Chapter Six

By mid-morning the town was buzzing with the story of the rescue. Everyone seemed to have heard about the dolphins, and there were all kinds of rumours about who the man they had saved might be. Lizzy went to the beach, hoping that Arhans might appear, but there was no sign, and the lifeguards warned her not to go in the sea because of the rough waves and dangerous swell.

Mum had been working at the hospital again, and when she came home late that afternoon she had more news of the French crew.

‘The man who was pulled out of the sea’s going to be all right,’ she told them. ‘But he really is a mystery man. Apparently the skipper said he isn’t one of their regular crew and all he knows about him is his name. But that’s odd too, because his name’s Kernewek which just means “Cornish” in the old Cornish language.’

‘Sounds as if he didn’t want them to know his real identity,’ said Dad.

Rose grinned. ‘Maybe he’s committed a huge fraud or something, and he’s on the run from the French police.’

‘Maybe, though he doesn’t look the type,’ said Mum.

‘Oh, well, I expect our police may want to talk to him,’ said Dad. ‘Has he regained consciousness yet?’

‘Yes, but he’s not making much sense I was talking to the ward sister earlier, and she told me that he just keeps repeating the same thing over and over again. It’s a funny word; now, what was it…?’ Mum frowned, thinking. ‘Oh, yes: “Tegenn”. Something like that, anyway.’

Dad shook his head. ‘Never heard anything like it before.’

‘Nor me,’ Rose added.

No one was looking at Lizzy. But she felt as if her insides had suddenly frozen up and locked solid. Tegenn…

It was the name that her real parents had given her when she was born under the sea.

By the following morning Lizzy was so pent-up that she thought she might snap in half. She was desperate to find out more about the stranger in the hospital, but she couldn’t question Mum without making her suspicious. Besides, Mum had already told the family what little she knew and, to make matters worse, she wasn’t working today. Short of going to the hospital herself – which was out of the question, of course – there was nothing Lizzy could do.

She spent the day roaming the beach and the coast path, hoping that she would see the dolphins. She ached to tell Arhans what was happening, and to ask her what had happened on the night of the rescue. She was frantic, too, for any news of Kes and Morvyr. But none of the dolphins appeared. And, even if they had, Lizzy reminded herself miserably, she hadn’t learned their speech yet and wouldn’t understand much of what they told her. Though the thought was almost more than she could bear, she would just have to wait until Mum went back to work and brought home more news.

But, when news did come, it wasn’t Mum who brought it. Rose had been out with Paul all afternoon, and arrived home just after tea. It was Lizzy’s turn to wash the dishes; Dad was drying for her and they both looked up as Rose came into the kitchen.

‘Hi, slaves,’ said Rose cheerfully.

‘Cheek!’ Dad flipped the tea towel at her. ‘Have a nice afternoon?’

‘Yeah, cool. Oh, by the way, something really random, you know that guy –’

Mum came in from the garden at that moment. ‘What guy?’ she asked curiously. ‘What’s all this?’

Dad grinned. ‘We were just about to find out. Sounds to me like Rose has got herself two boyfriends, instead of just one!’

‘Oh, shut up, Dad!’ Rose snorted. ‘I’ve been round at Paul’s, and something really cool’s happened. The guy from the trawler, who’s in hospital – he isn’t French, he’s from round here, and Paul’s dad knows him!’

Lizzy froze with the soapy sponge in one hand and a plate in the other. Her face was a study in shock, but Rose didn’t notice.

‘Apparently he was much better this morning, and said he lived here years ago, so they asked him if there were people who’d remember him, and he gave them some names, and one of them was Jeff Treleaven. They used to be best mates! So the hospital rang Paul’s dad, and he went in and saw the guy, and it is his old mate! What are the chances of that?’

Mum said, ‘Pretty small, I should think,’ and Dad added, ‘What a coincidence!’

‘Yeah – and he got rescued by the lifeboat from his old home town,’ Rose added. ‘I mean, talk about weird?’

Still Lizzy stared and said nothing.

Rose had more to tell. ‘Anyway, they’re letting him out of hospital tomorrow. The police and coastguards’ll want to talk to him, but it’s just routine stuff; he hasn’t committed a crime or anything. He’s got nowhere to go so he’s going to stay at Paul’s place till he gets sorted.’

Dad whistled. ‘Well, what an extraordinary turn-up!’ he said. ‘So, what’s this long-lost friend’s name?’

‘He’s called Jack,’ said Rose. ‘Jack Carrick.’

The crash made them all jump, and they stared at the shattered plate, which lay on the floor surrounded by a starburst of soap suds.

‘Lizzy!’ Mum scolded.

‘S-sorry, Mum…’ Lizzy’s face had turned pale. ‘It just – slipped.’

‘Well, do try to be more careful, love. You’d better get a dry cloth and wipe the floor, while I pick up the pieces.’

Because everyone was distracted by the accident, Lizzy managed to hide her shock from the rest of the family. In fact, though, she was shaking like a jelly. She had hardly dared believe it, but it had to be true. The shipwrecked man must be her real father – and from tomorrow he would be staying at the Treleavens’ house! She had to see him. She had to talk to him. She just had to!

Mum was asking Rose more about Jack Carrick, but Lizzy couldn’t take in what they were saying. Her mind was spinning with thoughts, plans, ideas, hopes – somehow she finished the washing up without breaking anything else and, as soon as she could, she escaped to her room. There, she grabbed her shell and pressed it to her ear. All she could hear was the familiar, sea-like whooshing. There was no sense of Kes’s or the dolphins’ presence, and after a minute or so she gave up trying, put the shell back and went to the window, where she sat and looked out over the rooftops. The storm clouds had cleared away and the sun was shining again, but the sea still looked restless and dangerous. There were choppy white wave crests in the bay beyond the harbour; if the dolphins were there, it would be impossible to pick them out from this distance. She could go to the beach again, but what was the point? She’d spent half the day searching for Arhans, but Arhans simply wasn’t there. All she could do was try again tomorrow, and until then she would just have to be patient.

That, though, was going to be the hardest thing in the world.