The Cheerleaders of Doom by Michael Buckley

Author:Michael Buckley
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Amulet Books
Published: 2011-10-11T16:00:00+00:00

But she’d never see three minutes if she didn’t get some air. She fumbled with her utility belt, searching for the right inhalers. She knew the oxygen inhalers were painted blue, but the gray water leeched all color from the plastic. She was struggling to find the right one when something banged into her—something big. She lost her grip on one of the inhalers and watched it tumble into the blackness.

That’s when she saw the fins gliding against the bottom of her feet. It was big and gray and fast, and when she saw the flecks of blood floating off her arm she knew exactly what it was: a great white shark.

At the moment, the shark was the least of Matilda’s worries. She couldn’t breathe. Her lungs were weak to begin with, and her asthma had prevented her from learning to hold her breath for long. Kicking her feet, she rose to the surface. Her head broke through and she gasped for breath. The pirates stood above her on the ship, jeering and laughing.

“How long?” Matilda cried.

“One minute forty seconds,” Tiffany shouted back. “And we can’t wait for you.”

“Nice,” Matilda groaned. Her squad mates would not be mounting a rescue.

As she swam toward a rope that dangled from the deck into the water, she saw a shimmer and was dragged down again. The shark had caught her cheerleading skirt in its jagged teeth, narrowly missing her legs. Their eyes met and she could see the shark’s stubborn hunger. There would be no mercy from this fish.

Matilda had fought plenty of full-grown men and one very angry kindergartner, but she didn’t have any experience fighting sea life. So she did what came naturally—she punched the shark in the snout. She expected it to cry out—most people did when they were on the receiving end of her uppercuts—but instead it opened its jaws to take a bigger bite. She kicked at it violently, fueled by adrenalin and fear and the desperate desire to not become the shark’s breakfast, and managed to knock a few of its many teeth loose. Perhaps somewhere deep in her mind her subconscious took over, because without thinking she reached for her utility belt and snatched whatever inhaler she could. She pushed the plunger, and a blast of concentrated air knocked the shark for a loop. It went spinning out of control with part of her skirt in its jaws.

There was no time to celebrate; her lungs were on fire. Once again, she swam to the shimmering surface and broke through into the air. From there she could see on deck, where the tiny ball of electricity had begun to form in McKenna’s hand. If Matilda didn’t get back, she would lose her ticket home, and from what Tiffany said, they’d never be able to return to pick her up.

Gripping her inhalers, she was just about to squeeze when the shark snatched her skirt again. It pulled her down deeper and deeper until she wasn’t sure which way was up.

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