Читать книгу Double Danger - Summer Waters - Страница 8

Claudia drove Antonia to Gull Bay and then on to school. She left Cai at home, promising to take him in later.

“It’ll look suspicious if you both arrive late together,” she said, her sea-green eyes twinkling.

School had not long started, but Antonia had missed the register and Miss Brown sent her to the office to see Mrs Lee, who was in charge of signing in latecomers. Antonia smiled cheerfully at her mother, but Mrs Lee gave her a stern telling-off.

“Don’t ever do that again,” she ranted. “You are supposed to walk straight to school. If I can’t trust you to go where we’ve agreed, then you won’t be allowed out alone.”

“I only went home to get my lunchbox. I asked Sophie to tell you where I was going,” Antonia protested.

“That’s not the point!” said Mrs Lee. “You’ve been gone ages. What took you so long?”

“I got a stitch from running,” mumbled Antonia. She hated telling lies, but being a Silver Dolphin meant making difficult choices.

“I’m grounding you this afternoon,” said Mum, when she eventually ran out of things to say. “Meet me here after school. I’ll walk you home with Jessica.”

“Mum!” exclaimed Antonia. “You can’t ground me. I promised I’d go to Sea Watch. We’re getting the guillemots ready for their release back into the wild.”

The guillemots had been at Sea Watch for several weeks, since a minor oil spill in Sandy Bay damaged their feathers.

“Sea Watch will survive without you for one afternoon,” said Mum firmly. “Now go back to class. You’ve wasted enough lesson time already.”

Cai was disappointed that Antonia wasn’t allowed to go to Sea Watch, but Sophie was pleased.

“Can I come home with you?” she asked. “We haven’t been round to each other’s houses after school for ages.”

Antonia’s face reddened. “I’d love you to. I don’t want you to think that you can only come round when I’m not allowed to go to Sea Watch, though.”

“Don’t be silly,” said Sophie. “We’re better friends than that!”

Jessica, Antonia’s little sister, was ecstatic to have both Antonia and Sophie walking home with her.

“Can I play with you?” she asked. “I’m seven now. It was my birthday when you were away, Sophie.”

“I know,” said Sophie. “I can’t believe you’ll soon be in Year Three.”

“So can I play with you?”

“For a little bit,” said Sophie kindly.

At home, Antonia took Sophie straight up to her bedroom. Sophie’s gift from the Jersey pottery was a beautiful dolphin figurine with a blue and gold glaze. Antonia put it in pride of place on her dressing table. They talked for ages, mostly about Sophie’s holiday in Jersey. Sophie also had her sketch book with her and showed Antonia some of the sketches she’d done for her latest art project: painting pictures of the cats that roamed around Sandy Bay. Then Jessica came barging in, demanding that the girls played with her too. She wanted to play hide-and-seek, so everyone went outside to hide in the garden. Sophie played four games before deciding she’d better go home. Antonia went to the side gate with her to wave goodbye and Jessica trailed after them. When Sophie had gone, she followed Antonia indoors and upstairs to her bedroom.

“You like dolphins, don’t you?” she asked, noticing the present from Sophie on the dressing table.

“They’re my favourite animal,” Antonia agreed as she pulled her swimming bag out of the cupboard. It was squad night. Luckily Mum hadn’t grounded her for that too! Antonia packed her bag with the things she needed.

“Is it because you swim like a dolphin?”

Antonia’s heart missed a beat as she spun round to face her sister. What did Jessica mean?

“Naomi’s sister is in your class at school. She calls you the dolphin girl because you’re brilliant at swimming.”

“Oh!” Antonia smiled. For a wild moment, she thought Jessica had discovered the secret of the Silver Dolphins.

“Can I try your necklace on?” asked Jessica, reaching out to touch it.

Antonia drew back. “No, Jess, you know my necklace is special.”

“Please,” begged Jessica, making her green eyes go wide. “I want to see if the magic works for me too.”

There was a funny rushing sound in Antonia’s head. She tried to speak, but her mouth was so dry that her voice came out in a croak.

“What do you mean?”

“I know your dolphin charm is magic. Ages ago, you said it made you swim better,” said Jessica innocently.

Antonia met Jessica’s eyes, choosing her words carefully as she spoke. “My charm isn’t magic. It’s lucky. It gives me confidence, so I swim better when I’m wearing it.”

“Can I touch it then,” said Jessica, “for luck?”

“No.” Antonia quickly hid the dolphin charm inside the collar of her school dress.

“You’re mean!” Jessica’s eyes welled up with tears.

Antonia was suddenly ashamed of herself.

“Don’t cry,” she said, hugging Jessica’s stiff little body. “I’m not being mean. This is my lucky charm. The luck only works for me. You’ll have to find your own thing. Why do you need luck anyway?”

Jessica sniffed. “I want to be brilliant at swimming, just like you. And I want to learn to surf too.”

“Then you need to practise,” said Antonia. “Practising is much more important than luck. Look, I’ll tell you what. Once school’s broken up we’ll ask Mum to take us to the swimming pool and I’ll help you practise.”

“Will you?” Jessica wiped a hand across her eyes. “Thanks, Antonia. You’re the best sister in the world.”

Jessica skipped off. Antonia stared out of her attic window, hardly registering the wonderful view of Sandy Bay. A small seed of worry nagged at her like an aching tooth.

By tea time, Antonia could hardly eat the spaghetti bolognaise Mum had cooked. Twirling a strand of pasta round her fork, she let it drop back on to the plate. Had she totally convinced Jessica that her charm wasn’t magic? To most people the dolphin charm looked like an ordinary necklace. Only a Silver Dolphin knew it was more than that. But what if Jessica was a Silver Dolphin? Antonia hoped not. Her sister was far too little. Sometimes the work was dangerous and often it required making difficult decisions. How would Jessica answer the dolphins’ call, when she wasn’t allowed to go anywhere on her own?

There was another reason why Antonia didn’t want Jessica to be a Silver Dolphin too. Being a Silver Dolphin made Antonia feel special. She didn’t want to share the secret with her little sister. Poor Jess; she’d called Antonia the best sister in the world, but Antonia knew she wasn’t. She was selfish and mean. She pushed her half-eaten tea away from her.

“Are you feeling all right?” asked Mum.

“I’ve got a headache,” said Antonia truthfully, because her head was spinning.

“Better go and sit quietly for a bit,” said Mum.

“Thanks.” Gratefully, Antonia fled up to her room.

She sat on her bed, gently stroking her silver dolphin charm. She loved the way it felt like a real dolphin.

After a while, her head cleared and she felt calmer. Talk about overreacting. Of course Jess wasn’t a Silver Dolphin. What a mad idea! With a lighter heart, Antonia ran downstairs to see if Mum had saved her any pudding.