Chapter Three

Despite his size the giant eel moved very swiftly, and at first Lizzy thought she was going to be left far behind. But after a minute or so he looked back, saw her and slowed down to wait for her.

‘I am sorry,’ he said as she caught up. ‘I had forgotten that you have lived on land for many years and are not yet used to the sea.’

Lizzy smiled at him. ‘I’m learning fast.’

‘So I see. Your father will be proud.’ He swam on, but more slowly, and Lizzy kept pace beside him. They seemed to be heading out to sea rather than along the coast, and she wondered where he was leading her and how long it would take to get there. She was beginning to feel nervous, for she had never ventured this far out before. The water was colder than she was used to, the current stronger and the sunlight didn’t seem to reach so far down, so that the colours around her were strange and dark and just a little menacing. She asked how much further they had to go, but the eel didn’t seem to hear. He was forging ahead again, and as he swam he frequently turned his head from side to side, as if he were watching for something.

Lizzy didn’t see or hear the intruders approaching. The first she knew of it was when the eel suddenly coiled and turned, swirling the water around him, and uttered a furious hiss.

‘What is it?’ Lizzy called.

Ignoring her, the eel hissed again. It was a terrifying sound, savage and cruel. His mouth opened, revealing his ferocious teeth – then above the sounds he was making Lizzy heard whistling cries, and five streamlined shapes appeared out of the murk. Dolphins – and the leading one had a line of silver along its back. They streaked towards Lizzy and the giant eel, and in relief Lizzy cried, ‘It’s Arhans! Don’t be afraid, eel! Arhans – Arhans, it’s all right! The eel’s a friend; he’s got news of my father!’

She hardly had time to finish before a backwash set her spinning as Arhans hurtled past and headed straight for the eel. His tail thrashed; he tried to dart out of the dolphin’s path, but he wasn’t quick enough and Arhans’s snout slammed into him, sending him reeling and twisting backwards.

‘Arhans!’ Lizzy screamed. ‘Stop, oh, stop it! He’s my friend!’

Arhans took no notice, and now the other dolphins joined the attack. They were all whistling shrilly. The eel snarled, his teeth snapping at them, and for some moments Lizzy could see nothing but churning water and flailing fins and tails. Then suddenly the eel broke free from the struggling group. He looked, once, in Lizzy’s direction, and his hideous face seemed to twist with fury and hatred before, with a flick of his powerful tail, he swam away at top speed. Two of the dolphins surged in pursuit, while the other three, with Arhans in the lead, came to Lizzy. Arhans was chittering urgently; the sounds she made seemed to form a word in Lizzy’s mind. Tullor, Tullor… It was something to do with the eel, Lizzy was sure. His name, maybe? If only she had learned more of the dolphins’ language!

‘He was trying to help me!’ she protested. ‘He was taking me to meet someone who knows where my father is!’

There was anger in Arhans’s answering whistle, and Lizzy felt as if she were saying, No, no, that’s wrong! The other dolphins nosed Lizzy anxiously as though making sure she wasn’t injured, and Arhans rubbed her face gently against Lizzy’s cheek. Though she couldn’t understand most of Arhans’s words, Lizzy began to realize what she meant. The eel wasn’t a friend at all, but had been trying to deceive her. Danger! Arhans seemed to be telling her. Great danger!

‘Danger to me?’ Lizzy was alarmed. ‘But why should that eel want to hurt me? Oh, if only Kes was here! Why didn’t he meet me like he promised?’

All three dolphins answered with a chorus of agitated noises. Danger again – but this time they weren’t talking about Lizzy. Kes and Morvyr were in danger too!

‘What kind of danger?’ Lizzy cried. ‘Where are they?’

Again she didn’t know exactly what Arhans replied, but she understood enough to get an idea of what had happened. Morvyr was afraid of something; she had gone into hiding and taken Kes with her. Whatever happened, Lizzy must not try to find them. As she communicated this warning Arhans started to nudge at Lizzy, gently but very firmly. The others joined in, and she realized that they were trying to urge her back to the shore. They were saying it was dangerous for her to stay here. They were saying it was dangerous to visit the undersea world at all.

There were three of them, they were much stronger than she was and they were determined to make her do what they wanted. Though she desperately wanted to start searching for Kes and Morvyr, Lizzy had no choice, and went with them. They surfaced near the lighthouse, out of sight of the beach. Lizzy climbed on to the rocks – it was an easy scramble from here to the top – and looked back at the three dolphins in the water.

‘I’ll be on the beach every morning,’ she said. ‘If there’s any news, anything at all, come and find me. Please, Arhans! Please!’

Arhans gave a clear, piercing whistle. Then, swiftly and smoothly, the dolphins dived under the water and were gone.

There was no one in the house when Lizzy got home. Mr Baxter was being shown round the college where he was to teach after the summer holidays. Mrs Baxter was a part-time administrator at the hospital in Truro, and this was one of her work days, and Rose was probably out with Paul.

Lizzy ran upstairs to her bedroom. On a shelf among her ornaments was a large, tapering spiral shell. Kes had given it to her the first time she had ventured under the sea, and he had told her that she could use it to communicate with him or with the dolphins when she was on land. ‘All you have to do is hold the shell to your ear, and we’ll be with you,’ he had said. Eagerly Lizzy snatched up the shell and put it to her ear. But though she could hear the hissing, roaring sounds of the sea, there was nothing else. No distant voice, no sense that anyone was there at all. Wherever Kes had gone, he either could not or dared not call to her. And she, in her turn, didn’t dare try to call to him.

She put the shell back on its shelf and went downstairs again, her feet dragging and her shoulders slumped. The house suddenly felt empty and lonely, and she would have given anything to have someone to talk to. But then she thought: if anyone had been here, what could she have said? Even Rose didn’t know her secret; she thought Kes was just an ordinary local boy. There was no one she could tell. No one she could share her worry with. All she could do was wait.