Dolphin's Grace by Maggie Marks

Author:Maggie Marks
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781510747425
Publisher: Sky Pony
Published: 2019-12-11T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

As Mason pulled himself out of the water onto a rock, he felt as if his body weighed a thousand pounds.

The first thing he did was pick his way across the rocks toward the rowboat. Had Asher been in the boat? Mason searched for clues, but the hull was empty. As he slid the paddle sideways, a silverfish scuttled out and disappeared over the boat’s edge. Mason grimaced and dropped the paddle back down.

Then he glanced up at the steep shoreline. If Asher is here, he must have made his way up. Mason began to climb, hand over hand. But his foot slipped on the wet rocks, tugging him downward again.

Was Luna following? He turned to find her.

Luna sat on a rock below, shading her eyes against the setting sun. “Where are the dolphins?” she asked.

Mason shrugged. “They can’t follow us here.” For just a moment, he wondered if he and Luna were taking the right path. The dolphins couldn’t have led Asher to buried treasure on this rocky shoreline, could they? He hesitated.

“There—I see them!” Luna pointed at the trio of fins flitting through the waves just off shore.

A turquoise head poked out of the water, and Squeaky chattered a greeting. Or was it a goodbye?

Then something else sailed out of the water. It arced through the air and landed on the rocks with a clatter.

“What is it?” Luna asked, picking her away across the rocks toward the object.

Mason already knew what she would find. “My compass!” he cried. “Slugger gave it back.” Maybe because he knows we’ll need it, he thought to himself. Maybe it was a sign—a sign that they were on the right path toward finding Asher.

As soon as Luna retrieved the compass, Mason began climbing again. Asher was close by—he could feel it! And that gave him the energy to pull with his arms and push off with his legs, to climb the wall that seemed to go straight up. Up, up, up …

He reached the top just as the sun sank below the horizon. A breeze ruffled his hair as he lifted his head over the rocky edge. What would he find? Another mountain to climb?

Mason was relieved to see flat shoreline extending into the shadows ahead—a field of gray gravel and rock. With one last heave, he pulled himself up and then rolled away from the edge.

“Can I get a hand?” Luna called from below.

Mason sighed and sat up, leaning down to help his friend. He gripped her hand and pulled until she joined him on the gravel ledge. She held her stomach, trying to catch her breath.

“Do you think Asher made that climb alone?” she asked, voicing what Mason had been thinking.

“If he knew there was buried treasure at the top, he’d scale that wall in a flash,” Mason said.

Luna grinned. “True.” She studied the mountains. “But where’d he go next?”

Mason cupped his mouth and hollered. “Asher!” His brother’s name bounced off the snow-capped mountaintops and circled right back. Ash-er! Ash-er! Ash-er!

A sudden gust of wind blew across the gravel beach, spraying tiny stones.

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