TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: Killers at Sea

  Chapter 2: Goodbye to the Gusto

  Chapter 3: Three Alone

  Chapter 4: Flashes of Light

  Chapter 5: Teeth

  Chapter 6: Down Here

  Chapter 7: Found at Sea

  About the Author

  About the Illustrator

  Glossary

  Shipwreck

  Discussion Questions

  Writing Prompts

  Other Books By Jake Maddox

  Internet Sites

  Copyright

  Back Cover

  CHAPTER 1

  Killers at Sea

  Fourteen-year-old Gabby Moore glared down at the ocean. She said, “Since I haven’t seen any whales, do you think the whales are hiding out there, watching us?”

  She whirled around. Her friend Skylar laughed. Miles, Gabby’s 16-year-old brother, smirked. Gabby could tell that he was trying not to laugh. When Skylar glanced at Miles, he walked to the other side of the boat.

  “You knew there might not be anything,” Gabby’s mother said.

  “Captain Steve can’t promise that we’ll see whales,” their father said.

  “I’ve been taking folks out on the Gusto for twenty-two years,” Captain Steve said, patting the railing of the boat. “In all that time, the people sure have changed, but the animals haven’t. They’re still as hard to find as they were when I started.”

  He pointed to a vinyl banner that hung on the boat. “Whale They or Won’t They Show Up?” was printed on it in silver letters. There was a cartoon picture of a whale winking.

  “Just like the poster says, Gabby,” Captain Steve said. “The whales will show up if they feel like it.”

  Captain Steve was friends with Gabby’s mom. Recently, Gabby’s science teacher had assigned the class to do projects about different animals. Gabby and Skylar got whales. Gabby’s mom called Captain Steve, who agreed to take the Moores and Skylar out on his boat.

  “It’s okay, Gabby,” Skylar said. “We don’t need to see live whales to do a great job. After all, Gina and Rachel won’t be looking in the woods for black bears.”

  “That’s right,” Gabby’s mother said. Then she sighed. “Girls, it’s 80 degrees outside. Please put on more sunscreen.”

  Gabby rolled her eyes, but she put some sunscreen on her face and bare legs. Then she checked her watch. They’d been on the boat for an hour and hadn’t seen a single whale. That was a bad sign.

  She sighed and walked over to where Miles was standing. “I can’t decide what’s more boring about this,” Gabby said. “Being stuck on a whale-watching trip without whales, or being stuck on a boat all day with you.”

  “Don’t take this out on me,” Miles said. “It’s not my fault the whales don’t like us.”

  “Mom said you could’ve stayed home,” Gabby said.

  “I came for research,” Miles told her. “Not like your little school project. Real research.”

  “Oh, I forgot,” Gabby said. “This is your first official mission as a lifeguard.”

  “I didn’t know you passed your lifeguard test,” Skylar said as she walked up behind them.

  “He needed a change from his first two tries,” Gabby said.

  “That’s really cool, Miles,” Skylar said, ignoring Gabby and smiling at Miles. “Congratulations.”

  “Hey, kids, come check this out!” Gabby’s dad yelled. He was pointing off the side of the boat. “That’s a whale, isn’t it?” he asked.

  Everyone headed over, including Captain Steve and the first mate, Holly.

  “Wow,” Holly said. “I’ve never seen one of those in the wild before.”

  “It’s beautiful,” Captain Steve said as the glossy black and white animal came close to breaking the surface. “It’s an orca. A killer whale.”

  “Killer whale?” Miles asked. “Around here?”

  Skylar took out her digital camera. She snapped photos.

  “What’s that?” Gabby asked. “Another one?” She pointed toward something large swimming several yards away from the first one. Both animals were headed toward the Gusto. Fast.

  “It looks like they’re following the boat,” Mom said.

  Captain Steve frowned. “Everyone away from the edge,” he said. Gabby had never heard him sound so nervous before.

  The group did as they were told. Dad stood on his tiptoes so that he could see over the side of the boat. “That looks like a third one,” he said.

