She scans the water from the headland. In these waves just two weeks ago a surfer was attacked. It was all over the news. Sam Blaney, five time world champion, pulled from the cloudy water by his mate, blood streaming down the sand like some awful oil slick. The wound was so ragged and deep, he might – would probably – lose his leg.

Jess re-balanced the surfboard’s weight under her arm. A gentle wind lifted the blonde strands around her face. The air was warm. Rows of clean, small, perfectly cut waves rolled in ordered stacks from their deep origins, right to the shallow sandbar. Lines of surfers were already out, zippered in black and blue suits, marking their way through the perfect morning’s surf.

She took a quick breath in, hitched the board higher under her arm and began the jog down the skinny goat path to the rocks.

Sam was out late; he’d mistimed his surf by a good thirty minutes. Everyone knew this could be sharky water. Surfing on sunset was a rookie mistake.

Jess licked the sweat from her upper lip. The sun was high in the summer sky. It was thirty-degrees out. The water looked so good, so cool.

And yet.

She paused at the grassy edge, scanning the faces of the crowd, looking for someone she knew. It was too bright to see far.

Get it together, she thought to herself.

She picked her way over the smooth rocks, using the weight of the board as a counterbalance. The rocks burned her feet.

Jess paused, catching her breath at her jumping off place. The water washed over her feet. She lifted her toes, delighting in the relief.

And yet.

A knot in her stomach tightened.

She knew this water. There had never been a full blown attack before Sam was just unlucky, reckless even.

The surfers bobbed ahead of her. She squinted when she thought she heard her name.

‘Jess!’ a familiar voice boomed across the waves.

She raised her hand, waved and grinned.

‘Hey Jake!’

‘You getting in or what?’

He sat straddling the board, his hair a tumble of bleached curls.

‘Yeah, yeah, give me a sec,’ Jess called back.

She was being stupid, she thought.

A fat, slow wave rolled in the space ahead of her. Taking a breath, she launched off her rock and into the blue sea.

And before she could paddle three strokes, she heard it.

‘SHARK!’