The Floating Forest

by Linda Chapman

  Naya and Luna were already at the whirlpool and Marina and Kai joined them a few minutes later.

  “Is everyone ready?” said Marina. “Have you got the map, Coralie – the real one?”

  “Yes, it’s here! Has everyone told their parents they’ll be out all day so they don’t come looking for us?” Coralie asked.

  The friends nodded.

  “I’ve got a bag to collect more kelp,” said Naya. “I’m developing a growing potion that works properly, rather than making things much taller in two seconds! And I’ve got one of these for everybody.” She showed them jars that had a small bag of liquid sitting on top of a silvery powder. “It’s a new invention of mine.”

  “What are they?” said Kai, looking at his curiously. He started to shake it.

  “Don’t do that!” Naya said quickly. “They’re emergency lights. If you shake them hard, then the little bag will burst. When the liquid spills on to the mermaid powder, the two things react and start glowing. I got the idea from the bioluminescent fish we saw when we were on the deep reef – the ones that glow in the dark. I collected some bioluminescent algae from there to make the liquid. The lights will only work once, and they’ll last for about half an hour, so don’t use them unless you have to.”

  “Awesome!” said Marina enthusiastically.

  Coralie nodded. “It’s a krill-iant invention. It’ll be just what we need if the treasure is hidden somewhere dark.” Her eyes sparkled. “We’re going to find the treasure today even if we have to search the whole forest!” She swam closer to the whirlpool. “Take us to the kelp forest we went to last Sunday,” she asked it. “To the exact same place, please.”

  The water started to whirl and swirl.

  “Come on, Dash!” Coralie cried and they dived in together. Just as before, the water swirled round them like a wild rainbow. Coralie spun round and round and then she shot out.

  She blinked her eyes open, expecting to see the beautiful, serene forest with seals and sea lions swimming through the bluey-green water, but, to her surprise, everywhere looked completely different. The water was a dark, murky colour filled with sand and fronds. The kelp trees had been torn from the rocky bottom and were floating at the surface of the water in a thick layer, blocking out the light. The occasional sad-looking fish swam past, the sea urchins on the bottom had kelp fronds caught on their spines and there were no otters, seals or sea lions to be seen anywhere.

  Coralie heard the others’ startled exclamations as they arrived.

  “What’s happened?” Kai said.

  “Where are all the animals?” asked Luna.

  “It must have been a storm like Sylvie told us about at school” said Naya, pushing a bunch of kelp away from her face.

  “It’s destroyed the whole forest,” said Coralie in dismay.

  “Do you think the creatures are hurt?” said Luna. Melly rubbed her head reassuringly against Luna’s arm.

  “I think they’ll be OK,” said Marina quickly. “The seals, sea lions and otters would have sheltered on land during the storm and any of the creatures that couldn’t go onshore would have swum away deep into the ocean before the kelp was ripped up.” She shook her head. “It was such a beautiful forest that protected so many animals, and now it’s destroyed. This is awful!”

  The others nodded. The treasure suddenly didn’t seem important at all.

  “Can we do anything to help repair it?” said Coralie.

  “Clearing the kelp from the surface would be a good idea,” said Naya. “If we push the torn trees on to the land, then that will let sunlight into the water, which will help new kelp start to grow.”

  They swam up to the surface. The kelp was floating there like a thick green-and-brown carpet. A little way off was the rocky strip of land where the otters lived. They were picking their way forlornly across the seaweed-covered rocks, staring at the water as if wondering whether to try to dive down to find a sea urchin to eat.

  “At least the otters look OK,” said Coralie in relief. She frowned suddenly as she spotted an otter that looked bigger than the others. It was right at the end of the spit of land and had a longer neck and pale patches around its eyes. It opened its mouth and barked sadly.

  Coralie gasped. “Look!” she exclaimed. “It’s the sea lion pup we met. What’s he doing over there with the otters?”

