They drew close to the cliff and knew that when they came around the rocky outcrop in front of them, they would be there.
‘You go on. I’ll stay here’ said Storm quietly. ‘You go to him.’ Dancer turned to look at Storm in surprise.
‘I don’t think he will want to see me right now. I was young once too and eager to prove my independence. Spirit struck out on his own to prove himself. I don’t think he needs me to tell him he was wrong. He needs a true friend like you now, not an old dolphin like me.’
‘But…’ exclaimed Dancer.
‘No’ replied Storm firmly. ‘Go on now young Dancer.’ He nodded her on. She nodded back and with a firm flick of her tail, she propelled herself onwards. She came to the rocky outcrop and pushed on past and around it. She wondered what she might find. She moved through a curtain of kelp and there she saw a silhouette of a dolphin, hanging in the water, scanning the sea anxiously, looking out for the dolphin that had been calling to him.
‘Spirit!’ she cried swimming up to him.
‘Dancer!’ he replied in surprise. ‘You came to me.’ Approaching him, she could see that his eyes had lost their lively sparkle and instead looked drawn and pained. His skin had lost its natural colour and looked more grey than blue. She gently rubbed her beak against his in greeting. She could not help but glance behind to his tail. She could see the steel wire snaking round and the red bloody mark where it cut into Spirit’s skin. It looked horribly raw and Dancer could see Spirit’s blood leaching into the water where the metal chafed through his skin. She looked back at her friends face.
‘I bet it doesn’t look good’ said Spirit, guessing her thoughts. Dancer tried not to answer.
‘Does it hurt?’ she replied, but she knew the answer before the question was even out of her mouth. It was a silly question and Spirit did not reply directly.
‘The line goes up there’ he said instead, indicating with his head. It’s linked to a buoy and the buoy is lodged in those rocks.’ Dancer could make out the red and white stripes of a buoy. She swum up close to it. She took the cable in her mouth and gave it a firm tug. She pulled again and again. It was no good, she could not make it budge. She swam back to Spirit.
‘You didn’t come alone did you Dancer?’ asked Spirit. ‘Where are Storm and the rest of the pod?’
‘The pod are following on behind. I came on ahead with….’ She trailed off uncertainly.
‘Is Storm with you?’ he asked.
‘He didn’t want to shame you by coming to you during your coming-of-age swim. He’s waiting just around the rocks over there.’ She paused and Spirit too was quiet for a few moments.
‘I don’t care’ he replied eventually. ‘I’m just glad that both of you are here. At least he knows stuff. Maybe he can get me free.’ Dancer turned to call him.
‘Before you get him,’ Spirit spoke quietly, almost shyly, ‘how did you know to come and find me?’
‘I had a vision. Your child. She came to me, she… It was she who told me. She told me you were in danger. But it was Storm who knew how to find you. I would never have known how to find you if it wasn’t for him.’
‘And what then?’
‘I don’t know. Let’s not worry about that now’ said Dancer. ‘We’ll figure something out’ she said, though she really wasn’t sure how. She eyed her friend. He really looked bad and she wondered how long he could last. She called out to Storm. A minute or so later he emerged through the fronds of kelp to where the two friends hung in the water. He carried a fish in his mouth and approached Spirit quietly, with a concerned look in his eyes. He presented Spirit with the fish, who gulped it down hungrily. He was famished and thirsty too. Dolphins do not drink but get their moisture from their food. Dancer wondered why she hadn’t thought to catch one for him herself. At least if nothing else she could find him more fish. Storm regarded Spirit with warm eyes.
‘I’m glad to see you Spirit’ he said.
Lucy paced around Bethany’s studio, full of nervous energy. Now that she was rested, all that she wanted to do was to get out there again and look for Spirit. She dared not stretch out to him with her mind, not yet at least. To do so would deplete her energy again too quickly. Yet doing something, anything, seemed better than just sitting there. Bethany regarded her, chewing her pencil as she worked on her seagull sketch.
‘You’re like a cat in a cage’ she observed. ‘Come on. Let’s get our coats and head back up to the cliffs. It can’t do any harm.’
