High Tide

by Summer Waters

  Chapter Eight

  When she reached the rocks at Sandy Bay, their favourite place for going into the water, Antonia found Cai’s bag and shoes stacked in a neat pile. Adding her own things to the mound, Antonia clambered over the rocks and stepped into the water. It was freezing cold, but she forced herself to go deeper, clenching her chattering teeth together until the sea came up to her thighs. Then taking a deep breath, she plunged in head first. Seconds later her legs melded together and she forgot about the cold. This was the best feeling ever. Using her hands like flippers and kicking her tail-like legs, Antonia swam northwards out of the bay to Spirit and Cai.

  She caught Cai up in the open water and swam alongside him, arching her body above the waves in time with his.

  “That was quick,” clicked Cai.

  They swam on until Antonia saw four silver heads bobbing in the water. “Over there,” she clicked, swimming towards them.

  “Silver Dolphins, thank you for answering my call,” whistled Spirit, as they approached. Quickly he rubbed noses in greeting, but there was no time to say hello to Star, Bubbles and Dream.

  “This way, Silver Dolphins,” instructed Spirit. “An animal is stuck in a crab pot.”

  Antonia was mystified. Why had Spirit called them to free an animal from a crab pot? It didn’t sound like the kind of task that the Silver Dolphins usually undertook. If the creature wasn’t a crab, then the fisherman would release it when he checked his pots. She glanced at Cai, but he shrugged his shoulders then dived after Spirit.

  They swam in a procession, Spirit leading followed by Antonia and Cai, with Star, Bubbles and Dream bringing up the rear. Spirit took them over a kelp bed and its dark-green fronds reminded Antonia of a forest. A school of fish flittered past, their bodies flashing as they sped through the green water. As they approached some rocks, Spirit slowed and Antonia glanced around in surprise. Why were they stopping here? There were no crab pots, only an ancient-looking basket nestled against a rock.

  “That’s it,” said Spirit, halting.

  Antonia looked at the basket again and realised it was a crab pot. A very old one draped with seaweed and covered with barnacles. She swam closer.

  “Careful, Silver Dolphin,” clicked Bubbles.

  Antonia stared at the pot. Something was jammed inside it, but she couldn’t work out what. She swam round to the other side and, looking into the basket, swallowed a scream. Pressed against the mesh a large, human-like eye stared back at her. The skin around the eye was baggy and orange as if the creature was very old. Antonia felt her skin coming out in goose bumps as the animal shifted and pressed a suckered arm against the cage.

  “It’s an octopus,” breathed Cai.

  Antonia’s stomach looped the loop.

  “An octopus!” she exclaimed. “But we don’t get octopuses round here.”

  “Try telling him that,” said Cai, leaning closer. “Isn’t he amazing!”

  “Careful,” warned Antonia. She knew it was illogical to be scared. Octopuses were shy creatures that kept out of the way unless attacked, and this one was trapped. But there was something about its saggy body and long tentacles that revolted her.

  “We have to let him out or he’ll die,” said Cai, examining the crab pot for a catch. “This cage must have been lost or forgotten. Stray crab pots are becoming quite a problem round here. Aunty Claudia’s hoping the new Litter Fishing scheme will clear some of them up. Forgotten cages are called ghost pots and if an animal gets stuck inside one it eventually dies of starvation. Then its body becomes bait for another animal and so the cycle starts again.”

  Cai found the catch and went to release it, but Antonia cried out in alarm, “Wait! We can’t just let it out. Octopuses don’t naturally live round here. The water’s too cold. What if it’s injured or sick? It’s impossible to tell with it all squashed up like that.”

  “Good point,” said Cai thoughtfully. “So what shall we do?”

  Antonia shifted slightly so that the octopus no longer seemed to be staring right at her. “We could tow the crab pot ashore,” she said hesitantly, “and take him to Sea Watch.”

  “That wouldn’t work,” said Cai. “He needs to be in water. Anyway, how do you think we’re going to carry an octopus to Sea Watch unnoticed? It’s not like walking a stray dog there.”

  Antonia giggled nervously, then said, “How about we tow it to the shallows and one of us looks after it while the other goes to Sea Watch for Claudia. I don’t mind going,” she added hurriedly.

