Rising Star Page 3

  “Can I have a go? I might be able to…” Antonia trailed away, not wanting to sound as if she was boasting, but thinking that maybe she could use her extra-special Silver Dolphin powers to free the bird.

  “Yes please. Here, I’ll hold the bird,” said Cai readily.

  Antonia passed the puffin to Cai, grateful that he never seemed fazed that she could do more than him. Carefully she wriggled her finger through the hole he’d made.

  Rip, plastic, she thought, willing the plastic to tear open.

  A warm sensation spread from her arms to her hand then down into her fingers. She flexed them gently, loving the tingling feeling of the magic.

  Rip, plastic, thought Antonia, concentrating her thoughts.

  She continued to hold her fingers against the plastic, wriggling the one that was poking through the hole. To her delight the plastic began to pop and dissolve in the same way candyfloss melts in your mouth.

  “Steady,” soothed Cai as the frightened puffin struggled harder.

  The bird fixed Cai with a clownish eye then gradually relaxed, allowing Antonia to pull the sheet of plastic away. The legs were the most difficult part. Somehow the bird was completely trussed up and it took more of Antonia’s special magic to melt the plastic. As the last piece of wrapping fell away Antonia moved back, expecting the puffin to fly out to sea. Instead it sat in the water, calmly fluffing up its feathers, watching the Silver Dolphins as it gently bobbed up and down with the swell.

  “Puffins are so pretty,” said Antonia, admiring the bird’s black and white face and brightly coloured beak.

  “Aunty Claudia told me they spend most of their lives at sea,” said Cai, swimming a short distance from the bird. “They only come ashore in the spring and summer to breed.”

  “You’d have thought they’d have safer lives spending it mostly at sea. But the sea is so polluted there’s danger everywhere,” reflected Antonia. Treading water, she held up the sheet of plastic.

  “This packaging must have come from the building site.”

  Cai squinted at it, trying to make sense of the torn black lettering.

  “I think it says ‘plasterboard’. It definitely looks like builders’ waste.”

  “Well done, Silver Dolphins.” Spirit swam forward and thanked Antonia and Cai by rubbing his nose against theirs. “As always you did a good job.”

  Feeling embarrassed, Antonia coloured. She often felt that way when Spirit congratulated them on good work. She was incredibly lucky to be a Silver Dolphin, and having even more magical skills than most Silver Dolphins was a great honour.

  You deserve the praise.

  Spirit’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

  Having such great power is a burden and you work hard to manage the extra responsibility.

  Thank you.

  Antonia was suddenly overcome with shyness – something she hadn’t felt in Spirit’s presence for a long time!

  Antonia looked around, hoping that Bubbles and Dream might be near.

  Softly Spirit clicked a laugh. “Bubbles and Dream have gone fishing, and you have to hurry back, Silver Dolphins. Claudia is waiting for you.”

  Antonia nodded. Claudia had Silver Dolphin powers too, and even though she didn’t swim with the dolphins much these days she still communicated with them. With Cai’s help Antonia folded the plastic wrapper into a more manageable bundle, then towed it ashore. Spirit watched them go, then splashing his tail in the water swam back out to sea. Antonia and Cai waded up the beach, laughing together as the water gushed from their clothes.

  “I love being a Silver Dolphin,” said Cai. “It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

  “Me too.” Antonia put the plastic sheet on the sand while she combed the tangles from her damp hair with her fingers and put on her shoes.

  At a slower pace she and Cai climbed up the cliff path and picked their way round the nesting puffins. Claudia’s empty car was parked on the road, but they soon spotted her walking along the cliffs.

  “How did the rescue go?” she asked.

  “It was good,” said Antonia. “We rescued a puffin tangled in this. We think it came from the building site.”

  Claudia took the plastic from Antonia and examined it.

  “Hmm,” she said thoughtfully. “It certainly looks that way. We’ll hang on to this for a bit. It might be useful.”

  Claudia didn’t say any more as she led the way back to the car, but Antonia sensed she was thinking the same thing as her. This couldn’t go on. It was an enormous task just keeping the puffins away from the road without worrying about rubbish too. Something had to be done about the building site.

