“Watch it!” cried Sophie hotly.
“Watch what?” asked Lauren nastily. “It’s not my fault that Antonia got in my way.”
Sophie went red with indignation, but Antonia steered her to another part of the playground before she could protest.
“Ignore her,” she said. “She’s not worth it.”
“Ooh!” exclaimed Sophie crossly. “I don’t know why she’s always so nasty to you. Thanks for the boomerang, Antonia. It’s lovely. I’ll ask Dad to help me hang it on my bedroom wall.”
Cai and Toby arrived as the bell went and they all walked into school.
“Let’s sit together,” said Cai, but Mrs Howard had other ideas.
“Just my luck,” groaned Antonia when her new teacher called out, “Charlie West, Lauren Hampton, Antonia Lee and Harry Lucas on this table, please.”
Antonia hurried to her new place, hoping to sit next to one of the boys, but Charlie and Harry beat her there and she was forced to sit next to Lauren.
“Move up, Toni,” said Lauren, making herself as wide as possible when she sat down.
“It’s ‘Antonia’. I might not know you’re talking to me if you call me Toni.”
“Good. Then I won’t have to talk to you, Toni,” said Lauren unkindly.
It was one of the longest days Antonia had ever spent in school. The work was much harder than it had been in Year Five and Antonia’s brain felt rusty after the long summer holiday. Lauren had a brand new pencil case and a bumper pack of gel pens that she laid out, taking up more than her fair share of the desk and she grumbled each time Antonia accidentally touched one.
“My dad got me those,” she boasted. “He’s got this great new job over at Crane Point. It’s my birthday next week and Dad said I can have a huge party. I’m going to invite everyone in the class.” Lauren paused and her eyes narrowed to mean slits. “Well, 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