  “Or you could ask Claudia to come to us,” said Cai, giving her a meaningful look.

  “Yes, I suppose I could,” said Antonia quietly.

  “Can we go with the Silver Dolphins?” asked Bubbles suddenly. “Please, Dad?”

  Spirit smiled indulgently. “Yes, you can. Be careful though. Don’t swim too close to the shore.”

  “Bubbly! Thanks, Dad.” Bubbles turned a somersault in the water.

  Bubbles and Dream positioned themselves at the back of the crab pot leaving Antonia and Cai at the sides. It was easy to move the cage with so many of them pushing it. Antonia kept her fingers on the cage’s frame to avoid touching the octopus, but the animal barely moved. If anything it seemed to make itself smaller. Antonia smiled at her silly behaviour. What had she expected? That the octopus would try to escape and engulf her in its suckered tentacles like a monster from a science-fiction film?

  As they swam into Sandy Bay, Dream clicked for everyone to stop. “We better not go any further,” she said sensibly.

  Bubbles said goodbye to Antonia, then dived under the crab pot to say goodbye to Cai. Dream said a quieter goodbye, then side by side the dolphins swam back out to sea.

  The cage was more awkward to move with only Antonia and Cai pushing it. When they reached shallow water they stood up and walked with the cage until the water lapped around their ankles. Sea water poured from their clothes, leaving them completely dry. Antonia shook her slightly damp hair back over her shoulder.

  “Is here OK?” asked Cai, stopping.

  “It should be,” said Antonia. “There’s an incoming tide so we might have to move the cage again if it gets too deep.”

  Cai fell silent as Antonia stared at the horizon.

  Claudia.

  She imagined Claudia working away at Sea Watch, maybe cleaning out Billy the razorbill’s cage or entering data on the computer.

  Silver Dolphin, is something wrong?

  It never failed to amaze Antonia how quickly Claudia responded. It was as if Claudia already knew she needed help.

  We’ve found an octopus, thought Antonia, trying to keep the fear and revulsion out of her head. But she couldn’t fool Claudia, and hearing her low chuckle brought a smile to Antonia’s face.

  An octopus! I’ll be right there.

  Sighing with relief, Antonia said to Cai, “Claudia will be here soon.”

  “Good,” said Cai vaguely.

  He walked round the crab pot studying every centimetre of the octopus’s squashed orange body.

  “Come round here,” he said, excitedly flapping his hand. “You can get a really good look at his suckers. They’re awesome. Did you know octopuses are very clever? They can find their way through mazes, open boxes and even unscrew jars.”

  “That’s nice,” said Antonia. Crossing her fingers, she really hoped that the octopus didn’t decide to demonstrate its box-opening talents before Claudia arrived.

  Chapter Nine

  As Antonia and Cai waited for Claudia, a lady out walking her dog on the beach came over to see what they were doing. She was amazed to see the octopus and even Antonia became slightly more enthusiastic about their exotic find. After taking some photos on her mobile phone the woman carried on up the beach.

  News of the octopus spread fast and lots of passers-by stopped to have a look at it. Antonia was grateful when Claudia arrived and took control of the situation, asking the people to stand back and give the octopus some room.

  “Are
we taking him back to Sea Watch?” asked Cai.

  “No. We don’t have facilities for warm-water animals so I’ve called the local aquarium,” Claudia answered. “It looks like this could be them now.”

  But the man, who was carrying a camera, and the lady striding purposefully towards them were from the Sandy Bay Times.

  “What luck!” said the photographer. “We were covering another story when we heard there was an octopus on the beach.”

  He took lots of pictures of Antonia and Cai with the octopus, while the journalist asked how they’d found it.

  “The crab pot came in with the tide,” said Cai, his cheeks turning darker with the fib. “We waded out and pulled it in, then phoned my Aunty Claudia for help.”

  The photographer left after he’d finished taking pictures, but the journalist hung around waiting for the aquarium staff. Finally two men dressed in jeans and T-shirts bearing the aquarium’s red logo arrived. They were carrying a small tank which they put down on the sand.

  “Hi, I’m Will and this is Tim,” said the fair-haired man.

  “Claudia Neale, from Sea Watch, and my volunteers, Antonia and Cai,” said Claudia, shaking hands.

