Gray's Domain: Purgatorium Series, Book Two by Eva Pohler Read Free Book Online Page A

what had scattered the sharks. Brock and her father had jumped in. Both men swam toward her, her father floundering and getting nowhere, Brock reaching her in a matter of minutes. The life buoy landed a few feet away.
    “What are you doing?” Daphne asked over the shouts from the boat.
    “Just grab on to this buoy and don’t let go.”
    “What about my dad?” Blood pooled around them, and now she was afraid she’d attract real sharks.
    The boat dragged her and Brock away from where the dorsal fins had reappeared near the sea lions. Daphne craned her neck to look at her father barely holding his head above water.
    “Something’s wrong,” she said.
    She let go of the buoy, which was towing them in the opposite direction of her father, to swim to his aid. Brock grabbed her before she’d gotten very far.
    “Take the buoy. I’ll get your father.”
    Brock kept his eyes on the sharks, which were moving in from ten yards away.
    “But…”
    “Dammit, Daphne. I’m faster than you are.” His brows were bent, his eyes fixed on her father.
    She scrambled for the buoy and watched Brock swim free-style toward her dad as the boat towed her to safety. Once she was on deck, the boat headed for Brock, who swam sidestroke with an arm around her father’s chest. Gregory dropped the buoy over and they all helped Joe aboard.
    It wasn’t until both Brock and her father were on the deck and a towel had been pressed against the bleeding gash in her leg that Daphne noticed her mother. She was retching over the opposite side of the boat. As Daphne went to her, Sharon wiped her mouth with the back of an arm and fell to her knees in a heap, clinging to the rail. She was whiter than a ghost and trembling, teeth chattering, tears streaming down her cheeks. Daphne knelt next to her.
    “We’re okay,” Daphne said. “No one’s hurt, Mama.”
    Sharon nodded and didn’t speak, apparently unable to. She reached a quivering hand out to touch Daphne’s cheek.
    Daphne held her mother’s clammy hand to her cheek and gave her a faint smile, feeling horrible about what she’d just put her through. Before she could say another word, her mother leaned over the side of the boat, which slowly headed for the pier, and was sick again.
    Daphne, flooded with guilt, rubbed her mother’s back with one hand as she pressed the towel against her wound with the other. This wasn’t right. How had she ever justified tormenting the people she loved most? She glanced around at the others, who were watching her closely, as though they suspected what she was thinking.
    “How’s your leg?” Jim asked.
    Sharon’s eyes widened. “What happened to your leg, Honey? Let me see.”
    Daphne lifted the towel. A two-inch gash, not very deep, was just below her knee on the back side of her calf. Blood and water mixed together and dripped down her skin. She returned the towel and said, “It’s nothing. It wasn’t even…”
    “Looks like a pectoral got ya,” Jim said.
    “A what?” Daphne asked.
    “The shark finned you,” Jim said. “We’re lucky he didn’t bite.”
    Sharon Janus fell on her bottom, looking woozy.
    “Mama! Don’t listen to him! It was…”
    “Doesn’t look too bad,” Cam interrupted. “Let me help you put pressure on it.” Cam moved up beside her and held the towel firmly against her leg. He shook his head, willing her to keep her mouth shut, but Daphne turned from him to her mother’s frail form, like a wet sock, beside her. Cam grabbed her arms and added, “And here, take my hat so your head doesn’t burn.”
    Her mother put her face in her hands and wept. “Why did we ever send you to this place!”
    Daphne fitted the cap with a shaky hand. Her pulse was off the charts as she licked her lips and said, “Mama, it’s okay. This wasn’t real; it was just...”
    The boat suddenly swerved to the right, causing people to lose their balance and tumble to the deck with shrieks of surprise.
    Cam moved even closer to Daphne and