Atlantis Tide Breaker

Chapter One

Boyfriend Bounce Back

A light flickered in the window of the house next door. My best friend’s house. A house that was supposed to be empty.

Tiny tingles of nerves crawled up my spine like an army of small spiders. I hated spiders. Something was off.

Moving toward my bedroom window, I squinted. Rain rat-a-tat-tatted on the glass pane. Lightning flashed. Thunder struck. I jumped.

The unusual thunderstorm had ruined the last day of summer before my junior year of high school. Storms had actually ruined the last several weeks. Dark, roiling, angry clouds had encamped on the southern California coast. Not a normal sight.

Another flash in the window. Lightning reflecting off the glass?

No one could be in that house. Maris’s parents had left for a medical mission in Africa this morning. And Maris had been gone most of the summer. Busy with her new boyfriend and her new royal role of Atlantean Princess.

Pain struck my chest like the lightning outside. Hot. Sharp. Jagged. She’d moved on and left me behind when normally we did everything together. Resentment built on top of my anger. This was supposed to have been our first summer of real freedom because we both could drive. Instead, she’d been busy discovering her true heritage and a new boyfriend.

And I’d been used by one of his friends.

Shaking off the pain of rejection, I focused on why Maris was gone. A more general burning sensation developed—like a constant heartburn of worry. Maris was trying to prevent an underwater war.

And Maris and her sisters weren’t being successful as the constant threat of severe thunderstorms indicated. I recognized the signs of battle, even if no other air-breathers were aware of the danger. Maris had told me about the sudden storms, the rogue waves, the whirlpools.

The light in the window flashed again. Lasted longer. Like a beam from a flashlight. Not lightning.

My over-analyzing, worry-wart tendencies busted. Nerves exploded into thrills. My tingles shimmied to a happy beat. Maris was back. The light in her bedroom window was proof of her return.

I knew she wouldn’t force me to start junior year by myself. She understood how important the first day of school was to me. We’d been best friends forever and the first day of school was a sacred ritual.

An excited I-knew-it smile burst from my lips. “Epic.”

I dashed out of my bedroom grabbing the extra set of house keys on my way out the back door. Using the well-worn path between the bushes dividing our lawns, I jogged to Maris’s back door and inserted my key.

Planning to surprise her, I cracked open the door and slipped inside. I couldn’t wait for her to scream my name. Couldn’t wait to feel her arms around me. Couldn’t wait to hear about her latest underwater adventure.

Running up the stairs, my bare feet didn’t make a sound. A shout of welcome built in my lungs. I couldn’t wait to see her, to hug her, to talk to her.

I tiptoed to her open door and peeked in her bedroom. It was dark. Empty.

Completely confuzzled, I gazed around. This was where the light had come from. I knew her house as well as I knew my own. We used to wave to each other from our bedroom windows, send signals in the middle of the night.

A bang sounded above my head. From the attic.

Why was Maris in the attic?

I turned toward the narrow stairs, then stopped. Uh oh.