Mermaid School

by Lucy Courtenay

  And with a sob and a flip of her long purple tail, she swam away.

  “So Orla hates you because your aunt didn’t play her sister’s music on her radio show?” said Pearl. “That’s crazy!”

  “I know,” said Marnie. “But that’s what she said.”

  Pearl helped herself to an algae cracker from the shell plate on Marnie’s kitchen table. “So what are you going to do?” she mumbled through a mouthful.

  “Have your dinner,” advised Marnie’s mom, who was cooking starfish fritters on the cave’s hot vents. “You can’t make plans on an empty stomach.”

  Aunt Christabel breezed through the door in a beautiful blue sea-moss coat, with Garbo on a crystal-studded lead.

  “Do I smell starfish fritters?” she said.

  “And waveberry pie for pudding,” said Marnie’s mom. “Good food is very important for growing brains.”

  “My brain stopped growing years ago,” said Aunt Christabel, letting Garbo off her lead.

  “Auntie, this is my friend Pearl Cockle,” said Marnie.

  Pearl turned bright pink as she shook Christabel’s hand. Marnie had that strange feeling again: the one where she understood that her aunt meant something completely different to other people.

  “So, tell me, Pearl Cockle,” said Aunt Christabel as they settled down to eat. “Is my niece being very naughty at school and keeping up the family name?”

  “Marnie’s not naughty at all,” Pearl said shyly. Her cheeks were still pink. “Her detention at lunch was completely unfair.”

  “Detention?” gasped Marnie’s mom with horror.

  “Detention?” said Aunt Christabel with interest, at exactly the same time. “What did she do?”

  “It’s a long story,” said Marnie, passing the starfish fritters to Pearl.

  “The interesting stories always are,” said Aunt Christabel. “Go to your bowl, Garbo,” she instructed her goldfish, who was lurking by her chair. “Begging is very unattractive.”

  Marnie started telling her mom and aunt about Orla, and Orla’s sister Sheela, and Mr. Splendid, and Urchin.

  “Dear Urchin!” Aunt Christabel exclaimed, clapping her hands. The anglerfish on the kitchen ceiling switched on and off in confusion. “You must give him fifty kisses and a handful of krill treats from me next time you see him, Marnie.”

  “I don’t like the sound of this Orla person,” Marnie’s mom said.

  “She’s just worried about her sister,” said Marnie. “When you’re worried, I think you do ridiculous things.”

  Marnie didn’t know what she’d do if her mom or Aunt Christabel disappeared. She felt sick just thinking about it.

  “My mom was almost caught in a tsunami in the Indian Ocean last year,” Pearl said. “Dad and I were so worried that we forgot to bring in the fish for the night and they all escaped. We had to eat algae for a few days until Dad rounded them up again.”

  Marnie took a sip from her sea anemone juice. “So you don’t remember Sheela Finnegan’s demo, Auntie?” she asked.

  “I get a lot of demos, Marnie,” Aunt Christabel said.

  “Orla said you promised to play it,” Marnie persisted.

  A puzzled look crossed Aunt Christabel’s face. “Finnegan? Tall girl, dark hair, purple tail?”

  “Sounds like Orla,” said Marnie.

  “Yes,” agreed Pearl.

  “I remember now!” Aunt Christabel exclaimed. “I was going to play it, but the demo disappeared.”

  “How can a demo disappear?” asked Marnie.

  Aunt Christabel sighed. “I’ve lost all sorts of things in the studio lately. To be fair, the place is a mess. I need an assistant to sort it all out.” She checked her wrist and tutted. “Garbo? Have you taken my watch?”

  The goldfish looked up guiltily from her bowl. The sparkly links on Christabel’s tiny starfish watch gleamed on her sea-moss bed.

  “Why don’t you and Pearl come with me to the studio after dinner, Marnie?” suggested Aunt Christabel as she scooped up her watch. “Take a look for yourselves? You can listen to the recording while you’re at it.”

  Pearl gasped. “We can actually watch you recording the show? That is off the reef !”

  “I’ll even give you a shout-out if you like,” said Christabel, taking a slice of waveberry pie and popping it into her mouth.

  “I’m so glad I met you, Marnie,” Pearl sighed. “This is the best day ever!”

