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Her throat pulsed with fear – what was it? She hadn’t heard anything moving. It touch her again, nudging her with its nose like a dog.
Only then did she recognise it, realise what it was that had silently stolen up on her. A dolphin. It was a dolphin.
The silky, bluish silvery skin was cool to the touch. She leant her head towards it and pushed her cheek into it, delighted to have company. It swam closer, curving against her, supporting her, almost as if it understood her predicament.
Suddenly it lowered its head beneath the sea; she felt a strange vibration from it – what was it doing?
Ten minutes later another dolphin swam towards them; the two of them touched noses, blowing into each other, made funny little chuckling noises – were they talking to each other? she wondered.
The second dolphin swam to the other side of her, pushing into her, supporting her, so that she was sandwiched between them, and the strain of trying to stay afloat eased.
The dolphins began to move, taking her with them. Miranda flicked her ankles lightly to keep abreast of them. She could see nothing but sea and sky. Where were they taking her?
She tried to remember everything she had ever heard of dolphins, but could only remember that they were not fish, they were mammals, marine mammals.
It was easy to believe; under the sleek blue and silver skin she felt the pulse of warmth, of blood moving in veins. Her body responded to theirs as if they were human, too.
Some people believed they had a language, could communicate with each other, she remembered.
Had that been what the first dolphin had been doing when he made the water vibrate? Had he been calling for help?
They were believed to like human beings, to enjoy human company – and hadn’t Charles told her on that first day, when dolphins swam round the boat as they were sailing from Piraeus, that they had rescued people from the sea before?
Moving with them, between them, she thought how elegant they were, their bodies sleekly adapted for moving in their watery environment.
Their round, rather mischievous eyes were almost human in their expressions and when they opened their long mouths in a gr
in she couldn’t help laughing back.
Having their company made the whole world look different, gave her hope. She pushed away the painful thoughts of Alex. He had betrayed her, but the dolphins healed the wound of that memory.
She almost fell asleep, so tired it was hard to keep awake. To help herself stay alert she lifted her head and gazed about her.
Was she imagining it, or was that a coastline she could see? Above the waves it ran like a rippling yellow line, coming closer all the time. A beach? Was that where the dolphins were taking her?
A sound cut through wind and waves – an engine? Was it an engine? Was there a boat coming?
She raised herself again, staring in the direction from which the noise came, and saw a yellow boat’s prow cutting through the water, churning up white, marbled spray.
They might sail past without even noticing her. Desperately she lifted her head even higher, hoping they would see her.
The engine cut and the boat slowed; the dolphins stopped moving forward and waited, tails lightly flicking. Somebody in a yellow life-jacket leaned down, hands seized her shoulders, began to pull her firmly but gently upwards.
She bit back a cry of pain. Her skin was so sunburnt it hurt just to be touched on the shoulders.
Slithering over the side of the boat she fell into a man’s arms and looked up into Neil Maddrell’s face.
‘Neil!’ she hoarsely said, almost surprised to find her voice still worked. ‘Oh, thank you, thank you.’
‘Who the hell did this to you? Did you see? Did you recognise them?’ He was undoing her ankles.
‘Greeks, I’d never seen them before.’ She tried to stand up but her legs crumpled underneath her. ‘Must thank the dolphins . . . they saved my life.’
Neil picked her up gently, her head against his shoulder, her legs dangling.
‘Yes, we saw – that was what made us look, the dolphins – and then we saw you, between them. Amazing; I’d never have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself. You do hear these stories about their superintelligence, people say they do these things, but it seems so incredible, doesn’t it?’
‘They were marvellous,’ she said as he carried her to the side of the boat to look down into the water from which she had only just escaped.