  Gabby heard a loud splintering sound. The 36-foot-long boat lurched forward. Everybody screamed.

  “What’s happening?” Gabby shrieked.

  “The whales are attacking the boat!” Captain Steve said. He stuffed a waterproof pack of flares into a vest pocket.

  Gabby’s mom grabbed some life preservers from a stack. She threw them at Gabby, Miles, and Skylar, who put them on.

  “It’s okay,” Captain Steve said. “Orcas do that sometimes. As long as they don’t hit us again, we’ll be fine.”

  Another hit made the boat rock. Jets of water, mixed with pieces of wood, shot up. Everyone was thrown around the deck. Gabby’s dad slid hard into a railing. Skylar bumped her knee on a bench.

  Captain Steve and Holly stood up quickly. They ran to a large canister that was attached to a wall of the boat. Together, they heaved it overboard.

  When it hit the water, the canister split open and a red piece of fabric burst out. Then the fabric filled with air. In seconds, it inflated into a four-person life raft. It looked like a small castle. It even had a small boarding ramp.

  “We have to abandon ship!” Captain Steve shouted. The boat shook as the orcas rammed into it a third time. “Now!”

  CHAPTER 2

  Goodbye to the Gusto

  Captain Steve grabbed Gabby and Skylar’s wrists and pulled them to the railing. “It’ll be okay,” he said. “I’ll go with you.”

  Holly helped Miles, Mom, and Dad toward the railing. Captain Steve and the girls jumped. They hit the ocean. Gabby went underwater at first, but her life preserver quickly brought her back up to the surface.

  Captain Steve helped boost them into the raft. He turned back to the boat to see Gabby’s parents, Miles, and Holly leap over the railing.

  Miles nearly landed on top of the life raft. Once Miles had climbed into the raft with Skylar and Gabby, Captain Steve pulled out a small knife from his pocket. He sliced the cord that connected the raft to the Gusto. The raft floated away from the ship. Captain Steve swam toward the other three passengers.

  Pieces of the ship spilled into the sea. Chunks of metal and plastic floated on the surface for a moment before disappearing into the water. Gabby saw her parents cling to a large piece of wood. Holly held onto another piece of wood as Captain Steve swam up to them.

  The ocean began to suck the Gusto down. The force of the water churning around the ship pushed the kids and the adults farther from each other. Captain Steve grabbed onto the wood Holly was holding. Dad started to swim toward the kids, but Captain Steve yelled, “No! You’ll never make it!”

  With a loud whoosh, the Gusto tipped upright. Then the boat sank.

  Gabby felt like a big snake was squeezing her stomach as she watched her parents float farther away from her. A red flare rocketed up from near them.

  “Mom! Dad!” Gabby called. They yelled something back, but it sounded like nonsense, like voices on a cell phone about to lose its signal.

  Gabby and Skylar called out again. In a few minutes, they had screamed their throats raw. But the adults were still floating away. Soon, they had disappeared.

  Miles put his hand on his sister’s arm. “They’ll be fine,” he said. “They’ve got Captain Steve.”

  “What about us?” Gabby asked quietly.

  “We’ve got a raft,” Miles said.

  “And a lifeguard,” Skylar said, looking at Miles.

  Tears trickled down Gabby’s face and fell into the ocean.

  CHAPTER 3

  Three Alone

  Miles squinted out at the sea. Gabby and Skylar huddled under the raft’s canopy. The only thing keeping them from freaking out was the hope that someone had seen Captain Steve’s flare and would be cruising by any minute to pick them up.

  Though the sun had dried them off quickly, they still felt a chill. A cool breeze blew on them, and the raft floor they sat on was covered in puddles of water.

  “How could they drift a different way than us?” Gabby asked. She shook her head. Then she asked quietly, “Do you think the killer whales will come back?”

  Miles looked out at the horizon. He didn’t say anything. Skylar was quiet too. She just looked down at her arms and legs. She was covered in scratches and bruises from the attack and escape.