  The Radio SeaWave studio was only a few starfish seconds away from Marnie’s house. Pearl chattered to Christabel the whole way about her favorite songs and parts of the show while Garbo chased tiny fish and zoomed in and out of the water weed.

  “I like the ‘Love Underwater’ section best, but Dad likes ‘Dance ’n’ Dazzle,’” Pearl told Christabel. “Mom loves the show too when she’s home, but she works away in the Indian Ocean a lot.”

  “Marnie’s dad works away too,” said Christabel.

  “He mines natural gas in the Atlantic,” Marnie explained to Pearl. “He’s been away since I was four. I don’t think about him very much, to be honest.”

  “I gave my poor dad so much trouble,” Christabel sighed. “It amazes me that he didn’t swim off to the Atlantic as well.”

  “Did you really swim all the way to the East Lagoon Rocks when you were at school?” Pearl asked eagerly.

  “Yes,” Christabel said. “Although Urchin did the swimming. I just rode on his back.”

  “Why?” Pearl asked.

  To Marnie’s surprise, her aunt blushed. “Reasons,” she said vaguely. She clicked her fingers. “Garbo! Come!”

  The Radio SeaWave studio was tucked deep inside a rocky outcrop, brightly lit by several angler fish and a large rock-crystal chandelier. Beautiful sea flowers grew on the uneven walls, blowing about in the gentle current. There was a mixing desk set at one end, a long table covered in Christabel Blue merchandise, and a recording booth with a sea-sponge microphone and shell headphones. Posters of Christabel lined the walls.

  Two mermen with long beards—one green and one blue—looked up from the mixing desk as Garbo swam to a comfortable crystal bowl lined with sea moss below her very own poster and settled down.

  “Cutting it close as usual, Christabel,” said the merman with the green beard. “Hey, Marnie.”

  “Hi Sam,” said Marnie. “This is my friend Pearl. Pearl, this is Sam, and the guy with the blue beard is Flip.” Flip gave a slow smile, showing a gold tooth.

  Christabel waved at the heaps of demo recordings lying around the room in teetering piles. “The music you want is probably in there somewhere,” she said. She ran her fingers through her glossy blonde hair in a distracted way. “Now, where did I put today’s playlist?”

  As Christabel went through her soundchecks with Flip and Sam, Marnie and Pearl started working through the heaps of demos, trying to find Orla’s sister’s recording. Some of the demos had no names on them. Some had photographs on the front, and some had brightly colored titles. One mermaid had stuck lots of tiny shimmering shells all over the case, which made the name difficult to read.

  “Ten seconds to recording,” said Flip.

  Christabel went inside the soundproof recording booth. Marnie and Pearl listened as the familiar theme music blasted around the room, and her famous introduction wafted out of the speakers in the rocky studio.

  “I’m Christabel Blue and this is my Big Blue Show. All the tunes! All the fun! All the fish! And a special Big Blue Show hello to Pearl Cockle, who is visiting the studio tonight.”

  Pearl squealed, knocking over the nearest pile of demos in shock. Marnie gave Aunt Christabel a thumbs-up. Her aunt really was the coolest person.

  The show played a good mix of songs, and Christabel’s jokes and funny stories flowed as continuously as the water around them. Pearl and Marnie listened and sang along as they worked through the demos, sifting through the definitely-nots and setting aside the maybes. Sheela’s demo had to be here somewhere. It had to.

&nbs
p; Pearl sat up suddenly. “Ooh, ‘Love Underwater.’ This is my favorite part of the show.”

  “Loved up or let down?” Christabel was saying. “‘Love Underwater’ is your chance to tell us all how you’re feeling. Now, I’ve received a scallop from Leilani. Hi Leilani! Leilani wants to know: is it normal to cry crystal tears after a break-up? More after this tune.”

  “If it’s true love, crystal tears are totally normal,” said Pearl, as a well-known love song called “Eels and Feels” started playing. “Well, that’s what my grandma always says. Everyone thinks true love is easy, but it’s not.”

  True love was also extremely rare, Marnie knew.

  “Lucky Leilani,” she said.

  Pearl squinted at Christabel in the recording booth. “Do you think your aunt has ever been in love?”

