The lagoon glittered — a ring of emerald water wrapped around the coral castle, while the pod sang their splashy chorus deep below.
Splash swam along with her pod — clicks and whistles bubbling from every throat — until a flash of gold darted between the coral towers.
"Wait!" her fin seemed to say, as she peeled away and slipped through a narrow crack between two coral towers.
Inside the crevice, something small and green was stuck beneath a fallen branch of driftwood — a baby sea turtle, tapping its flippers in a worried rhythm.
She shoved the branch with her shoulder. It didn't budge. She butted it with her snout. Still stuck. She flicked her tail hard.
The turtle let out a soft click — worried, tired. Splash hovered close. She could not leave it here.
A school of silver fish zipped past — quick, shining, swirling. Splash's eyes lit up. An idea! She could use their current!
She whistled and twisted, steering the fish into a spinning ball. They hit the branch — crack! — over and over again, and at last it rolled free!
The turtle gave a slow, grateful flap — then Splash burst upward in a proud breach, her pod waiting with tails arched high in salute.
Together they glided home — pod and turtle, racing across the sun-warmed lagoon where the water shimmered like scattered coins.