  “You guys,” Gabby said. “Are you listening?”

  “Let’s focus on how we can get through this,” Miles said. “We can’t get distracted by questions we won’t be able to figure out.”

  “Oh, is that what you’ve been doing for the past hour?” Gabby asked. “Focusing on getting through this? Because it looks like the only thing you’ve been focusing on is the horizon.”

  “I’m trying to think,” Miles said.

  “So what have you come up with?” Gabby asked.

  Miles slid down the low, squishy wall of the raft. “Nothing,” he admitted. “Yet.”

  Gabby frowned at her brother. “Our phones are wrecked, right?” she asked.

  All three of them pulled their phones out of their pockets. All three phones were

soaked, and none of them would turn on.

  “Well, I guess we can’t call for help,” Gabby said. Then she stood up and screamed, “HELP!”

  “Save your voice for when there’s someone who can hear it,” Miles said.

  “HELP! HELP!” Gabby yelled.

  “Will you stop?” Miles said.

  “HELP!” Gabby yelled again. Her throat was starting to hurt.

  “Seriously, Gabby, cut it out,” Miles said.

  “GABRIELA AND MILES MOORE!” Skylar screamed.

  Gabby and Miles turned to look at her. “Whoa. What?” Gabby asked.

  “I’ve come up with something,” Skylar said. “A name.”

  Miles frowned. “A name for what?” he asked.

  “A name for our ship,” Skylar said.

  “Our ship?” Miles repeated. “What are you talking about?”

  “What’s the name?” Gabby asked.

  “Tub,” Skylar said, smiling.

  “Okay, I may not know what we should be doing, but I am pretty sure that naming the raft is not important,” Miles said, rolling his eyes.

  Gabby ignored him. “Why Tub?” she asked.

  “You know, the old nursery rhyme. It goes like, ‘Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub,’ blah blah blah, something about sailing out to sea,” Skylar explained, smiling.

  No one spoke for a moment. Finally, Gabby asked, “Then can I be the candlestick maker?”

  Gabby and Skylar laughed. After a few seconds, Miles laughed too.

  “And that’s why we need a name,” Skylar said.

  Miles stood up and clapped his hands. “All right,” he said. “First things first. Let’s get this ship in shape. Let’s get this water out of here.”

  With their hands, the three kids scooped water over the edge of the raft. Soon, the floor puddles were gone.

  Then Miles spotted something long and white floating their way. “Look, the banner from the ship,” he said. They paddled toward it and pulled the banner aboard. They read the words again: “Whale They or Won’t They Show Up?”

  “That is the question of the day,” Miles said. “So what do you think? Whale they show up? And I’m not really talking about the whales, you know.”

  “We know,” Skylar said.

  “They will show up,” Gabby said.

  Skylar nodded. “Someone will save us,” she said.

  “Right answer,” Miles said.

  CHAPTER 4

  Flashes of Light

  Gabby noticed a fabric pack stuck onto the side of the raft’s wall. It was attached with Velcro. She tore it off and turned it over. When she read the label, she yelled, “Hey!”

  “What?” Miles asked.

  “This is a pack of emergency supplies!” Gabby told him. She shook the bag open and let the contents spill out.

  The bag contained flares, a knife, six small packages of drinking water, two little paddles, a whistle, a flashlight, a mirror, a fishing kit, a first aid kit, and a few other things the kids didn’t recognize.

  Miles picked up the whistle and blew on it. Then he put it down again.

  “There’s no food,” Gabby said after looking at everything in the bag.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Miles said. “We won’t be here long enough to get too hungry.”

  He looked at the horizon. As the sun sank, the sky was turning bright red.

  “It’ll be dark soon,” Skylar said. “Do you think they’ll find us before that?”

  “I think they will,” Gabby said. She turned to look at the ocean.

  “It doesn’t feel like we’ve drifted that far since we lost sight of Mom and Dad,” she added. She tried to sound brave, but she felt like crying.

  “I think we should shoot off one of these flares. Then we should try to relax. We need to save our energy,” Miles said.

