Curse Of Wexkia by Dale Furse

distinctive. Yes, it was definitely a dwarf minke.
    She floated alongside Cay-meka, and as she took her hand, she thought,
‘I’ve never swum this well before.’
    ‘It’s all in the genes.’
Cay-meka giggled.
    Nell thought her cousin had a much nicer personality under water.
    ‘Hey! I can hear you.’
    ‘It was a compliment. How do you like our world?’
    ‘It is the most beautiful world in the universe, I’m sure. I could spend the rest of my life here. Only your crustaceans are somewhat similar to ours on Linque.’
    Dar-seldra approached Nell.
‘Now try with Sam,’
she said.
    Dar-seldra must have already informed Sam. Although Nell wasn’t sure about the experiment, she felt a lot braver than Sam looked. She grabbed his hand.
‘Huh! Got you.’
    After quickly closing his eyes, he just as quickly opened them, his relief clearly evident.
    He said.
‘This is so great. I can’t believe it. I’m talking to you telepathically and I’m swimming with all these fish and things. And they’re letting me and—.’
He pointed above them.
‘Look! A salty.’
    She followed his eyes. A large salt-water crocodile was circling above them.
    ‘I know it won’t hurt you, but we both know crocodiles have killed humans before. And remember, I’m human.’
    ‘It can’t hurt you, silly. My aura’s protecting you.’
    The crocodile dived. She was convinced it didn’t intend to get too close as it circled them. His broad snout opened in what looked like a wide grin. The scales, more like thick, tough skin, reminded her of Kandar.
    Cay-meka spotted it and swam closer, but every time she came within touching distance, the crocodile moved sedately out of her reach. She soon gave up when a stingray provoked her attention.
    Nell looked at the crocodile and wondered if it was the same one. Yes. Black orbs studied her. It was definitely the same one and it appeared to have sought her out. As he swam past, his tail glided closer. She kicked forward and touched the tip.
    The crocodile hiss-growled and a sense of foreboding swept through Nell. With a whoosh of his great tail, he surfaced and sped away.
    ‘Aura or no, I’m glad it’s gone. There was something weird about the salty’s eyes. They were all wrong. ‘
    She couldn’t respond as he pulled her towards a sleepy green sea turtle. All she could think about was the feeling of danger.
    ‘Danger? Sea turtles aren’t dangerous,’
snorted Sam.
    She quickly shut off her mind. Why didn’t the crocodile talk to her? He was thinking about danger. But what danger? The whole cape was covered in some sort of magical protection. She rubbed the side of her head and looked around. They were deep, probably too deep for any normal human. Maybe the croc meant their time is limited in the water. Maybe it was time to go back.

CHAPTER 8
    D ar-seldra touched Sam and Nell in turn and said they had to return to the beach.
    Nell closed her eyes in relief. Their time was up. Even phibs can’t stay under water indefinitely. That was the sense of danger she got from her croc. She would never have known that she couldn’t stay under water forever if her first swim was by herself. Of course, if she was alone, she would have realised she was running out of air but she might have been too deep to make it to the surface.
    They followed Dar-seldra and Cay-meka over the sea grasses and corals of the inter-reef to the shore.
    Sam let go of Nell’s hand as he broke the surface and clumsily made his way to the sandy shore. ‘That was great,’ he said, as he collected his shoes. ‘I hope we can go again before uni starts.’
    Amazed her dress was already dry, Nell touched the other dresses. ‘Wow, what great material.’ She gave a little laugh at Sam’s water laden clothes as he trudged through the sand, and ran to catch up to him.
    Dar-seldra called after them, ‘The dark is coming. We must go inside.’
    ‘Don’t worry,’ Sam said, walking backwards. ‘This place is lit up like a Christmas