Nate and his family started walking back towards the cars. The rest of the group of mourners stood uncertainly, looking around them. Bethany was standing staring out towards the sea in the distance. Lucy went up to her and squeezed her hand. Bethany sniffed.
‘Oh I’ll be alright’ she said, wiping a hand quickly across her eyes. ‘Funerals always get to me you know. It’s a fine view isn’t it?’ she added, trying to change the subject. They turned around to see the mourners drifting off along the side of the grave stones.
A smartly dressed middle-aged lady had been talking to another woman who Lucy now knew was Thelma’s sister. Then she realised that Dad was staring at the woman, almost rudely. Thelma’s sister and the woman walked off up the path together and Dad came over to join Lucy and Bethany.
‘Do you know that woman Dad?’ asked Lucy curiously.
‘It’s the strangest thing’ replied Dad. ‘That woman over there. The one walking off up the path. I’ve seen her before.’ He stood looking at the woman’s retreating back with a puzzled expression on his face.
‘Are you sure?’ replied Bethany. ‘Can’t say I recognise her personally.’
‘I saw her not three nights ago at the hospital’ he continued. She was standing at the foot of Lucy’s bed, making notes. I thought she was a doctor or something but the nurses said they thought she was a relative. I didn’t get a good look at her because she walked off up the corridor before I was able to say anything, but it’s definitely her.’
‘Well go and speak to her Dad’ said Lucy encouragingly. He made his way off up the path towards the car park, but he was too late. The woman had already driven off.
‘I lost her’ exclaimed Dad when they joined him.
The next morning, Lucy persuaded Dad that she had to go into town to do some research for a school project. Mary gave her a lift into Merwater and she soon found herself sitting on a swing in the recreation grounds opposite Paul’s house, waiting for him to appear. It was another cold, frosty day and she shivered inside her thick coat. For a moment she thought she could see a snow flake fluttering down, but if it was, it melted away into nothing.
‘Hi Lucy’ came a voice just behind her. Lucy started in surprise. Paul sat down on the swing next to her.
‘Where did you appear from?’
‘Oh you know, here and there’ he replied noncommittally.
‘How are you doing then Paul?’ He smiled.
‘Yeah things are like, a lot better than they used to be. Baz and Mike leave me alone and I’ve made some more friends at school.’
‘And your mum?’ Lucy asked.
‘She’s got this job now and she seems to be much better than she was. She smiles more and smokes less anyhow. And she’s earning now so Christmas won’t be so tight this year.’ Paul turned to look at her directly. ‘So what’s up with you? Is it to do with Spirit?’ Lucy nodded. She suddenly realised how vulnerable and exposed she felt.
‘I’m losing it Paul. I’m losing it. My gift, my connection with Spirit I mean. I thought I’d lost it already. Then I cracked my head on the side of the swimming pool at school and got knocked out. They couldn’t wake me up but really I was swimming with Spirit and Dancer and the rest of the pod.’
‘Blimey!’ exclaimed Paul.
‘Anyway, when I was there with Spirit for those couple of days there was this dolphin called Sunlight. She said that it was told that if a dolphin and a child meet at midnight in a place that they call the Three Green Caves, then they will stay connected for the rest of their lives.’
‘And you know where these caves are then do you?’ asked Paul.
‘No I’ve no idea’ replied Lucy. ‘I was hoping you might know.’
‘Search me’ said Paul, shrugging.
‘But you must know something!’ exclaimed Lucy. ‘You’re the local kid. You know this place like the back of your hand. You know all the secret walled streams through town and all the hidden corners. I bet you know more than you think.’
Paul was flattered that Lucy believed that he could help and he thought hard. If it’s underground caves that you’re wanting, then I’d start with the tin mines.’
‘Are there any round here then?’ Lucy asked.
‘Oh sure’ replied Paul casually. ‘Come on I’ll show you.’
They made their way out of the recreation ground and into the orchard which the walled stream ran through that Paul used like his own private lane. He didn’t climb down into it though, and instead walked through the old orchard. There in one corner was an enormous mound of concrete.
‘That’s one of them’ said Paul, giving it a kick with his trainer.
‘What do you mean?’
‘That’s an old entrance to a tin mine’ Paul explained. ‘There must be half a dozen in Merwater alone. The town is full of them.’
‘But what’s it covered up with concrete for?’ asked Lucy in frustration.
‘Well I suppose it’s to stop kids like us from going down them’ replied Paul. He stopped kicking the concrete lump and sat down on it instead.
‘And you think these mine workings might lead down to some caves under the cliffs?’ asked Lucy, full of expectation.
‘Who knows?’ replied Paul. ‘Wouldn’t surprise me if they did.’
‘But you can’t get into them if they’re all covered up’ exclaimed Lucy.
‘Well I wouldn’t say that’ said Paul casually. ‘Not this one I mean’ he added. ‘There is one you can get into.’
‘What’s it like?’ asked Lucy expectantly. Paul grinned.