  Then Will crouched down to examine the crab pot. “Looks like a Common Octopus,” he said. “They’re normally found in much warmer seas such as the Mediterranean, but we’ve had a few sightings of them around the English Coast recently. It’s because the sea’s getting warmer. This is the first time one’s been caught. These ghost crab pots are a real danger to sea life.”

  “A ghost crab pot, what’s that?” asked the journalist eagerly.

  “A crab pot that’s been abandoned or lost,” said Cai and Antonia together.

  “You know your stuff then,” said Tim approvingly. “If you ever lose interest in Sea Watch, give us a call. We’d give you both jobs at the aquarium!”

  “Thanks,” said Antonia and Cai, laughing.

  “We’ll take this beauty back with us,” said Will. “We can assess it properly at the aquarium and then, depending on its health, we’ll either arrange for it to go somewhere warmer or keep it in captivity.”

  “Will you give it a name?” the journalist asked.

  Tim looked at Antonia and Cai. “Any ideas?” he said.

  “Legs,” said Antonia with a shudder, making everyone laugh.

  Will and Tim filled their empty tank with sea water, then very carefully transferred the octopus into it. Before they put the lid on, Antonia and Cai had a good look. Legs was even bigger than Antonia had imagined now that he had room to spread. He was almost a metre in length from the top of his soft, rounded body to the tip of his muscular, orange tentacles. It was his eyes that gave Antonia the creeps. They were too human for comfort.

  “Come and visit him,” said Will. “We’ll tell the receptionist to let you in for free.”

  “Thanks,” said Cai. “That sounds great.”

  When the beach had cleared, Antonia and Cai rescued their things from the rocks and sat on the promenade to put on their socks and shoes.

  “Never a dull moment,” commented Claudia. “Gull Bay needs clearing up next. Do you want to help or have you had enough for one day?”

  “Will the camera crew have gone home?” asked Antonia, not wanting to run into the nasty director again, or Lauren and Becky for that matter.

  “They’ve moved into town temporarily,” said Claudia. “They were setting up as I came through to find you.”

  “I’ll come then,” Antonia volunteered. “It’ll be easier to clean up now than if the rubbish ends up in the sea and Spirit has to call us to collect it.”

  “I’ll come too,” said Cai. “But what happens if we get another call to go to Gull Bay whilst they’re back filming Stage Struck there?”

  “You’ll manage,” said Claudia confidently. “You’re Silver Dolphins.”

  The rest of the week followed a pattern, with Antonia and Cai starting off at Sea Watch and finishing at Gull Bay to clear up after the film crew. Antonia was amazed and disgusted at the amount of litter they left behind. It was doubly annoying since the local fishermen were doing such a good job with the Litter Fishing scheme. In less than a week, the container in the harbour was almost full.

  Once or twice Antonia and Cai had seen Lauren and Becky leaving the beach with the actors from Stage Struck. Lauren always put on a silly, loud voice making sure Antonia noticed her. At school she continued to taunt Antonia, calling her “Crazy Girl” and “Saddo”.

  “She’s always hanging around on the beach trying to meet the cast,” she told everyone.

  Antonia laughed it off with Cai, Sophie and Toby, but deep down she was getting fed up with Lauren.

  On Thursday morning, Mrs Howard arrived with a newspaper and waved it excitedly at the class. “Incredible news,” she said, beaming at everyone. “We have two celebrities amongst us. It’s all here in the Sandy Bay Times. Does anyone know who our new celebrities are?”

  Lauren practically fell off her chair. She ran a hand through her short, brown hair and proudly stuck out her chest. “It’s me and Becky,” she said, lowering her head in an attempt to seem modest. “As most of you already know…”

  Rustling the newspaper, Mrs Howard held it up for the class to see.

  “Sorry to interrupt, Lauren, but it’s Antonia and Cai,” she announced proudly. “I had the surprise of my life seeing your faces smiling out at me over my cereal this morning. What’s this I’ve been reading about you rescuing an octopus from certain death?”

  Before Antonia could speak, Lauren leapt out of her seat and snatched at the newspaper. “You’ve got the wrong page,” she snapped.

