Turtle Terror Read Online Free Page A

of . . . borrowed it,” Josh said. “I was going to give it back to her. She left it behind. In a way.”
    Danny swam across to his brother with two easy pushes of his powerful back flippers and high-fived him with a front flipper. “Well, I don’t mind your new crime habit—not when it’s just saved our lives! And this is
fantastic
! I love being a turtle! I can really swim! And breathe underwater! How cool is
that
?”

    â€œWell, you’re not actually breathing underwater,” Josh said. “You’re just holding your breath—you haven’t got gills or anything.”
    â€œIt doesn’t feel like I’m holding my breath,” Danny said as they smoothly navigated past a little uprising of rock and wafting seaweed.
    â€œWell—no, it won’t for a bit,” Josh said. “Leatherback turtles can hold their breath for half an hour. We’ve only been under a couple of minutes. You won’t notice you need more air for ages yet.”
    â€œAnd we’re talking too—how’s that working? Vibrations again?”
    â€œYep—like when we were frogs. And body language—and maybe a bit of telepathy,” Josh guessed.
    â€œRight—so—let’s get down to the nitty-gritty,” Danny said. “Can anything eat me?”
    Josh flippered right up and over in a joyful somersault. “Nothing!” he cried. “Not around here! If we were in another part of the world, a crocodile might have a go—and humans, of course. Turtle tastes pretty good. But here we’re protected!”
    Danny did a twisting roll of delight as they traveled on at high speed, barely troubled by the continual push and pull of the tide. “I love conservationists!”
    Josh swam down low to inspect the seabed. The sand between the rocks lay in tiny undulating dunes, forever shifting and sifting with the movement of the water. On the rocks, seaweed waved back and forth in a multitude of colors—much more vivid than when it was slumped and still at low tide. Pink and blue sea anemones thrust out their pointed tentacles and joined in the dance. Delicate, semitransparent shrimps foraged among them. Crabs traveled sideways along the sand, moving like astronauts in zero gravity and busily flicking their little mouth parts. They didn’t seem to be scared of the huge leatherback turtles. And Joshand Danny were huge! About three feet long from snout to tail, Josh reckoned—much bigger than the turtles the mice had S.W.I.T.C.H.ed into. Maybe it was because he and Danny had been bigger to start with . . . or maybe the bottle he had “borrowed” had a slightly different S.W.I.T.C.H. in it. Josh didn’t really care. The water felt cool, silky, and comfortable—and it was amazing to be able to power through whenever he felt the urge. “Look at this, Danny!” he called over his leathery shoulder. “Look!” And he shot across the seabed at great speed.

    Seconds later Danny had caught up with him, his flippers working brilliantly, driving him through the water. He was very competitive and couldn’t bear to be left behind. “This is the best S.W.I.T.C.H. we’ve
ever
had!” he said. “I can’t believe Petty didn’t want us to do this. It’s brilliant!”
    â€œYou know . . . we’re actually dinosaurs,” Josh said.
    â€œWe what?” Danny flipped round again and stared at his brother in fascination.
    â€œYup—we date right back to the Cretaceous period,” Josh said proudly.
    â€œFor once, freaky little nature nerd—that’s quite cool!” Danny admitted. “Best S.W.I.T.C.H. ever,” he murmured, again.
    â€œWe’d better not get too far out,” Josh warned. “We don’t know when it’ll wear off. We ought to head for the shore.”
    They turned toward the beach. They didn’t need to bob up out of the water to check