  “Shouldn’t we wait until it’s dark to shoot off a flare? Or until we see a ship or a plane?” Skylar asked. “We only have three flares.”

  “Yeah, that’s a better idea,” Gabby said.

  “Captain Steve fired one right away,” Miles said.

  “Captain Steve didn’t have a raft,” Gabby said.

  “I’m the oldest,” Miles said. “I’ll make the decisions.”

  “Being the oldest doesn’t make you the ship’s captain,” Gabby told him, rolling her eyes.

  “We’re wasting time,” Miles said. He took out a flare. “I’m going to set one off.”

  Quickly, Gabby reached out. She tried to grab the flare from Miles.

  “Hey!” Miles yelled. “Quit it!”

  The two fought for the flare for a second. It slipped out of their hands, bounced on the edge of the raft, and fell into the sea.

  “No!” Miles and Gabby shouted. Miles leaned over the edge of the raft and reached for it, but the flare was already underwater.

  “Great,” Miles said to Gabby. “You wanted to be the candlestick maker. Can you make us another one of those?”

  “Maybe I should be in charge of the supplies,” Skylar said quietly.

  Gabby and Skylar sat under the canopy in one corner of the raft. Miles sat in the opposite corner.

  Gabby took her MP3 player out of the zippered pocket in her windbreaker and stuck one of the earbuds in her ear. “Still works!” she said, smiling. She handed the other earbud to Skylar. Miles tipped his head back against the canopy wall. As the upper sky began to darken, all three of them fell asleep.

  * * *

  Hours later, a crack of thunder jolted them awake. Gabby looked at her watch, but it was too dark out. She couldn’t see anything.

  Skylar fumbled her way to the supplies. She found the flashlight, and switched it on. “It’s 10 o’clock,” she said. “Should we set off a flare?”

  A bolt of lightning ripped through the sky. All three kids screamed.

  “We can set off a flare when the storm passes,” Miles said. “If that’s okay with you,” he added, glaring at his sister.

  Thunder shook the sky again, louder than before. The wind had picked up. The raft bounced up and down on the waves. Water was spilling over the sides.

  “Good thing we don’t have anything in our stomachs,” Skylar said. “This would definitely make us sick!”

  Miles took off his shoe. He used it to dump out water.

  He worked faster and faster, but he couldn’t keep up with all the water pouring into the boat. A bolt of lightning zigzagged down the sky.

  “You said we should save our energy!” Skylar called.

  “Yeah, for times like this!” Miles said.

  “You’re going to wear yourself out!” Gabby said. “Let’s just try to wait!”

  Miles emptied a few more shoefuls of water. Then he gave up. It started to rain. The canopy began to vibrate when the raindrops hit it. Thunder rolled over the sky. All three kids were shivering. Each one was silently hoping that help would hurry up and come.

  CHAPTER 5

  Teeth

  Gabby heard the gentle sloshing of water against the raft. As long as she kept her eyes closed, there was still a chance it was all just a bad dream.

  “The Tub made it through the night,” Skylar said. “So did we.”

  Morning light came through the canopy flaps. Gabby opened her eyes and blinked at the strong sun. Skylar was clicking the flashlight on and off.

  “But the flashlight was not as lucky,” Skylar added, smiling.

  “There are spare batteries in the supplies,” Miles said. “But from now on, we shouldn’t leave it on unless we have to.”

  Something buzzed outside. Miles flung open the canopy flaps. He stuck his head out and looked up.

  “A plane!” he yelled. “Quick! Give me a flare!”

  Gabby grabbed one of the flares and handed it to Miles. He quickly read the directions printed on the side of the flare. Then he tossed it into the air. All three kids screamed and waved their arms, hoping someone would see them.

  Gabby muttered, “Please, please, please, please!”

  The plane kept going by. For a moment, it looked as though it was turning to circle them. It didn’t. It just kept flying the same direction it had been heading.

  Miles sank sadly to the floor of the ramp. The plane shrank to the size of a dot.

 

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