Ocean Adventure

Juniper set both cups down. “Wait! Captain Alden says those rocks are dangerous!”

“I’ll stay on the shore!”

Mira ran along the pebbled edge. Stones rolled beneath her boots, and cold spray dotted her cheeks. The buoy drifted faster. It slid through a channel between two black rocks, each one sharp and crooked as a broken tooth.

Mira followed the curve of the cove, keeping as close to the water as she dared. The familiar beach ended at a low shelf of stone. Beyond it, the shoreline twisted into a place she had only seen from the harbor wall. Narrow pools gleamed between the rocks. Seaweed streamed in the tide like green ribbons.

The buoy flashed at the far end of the shelf.

“Come on,” Mira said. “Just stay where I can see you.”

She stepped onto the first rock.

It was slick beneath her boot. Mira threw out her arms, caught her balance, and pressed forward. Water rushed around the stone with a hollow roar. The buoy bobbed through a gap ahead.

“Mira, stop!”

Juniper had reached the shelf. She stood on the pebbles, breathing hard.

“It’s moving too fast,” Juniper said. “Come back!”

“If I stop now, it’ll disappear.”

“You don’t know what’s past those rocks.”

Mira looked at the buoy. The glowing band had changed from blue-green to a pale yellow. Its light flickered against the dark water.

She knew Juniper was right. This was not the safe side of the cove, where they searched for shells and watched crabs scuttle under the pier. The rocks ahead formed a crooked maze. Some rose above the water. Others hid just beneath the surface. The tide squeezed between them, pulling toward the open sea.

But the buoy was already entering the maze.

Mira took another step.

A wave struck the rock beside her. Water splashed over her boots and soaked her socks. The cold made her gasp, but she kept moving.

“Mira!”

“I’m all right!”

She was not entirely sure that was true.

The next rock slanted downward. Mira lowered herself and placed both hands on its rough surface. Barnacles scratched her palms. A ribbon of seaweed brushed her ankle, and she jerked away before realizing it was only seaweed.

The buoy vanished.

Mira lifted her head. “No.”

She searched the water. Gray waves slapped against the rocks. The sun flashed in broken pieces. For three long seconds, there was no light at all.

Then a glow appeared behind her.

Mira twisted around. The buoy had been pushed through a side channel and was now drifting deeper into the rocks, farther from the shore. The current had made a sharp turn. It was faster here, churning in a round pool before spilling toward the sea.

Mira’s stomach tightened.

She could return to the beach. She could let the buoy go. But something about it seemed wrong. It had no rope, no number, and no rust. Its light did not shine steadily like a lantern. It pulsed, bright and dim, bright and dim, as if sending a signal.

“Mira, come back!” Juniper shouted again. “Please!”

Mira looked at her friend. Juniper had moved to the edge of the shelf, but she had not stepped onto the rocks.

“I’m going after it,” Mira called.

“Then I’m coming too!”

“No!” Mira pointed to the slippery stones. “Stay there and watch the tide!”

Juniper frowned. “That is not a plan.”

“It’s the only one I have!”

The buoy struck a rock with a hollow clunk. It spun in place, then slipped toward a dark opening between two larger stones.

Mira moved.

She crouched low and crossed the narrow ledge. The rocks pressed close on either side. Water surged around her knees, cold enough to make her legs ache. She grabbed a knob of stone and waited while the current tugged at her coat.

The buoy passed within reach.

Mira lunged.

Her fingers closed around its metal rim, but the current yanked it away. Pain shot through her wrist. She nearly slid into the channel.

“Mira!” Juniper cried.

Mira clung to the rock with one hand. Her boot scraped for a foothold and found nothing. Water pulled at her legs, trying to turn her sideways.

For one dizzy moment, all she could see was the spinning green water.

Then her red scarf snapped against her wrist.

Mira remembered Juniper’s voice: Watch the tide.

The water rushed in, slowed, and curled back. Mira waited for the pull to weaken. When the current changed direction, she hooked one elbow over the rock and reached again.

This time she caught the buoy’s handle.

It was warm.

Not sun-warm. The day had been cool, and the water was colder still. The buoy felt warm as a mug held between two hands. A tiny symbol glimmered beneath Mira’s fingers: three curved lines circling a star.

