Turtle Terror Read Online Free

it. I don’t reckon it’s that deep yet. If we run, I think we can make it back.”
    Josh looked doubtful.
    â€œLook—do you want to stay the night here?” Danny pointed at the dark looming ruin behind them, and Josh shuddered. He did not.
    â€œOK, then—let’s go!” he said.
    They started running, slithering down across the seaweed-y rocks, and by the time they got onto the sandy seabed the water was up to their knees. Josh felt a stab of anxiety, but Danny just ran ahead, splashing sea water high in the air and soaking his shorts. “Come ON!” he called back. “We haven’t got much time!”
    They were only halfway back when Josh realized their mistake. On a large flat beach like this, they couldn’t outrun the sea. One minute he was splashing along up to his knees—the next he was wading up to his waist, and the next, the water was up to his chest. He glanced across to Danny and saw his brother was swimming.
    â€œWe can do this!” he shouted, but he sounded as scared as Josh felt.
    Although Danny was super sporty, he’d never really gotten into swimming—and Josh wasn’t sporty at all and hadn’t swum even half as much as Danny. Even so, they probably would have been all right . . . except for the undertow.
    The current of water that pulled away from theshore every time the waves receded was incredibly strong. Danny felt as if the sea had grabbed him by the legs and was tugging him backward. And he wasn’t getting any closer to the shore.
    â€œWe’re not going to make it!” spluttered Danny. “We’ll have to go back to the fort!”
    But as he turned his head he realized, with horror, that the fort was no longer behind them. In their struggles with the tide, they had been swept along the beach, and the fort was far, far away. They had no more hope of reaching the fort than they had of reaching the beach.
    Things were looking bad.
    Very bad.

Josh went under. A big slap of salty water engulfed his head, and his ears immediately filled up with sea, all booming and glugging and weird. But even underwater, he had a brilliant idea. When his head next surfaced, he was holding something up out of the water with his right hand: a small white spray bottle. The first thing he did was spray Danny, whose panicky head was bobbing close by.
    The next thing he did was go under the water again, with a splutter. Then, as soon as he managed to push back up above the waves, gasping for air, he sprayed the bottle at his own head and quickly shoved it back deep into his shorts pocket. Danny had already vanished, and Josh was praying he’d been S.W.I.T.C.H.ed—not drowned.
    Three seconds later he found out.
    The hostile world of the rising tide suddenly changed miraculously to a brand new universe. He was underwater, swimming almost effortlessly with four flippers perfectly designed for the job. His nostrils clamped tightly shut and his eyes opened wide. There was no need to swim up and gasp for air—he had plenty stored inside his lungs. He could dive down a mile deep if he needed to.
    Thanks, Petty
! he thought.
This time you’ve definitely saved my life
! But what about Danny? Suddenly he felt panicked. Had he managed to get the S.W.I.T.C.H. spray onto Danny’s head? What if the sea breeze had blown it away before it could hit? Where was Danny? Where was he?
    â€œYAAAAAAAAAAAAY!” Suddenly a handsome leatherback turtle shot past him in a plume of bubbles. “WOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!” went on Danny. “How did
that
happen?”
    Josh turned easily in the water and took in his brother’s sleek reptile form. “Um . . . I kind of . . . stole Petty’s S.W.I.T.C.H. spray,” he admitted.
    In the shafts of summer sun that broke through the greenish-blue water, Danny could see his brother’s guilty grin. “
You
!” he chortled. “
A thief
? Never!”

    â€œWell . . . I more sort