My earlier excitement was significantly dampened, and now I was in a decidedly bad mood.
I followed Riddick down a very steepand slippery natural stone pathway down the cliff to the small beach below.
Once we made it to the shore, I realized what had looked like black sand from the top of the cliff was actually a thick layer of dark pebbles.
It was a rock beach, and though everything had been worn smooth by the constant crash of water, it would still be uncomfortable to walk on it barefoot.
Down here, the waves were even more impressive.
Watching the water gather and swell into a massive wall of dark navy and gunmetal grey sent shivers and chills rushing down my spine.
It was now midsummer, so they weren’t even close to as big as they would get in the winter, but they were still twice the size of the waves I’d been shredding on both my private beach and the pipelines in Stars Cove.
Riddick was staring at me, and I could feel the weight of his gaze buzzing on my skin like liquid sunshine, but I ignored him. I was still pissed at him, and honestly, the waves deserved my attention more than he did.
I wasitchingfor a surfboard. If he wasn’t here with me right now, I would’ve jet back to the shack to grab one and be in the water before you could say‘P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney.’
“You have to promise never to come here without me,” he said, his tone firm and serious. Finally, I tore my gaze away from the water andglared at him. I could still feel where he’d rubbed his thumb up the side of my neck, and that angry part of me that constantly felt rejected by him was getting the best of me.
“I’m not going to do that, Riddick. I’m an adult. I’ll do what I want.”
He narrowed his eyes at me, but I think he could tell I wasn’t in the mood to fuck around today, so he let it go. Sighing, he turned to face the water again and pointed to the horizon.
“These waves are much smaller than what you’re going to be facing in the winter, but they still show examples of some of the dangers you need to look out for,” he explained.
“What makes this beach so tricky is that there are multiple factors that come into play to make the waves as large as they are, but these factors also tend to make the peaks unpredictable.”
I pushed my irritation aside and listened. The information he was giving me was crucial, and I suddenly wished I’d brought a pen and notepad so I could write what he was saying down.
“Here, you need toalwayswatch the horizon. Leviathans is not like the beach at Stars Cove, where you’ll get consistent pipelines every time. Here, the peaks shift, making it difficult to know where to paddle out. This beach is also notorious for rogue waves that come out of nowhere. You could be waiting for a twenty-footer, only to have a fifty-foot behemoth roll in directly behind it out of nowhere and take you by surprise.”
“Fifty feet?”I gasped. “I thought the biggest they got was twenty-five?”
Riddick shot me a dark look, his lips pursed.
“I’ve seen eighty-foot waves hit this beach,” he told me, his voice hollow and haunted.
I swallowed.
“How do you think this beach got its name? These aren’t waves, Finn. They’re Leviathans. Sea demons sent to punish the men that try to tame them.”
That was…insane.
“See where the water turns black right where the break hits?” he asked, and I followed the line of his arm, nodding at the strip of darkness that ran parallel with the wave lines.
“That’s the reason for these massive swells. It’s a deep water canyon that funnels these waves to shore, but it’s also the reason ninety percent of these waves are susceptible to an unexpected break.”
I scoffed.
“An unexpected break isn’t that big a deal, Riddick. If I wipe out, I can just try again.”
He rounded on me, his face white with fury, and for a second, I thought he was going to grab me.
I narrowed my eyes on him, challenging him with my stare.
Do it. Grab me.
He stopped himself and clenched his fists at his sides instead.
