Ocean: The Awakening by Brian Herbert, Jan Herbert Read Free Book Online Page A

breathe normally, the muscular young man let her go. She looked at him appreciatively, and said, “Thank you. I felt like I was going to pass out.” He appeared to be around twenty-two years old, had brown, sensitive eyes, and a kindly, oval face. His hair was coarse and black, cut short. But the most striking thing about him were his numerous tattoos of creatures of the sea. She liked all of them, thought they were well done and quite beautiful.
    “You’ve been stung,” he said, looking at the red spots and veins on her arms and legs, “and so have a lot of other people.” He glanced around, then back toward the road, where an ambulance was arriving, and medics were jumping out. She heard other emergency sirens in the distance, felt her own breathing improve.
    He rushed back into the water and helped other people reach the beach, then gazed toward the deeper areas, apparently looking for more people to rescue. The lifeguards were out there with two boats now.
    The Hawaiian man returned to Alicia, and said, “I’ve never seen jellyfish act that way. They were so aggressive, stinging everyone. I’ll stay with you until I’m sure you’re okay.”
    She looked at him closely, saw no injuries. But her own arms and legs were covered with red marks, and she continued to feel a burning sensation on her skin, though the pain seemed to be diminishing. She had caught her breath now.
    “I’ve never been stung by a jellyfish before,” she said. “Is it serious?”
    He looked at her intently. “Can be. How’s your breathing?”
    “All right now, I think.” She felt anxiety, but noticed to her relief that her red marks were fading quickly, and she was feeling better. Gradually, she heard the sounds of anguish diminishing around her, as others experienced the same rapid recovery. She heard them talking about it.
    Now doctors and other medical personnel were making their way through the throng on the beach, moving quickly from person to person to assess the injuries. Even people who had been hysterical only a few minutes ago were much calmer now.
    A doctor with Asian features stopped to look at Alicia, and recognized the young man with her. “Hello, Kimo,” the doctor said. “What are you doing around here?”
    “I was on one of my long swims along the shore when I saw trouble here, so I came in to see if I could help. I wasn’t stung, but this young lady was.”
    “My red marks are almost gone,” she said, “and the burning, too.”
    “Remarkable,” the doctor said, looking at her arms and legs. He scratched his head, turned to Kimo and asked, “Is it true what I’m hearing, that those were box jellyfish? Sea wasps?”
    The tattooed Hawaiian man nodded, then explained to Alicia, “Each of those jellyfish packs enough poison to kill fifty people. Somehow, they must have dialed back their toxins.”
    “I’ve never heard of that species being around here,” the doctor said. “Normally they’re confined to Australian waters. Hundreds of camouflaged stonefish were spotted, too, a carpet of them on the sandy seabed. They’re also animals that normally inhabit the waters around Australia, as well as the Indian Ocean. The other strange thing is, stonefish don’t usually venture into sandy areas such as this beach, because it’s harder for them to conceal themselves, even with their remarkable camouflage abilities. They prefer rocky areas, or coral reefs, where they can blend in better. And, to make it even more perplexing, several adults and children stepped on the stonefish and cried out in pain from the needle-like spines, but all of the victims are better already.”
    “Wow, stonefish can be deadly, too,” Kimo said.
    “The most toxic fish on the planet,” the doctor said. “They have sharp spines full of venom. What do you suppose caused all this, and why did the jellyfish and stonefish not use the full power of their poisons?”
    “I can’t answer any of that,” Kimo said.
    The doctor continued to