Moonlight Magic

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Suddenly Antonia had a very strong feeling that the dolphins needed her. She raised a hand to touch her charm, but stopped when she remembered her fingers were covered with sticky suncream. The dolphin charm began to vibrate, softly at first, then more rapidly.

Antonia was so surprised she stood rooted to the spot. Spirit knew she wasn’t in Sandy Bay, so who was calling to her? An ear-splitting whistle rang round the room.

Silver Dolphin, we need you.

I hear your call. Antonia automatically answered the unfamiliar voice in her head.

She wiped her hands clean and ran to the door. At the same time Cai shot out of his room. His brown eyes were wide with shock.

“Is that Spirit?” he asked.

“No,” said Antonia, who was a more powerful Silver Dolphin than Cai and could communicate with Spirit telepathically. “But we still have to answer the call.”

“I know,” said Cai.

Shouting a hasty goodbye to his parents, Cai opened the apartment door and ran outside. At the end of the road, past the last bungalow apartment, was a flight of steps with an arrow pointing to the beach.

Antonia and Cai sprinted over to the stone steps, which were steep and twisty. Clutching the metal handrail for support, they scrambled down them until they reached the hotel’s private beach. It was packed with holiday-makers enjoying a day in the sun.

Antonia and Cai were used to making themselves invisible in crowded places. They left their shoes under a low, prickly bush at the furthest end of the beach and ran across the golden sand. As they splashed into the water, Antonia caught her breath in surprise. The sea was lovely and warm! She waded out until it was deep enough to swim before diving into the clear blue water. Immediately her legs melded together, kicking the water like a dolphin’s tail.

Hurry, Silver Dolphin.

The charm thrummed urgently against her neck.

I’m coming.

Using her hands like flippers, Antonia sliced through the water. Her arching body leapt in and out of the sea like a real dolphin. She swam for ages, conscious only of the call of the dolphin and Cai racing along beside her. When the hotel beach was a small speck in the distance, Antonia felt vibrations in the water. They grew stronger until at last she saw a magnificent bottlenose dolphin swimming towards her.

The dolphin stopped a tail’s length away, mouth open slightly, showing a neat row of small white teeth. For a split second Antonia thought the dolphin was laughing, but realised that there was no laughter in those dark eyes. She hesitated, wondering if she should greet the dolphin by rubbing noses like she did with Spirit.

Then the dolphin clicked, “Thank you for answering my call, Silver Dolphins. We urgently need your help. Please follow me.”

Chapter Three (#ulink_58df3698-06a8-5180-ba28-5047163e1304)

“My name is Diamond. I’m the leader of a pod of bottlenose dolphins that live here in Blue Reef Bay,” explained the dolphin as she sped along. “We heard there were Silver Dolphins in the area. You’ve come at a good time. There’s a lot for you to do.”

Antonia was thrilled, but astonished. Did news spread as fast in the dolphin world as it did in hers? Had Spirit arranged for them to work with Diamond or had the bottle-nosed leader sensed their presence? That was the wonderful thing about magic, Antonia decided. It was full of surprises.

“How can we help?” she clicked.

“There’s a turtle caught in a fishing net. We’re nearly there.”

A turtle! In spite of the warm water, Antonia shivered. Discarded fishing nets were a common problem and often proved deadly. She swam faster, anxious to help the endangered creature.

Diamond began to swim towards the shore. The hotel beach lay to the left then the coastline dipped inwards forming a small secluded bay. The beach was beautiful with golden sand and a fringe of palm trees at the furthest end. Soon Diamond slowed.

“It’s too shallow for me to go any closer,” she clicked. “I’ll wait here. Hurry, Silver Dolphins.”

Side by side, Antonia and Cai swam towards the beach. Antonia saw the turtle first and she cried out in horror. “Oh, the poor thing!”

The green turtle was almost a metre long and completely trussed up in a bright blue fishing net. He lay in the shallows, like a huge bundle of rubbish, the sea gently rocking him back and forth. The tip of his front flippers protruded from the netting, but he was too tangled up to move them.

Antonia looked around for something sharp to cut the net with. There was nothing in the water, but the beach was peppered with small stones. She and Cai ran up the beach to look for a largish stone with a sharp edge.

When they got back in the water, Antonia realised the stone she had chosen was next to useless, having little effect on the thick blue netting. Cai was having similar problems with his too. They stood on either side of the turtle, desperately sawing at the rope.

