almost everyone,” she added.
At the end of the day Antonia’s table was the last to be let out as Lauren wouldn’t stop talking. When they were free to go Antonia rushed to the cloakroom to get her bag.
“Slow coach,” teased Cai. “Don’t you want to go home?”
“I’m not going home. I’m going to Sea Watch with you.”
“That is home!” said Cai.
Antonia grinned. Sea Watch was like a second home for her, and Claudia treated Antonia like she was part of the family. Shortly after arriving at Sea Watch they were joined by Emily, Karen and Eleanor, straight from their first day at their new secondary school. Antonia felt a little shy when the girls first came in. They looked so grown up in their new green school uniform. But underneath they were still the same, chattering excitedly about their day as they all went outside to see how the deepwater pool was coming along.
“Not you lot again,” teased the builder good-naturedly. “I’d be finished much more quickly if you stopped checking up on me.”
“Let’s go and see what Claudia wants us to do today,” said Antonia.
Claudia had an important job for them: cleaning out Tilly the seal’s pen and feeding her. Tilly had been in a very bad way when she first arrived at Sea Watch, but under Claudia’s watchful eye she’d regained her health and was slowly putting on weight.
Antonia and Cai wore plastic gloves and aprons to clean out the pen. They scrubbed out Tilly’s water bowl and refilled it with fresh water, then swept and hosed down the enclosure. Tilly watched them with big eyes, her whiskery nose inquisitively nudging the cleaning equipment.
“She’s like a puppy,” laughed Cai, when Tilly tried to follow them back to the Sea Watch building.
Tilly grew very excited when Antonia and Cai returned with a bucket of fish. Grunting loudly, she almost butted the bucket from their hands. She was wolfing down her last fish when a familiar sensation swept over Antonia. Spirit was about to call. Seconds later the silver dolphin charm hanging round her neck vibrated.
Silver Dolphin, the charm called to her. We need your help.
Spirit, I hear your call, Antonia called back silently.
When Antonia first became a Silver Dolphin she’d always cover the charm with her hand even though she knew only a Silver Dolphin could see it move and hear its shrill whistling.
She glanced over to Cai to check he was following and together they ran down the garden, hurdling the low gate that opened on to the beach.
“New shoes are a pain,” grunted Cai, as he struggled to get his off.
“Sandals are much easier,” agreed Antonia, throwing her shoes and socks into the Sea Watch boat with Cai’s.
They raced across the powder-soft sand and splashed into the sea. Antonia dived into the water, loving the moment her legs melded together to work like a dolphin’s tail.
Sensing the call was urgent, Antonia propelled herself through the water even faster than a real dolphin as she headed towards Spirit.
“We’re being called in the same direction as yesterday,” panted Cai.
Suddenly Antonia had a bad feeling about this call. She dived in and out of the waves, her tail-like legs powering her along until she saw a magnificent silver head bobbing in the water close to the shore.
“Silver Dolphins.” Spirit was relieved to see them. “This is an emergency. There’s a puffin colony at the top of the cliffs. It’s not safe any more because of a new building site close by. The puffins are in danger of being run over on the road to the building site. Please help them.”
Antonia’s heart sank. This was another serious threat to local wildlife. Annoyed that she hadn’t thought to investigate further yesterday, she screwed up her eyes and stared at the cliffs. It was impossible to tell that there were puffins up there from here. Spirit must have used his special Silver Dolphin powers to know about them and their problem. To the left Antonia noticed a narrow path winding upwards. It was long and very steep. Would there be time to save the puffins?
“Hurry,” urged Spirit.
Antonia pulled herself together. She and Cai were Silver Dolphins. They could do this! She struck out for the shore, emerging from the water and hurtling across the beach with Cai.
“The path’s this way,” she cried.
Antonia and Cai veered left, hopped up a short flight of steps and started the steep climb to the top of the cliff.
The narrow cliff path was bordered with long grass that tickled Antonia’s legs and prickly brambles that snatched at her clothes, but luckily the Silver Dolphin magic protected her bare feet as she ran. Halfway to the top her lungs began to burn and after a while she had to stop to catch her breath. Cai stopped too, bending his body forward and resting his hands on his knees as he greedily gulped air. There wasn’t time to hang around for long. They took off quickly again, half running half jogging, until finally they burst on to the cliff top, scattering the resident puffins, who mewled like startled cats.
“Sorry,” called Antonia softly.
Carefully she moved among the adult birds, marvelling at how many of them there were.
“Look, Cai, baby puffins! Aren’t they sweet?”
“Quick,” shouted Cai. “They’re heading for the road.”
On surprisingly nimble legs a group of baby pufflings began waddling straight for the brand-new road that sliced the cliff top in two. It looked very out of place in such a beautiful spot, as did the building site it lead to. Amid heavy machinery and scaffolding the workers were packing up for the day. Antonia and Cai ran after the pufflings, overtaking them and waving their arms to shoo them back to their nests. In the building-site car park doors slammed and engines revved as everyone headed home.
“Watch out, Antonia!” warned Cai. “Keep off the road while the cars are leaving the site.”
“You too,” said Antonia, who was already keeping a careful eye on the traffic.
The pufflings were a slippery bunch. Each time Antonia and Cai managed to herd them back to the safety of the cliff top, a small but determined group would suddenly dash back the opposite way. Most of the workmen were very careful, slowing their cars when they saw Antonia and Cai by the side of the road. But not everyone slowed down. Suddenly a battered red car drew up alongside them. For a wild moment Antonia thought the driver was going to offer to help, but she couldn’t have been more wrong.
“Nutty kids!” The driver, a thickset man with small eyes, hung out of the side window laughing unpleasantly. “Aint got nothing better to do than play with the birdies? Where are your shoes, losers?”
Music blared from his open car window, startling the pufflings and making them run in confused circles. Laughing raucously, the driver revved up his engine and drove away.
“What an idiot!” exclaimed Cai, his face red with anger.
“Forget him,” soothed Antonia. She hopped sideways to prevent a breakaway group of pufflings from slipping past her.
It was a full fifteen minutes before the last car left the building site, but by that time Antonia and Cai had somehow persuaded the pufflings to explore the area along the cliffs instead of the roadside.
“It’s beautiful,” said Antonia, shielding her eyes from the late afternoon sun.
There were puffins everywhere. The black and white adult birds with their clown-like eyes, brightly coloured beaks and distinctive orange legs were so pretty. So was the craggy cliff top, whose