Demons of the Ocean Read Online Free Page A

having sour-and-sweet lobster tails. Lachlan will be home from the bank. He'll be delighted to see you."Polly beamed from ear to ear. Her day had certainly turned from sour to sweet. And better still was to come."Was that a drop of rain?" Loretta asked."Why, yes, I believe it was," Polly said. "And look how dark the sky has grown."
    "A storm is brewing," Loretta said, "and those poor children, all alone at sea."Neither woman could contain her laughter as they hurried off to shelter from the rapidly deteriorating weather.

CHAPTER 5
    JOURNEY'S END
    The storm seemed to come out of nowhere. It came at Grace and Connor just when they were at their most vulnerable, out beyond the harbor in the open ocean.It didn't give them a chance.The sky changed color so fast, it was as if someone had ripped away a sheet of blue wallpaper to reveal a gaping black hole. The heat from the sun vanished in an instant and the rain came down in hard pellets of water that burned and froze them in the same instant.The water roiled beneath them, like a bucking bronco trying to throw its rider. The boat clung onto the waves, and Grace and Connor clung onto the boat, their harnesses offering little reassurance. What good was it being tied to a boat when at any moment the sea might slice the boat in two or crush it in its rough, salty fist?"We shouldn't have done this," Connor cried. "It was a stupid idea."
    "No," cried Grace, above the roar of the water. "What choice did we have?"
    "We're going to die!"
    "We're not dead yet!"Were those tears rolling down Connor's cheek, or was it the saltwater stinging his eyes? Grace found it impossible to tell. She thought of their father. What would he have done?"I'll tell you a tale of Vampirates," she sang, bravely, "a tale as old as true."Connor grasped this crumb of comfort and joined in. The two of them were still singing as the boat spun over and the guardrail snapped in two.The twins were thrown apart and down, down into the freezing, churning water.Filled with a strange calm, Connor watched pieces of the boat sink past him down into the darker water below. A strange catalog of cups and cutlery and books twirled past him. He reached a hand out toward them and watched them dance away. He smiled. Beneath the surface of the water, it was calm, a safe haven from the storm that raged above. It was tempting to stay here, and drift with the other broken pieces of his world. This might be a good way to die.No, he had to find Grace! He tore himself from his trance and, with every fiber of his body, pushed upward through the water. It was hard and it was painful, and it was all he could do not to let go, open himself to the water and sink back down into the darkness.But Connor was strong and now he used all his strength to fight the shower of shrapnel hurling toward him as he neared the wreckage of the boat. He burst through the surface, waves lashing him at every turn. Swallowing salty water and retching, he looked desperately around, searching for something buoyant to grab on to. And for his sister.Connor's savior turned out to be a piece of seating. He gripped tightly to its jagged edges, pulling himself up onto the plank of wood as if it was a surfboard. It was an enormous effort and his hands were bleeding. The churning saltwater added to his pain. But Connor took a gulp of air and realized he had done it. He was alive.But where was Grace?The storm was still raging, but quieter now. Connor scanned the bubbling water, looking for his sister's face amid the debris. She wasn't there. Gaining control of the makeshift surfboard, he moved through the water, looking for any sign of her. There was none.The sea grew calmer but it was becoming harder and harder to see more than a meter or so ahead of him. Connor realized that a mist was settling. It grew thicker, enclosing him in his own personal cloud. No! Now he would never find her. He flapped his hands around him, trying to push the mist away, but all this did was unbalance