‘I reckon it’s pretty dark’ he replied. ‘I’ve not been in there myself. It freaks me out. All I’ve done is look in the entrance. Besides, you’re not supposed to go in, especially kids like us. It’s like, really dangerous. You might never come out again if you did. There’s poisonous gas, rock falls and all sorts.’ Lucy looked at Paul decisively.
‘Take me to see it’ she commanded him.
Paul led Lucy down into the bed of the walled stream, but turned left in the opposite direction to the way she’d been before. Now it was winter there was much more water in the stream and Lucy had to be careful not to get her feet wet. The stream ran parallel to the sea line, off into a scrubby overgrown patch of land towards the edge of town that appeared to have been abandoned for years. The walls of the stream became shallower and more broken down, until in the end it was just a pile of stones that they were picking their way across. Bushes grew up on either side of them and it became harder to push their way through, but Paul kept on going and Lucy was determined not to be left behind.
Eventually it opened up into a small clearing. There were discarded beer cans and cigarette butts on the ground, and the remnants of a camp fire blackened the stones under foot.
‘Here, take a look at this’ said Paul, gesturing to something just at the edge of the clearing. Lucy looked more closely. There was a hole opening up into the ground, running horizontally back into the hill. It looked as if you could just walk into the hill itself, but it was covered with a heavy iron grill, which reminded Lucy of the bars on prison cells in a castle she had visited. A more modern sign was fixed to the iron grill which said ‘Danger. Unstable mine workings. Keep out.’
‘But it’s covered with a metal grill’ exclaimed Lucy. ‘You can’t get inside there!’
‘That’s what you think’ replied Paul, evidently pleased with himself. ‘Watch this.’ He eased himself through a tight gap between the bars like a cat burglar breaking into a house. Before she knew it, Paul was on the inside of the tunnel grinning through the bars back at her.
‘What’s it like in there?’ asked Lucy with a flutter of excitement in the pit of her stomach.
‘This is as far as I go’ replied Paul. ‘Like I said, the dark freaks me out. I just thought I’d show you.’ He lithely squeezed himself back through the bars. ‘You have a go’ he said when he was standing next to her again.
‘But you’re a lot smaller than I am’ replied L
ucy. ‘There’s no way I could get in there.’
‘Go on, have a go’ Paul answered. ‘Bet you can.’ It looked impossible to Lucy, and try as she might, she could not squeeze herself through the gap as Paul had done. She got half way in with her legs, and then she got stuck at the top of her thighs, leaving rust stains on her jeans.
‘It’s no good, I give up’ said Lucy disappointedly. She pulled herself out. Paul smirked annoyingly back at her.
‘Well if you can’t get in that way, I suppose I’ll just have to show you the other way.’ He laughed to himself.
He ran up the heap of stones above the iron grate to where buddleia and other scrubby bushes were growing. He beckoned with his hand for Lucy to follow.
‘Look’ he said pointing. The roots of one of the bushes had broken through into the tunnel. The gap was just big enough for her to squeeze through.
‘You want to have a go?’ he asked her with a big grin on his face. She didn’t know whether to laugh with him or have a go at him for making her spend the last ten minutes trying to squeeze through the gap between the bars.
‘Why not?’ she replied eventually. This time it was a simple matter to pull herself through the gap and into the tunnel. She stood up. There was reasonable head-room and she only had to stoop a little bit. The occasional drip splattered down from the ceiling of the tunnel onto the back of her neck. ‘I’m going to have a look’ she said. She took a few steps down the tunnel. It seemed to rise up a little and then began to curve down to the left. Lucy had no torch and she realised that if she went any further she’d be plunged into darkness. She felt a pang of fear clutch at her chest.
‘Are you okay down there?’ called Paul into the tunnel. Lucy realised that it would be foolish to continue without even a torch to light her way. Reluctantly she retraced her steps and pulled herself out of the hole in the rocks.
‘Hey, it’s snowing!’ she exclaimed, holding out her hands and looking up at the sky. Snow-flakes were fluttering lazily down from the grey clouds above them and already the rocks were powdered with white.
‘Yup, sure is’ Paul grinned. ‘Are you going to go down there then, exploring I mean?’ Lucy thought of those warnings you see on the TV; ‘Don’t try this at home.’ She’d have to be mad to want to explore old mine workings.
‘As soon as I get myself a torch, that’s exactly what I’m going to do’ she replied defiantly.
Chapter Fifteen:
In the midst of Spirit’s waking sleep, an eerie green light seemed to play on the surface of the water around him. The sea surged slowly up and down, but the sounds of the ocean seemed muffled and far away. Spirit began to realise that there was a wall of rock encasing him on all sides and that he was in a great cave. Above the eddies and ripples of the water, he could see the cave arch upwards. The walls of the cave were an emerald green, and they sparkled occasionally, lit by some sort of phosphorescent glow that seemed to emanate from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
The cave was shaped like the back of some great whale, porpoising through the sea. The ceiling of the cave curved down towards water-level, but just where he thought it would descend into a wall of rock, there was an opening that led on to another cavern beyond the first.
