we’re not perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. We might not have been allowed to play with Bubbles and Dream for a bit, though.”
“We shouldn’t make mistakes,” said Antonia emphatically.
“Everyone does,” said Cai wisely. “Don’t be too hard on us just because we’re Silver Dolphins.”
Antonia lightly touched the silver dolphin charm hanging round her neck. As Silver Dolphins, Antonia and Cai were guardians of the sea. Whenever Spirit called for their help a special magic let them swim like dolphins so they could sort the problem out. Silver Dolphin magic was very rare. Antonia and Cai only knew one other person who had it: Claudia, Cai’s great-aunt. She had been a Silver Dolphin before deciding that she was too old to do the job properly. Now she ran a marine conservation charity called Sea Watch instead.
They parted company at Claudia’s beach.
“I’ll take the rubbish,” said Cai. “It can go in the Sea Watch bins. Where did you leave your shoes?”
“Gull Bay,” said Antonia. It was her favourite beach after Claudia’s because not many tourists knew about it. “See you tomorrow then.”
“See you,” said Cai.
Antonia swam on. She was enjoying every minute of the school holidays. So far, she’d spent most of it at Sea Watch with Cai. Leaping in and out of the water Antonia relished her freedom. Gull Bay was quiet with only a handful of people left on the beach. Antonia swam until she could see the seabed then, standing up, she waded ashore. Water poured from her clothes, leaving them as dry as if she’d been playing in the sun. Only her hair was slightly damp. Her sandals were where she’d left them, at the far end of the beach. Ramming her feet into them, Antonia padded across the sand.
She was almost home when someone called her name. Turning, Antonia saw her other best friend, Sophie, running towards her. As usual, Sophie was carrying her sketch book.
“Hi, I can’t believe we haven’t seen each other since the holidays started,” panted Sophie, catching Antonia up.
“Me neither,” said Antonia guiltily. “What have you been up to?”
“Helping Dad and drawing mostly. I’m getting really good at cats. A lady in one of Dad’s classes has commissioned me to paint her cat for her. She’s going to send me a photograph to copy from when she gets home.”
“Well done! That’s brilliant news!” Antonia exclaimed.
Sophie’s dad was an artist and in the summer he ran art classes for the tourists. Sophie was very good at art too and her latest project was sketching and painting cats. And now someone was paying her for it!
They reached the end of the road.
“Let’s do something together soon,” said Sophie.
“Definitely,” Antonia agreed. “I’ll ring you.”
Antonia ran the rest of the way home. Pushing open the front door, she could hear lots of banging upstairs.
“Mum?” she called out.
“Up here, darling,” Mum shouted back. “Come and give me a hand.”
Antonia went upstairs and found her mother slowly backing out of the cupboard on the landing.
“Help me with this,” she panted.
Antonia reached out and took some of the weight of the large bin bag her mother was carrying.
“What is it?” she asked.
“The put-you-up and the airbed,” said Mum. “Aunty Sue phoned today and arranged for Abi and Ella to come and stay for a week.”
“Great,” said Antonia enthusiastically. She hadn’t seen her cousins since Christmas and it would be fun to have them to stay. Abi was eleven, a whole year older than Antonia, but they got on really well. Jessica, Antonia’s seven-year-old sister, and Ella, also seven, were good friends too.
“I can take Abi to Sea Watch. She’ll love it. When are they coming?”
“Wednesday.”
“But that’s the day after tomorrow,” Antonia squeaked.
“That’s why I’m getting the beds out to air,” said Mum, laughing.
“It’s going to be such fun,” said Antonia happily. “Which bed is Abi having? I’ll put it straight in my room.”
The following morning, there was a new girl at Sea Watch. She seemed quite at home sitting at the large table next to Eleanor, Emily and Oliver, who were telling her about the Sea Watch litter-picking event scheduled for Saturday.
“Hi, everyone,” said Antonia, including the new girl in her greeting. “Where’s Cai?”
“He’s outside feeding Tilly,” said Emily.
Tilly, an abandoned seal pup rescued by Claudia, had been at Sea Watch for a few days and was already making good progress.
“This is Hannah,” Emily added. “Her mum’s working in the area so she’ll be here for a couple of weeks.”
Hannah smiled at Antonia. She was pale and thin with long red hair. She would have seemed fragile, had it not been for her piercing grey eyes. Antonia was transfixed. She couldn’t stop staring at Hannah. A strong feeling swept over her. Hannah was no ordinary girl. Antonia sensed there was something special about her. It was as if…
Hannah stared back with open curiosity and Antonia pulled herself together. What was wrong with her? Of course there wasn’t anything special about Hannah. Only last week, she’d suspected her own sister of being a Silver Dolphin and she’d been completely wrong about that! Quickly she headed outside to find Cai.
The seal pup had just finished her bottle and was nosing at Cai’s hand for more. Antonia laughed as Cai held the empty bottle out of her reach, saying, “You’ll get wind if you suck on that.”
“Do you want any help cleaning out her pen?” asked Antonia.
“Yes please,” said Cai. “Guess what? Aunty Claudia’s found a builder. He’s going to start work on the deepwater pool in a couple of weeks.”
“That’s fantastic,” said Antonia. A deepwater pool was just what Sea Watch needed to rehabilitate seabirds and marine animals, like Tilly.
The seal pup followed Antonia and Cai as they tidied up her pen, occasionally nudging their feet with her shiny nose. She reminded Antonia of a puppy, but she knew better than to treat her like one. It was important to handle wild animals as little as possible or they became too tame to release back into the wild. They were almost finished when a familiar sensation swept over Antonia. Spirit was about to call. She stood still, listening for his voice in her head.
Silver Dolphin, come quickly.
Spirit, I hear your call.
Antonia didn’t speak, but thought the words. Cai was only able to communicate with Spirit through his silver dolphin charm and didn’t know about her telepathy. A few seconds later, both Antonia’s dolphin necklace and the dolphin badge pinned to Cai’s T-shirt began to vibrate. Both charms thrashed wildly then they broke into a high-pitched whistle.
“Silver Dolphin, come quickly.”
“Spirit, I hear your call,” said Cai.
He sprinted out of the seal pen, pulling off his rubber gloves and quickly locking the door after Antonia followed him out.
Together they ran for the beach, vaulting the tiny gate and heading for the Sea Watch boat where they stopped to leave their shoes. Antonia touched her charm,