Rising Star

For Greta and for Stewart – my twin.

Table of Contents

Cover Page

Title Page

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Silver Dolphins

Read on for a sneak preview

Copyright

About the Publisher

Prologue

A long way out at sea, a small dolphin with a cheeky smile was swimming by himself when a sharp whistle startled him. Suddenly alert, Bubbles listened to the cry for help.

“Mum! Where are you?”

Bubbles knew that voice! At once he changed direction and swam towards the dolphin in distress.

“Dot!” he clicked. “What are you doing so far out at sea on your own?”

Dot was younger than Bubbles and much smaller than him.

“Bubbles!” she squeaked, delighted to see a familiar face. “Mum said I could go off and play…but I got lost.”

“Home’s this way,” clicked Bubbles kindly. “Follow me.”

Bubbles kept checking that Dot was behind him as he led the little dolphin back to their pod.

“Mum!” squeaked Dot, suddenly spotting her mother. “Thanks, Bubbles.” She rubbed her nose against his shyly and swam to join her mum.

Bubbles continued on until he found his own family. Spirit, Star and Dream were swimming together near the kelp beds.

“Dad, you’ll never guess what?” clicked Bubbles. “Dot’s mum let her play on her own and she got lost. Luckily I found her.”

Spirit patted Bubbles with a fin.

“Well done, son,” he clicked.

“How could Dot’s mum let her go off like that?” asked Bubbles. “Wasn’t it dangerous?”

Spirit rolled over thoughtfully, his silver skin sparkling in the sunlit water.

“It’s hard letting children go off and do things on their own, but you have to, or they’ll never learn,” he said eventually.

Bubbles stayed quiet for a moment, then smiled in understanding.

“Like the Silver Dolphins. They learnt by

doing things on their own.”

Spirit nodded.

“Just like the Silver Dolphins continue to.”

“But I thought the Silver Dolphins knew everything they needed to know now,” said Bubbles.

“There is always more to learn,” said Spirit wisely.

“But you know everything, don’t you, Dad?” Bubbles persisted.

Spirit clicked a laugh.

“I wish I did,” he sighed. “But even I have more to learn.”

Chapter One

“I won!” Antonia Lee burst through the surface of the water, her arms triumphantly stretched above her head.

“Well done, Flipper Feet,” clicked Bubbles, “but you only won because I gave you a head start.”

“No you didn’t,” laughed Antonia.

“Did,” clicked Bubbles, playfully splashing her with water.

“Water fight,” shouted Cai, surfacing with Dream. “Girls against boys.”

“You’re on,” clicked everyone.

Dream swam over to Antonia, Cai joined Bubbles and soon the sea was foaming like a shaken bottle of shampoo as they splashed each other with water.

“Truce!” panted Antonia at last.

Treading water, she pushed her long blonde hair out of her eyes.

“That was such fun!” clicked Bubbles happily. “I’m glad you’re back. We missed you loads, didn’t we, Dream?”

Dream nodded fervently and clicked, “It wasn’t the same without you.”

“We missed you too,” said Antonia.

She and Cai had just returned from a trip to Australia to visit Cai’s parents, who worked over there. Cai was temporarily living in Sandy Bay with his Aunty Claudia, who ran a marine conservation charity called Sea Watch.

“Let’s have another race,” said Bubbles.

Antonia shook her head. “Sorry, Bubbles, but there isn’t time. We’ve swam much further than we normally do and I promised Mum I’d be home early. School starts again tomorrow and I’ve got to get my things ready.”

“Don’t go to school,” said Bubbles. “Come and swim with us instead. We can show you lots of new things.”

“I bet you can,” said Antonia. “But we still have to go to school.”

“I’ll go and get the rubbish,” said Cai. He turned and swam towards a small beach nestling at the foot of the cliffs.

“Wait for me.” Antonia swam quickly after him.

Antonia and Cai had been litter picking. It was part of their role as Silver Dolphins to protect the seas and all the creatures living there. Whenever the Silver Dolphins were needed, Spirit called to them through the silver dolphin charms that Antonia and Cai always wore. A very special magic let them swim and communicate with their dolphin friends. Today Spirit had called them to clear some floating rubbish he’d found.

