Marina zoomed in and clicked on one of the dots. “See this whale?”

The blue dot got larger and larger until it filled the screen completely.

“That’s White Beak.”

14

A Lucky Idea

Rio was so in shock he couldn’t even speak. All he could do was open and close his mouth like a fish.

“That’s her at the start of her migration off the coast of Vancouver in Canada,” said Marina. “Someone must have spotted her and taken a photo. That’s how we know it’s White Beak.” She pointed to another blue dot. “This one is her in San Francisco not that long ago.”

The feeling in Rio’s belly was as if someone had let off a firecracker and it was fizzing around his insides. Up until a few days ago, White Beak had been just a piece of paper. A drawing that had linked him to his mom while he was thousands of miles away from her.

But now, as Rio gazed at the screen, something shifted in his heart. Because it wasn’t just a blue dot. Or a piece of paper. It was a living, breathing whale. A whale who had once meant something very special to his mother.

White Beak had been the first whale his mom had ever seen, and he had witnessed from the photos in the museum just how happy this had made her. Not sad and depressed like she’d been when he’d left her in London. Not that version of his mom. The one who spent hours locked in her shell and sometimes did strange things. The other one. The one who smiled as if she had sunshine in her soul.

As he looked at the blue dot again, Rio realized he wasn’t just looking at a whale. He was looking at a far better way to save his mother.

Sending photos of different whales was a great idea, but this? This was perfect. Because surely if there was anything that could really help her, it would be White Beak. The most beautiful reminder of how happy she’d once been . . . and how happy she could be again.

It didn’t make much sense. Not on the surface anyway. The whole notion that sending photos of a specific whale would make a difference. But as soon as the idea was in Rio’s head, he couldn’t dislodge the image of his mom’s smile as she came face-to-face with White Beak once more. The way her eyes would light up! How she would beam!

There was only one problem. How on earth could he get photos of White Beak? He supposed he could take some off the database. That would . . .

Out of nowhere Marina started laughing. Not a horrible laugh, but a fat giggly one that was so infectious, Rio found himself smiling without even knowing why.

“Rio, you must be the luckiest person I’ve ever met!” she said, grinning so broadly he could almost see every tooth in her mouth.