Not wasting a second, she took in as much air as she could. When she was sure she was going to die, her head broke the surface. The water churned around her, obscuring any vision. She felt the pull and let it take her, tumbling her in the roiling water. She still had air.īobbi forced her body to go limp. She tried to remember what she’d been taught. She tried to move her arms above her head to thrust upward, only to be trapped in the current as it pushed her farther down. Pogo flitted through her thoughts and she prayed he was okay. She tried to kick, but one leg was useless and the other was bound by the water as it spun around her legs, strapping them together.

As the currents ran one against the other, she found herself caught in the middle of the fighting forces. Cold currents gripped her, pulled her deeper. With barely enough time to take in a mouthful of air, the sea claimed her once more. Just as her face broke the foam-crested waves, she felt the pull on her legs. As she tried to move her leg, the pain flashed red behind her eyes and it took everything she had not to suck water into her lungs. As soon as she felt it ease, she relaxed, knowing that, with one strong kick, she would thrust upward toward the surface. Bobbi’s body was forced forward and down by the wall of water, a rag doll tossed underneath the churning waves. She felt the force of it ram into her shin and gulped a lungful of air as she was swallowed by the overtaking wave. She gasped, now in freefall, with nothing she could do as she saw Pogo’s riderless board flying through the air, directly at her. As she turned her head to look, she felt her board disappear from beneath her and, momentarily, she hung in midair as the wave she’d been riding disappeared, being sucked backward into the wall of water rising high behind her. “Shit,” he cursed, dropped the camera down on the towel, and took off running toward the water.īobbi saw darkness out of the corner of her eye. Looking through the viewfinder, he watched as the water rose behind her, growing as a monster wave formed out of nowhere. She literally glowed from the energy around her.

He’d already captured some incredible shots. With the thick blonde braid hanging down her back, the lithe muscular body moving with a grace that seemed to defy the laws of physics, and her pure enjoyment of the moment, she took command of the board-the ocean. He’d been shooting her off and on for about a month, whenever he happened to be there when she showed up. Frames clicked in rapid succession as he immortalized the moment. Mac saw her quick movement and raised the camera. She felt the wind and salt spray assault her. At just the right moment, she popped up, let her weight push back against the force beneath her, balancing. Swinging forward, flat on her board, she started to paddle. The feel of the rising swell lifting her board pulled Bobbi out of her reverie.

The Shoppe of Spells by Shanon Grey