The Magic Charm (7 page)

S
ophie stood with hands on hips, her blue eyes blazing with anger.

“Leave her alone. If you EVER lay one finger on her again then I shall go straight to Mr Cordier.”

“Ooh,” said Lauren. “What’s with you? We were only having a bit of fun.”

“Fun?” shrieked Sophie. “And would you find it funny if you were the one on the ground?”

Lauren sneered. She opened her mouth to respond, but Becky got in first.

“Come on, Lauren, we don’t have to listen to this,” she said. “Let’s leave these losers together.”

She whispered something else and Lauren laughed. Heads bent and still giggling the two girls sauntered away.

“Are you all right?” asked Sophie, brushing grass cuttings from Antonia’s back.

“Yes, thanks to you,” said Antonia. “I thought I was going to choke.”

Sophie kept brushing grass, unable to meet Antonia’s eye.

“I’m sorry,” she said eventually. “This was my fault. If I hadn’t been so mean to you none of this would have happened. I guess I was jealous of you winning that poster competition. I thought I’d win and I was disappointed when I didn’t.”

“Your picture was miles better than mine,” said Antonia.

“But it wasn’t,” said Sophie, “that was the point. The competition wasn’t about art, it was about caring for the environment. You’re much better at that sort of stuff than I am. You’re a natural when it comes to wildlife.”

“It was my fault too,” said Antonia. “I didn’t turn up when we were supposed to go to the beach together. I would have been so mad if you’d done that to me.”

Sophie took a deep breath. “Friends?” she asked.

“Friends,” said Antonia.

That afternoon was so much better. Antonia really did feel as if someone had taken a weight off her shoulders. In the art lesson Miss Brown let the class sit where they liked. Antonia sat with Sophie
and was so busy chatting she didn’t notice her ponytail trailing in the paint palette, giving her hair green streaks.

“Antonia Lee!” sighed Miss Brown, coming to stand beside her. “Your hair is now green. You’d better go and wash it out before you turn mine grey.”

“Sorry, Miss,” said Antonia, trying not to laugh.

She scooted down the corridor, narrowly avoiding a collision with Mr Cordier. Antonia slowed down. If Mum heard about it she’d be in double trouble!

Cai looked disappointed when at the end of the day Antonia made an excuse not to go to Sea Watch with him.

“What shall I tell Aunty Claudia?” he asked.

“Tell her you gave me the message and I said I
couldn’t come tonight,” said Antonia.

She picked up her bag and walked to the door where Sophie was waiting.

“Antonia…”

Antonia spun round and looked at Cai expectantly.

“Er, I…don’t leave it too late,” he said, and shouldering his own bag he walked quickly past them out of the door.

“What was all that about?” asked Sophie curiously.

“Nothing,” said Antonia briskly. “He just wanted me to go to Sea Watch with him.”

“I don’t mind if you want to,” said Sophie. “We don’t have to always do the same things.”

“No, it’s fine,” said Antonia. “I really don’t want to go to Sea Watch right now.”

Later that evening, as Antonia got ready for bed, she badly regretted her decision to not go and see Claudia. All it would have taken was a bit of courage. Sophie had shown lots of courage today. First by standing up to Becky and Lauren and then by apologising to Antonia and admitting that she’d been jealous of her.

That was different
, Antonia told herself.

She shook her head and tried to ignore her thoughts. Antonia walked across her bedroom and stared out of the attic window overlooking the bay. The evening sun sparkled on the water so that it seemed saturated with tiny jewels. Seagulls mewed overhead and a salty breeze stole into her room. Movement caught Antonia’s eye and she saw four shapes leaping across the water. She screwed up her eyes to reduce the dazzle from the setting sun. Dolphins. Two large and two small came flying
across the bay. Antonia caught her breath. They looked so beautiful skimming across the tops of the waves. Beautiful yet vulnerable. As one, the dolphins dived under the water. Antonia remained at the window, her eyes searching for them to resurface, but the dolphins had gone. A sob caught in Antonia’s throat. She was a failure. She had been chosen to help not just the dolphins, but all creatures living in the sea. But she’d let everyone down.

Do something about it
, urged a voice in her head.