  “Maybe he got separated from his mother in the storm and was swept on to the rocks,” said Naya anxiously. “Oh, the poor thing!”

  “This looks like a job for the Save the Sea Creatures Club,” said Kai.

  “Should we bring him back to the reef and take him to the sanctuary?” Coralie said.

  “No,” Marina said quickly. “Our warm reef isn’t the right habitat for him. He needs to stay here.” She glanced around. “We can help him though. Let’s take him to where the sea lion babies and mothers are and then we can try to find his mother.”

  “He sounds so sad,” said Luna as the sea lion barked mournfully again.

  “Sea lions hate being on their own,” said Naya. “They’re used to being part of a big group. It must be really scary for him to be away from his mother and his friends.”

  Luna started heading towards him, pushing the seaweed out of the way. “Ugh! It’s so hard to swim through this kelp!”

  “Keep pushing it towards the land,” advised Naya. “The more we can clear it off the surface, the better.”

  Their pets joined them, pushing the kelp towards the rocks with their snouts, flippers and arms. Only Sami was too small to help. He tucked himself into Marina’s hair to keep out of the way.

  The young sea lion watched them approaching. He had been so friendly and confident before the storm when they’d seen him with his mum, but now he shrank back and made a trumpeting sound, his eyes wide and fearful. The storm had made him nervous.

  “Don’t be scared,” said Luna. “We’re here to help.” She started to hum. The sea lion cocked his head to one side, listening. Gradually, the fear faded from his eyes and the tension left his body. The others hung back and let Luna go closer. She swam over to the rocks and pulled herself out, leaving the end of her tail dangling in the water. He flapped his way over to meet her and stretched out his whiskery muzzle.

  She gently stroked him and he tried to climb on to her lap. She giggled. “You’re heavier than you look!” He thrust his muzzle into her neck, hiding his head under her long red hair. Luna hugged him and looked at her friends. “We have to help him join the other sea lions.”

  They nodded. There was no question about it.

  “We’ll do that, then we must do what we can to repair the damage,” said Marina.

  “And clear the seaweed off the sea urchins,” said Naya, seeing an otter pop up through the water with a kelp-covered urchin in its paws.

  “But first we help Barney,” said Luna. “That’s what I’m calling him.” She kissed the sea lion. “Come on, Barney. We’re going to find your mum!”

  She lowered him into the water. Dash and Melly greeted the pup by rubbing noses with him, Tommy and Octavia waved and Sami swam round his head, waggling his horns in a friendly way. Barney looked much happier.

  “Let’s swim deeper underwater,” said Coralie. “It’ll be easier than fighting through the kelp up here.”

  They dived down to the bottom. The water was murky and dim and they had to swim with their arms outstretched so they didn’t bump into anything. Barney swam in between Dash and Melly with Naya and Luna on either side, while Marina, Coralie and Sami led the way. Kai and Tommy brought up the rear. Last weekend the kelp forest had seemed like a safe haven, but now it was eerie and full of shadows. Coralie could feel her heart beating faster than normal.

  “It’s very dark… Should we use the lights you made, Naya?” she said uneasily.

  “Remember they can only be used once,” Naya reminded her. “Let’s try to swim without them, but if it gets much darker then yes, we probably should.”

  A large black fish, almost
as big as Dash, swam out in front of them. Coralie and Marina stopped so abruptly that the others almost swam into them.

  “It’s just a bass,” said Marina, relieved. Black bass were big but very gentle. “Let’s keep going.”

  They swam on until something long and thin slithered in front of their noses. Once again, they stopped with a start, but it was just a harmless moray eel. Coralie told herself to stop being so jumpy. It was hard though.

  Without the protection of the kelp trees, the water felt dangerous and unsafe. That’s because it is dangerous and unsafe, she thought. Before the storm, the kelp forest had stopped any large predators like killer whales or great white sharks from coming too close to the shore. However, without the trees, there was no shelter for them or any of the animals.

