Riptide

by R. T. Martin

  Copyright © 2016 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

  All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

  Darby Creek

  A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

  241 First Avenue North

  Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA

  For reading levels and more information, look up this title at www.lernerbooks.com.

  Cover and interior images: KIRAYONAK YULIYA/Shutterstock.com (surfer); XONOVETS/Shutterstock.com (wave texture).

  Main body text set in Janson Text LT Std. Typeface provided by Adobe Systems.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Martin, R. T., 1988– author.

  Title: Riptide / R. T. Martin.

  Description: Minneapolis : Darby Creek, [2019] | Series: To the limit |

  Summary: When a bad storm hits while best friends Maya and Paige are

  surfing, they find themselves trapped on a sandbar, both injured, and with

  a shark nearby.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2018019487 (print) | LCCN 2018036304 (ebook) |

  ISBN 9781541541993 (eb pdf) | ISBN 9781541540361 (lb : alk. paper) |

  ISBN 9781541545557 (pb : alk. paper)

  Subjects: | CYAC: Surfing—Fiction. | Best friends—Fiction. |

  Friendship—Fiction. | Sharks—Fiction. | Survival—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.1.M37346 (ebook) | LCC PZ7.1.M37346 Rip 2019 (print) |

  DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018019487

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  1-45241-36623-9/24/2018

  For Nate H.

  Chapter 1

  “There’s supposed to be a storm today,” Paige said.

  “Well,” Maya replied, “we’ll ride until it hits. There’s no point staying out of the water because of what will happen later. All in favor say, ‘aye.’”

  “Aye,” Paige said through a laugh. Taking votes between just the two of them had been an inside joke they’d had since they met in the first grade.

  They were heading toward the beach with their surfboards tucked under their arms. Dressed in their typical summer uniforms—swimsuits with sneakers they’d take off before they went into the water—and each sporting a small backpack they used to carry their towels, wallets, keys, and cell phones, the girls planned to spend their day like they had almost every other day this summer. Surfing.

  Maya could already tell that the shore would be crowded. On the other side of the street, a family was headed the same direction, picnic basket and towels in hand and wearing bathing suits and T-shirts. A few cars passed by that were packed with umbrellas and toys perfect for the beach or a pool. It seemed everyone was trying to soak up as much of this Saturday as possible before the rain started.

  There were clouds on the horizon. The storm was just beginning to creep into view, but it was far away, and aside from its looming threat, the conditions for surfing were ideal. The sun was beating down, but the breeze off the water cooled the air to the perfect temperature.

  Maya loved surfing more than anything in the world. She’d gone almost every day this summer, many of them like today with her best friend in tow, but summer was coming to a close. Carefree days of riding waves would be replaced with homework and sitting in classrooms. She’d only be able to surf after school, on weekends, and in daydreams for nine months. So she wanted to make the most of what was left of the season.

  “Did you get Ms. Kessler for history?” Paige asked. They’d both gotten their class schedules the previous day.

  “Can we talk about something other than school?” Maya said. “I’m kind of dreading it. I just want to surf today.”

  “You want to surf every day.” Paige smiled at her.

  “Not every day,” Maya replied. She was disagreeing just for the sake of it. She did want to surf every day, and Paige knew it.

  Paige smirked and changed the subject. “How much time do you think we’ll have before the storm hits?”

  Maya shrugged. “At least a few hours. Hopefully longer.”

  By now, they weren’t far from the beach. Maya could smell the salty breeze coming in from the ocean, and she could hear the waves. Her heart started beating faster, and a smile crept onto her face that she wouldn’t have been able to shake even if she had wanted want to. She didn’t realize that she’d started walking faster until Paige told her to slow down.

  The public beach was crowded with families setting up umbrellas on the sand, and the water was full of people. There were a few surfers here, first-timers mostly, but for Maya and Paige the waves weren’t big enough. They were headed to where the real surfers went—down the beach where the waves were bigger and where there weren’t swimmers getting in the way.

