Shark night, p.1
Shark Night, page 1
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BOOKS BY R. L. STINE
AVAILABLE FROM BLACKSTONE PUBLISHING
Slime Doesn’t Pay
Shark Night
SERIES BY R. L. STINE
GOOSEBUMPS
The Original Series
Series 2000
Give Yourself Goosebumps
Give Yourself Goosebumps: Special Edition
Goosebumps HorrorLand
Hall of Horrors
Goosebumps SlappyWorld
Goosebumps House of Shivers
FEAR STREET
The Original Series
New Fear Street
Fear Street Super Chiller
Cheerleaders
The Fear Street Saga Trilogy
99 Fear Street: The House of Evil
Cataluna Chronicles
Fear Park
Fear Street Sagas
Fear Street Seniors
Fear Street Nights
Ghosts of Fear Street
THE NIGHTMARE ROOM
The Original Series
The Nightmare Room Thrillogy
MOSTLY GHOSTLY
ROTTEN SCHOOL
SHARK NIGHT
R. L. STINE
Copyright © 2024 by Robert Lawrence Stine
E-book published in 2024 by Blackstone Publishing
Cover design and illustrations by Kathryn Galloway English
Author photograph by Dan Nelken
All rights reserved. This book or any portion
thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner
whatsoever without the express written permission
of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations
in a book review.
The characters and events in this book are fictitious.
Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidentaland not intended by the author.
Trade e-book ISBN 979-8-8747-1243-3
Library e-book ISBN 979-8-8747-1242-6
Juvenile Fiction / Horror
Blackstone Publishing
31 Mistletoe Rd.
Ashland, OR 97520
www.BlackstonePublishing.com
CONTENTS
Part I
1. A Quiz
2. How Hungry Is The Shark?
3. Four Months Earlier
4. “I Really Like Your Idea”
5. Uh-Oh. Trouble Ahead
6. Something Bad Out The Window
7. Out On A Limb
8. Liam Is A Hero
9. We Meet A Swan
Part II
10. Something Terrible
11. “I Swear It Was An Accident”
12. The Distress Signal
13. A Mistake Is Made
Part III
14. Where Is Everyone?
15. Return Of The Shark?
16. Bait
17. Just A Little Blood
Part IV
18. Where Is He Taking Me?
19. Am I In A Horror Movie?
20. A Surprise From Home
21. “We’re Not Alone!”
22. “Watch Out For Snakes”
23. A Surprise On The Other Side
Part V
24. We Are Thieves
25. Caught
26. “Can We Call Our Mom?”
27. Panic Time
28. “Why, Rosa? Why?”
29. Were We Caught?
30. Good Luck?
31. Should We Tell Him The Truth?
32. “You’ll Get Me In Trouble”
33. They Don’t Believe Me
34. Mom On The Phone
Part VI
35. Something Terribly Wrong
36. A Chase Scene
37. Hungry Fish
38. A Warning Sign
39. We’ll Be Safe Here
40. Should We Trust Swan?
41. Good Luck Getting Home
42. Man Overboard!
43. A Sinking Feeling
44. Old Friends
45. Cage Time
46. Shark Attack!
47. How Do You Scream Underwater?
48. Shark Food
49. It Was Fake?
50. Another Quiz
51. The End
About the Author
PART ONE
WHO WILL GO IN THE SHARK TANK?
CHAPTER 1
A QUIZ
Hello, Whoever You Are,
Before I start my story, I’d like to give you a little quiz.
It’s very easy. All you have to do is decide which things are true and which are false.
I’ll tell you the answers at the end of the quiz.
Ready? See how well you do . . .
My real name is Zippo Bippo Boppalini Boppaloni Jones.
I’ll be 101 on my next birthday. And my mom says she can fit 101 candles on my cake.
I have a weird medical condition where my bones are all outside my skin.
I’m allergic to the letter M.
My dog, Waldo, speaks seven languages, but not very well.
My family can speak with our ears.
I have eighty-nine teeth.
I can eat a hot dog from the inside out.
My best friend is a grapefruit with eyes painted on it.
My mom is making me swim in a large glass shark tank, and she is going to lower a hammerhead shark into the water and watch me try to fight it.
So? How well did you do on the quiz?
Did you decide that the first nine items were false? And only the last one is true?
Very good. I would shake your hand. But I’m floating near the bottom of the tank, and I see the long shadow of the shark high above me. Mom is watching as they start to lower the shark into the water.
