get us out of this alive.
    I’m not sure how much time passes before he stops.
    “You’re okay.” He releases my waist and I shiver against the chill.
    I feel his palms on my cheeks, cupping my face in such a tender gesture that it breaks down my resolve to not cry. The tears build up behind my eyelids faster than I can stop them.
    “Come back to me, angelfish,” he whispers. “It’s over now.”
    I shake my head against the emotion coursing through me. If I open my eyes now, if I let him see what I’m feeling, there will be no going back.
    Then I feel his lips on my forehead. Firm and warm.
    I melt.
    When I open my eyes, I know they must look like glittering pennies. I don’t care.
    “Hey there.” His smile lights up the whole ocean. “Welcome back.”
    The most amazing thing is that I don’t feel embarrassed. I usually feel horrified after my panic attacks—what kind of freak