Chapter Two

The Kelp Forest

The sun peeked over the rocks and nudged me awake. Mam wasn’t there and my stomach growled; she must be getting breakfast. I ran down to the surf as she came scooting out of the waves, a little silver fish flapping in her jaws. She dropped it at my feet. I snatched it up and crunched off its head. The rest soon followed.

“I’m still hungry,” I said. “Where did you catch it?”

She pushed at a scrap of fish skin with her flipper. “A lovely kelp forest, a short swim southwest.”

I edged into the shallows. “I think I’ll go catch another.”

Her head jerked up. “Not on your own, you don’t. What about orcas and sharks? What about—”

“There hasn’t been a boat in weeks,” I said. But she was already splashing in beside me.

I kept up a steady stroke as the sun rose higher and higher. A short swim for her was a long swim with legs. When the sun was past its midpoint, Mam said I should ride the rest of the way. I climbed on her back and we sped away, splashing through the crests. In no time at all, she was twirling to spin me off.

It was one of the prettiest kelp forests I’d ever seen. A wall of rock towered up to the surface. Sun seeped down thick, waving strands of bull kelp. Everything was dappled with light, from the specks of algae and miniature wiggling shrimp to the kelp’s great, round air bubbles.

Mam swished up behind a young rockfish and gulped it down before it even had time to look surprised. Hunting was so easy with those teeth and curved black claws. All I had was fingernails, and those were worn to stubs from scrambling on rocks.

I swam along the rock face, searching among the sea stars and corals. I reached in a crevice and snatched out a baby octopus, then kicked up a warm current to the surface. I rode up and down on the waves as I ate.

I filled my lungs and dove again. I chased an anchovy through the waving fronds. There was a flicker of red on the seabed—a crab, a beauty! I swooped down and grabbed its shell by the sides, then swiveled around to show Mam. She was nowhere in sight.

My chest was growing tight. It was my stupid lungs, straining toward the surface like the bubbles in the kelp. I didn’t have the air in my veins yet. In sealform, your blood carries enough air to stay underwater a long time. You close your nostrils and dive, and you don’t have to worry about breathing for ages.

I flapped my arms to force myself farther down. The crab had to swish along, its eyes waving on their long stalks. Suddenly it twisted and snapped. A sharp pain sliced through the back of my hand.

“Ow!” The last of my breath escaped in a rush of bubbles.

The crab scuttled away as I kicked upward, my chest straining, my ears pounding. I burst through to the surface and gulped down a lungful of air.

A bright ribbon of blood trickled down my arm.

Mam swam up beside me, a green strand of kelp dangling from her mouth. “Here,” she said, laying it across my arm. “Wrap this around it and then hop on for a ride.”

I glared, embarrassed. “I can swim.”

She shook her head. “You know perfectly well about blood and sharks.”

“There aren’t any sharks,” I grumbled. But I climbed on her back, wrapped the seaweed tightly around my hand, and lay down flat for the ride back to shore.

Mam swam without speaking. It took forever. We swam and swam and still we were only halfway back.

That’s when I felt the water change.

My muscles tensed. “Something’s coming,” I said.

Mam swam faster. She could feel it, too. We were in open water—no islands, no rocks, not even a chunk of driftwood to climb out on.

“Hold on,” said Mam in the crisp voice that signaled danger. “Sharks look up, not down. When I nod, take your deepest breath and I’ll dive.”

My arms tightened around her neck. The end of the seaweed flapped loose in the waves.

The beast was approaching fast. Mam would never get away with me on her back. I started to let go—

“Don’t even think about it,” she snapped. “Don’t—”

The beast zoomed beneath us, rocking us in its current. My heart was pounding hard enough to burst from my chest. Why hadn’t it attacked from below? Was it playing with us?

I raised my fist. It was the only weapon I had.