Salinity Cove: The Complete Series

Prologue

RILEY

TEN YEARS AGO

Idug my shovel into the damp sand and scooped it into my bucket. I was a pro at building sandcastles since, nearly every day, my mom brought me to the beach. It was our happy place, and the waves crashing along the shore always made me feel alive.

She'd bring a giant towel to lie on and work on her tan while I perfected my sandcastle sculpting abilities. I might have only been seven, but I was already a master.

After making sure the sand was wet and packed enough, I turned the bucket out onto the damp sand and slid it off the new tower. It was so satisfying sliding the bucket off and seeing the smooth surface ready for me to carve.

"Hon, come here and rub some more lotion on my back." My mom was already tan, but for some reason, always wanted to toast in the sun. "I don't want to burn."

I left my tools and buckets and ran over to her, taking the brown bottle from her outstretched hand. I squirted a glob onto her back and rubbed it into her smooth skin.

My mom was what many called a classic beauty, with the same green eyes as me. She looked younger than she was, and I heard her make comments about being a cougar on a regular basis. Most of the men who walked by her on the beach did a double take as they passed.

"Thanks, sweetie. We'll head home for dinner in about thirty minutes." She folded her arms and rested her head on them.

I ran back to my sandcastle and my stomach grew tight. I had misjudged how far the waves would roll in and now a bucket and shovel were headed out to sea.

I took off after them, a wave receding as I ran forward. The next wave would bring them closer to me again and I could grab them.

The wave hit me in the legs as I ran and I fell to my knees. I got back up and sloshed through the shin-high water.

I was almost to the bucket when another wave crashed against me and I got a mouthful of salt water. I grabbed the bucket and looked around for the shovel.

It must have sunk to the bottom. I turned and started going back toward the shore, but the sand beneath me felt like it gave way and I was pulled backwards.

Panic welled up inside me and I kicked my legs toward the bottom, trying to find my footing. There was just ocean and the increasing sense of dread. I tried to let out a cry for help and felt myself being pulled under by an invisible force.

I clamped my mouth shut and a few bubbles of air escaped anyway.

No, no, no. This isn't happening!

I let the bucket go and flailed my arms, trying with all my strength to swim back to the surface. Why was the water taking me? Why was no one coming to save me?

I was a decent swimmer for a seven-year-old, but instead of my arms and legs moving like they should have, they felt heavy and disjointed from my body.

I was out of air and knew I was about to drown. I squeezed my eyes shut.

My mom had warned me to stay out of the water without her by my side. It had only been for a second to grab my bucket. A second was all the water needed.

The invisible wave was pulling me out to sea.

My body could no longer hold the air and I exhaled, bubbles flying from my nose and mouth. I opened my eyes, trying to find the surface. My entire body burned like I had just played three hours of soccer in the hot sun, and the water filled my ears with a fuzzy sound.

A flash of blue in my periphery caught my attention, and then something wrapped around my waist. My vision narrowed like I was trying to see through a smaller and smaller hole. Then everything went black.

"There she is!" I coughed at the sound of my mom's distraught voice. My side was burning and I cried out, struggling to sit up and move away from the hot metal.

"How'd she manage to get up there?" Men's voices began talking in haste about how I was swept out to sea and was able to climb onto a buoy. They said I was the strongest little girl they'd ever seen.

I wiped at my eyes, which were burning from the dried salt water and cried out for my mom. All around me was water as far as the eye could see. I had just been on the shore building a sandcastle, and now I was in the middle of the ocean.

"Hold on, baby!"

A man in an orange jumpsuit jumped into the ocean and swam toward me. He grabbed onto the side of the buoy with one hand and handed me a life jacket with the other. "Put this on, sweetie. I'm going to get you off this thing."

I did as he asked, my arms feeling like jelly as I lifted them to put on the life jacket. Once it was on, he hooked a rope on the front of it. "You're going to have to scoot to the edge and jump off into my arms."

"I'm scared." My chin trembled as I put my legs over the side. The metal was still hot on my skin and my side burned like I had stepped into a shower that was too hot.

"I know it's scary, but I'm right here, and all the other people on the boat are here to help too. You are such a brave girl."

I took a deep breath and pushed off the side. Like he said he would, he caught me as soon as my body hit the water and immediately swam back toward the boat.

A man and woman dressed in the same orange as the man who had gotten me off the buoy pulled me onto the boat.

The woman handed me to my mom, who wrapped me in her arms. She was sobbing and saying how it was all her fault.

"Ow!" Her arm brushed against my side and it felt like it was on fire.

My mom set me down on a bench and took off the life jacket so they could look at my injury. I hid my face against my mom's arm.

"It's a miracle she was pulled this far out and survived." One of the men opened a bag next to me and wiped something that stung on my wound. "We need to get her to the hospital to have these burns from the metal checked out. I'm going to start an IV to get some fluids in her."

The boat engine revved, and I peeked out from where my face was buried as the boat began pulling away. I couldn't even see the shore from where we were.

"How long was she missing?" The man who had cleaned my burn was wrapping gauze around my torso.

"No more than half an hour." My mom rubbed my back. "Sweetie, do you know what happened?"

I shook my head and shut my eyes. I was exhausted. All I remembered was a flash of blue and arms pulling me.

But that couldn't be right. Could it?