Rather than immediately disembark, the four of them sat quietly on deck, each lost in their own thoughts. Rio took a long, yearning glance back out to sea, and it was as if the ocean were reaching out and giving him one final salute.

“She’ll be okay?” he asked eventually.

“She’ll be sore for a while, but hopefully she’ll heal and find her way down to the lagoons, where she’ll be safe.” Birch turned to him. “You did a very brave thing out there. Stupid, dangerous—but also very brave.”

“Oh, Dad! What Rio did was incredible,” Marina exclaimed, rolling her eyes. “He saved a whale’s life!”

“That’s my grandson,” said Fran proudly, putting an arm around him.

“She would have died though, wouldn’t she?” Rio said, leaning into his grandmother’s embrace. “If we hadn’t have found her and cut her free.”

Birch nodded. “She only had minutes to spare before we got there. It was the right decision to go look for her, Rio. I’m only sorry it took me so long to agree with you.”

Rio shrugged, because it wasn’t just Birch. There were many grown-ups all around the world who seemed to be waiting for the right moment to do something. Many people who were leaving it too late. Along with all the other whale watchers, at least Birch was trying to make a difference. And sometimes, trying was all you could do.

Rio hadn’t been able to make his mom better. Whatever he did would never have been enough. He realized that now. But with the net around his heart finally untangled, he might just be able to do something else. Something equally—if not more—important. And this time, he wouldn’t be alone.

“But she’s not the only whale in trouble, is she?” he said. “She’s not the only whale that needs rescuing. There’s hundreds, thousands, who get killed each year by humankind.”

“What are you saying?” Marina asked, her eyes widening.

“I’m saying,” Rio said, sweeping his arm out to the great blue beyond. “That there’s still a whole ocean to rescue. And we’ve only just begun.”

Epilogue

Arrival

The arrivals hall was busy, loud as airports always tend to be. But Rio hardly noticed the noise. Standing next to his grandmother, his eyes were glued to the noticeboard.

“What does it say now?” she asked impatiently. “I left my darn glasses in the car.”

“It’s still the same . . . No . . . it’s just changed! She’s landed!” he said so excitedly, he thought his heart would burst out of his chest. “She’s here!”

His grandmother squeezed him tight. Over the past two months since rescuing White Beak, she had gotten a lot better at hugs. Not just hugs either, but at talking, listening, and all the things that were part of being a grandmother. It had made joining the local school so much easier. That and being in the same class as Marina.