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Just my luck, she thought with a sigh. The one day I manage to snag a board and get away for some stealth surfing, the waves are almostun- surf-able.

No one was in the lineup, but there were four guys in wetsuits hanging around onshore. The size of the waves must have discouraged them.

Not me, thought Lena. She stood up. "Okay, mermaid," she whispered. "Here I come."

CHAPTER 20

The other surfers eyed Lena curiously as she headed toward the water.

"Hey," called one of them.

Lena glanced back.

It was a youngish guy with blond dreads. "You're not going in, right?"

Lena nodded and turned away.

"Aw, go home to Back Yard, little girl," he jeered.

Lena quickened her pace a little.

Someone else called, "Miss? Hey. Wait up."

Fighting an impulse to snap, "What?!" Lena looked over her shoulder.

A middle-aged guy with a dark beard was walking in her direction. "You're not really going in, are you?"

"Yes, I am," she said, and kept going.

"Don't do it," he called. "They're breaking too big. You'll never make it outside."

Lena didn't slow.

"I'm serious," added the guy, raising his voice. "This is the kind of day people need a tow."

Lena lifted a hand to acknowledge that she'd heard him, but she didn't stop. She knew that surfers sometimes got "towed in" to the big waves by friends on Jet Skis ... it saved having to swim out past these monster breakers.

"Fine," yelled the dreads-guy. "Don't come crying to us when your board snaps in half."

There was laughter, but Lena ignored it.

As if having a bunch of guys yell at her wasn't bad enough, she heard Ani's voice in her mind, "Magic's is only for advanced surfers, and even then, it's dangerous."

But she also told me it takes some people years to develop the kind of instinct I already have, Lena reminded herself. I'm a natural.

Today the surfing was secondary. Lena had come here to look for the mermaid.

Lena splashed into the surf, letting a few small waves surge past her before she set Max's board down in the water. Then she lay down on the board and started paddling.

After a couple of minutes, she realized she was farther down the shoreline from where she had started. She would be busy enough just paddling parallel to the rip tide. She kept up a steady butterfly motion with her arms, pulling herself and the board through the water. A wave broke a few yards in front of her, and a froth of tumbling white water rushed toward her. Lena clutched the rails of the board and turned turtle.

For the next several minutes, Lena battled the punishing breakers, which seemed intent on throwing her back onto the shore. She had to turn turtle over and over as the waves towered above her, far too big to jump. Twice she rolled too late, and the waves crashed on top of her, tossing her violently around under water. She was more aware of the ocean's power than ever before, and of her own insignificance. "This isn't a swimming pool," she heard Ani's voice in her head again.

When she paused to get her bearings, she saw that she had been dragged closer to the Boneyard. One more smashing wave, coupled with a bad rip, and she would be scraping across the reef. Maybe Pem was right about the helmet, she thought.

Gritting her teeth, Lena whipped her arms as fast as she could, the surfboard slicing through the water, carrying her closer and closer to the next swell. With a giant intake of breath, she rolled with the board once again. The wave passed overhead ... and then she was on the other side of the breaking waves.

Lena lay on her belly, resting and catching her breath.

A sleek head popped up in the water nearby.

Her heart leaped. Then she saw it was a sea otter. She rested her cheek on the deck of the surfboard, waiting for her heart to quit hammering, and trying to stay still.

The otter floated on its back, apparently unconcerned about Lena's presence. It had a flat rock on its chest, and it used its agile little paws to smash a clam against the rock. Lena watched, giddy at being so close to the wild animal. After