2 The Raft

CHAPTER 2

The Raft "What do you want to do today?" asked Clara as the two friends met on the palace steps. "Discover a new land," said Lucas. Clara rolled her eyes. "Besides that," she said. Lucas looked toward the water. "Want to build a sand castle?" he suggested. Clara smiled. "Now, that's more like it!" she said. Lucas and Clara walked to Mermaid's Cove and worked on a sand castle all morning. The tide had nearly reached the castle. Lucas dug a path from the moat to the edge of the water. Seawater quickly began to fill the moat. Lucas plopped two hermit crabs onto the drawbridge.

"The hermit crabs will protect the sand castle from enemies," said Lucas. "Good idea," said Clara as she stuck a sand dollar above the castle entrance. "What shall we call our castle?" she asked. Lucas looked at their creation. The sand sparkled in the sun. The hermit crabs scuttled toward the moat. Small pieces of coral stood around the castle like leafless trees.

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"How about Coral Castle?" he suggested. Clara smiled and brushed loose strands of hair from her face with the back of her hand. "That's perfect," she said. She began to roll up her pants. "Now let's go cool off." "Right behind you!" said Lucas. The waves rolled over their feet as they walked along the water. Then Lucas noticed something sticking out of some seaweed farther down the shore. "What's that?" he said, pointing at the tangled green mess. The children ran down the beach to see what the sea

had washed up. "It's a raft!" exclaimed Lucas. They freed the raft from the seaweed. It was made from several rows of narrow logs tied together with ropes. "It looks pretty strong," said Lucas. "Let's take it out!" Clara looked at the water. "We'd better not," she said. "The waves look kind of big."