Stolen Treasures by Summer Waters Page A

The moment the sea reached her waist, she lunged forward. Instantly her legs felt as if they had joined together. Antonia whistled delightedly as she swam out to sea; legs flicking like a tail and arms paddling the water like flippers. She swam clear of the bay and into the open sea before she felt vibrations in the water. Something was coming towards her.
    “Spirit?” she whistled.
    “Silver Dolphin,” he answered. “You came quickly.”
    Moments later, Spirit appeared and swam straight up to Antonia to rub his nose against hers. Spirit was a magnificent dolphin with ayellow blaze stretching along his silver flank and dark stripes running from eyes to mouth and chin to flippers. Shyly, Antonia rubbed his nose back.
    “What’s my task today?” she asked.
    Spirit sighed.
    “This afternoon a boat anchored up near the cliffs. Two people were diving from it. They seemed to be bringing up things from the seabed. I couldn’t see what. When they’d finished they had a clear out and threw their rubbish overboard. It’s made a terrible mess.”
    “Lucky you saw them,” said Antonia. Rubbish was a serious problem for sea life and could cause animals to choke or drown.
    Cai arrived, panting slightly and with adetermined look on his face. “I made it,” he said.
    “Silver Dolphin,” clicked Spirit, swimming forward to rub Cai’s nose with his own. “Thank you for answering my call.”
    Cai blushed in awe.
    “It’s litter-picking today,” clicked Spirit. “Follow me and I’ll show you where.”
    Spirit set off at a cracking pace, until he noticed Cai lagging behind and slowed down.
    “You’ll have to teach me how to do the arms,” Cai whispered to Antonia. Cai hadn’t learned how to use his arms like flippers and was still doing breaststroke with them.
    “It’s easy once you get the hang of it,” Antonia clicked back. Becoming a Silver Dolphin had felt natural for her, but there wasa lot to learn. Antonia also knew there were still things that she hadn’t discovered.
    Spirit was heading for the cliffs between Sandy Bay and Gull Bay. Antonia gasped when she saw the mess the boat trippers had left behind. It looked like they’d emptied a wheelie bin straight into the sea. There were empty tins, cardboard cartons and an enormous amount of plastic waste; all things that could injure sea life.
    “It’s disgusting!” Cai exclaimed. “Why do people think it’s OK to dump stuff like this?”
    “Often it’s because they’re just lazy,” said Antonia.
    “And ignorant,” clicked Spirit. “Many people don’t realise the harm their actions cause.”
    Spirit had to get back to his pod, so he leftAntonia and Cai hard at work. Cai was lucky enough to find an enormous clear plastic bag that they used to collect the litter in.
    “Lucky on two counts,” said Antonia. “A dolphin could suffocate in that.” She shuddered, thinking of her dolphin friend Bubbles, Spirit’s inquisitive son. What if Bubbles had got his head stuck in the bag?
    “I wonder what the people were diving for?” asked Cai. “This isn’t just picnic waste—look.” He held up a soggy sheet of plastic with a label stuck to one side. “
The Stretchy Strap, secures your torch to your arm for hands-free diving
. And there’s this,” Cai reached out and pulled another plastic bag towards him. “
Dive Bag, made from heavy-duty poly…
” Cai squinted at the label. “I can’t read that bit, but it goes on tosay that the bag is perfect for bringing diving finds to the surface.”
    “Weird,” Antonia agreed. “It’s not like there are any wrecked boats around here. I wonder what they were collecting.”
    A light breeze came from nowhere, ruffling the sea’s surface and sweeping Antonia’s hair across her face. She pushed it away, shivering as a bad feeling suddenly came over her.
    “What’s up?” asked Cai. “You’re whiter than a ghost.”
    “Nothing.” Antonia shook the feeling away.
    “Oh!” she