Is the shark already snapping its jaws?
I’m not shaking like this because the water is cold. I’m shaking because I’m scared to death!
CHAPTER 2
HOW HUNGRY IS THE SHARK?
My name is Liam Brachman, and I’m twelve. I go to Duane Johnson Middle School in Ventura, California. I have a little sister named Rosa and a pet bunny named Ruffles.
But who cares about any of that?
Who cares about anything at all?
I’m about to do battle with a two-hundred-pound hammerhead shark.
Am I scared?
Do sharks eat meat?
Let me ask you a simple question. Would your mother put you in a wetsuit and attach diving tanks to your back? Then would she push a diving mask over your head and force you into a huge glass water tank the size of a house? Then drop a hammerhead shark in to see what happens?
I’m betting your mother wouldn’t do that.
Well, I’m here floating near the bottom of the tank, sucking in oxygen like crazy. I know I don’t usually breathe so hard and fast. But I’m not exactly calm.
I can’t hear my heartbeats. But I can feel a thump thump thump in my chest.
I can see my mom outside the tank, standing next to a camera tripod. And I can see Mom’s crew raising the shark to the top of the tank.
We are on the beach a few feet from the Pacific Ocean. If I look past my mom and the crew, I can see the dark ocean waves tossing in the distance.
I’m a pretty good swimmer. I don’t like high waves. But I would love to be in the ocean right now. Actually, I would love to be anywhere but in this enormous tank.
“Mom,” I said the day before, “can I at least have a spear gun?”
“No weapons,” Mom said. “That would spoil it.”
Spoil it for whom? Spoil it for me or for the shark?
Instead of a spear gun, I’m holding an underwater video camera. It’s attached to the diving tank so it won’t float away—even if the shark decides I’m dinner.
“I’m counting on you to get good footage,” Mom said. “We’ll have cameras all around the tank. But you’ll be videoing close up.”
My brain was spinning, like there was a whirlpool in my head. Was there any way to talk her out of this? Could I think of an idea where I wouldn’t end up as shark meat?
“Mom, could we do it with a dolphin instead of a shark?” I asked. “Everyone loves dolphins. It could be so much fun. I could ride around on the dolphin. You know. Do dolphin tricks.”
She stared at me. “Liam, did you forget what channel we are making this film for? It’s the Danger Channel. Not the Fun Channel.”
“I know. But—”
“It’s Shark Night on the Danger Channel,” she said. “People want to see danger. They don’t want to see fun.”
Okay. Okay. Lose the dolphin. What else could share the tank with me?
I couldn’t think of anything.
I know Shark Night is a big deal. My friends and I watch it every year. My friend Logan built a big Lego shark, and we thought it was seriously cool. And we watched all the Sharknado movies, which we thought were really funny.
But now I’m staring up to the top of the tank. And it isn’t funny. It isn’t funny at all.
I can hear the crew shouting as they raise the shark over the tank. I can see the camerapeople take their places.
It’s happening. Like the bad dream I had last night. Three guesses what the dream was about.
The big shark blocks out the sunlight as it is lowered into the water.
I raise my video camera. But my hand is shaking way too much to take any video.
I glimpse my mom stan
Is that supposed to make me feel better?
No time to think about that.
The big hammerhead is in the water. It does a slow surface dive to the bottom, then floats up again. It turns and lowers itself again.
It sees me.
Its eyes are on the sides of its head. It watches me with one round black eye.
It circles me. Keeps studying me as it swims around me.
It moves closer with each circle. Closer.
Now what?
CHAPTER 3
FOUR MONTHS EARLIER
My school was closed for teacher meetings. Rosa had a playdate with a friend. So Mom had to bring me along to her big meeting with the guy at the Danger Channel.
Don’t ask me about my dad. He’s a scientist, and he’s in Antarctica studying penguins, or ice, or I-don’t-know what.
We drove to Studio City and parked in their lot. The network offices were in a tall steel-and-glass building that reached up into the sky, taller than the other buildings around it. We stopped at the sign above the front walk that read Danger Channel. A silvery sculpture of a shark curling into the air stood beside the sign.
“Shark shows are their most popular shows,” Mom said. She brushed down my hair with one hand. It’s no use. My hair always springs back. It’s like a sponge.
Mom crossed her fingers. “I sure hope they like my idea for a new show,” she said. Her voice was tight, kind of whispery. I could tell she was nervous.