In his dream, Spirit swam effortlessly into the second cave. This one was iridescent and green like the first, but there were more sparkles of light shimmering from the walls. It wasn’t as big as the first cave he swam through. Looking above the surface of the water, he noticed that there was a dry platform where a human could walk if he wanted. Spirit imagined Lucy walking there, and bending down to cup his head with her hands. This second cave was smaller than the first but followed a similar shape. Under the water there were huge green crystals growing that looked like they had been there for thousands of years. Spirit had a strange sense that the caves were both entirely familiar yet completely alien to him.
Beyond the second cave there was a further opening. He approached it, and then hesitated. Somehow he knew in his dream that it wasn’t the right time to swim through into the third chamber; not yet at least. He lingered a moment and then turned slowly to return the way he had come. Swimming past the great submerged green crystals, he returned to the first cave with its soaring ceiling and green phosphorescent glow. He wondered how he had ever come to be in the green caves, but his dreams had brought him there without ever realising. Despite his excitement, Spirit felt calm and focused. It felt completely natural to swim there, in a way that he did not really understand. In the largest cave there were no crystals under water, but the sides slid down and curved round beneath him as if he were in a whales’ great belly. The sides of the cave were so smooth that he hardly knew where water ended and rock began. He swam slowly round the cave, wondering how to get out, before at last recognising a large hole beneath the surface of the water, set into the rock that he must have swum past several times before seeing it.
Spirit took one final glance back at the great enormity of the cave around him, before flicking his tail and propelling himself down into the pitch-black hole beneath him.
Suddenly Spirit was out in the sweet waters of the open sea again. He looked back and saw the familiar coastline rearing up behind him.
Spirit stirred out of his waking-dream and opened his eyes.
‘Dancer, Dancer’ he called excitedly to his friend, sleeping in the water next to him. Dancer peered at him blearily.
‘What? What is it Spirit? It’s the middle of the night.’
‘I know where they are Dancer. I know!’
‘Know what Spirit?’ she asked in reply, still half asleep.
‘The Three Green Caves’ replied Spirit, buzzing with realisation that his dream had given him. ‘I know where the caves are!’
Mary Pewsey stepped out of her parent’s low cottage, up onto the rutted road. She gathered her skirts around her so that they would not trail in the mud and started walking. A pony and trap were making their way slowly down the road and Mary crossed out of its path. It was early Autumn and though there were still warm days, this early in the morning she felt a chill in the air. A light mist had rolled in from the sea and still hadn’t lifted. Even the seagulls seemed subdued. Mary shivered a little despite her shawl as she made her way.
With her bonnet tight upon her head, Mary used to feel as blinkered as the ponies that pulled loads of tin ore up out of the mines. Yet she knew now that she was infinitely freer than those ponies would ever be, or indeed freer than most of the people she knew. Mary smiled quietly, hugging her secret to herself as she walked briskly into the village of Merwater.
When Mary was younger, her father had made her help mend his nets and gut the fish that he landed. It was hard work though, and left her fingers dry, cracked and bleeding. If she continued doing such rough work, her hands would be useless to create the delicate lacework that her mother had taught her and her sister. Fortunately her mother had found her a place at a merchant house on the High Street where she was indentured, spending the day making lace to sell in Exeter with five other women. Mary’s hands had recovered and she was paid modestly but reliably for the lace that she produced.
The women would talk as they worked, or sing songs together to pass the time. More often than not though long stretches of time would pass in which none of them would exchange a word. It was at times like this that the tick tock of the clock in the hallway would seem particularly loud and the bustle of the street on market day was especially alluring. It was a narrow life for Mary and the other women. Yet while her fingers worked methodically and diligently, Mary’s mind was able to slip away, escaping the confines of the dusty room, plunging instead into the world of water and of the dolphins that lived there.
As Mary walked along, the one person she dreaded seeing appeared from a doorway on the other side of the street.
‘Mary Pewsey! Mary!’ cried the portly, black-clad figure. Mary sighed and turned. The Reverend Smith approached her, stick in one hand, notebook in the other.
‘Good day sir’ she said courteously, but with a heavy heart. Would that man never leave her alone?
‘I wonder if I might, err, if I might talk to you for a moment’ he ventured.
‘Sir I will lose pay if I am late at my place of work’ she sighed, itching to be away from him.
‘Quite, quite. Perhaps I might accompany you?’ Mary turned resignedly to resume her brisk walk. He surprised her though by walking as quickly as her.
‘You must bring me to these caves Mary’ the Reverend demanded quite suddenly.
‘What caves might they be Reverend?’ replied Mary guardedly. She wondered what her mother had been telling him.
‘Why the Trinity Caves of course!’ Mary froze inside. She couldn’t have someone like the Reverend Smith barging into the Trinity Caves. They were a special place. Not for the likes of him.
‘I don’t know where they might be Sir’ she replied, hoping to keep as blank a face as possible.
‘Come now Mary’ admonished the Reverend, irritation rising in his voice. ‘Your mother has told me the full extent of your interest in them.’ Mary looked at her feet. She did not wish to appear disrespectful to the vicar of their parish. If she angered him she was well aware that the Reverend Smith could see to it that she lost her position with the lace makers. She didn’t know what to say to him.
Midnight Dolphin Page 17