Antonia jumped. Had that thought been her own or not? She closed her eyes waiting to hear more, but, like the dolphins, there was nothing else there. Suddenly she made up her mind. Sophie had been brave and now it was her turn. She strode over to her chest of drawers and burying her hand
inside the jumble of socks she pulled out the silver dolphin necklace. The chain felt cold and hard in her hand. Antonia fingered the tiny silver charm. That felt cold too. Cold and lifeless.

“No!” she cried.

What was it Cai had said about not leaving it too late? He didn’t know about the necklace, or Antonia being a Silver Dolphin, yet he had been so right. With trembling fingers she fastened the chain around her neck.

“Please,” she whispered, cupping the dolphin in her hand as if by doing so she could give it life. “Please, give me one more chance.”

Slowly she climbed into bed, but sleep eluded her. Antonia lay staring at the ceiling for what seemed like hours until finally she slept, the dolphin charm cradled in one hand.

G
roggily Antonia rolled over. Her room was still in semi darkness. She blinked as her grey-green eyes struggled to focus on her alarm clock. “Four fifteen,” she groaned. She lay in the half-light wondering what had woken her. Then suddenly she realised the necklace was beating a rhythm against her chest. Immediately she was properly awake and, resisting
the urge to cheer, she leapt out of bed and hurriedly pulled on her clothes. Round her neck the dolphin charm continued to vibrate, then suddenly it began to whistle. Antonia’s hand brushed against it as she pulled on her T-shirt. The charm felt soft and slippery, just like a real dolphin.

“I’m coming,” she whispered. “Spirit, I hear your call.”

As she crept downstairs she wondered if she should leave a note for her mum and dad. They wouldn’t be awake this time in the morning; even Dad, who was a mechanic and often left early to open up his garage, didn’t get up until six.

“Better to be safe than sorry,” she whispered as she veered into the kitchen to leave a note on the table.

The note written, Antonia pulled on her trainers, then carefully undid the locks on the front door. At
last she was outside. The sharp morning air on her face was better than a cold shower to wake her up. The whistling from her necklace grew shriller, urging her to hurry. Stumbling down the coastal path, the first rays of sun barely penetrating the trees, Antonia wished she’d brought a torch to light her way. When the path forked Antonia went right, opting for Gull Bay, as it was nearer and more secluded than Sandy Bay beach. She ran on until at last she arrived, panting and with sweat running down her face. Up until now Antonia hadn’t thought about going into the water. She’d been so relieved that her charm was working and that she could still communicate with Spirit, it hadn’t seemed important. Now, as she stood on the beach pulling off her trainers and socks she began to have second thoughts. What if there were more jellyfish waiting to get her?

“Don’t be silly,” Antonia scolded herself out loud. Jellyfish didn’t lie in wait for people. This time she would keep her wits about her and if she saw anything dangerous she would move away from it quickly.

Antonia ran down to the water’s edge and stared out at the sea. At the mouth of the cove three dolphins were waiting for her. Antonia blinked and counted again, two large, one small. Who was missing?

Antonia took a deep breath and ran into the water. The moment it reached her waist and her legs felt as if they were melding together, Antonia experienced a burst of panic. For a second she was tempted to turn and run back to the beach. But the dolphin charm urged her on. Forcing the panic to the very bottom of her stomach, Antonia moved forward. When the water reached her shoulders
she swam; with breaststroke arms and dolphin legs she sliced through the water until she was within a tail’s length of the dolphins.

Spirit swam up to her, his liquid eyes brimming with emotion.

“Silver Dolphin, you came back,” he clicked.

Antonia felt herself blush. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to let you down. I was scared. Bubbles saved me, but then I was afraid to go back in the water.”

“I know,” said Spirit kindly. “But you have come back, and now it’s your turn to help Bubbles.”

Antonia stared over Spirit’s head and saw that it was Star and Dream who’d come with him. Star was anxiously bobbing in the water and even Dream had lost her usually bored expression.

“Bubbles,” she gasped. “Where is he? What’s happened to him?”

“He was playing not far from where you came
across the jellyfish swarm when he found an old fishing net,” said Spirit.

Antonia’s insides turned to ice. Fishing nets were Bubbles’s worst nightmare. Immediately Antonia forgot her fears and struck out to save her dolphin friend.

“Wait! Silver Dolphin, come back,” clicked Spirit.

