Stormy Skies

For the Troths, Dianne, Richard, Eleanor and Isabel

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

Chapter Sixteen

Copyright

About the Publisher

A small dolphin was tugging at a piece of seaweed half buried under a rock. It was the longest piece he’d ever seen and just right for a game of seaweed tag.

“Hurry up, Bubbles,” called his sister Dream. “Any piece of seaweed will do. It doesn’t have to be that bit.”

“It does,” clicked Bubbles, scraping away at the sand. “This bit’s perfect. Come and help me dig it out.”

Dream sighed, but to speed the game up she swam over to help her brother, digging up the sand with her nose.

“It’s nearly out,” grunted Bubbles.

He tugged harder until, in a sudden flurry of sand, the seaweed came free. Bubbles jerked backwards, spinning into Dream, who then crashed into their friend Phantom.

“Ouch!” squeaked Phantom, falling into the path of Spirit and Star.

“Watch out!” clicked Spirit, but it was too late. The dolphins bumped heavily into each other.

“Help!” whistled Star, who was squashed between the two of them.

Bubbles righted himself then swam over to help his mum.

“Thank you,” she clicked, flexing her bruised tail.

“Sorry, Mum.” Bubbles hung his head in shame. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”

“I know you didn’t,” clicked Star kindly. “You weren’t thinking. Next time maybe you will.”

A cold feeling came over Spirit. The oceans were suffering because people didn’t stop to think about their actions either. It was lucky they had the Silver Dolphins. They had made a huge difference to sea life. Spirit sensed greater challenges lay ahead, but knew they would do their best to meet them. With every new challenge the Silver Dolphins grew stronger.

The thought warmed him.

Antonia waved goodbye to her mum then closed the front door. She turned to her friend Hannah Davies and said excitedly, “I can’t believe we’re actually here. We’ve been counting the days, haven’t we, Cai?”

“You bet,” said Cai. “It seems like ages since we last saw you.”

It was the half-term holiday and Antonia and Cai were staying with Hannah for a few days.

“I can’t believe it either,” said Hannah. “It’s going to be great. Come on. I’ll show you your rooms. This is yours, Cai.”

She opened a door on to an airy room with a small double bed, wardrobe and a chest of drawers. “Antonia’s sharing with me.”

“Cool,” said Cai, dumping his bag on the floor.

“My room’s got a balcony, so if you stand by the rail, you can just see the sea through the trees,” said Hannah, leading the way out of Cai’s room and across the hall. She threw open a door, revealing a pretty room with blue walls and an enormous metal bunk bed. “You can have the top bed if you like, Antonia.”

“Thanks. This is a great room, Hannah. You’ve got loads of stuff.” Antonia stared at the flat-screen television, mini sound system and shelves bulging with books and trinkets.

Hannah blushed. “That’s Mum’s fault. She buys me things to make up for hardly ever being around. I can’t believe she’s managed to arrange to work from home this week. She’s so busy at the moment. I told her she didn’t need to as we’d be spending our time helping Kathleen, but she insisted.”

“I can’t wait to meet Kathleen,” said Antonia. Her fingers strayed to the silver dolphin charm she always wore round her neck.

Antonia, Cai and Hannah shared a magical secret. They were Silver Dolphins, guardians of the sea. This meant that they had special magical abilities that allowed them to swim and communicate with real dolphins so they could look after the ocean and the creatures living there. Silver Dolphins were rare; only someone who believed in magic and was in tune with nature could be one.

Cai’s great aunty Claudia had been a Silver Dolphin once, but now she ran a marine conservation charity called Sea Watch. Kathleen, a friend of Hannah’s mum, had also been a Silver Dolphin and Antonia and Cai were staying with Hannah to help Kathleen set up her own marine conservation charity.

“Kathleen can’t wait to meet you too,” said Hannah. “You should see her new house. It’s got a huge garden overlooking the estuary. It’s the perfect place for a marine charity. Did I tell you she’s decided to call it Ocean Watch to avoid confusion with Sea Watch?”

“Ocean Watch.” Antonia tried the name out. “I like it.”

“Me too,” said Cai. “When do we get to meet Kathleen?”

“Tomorrow. Mum’s taking us out for tea now. She’s hopeless at cooking. We’re going to a little café at the top of the cliffs. It does great food and the views are amazing. You can often see dolphins in the sea. We used to go there all the time, but we haven’t been for ages. I hope they still do their lasagne. It’s the best ever.”