When it was shallow enough Antonia and Cai stood on the seabed and waded up the beach.

“It’s a shame there’s no bin on the beach. We’ll have to be careful how we get this back,” said Cai, picking up the strips of polystyrene packaging they’d found. “This stuff is lethal if an animal eats it.”

“I know,” said Antonia gravely. “It breaks up into tiny balls that don’t rot and are left in the sea forever.”

They shared the polystyrene between them, being careful not to snap it.

“Where are we?” Antonia wondered aloud. She looked up at the cliffs. “There’s a lot of noise coming from up there.”

“I think this is Crane Point,” Cai answered. “Aunty Claudia told me there’s a block of luxury apartments being built on the cliff top here. There was a story about it in the Sandy Bay newspaper. Lots of people don’t want the apartments to be built because they’ll spoil the view and bring more traffic to the area. Most of the apartments are being sold as holiday lets.”

“I don’t blame them,” said Antonia hotly. “It’s lovely here.”

“Aunty Claudia says it’s not all bad,” said Cai. “The building project has created lots of jobs and the tourists will too when they start visiting.”

“True.” Antonia walked backwards down the beach, keeping her eyes on the top of the cliffs for signs of building activity. “But the builders should be more responsible. This looks like their rubbish. They should clear up properly and not dump things in the sea.”

“Maybe it blew away,” said Cai reasonably.

“That’s not clearing up properly,” Antonia argued, hoping this wasn’t going to be the start of a bigger problem.

They swam back to Bubbles and his mum Star, who looked at the polystyrene inquisitively.

“It seems harmless,” clicked Bubbles, “but Dad says it can kill us.”

His sister Dream shivered. “Thanks for taking it away,” she clicked.

Bubbles and Dream swam with the Silver Dolphins back to Claudia’s beach.

“Goodbye,” clicked Bubbles. “And if you change your mind about going to school we can teach you lots of new things.”

Antonia and Cai laughed.

“See you soon.” Antonia rubbed noses with Bubbles and then Dream.

As the dolphins swam back out to sea Antonia trod water for a moment, reluctant to go home. She’d had a brilliant summer and wasn’t keen to go to school the following day.

“That’s it then, the summer’s over,” sighed Cai, echoing her gloomy thoughts.

“It doesn’t feel like it,” said Antonia, slowly swimming towards the shore. “It’s still really hot. I don’t want to sit in a stuffy old classroom all day.”

“Me neither,” agreed Cai. “Especially now we’re in Year Six. Mrs Howard said she’s going to work us extra hard.”

They waded up the beach. The Silver Dolphin magic made the sea water pour off them like a mini waterfall until their clothes were completely dry. Antonia shook out her damp hair and Cai pulled a face as he ran his fingers through his.

“The water makes my hair go extra curly,” he laughed.

They sat on the warm sand to put on their sandals, then went through the gate that led to Claudia’s garden.

Claudia was talking to a builder who was making a deepwater pool for injured sea animals. She waved and called out, “Are you staying to tea, Antonia?”

“Not tonight, thanks,” said Antonia. “I promised I’d be home early.”

“See you tomorrow then,” said Cai after they’d put their rubbish in the Sea Watch bin.

“See you,” said Antonia.

On the way home Antonia stopped halfway up Sandy Bay Road to look at the sea. A funny feeling was bothering her, and her thoughts strayed to the building site at Crane Point. Staring at the bright blue water, Antonia strongly sensed that Mrs Howard wasn’t the only one who would be keeping them busy that term.

Chapter Two

“A ntonia!” Sophie was waiting at the end of her drive, but when she saw Antonia she ran to meet her. They hugged until they almost toppled over.

“When did you get back from Australia? Did you have a good time?” Sophie bombarded Antonia with questions as they walked to school.

“I got you a present,” said Antonia, when she could get a word in edgeways. “I’ll give it to you when we get to school. Do you think Mrs Howard will let us sit together?”

“I doubt it,” Sophie giggled. “I expect Miss Brown has told her that we chat too much.”