  Chapter Six

  That evening Antonia borrowed her dad’s computer to look on the internet for information about puffins. There were lots of websites on the colourful birds and some amazing news reports on pufflings. Early the following morning Antonia waited impatiently for Claudia and Cai to pick her up for puffling patrol. She’d barely done up her seat belt before she was telling them all the things she’d found out.

  “The pufflings are like baby turtles,” she started. “Remember how we saved the hatchlings in Australia when the hotel lights confused them and they went the wrong way up the beach?”

  “Please tell me that pufflings don’t do the same thing,” groaned Cai.

  “They do,” said Antonia. “At the end of summer when it’s time for the pufflings to leave the nest and fly out to sea they often get confused by artificial lights and go the wrong way. In places like Scandinavia and Alaska towns by the sea have puffin patrols just like us. It’s an annual event. People go out at night and rescue the pufflings before they get run over, or eaten by cats.” Antonia shuddered. “I read about it online in local newspapers.”

  “That won’t happen to our pufflings,” said Cai. “There aren’t any lights at night-time. It’s just a building site.”

  “Not this year,” Antonia agreed. “But what about next year? When the apartments are finished there’ll be lights.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that too,” said Claudia, glancing at Antonia in the rear-view mirror. “When people start living here there’ll be lots of traffic at all hours of the day.”

  “So what can we do about it?” asked Cai helplessly.

  “The easy solution would be to build a fence along the side of the road,” said Claudia. “I’ve decided to ask for a meeting with the building company to discuss the problems they’re causing, firstly with their waste, but also the long-term problems for the birds. I’m going to ask if they can build a permanent fence.”

  “Can we come with you? Please, Aunty Claudia,” begged Cai.

  “We’re good at persuading people to help us,” Antonia joined in.

  Claudia smiled. “It’s an excellent idea. It might make the builders think about how their actions are affecting everyone’s future. I’ll make an appointment with them for after school.”

  “It doesn’t have to be after school,” said Cai cheekily. “In school time is fine by me. Maths is a very good lesson to miss.”

  “Definitely,” Antonia agreed.

  Claudia chuckled. “Bad children!” she exclaimed.

  There was much more traffic at the building site that morning and Antonia and Cai were kept so busy chasing after the pufflings that they only just made it to school on time.

  “What kept you?” asked Sophie, who was waiting impatiently in the playground with Toby.

  “Sorry,” Antonia apologised, straightening the uniform she had only just pulled on in the car.

  “Lauren was asking where you were,” said Sophie. “Does this mean you two are getting on at last?”

  Antonia shrugged. She couldn’t imagine why Lauren would be looking for her. She certainly hadn’t got the impression that they were friends.

  “Never mind,” said Sophie. “You’re here now. And there’s the bell, just when I wanted to tell you about my new art project.”

  Sophie was a keen ar
tist and rarely went anywhere without her sketchbook.

  “Tell me as we go in,” said Antonia.

  Sophie grinned. “Well, you know how I’m good at drawing cats and making jewellery? Dad suggested I combined the two skills and designed my own range of cat jewellery for people to wear.”

  “It sounds fantastic,” said Antonia, genuinely impressed. “Can I come round and see what you’ve made?”

  “There isn’t much to see yet,” admitted Sophie. “But come round anyway. It’s ages since we got together.”

  When Antonia reached the classroom Becky was perched on her desk watching Lauren count out an enormous stack of coloured envelopes. She giggled and nudged Lauren, who stopped counting and looked up. An unpleasant smile crossed her face.

  “Hello, Toni! You’re just in time to help me work out a maths problem,” Lauren said in a silly sing-song voice. “If there are twenty-eight children in our class and I invite all of them to my party, how many invites would I need?”

  Antonia sat down and pretended to read the early-morning work that Mrs Howard had written on the white board.

  “Hmm,” said Lauren, “Toni doesn’t know. Can you help her, Becky?”

  “Yes Miss, it’s twenty-seven,” Becky simpered.

