“Here they are! Raise your voices and clap for! Aqua! Loli! Silver! Marina! Dolly! Aaaaand! Pegasus!”

The crowd obediently went wild. Nicholas cringed back- he hated loud noises. His sister Sally was whooping so loudly he wanted to push her into the bright blue water of the huge dolphin pool. Oh- there they were, six blue-grey beasts arching through the impossibly bright water.

The dolphins neatly circled the pool. The MC, standing on an island in the middle of the pool bellowed into the mic “Aren’t they beauties! Look at them! And they all have their own personalities. You better watch out for Pegasus over there – he has a temper!”- he pointed at the last dolphin who had swum out, with odd little white patches where wings would be. “And sweet Silver- where’s my darling Silver- over there” and he gestured at a dolphin a slightly lighter shade of greyish-blue than the others. “Look at her go! Now watch! Here she comes, straight through the hoop!” The crowd went wild for the dolphins’ tricks, as they leapt and twisted. Pegasus turned to the crowd and open his mouth, showing off his rows of sharp teeth. Sally gasped and fell silent. A huge splash of water rose, and Pegasus and the rest seemed to vanish from sight.

Nicholas’s head hurt. Another spray of water went up and there was a cry and weird electric noises from the mic- the haze of droplets and the glaring sun made everything hard to see.

His vision cleared – he heard Sally and his mother scream. And he saw- Pegasus leaping on the island and smashing the MC to the ground with a swipe of his tail. Blood trickled scarlet into the bright blue water. And then- something else happened.

The other five dolphins shook off their riders into the water, and jumped out on land. Thick short strong legs opened up under their sleek bodies and they began walking on all fours, very fast, towards the audience. People were screaming and scattering. The dolphins were among them, their wide laughing mouths open and shut, emitting hoarse cries. Nicholas tried to run away but got tangled up with Sally and fell- a second later he heard Sally scream higher than he had ever heard as she was dragged off him.

He rolled down further under the bench, cowering. He could see people’s legs running, and glimpse the thick legs of the land-bound dolphins. He saw them take people, holding them like rag dolls in their mouths, their heads and legs smashing and dragging against the wet ground, back to the pool.

Minutes passed. The screaming died down. Nicholas couldn’t see any more movement. Cautiously he came up from under the bench.

He couldn’t see Sally, but his mom’s broken body lay close by. Other still bleeding bodies were scattered around. More bodies were floating calmly in the bright blue and scarlet pool. There was no sign of the dolphins.