Wall of Water by Kristin F. Johnson

Author:Kristin F. Johnson [Johnson, Kristin F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Danger, Darby Creek, Day of Disaster, Disaster, Extreme Weather, High School, Hi-Lo, Natural Disaster, Natural Disasters, Realistic Fiction, Storm, Storms, Survival, Teen, Teenagers, Teens, Weather, Action & Adventure, Survival Stories, Survival, Survival Story, Thiller, Suspense, Thrillers, Thrillers & Suspense, Self-esteem, Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance, Self-Reliance, Social Themes, Adventure, Adventure Stories, Adventures, Bravery, Courage, Earthquake, Earthquakes, Families, Family, Family & Relationships, Family and Relationships, Friend, Friends, Friendship, Kristin F. Johnson, Kristin Johnson, Relationships, Rescue, Sibling, Siblings, Tsunami, Tsunamis, Wall of Water
ISBN: 9781512435153
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Published: 2017-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

8

Alex wrapped the beach towel around Sienna’s shoulders and tossed the other towel to Drew.

“This is the next best thing to sunscreen,” Alex said.

“What about you?” Sienna said.

“I’ll be fine for a while.” She held her arm up to Sienna’s for comparison. “I’m way darker than you are.”

“True,” Sienna said.

A dead barracuda showed its belly to the sun. Alex had seen one at the university’s aquarium, where her dad held some of his classes. He had been so excited to work with ocean organisms after teaching for so long in the Midwest. Was the university even there anymore? If the university closed because of the disaster, could they go back to Minnesota? What if Dad was on a boat researching fish when the tsunami hit? Sometimes he went out with the local fishermen to learn more for his lectures. Was Dad even alive?

Alex stepped over a chunk of broken coral. “When we were snorkeling, my dad said you couldn’t touch the coral or you would kill it,” she said. “Look at it now.”

“I know,” Sienna said. “It’s awful.”

The coral should have been underwater. Now it had dried up and died. Stepping on the coral seemed disrespectful, even if it was already dead.

The wreckage stretched as far as Alex could see. The tsunami had clawed its way over the island, devouring everything in its path. In the distance, hills emerged, maybe a mile away.

“What is that shining?” Sienna said.

Something glinted on a mound of sand near a fallen palm tree.

Alex walked closer. “It’s lava rock.”

Guilt tore at her insides. That couldn’t be what really caused all of this destruction, taking that one measly stone from the beach, right? Never take lava rocks. It’s bad luck, the guide had said. It wasn’t as if she took the rock off the island altogether. And these lava rocks were far away from the beach; they were inland, near the hills.

They were bound to see someone else soon, weren’t they?

Alex bent down and picked the rock out from under the broken palm branches. She pressed its sharp edges into her palm and turned it over. One side was smooth, the other rough and cracked. Lava was like that: two-sided. She dropped the rock to the ground and stuffed her hands in her pockets. She pulled out the rock she had taken and stared at it. Through the tsunami, that little rock had stayed in her pocket, as if the bad luck of the rock was sticking to her.

She thought of dropping the rock right then and there. Would that put things right? This wasn’t where she had picked up the rock. She needed to get the rock back to the ocean, but they were nowhere near the water right now. Her shoulders dropped, and she stuffed the rock back into her pocket. She would have to keep it until she could return it to the ocean.

Sienna jogged over. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” Alex said. “Just . . . nothing. I don’t want to talk about it.

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