  “Well done, Becky. So let’s count the invites and see how many we have.”

  Slowly Lauren counted the multicoloured envelopes, noisily slapping each one down on the desk. Becky joined in, counting with gusto.

  “Twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five,” they chanted.

  “Oh…” Lauren stopped counting and held up the last envelope. It was red and decorated with swirly gold gel pen writing. “That makes twenty-six. So someone hasn’t been invited to my party. I wonder who?”

  By now Lauren had the attention of most of the class. Antonia opened her exercise book and began to write. Her face was a similar shade to Lauren’s last envelope and she kept her head low to the desk, hoping no one would notice.

  “Thank you, Lauren, I’ll take those. Becky, go back to your seat and get on with the work.” Mrs Howard had silently entered the room and was walking towards them. She gathered up Lauren’s envelopes as she swept past and put them in the drawer of her desk.

  “But…! You can’t take those. They’re my party invites,” squawked Lauren.

  Mrs Howard silenced Lauren with a look.

  “This is my time. You can have your letters back at the end of the day, in your time.”

  Lauren glared at Antonia and mouthed something. Antonia sighed, knowing that Lauren would blame her for losing the invites and therefore probably spend the day annoying her on purpose. But Mrs Howard watched Lauren like a hawk, and for once the morning passed without incident. At break time Sophie, Cai and Toby bundled Antonia out of the classroom, forming a tight huddle round her in the playground.

  “I’m not going to Lauren’s party,” said Sophie hotly.

  “Me neither,” said Cai. “When she gives me an invite I’ll refuse to take it.”

  “And me,” said Toby. “I won’t go either.”

  Antonia’s eyes stung and there was a lump in her throat. Who cared how horrible Lauren was when she had such brilliant friends!

  “Thanks,” she said, swallowing back the tears. “But you don’t have to do that. I don’t mind if you want to go to her party.”

  “Are you mad?” Cai sounded insulted. “I would rather swim with sharks than go to Lauren’s party.”

  “Me too,” nodded Sophie.

  “Come on,” said Toby, suddenly producing a football. “Forget Lauren. She’s not worth it. Let’s have a kick around.”

  Antonia spent the whole of break playing football and really enjoyed it. All her tension fell away and she went back to lessons feeling much more cheerful. As the clock hands ticked closer to three fifteen some of her earlier anxiety returned. Outwardly Lauren was being exceptionally good, but she kept shooting Antonia nasty looks. Quietly Antonia began to gather her things together so she could be first out when the bell went. She wasn’t going to hang around and watch Lauren hand out her invites. But instead of sending the class home together Mrs Howard played a game with them, calling out sums and letting those who put their hand up and gave the right answer go home first. Antonia was one of the first to get a sum right and she hared out of school, waiting for Cai at the gate to avoid seeing Lauren dishing out her invites.

  “Are you all right?” asked Cai as they walked to Sea Watch.

  “Yes, thanks,” said Antonia. It wasn’t nice being picked on, but she’d dealt with it and she wasn’t going to let Lauren’s unpleasant behaviour spoil the rest of her day. “I can’t wait to get to Sea Watch. Do you think Claudia managed to arrange a meeting with the builders?”

  “Probably,” Cai grinned. “Aunty Claudia’s very persuasive when she’s passionate about something.”

  “I know. And that’s what the puffins need. Come on, let’s run.”

  With her school bag bumping against her back, Antonia raced Cai to Sea Watch.

  Chapter Seven

  Claudia had arranged a meeting with the building-site foreman for four o’clock the following day.

  “You can both come with me and present photographic evidence that you’re going to collect today.”

  “Photographic evidence?” questioned Cai.

  “That’s right. I’ll lend you my camera when you go on puffling patrol this afternoon so you can photograph the birds. Be extra careful of the road traffic while you’re doing it.”

  “We will be,” promised Antonia.

  “It’s Friday tomorrow, so can Antonia spend the night?” asked Cai.

  “Antonia’s always welcome,” said Claudia.

  “Thanks, that’d be cool,” said Antonia. “Then we can go to our surfing class together on Saturday morning.”

