Free Maddy's Dolphin by Imogen Tovey

their home, Ishbel was there and asked what had happened. CJ jumped out of the boat and gave her a big hug, while Jorgos lifted Maddy out of the boat on to the pebble beach.
    As Jorgos took the boat out to sea again to take it around to the dock, CJ and Maddy sat on the beach on either side of Ishbel. Maddy still wasn’t talking, so they sat there for a while until she started responding. They then made their way home in silence.

The Search
    Ishbel drove Maddy and CJ to the lake; they were all worried about Indigo. Maddy’s bike hadn’t been repaired yet and Ishbel didn’t want them going off on their own anyway. Maddy was still quiet, although she had rejoined the world. Ishbel had packed some food and her book. They had left straight after breakfast, which was an early breakfast as Maddy and CJ hadn’t bothered with their morning swim. There was no point without Indigo.
    It was another lovely day. The sun was out and the day was hot already. They turned left on reaching the lake and drove around towards the sea entrance. Two dolphins jumped in unison as they came to a stop in the car and, on closer inspection, there were six dolphins in the water. Maddy raced out and straight into the water, closely followed by CJ.
    Ishbel stood and watched as her children swam up to the dolphins and then trod water, stroking one of them. It was Indigo; she could tell by his dorsal fin, he had a nick out of it right at the top. Indigo nuzzled in to both Maddy and CJ, then rolled onto his back, exposing his belly to them. All three then swam off, surface diving under the water. It never ceased to amaze her how well they could swim, it was beautiful to watch. She gave them ten minutes then, taking off her T-shirt, she went in to join them.
    Since Maddy had been a baby, Ishbel too had known Indigo, and she frequently had a swim with him. She swam up to Indigo, who greeted her with a nodding of his head and a snort.
    Indigo was feeling much better, but he was still sore and stiff and his movements were limited. Even moving his fluke, which most people refer to as a tail, though he prefers fluke, was painful. Since dolphins propel themselves through the water by moving their tails, he wasn’t moving very far or very fast. Had Indigo been out at sea on his own without the other dolphins to help him by catching him fish, then he would have been in real trouble.
    The other dolphins had backed off to a distance and watched Indigo swim with the humans. They were curious and would have joined in had the circumstances been different, but they felt that Indigo needed some time alone with his human pod. They were part of the pod that had come to help him yesterday. They had helped him through into the lake and stayed with him all night. He had needed help for the first few hours to keep afloat, and they had forced him to eat some fish so that he had kept up his strength. The rest of their pod had stayed outside in the sea and waited for Stone, Star and Riddle to get back. Lunar waited with them for news of Lucy.
    Ishbel got out of the water and started sunbathing. Maddy and CJ got out too and sat on a rock, which was raised up just out of the water, as they discussed with Indigo what had happened since they had seen each other last.
    It had been a busy night for Maddy and CJ. No sooner had they got home than men from the American security service had turned up asking questions; then the Greek police, and then James had turned up. It was like a train station and everyone was asking the same questions over and over again.
    It had taken a while for Ishbel to understand exactly what had happened. She couldn’t believe that Lucy was the President’s daughter. No one had told her. What had her children been doing playing with the daughter of the President of the US and why hadn’t they told her? If she was his daughter, shouldn’t she have had a bodyguard when they went on the picnic to the castle? When she was told that