  “Slow down!” Paige said again, a little agitated. “The waves aren’t going anywhere.”

  “Sorry,” Maya said. “Just excited.”

  “Be excited at a regular walking pace, please,” Paige replied.

  Maya nodded to her friend but only slowed down a little as she climbed the large grassy mound that separated the surfing area from the rest of the beach. The mound was about seven feet high and blocked the view of the surfers from the more casual beachgoers. Maya liked that. It made the area feel more private—a special place just for surfers.

  She reached the top of the mound and her face fell.

  “Great,” she said sarcastically.

  “What?” Paige asked, just reaching the top of the hill.

  Maya didn’t answer the question. Paige would see for herself once she looked out at the beach.

  “We should have known they’d be here,” Paige said flatly.

  Kai was standing on the beach next to a cooler gulping down a blue sports drink. As usual, he had about eight friends with him, and they were hogging the surfing area. He tossed the bottle back into the cooler and was just about to grab his board when he saw Maya and Paige standing on the dividing mound. He said something to a couple of the guys he was with and pointed at the girls.

  “Maybe we should go somewhere else,” Paige suggested.

  This wasn’t the first time Kai had tried to keep the surfing area all to himself. Maya wouldn’t let it happen today, not on the Saturday before school started.

  “Maybe not,” she replied quickly. “He doesn’t own the ocean or the beach. We can surf where we want.” She started down the mound toward the sand, Paige trailing behind her.

  Kai undid the strap that attached his board to his ankle and started toward them.

  “Nope!” he shouted just as their sneakers hit the sand. “Occupied!” He was waving them back the way they came. “Go somewhere else!” Two of his friends were following close behind him, and the rest of the Kai’s group was on high alert. Maya could even see some of his friends in the water sitting on their boards watching to see what would happen.

  “You can’t tell us what to do, Kai,” Maya shouted to him as they got closer.

  “We’re practicing here,” Kai replied. “Our last competition is tomorrow. You two will get in our way.”

  “There’s plenty of water,” Paige said. “It’s not like—”

  “We’re here,” Kai cut her off. “Which means you need to go somewhere else.”

  Maya stepped up so she was just inches from Kai’s face. “We’ll surf where we want to, and we want to surf here.” She crossed her arms. “Why don’t you tell me what you’re going to do about it?”


  Kai scowled. “You know, we actually surf for a reason. I won a new board at last week’s competition, and the winner this weekend gets five hundred bucks. Surfing is just a hobby for you, so take your hobby back down that way with the rest of the casual boarders.”

  “If you won your last competition, you should be fine this week,” Maya spat back at him.

  “I won because I practiced,” Kai replied.

  “You’re lucky Maya doesn’t compete,” Paige said. “If she did, you wouldn’t have a shot at that money.”

  “Is that so?” Kai shot back over Maya’s shoulder to Paige.

  “Yeah,” Maya said firmly. “I’ve seen you out there, and you’re not half as good as you think you are.”

  Kai looked like he was grinding his teeth. “If you think you’re better than me, sign up and prove it.”

  “Unlike you,” Maya said. “I don’t need other people to tell me I’m good at what I enjoy doing. From where I’m standing, it seems like you only enter competitions because you’re an insecure little child. Get out of our way because we’re surfing here.”

  Maya had struck a nerve. Kai’s eyes narrowed and his face turned red. Even the two friends behind him seemed to sense that Maya had crossed a line.

  “You’re so much better than me, huh?” Kai’s head tilted and an evil smile came over his face. “In that case, why surf here? We’d get in your way.” His mocking tone made Maya’s blood boil. “You should surf where only a pro can pull it off. Why don’t you head down to Ripper’s Cove?” He looked at each of his friends and nodded to them, prompting them to agree. They both stayed silent and even looked a little concerned at Kai’s suggestion.