  Claudia drove them to Crane Point and left them with her camera and a warning, “Be careful now. Don’t do anything silly.”

  “As if!” Cai exclaimed. “Don’t worry, Aunty Claudia. Nothing’s going to happen to us.”

  The pufflings were growing stronger and it was hard work keeping them off the road. No sooner had Antonia and Cai shepherded one group back then more pufflings would appear, waddling like wind-up toys on their stumpy little legs. They took turns taking photos and keeping an eye out for cars. The builders’ car park was almost empty when Antonia experienced a familiar sensation that made her heart beat excitedly.

  Spirit needed them. With a final glance around to check the pufflings were safe, Antonia edged towards the path that led down to the beach. Seconds later her silver dolphin charm began to vibrate.

  Silver Dolphin, we need you.

  Spirit, I hear your call.

  Antonia answered his silent call in her head.

  Her dolphin charm tapped against her neck as she hurtled down the path. She could hear Cai following behind her, his feet pounding in time with the rhythm of her necklace. At last they reached the beach. Spying a rock near the steps, Antonia put Claudia’s camera on top and covered it up with her school sweatshirt. Both Antonia and Cai arranged their shoes and socks around the sweatshirt so that it looked like someone had left a jumble of clothes.

  “Hopefully no one will notice it,” said Cai as they dashed towards the sea.

  “Hardly anyone comes here anyway,” Antonia commented.

  She splashed through the water, dived into a wave and began to swim. Immediately her legs melded together and Antonia, who never tired of becoming a Silver Dolphin, almost cried out with pleasure. She leapt through the water, her body arching above the waves, sparkling droplets of sea water flying from her like diamonds. Antonia felt like she was flying as the Silver Dolphin magic propelled her along.

  Spirit was waiting for them with Star, Bubbles and Dream and he smacked his tail on the water in greeting.

  “Thank you for answering my call, Silver Dolphins. It’s litter picking again. There’s a large amount of it floating towards the shore.”

&n
bsp; “Yuk,” said Cai, noticing the rubbish for the first time.

  Litterbugs annoyed Antonia. Why were people so lazy? They wouldn’t throw food wrappings and empty cans around in their homes, so why throw them around outside?

  “At least it’s not builders’ rubbish this time.” Antonia set to work collecting up the torn carrier bags, plastic drinks bottles and sandwich cartons.

  “I wonder how this got here?” she asked, fishing a bedraggled shoe from the water.

  “Whoever lost it must be hopping mad,” said Cai.

  “That’s a terrible joke,” Antonia groaned.

  There was too much rubbish to carry so they carefully wrapped it in the torn carrier bags to tow ashore.

  “Thank you, Silver Dolphins,” said Spirit. “Now you can play.”

  “Bubbly!” squeaked Bubbles, who’d been hovering nearby, trying not to get in the way. “Let’s play sprat. I’ll be it. It’s a three waves’ head start.”

  “Wait,” said Antonia, laughing. “We need to put the rubbish somewhere safe first.”

  They swam to the beach and left the rubbish away from the surf so that it wouldn’t get washed out to sea. Antonia and Cai raced back to the dolphins. Bubbles counted to three while everyone hid. It was great fun playing sprat. Antonia, Cai and Dream lay together in a kelp bed, scattering in opposite directions when Bubbles found them. He chased Antonia, but she was too fast, darting behind a rock and swimming in the opposite direction before he realised her plan.

  At last Cai called the game to a halt. “We’d better go. Aunty Claudia will be here soon to pick us up.”

  Bubbles dived under the water, disappearing completely, then surfacing right by the Silver Dolphins and showering them with salty water.

  “Bubbles!” they shrieked.

  Bubbles clicked a laugh and splashed the water with his fins while Cai flicked water back at him. They rubbed noses goodbye, then Antonia and Cai swam back to the deserted beach. They collected their things and shared out the rubbish. Cai hung the camera around his neck for the slow climb back up the cliff path. Claudia’s car was parked by the side of the road. It was empty. Cai spotted her first, chasing after two pufflings.