The sun dawned a bright, clear day for their trip. "Up Dweez, we have to get going!" his father called from the door. "Dweez?" Pulling back the covers revealed that no one was in the bed. "I'm up Dad!" a voice called from down the hall. Laughter trailed in from outside as a young boy of only ten turns threw open the door and bounded out to join his older sister, Amanda in play. "They're too excited to keep pent up inside dear, let them burn off some of that energy before we leave." Guerin smiled as she packed their lunch. "Ah, just making sure the lad was up." Daron said, grabbing a roll.

Dweezel had been waiting for this fishing trip all his life, the long one when the whole family went. The spring spawning run brought in huge schools of fish to ride the Great Current, and Daron would be gone for almost a month. He'd been promising his young son that once he turned ten, he would get to go. In past turns it had been just him and their older daughter Amanda. Guerin would stay and care for Dweezel. Now it was his turn for the adventure! "Dad, when are we leaving?!" he called from the dock. "Now lad, get your things." Like lightning, Dweezel was off to find his sack and back again, jumping aboard the yawl that was to be their home for the next 3 sevendays.

Soon the Dawnlight was plunging her way over unusually high waves, a pod of dolphins leaping at her side. "Squeee! Bad weather ahead!" the leader sang. "Are you sure? It's so clear now." "We know! Waves not right, bad storm. Should turn around!" "That just doesn't sound right..." the man mumbled, stroking his chin in thought. Devon had been a fishman for long enough to trust dolphin instincts but turning around so soon? The kids would be crushed. "Thanks!" he called back down to the dolphins, and emptied a bucket of fish for them as he turned back to the helm. "What did they say?" his wife asked. "Oh, just a little storm ahead, nothing to worry too much about. You might want to tell the children to head below deck to be on the safe side." With a quick kiss, Guerin went to round up Amanda and Dweezel. "Put your things below, loves. There's a bit of bad weather ahead and you need to stay out of the rain. Wouldn't want to catch a chill, now would you?" Begrudgingly, they obeyed and went to play below deck in their cabin.

"I thought you said this was going to be a small storm, Devon!" Guerin shouted over pounding rain and howling winds. The waves were reaching dangerous heights and their ship wasn't going to be able to withstand much more. "I thought it was going to be too! It looks like it'll be over soon, just go below and keep an eye on the kids!"

"Are you sure you'll be okay up here?"

"Don't worry about me!" "Be careful! I don't want to lose you on our vacation." she confessed and hugged him before returning to the safety of indoors. "Mommy?" Dweezel crawled out of the bed and watched his mother shed the sopping raincoat. "What are you doing up hon?" she asked, sitting on his bed. "I'm scared, the boats rocking too much." he whimpered and settled in her lap. "It's okay love, daddy said that the storm will be over soon." Cradling him, she gently tried to soothe him back to sleep.

The creaking of wood woke Guerin and she realized that everything was totally silent. The storm had apparently ended. With a sigh of relief, she slipped out of bed and padded over to the porthole looking out onto the upper deck. Devon was nowhere in sight and she began to worry when she saw the sky, an angry, evil black that blotted out the stars. Suddenly a wave washed over the deck, pummeling the side of the Dawnlight. Guerin dove for cover as water began to rush in from all sides, it seemed. "Amanda! Dweezel!" she shouted, stumbling frantically into their cabin. "Mommy!" Dweezel ran forward and grabbed her legs.

"Where's your sister?"

"'Manda went outside to find daddy!" he cried as icy cold sea water rose up to neck-level. Panic began to to fill Guerin as she hefted her son above the water and waded to a cabinet. "Put this on and whatever you do, don't take it off!" she said, slipping a life-vest around his neck and taking one for herself. Above the angry roar of the sea, soft squees could be heard. "Dolphins." A piercing scream from Dweezel was the last thing Guerin heard as she was swept under by the current, which ripped him from her grasp. When she surfaced she called, "Dweezel! Find a dolphin! They will keep you safe!" Dark water welled back around her and the current once again jerked her under.