In the school playground Antonia swung her bag to the ground and rummaged inside for the miniature wooden boomerang she’d bought for Sophie. As she handed it over Lauren Hampton barged past. Antonia dropped the neatly wrapped present, but luckily Sophie caught it.

“Watch it!” cried Sophie hotly.

“Watch what?” asked Lauren nastily. “It’s not my fault that Antonia got in my way.”

Sophie went red with indignation, but Antonia steered her to another part of the playground before she could protest.

“Ignore her,” she said. “She’s not worth it.”

“Ooh!” exclaimed Sophie crossly. “I don’t know why she’s always so nasty to you. Thanks for the boomerang, Antonia. It’s lovely. I’ll ask Dad to help me hang it on my bedroom wall.”

Cai and Toby arrived as the bell went and they all walked into school.

“Let’s sit together,” said Cai, but Mrs Howard had other ideas.

“Just my luck,” groaned Antonia when her new teacher called out, “Charlie West, Lauren Hampton, Antonia Lee and Harry Lucas on this table, please.”

Antonia hurried to her new place, hoping to sit next to one of the boys, but Charlie and Harry beat her there and she was forced to sit next to Lauren.

“Move up, Toni,” said Lauren, making herself as wide as possible when she sat down.

“It’s ‘Antonia’. I might not know you’re talking to me if you call me Toni.”

“Good. Then I won’t have to talk to you, Toni,” said Lauren unkindly.

It was one of the longest days Antonia had ever spent in school. The work was much harder than it had been in Year Five and Antonia’s brain felt rusty after the long summer holiday. Lauren had a brand new pencil case and a bumper pack of gel pens that she laid out, taking up more than her fair share of the desk and she grumbled each time Antonia accidentally touched one.

“My dad got me those,” she boasted. “He’s got this great new job over at Crane Point. It’s my birthday next week and Dad said I can have a huge party. I’m going to invite everyone in the class.” Lauren paused and her eyes narrowed to mean slits. “Well, almost everyone,” she added.

At the end of the day Antonia’s table was the last to be let out as Lauren wouldn’t stop talking. When they were free to go Antonia rushed to the cloakroom to get her bag.

“Slow coach,” teased Cai. “Don’t you want to go home?”

“I’m not going home. I’m going to Sea Watch with you.”

“That is home!” said Cai.

Antonia grinned. Sea Watch was like a second home for her, and Claudia treated Antonia like she was part of the family. Shortly after arriving at Sea Watch they were joined by Emily, Karen and Eleanor, straight from their first day at their new secondary school. Antonia felt a little shy when the girls first came in. They looked so grown up in their new green school uniform. But underneath they were still the same, chattering excitedly about their day as they all went outside to see how the deepwater pool was coming along.

“Not you lot again,” teased the builder good-naturedly. “I’d be finished much more quickly if you stopped checking up on me.”

“Let’s go and see what Claudia wants us to do today,” said Antonia.

Claudia had an important job for them: cleaning out Tilly the seal’s pen and feeding her. Tilly had been in a very bad way when she first arrived at Sea Watch, but under Claudia’s watchful eye she’d regained her health and was slowly putting on weight.

Antonia and Cai wore plastic gloves and aprons to clean out the pen. They scrubbed out Tilly’s water bowl and refilled it with fresh water, then swept and hosed down the enclosure. Tilly watched them with big eyes, her whiskery nose inquisitively nudging the cleaning equipment.

“She’s like a puppy,” laughed Cai, when Tilly tried to follow them back to the Sea Watch building.

Tilly grew very excited when Antonia and Cai returned with a bucket of fish. Grunting loudly, she almost butted the bucket from their hands. She was wolfing down her last fish when a familiar sensation swept over Antonia. Spirit was about to call. Seconds later the silver dolphin charm hanging round her neck vibrated.

Silver Dolphin, the charm called to her. We need your help.

Spirit, I hear your call, Antonia called back silently.

When Antonia first became a Silver Dolphin she’d always cover the charm with her hand even though she knew only a Silver Dolphin could see it move and hear its shrill whistling.