But Antonia barely heard him. There was no time to lose. She had to get to Bubbles and rescue him from the fishing net. Like a torpedo, Antonia sped through the water.

“Let me save him. Please let me save him.”

She chanted the words in time with her arms as they pulled her through the water. There was no sign of Bubbles above the sea’s surface so Antonia dived down and swam along the seabed. Ahead she could see a dark shadow. Was it jellyfish?
Antonia’s stomach dipped with fear, but she just altered her course and swam around it. There were no jellyfish; it was a bed of seaweed fronds waving gently in the current. Suddenly Antonia’s skin began to tingle. It took her a second to recognise that the sensation was caused by vibrations in the water. As she swam on, the vibrations grew stronger. A vivid image flashed into her head: Bubbles bound by a fishing net, struggling for his life.

“Bubbles, I’m coming,” she whistled shrilly.

The vibrations were so strong that Antonia knew she must be nearly there. She swam on, thoughts forming in her mind. Dolphins could stay underwater for up to an hour, but they normally came up for air every ten minutes. Antonia had no idea how long Bubbles had before he needed to breathe, but if he was underwater too long he
would drown. With a superhuman effort Antonia swam even faster. The sea swirled around her, bubbling and frothing like the contents of a witch’s cauldron. She hardly dared to look, not wanting to see her favourite dolphin trussed and thrashing around in distress, but Antonia forced her eyes open until, gasping with shock, she stopped dead.

I
t was a few seconds before Bubbles noticed Antonia was there. He was busy guiding something, splashing about in the water and churning up a storm with his flippers and tail. Antonia stared in disbelief as Claudia appeared, swimming behind Bubbles, kicking and writhing in the water too. As soon as Bubbles saw Antonia he stopped swimming and his mouth opened in a huge smile.

“Silver Dolphin,” he clicked. “You came back.”

“But…” Antonia was too relieved and bewildered to speak. She continued to look from Bubbles to Claudia as if she couldn’t remember where she knew them from.

Claudia was clutching the edge of a fishing net, tugging it for all she was worth. She seemed startled to see Antonia, then her face broke into a wide smile.

“You came,” she simply said.

They stared at each other for a long moment and Antonia felt Claudia’s relief as clearly as if she had voiced her thoughts.

“But what if I hadn’t?” asked Antonia, her fingers creeping to the silver dolphin charm around her neck. “What if I hadn’t been wearing my necklace?”

Claudia looked concerned. “I didn’t know it had
got that bad!” she exclaimed. “You should have come and talked to me about it. I’m always here for you.”

Bubbles nodded in agreement and Antonia suddenly realised that she and Claudia had been speaking together in dolphin language. So Claudia was a Silver Dolphin too!

“But…”

There were so many questions, Antonia didn’t know where to start.

Reaching out, Claudia put her finger on Antonia’s lips to silence her. “Later,” she said gently. “You came and that’s what matters. I can rely on you to answer the call, Silver Dolphin.”

“I thought it was Bubbles.” Antonia’s voice cracked with emotion. “I thought he was tangled in a net.”

“I found the net,” said Bubbles proudly. “I
needed help to move it before any more animals got hurt.”

He shuddered violently and Antonia reached out and stroked his nose. When Bubbles stopped shaking she turned her attention to the discarded fishing net. The sight of it made her recoil. The net was full of dead things–rotting crabs, fish and seabirds. Anger surged through her making her head sing.

“How can people be so careless,” she cried.

“Often it’s through ignorance,” said Claudia. “People don’t stop to realise the consequences of their actions. That’s where you come in. As a Silver Dolphin it’s your job to help put right the wrongs of our world. By taking this net back to shore and getting rid of it properly, many sea creatures’ lives will be saved.”

“How will we get it back to the shore?” asked
Antonia. “It’s too heavy to tow that far.”

“I didn’t know if you would answer the dolphin’s call, so I answered it too,” said Claudia. I’m not as strong a swimmer as I used to be, so I sailed out here in the Sea Watch rescue boat. I’ve left Cai back at the house. He’s asleep, but I’ve left him a note just in case he wakes up.”

“Does he know about us?”

“No,” said Claudia. “I told him a boat had capsized and lost its net, and the coastguard had called to ask if I would retrieve it.”