Through the Whirlpool Read Online Free Page A

groaning. It had been triggered by colors. She had seen a brightly colored spot on the beach: her mom, wearing that ridiculous swimsuit, looking like an unfinished Rubik’s cube somebody gave up on.
    She looked out to sea. That was when she noticed the clouds. Like no weather pattern she had ever seen. The entire sky was swirling around, as if some huge basin of cloudy liquid had just had the plug pulled and was spiraling down the drain. Except that this was upside down, and those clouds looked like they were being sucked up into the sky. Below them, on the horizon, the three towers of the experimental biofuel station almost seemed to center and anchor the billowing formation over their particular patch of sea.
    Farther in, she caught a flash of bright orange. Kyle was paddling into the path of a huge wave that threatened to eat him whole. He turned his board just at the wrong time, valiantly attempting to catch it. The wave towered high above, menacing and immobile. Then it came crashing down, an avalanche of foam under which he disappeared. His orange boogie board shot vertically up out of the water like a rocket from a submarine launcher. A few seconds later, his body tumbled up onto the beach in a swirl of surf. Well, at least she was not the worst surfer out that day. She called to him:
    “ Kyle, I’m going inshore!”
    “ I’m not. There’s a whole pile on their way. Look.”
    “ Nah. Those are tiny. Don’t go out beyond your depth, okay?”
    Jade waded in, ran up the beach, and threw herself down on her towel. Now she could see her mom’s horrendous swimsuit up close.
    Joan beamed: “Do you like it?”
    It was the grossest thing Jade had ever seen. Radioactive green. Purple and orange lizards, or alligators—she could not tell which—swarmed across it. Every second animal was wearing a bright yellow sunhat, or holding a bunch of pink flowers. Just looking at it brought on her queasiness. She looked away.
    “ Yeah, it’s nice, Mom. We can tell the lighthouse keeper on Point Mauri he’s out of a job. We’ll just get you to stand up there every night and shine a torch on you.”
    Joan hit her with her red and purple floppy sunhat, frowning mock angrily: “Such a charming girl I’ve raised!”
    Jade closed her eyes and lay back, then giggled: “You could even double as an outdoor disco. Only thing missing are the strobe lights!”
    Her mother ignored her: “This’ll interest you. We’re in the news!”
    Jade sat up and watched the newscast on her mom’s phone.
    “ MAURI COVE LAUNCHES ECO-FUEL,” rolled the headline over video images of Mauri Cove and surrounding coastline as a commentary droned, “Last night, quiet Mauri Cove took a giant step toward the development of an ecologically harmonious society when Synengine Energies launched its new synthetic fuels laboratory. Synengine Energies is a multinational group with installations in over fifteen countries.”
    The picture snapped to Mayor Robbins ’ rosy face: “Their choice of our town as a base for this experimental facility is a great boost for local employment. We must support this bid for a clean, green future in this wonderful region.”
    Then a harder visage appeared, cloaked in dark glasses, under which Jade read , “Dr. Norman Hagues, CEO, Synengine Energies Inc.” His voice sounded like gravel under car tires: “We are proud to be collaborating with the people of this town to create more jobs… a better future for your kids in a more loving, trusting world…”
    “ The new fuel is 100% efficient, producing no emissions,” the newscaster’s voice continued. “Furthermore, the refinement process creates absolutely no waste…”
    The screen changed to a shot of a crystal flask containing an oily substance that danced and flowed in sparkling colors. Jade gasped as a deja-vu feeling thumped her in her guts. She tried to shake it: “Wow. They open a science lab here, and that makes us superstars!”
    She lay back on her towel,