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fault,” Antonia sobbed. “It’s my fault he died.”
    â€œNo! It’s not.”
    Claudia put an arm round her. “You did everything you could. We all did.”
    â€œBut my healing magic worked on the smaller one. Why didn’t it work on this one too?”
    â€œThis dolphin is very old,” said Claudia simply. “The shock of becoming beached was too much for him. I expect his heart gave out. You can save animals when their problems have been caused by people, but not nature.”
    â€œWas the beaching caused by humans then?” asked Antonia.
    â€œIt must have been,” said Claudia. “Otherwise Spirit wouldn’t have called for you.”
    â€œBut how? How could someone cause this?”
    â€œThey probably didn’t realise they had,” said Claudia sadly. “I suspect the two bottlenose dolphins were affected by sonar. Boats use it sometimes. The noise is terrible to a dolphin’s sensitive ears. It disorientates them. They don’t know where they are going and often beach themselves by mistake.”
    â€œWhat now?” asked Antonia, wiping her tear-stained face. “We can’t just leave him here.”
    â€œMy mobile’s in the car. I’ll ring Jack and ask him to arrange for the dolphin to be taken away.”
    Antonia looked at Claudia, grateful she was there. Suddenly, she noticed her clothes. They were bone dry, but her hair was damp and much curlier than usual.
    â€œYou used dolphin magic in the water,” she said, managing a small smile.
    Claudia smiled back.
    â€œOnce a Silver Dolphin always a Silver Dolphin,” she replied.

Chapter Thirteen
    C laudia left Antonia on the beach while she went to telephone Jack. “Tell Cai and Hannah I’ll drive you home in the car,” she said.
    Antonia walked down to the beach to wait for them. She made a wide detour around the dead dolphin, keeping her eyes firmly fixed ahead of her.
    I didn’t even know his name , she thought sadly.
    Cai and Hannah were ages. Antonia grew fidgety and was wondering if she should go and look for them when she heard voices. Looking up, she saw them both wading down the middle of the creek. They waved and Antonia waved back.
    â€œSorry we took so long,” called Cai as he drew nearer. “We took Bella right out to sea to join her pod. Everyone wanted to thank us, they’d been frantic with worry.”
    â€œBella,” said Antonia. “That’s a pretty name.”
    â€œThe older one was called Comet,” said Cai, his eyes sliding past her to the covered form on the beach. Antonia nodded, unable to trust herself to speak.
    By the time Cai and Hannah reached Antonia, their clothes were dry again. Hannah squeezed water out of her long red hair.
    â€œWhere’s Aunty Claudia?” asked Cai, ruffling his own with both hands.
    â€œShe’s in the car, phoning Jack. She’s going to drive us home,” Antonia told him.
    â€œGreat,” said Cai. “I could swim home if I had to, but I’d rather go by car. I’m shattered.”
    â€œMe too.” Hannah’s face was red with exertion. “That was hard work.”
    Antonia realised she was tired too. It had been a very long afternoon and it wasn’t over yet. As Hannah came towards her, Antonia knew there was one more thing left to sort out.
    â€œHannah?” she said uncertainly.
    â€œYou were brilliant, Antonia,” said Hannah, speaking first. “You kept Bella alive.”
    Antonia was surprised. She didn’t feel brilliant and she certainly hadn’t saved Bella by herself.
    â€œIt was teamwork. Look, I’m sorry about before. You were right. Silver Dolphins work together. I…I should have realised that sooner.”
    Hannah’s pale white skin flushed slightly and she gave Antonia a guilty grin.
    â€œIt was my fault too. It was kind of scary meeting you and Cai. Like I said, Kathleen hardly ever