They drove back up through the country lanes. Lucy was beginning to recognise the local landmarks. There was the corner with the clump of ferns just before the gate. There, just where the road forked, was an old rusting milk churn. They soon joined the bigger road just below the cliffs and pulled into the lay-by.
They jumped down from the Land Rover and headed off up another path this time which traced the edge of the cliffs. Lucy felt nervous near the edge but was keen to look down in case anything from above reminded her of the scene below where she knew that Spirit was still trapped. Bethany warned her that it was dangerous and a sign warned them of the risk of falling rocks. Lucy got down on all fours and inched her way forward until she was just peering over the edge. Bethany was just a short way behind in case anything happened. There was no chance of her falling, but still Lucy felt nervous.
It certainly was a long way down and she could see the waves crashing futilely on the great hunks of raw granite below. She scanned the water for signs of a dolphin; for a dorsal fin, or a friendly face peering up out of the water, but it was quite impossible. Even if Spirit had been down there, it was pretty unlikely that she would be able to see him. She could spend all day walking along the cliff and she would be none the wiser. She inched back from the edge of the cliff and got up.
‘Come on, let’s walk’ said Bethany smiling. ‘You can look again soon.’ They continued on along the cliff path and Lucy strained her eyes to study the sea, still half expecting to find something, though what, she was not sure.
A seagull hung almost motionless in the air above them, borne aloft by the stiff breeze that came off the sea. Right now Lucy wished that she could fly and swoop down along the foot of the cliffs to search for her friend. Bethany kept up a semi-monologue, talking about this and that, trying to take her niece’s mind off things, but Lucy was only half listening. She was much more alert to the sea.
Suddenly Lucy was struck by a sharp shooting feeling that seemed to radiate up from her feet and ripple through her body. She cried out in pain and fell to the ground. Bethany thought that Lucy had tripped and fallen. Maybe the girl was still too tired to come back up here, she wondered to herself. But Lucy had not tripped and the pain that seized her came from nothing physical that was around them. Though she could not tell Bethany, she was convinced it was something to do with the pain that Spirit was experiencing. Somehow, she thought, she could feel what he was feeling. What was happening to him, she wondered anxiously. Bethany gently picked her niece up and told her in a kindly but firm way that they had better turn and go back to the car. Her face was clouded with concern. Lucy protested, but then reluctantly agreed.
Lucy winced as they walked back. It was as though her ankles had been caught in a snare. It felt like a ring of fire. She did not know it, but Spirit, Dancer and Storm had all three of them been straining at the steel cord; Spirit pulling with his tail and his two rescuers pulling at the cable with their teeth, hoping that their combined strength would enable them to pull the buoy free from the rocks. It was no good and metal rope had cut painfully into Spirit’s flesh in the attempt.
‘Stop, stop’ he cried despondently. It was too much for him. The sun was just about to set and they were in deep shade. There was little to be done now but rest until first light and hope for the best.
Ordinarily Lucy would have been so happy to be in Cornwall walking companionably along the cliff tops with Bethany, looking out towards the sunset. Instead, she felt anything but happy. As the sun slowly descen
ded, Bethany put her arm around her niece’s shoulders.
‘You know when I was young I had a little dog called Toby. One morning he burrowed under the fence in the back garden and disappeared. I was beside myself with worry and spent hours after school searching for him, riding round the neighbourhood on my bike. Eventually it got dark and my Mum insisted that I came home. I couldn’t bear the thought of him trapped out there somewhere on his own in the dark and I hardly slept all night.’ Lucy looked up at her Aunt curiously.
‘What happened to him?’ she asked. Bethany smiled.
‘Oh the next morning when I came downstairs he was curled up outside the backdoor. Goodness knows where he’d been, but he got back somehow and behaved like he’d never been away. My Mum thought he’d been away wooing some lady dog somewhere.’