  “Don’t be stupid,” Paige said at exactly the same moment as Maya shouted “Fine!”

  “What?” Paige said, a little dumbfounded.

  “Great!” Kai said, still smirking. “We’ll be here practicing, and you’ll be at Ripper’s Cove proving how good you are. Sounds perfect to me.”

  “Sounds good to me too,” Maya said. She knew she was rising to Kai’s bait, but she didn’t care. “I’m happy to shred up some waves you’re too scared to touch.”

  Kai eyes narrowed again, but he smiled through it. “Great. Have fun.”

  Chapter 2

  “Okay,” Paige said once they were out of earshot of Kai and his friends. “So where are we actually going?” They were walking down the boardwalk that lined the beach.

  “Ripper’s Cove,” Maya said flatly.

  “You’re not serious.” Paige stared hard at Maya, who was avoiding eye contact.

  “I am serious. He thinks he’s better than us, so let’s prove he’s not by surfing somewhere he’s too afraid to go.”

  “This is stupid. Like, really stupid.” Paige groaned. “There’s a good reason he’s afraid to go there.”

  “Yeah,” Maya said. “He’s not good enough.”

  “I’m kind of thinking it has more to do with the sharp, dangerous rocks everywhere,” Paige replied.

  “We’ll be fine.” Maya was walking fast again, but this time it was out of anger, not excitement. “We’re both better surfers than he is. We can surf Ripper’s Cove, no problem. As long as we’re careful, neither of us will get hurt.”

  Ripper’s Cove was actually named Ripley’s Cove, at least that’s what it was called on every map of the area. But none of the locals ever called it by its real name. The cove was about a mile down the beach from where Kai and his friends were surfing, and no one would be there. No one was ever there. It was too dangerous. Unlike where Kai was practicing, the ocean floor at Ripper’s Cove was mostly sharp, jagged rock rather than soft sand. Everyone in town called it Ripper’s Cove because anyone who surfed there was pretty likely to get shredded by the rocks, at least according to the legend. Maya had never actually surfed there herself.

  “Megan Wolf broke her arm there last year,” Paige said. She was more or less pleading with Maya to turn back. “Mike Franssen slashed open his leg! He had to get thirty-seven stitches!”

  “Megan and Mike are amateurs,” Maya said, waving away Paige’s concern. “They’re not even as good as Kai, and we’re both better than he is.”

  “Maybe you are, but—”

  “We’ll be fine. Besides, they weren’t careful. They went to Ripper’s Cove just for bragging rights—to say they did it.”

  “Uhh,” Paige said. “Isn’t that kind of what we’re doing?”

  “No!” Maya said a little too defensively. “We’re . . . making the most of summer.” Even she had to admit her argument was pretty thin. “We’re going to Ripper’s Cove. All in favor say ‘aye.’”

  Paige rolled her eyes. “Nay! Let’s just go somewhere else. There are a dozen places to surf around here. It’s not like Kai’s going to check. Let’s not surf there and say we did.”

  “Paige,” Maya said, turning around to face her friend. “We’ll be fine. As long as we’re careful and we head out beyond the rocks, we’ll be perfectly safe. Besides, if anything happens to one of us, the other one will be there to help.”

  “Yeah,” Paige admitted. “That’s true.”

  Maya nodded, satisfied with the answer and turned around to keep walking.

  “Will you stop walking so fast?” Paige said, softer this time than before.

  “Yeah,” Maya said, slowing down. “Sorry, I’m just . . . I’m just mad.”

  “Don’t let Kai get to you.”

  Maya didn’t say anything. She just kept walking, although now she made more of an effort to walk at a reasonable pace.

  Kai had been like this for years. Even Maya had to admit that he’d earned the right to be proud of his skills. Back when they were ten years old, Kai had entered a competition that was supposed to be for ages twelve to fifteen and won the thing. He nearly got the trophy too, but one of the kids he’d just barely edged out tattled on him to the judges. He’d been disqualified, unable to go home with the trophy that was nearly as tall as he was, but that hadn’t stopped his ego from inflating.

