Sea Magic (6 page)

The dolphin made a series of high-pitched squeaks and whistles and slapped her tail joyously on the water, sending up a white spray of foam. To Tim's joy, he could understand every word. She was saying: ‘So you want a ride, landlubber?'

‘Yes, please!' Tim slid into the sea and tentatively gripped Delphina's dorsal fin.

‘Better hold on tight!' the dolphin cried.

Tim gasped as Delphina raced through the waves. White foam gushed against his face. The dolphin swerved and leapt, and Tim laughed out loud.

Ben swam very slowly up to the dark belly of the submarine. Despite all his care, the robot shark sensed his motion and turned and swam ponderously towards him, its eyes glowing electric blue. Ben's heart slammed hard against his ribs, but he forced himself to float motionless in the water, hidden in the shadow of the submarine. The robot shark paused, confused. It was so close Ben could have reached out and put his hand between its gleaming rows of teeth, but of course he didn't. He tried to pretend he was just some sea wrack, floating in the water.

Suddenly the Viperfish jumped backwards into the water, only metres away from where Ben was floating. The contraption he wore on his back shot out long
bursts of flame, and the scuba diver shot forward at incredible speed. Ben was so startled he could not help jerking away. At once the shark surged towards him. Ben did a quick feint, left, right, left, then ducked under the submarine's fin. He heard the clang as the shark's head crashed into the submarine's hull and grinned to himself, rather shakily. Once again he forced himself to stay still, though it was very hard not to thrash about in panic with the enormous robot shark swimming back and forth, back and forth, right underneath him.

Just when Ben thought he could not bear the suspense any longer, the dolphin came plunging through the waves, Tim clinging to her back. At once the shark turned and roared towards them at high speed. Delphina swerved and raced away, the shark right on her tail. Ben swam quickly to the surface and dragged himself out onto the deck of the submarine. He wriggled out of the mer-boy's tail, then looked anxiously after Tim. He could see Delphina racing through the
water, leaping and diving, with Tim crouched low on her back. The shark was right behind them, opening its steel jaws to seize the dolphin's tail. The Viperfish, meanwhile, was shooting towards the shore at immense speed, propelled by what looked like rocket boosters strapped to his back. Ben anxiously waved at Thomas, crouched behind Lookout Rock.

Thomas waved back, then switched on his remote control. A tiny speedboat raced across the water, bouncing on top of the waves. Strapped onto it was Meg's mermaid doll. With the sparkly green tail waving up and down, and the red hair streaming out behind, the doll did look remarkably like a fast and frenzied mermaid. Every time the boat hit a wave, it jerked the belt about the dolly's waist so that she said, ‘Mummy, Mummy,' over and over in a high, squeaky voice.

The shark turned at once and raced towards the remote-controlled mermaid, much to Tim's relief. He brought Delphina around in a big swerve, and cut across the shark's path just as it opened its jaws to swallow the little boat. Immediately the shark veered after Tim and the dolphin. Just as it seemed the shark would seize Delphina, the little mermaid-boat again scooted in front of its steel snout, bringing the robot shark around with a snap.

Thomas wrenched at the controls. The remote-controlled mermaid veered this way, then that way, put on an extra burst of speed, bounced off the crest of a wave and went flying into the mouth of the rock pools to beach safely on the sand. The shark, racing blindly after it, smashed headlong into the rocks. There was a loud bang, and the shark exploded into a ball of fire. A pair of shining steel jaws somersaulted one way, a triangular steel fin soared another way, and the rest just slid under the waves and disappeared.

Ben, meanwhile, had opened the hatch and climbed down into the submarine. It was dark and smelly down there, and giant tanks glowed greenly. Inside the tanks were hundreds of different types of animals – huge old turtles, writhing sea snakes, sea snails and seaslugs, splashing seals, thrashing dolphins and doe-eyed dugongs. In one tank sat a small, black-haired mermaid, crying sadly into her hands. Ben tapped on the glass and called softly, ‘Sami? I've come to rescue you.'

She looked up joyfully and pressed her face back against the glass. ‘Pull those levers over there. They open the tanks.' Her words came oddly through the water.

‘OK.' Ben hurried over and pushed the levers back, one by one. The bottom of all the tanks began
flying open, and the sea creatures fell down into the ocean beneath. At once they shot away from the submarine, heading into deep water. The snakes undulated like stripy ribbons, the turtles stretched out their long leathery necks and beat their great flippers, and the seals and dolphins arrowed away in silver
bursts of bubbles. Samandriel fell down with a splash, waved her hand at Ben in pure delight and swam swiftly away, hair floating out behind her like a mass of dark seaweed.

Ben pushed quite a few more buttons and levers. An alarm began to ring and a warning siren rang out. Ben grinned as water began gushing in from all sides. He dragged on his scaly skin and dived into one of the tanks. With a quick flick of his tail, he was gone.

While Ben had been sinking the submarine, Tim was racing for his life.

The explosion of the robot shark had brought the black-clad scuba diver to an abrupt halt. He stared blankly at the billows of black smoke, then spun round, looking for the culprit. As soon as he saw Tim, crouched on the dolphin's sleek back, he dragged out a spear gun and set off in grim pursuit, flames shooting out behind him.

Delphina dived, swerved, plunged and leapt, swift as any bird. Tim was almost thrown off a thousand times. He hung on desperately, head down against the lashing spray. Whenever he risked a look over his shoulder the Viperfish was just behind him, flying through the waves, his face covered by the menacing black mask.

Tim was beginning to feel tired. He did not know how much longer he could hang on. Delphina was slowing down too. Her dives were less dramatic, her leaps more lethargic. The Viperfish, though, kept powering along smoothly on his rocket boosters.

Tim remembered the witch's cauldron. He whistled to Delphina, who veered round and leapt right over the head of the surprised and chagrined Viperfish, who lost precious seconds wheeling round and re-starting his rocket boosters.

The headland came closer, glowing golden in a sudden ray of sun. Tim risked a look behind. The Viperfish was so close Tim could see his bristly chin and his sneer of triumph. He shot his spear gun at Tim, but Delphina dived deep between the waves. Rocks loomed up out of the dark, swirling water. Tim slipped off Delphina's back and groped forward till he found the mouth of the tunnel that led up to the witch's cauldron. Delphina nudged him with her nose, whistled farewell, then swam rapidly away.

Tim wriggled his way up, glad of the mer-magic that allowed him to breathe underwater for so long. It was hard work. The water sucked in and out of the tunnel at a great pace, dragging him back, then forcing him up. He banged his head and scraped his shoulders and knees countless times. At last, though,
he crept out of the witch's cauldron and clung, trembling with exhaustion, on its stone lip.