  Marnie thought about how Aunt Christabel had blushed at Pearl’s question about the East Lagoon Rocks. “I don’t know,” she said, frowning. “She’s never been married.”

  “That doesn’t mean she hasn’t been in love,” said Pearl.

  “Back to your question, Leilani,” said Christabel as the song finished. “If you’re crying crystal tears, you have something very special. Trust me. My advice? Don’t lose it.”

  Marnie stared at Aunt Christabel through the glass window of the recording booth. Was there something sad in her aunt’s voice, or was she just imagining it? She shook her head. Thinking about Aunt Christabel being in love was weird.

  By the time the show reached the “Dance ’n’ Dazzle” finale, there was just one pile of demos left. Christabel played one of her own hits, and Marnie and Pearl started dancing around the studio, laughing and stretching their tails and fins. Feeling the energy, Garbo got out of her bowl and swam very fast around the ceiling.

  “Night night, sleep tight, don’t let the reef sharks bite,” said Christabel as the music died away. “Back tomorrow. Stay tuned, tuna fish! Over and out.”

  Sam played the closing titles. The Big Blue Show was over. But Sheela Finnegan’s demo was still nowhere to be found.

  “I was thinking,” said Marnie as she and Pearl swam together into school the next morning. “What if Aunt Christabel gave Sheela Finnegan a job?”

  Pearl glanced at her. “You’re super-weird,” she said. “All you talk about is helping someone who hates you.”

  Marnie did her best to explain. “I know it’s not my fault about Orla’s sister, but I feel responsible. You saw how untidy Radio SeaWave was, right?”

  “So many people sent me scallops last night, telling me they heard my name on the show,” said Pearl dreamily. “Talk about squid goals!”

  “I was thinking that maybe Aunt Christabel could hire Sheela Finnegan as her assistant,” Marnie said. “That would bring Sheela back to Mermaid Lagoon. I know it’s not the same as Aunt Christabel playing Sheela’s song on the radio, but it’s better than nothing.”

  “Great,” said Pearl. “But you’ll have to find her first. She’s missing in the hurricane, remember?”

  It took longer than normal to swim to her first class because so many mermaids stopped Pearl to ask about her shout-out. Marnie and Pearl arrived in the music classroom just as the attendance scallop was leaving.

  “You’re late!” said Miss Tangle crossly. “Sit!”

  “Orla’s not here again either,” Dora whispered as Marnie and Pearl hastily settled into their seats. “Miss Tangle’s in a really strange mood.”

  Marnie thought uneasily about the last time she’d seen Orla Finnegan, red-eyed and swimming alone into the depths of the lagoon. She raised her hand.

  “Miss Tangle, is Orla OK?” she asked.

  Lupita and Dora stopped whispering and looked at Marnie in surprise.

  Miss Tangle wiped her forehead with a seaweed tissue. “I’m afraid I have something to tell you, girls. Nobody has seen Orla Finnegan since yesterday,” she said.

  There was a shocked silence. Then everyone started talking at once.

  “Is she missing then?”

  “Maybe a reef shark ate her!”

  “Good riddance.”

  Miss Tangle blew her nose. “The moment her poor parents find Sheela, they lose Orla!”

  Marnie found her voice. “Sheela isn’t missing anymore?”

  “Dear Sheela,” said Miss Tangle, sniffing. “She had taken cover from the hurricane in an underwater cave, but the cave was blocked by fallen stones. They pulled her out last night.”

  “What about Orla’s parents, Miss Tangle?” asked Pearl. “Don’t they know where Orla is?”

  Miss Tangle wept more loudly. “Orla’s parents went to the Gulf of Mexico to help find Sheela,” she sobbed. “They’re out of contact. We’ve had search parties out for Orla all night, but they haven’t seen fin nor scale of her.”

  Marnie was glad to hear Sheela was all right. But now Orla was lost, and no one knew where she was. Scary things swam around the lagoon at night. Everyone knew that.

  “Miss Tangle, are the search parties going out again today?” she asked.

  Miss Tangle’s tentacles shook. “They have given up. Orla Finnegan is in Neptune’s hands now. She’s lost! Lost forever, I fear!”

  Marnie’s mind whirred. There was no way she was going to be able to concentrate on lessons today. Not with Orla missing. Yes, she thought firmly: missing. She wasn’t dead. She couldn’t be.