“What are you?” she breathed.

The buoy answered with a deep click.

Its light flared.

The pool around Mira lit up. For an instant, she saw pale stones beneath the water, a narrow tunnel leading under the rocks, and something painted on the stone wall beyond it - a black arrow pointing toward the open sea.

The tide surged.

Mira’s grip slipped. The buoy jerked hard, dragging her shoulder forward. She wrapped both arms around it and pressed her chest against the wet rock.

“Mira, let it go!” Juniper shouted. “The tide is turning!”

“I can’t!”

The buoy gave another click, louder this time. A thin line of light raced across its metal shell. The symbol under Mira’s hand opened like an eye.

A sound rang out from somewhere inside the buoy.

Ding.

Mira stared.

Ding. Ding.

It was a bell, small but clear, and the sound traveled through the water and stone. The glowing buoy trembled against her arms.

“What did I do?” Mira whispered.

The current shoved her sideways. Her knee struck the rock, and she cried out. The pain was sharp, but her leg moved. She held on tighter.

Juniper climbed onto the first rock. “Mira, I’m coming!”

“Stay back!” Mira yelled. “The water’s pulling toward the middle!”

Juniper stopped. Her face had gone pale.

Mira searched for a way out. The ledge behind her was partly underwater now. The tide had risen around the rocks, filling the channels and hiding the safe footholds. The path she had used to reach the buoy no longer looked like a path at all.

She had caught it.

But now she was trapped with it.

The buoy chimed again.

This time, the sound was followed by a low vibration that traveled up Mira’s arms. A thin red line appeared beneath the blue-green glow. It pointed away from the cove, toward the dark opening under the rocks.

Mira’s fear changed shape. It was no longer only fear of falling. The buoy was not drifting by accident. It was trying to lead somewhere.

“Mira!” Juniper called. “Can you get back?”

Mira looked at the narrow ledge, then at the water rushing past it. She could wait for the next pause in the tide, but the pause might not come. The buoy’s red line brightened.

A second bell answered from far beyond the rocks.

Ding.

Mira’s breath caught.

Someone - or something - was answering.

She pulled the buoy close and planted her boots against the stone. “Juniper, get Captain Alden!”

“What?”

“Run to the harbor! Tell him the buoy is ringing!”

“I’m not leaving you!”

“You have to! Bring a rope!”

Juniper stared at her. Another wave broke over the rocks, spraying both of them.

“All right!” Juniper shouted. “Hold on!”

She backed away carefully, testing each step before shifting her weight. Mira watched until Juniper reached the pebbled shore. Then Juniper turned and ran toward the harbor, her boots scattering stones.

Mira was alone.

The buoy’s glow painted her hands blue. Water streamed from her sleeves. Beyond the jagged rocks, the cove opened into a strip of darkening sea. The current pulled toward it with steady strength.

Mira tried to move back.

Her right boot found the ledge. Her left foot slipped into a hidden hollow. She dropped with a splash, and the buoy knocked against her ribs. Cold water climbed to her waist.

“I’ve got you,” she told it, though she was not sure whether she meant the buoy or herself.

She grabbed a higher rock and hauled herself up. The buoy’s metal edge cut into her palm, but she did not let go. With a hard kick, she freed her boot and crawled onto the ledge.

Behind her, a bell rang again.

This time it was not inside the buoy.

It came from beyond the cove, faint and far away, followed by another answering chime from under the rocks.

Mira turned toward the sound.

For a moment, the water between the stones seemed to glow in a long, winding trail. The light led away from the harbor, toward a place hidden beyond the point.

Then the trail vanished.

Mira pulled herself onto the highest rock and hugged the buoy against her chest. Its blue-green light softened, but the red line remained, pointing through the narrow channel.

From the harbor, Juniper’s voice rose above the waves.

“Captain Alden! Hurry!”

Mira looked back at the shore. Lanterns were beginning to blink awake along the pier. A tall figure stepped onto the rocks beside Juniper, carrying a coil of rope.

Relief warmed Mira’s face.

Then the buoy chimed once more.

The sound rolled through the cove, and every lantern on the harbor pier went dark.

End of chapter one. 14 more chapters in the full book.