Secret Friends

T
he wind was getting up. It ruffled the surface of the sea, whipping it into tiny white crested waves. Antonia Lee pushed her long blonde hair out of her eyes, wishing she’d thought to tie it up.

“Hurry up, Flipper Feet,” called Bubbles. “We’re nearly there.”

He took off, leaping in and out of the water, flying over the waves with an easy grace. Antonia went after him, marvelling at the way she too could swim like a dolphin.

“I can’t believe I’ve only been a Silver Dolphin for two weeks,” she whistled.

“Me neither,” Bubbles clicked back. “Your swimming’s even better now. You’re using your hands like flippers instead of that funny thing you did with them at first.”

Antonia laughed, her voice coming out as a series of whistles.

“That was breaststroke. It’s a popular swimming stroke.”

“It can’t be that good or dolphins would use it,” Bubbles teased.

Antonia Lee was a Silver Dolphin. Silver
Dolphins were guardians of the sea. They used magic to care for the oceans and all the creatures living there. Whenever help was needed the tiny silver dolphin charm that Antonia wore round her neck called to her. Then she would take on dolphin-like characteristics enabling her to swim to the problem and sort it out. Silver Dolphins were rare. You had to be in tune with nature and willing to believe that magical things could happen to become one.

Antonia had just come out of school when Spirit called her. Spirit was the leader of a pod of thirty dolphins and he was also Bubbles’s dad. Antonia answered his call quickly, but this time it wasn’t an emergency. Spirit had asked Antonia to go litter-picking on the rocks. It was
Antonia’s least favourite task, but a very important one. Litter could cause all sorts of injuries to sea life. When the litter-picking was finished Antonia was allowed to play with Bubbles, her best dolphin friend.

“We’re here,” said Bubbles, swimming round the headland.

Antonia slowed, gasping with delight at the tiny cove nestling between the rocks.

“I never knew that this was here,” she clicked.

“That’s because you can’t reach it by land,” said Bubbles. “Come on, I’ll race you.”

Bubbles took off, slicing through the water like a silver arrow. Antonia chased after him, determined to catch him up, but not quite making it.

“Cheat!” she clicked as Bubbles reached the
mouth of the cove a tail length ahead of her. “You had a head start.”

Playfully she splashed water at him. Bubbles smacked the sea with his tail, soaking Antonia back.

“Water fight,” he whistled in delight.

Antonia churned up the sea with her hands while Bubbles retaliated with his tail and flippers. Soon they could hardly see each other for the spray.

“Truce,” clicked Antonia, gasping for breath.

Bubbles stopped splashing and dived under water. Antonia lay on her back staring up at the grey sky. It was a chilly start to the week following on from a scorching hot weekend. Antonia tensed as her body started to tingle. Something was approaching. She could feel
the vibrations in the water. She rolled over and scanned the horizon. A dolphin was swimming towards them. As it drew closer Antonia saw it was larger than Bubbles and the blaze of yellow along its flank was much paler.

“Dream!” she exclaimed, immediately recognising Bubbles’s older sister. “Look, Bubbles, your sister is—”

She didn’t get to finish as something butted her in the back then ducked her under the water.

“Got you!” whistled Bubbles cheekily as Antonia spluttered to the surface. Then splashing her with a flipper, he launched straight into another water fight.

“Whoah!” cried Antonia, pointing at Dream, but Bubbles hadn’t seen his sister
arriving and was enjoying himself far too much to stop.

“Bubbles!” clicked Dream angrily as she got caught up in the spray. “Stop that now or I’m telling Mum.”

Bubbles jumped in surprise, then, quickly recovering, he splashed Dream with his tail.

“Spoilsport,” he retorted.

“Stop it!” said Dream crossly. “Mum and Dad have been looking everywhere for you. You’ve got to come back to the pod. Dad says a storm’s brewing so we’re all moving out to sea where it’ll be safer.”

“Is it a bad storm?” asked Antonia, trying to ignore Bubbles, who had stopped splashing and was mimicking the serious expression on his sister’s face. She wished the two dolphins
got on better. Antonia was longing to make friends with Dream but the older dolphin never wanted to play if Bubbles was there.

“Bad enough,” said Dream. “Can’t you feel how the wind’s getting up?”

Antonia had noticed the wind and now she thought about it she had a vague feeling that something wasn’t right. She concentrated on the feeling and her sense of unease grew stronger. Antonia shivered, hoping that nothing bad was going to happen.

“I’d better go home too,” she said. “It’s nearly my tea time.”

“I wish you could come out to sea with us,” said Bubbles.

“So do I.” Antonia rubbed her nose against Bubbles’s nose. “Be safe.”

