Rising Star

For Greta and for Stewart – my twin.

Cover Page

Title Page

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Silver Dolphins

Read on for a sneak preview

Copyright

About the Publisher

A long way out at sea, a small dolphin with a cheeky smile was swimming by himself when a sharp whistle startled him. Suddenly alert, Bubbles listened to the cry for help.

“Mum! Where are you?”

Bubbles knew that voice! At once he changed direction and swam towards the dolphin in distress.

“Dot!” he clicked. “What are you doing so far out at sea on your own?”

Dot was younger than Bubbles and much smaller than him.

“Bubbles!” she squeaked, delighted to see a familiar face. “Mum said I could go off and play…but I got lost.”

“Home’s this way,” clicked Bubbles kindly. “Follow me.”

Bubbles kept checking that Dot was behind him as he led the little dolphin back to their pod.

“Mum!” squeaked Dot, suddenly spotting her mother. “Thanks, Bubbles.” She rubbed her nose against his shyly and swam to join her mum.

Bubbles continued on until he found his own family. Spirit, Star and Dream were swimming together near the kelp beds.

“Dad, you’ll never guess what?” clicked Bubbles. “Dot’s mum let her play on her own and she got lost. Luckily I found her.”

Spirit patted Bubbles with a fin.

“Well done, son,” he clicked.

“How could Dot’s mum let her go off like that?” asked Bubbles. “Wasn’t it dangerous?”

Spirit rolled over thoughtfully, his silver skin sparkling in the sunlit water.

“It’s hard letting children go off and do things on their own, but you have to, or they’ll never learn,” he said eventually.

Bubbles stayed quiet for a moment, then smiled in understanding.

“Like the Silver Dolphins. They learnt by

doing things on their own.”

Spirit nodded.

“Just like the Silver Dolphins continue to.”

“But I thought the Silver Dolphins knew everything they needed to know now,” said Bubbles.

“There is always more to learn,” said Spirit wisely.

“But you know everything, don’t you, Dad?” Bubbles persisted.

Spirit clicked a laugh.

“I wish I did,” he sighed. “But even I have more to learn.”

“I won!” Antonia Lee burst through the surface of the water, her arms triumphantly stretched above her head.

“Well done, Flipper Feet,” clicked Bubbles, “but you only won because I gave you a head start.”

“No you didn’t,” laughed Antonia.

“Did,” clicked Bubbles, playfully splashing her with water.

“Water fight,” shouted Cai, surfacing with Dream. “Girls against boys.”

“You’re on,” clicked everyone.

Dream swam over to Antonia, Cai joined Bubbles and soon the sea was foaming like a shaken bottle of shampoo as they splashed each other with water.

“Truce!” panted Antonia at last.

Treading water, she pushed her long blonde hair out of her eyes.

“That was such fun!” clicked Bubbles happily. “I’m glad you’re back. We missed you loads, didn’t we, Dream?”

Dream nodded fervently and clicked, “It wasn’t the same without you.”

“We missed you too,” said Antonia.

She and Cai had just returned from a trip to Australia to visit Cai’s parents, who worked over there. Cai was temporarily living in Sandy Bay with his Aunty Claudia, who ran a marine conservation charity called Sea Watch.

“Let’s have another race,” said Bubbles.

Antonia shook her head. “Sorry, Bubbles, but there isn’t time. We’ve swam much further than we normally do and I promised Mum I’d be home early. School starts again tomorrow and I’ve got to get my things ready.”

“Don’t go to school,” said Bubbles. “Come and swim with us instead. We can show you lots of new things.”

“I bet you can,” said Antonia. “But we still have to go to school.”

“I’ll go and get the rubbish,” said Cai. He turned and swam towards a small beach nestling at the foot of the cliffs.

“Wait for me.” Antonia swam quickly after him.

Antonia and Cai had been litter picking. It was part of their role as Silver Dolphins to protect the seas and all the creatures living there. Whenever the Silver Dolphins were needed, Spirit called to them through the silver dolphin charms that Antonia and Cai always wore. A very special magic let them swim and communicate with their dolphin friends. Today Spirit had called them to clear some floating rubbish he’d found.

When it was shallow enough Antonia and Cai stood on the seabed and waded up the beach.

“It’s a shame there’s no bin on the beach. We’ll have to be careful how we get this back,” said Cai, picking up the strips of polystyrene packaging they’d found. “This stuff is lethal if an animal eats it.”

“I know,” said Antonia gravely. “It breaks up into tiny balls that don’t rot and are left in the sea forever.”