“This is going to take ages,” grunted Cai.

“We need something sharper,” Antonia agreed.

She concentrated on one square of the net at a time, hooking the stone under it, then sawing upwards. She didn’t think she would harm the turtle’s thick brown shell, but she was careful not to scratch it or to nick his leathery limbs. Very slowly the netting began to fall away and as the turtle found he could move, he panicked, thrashing his flippers and long tail. Antonia sawed faster, worried that he might hurt himself.

Cut the net, she urged, as if the stone could hear her thoughts. The turtle lashed out, almost knocking it from Antonia’s hand. She stumbled, then recovering her balance, stood with her feet further apart. In her mind she imagined the stone cutting through the rope as easily as if it was butter.

Suddenly, a warm feeling spread down Antonia’s hand and into her fingers. The stone grew almost too hot to hold. Antonia’s grey-green eyes widened. What was happening? She usually had this sensation when she was healing an injured animal. Fingers tingling, she pressed the stone against the net.

Cut, she thought.

Immediately the stone slid through the rope. Antonia tackled a new section of net. Again the stone cut through it with ease. With growing excitement, Antonia worked faster. She was vaguely aware of Cai watching her, his face a mixture of amazement and pride. Soon only the turtle’s hind flippers and tail were caught in the net. He tried to swim away, dragging the net behind him.

“Steady,” soothed Cai. Gently he laid a hand on the turtle’s head. “Don’t panic. You’ll soon be free.”

His calm manner worked like a dream. The turtle stopped struggling and turned his head to watch Cai with one oval-shaped eye. As the last piece of rope fell away, Antonia stood back, pushing the hair out of her eyes with a relieved sigh.

“We did it!” she exclaimed.

The tingly sensation had faded, leaving her hands as limp as washed-up seaweed. She watched the turtle strike out for freedom. He swam gracefully, his scaly neck outstretched as he propelled himself forward.

“Well done!” Cai turned to Antonia, eyes shining. “That was so cool. I never knew you could do that.”

“Me neither,” Antonia confessed. Longingly, she looked at the beach. It was so tempting to go and sit on the soft golden sand. She felt completely drained now the rescue was over.

“You can see the hotel from here,” said Cai. “It really spoils the view. Hey! Look over there…” His voice suddenly rose with excitement as a large lizard-like creature scuttled across the beach and disappeared behind the trees.

“What was that?” Antonia was glad she was safely in the sea.

“I think it was a goanna. They’re a type of lizard common in Australia. They eat baby turtles.” Cai started to go after it.

“I like turtles much better than goannas,” said Antonia with feeling. “They’re incredible and so dignified. Cai, where are you going? Diamond’s waiting for us.”

Cai stopped splashing towards the shore and turned back with a guilty grin. “Whoops! I almost forgot.”

Antonia laughed then suddenly feeling vibrations in the shallow water, she spun round.

“More dolphins! I bet they’re from Diamond’s pod.” She pointed to a small group of dolphins hovering out at sea.

“Wicked!” exclaimed Cai. “Let’s go say hello.”

Antonia counted five dolphins. There was Diamond, swimming a little apart from the rest of the group, two other adults and two younger dolphins. The littlest one was a bit larger than Bubbles and Antonia momentarily felt a flash of homesickness as she remembered her favourite dolphin friend.

The dolphins whistled a greeting as Antonia and Cai swam over. Diamond opened her mouth and clicked a laugh.

“Everyone’s so excited. You’re our first Silver Dolphins.”

“Hello,” clicked Antonia.

Diamond swam forwards and, dipping her elegant head, greeted Antonia and Cai with a friendly nose rub.

“Welcome to Blue Reef Bay,” she whistled. “There wasn’t time to say it before, but it’s an honour to have you here.”

Chapter Four (#ulink_54304721-cc70-578a-ba66-11bb2e0d4d6c)

Diamond had brought her closest family to meet the Silver Dolphins.

“This is my sister, Beauty, and her husband, Blaze,” she clicked.

The two adult dolphins dipped their silver grey heads. “And their children, Jet and Swirl.”

The younger dolphins swam forward and high-fived Antonia and Cai with a fin.

“Can we play with the Silver Dolphins?” Jet asked.

“Please, Aunty Diamond?” squeaked Swirl.

Diamond clicked a laugh. “If the Silver Dolphins want to,” she replied.

“We’d love to,” clicked Antonia.