Lucy gave a little smile. She knew that Bethany was trying to cheer her up, but the story of Toby was hardly the same. She was only too painfully aware that Spirit was trapped by a steel cable around his tail. If something didn’t happen soon, he would die. What she couldn’t tell was exactly where he was, or how to set him free. That uncertainty was agonising to her. She hoped that Dancer might have found Spirit by now, but even that seemed an impossible dream. She decided that when the got back to the studio, she would reach out to Spirit again. She didn’t know what she could do when she did, but she had to find out what was happening to him.
They got back to Bethany’s Land Rover and clambered in. Her ankles were hurting less now. They drove back down the hill on the now familiar lanes and pulled up outside the studio. Back inside Bethany made her a drink and then Lucy made an excuse to go and lie down for a while.
Immediately Lucy started to focus her thoughts to stretch out to Spirit. She strained her mind and then relaxed, hoping that she would be able to find that door in the corner of her consciousness and tumble through into the world of water. Try as she might though, she could not seem to do it. Perhaps because she had done so earlier and was still very tired, it just felt too difficult. Instead Lucy’s eyes drooped and then closed. Normally, when she slept, she would only dream of dolphins towards the morning. Now though, her sleeping mind brought the vision of Spirit to her straight away.
Though darkness was falling, she could see his silhouette at rest just underneath the surface of the water. But then, what was that? There was a second dolphin. And a third! Lucy’s excitement at seeing two other dolphins next to Spirit half woke her up, but that was just what she needed to find the door in her mind that sent her plunging through. Suddenly she was engulfed in the cold salty water. It felt strange to be there after sun-down.
‘Spirit!’ she cried. ‘Dancer! You found each other.’
‘Lucy!’ Spirit exclaimed warmly, smiling with his eyes at her. Lucy was going to ask him how he was, when the other two found him and whether he had eaten. She tried to focus her mind on what to say first, but she was so tired and her mind had been sleeping just a moment ago. Instead the third dolphin moved closer to her and started whistling and clicking at her. She could hear the sounds coming through the water, but they meant nothing to her.
‘Tell her what I’m telling you’ barked out Storm to Spirit in frustration. He had tried to speak to her, but he could tell immediately that he did not have the gift of communication with the human that Spirit and even Dancer had. He knew that they had to be quick.
‘Storm says listen to what he has to say. I will tell you’ said Spirit quickly.
‘Alright’ replied Lucy. Spirit paused a moment to listen to Storm and then inclined his head towards Lucy.
‘He says that five minutes swim north up the coast there is a striped white and red tower with a light that flashes at night. He says that next to it is a beach with two houses on it. If you can find the beach and come there at first light we will be waiting for you.’ Lucy thought. She had no idea where the lighthouse might be. Then she thought again. When they were walking along the cliff that afternoon, she had just seen the tip of a building in the distance. Bethany had said that there was a lighthouse with an ecology centre and a surfing school just next to it. Maybe that was it!
‘I think maybe I can find that. If I can find Storm, then I can find you. If I can find you, I can bring help I’m sure’ Lucy said excitedly. Spirit translated back to Storm. This time Dancer spoke.
‘Then it is agreed. Can you get there though?’ she asked cautiously.
‘I’m sure…I just will’ said Lucy defiantly. She looked back at Spirit with concerned eyes. ‘Are you okay Spirit. Will you be able to hang on?’ He smiled.
‘Now that you’re here I will’ he replied. As they spoke Lucy could feel her energy seeping away.
‘I’ve got to go now. But I will see you tomorrow!’ The dark silhouettes of Spirit, Dancer and Storm seemed to fade away from her, then Lucy found herself back on the bed in Bethany’s studio. Lucy felt drained and tired again with the effort of projecting her mind out to the dolphins, but at the same time she was filled with hope at the thought that now there was definitely something she could do to help. She leapt off the bed and bounded down the steps from the sleeping platform to where Bethany was standing by her easel, studying her painting with a critical eye.
‘Hey Kiddo, it looks like your snooze did you some good’ said Bethany affably.
‘Bethany, you know you told me about that lighthouse down the coast, the one with the ecology centre and surf school. Is it white with red stripes?’
‘Why yes it is’ replied Bethany. ‘Why?’
