Page 29 of Seal of Approval

I stalked to the stairs at the back of the boat.

“You will do no such thing,” Jasmine commanded.

I stopped in my tracks. Shit. What was I doing? My jaw flexed.

“They’re wild animals, remember?”

I looked back at the sea lion.

She brought the binoculars up to her eyes. For someone so smart, I was acting pretty stupid. How many times had I harped on about them being wild, and interactions with them needing to be limited?

“Firstly, the injury appears to be contained to the blubber. It looks like a clean cut.”

I took a deep breath and trudged to her side. She shoved the binoculars into my hands.

“Secondly, look at the sea lion’s fin. It has an old injury—a chunk is missing. That’s the sea lion you microchipped last week. The one I told you was scared of humans.”

Jasmine was right. Anyone would think she had the degree in marine biology, not me. I was an idiot. It was all because I wanted to get away from her touch and the strange feeling it invoked. I wouldn’t have acted so rashly otherwise. I never had before.

I shook my head. I hadn’t responded to any of her comments. “Yeah, sorry.”

What else was there to say? Something more intelligent, perhaps?

I scanned the remaining sea lions. I couldn’t see any other injuries.

“Can we go swimming?” Rose asked.

“No, the water is too murky. We can’t see what’s in there,” Jasmine said.

Bailey went to the stairs and studied the water. “Could there be sharks?”

“There could be.” Jasmine turned the boat and headed to the other end of the cove. All the sea lions were calm, lounging in the sun.

“We should test the water,” I said.

“Why?” Bailey asked, coming to stand beside me.

“The salinity levels of the water can change after a storm. And dirt and sand could be stirred up.”

“Is that why the water is murky?”

“Yes.”

“Can that hurt the sea lions?”

“It might make it harder for our sea lion friend to heal. It can also clog up the gills of fish, which means they can’t breathe and will die.”

I pulled out some beakers from my backpack and a refractometer.

“If the fish die, the sea lions won’t have anything to eat,” Bailey said.

“The sea lions fish in the deeper water.”

“We should test that too then,” Bailey said.

“Yes, we can do that. We should test it every day to check for changes.”

“How do we test it?” he asked, looking at the equipment I’d pulled out of my backpack.

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