  She had to do something.

  “Pearl, we have to look for Orla!” she said urgently at the end of attendance.

  “I knew you were going to say that,” said Pearl with a sigh.

  “We can miss the rest of the day,” said Marnie. “Look in places the search parties didn’t think of. We’ll search the whole lagoon if we have to.”

  “The lagoon is massive,” Pearl pointed out. “We’ll never be able to search all of it by ourselves.”

  “But Orla is in danger!” Marnie wailed. “And I’m the reason she was so upset yesterday!”

  “No you’re not,” argued Pearl. “There’s no way we can search the whole lagoon by ourselves before it gets dark. We just can’t swim that fast.”

  Marnie thought of Urchin. On his back, she could search the whole lagoon before nightfall. But was she brave enough to try and ride him?

  “We need to find Mr. Splendid at the stables,” she said. “Come on!”

  “But it’s oceanography now and we’re dissecting mussels,” began Pearl.

  “You don’t have to come with me.” Marnie squared her shoulders. “But I’m going and you can’t stop me.”

  She rushed out of the Music Cave and into the corridor, past groups of serious-looking teachers. A few mermaids were floating around, weeping. It was clear that everyone had already given up hope.

  “Where are you going?” called Dora as Marnie swam past hurriedly.

  “To find Orla!” Marnie shouted back.

  A golden tail and a cloud of red hair appeared beside her.

  “Not by yourself, you’re not,” said Pearl.

  “Mr. Splendid?” Marnie called when she and Pearl reached the oyster-shell doors. “Mr. SPLENDID!”

  Andrew and Sandy put their heads out and snorted at Marnie and Pearl. Typhoon banged irritably at the walls of his stall. Urchin put his head out of his stable and screamed for Marnie’s attention.

  “There’s no one here,” Pearl said, gazing around.

  Marnie thought about what Mr. Splendid had said about Christabel borrowing Urchin sometimes. “We’ll have to borrow the seahorses without his permission then,” she said. “He won’t mind. Not for this.” She hoped that was true.

  Urchin bellowed more loudly, battering at his stable door. Marnie swam over and scratched him between the eyes, enjoying the feel of his cold scales under her fingers. Never in a million years had she thought she’d actually like a seahorse. But there was something about Urchin that was different.

  “He looks friendly,” said Pearl, swimming over.

  Urchin shrieked and lunged at Pearl, snapping at
her so fast that he almost caught the end of her nose.

  “Don’t do that, Urchin!” Marnie scolded, and Urchin bowed his head.

  “Wow! How did you do that?” asked Pearl, impressed. “I thought you were scared of seahorses.”

  “I don’t know,” Marnie said. “Apparently he loved Aunt Christabel and now he seems to love me too. You try Andrew, Pearl. He’s the green one over there. He won’t bite.”

  Marnie found a bridle and saddle hanging on the wall of Urchin’s stall and fitted them to his slim blue body. She hoped she had them on the right way. Then she climbed on. Urchin snorted at her and fluttered his fins as she nervously guided him out of the stall. Pearl was waiting, perched on Andrew’s back and holding on tightly to a pair of silvery reins.

  “Let’s go,” Marnie said, with more confidence than she felt.

  Urchin rocketed forward. Marnie bent down close to his blue neck, clinging on as best she could.

  “Where to?” Pearl called through the rushing sound of the water.

  “No idea!” Marnie shouted back.

  Andrew swam steadily, bobbing his head backward and forward and snapping at the tiny krill that floated past. Urchin was a different matter. He strained and snorted and pulled so hard at his bridle that Marnie felt like her arms were going to fall off.

  “We won’t get lost if we follow that reef,” Pearl suggested as they approached a ridged section of brightly colored coral.

  What were they doing? Marnie thought a little hopelessly. The lagoon was so big. They didn’t know where the search parties had looked, and they didn’t have a map. Orla could be anywhere. Even inside a—

  “Grey reef shark!” Pearl shouted suddenly.

  Urchin snorted in shock as a silvery shark came out from behind the coral, sniffing at them with his flat nose. They raced away from the reef, Andrew almost level with Urchin. Marnie’s heart was beating so quickly she thought it would crash out of her chest.