‘If I go there at first light tomorrow’ said Lucy excitedly, ‘we can find him! We can find my dolphin and we can save him!’
‘Wow’ said Bethany with a hint of caution in her voice. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Absolutely’ replied Lucy. ‘I can’t wait.’
‘Well I suppose we could go down there early tomorrow, if you get a good night’s sleep tonight. There are beautiful waders and other seabirds down there. If we take my binoculars with us, we might get a good view of the wildlife.’ Bethany didn’t seem to know quite what to make of Lucy’s sudden enthusiasm or where it had come from, but she didn’t want to undermine it either.
‘Hey Kiddo, dinner’s ready in a few minutes. Pull up a chair.’ She ruffled Lucy’s hair affectionately. ‘Gotta eat!’
After they had eaten, Lucy cleared away the dinner things and washed up the plates, while Bethany put them away after she dried them. Bethany hung up the tea-towel. She glanced at her watch.
‘Well, its getting on for half past seven. Time to call your Dad I think.’ Yesterday Lucy had promised to call Dad every day at half past seven from the landline in the farmhouse. She had mixed feelings about calling him. It was good to hear his voice and speak to him, but she had only just practically run away from him. Still, it had to be done. They put on their shoes and went over to the farmhouse. Bethany chatted for a few minutes to Mary, then they went to the hall and Lucy dialled the number for home. It felt strange not to be there.
‘Hello?’ Dad’s voice came on the line. ‘How’s your day been Luce?’ She didn’t want to tell Dad about Spirit and the dolphins. In fact she had never even told Dad about her dolphin dreams or anything else about them. She started off telling him all about Bethany’s studio, what it looked like and where she slept. Dad seemed to enjoy hearing all about that. She told him about their trip down to Old Man’s Cove and looking in the rock pools and the seagull that Bethany had drawn. He chuckled appreciatively at the description of the angry looking seagull. She told him about their walk along the cliff later that afternoon and she could sense that, even though he didn’t say that much, he was beginning to think that it wasn’t so bad that she was down there in Cornwall after all. Then, without thinking, she let her excited description get the better of her.
‘And I was so happy when they found Spirit. We’re going down to the beach by the lighthouse first thing tomorrow morning and Storm’s going to show me where Spirit is trapped.’ Almost as soon as the words had left
her mouth, Lucy knew that she had made a huge mistake.
‘What?’ asked Dad. She could hear the note of anger in his voice. ‘WHO are Spirit and Storm?’ Desperately and entirely unconvincingly, Lucy tried to claim that they were nicknames for a couple of Bethany’s artist friends. Dad was having none of it though and his voice became louder and more strident in his agitation.
‘Put Bethany on the line, NOW’ he commanded. Lucy had little option but to comply. Bethany was standing nearby and could already tell that something was amiss. Bethany took the receiver from Lucy and put it to her ear. Lucy could plainly see that what Dad was saying upset her and she flushed red with anger, but said little in reply. Then, to Lucy’s surprise, Bethany said:
‘Yes John. It’s happened already. It’s the dolphins….I know, yes, yes, I know.’ What did Dad know about the dolphins Lucy wondered? Even though she was standing a meter or so away, she could hear Dad’s raised voice from the receiver pressed to Bethany’s ear, although she couldn’t make out exactly what he was saying. Bethany began to wilt physically as he berated her. When eventually she returned the receiver to its hook, she turned to look at Lucy with an expression that seemed to say, ‘don’t blame me.’
‘He’s driving down first thing tomorrow morning’ she said. ‘He’s going to take you home. He says I can’t be trusted to keep you out of trouble.’
‘Oh no!’ gasped Lucy, shocked at the news. ‘But we’ve got to go to the lighthouse tomorrow morning. I simply have to be there!’ Bethany shook her head slowly and sadly.
‘I’m sorry Kiddo. No can do. Your Dad would have my guts for garters if I let you go after what he just said to me. You’re to stay at the studio until he arrives.’ Lucy put her hands to her mouth in shock.
‘No!’ she exclaimed.
Chapter Eighteen:
The Girl Who Dreamt of Dolphins Page 21