  Mrs Howard held the newspaper out of reach. “Sit down, Lauren,” she said sternly.

  “But there’s an article about me in there. A journalist came and interviewed Becky and me when we were filming. She’s not a celebrity,” said Lauren, jabbing a finger at Antonia. “I am.”

  A few of the class began to giggle, but Mrs Howard silenced them with one of her looks.

  “We will look for your article in a minute,” she said crisply. “First, Antonia and Cai, come up here and tell us your story. It sounds fascinating.”

  Chapter Ten

  Antonia and Cai explained how they’d rescued the octopus and Mrs Howard searched for a picture of one on the Internet, displaying it on the white board.

  “You rescued that!” exclaimed Isabel, in awe. “I would have been too scared to go anywhere near it.”

  “I was a bit scared,” said Antonia honestly. “But octopuses don’t usually attack people and this one was trapped in the crab pot.”

  “It was still a brave and smart thing to do,” said Mrs Howard. “Well done, Antonia and Cai. Let’s give them a round of applause.”

  The class clapped enthusiastically as Antonia and Cai went back to their seats. Mrs Howard flicked through the newspaper until she came to the Entertainment section.

  “Here we are,” she said. “There’s a whole page on Stage Struck with a photo of the leading actors, Danny Appleton and Kate Mellor.”

  “And me and Becky,” said Lauren, casually fluffing up her hair.

  “I’m sorry, Lauren,” said Mrs Howard, shaking her head. “There’s not a picture of you or Becky here.”

  “But there must be. The photographer took loads of photos of us, didn’t he Becks?”

  Mrs Howard looked sympathetic. “There obviously wasn’t enough room to include another photo, but you have got a mention. It says, “Lucky local girls Becky Nickson and Laura Hampton have been given parts as extras on the show.’’

  “Laura!” screeched Lauren. “Did you say Laura Hampton?”

  “Oh dear,” said Mrs Howard, scanning the article again. “They’ve got your name wrong. That’s a shame, but it’s not uncommon in a newspaper. Right then 6H, it’s time to get on with some work. Maths books out, please.”

  Chairs scraped noisily as the class went to get their maths books from their trays. Antonia wa
s going back to her chair with hers when Lauren deliberately bumped against her shoulder.

  “Loser!” she said nastily.

  “Right now I’d say you were the loser,” said Toby, who happened to be standing nearby.

  Lauren narrowed her eyes. “We’ll see,” she hissed threateningly.

  For the rest of the week Lauren kept deliberately bumping into Antonia and knocking things off her desk or her peg in the cloakroom. Antonia calmly put up with it, refusing to tell the teacher, even though Sophie and Toby both thought she should.

  “Lauren shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it,” said Sophie hotly. “She’s a bully.”

  “Yes,” Antonia agreed. “And if she was upsetting me or hurting me then I would tell Mrs Howard. But I’m not upset and Lauren wouldn’t dare hurt me with you lot around. She’s a coward at heart. Mum says that bullies usually are.”

  Antonia popped a crisp in her mouth and handed round the bag, smiling to cover the irritation she was feeling inside. She didn’t want to think about Lauren any more.

  On Friday Lauren seemed more excitable than usual and spent the day whispering with Becky. Each time Antonia came across them Lauren would make a show of falling silent. It was obvious that Lauren had a secret and wanted to make her curious, but instead Antonia found it funny. Did Lauren really think that Antonia had so little going on in her own life that she was bothered about what Lauren was up to?

  At last Friday was over and the weekend was here to enjoy. Antonia spent Saturday at Sea Watch with Cai. They were the only volunteers that day so there was lots of work to do cleaning out the gulls, Billy the razorbill and a couple of other seabirds that had been brought in with minor injuries.

  It was late afternoon before Antonia went home, happily tired and still thinking about Sea Watch. She plodded up Sandy Bay Road and turned into the street that led to hers. Halfway down the street Antonia felt a familiar tingling sensation spread through her. She stood still for a moment just to be sure, but the tingling continued. Knowing what was coming next, Antonia turned round and headed quickly towards the footpath to Gull Bay. She’d almost reached it when her silver dolphin charm started vibrating, its tiny body tapping against her neck in a steady rhythm. Halfway along the path, Antonia heard a whistling cry.