Dolphin Way: Rise of the Guardians Read Online Free PDF

through the surf of the beach. As they stranded among the waves they were at last free of the terrible, mind shattering pulses and they flopped about in confusion. The retreating sea left them there as Senx rose in the sky, pouring his burning heat onto their backs. Heat like he’d never experienced — the sea had always caressed it aside before.
    He’d tried to talk to his mother in his childlike way but he never knew if she’d heard him. She’d tried to smile with her eyes but he saw hints of a strange, disturbing terror there. He remembered watching her blowhole open and close, taking reassurance in that even when the bright light of intelligence began to fade from her eye. As Senx reached his zenith and the heat grew beyond all endurance, the bodies around him fell still one by one. He’d still thought that everything would be alright, that father would come and help them back into the sea; make life go back to normal. Then he noticed that his mother had stopped breathing. Her sand coated eye stared blankly through him and for the first time in his short life he found that it was possible to be completely alone.
    Then there was nothing for a long time; mind drifting, body crushed, the bright, merciless eye of Senx burning into his own. Then they came to him, or he thought they had. Maybe he just dreamed them. Moving upright with apparent ease, in spite of the oppressive weight of gravity. And making complex sounds to one another — almost as though they were talking. Strange others who caressed him reassuringly and looked into his eyes with compassion. The sand harsh against his belly as they pushed him back into the waves. He’d tried to swim onto the beach again to be with his mother. There was nowhere else for him to go in Ocean. But they must have pushed him back into the water with their gentle insistence. Back into a world of solitude that seemed more frightening to a young child than that beach of death…
    ‘ Wake up Sky!’
    After a long moment’s confusion he opened his eyes gratefully to see Muddy’s concerned face peering at him in the half light of the pre dawn greyness. ‘I was dreaming…’
    ‘ I gathered that. The same dream I suppose?’
    ‘ Yes — the beach…I wish I could get it out of my head.’
    ‘ You probably never will. For that kind of thing to happen to a little kid — losing your parents, your brother — it must have been a huge shock.’
    ‘ But I don’t really remember much about it; how I got off the beach, how long I was alone, how I survived…’
    Muddy tipped his head in a shrug. ‘Well it’s no secret how you were found. One of our hunting parties came across you half dead in the shallows, right? Silent Waters can tell you all about that.’
    ‘ Yes, she has of course, lots of times. I think I mean more why I survived. Why I survived, not the others.’
    ‘ Don’t start getting all morbid this early in the day. Come on, let’s find something to eat, that’ll take your mind off it.’
    Sky smiled to himself. Eating was Muddy’s solution to a wide range of problems. He followed the broad form of his friend across the bay. Below them, the familiar expanse of rippled, shallow sand fell gently away. A slender garfish darted off in panic above them as they approached; its shining silver body blending perfectly with the underside of the surface. They ignored it, looking for a meal that would be easier to catch and more palatable. Occasional pale fan worms snapped their delicate circle of arms down into the sand as the dolphins passed above them, then slowly re-emerged once they were well past. The rising sun coloured the rolling dunes behind the shoreline a warm pink, in striking contrast to the deep blue of the sea. They surprised a small group of cuttlefish in the open and Muddy snatched two before the rest jetted off from sight.
    Muddy muttered a belated thank you to Senx before turning to Sky again. ‘What’s the matter, not hungry? They’re delicious —