  Dash whistled at her and motioned upwards with his snout.

  “Dash needs to get some air,” Coralie said.

  “Barney should get some too,” said Luna.

  “We can swim up to see how near we are to the sea lion colony,” said Marina.

  They nodded and headed towards the surface. Dash broke through the kelp and arched over the sea, blowing a fountain of water out from his blowhole. Barney stuck his head out and took a gulp of air. Shaking the kelp from her hair, Coralie looked towards the rocks where the mother and baby sea lions were gathered. They were close enough to hear their barks and calls. Barney barked excitedly in response.

  Luna smiled. “Yes, Barney. We’ll have you back with your friends very soon. You’re going to be fine.”

  “Oh no, no, no, no, no!” Marina gasped suddenly.

  Hearing the fear in her voice, Coralie swung round. “What is it?” She didn’t think she’d ever heard Marina sound scared before.

  Marina’s face was pale as she pointed across the waves to where three huge whales were swimming towards the land. Their backs and fins were a shiny black and their bellies were white. “Killer whales!” she exclaimed.

  Icy fear ran down Coralie’s spine as she stared at the huge black-and-white whales heading straight towards them. Killer whales – orcas – were vicious creatures with sharp teeth who loved to hunt their prey down through the water. They would eat anything – seals, sea lions, manatees, turtles, dolphins and definitely mer-people. They were some of the most dangerous creatures in the ocean and you really didn’t want to be in the water with them!

  “What are we going to do?” cried Naya.

  Dash, Melly, Tommy, Sami and Octavia swam in terrified circles. On the rocky coastline the mother sea lions had spotted the approaching whales too. Their friendly barking changed to alarmed trumpeting and they started shepherding their babies away from the edges of the headland where the whales could snap them up. The ones closest to the cliffs and the beach started pushing the babies on to the land and up the cliffs as far from the sea as possible. The other adult sea lions and seals also hastily wriggled their way further up the rocks to get away. Panicked roars and barks filled the air.

  “I’m scared!” cried Luna.

  “What should we do?” Coralie yelled to Marina.

  “I don’t know!” For once, Marina looked completely out of ideas.

  Barney started to bark over and over again. He dived beneath the water and then poked his head back up and barked again. He did that several times.

  “What’s he doing?” shouted Kai.

  “I’ve no idea.” Coralie noticed that the sea lion mothers who were near the end of the headland and far away from the cliffs were now pushing their babies into the water and diving in after them. “What are they doing?” she said, pointing. “Why are they getting into the water?”

  “They’re going to be eaten if they do that!” shrieked Luna as the orcas arched over the waves, showing off their gleaming white bellies. As they splashed back into the water, Coralie felt the impact in the sea around her.

  Grabbing Luna’s hand gently in his mouth, Barney tried to tug her downwards.

  “What are you doing, Barney?” Luna exclaimed. She looked into his eyes for a moment, then her voice changed. “Everyone, I think Barney is trying to tell me something. I think he wants us to go under the water with him.”

  “Maybe there’s a safe place somewhere down there!” gasped Marina. “That must be why the mother sea lions who can’t reach the cliffs in time are taking their babies into the water. Follow Barney, everyone!”

  Luna dived down with the sea lion and the others followed her.

  They swam deeper and deeper, the headland looming in front of them like a cliff face. Peering through the gloomy water, Coralie realized where Barney was heading – there was a wide crack in the base of the headland that was protected by overhanging rocks. It looked like the entrance to an underwater cave. The mother sea lions were pushing their babies through the crack with their noses and following them in. The last sea lion disappeared inside and Barney followed. Glancing round, Coralie saw the large black-and-white head of one of the orcas appearing through the murkiness. Its eyes gleamed viciously as it saw them and its gigantic mouth opened, revealing sharp teeth.

  “Quick!” Coralie shrieked as her friends and their pets dived through the crack. Coralie was last.

