Summer Waters - Broken Promises

“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, concerned by how fast the dolphin’s tail was beating. Spirit needed them urgently. As she splashed into the sea she heard a whispering noise in her head. Puzzled, Antonia slowed, trying to work out what it was. Her silver dolphin charm beat more wildly. There was no time to solve the mystery. Ignoring the whispering noise, Antonia threw herself into the water.

The moment her legs melded together like a tail she swam. She didn’t wait for Cai, and used her powerful Silver Dolphin magic to propel her through the water, her streamlined body arching in and out of the sea like a real dolphin, only much faster. She swam almost to the headland to the west of Sandy Bay beach before she felt vibrations in the water. Hoping they were caused by Spirit, Antonia swam on. At last she saw his silvery head bobbing in the sea near the cliffs. Antonia raced over.

“Hurry, Silver Dolphin,” Spirit clicked, his eyes concerned. “A bird’s in trouble on the cliffs.”

Antonia scanned the cliffs, searching for the unfortunate bird. There it was—about two metres up, perched on a ledge, a large seagull with untidy feathers. Its head bobbed back and forth and its body heaved as if it was choking. What was that hanging from its beak? Antonia couldn’t quite make it out. She swam towards the cliff face. She’d never been rock climbing before, but luckily the cliff was craggy with plenty of hand and footholds. Antonia reached up and placed her hand on a jutting-out piece of rock. It was wet and slippery, but big enough for her to wrap both hands round it to pull herself out of the water. Her knees grazed against rock and she winced as her feet found their own footholds. She looked up, searching for the next hand hold and found one above her head and another one to the right. Reaching up, she pulled herself higher. The climb wasn’t difficult and Antonia felt safe, knowing that if she fell it was only a short drop into the sea.