  Even though Paige didn’t think of herself as the strongest surfer, Maya knew she was still good enough not to injure herself on the rocks. Kai might be afraid of Ripper’s Cove, but Maya wasn’t. And there’s no reason Paige should be either, she thought.

  “Did you hear about those two windsurfers?” Paige said. She was obviously trying to steer the conversation away from Kai.

  “Huh?” Maya said. She hadn’t been paying attention.

  “Those two windsurfers. Just a couple days ago.” Paige said again.

  “No. What happened? They get hurt?”

  “One of them, yeah,” Paige said, a little concern in her voice. “Shark.”

  “Seriously?” Maya stopped for a second.

  “Yup,” Paige replied. “Apparently it came out of nowhere.”

  “Are they all right?” Maya had heard of only a few shark attacks around the area, and most of them had been minor—smaller sharks that couldn’t do any real damage. They’d bite someone and freak out everyone at the beach, but the real danger was minimal.

  “One of them is fine,” Paige said. “But the other one is still in the hospital. Apparently he got his board snapped in half and his leg chewed up pretty badly. I heard the shark was huge.”

  “What kind of shark was it?”

  Paige got a serious look on her face. “Bull shark.”

  Maya felt a shiver go down her spine. Movies and TV shows with scary shark scenes always show a great white because they’re so big. But most suffers know great whites prefer open water, so they don’t usually come around the shore. Bull sharks are something else entirely. They are only about a third as big but five times meaner. Their smaller size allows them to come closer to shore just to rip and thrash at anything unfortunate enough to be in the water at the time.

  Bull sharks terrified Maya.

  Her uncle had accidentally hooked one while fishing just off the coast once. It had been strong enough to pull him straight out of the boat
by the fishing pole. Luckily he’d managed to make it back onto the boat before the shark could attack. “I lost a pole, but I kept my life,” he said when he told the story to Maya’s family. “Pure luck that I’m alive.”

  “They’re lucky,” Maya said about the two windsurfers.

  “Yeah,” Paige replied. “That’s what they said too.”

  Maya felt another shiver. “I changed my mind. Let’s talk about school.”

  Paige laughed. The girls chatted about their schedules for the upcoming year. Paige had already committed hers to memory: times, teachers, classroom numbers. Maya barely remembered what classes she was taking. But from what Paige was telling her, it sounded like they were going to have at least a few classes together this year.

  It took a little over twenty minutes of walking for the two friends to reach Ripper’s Cove. There was no formal entrance to the cove, so they had to hop the wooden fence of the boardwalk, cross some grass, and walk down an embankment just to get there.

  Even the beach of the cove wasn’t particularly inviting. Most of the sand was covered by long, flat pieces of shale rock. With their shoes on, they’d be fine, but once they took them off, they’d have to pay attention to where they stepped. The edges of the rocks were razor sharp. But the serious danger was when they were in the water. Maya knew that larger pieces of the same sharp shale were hidden under the waves. And they might be tilted at angles, ready to impale whatever fell on them. For a second, she wanted to scrap the plan—turn around and either surf somewhere else or even do something else.

  No, she thought, pushing the thought from her brain. It’s the last weekend of surfing. We came all the way here. We’re doing this.

  She walked confidently onto the beach, past the sign that read:

  RIPLEY’S COVE

  ROCKY AREA. SURFING NOT ADVISED. ENTER WATER AT YOUR OWN RISK.

  Chapter 3

  “At least the waves are perfect,” Paige said as they walked to the edge of the shore, the shale rock sliding beneath their feet. The waves were huge, rolling toward shore and curling in on themselves, absolutely ideal for surfing. If it wasn’t for all the sharp rocks, there wasn’t a doubt in Maya’s mind that people would be surfing here all day, every day.