Midnight Sea

Prologue Taylor Camp, Kaua'i 1973 Thresh tossed a cigarette into the water. "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." The roar of the waves nearly drowned out his words. The six of them were seated Indian style around a campfire on the beach. Thresh glanced around the circle: Blossom, Ash, Goob, Angel, and Reefer. Not their real names, of course. No one here went by real names. Blossom had her gaze on Ash, and Thresh shuffled on his rock. He knew one way to get her attention. She hated the president. "Nixon is the Antichrist," he said loudly. "Someone should take him out." "Who cares?" Ash lay back with his head propped on a lava rock. Thresh slumped when Blossom continued to stare at Ash and didn't even remark on his comment. The sweet scent of roasting marshmallows mingled with the salty breeze. The blue sky was a curtain above their heads. He tried to think of some other way to capture her attention. "I still haven't seen Elizabeth Taylor," Blossom said, clasping her arms around her legs as she sat on the sand. "Her cousin owns this place. You'd think she'd come visit sometime. She's so fab." Thresh smiled at her. "No one is more fab than you, Blossom." As fragile as an orchid, she could sit on her black hair. Dressed in a bikini with a ginger blossom in her hair, she looked a little like Annette Funicello. Thresh watched as she fingered the pearl peace symbol on her necklace. Taylor Camp had been their home for three months. They had inherited the tree house above his head from a couple of residents who got busted for growing weed. The tree house had real glass windows and doors. It looked right up the Na Pali Coast. The camp used to be on the beach, but the winter rains kept washing it out, so the residents took to the trees. About a hundred residents wandered in and out of camp on a regular basis. Thresh never wanted to leave here. Ash stood. "I'm bored. Let's go for a swim." Thresh glanced around. The others were all too stoned to move, but a swim sounded good. "I'll go. Want to come, Blossom?" She shook her head. "I'm going to take some clothes to the stream and wash them. Have fun." Her dark eyes seemed illuminated from within. He watched her sashay across the sand, stepping lightly from one black rock to another. "Shake it, don't break it," Ash called after her. She turned and blew Ash a kiss. Ash grabbed at the air as if he'd caught it, and Thresh wanted to puke. Was something going on between them? "You going to stand there staring all day?" Thresh snapped. Ash flipped Thresh the bird. "Climb it, Tarzan," he said. He stalked toward the ocean. If Thresh weren't so angry, he wouldn't brave the surf, but he plunged after Ash, anger giving him power against the waves. The blue-green water enveloped them, and they kicked out in long strokes to get past the breakers. In the next moment, a riptide grabbed hold, and the waves tugged Thresh down. His lungs burned, and he fought the panic that had him in an even tighter grip. The rocky bottom rushed past in a kaleidoscope of brightly colored coral, golden sand, and black lava rock. The next instant, the churning waves slammed his body onto the bottom. Rocks battered Thresh's chest, and streaks of red ran through the water. Which way was up? He was too dazed to even watch the bubbles rise as they hissed from his lips. He had to breathe! His lungs burned with a nearly unbearable desire to draw in oxygen, but it was impossible to break the undertow. Swimming parallel with the beach, Thresh quit fighting and let the riptide have its way. Ash tumbled past, his eyes wide, and a silent scream opened his mouth. The two collided in the churning current and grabbed instinctively at each other. The tide tumbled them around, then just as suddenly, it released them. Thresh bobbed to the top like a seal. He took a huge lungful of the best air in the worldCoble, Colleen is the author of 'Midnight Sea ', published 2007 under ISBN 9781595541406 and ISBN 1595541403.