What had happened to Fabulous? Coral was panic-stricken. Was her friend trapped with those monsters in the kitchen? She couldn’t bear it.
Then Coral saw her. The little fish was lying on the floor of the hallway, her eyes closed.
‘Fabulous!’ cried Coral.
She swam down. She could see one of the spines from the urchins sticking out from under the little fish’s fin.
‘Oh no! Fabulous, no!’ Coral sobbed.
Fabulous was taking short, shallow breaths. She opened one eye and smiled weakly at Coral, blowing her a tiny bubble. It was all she could manage.
‘Move aside.’ It was Ramone. He scooped Fabulous up, and looked closely at the injury.
‘Please say she’ll be all right, Ramone?’ whispered Coral.
‘This is one very brave little fish.’ He called out, ‘Dr Sweetlips!’
A large round fish with fluttering fins swam quickly towards them. He had bulging eyes and an enormous pair of rubbery, pouting lips.
‘Fabulous needs your help, doctor. Urgently.’
Dr Sweetlips had a good look at Fabulous. He puckered up his mouth and began pecking at the urchin spine, sucking it out, bit by bit.
Ramone and Coral looked on anxiously. The other fish gathered round too, all waiting in worried silence. After a few minutes, the doctor looked up at Coral. He smiled a gargantuan grin.
‘She’s going to be just fine!’
Coral felt a huge surge of relief, and fear. Her beautiful little friend could have died saving her. It was almost too much to bear.
‘Oh, thank goodness.’ She bent down close and gave Fabulous the lightest of kisses. ‘Thank you, my little friend. You saved my life.’
Fabulous smiled and blew Coral a minuscule bubble.
‘She just needs some rest and, knowing Fabulous, quite a bit of fuss and attention,’ winked Dr Sweetlips. ‘I’m just glad… Hold your seahorses! Coral, look at the state of you!’
Coral looked down and saw she too had dozens of scratches and urchin spikes buried in her arms and legs. She had been so worried about Fabulous, she hadn’t even noticed. Dr Sweetlips began sucking out the spines. Coral winced in pain.
‘How did Fabulous know I had…?’ Coral’s voice trailed off, ashamed that she hadn’t told Ramone where she was going.
‘When you didn’t come back to the party, Fabulous suspected the worst. She squeezed through the keyhole of the kitchen door and got there just in time.’
‘I’m so sorry, Ramone.’
The turtle shook his head, jangling his collection of shell chains, then looked softly at her.
‘Nooooooo, Coral. But it’s time that you knew the full story.’