“Justin!” His voice thundered across the waves, came back mockingly on the wind.

“Neale, don’t go in there!” Kelsey looked wildly around, searching desperately for some landmark, some sign of where they had been. It all looked the same—black and empty—and dead. She raced up behind Neale and tried to pull him back. “Neale—we’ve got to get help—”

“Let go—just get back—” He went deeper, leaving her helplessly on shore.

“Neale! Please!”

“Justin!” he shouted again. “Justin!” Looking back, he waved one arm in a direction farther down the beach. “Go to the lifeguard station and use the phone—just take it off the hook—”

But Kelsey was already running. Gasping painfully for breath she pushed herself along the shore, legs pumping, prayers whistling through clenched teeth, eyes fixed ahead, willing herself forward. Only minutes away…only seconds…I couldn’t help Dad before…I couldn’t save Dad before…but I’ll save Justin…

She hardly noticed the sound at first. A soft, indistinct sputter, like a cough, only liquid. She thought it was her own throat, that she was going to be sick at last—but when she glanced down and saw the long shadow stretched half out of the water, she gave a shriek and fell down on the sand beside it.

“Justin—oh—Justin—are you—?”

He heaved, ocean water emptying again and again from his lungs, and she held him until his body lay quiet once more. She was vaguely aware that somewhere in between the spasms she shouted for Neale, and that Justin was shaking uncontrollably as she eased him over onto his back.

She wasn’t prepared for the terror in his eyes,

“Where is he?” Justin grabbed onto her, trying to pull himself up, to look around at the deserted stretch of sand, and she fought to push him back down.

“Who? Neale? He was going in to look for you and—”

“No!” Justin was squeezing her arm so tightly that she winced. “Where was he when I went in the water—”

Kelsey stared at him as if the water had somehow affected his reasoning. “I don’t know, but I’ve got to go back and get him!” She tried to pry his fingers away, but he only held her tighter. “Justin, he’s gone in to look for you! I saw a shark out there—you don’t understand—”

“No!” Justin looked up at her, his face pleading, his voice sinking to a whisper—“No…you don’t understand…”

Kelsey felt a chill ripple up her spine. For a long moment she stared into his eyes, so bright with fear, and didn’t even realize at first that someone had slipped out of the shadows to join them.

“Are you all right?” Neale’s deep voice fell between them, and Kelsey looked up in alarm. Justin was still trembling. She slipped her fingers around his cold ones and squeezed.

“He’s freezing,” she said. She watched in silence as Neale knelt down to examine him. Justin lay there passively, too weak to even move. Weak? Or afraid? The thought hit Kelsey unexpectedly. With a slight shock she studied Justin’s face and watched the color drain away. She released his hand and stood up.