Dolphins at Daybreak (5 page)

Jack moved his arms slowly. He moved his legs slowly. He gently pushed the water out of his way as he did the breast stroke.

Calm
,
calm
, he told himself.

Annie swam beside him. They headed for the reef.

All was calm.

Then Jack saw something out of the corner of his eye.

A dark fin was zigzagging through the water. It was heading toward them.

Jack wanted to splash. He wanted to yell. But he remembered:
calm
.

I better not tell Annie
, he thought.
She'll stay calmer if she doesn't know
.

He began to swim faster—then faster. Annie went faster, too.

They both swam as fast, and as calmly, as they could.

Sometimes Annie went even faster than Jack, which made
him
swim faster. And faster.

Jack was so scared that he wasn't tired at all. He was swimming for his life—and for Annie's life, too.

He didn't look back to see if the shark was still there. He didn't want to know.

He just kept his eye on the tree house in the distance. And he kept swimming.

Jack and Annie swam and swam and swam.

It took forever for the tree house to get just a little closer.

Jack realized the reef was farther away than he had thought.

He kept swimming, but his arms and legs felt heavy.

Annie was struggling, too.

“Float!” she said. “Float!”

Jack and Annie turned onto their backs. They floated the way they had learned in swimming class.

We'll just rest for a minute
, Jack thought.
Then we'll keep going
.

But the more Jack floated, the more tired he felt. Soon he was too tired even to float. He started to sink.

Then he felt something.

His heart stopped. Something pushed at him in the water.

It was slippery and alive.

Had the hammerhead caught up with them
?

Jack shut his eyes and waited for the worst. He waited and waited. Finally, he opened his eyes.

In front of him was a shiny gray head—a dolphin's head!

The dolphin pushed Jack with its nose. It made happy clicking sounds.

“Hooray!” cried Annie.

Jack looked over at her.

She was clinging to the fin of another dolphin! Her dolphin was moving through the water.

Jack grabbed the fin of his dolphin.

Then the two dolphins swam smoothly through the water, pulling Jack and Annie toward the reef.

The sun shone on the ocean. It sparkled like a diamond.

Jack felt safe now. His dolphin was taking good care of him.

The dolphins slowed down as they neared the reef.

Jack lowered his feet. He felt the bumpy coral. He let go of the dolphin's fin and stood up in the water.

Annie stood, too.

Then she threw her arms around her dolphin
and gave her a big hug.

“Thank you, Sukie!” she cried. And she kissed the dolphin's nose.

Sukie tossed her head and clicked at Annie.

“Kiss Sam now!” Annie said to Jack.

“You're nuts,” said Jack.

But Sam nuzzled Jack's head. Then he put his flippers around Jack's neck.

Jack couldn't resist. He threw his arms around the dolphin and gave him a quick kiss.

Sam nodded and made clicking sounds like laughter. Then he turned to Sukie.

The two dolphins chattered to each other for a moment. They nodded at Jack and Annie and swam gracefully away.

“Bye, Sukie! Bye, Sam!” Annie shouted.

“Thanks!” Jack shouted.

The dolphins leapt high into the air. Then they dove back into the water with a SPLASH!

Jack and Annie laughed. “I wish we could swim like that,” said Jack.

Jack and Annie watched the dolphins until they disappeared.

“I miss them already,” Annie said softly.

“Me too,” said Jack.

He sat down in the shallow water.

“I'm really tired,” he said.

Annie sat beside him.

“Me too,” she said.

The warm water lapped around their shorts and T-shirts.

Jack pulled off his pack. He took out his glasses and put them on. They were blurry with water.

“Guess what,” said Annie.

“What?” said Jack.

“I saw the shark when we were swimming,” Annie said. “But I didn't tell you. I wanted you to stay calm.”

Jack stared at her. “I saw it, too. I just swam faster so you would swim faster.”

“And I swam faster so
you
would swim faster,” said Annie.

“I guess we swam double-fast then,” Jack said. He shook his head with wonder.

“What now?” said Annie.

“We go home,” said Jack.

“But we haven't solved Morgan's riddle yet,” said Annie.

Jack sighed.

He pulled his notebook out of his pack. It was soaked.

He pulled out the ocean book. It was soaked, too.

“We've failed,” he said. “My research is all wet. We'll never be Master Librarians now.”

Jack put everything away. “Let's go,” he said sadly.

He stood up. Then he started across the pink reef toward the tree house. Annie followed him.

“Ouch!” Annie said.

“What's wrong?” Jack looked back.

“I stepped on something.” Annie bent down to rub her foot.

“What?” said Jack. “A shell?”

“Yeah, this … ” She picked up a large gray shell. “Boy, is it rough. Rough and gray as a rock—”

“
And plain as plain can be!
” whispered
Jack. They had found the answer.

The shell looked like a clamshell—only bigger and with more ridges.

“How could
this
ugly shell be the answer to the riddle?” said Annie. “What about the part that says, ‘There's great beauty in me'?”

“Wait—research,” said Jack. He opened the soaked ocean book.

The pages were stuck together. But he was able to turn a few.

He found a picture of the gray shell. He read:

“It must have a pearl inside it!” said Jack.

Annie peered into the crack between the two halves of the shell. “I can't see anything,” she said. “How does a pearl get in there, anyway?”

Jack read aloud from the wet page:

“I can't tell if there's a pearl in there or not,” said Annie.

“Maybe we should bang it against a rock,” said Jack.

“Now that would
really
irritate
the oyster,” said Annie.

“Yeah.”

“Maybe we should just leave it alone,” said Annie.

She gently put the oyster back in the water.

“But how will we know if
oyster
is the right answer to the riddle?” said Jack.

“Morgan said we'll know,” said Annie. “Come on.”

Jack pushed his glasses into place. Then he and Annie picked up their shoes and socks.

They climbed through the window of the tree house.

Morgan's scroll was lying on the floor.

It was open.

“Look!” said Annie.

She and Jack stared at the scroll. The riddle had faded away.

In its place was one shimmering silver word:

“Morgan's magic,” whispered Annie.

Jack let out a huge sigh. “We got it right,” he said.

“And here's the Pennsylvania book,” said Annie. “Let's go home.”

She opened the book. She pointed to a picture of the Frog Creek woods.

“I wish we could go there!” she said.

The wind started to blow.

The tree house started to spin.

The wind blew harder and harder.

Then everything was still.

Absolutely still.

Dawn light slanted into the tree house.

No time at all had passed since they'd left. Day was breaking.

Jack rolled up the ancient scroll. He tucked it into the corner.

“We solved the first riddle,” he said. “Three more to go.”

“I don't see another scroll,” said Annie. “Maybe tomorrow we'll get the next riddle.”

“That's okay,” said Jack. “I think I need
to rest—and dry out.”

His T-shirt and shorts were still soaked. His backpack, too. Only his shoes and socks were dry.

“And this needs to dry out, too,” said Annie. She put the wet ocean book in a patch of sunlight.

Then Jack and Annie climbed down the ladder.

They walked through the woods, through leafy shadows and golden light.

They left the woods and started down their street.

“You know, we should have found the answer to the riddle right away,” said Jack. “The oyster was on the reef all along.”

“I know, but we wouldn't have had so much fun,” said Annie.