Read Dark Life: Rip Tide for Free Online Page B

spine,” she said. No doubt plucked off one of her pets. Tossing it aside, she stepped over the crying man. “He won’t die.”
    No, but the pain from the fish toxin would make him wish he had. I knew, having stuck my hand in the wrong crevice once. “Why didn’t you just shock him?” I asked.
    She shot me a look and I knew. She couldn’t control her Dark Gift. Always worried that she might cause permanent damage or even kill someone.
    “Come on,” she said. She grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the surf, who was now curled up in pain. “Pa told me to leave in the Slicky. And that was before the scary guys showed up. Are we going to follow them?”
    “Where’s the Slicky?”
    She pointed across the water where waves swirled around the aft tower. Zoe had been piloting subs since she was six. If I could get her over there safely, she could zip out of here.
    Looking around, I spotted a cable hanging fromthe deck above. Following it with my eyes, I saw that it ended under water at the other end of the ship, not far from the minisub. Unfastening her dive belt, I tossed one end over the cable and tugged it closer to the balcony, taking out the slack. It seemed sturdy enough. Knowing what to do without being told, she flipped her helmet into place, sealed it, and took the ends of the belt from me.
    “Get in the Slicky and go to the Trade Station,” I told her. “Call the Seaguard.”
    “What about you?”
    “I’m going after that sub.”
    “Me, too!”
    “No! The Slicky can’t outpace anything.” Not that that was the point. But telling her it was too dangerous would guarantee she’d try to follow them. “If you don’t tell the Seaguard that surfs took Ma and Pa, how are we going to get them back?”
    Zoe paled. Nodding, she launched herself into the air. I scrambled to the edge to watch her. Holding fast to the ends of the dive belt, she flew down the makeshift zip line as it bucked in the high winds. Within seconds, she sluiced into the waves and disappeared in the spray. A moment later she appeared inside the Slicky’s cockpit.
    Quickly, I bent over the writhing man. The wound was just a prick. His pain would last a week at most. Notthat I should care. Drift’s cancer-riddled sachem had just kidnapped my parents. Yet the words tumbled out of my mouth. “Put a hot compress on it. Heat breaks down the venom.”
    I started to unfasten my own belt, but a flash of green caught my eye. My heart quickened. The sub had torn out of the wreck and was now closing in on the cruiser. “Gemma!” I pointed to the vehicle headed her way and motioned for her to submerge. But then I realized that even if she could escape, she wouldn’t know to follow the green sub, didn’t know that Drift’s sachem had forced Ma and Pa aboard.
    Footsteps echoed through the corridor, heading my way. I studied the waves, aimed for the one wink of blue amidst the geysers of spray, and dove off the balcony.
    The second I knifed into the water, relief swept through me. No debris or rocks broke my fall. I slowed my descent and flipped over. Once I located the cruiser bobbing above, I blasted high-pitched clicks upward. The cruiser’s control panel would pick up the sound and, I hoped, Gemma would guess the source.
    I swam for the wagon. As soon as I got a grip on its back rail, I clicked again loudly and the cruiser took off, tilting as it went. Shooting sonar over my shoulder, I sensed the green sub coming for us. After our crops or me? I didn’t know. But we couldn’t exactly follow thesurfs if they were chasing us. An even more pressing question: How much longer could I hold my breath? Not much. I had to get Gemma to surface, and soon.
    The cruiser lurched and bucked. Clearly, Gemma hadn’t had much practice driving the family sub—and none with a wagon of crops hitched to the back. I tried clicking at her again, but moving this fast, my sounds weren’t reaching her.
    Grasping the rubber straps that enclosed the wagon, one