5 To Strapkelp

Jake kept swimming. Had a Bloodfin caught Cal? He wanted to go back, but instinct drew him to the surface. At least there it was, shimmering and shifting above. Jake stopped short, exhausted, treading water. He realized he had a choice. "She said I've got breath for seven tides," he told himself. He didn't;t have to go back up there, he could stay underwater. Jake's body ached to be safe in his boat. But there was no boat anymore.

Thud!

Something heavy smashed into his side. Jake spun round. Wheeling beyond him was the undulating kite shape of a manta yay - a giant, bigger than his boat - and lying on its back, hitching a ride, was Cal. She held on to the rim of its wing, hair streaming behind as if she was flying. Jake laughed with relief. Bloodfin! What a bonehead!

The ray doubled back and came up slowly behind him. "Where were you?" shouted Cal, beckoning him to reach the other wing. Jake stretched out, just managing to grab hold, and with a gentle heave the ray glided off through the water, quickly gathering speed. Jake held tight. The ripple of the ray's powerful wing rolled him from side to side. It soared through the water, banked, then dived to skim low across the seabed before rising once more. It's showing off, he thought. Cal took one hand away and swung recklessly. Jake knew she was daring him to do the same, but he was gripping so hard his hands were numb. He couldn't let go.

A shoal of whiting darted out of their path and took shelter in the tentacles of a jellyfish. Jake spotted a big bass that turned away with a pout. Beneath them the seabed spread like a fantastic garden, blooming with starfish, sea fans and anemones. Everywhere crabs and fish skittered away from the ray's shadow. Jake had spent many hour staring down into the water from his boat but he'd never imagined anything as beautiful as this lay beneath the surface.

Before long his arm began to ache. Cal laid her face against the ray's head and stroked it with her cheek. The ray sewed. Cal pointed to an outcrop of rocks where shafts of bright water danced through silky seaweed. As they drew close she let go and slipped off the ray's wing. Jake was relived to relax his grip. He stroke the ray's back gratefully and sank onto the sandbank next to Cal.

Cal looked around, listening keenly for any sight or sound of the Bloodfin. She had no idea about what they were doing but she'd tasted menace in the water around them. And they thad mentioned others. How many? How close? The ray circled wide above them. He was some comfort, though Cal, but a ray couldn't out swim a marlin, especially with them on. his back.

Jake pushed a mound of sand beneath his foot to relieve the pressure on his throbbing ankle. "How much further?" he asked.

Cal looked at the wound - it had swollen up like a puffer fish. She tried to hide her fears. "We must eat - it will keep you strong." Jake nodded. She pulled a tuft of red seaweed from the rocks and handed him a fistful. Then she rummaged among the anemones until she found some pale green finger-like tubes.

"Sea squirts." She handed him one. Jake looked at it. Lil had occasionally brought home something strange to go into the cooking pot but he'd never seen anything like this.

"Go on, try it." Cal gave him a nudge. Reluctantly Jake took a bite. The texture was soft and rubbery, the taste slightly sweet. Not as good as squid, he thought to himself after the third one, but not bad either. The seaweed was salty and strong. Jake was surprised to find he like it. It was an odd sensation eating underwater. At first Jake thought he would choke, but when he tried not to think how it worked he found he could swallow naturally. soon, with Cal's help, he was picking off kelp and sea squirts as if he'd been eating them all his life. He even praised open a green urchin, although after a lot of work there didn't seem much to eat inside. Cal showed him how to pluck a quill from a spiny fish and winkle out mollusks, and how to suck the fruity juice from plump, plant-like creatures she called bursters.

"What about his?" Jake spotted a round, orange sponge. He stretched out towards it but the sponge rocked away. A wave of pain shot Jake's thigh.

He rolled in the sand, clutching his leg. The surprised sea orange bobbed up to reveal a startled hermit crab beneath.

"Let me see," said Cal. "I don't think you'll make it all the way home like that." She rubbed the fingertips of one hand over the webs of other, back and forth, thoughtfully. It was too dangerous to leave him, wounded and weak. They had to get out of open water as soon as possible in case they met the Bloodfin.

"In Strapkelp forest, on the other side of this bank, there's a healer called Orcara," Cal said. "Maybe she has weeds to heal your leg. I can take you there but I can't stay. Whatever the bloodfin are doing in our waters my father and the pod must know."

Jake didn't like the sound of that. I'm completely dependent on her, he thought. I've got no idea where I am - how far from land, even how deep. I can't swim and my boat is wrecked. He was determined not to be separated from her.

"You don't have to leave me anywhere. I can make it," he said.

"Says who!" retorted Cal.

For the first time Jake looked her straight in the eye. Eyes clear as gemstones. He knew she was right. "Now watch!" Cal moved to a clearing and begin to swim in a circle, tipping her tail to create a rhythm in the water. Jake felt the powerful pull but he was not the only one. In a moment the manta ray appeared, gliding towards them. "You called it!" cried Jake. "Him." Cal was pleased that Jake was impressed. "Skimmer. He's mine. Thought he doesn't always come when he's called. Like me, I supposed!"

Jake lay once more on the ray's back and rested his cheek on it's smooth skin, just as he'd seen Cal do. He felt the gentle creature's patient trust. "I wish I understood anything at all about this place," he sighed to himself, "or even what is going to happen next."

Skimmer took Jake and Cal, slowly this time, towards a low ridge that rose before them. Jake's mind drifted, as the pain become more intense. His eyes grew heavy. His body wanted to give in to the rocking motion of the ray's wing. Cal stretched across and held him. Skimmer reached the ridge. Without warning he nose-dive down the other side into deep water, as if soaring over a cliff edge and plummeting into empty sky. Jake came to with a start and dug his fingers into the ray's flesh. The water grew cold and dim as they descended. Jake strained to see any distance. Skimmer level-led out and slowed once more. Before them speeds a dark forest of towering kelp: its thick, scrappy fronds stretching a hundred feet high towards the distant light above. A multitude of fish slipped in and out of its forbidding depths."She's not going to take me in there," Jake said to himself. He summoned all of his remaining strength to resist. But Cal pulled him off Skimmer's wing and took his arm across her shoulder. Once more she looked him in the eye, sternly this time.

"You've got to trust me, Jake." What a wounding flash she remembered her father saying almost the same words the her that morning.

Jake hooded weakly. Trust her, he thought. I've got no choice! He limped toward, and Cal led him into the forest.