She glanced over to Cai to check he was following and together they ran down the garden, hurdling the low gate that opened on to the beach.

“New shoes are a pain,” grunted Cai, as he struggled to get his off.

“Sandals are much easier,” agreed Antonia, throwing her shoes and socks into the Sea Watch boat with Cai’s.

They raced across the powder-soft sand and splashed into the sea. Antonia dived into the water, loving the moment her legs melded together to work like a dolphin’s tail.

Sensing the call was urgent, Antonia propelled herself through the water even faster than a real dolphin as she headed towards Spirit.

“We’re being called in the same direction as yesterday,” panted Cai.

Suddenly Antonia had a bad feeling about this call. She dived in and out of the waves, her tail-like legs powering her along until she saw a magnificent silver head bobbing in the water close to the shore.

“Silver Dolphins.” Spirit was relieved to see them. “This is an emergency. There’s a puffin colony at the top of the cliffs. It’s not safe any more because of a new building site close by. The puffins are in danger of being run over on the road to the building site. Please help them.”

Antonia’s heart sank. This was another serious threat to local wildlife. Annoyed that she hadn’t thought to investigate further yesterday, she screwed up her eyes and stared at the cliffs. It was impossible to tell that there were puffins up there from here. Spirit must have used his special Silver Dolphin powers to know about them and their problem. To the left Antonia noticed a narrow path winding upwards. It was long and very steep. Would there be time to save the puffins?

“Hurry,” urged Spirit.

Antonia pulled herself together. She and Cai were Silver Dolphins. They could do this! She struck out for the shore, emerging from the water and hurtling across the beach with Cai.

“The path’s this way,” she cried.

Antonia and Cai veered left, hopped up a short flight of steps and started the steep climb to the top of the cliff.

Chapter Three

The narrow cliff path was bordered with long grass that tickled Antonia’s legs and prickly brambles that snatched at her clothes, but luckily the Silver Dolphin magic protected her bare feet as she ran. Halfway to the top her lungs began to burn and after a while she had to stop to catch her breath. Cai stopped too, bending his body forward and resting his hands on his knees as he greedily gulped air. There wasn’t time to hang around for long. They took off quickly again, half running half jogging, until finally they burst on to the cliff top, scattering the resident puffins, who mewled like startled cats.

“Sorry,” called Antonia softly.

Carefully she moved among the adult birds, marvelling at how many of them there were.

“Look, Cai, baby puffins! Aren’t they sweet?”

“Quick,” shouted Cai. “They’re heading for the road.”

On surprisingly nimble legs a group of baby pufflings began waddling straight for the brand-new road that sliced the cliff top in two. It looked very out of place in such a beautiful spot, as did the building site it lead to. Amid heavy machinery and scaffolding the workers were packing up for the day. Antonia and Cai ran after the pufflings, overtaking them and waving their arms to shoo them back to their nests. In the building-site car park doors slammed and engines revved as everyone headed home.

“Watch out, Antonia!” warned Cai. “Keep off the road while the cars are leaving the site.”

“You too,” said Antonia, who was already keeping a careful eye on the traffic.

The pufflings were a slippery bunch. Each time Antonia and Cai managed to herd them back to the safety of the cliff top, a small but determined group would suddenly dash back the opposite way. Most of the workmen were very careful, slowing their cars when they saw Antonia and Cai by the side of the road. But not everyone slowed down. Suddenly a battered red car drew up alongside them. For a wild moment Antonia thought the driver was going to offer to help, but she couldn’t have been more wrong.

“Nutty kids!” The driver, a thickset man with small eyes, hung out of the side window laughing unpleasantly. “Aint got nothing better to do than play with the birdies? Where are your shoes, losers?”

Music blared from his open car window, startling the pufflings and making them run in confused circles. Laughing raucously, the driver revved up his engine and drove away.

“What an idiot!” exclaimed Cai, his face red with anger.

“Forget him,” soothed Antonia. She hopped sideways to prevent a breakaway group of pufflings from slipping past her.

It was a full fifteen minutes before the last car left the building site, but by that time Antonia and Cai had somehow persuaded the pufflings to explore the area along the cliffs instead of the roadside.

