“I might not be much use, but it’s still better than doing nothing,” she said. “We will all do a visual search. But, Rio, you keep your ears open as well and let us know as soon as you hear anything.”

Rio nodded, his mouth suddenly dry and parched. It was one thing trying to locate a whale when you knew they were close by, but another when you were in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight.

Throughout the morning, Birch slowly kept the boat moving back and forth across the search area, while all of them kept a careful eye on the water.

“Can you hear anything?” Marina asked, wiping a hand across her brow.

Rio shook his head. Despite straining his ears all morning, he hadn’t heard a single whale.

“It’s still early in the day,” he said hopefully. “She’s bound to turn up later.”

As the sun rose to its peak, he listened harder than he ever had in his whole life. Not just for signs of White Beak, but for any whale that might be out there. But it was no use. The ocean remained frustratingly quiet.

When the others broke for a brief lunch, Rio kept his position on the bow. “I don’t want to miss her,” he said desperately, waving away the offer of food. “I have to keep concentrating.”

But as the day wore on, no matter how hard he tried to listen for any sign of White Beak, the louder everything else became. It was infuriating. The screeching, squawking gulls, the loud thwack-thwack of the water against the hull, even the sound of his own breath, rasping and rattling in his chest.

Yet still, Rio didn’t move from his position. Not even when the afternoon became hot and heavy. Not even when the surface of the ocean rippled and shimmered in a haze. Not even when he became so thirsty, he thought his tongue might stick to the roof of his mouth.

By this time, the sun had started to sink lower in the sky, gently resting her cheek against the surface of the water. Rio’s limbs ached. His eyes smarted. His ears hurt. But he had to do this. He had to find White Beak.

But it was no use. The harder he listened, the less he heard. Nothing except his frantic thoughts drowning everything else out.

“Rio!” Fran called. “This isn’t working. We need a new action plan.”

With one last lingering look at the quiet ocean, Rio reluctantly joined the others, who were standing in a dejected silence. Nobody said anything, but they didn’t need to. He could feel their disappointment. He had dragged them to the middle of the ocean to find White Beak and he’d failed.

He had let White Beak down.

But most importantly of all, he had let his mom down.

“You’ve tried your hardest,” Marina said, as if reading his thoughts and patting his arm reassuringly. “Maybe she’s not here?”