“You too, Silver Dolphin,” said Bubbles, rubbing her back.

Antonia swam with Bubbles and Dream as far as the headland then, using her legs like a tail, she trod water, watching the dolphins as they continued out to sea. After a while they turned. Bubbles leapt a somersault and Dream half bowed then together they dived out of sight. Forlornly Antonia stared at the empty sea until remembering her own family, she cheered up. It would have been nice to go with the dolphins, but she had her own home. Her parents and little sister Jessica would miss her terribly if she didn’t return and she would miss her family too. Antonia swam into Gull Bay and when the water was shallow enough she stopped swimming and paddled through the
breakers. Her legs no longer felt melded together and the salty water poured off her like a fountain. By the time she reached the spot on the beach where she’d left her shoes, socks and school bag the only thing to show that she’d been swimming with the dolphins was her slightly damp hair. Antonia stuffed her socks into her school bag, slid her feet into the sandals and shouldering her bag, made for the tiny track that led home.

Jessica pounced on her the moment she walked through the door.

“You’ve been ages. Was it really busy at Sea Watch? I wish I was big enough to help too.”

Sea Watch was a local charity involved in marine conservation. It was run by an old lady called Claudia Neal. Claudia had been a Silver
Dolphin once, but it was too much for her now so she’d handed the role over to Antonia. Most days Antonia went to Sea Watch after school to help out, but today she’d gone to answer Spirit’s call instead.

“Sea Watch is always busy,” said Antonia, answering Jessica’s question as truthfully as she could. Claudia hadn’t told her that being a Silver Dolphin had to be kept secret, but Antonia knew it did. The best magic always was.

After an enormous tea of macaroni cheese, crispy bacon and broccoli followed by a dish of ice cream Antonia allowed Jessica to drag her off to her bedroom to play at being vets. Jessica got all her cuddly toys out of the wardrobe and the two girls spent the evening
bandaging paws and tails. At last Mrs Lee rescued Antonia by chivvying Jessica off to have her bath.

Relieved to finally have some time alone Antonia made her way to her cosy attic bedroom. Someone, probably Mum, had opened the sloping window that looked out across Gull Bay. The salty wind rushed in, its chilly fingers lifting the pages of the wildlife magazine lying on her desk. Antonia pulled the window shut and stood for a moment staring into the light summer evening. The bay was empty. Where were the dolphins? Had Spirit taken them a very long way out to sea? Antonia could sense the impending storm more keenly now. She could smell it: a sharp tangy smell that lingered in her nose and made
her muscles tingle with anticipation. Fingering the silver dolphin charm hanging round her neck, Antonia hoped that her dolphins were safe.

A
ntonia woke with a start. She couldn’t see a thing, her room was blacker than a witch’s hat, but she had no difficulty hearing the storm raging outside. The wind shrieked and rain drummed on her window, sounding like pebbles being thrown against the glass. Sleepily Antonia touched her silver dolphin
charm, loving the way it felt as soft as a real dolphin. She wondered what the dolphins were doing now. She hoped they were safely out at sea, dozing. Dolphins didn’t fall asleep like other animals—they had to keep half awake or they would drown. Antonia closed her eyes and was almost asleep when a loud crack woke her. Having lived all her life in their little house overlooking the sea, Antonia was very familiar with that sound. It was a distress flare. Immediately she was out of bed and pulling up the blind to peer through the slanting window. Another crack rent the night air and this time Antonia saw a spiralling plume of red smoke away to her left over Sandy Bay. Hoping that the lifeboat crew would rescue whoever was in danger Antonia crawled back to bed.
She slept soundly until Jessica roared in and shook her awake.

“Get up,” she cried excitedly. “We’re on the news. Sandy Bay’s on television!”

“Whaa…” mumbled Antonia, pulling the duvet over her head to blot out Jessica’s shrill voice.

Jessica gripped the duvet and tugged it back. “There’s this boat. The
Princess Romana
. It got grounded in the storm and lost its cargo. Millions of boxes. And it’s all washing up on Sandy Bay beach. Hurry or you’ll miss it.”

Antonia followed Jessica downstairs and into the kitchen where Mum and Dad were watching the local news on television. A picture of Sandy Bay filled the screen and
Antonia gasped at the sight of so many crates littering the shore line.

“The Italian cargo ship,
Princess Romana
, suffered some damage when it grounded and there’s been a slight oil spill,” said the news reporter, sounding grave. “It’s not serious and marine experts say the oil should disperse on its own; however, they are keeping an eye on the situation. Several oiled birds have already been found on the beach and are being dealt with by Sea Watch, a local charity for marine conservation.”