“It’s beautiful,” said Antonia, shielding her eyes from the late afternoon sun.

There were puffins everywhere. The black and white adult birds with their clown-like eyes, brightly coloured beaks and distinctive orange legs were so pretty. So was the craggy cliff top, whose muted greys and greens contrasted sharply with the colourful birds.

“I love the way the puffins sit in rocky hollows so you can only see their heads peeping out,” said Cai. “They look like they’re watching us.”

“I don’t blame them,” said Antonia, laughing. “Not all people are friendly. I love the pufflings. They’re so adorable I want to pick them up and cuddle them.”

“That’s nature’s way of protecting them,” said Cai, his voice becoming serious. “Baby animals are usually cute so you feel you have to look after them.”

Slowly, keeping well away from the cliff edge, they walked among the birds, stopping now and then for a closer look. Even though Antonia would have loved to cuddle the baby pufflings, she knew she mustn’t. Wild animals weren’t pets. It wasn’t safe for them to become too friendly with humans, and some animals could inflict nasty wounds by pecking, scratching or biting, if they were frightened.

“I think we’re done here now,” said Antonia, once they’d walked around the whole colony. Her eyes swept the road, totally empty of traffic now the builders had packed up and gone home.

“For today,” said Cai.

“Yes,” said Antonia, immediately catching his meaning. She looked over to the building site, her grey-green eyes troubled. “So how do we stop the same thing happening tomorrow afternoon?”

“And in the morning. Now the pufflings are ready to leave their nests they’ll want to keep on exploring. They’ll be in danger first thing in the morning when the workmen arrive for work too,” mused Cai.

“You’re right,” said Antonia thoughtfully, as they headed down the cliff path in single file. She was silent as she concentrated on walking down the narrow cliff path. But as she jumped down the last step and on to the beach she smiled triumphantly.

“I’ve got it. We need a puffling patrol.”

“Pardon?” said Cai.

“Puffling patrol,” Antonia repeated excitedly. “You know, like the schools that have a lollipop person to help children cross the road. We could do something similar for the puffins. We could do a puffling patrol at the beginning and end of the day to keep the pufflings away from the road.”

“That’s a brilliant idea,” said Cai, his brown eyes shining excitedly.

“It would mean getting up really early,” warned Antonia.

“I know, Claudia’s builder starts at the crack of dawn!” said Cai. “It’s going to take up all our spare time,” he added, “although Claudia will help. I bet she’ll drive us and take us back again so we’re not late for school.”

They padded across the beach and waded into the water.

“Where’s Spirit?” asked Cai suddenly. “He usually waits for us.”

“Over there, near the rocks. There’s someone with him.” Antonia’s heart leapt. “I hope it’s Bubbles or Dream. I’d love a game of sprat.”

“It’s too big for either of them,” said Cai, gazing into the distance. “It’s Star.”

“Oh!” Antonia tried not to be disappointed. She loved Star too but, like her own mum, Star was always too busy to play.

“It’s probably a good thing it’s not Bubbles and Dream,” said Cai sensibly. “We need to get back and ask Claudia if she’ll help with the puffins.”

“Yes!” sighed Antonia. “And I better not be too late home, especially if I’m going to get Mum to agree to me going out so early tomorrow.”

Mrs Lee was very strict about knowing where Antonia was and what time she’d be back. She knew nothing about the Silver Dolphins as Antonia had to keep the magic a secret. Claudia, who was a Silver Dolphin and knew when Antonia and Cai were answering a call, didn’t worry so much.

Cai was about to launch himself into the sea, but he paused. “Your mum will let you go tomorrow, won’t she?” he asked.

Antonia said nothing for a moment, enjoying the magical feeling of being in the sea and knowing that soon she would be diving through the waves as fast as a dolphin.

“Yes,” she said slowly, sounding more certain than she felt.

But what if Mum wouldn’t let her go? Antonia cast the thought aside. She would worry about that if it happened. Plunging headfirst into the water she swam to join Spirit and Star, joyfully leaping in and out of the waves, glittering drops of sea spray flying from her body like diamonds.