  The orca’s jaws snapped shut, just missing her tail fin by centimetres. Her heart almost jumped out of her chest as she heard the clashing of its teeth, but she was safe! The orca hadn’t touched her and it was far too big to follow them inside.

  Where were they? She peered around but it was pitch-black and impossible to see anything. The water buzzed with the sound of the mothers barking and the pups whimpering. Coralie could feel the sea lions’ bodies jostling around her in the water.

  “I can’t see anything,” she heard Marina say.

  “There seems to be some light over this way,” she heard Kai call above the sea lions.

  “I’ll use my emergency light,” said Naya. “But we should keep the rest of yours safe. We don’t know how long we’re going to be down here.” There was the sound of her rummaging in her satchel and then the noise of something being shaken.

  Bright green light blazed out. Naya held up the jar and Coralie realized that they were in a tunnel, not a cave. It was packed with sea lions queuing to get through an opening at the end, from which the faint light was glowing. Barney barked and beckoned to them with his head.

  “He wants us to go with them,” said Luna.

  Naya led the way with her light, following the sea lions. Swimming through the opening, they gasped. Now they were in an underwater cave – an enormous one! It was completely filled with water and its roof was covered with glowing plankton that cast a gentle green light.

  The mother sea lions swam about, reunited with their babies. They were nuzzling them and patting them with their flippers, but Coralie hardly noticed. Her attention was caught by an enormous treasure chest on the floor of the cave… The wood was old and rotten, but golden jewellery and precious gems spilled out of it. As she watched, a pair of sea lion pups picked up a gold necklace and started playing tug of war with it. Other pups tossed glittering jewels to each other like balls, cleverly catching them on their noses before throwing them back.

  “The treasure!” breathed Marina.

  “We’ve actually found it!” exclaimed Kai.

  “And look at how much the sea lions love playing with it,” said Luna in delight as one of the pups balanced a ring on the end of its nose while another two started batting a large ruby between them with their flippers. The mother sea lions watched happily as their pups frolicked in the treasure. “It looks like they come here a lot. It’s their playground!”

  “Of course!” Coralie exclaimed, hitting her forehead. “Now I get what the clue on the map meant! I can’t believe I didn’t realize before.” Seeing her friends’ confused expressions, she quoted it to them.

  She shook her head. “We thought sea lion rock meant a rock that was shaped like a sea lion, but it must have meant the rocky headland where the sea lions live. And rookery is also the name
for a group of mother and baby sea lions and where they gather. It was on that sheet of extra questions that Kai and I had to do. The treasure was here, underneath the rookery, the whole time!”

  “That clue was nothing to do with rooks or seagulls then?” said Marina.

  “No, nothing at all. We got that completely wrong,” Coralie replied.

  “I should have remembered what a rookery was.” Naya grinned at Coralie and Kai. “Maybe I need to listen in class more!”

  “Or you could just rely on us always getting extra homework,” Coralie said, grinning back.

  “We’ve found the treasure!” said Kai. “This is fin-tastic!”

  “And that’s not all we’ve found…” said Luna. “Look!” She pointed to where Barney was nuzzling up to a mother sea lion. She was covering his face with kisses and he was cuddling close to her, his eyes shining with happiness. “Barney’s found his mum,” said Luna as the little sea lion laid his cheek against his mother’s.

  Coralie gave her a hug. “I’m so pleased. He looks really happy, doesn’t he?”

  Luna nodded. “He’s back where he belongs. Safe and sound.” A look of alarm crossed her face. “Wait, but he’s not safe, is he? None of the sea lions are. The orcas are still out in the sea and after a while the sea lions are going to have to get some air. What’ll happen when they leave the cave? They’ll be eaten! Dash and Melly too!”

  The friends exchanged worried looks. Luna was right. It would be very dangerous for the sea lions and Dash and Melly to leave the cave while there were hungry orcas around, but they couldn’t stay underwater forever.