Drake Sisters 03 - Oceans of Fire

Kiwi in.” She took a last look around the cliffs and out to sea, searching for a boat that might be concealed in the rocks and ensuring there were no spectators. She lifted her arm and made a small circling motion and then brought her hand back toward her as she repeated a strange high-pitched whistle. “Kiwi is coming in.”
    The large male dolphin swam into the shallows, until he was in about a foot of water. Abigail waded the rest of the way out to him. Joley held her breath. The dolphin was enormous up close and very powerful looking. Abigail talked soothingly and ran her hands over the dolphin while she examined the wound.
    “How bad, Abbey?” Joley called. She had a clear view of the dolphin’s eye. It was definitely intelligent and seemed to be nervous as it watched Joley. “It doesn’t like me here, does it?”
    Abbey rolled the animal gently in the surf to get a better angle on the wound. “It’s not that. He feels very vulnerable. They seem to be able to know when we all join together so I doubt he’s upset that you’re here. I’ve been trying to figure out how the dolphins know when we reach out to one another.”
    “Energy? We can feel the energy, maybe they can.”
    “Maybe,” Abigail mused. “Kiwi’s wounds aren’t too bad, but he’ll need the antibiotics I brought. The bullet shaved the skin off my back and shoulders, and Kiwi’s wound seems much like mine. We were both lucky.”
    “Libby will want to take a look at you this morning, Abbey. She isn’t going to leave your treatment to a paramedic.”
    “I don’t want her to waste her strength on me. It hurts a bit, but nothing I can’t handle. My leg is worse.”
    “Did a shark really bite you?”
    “No! Of course not, and it wasn’t an attack.” Abbey quickly opened her bag and dragged out a thick salve and a bottle of pills. “A shark has rough skin and I think he just raked me as he made a pass.”
    Joley made a face. “Don’t talk about it. I’m always afraid when you go swimming with the dolphins. I used to have nightmares about some sea creature dragging you down into a watery grave.”
    “Really?” Abbey laughed. “I’ve always loved the sea and found it a wonderful fantasy land. It’s interesting and different every single day. I like that there’s an aspect of danger and I have to be alert all the time.”
    “Abbey, what are you doing?” Joley watched as her sister smeared a thick paste over the wound and then crouched down in the water near the dolphin’s head.
    “I’ll have to treat him several times to make certain this doesn’t get infected. Joley, it’s important you don’t repeat the hand signals I used to call him to me, or the whistles and chirps. He trusts me, but if that trust were broken, I wouldn’t be able to have any kind of a working relationship with him or a Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    friendship.”
    “I’m not about to break the code of silence,” Joley said, “but I have to object to you putting your hand in that dolphin’s mouth. It has more teeth than a shark.” Alarm spread fast as she watched Abigail’s hand disappear into the open mouth. “What are you doing?”
    “Giving him antibiotics orally. He needs a combination. Don’t worry.”
    “Please take your hand out of there before I flip out and scream or something equally sissy lala. You’re really scaring me, Abbey. I’d rather have the Russian hit man try something.”
    “He’s being so trusting and good,” Abigail said. “Aren’t you, Kiwi?” She signaled to him that she was finished. “He’s such a steady dolphin. They’re all different. Some of them are much more nervous and high-strung. I’m sending him back out to sea, but most likely they’ll stay in the shallows. I just don’t want anyone noticing and bothering them. Kids can be silly and sometimes cruel. I’d be really upset if someone threw sticks in their blowholes. It’s happened in some of the places I’ve been and I can’t seem to control my temper.”
    Joley laughed softly. “You wouldn’t have to worry. If you told Hannah, they’d only do it the one time and she’d do something spectacular to teach them a lesson. Word is, Sylvia has this recurring rash on the left side of her face. It shows up in the form of a handprint every time she flirts.”
    Abigail rolled her eyes. “Didn’t Hannah remove that?”
    “She says only Sylvia can by doing the ‘right’