Mom makes TV shows, documentaries mostly. Those are true-life films. Mom wanted to be a veterinarian when she was little. She loves animals, and she loves doing films about them.
Once, Mom did a film about a retirement home for old tortoises in Florida. She spent months working on it. It was on Netflix, but it wasn’t very popular.
She’s has always dreamed of filming a show for the Danger Channel. And two weeks ago—excitement! She got an appointment with one of their program guys.
“I have the perfect idea!” she told my little sister, Rosa, and me.
“Tell us!” Rosa demanded.
Mom shook her head. “No. That would be bad luck,” she said. “I’ll tell you all about it after I’ve sold the show to the network.”
“Does it have anything to do with sharks?” I asked.
Her eyes flashed. “Maybe,” she said, grinning.
This was four months ago. I had no way of knowing that her great idea for a show would probably turn out to be the last show I ever saw.
We stepped into the huge front lobby. The high ceiling was a purple dome. Hundreds of tiny lights twinkled all over it like stars in a night sky.
Mom led the way to a long front desk. She showed her ID to a security guard. He pointed to a low purple couch where we could wait. “I’ll call upstairs and let them know you’re here,” he said.
Mom and I walked over to the couch, but we didn’t sit down. Mom kept shifting her bag from one shoulder to the next. Wow, was she tense.
At the far wall, two women stepped out of an elevator. They both had dogs on leashes. They headed to the front entrance.
“Guess they let them bring their dogs to work,” Mom said. “That might make a fun documentary. Dogs who come to work.”
“Wish I had a dog,” I said. I’d been asking for a dog for at least two years.
“What’s wrong with Ruffles?” Mom said.
“What’s wrong with him?” I answered. “He’s a rabbit. That’s what’s wrong with him.”
Mom rolled her eyes. “Give me a break, Liam. I have to concentrate on my show idea.”
“What am I supposed to do while you have your meeting?” I asked.
“You’re supposed to sit quietly with your fingers crossed and think good thoughts,” Mom said. “Do you think you can do that?”
Before I could answer, a young woman came walking toward us. Her high heels tapped loudly on the stone floor. She wore a gray vest over a white shirt and a short black skirt. Her dark ponytail swung from side to side as she walked.
She smiled at Mom. “Are you Anna Brachman? I’m Megan, Mr. Platz’s assistant.”
“Nice to meet you,” Mom said, shifting her bag. She patted my shoulder. “This is Liam. He didn’t have school today.”
“Sweet,” Megan said. She motioned to the elevators. “Follow me. I’ll take you to your meeting.” Her shoes tapped on the floor again.
We started to follow. Mom had this tight, tense look on her face. She leaned toward me and whispered, “Here we go.”
CHAPTER 4
“I REALLY LIKE YOUR IDEA”
The elevator shot up like a rocket. We rode up with Megan to the twenty-third floor. She stared at her phone the whole time. No one talked.
She led us down a long line of offices. The office fronts were all glass. We passed office after office with people sitting at small tables, typing on laptops. We passed a conference room with people sitting around a big table, all talking at once.
Mr. Platz’s office was at the far end of the hall. Words in large black letters on the glass office door read “Jerry Platz—Program Development Chief.”
Through the glass, I saw him leaning back in his tall chair, talking on the phone, his white sneakers on the desktop. He wore a pale-blue Polo shirt and faded jeans.
Behind him, I saw shelves filled with gold and silver trophies. Awards, I guessed.
When he spotted us, he sat up straight and waved for us to come into the office. Megan led us in. “This is Anna Brachman,” she said. “She has an eleven o’clock appointment. And this is her son, Liam.”
A grin crossed Platz’s face. He had very short brown hair, bright-blue eyes, a gold ring in one ear, and he was very tan. “Liam, do you play Super Liam Brothers?” he asked.
“N-not really,” I stammered.
He chuckled. “It’s your name, bro. You should try it. We just made a three-picture deal with the game company. Would you like me to send you the newest game?”
“Well . . . yes!” I said. “Thanks.”
I couldn’t tell if Mom liked my answer or not. She was staring straight ahead at the awards on the trophy shelf.
Platz picked up something from his desk and handed it to me. “Here’s a graphic novel we’re thinking about,” he said. “Why don’t you go sit on the couch over there and look it over while I talk with your mother. I’d love to get your opinion on it.”
The graphic novel was called Zipliners. The cover said “The Zipliners are ready to slide into danger!”
I muttered thanks and made my way to the couch at the other side of the office.
