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CHLOE TURNER STARED DOWN into the black, roiling water, squinting her eyes against the cool spray The wind ate into her skin When the boat dipped into a trough, the water rose up, reaching for her, trying to pull her under She drew her head back as if she could avoid the swipe of the watery paw Before she could recover fro toward the crest of another wave The stor trouble

A slender hand settled on her shoulder, offering faint comfort

“I think we ht die out here,” Chloe murmured

The hand smacked her arm Hard “Oh, for God’s sake, Chloe It’s a frickin’ ferryboat Get over yourself”

Chloe tossed a glare at her best friend, Jenn “We’re in the middle of the ocean In a storm”

“First of all, we’re barely out of the bay Second, there’s a nine-year-old kid a few feet aho’s having the time of his life”

The boat rose on another storm-tossed wave, and Chloe’s stolared in his direction “Idiot,” she muttered

Jenn sain “If a reporter heard you say that, you’d be screwed”

“They can’t find ht into the perfect storm?”

“Be nice or I’ll call and alert them to your whereabouts”

Chloe shrugged and pushed a strand of wet brown hair out of her eyes “I’ll be tipped off when you put on e show”

A smile pulled up the corners of her friend’s mouth “I did look pretty hot last Saturday”

Chloe smiled back “You did Especially when you put your hand in front of the camera and yelled, ‘She is not an animal!’”

“Oh, God,” Jenn groaned, using that very same hand to cover her eyes “I still can’t believe that It was so chaotic”

“The good news is that a nineteenth-century London freak show called to offer et to keep half the coins the public pelts at me”

Jenn shook her head, the hood of her windbreaker slipping back to expose her gorgeous blond hair “You’ll never get tired of that joke, will you?”

“Never” As Chloe’s laughter faded, she glanced over her shoulder, as if she could still see the Virginia coastline behind her “Do you think they followed us?”