The Floating Forest

by Linda Chapman

  “We can worry about that later. First we need to find sea lion rock. Look out for a rock shaped like a sea lion, everyone!” Marina said.

  They swam and swam, but no matter how hard they looked they couldn’t find a sea lion-shaped rock anywhere. In the end they stopped and had their lunch.

  “We’re going to have to come back another day,” said Naya. “We can’t stay out much longer. Our parents might get worried and start looking for us. If they realize we’ve been in the whirlpool, we’ll be in trouble.”

  “But we’ve got school tomorrow,” Kai protested.

  “We’ll just have to wait until next weekend,” said Marina. “If we come here early on Saturday, we can bring a picnic again and spend the whole day searching.”

  The others nodded.

  “We’ll find the hidden treasure!” Coralie declared and Dash whistled in agreement. “There’s no way we’re giving up now!”

  “I can’t stop thinking about the treasure,” Marina said to Coralie as they waited to go into school the next morning after saying goodbye to Dash and Sami. Pets were not allowed inside the school, much to the animals’ dismay.

  Coralie got the map out of her satchel. “Me too. I’ve been looking at the map, trying to see if there are any more clues…”

  “What are you two talking about?” a sharp voice demanded. Glenda Seaglass was right behind them. “Clues to what?” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as she looked at the rolled-up paper in Coralie’s hand. “What’s that you’ve got there, Coralie?”

  “Nothing,” said Coralie, shoving the map back in her satchel and wondering how much Glenda had overheard.

  Glenda’s eyes narrowed even more. “You’re up to something. Has it got anything to do with your dumb Save the Sea Creatures Club?” She rolled her eyes. “You’re such babies! You and your silly pets.”

  “Go away, Glenda,” said Marina. “We don’t care what you think, and what we’re doing is none of your business.”

  Coralie groaned inwardly. Marina was great at standing up to Glenda, who could be a real bully, but telling Glenda that something was nothing to do with her was like waving a fish in front of a shark’s nose. Coralie had a feeling she’d be even more determined to find out what they were up to now.

  To Coralie’s relief, the school gong sounded, which meant it was time for lessons to start. “Come on, Marina!” said Coralie, pulling her inside. “Let’s go!”

  At school, they learned all about oceans so that when they were older they would be able to help look after sea creatures and the underwater environment. They had lessons about sea creatures, natural disasters, human behaviour, mer-myths and mer-magic. The first lesson that morning was on natural disasters. They took notes, using special squid ink that would write underwater, as their teacher – a strict, dark-haired mermaid called Sylvie – taught them about storms.

  Coralie didn’t like school much. She found sitting still and listening quite difficult. She much preferred to be out swimming on the coral reef, and Kai was the same. While Naya, Marina and Luna carefully wrote down what the teacher was saying with their seagull-quill pens, Coralie passed a note to Kai.

  I wish we were in the forest!

  He scribbled a reply underneath.

  Me too. I hope we find the SL rock on Saturday!

  He passed the note back. Coralie started to add another line.

  Yeah! Can you imagine everyone’s faces if we come back with a load of—

  “Miss! Miss!” Glenda’s hand shot up. “Coralie and Kai are passing notes to each other!”

  Coralie froze as Sylvie swam over and plucked the note from Coralie’s hands.

  “Coralie! Kai! This is not the kind of behaviour I expect from you two. You can both do an extra sheet of questions for me for wasting time in class. Now get on with your work.”

  “Sorry, Miss,” said Coralie and Kai.

  Sylvie tossed the note in the bin and continued to talk about the damage storms could do to underwater environments. Glenda gave Coralie a smug look and Coralie pulled a face at her. Glenda was as mean as a reef shark with toothache!

  For the rest of the lesson, Coralie worked hard and took notes like everyone else. She didn’t want to get into any more trouble. It was a relief when breaktime came and she could put her quill down. “At last,” she muttered to Kai. “I need a swim!”

  “Miss, would you like me to tidy up the classroom during break?” Glenda asked, giving Sylvie the wide-eyed, I’m-such-a-perfect-mergirl look that she kept especially for teachers and other adults.

  “Thank you, Glenda, that’s very kind of you,” said Sylvie. “You can have an extra seashell point for offering to help.”

  Glenda smiled sweetly. “Thank you, Miss.”

  Coralie and her friends swam out of the classroom. “What’s Glenda up to?” Marina said. “She never offers to help tidy up. She’s usually as lazy as a sea slug!”

  “I don’t know and I don’t care,” said Coralie.

  “I can’t believe she told Sylvie you were writing notes,” said Luna. “That was so mean.”

  “And now we’ve got extra homework,” sighed Kai.

  “At least Sylvie didn’t make you stay late after school,” said Naya. “Does everyone want to go litter picking on the reef when classes are finished?”

  They nodded. Although the reef was far away from any humans, plastic often still reached them on the ocean currents and it could cause a lot of damage to the coral, and great harm to sea creatures, so they always tried to collect any litter. Their reef stretched for miles beyond the merpeople’s caves and they often went swimming on it after school, collecting litter as they travelled.

  “I’ve got something I want to try while we’re there,” said Naya.

  “A new invention?” asked Luna eagerly.

  “More of a science experiment really,” Naya replied. “Kelp is supposed to be a good fertilizer – it helps plants grow – so I tried mixing the kelp fronds with some of my mum’s mermaid powder. I’m hoping I’ve made a kind of growing potion. I really want to try it out on a patch of seagrass and see what happens.”

  Glenda came swimming up, waving a piece of paper and looking triumphant. “I knew it!” she exclaimed. “I knew you losers were up to something!”

  Coralie’s heart sank. Glenda was holding the note that she and Kai had been writing to each other in class. She must have asked if she could tidy up just so she could take it out of the bin. They should have guessed.

  “What are you talking about?” Marina said, frowning. “Sometimes you make no more sense than a babble fish, Glenda.”

  “Oh really?” Glenda read out the words on the paper. “I wish we were in the forest… I hope we find the SL rock on Saturday… Can you imagine everyone’s faces if we come back with…” Her eyes narrowed. “What forest? What are you doing on Saturday?”

  “It’s nothing to do with you.” Coralie glared back at her.

  “I’ll tell my dad if you don’t let me know what’s going on,” threatened Glenda.

  “Tell him,” said Marina, shrugging. “What’s he going to do? We’re not doing anything wrong.”

  “Yeah, we’re just playing a game,” said Kai quickly.

  “Come on, everyone.” Marina started to swim away. “Let’s play tag!”

  The others swam after her.

  “Sorry,” Coralie whispered to them. “We shouldn’t have written that note.”

  “It’s no big deal,” Marina reassured her. “The note didn’t give much away. Glenda doesn’t know anything important. I bet she’ll forget about it soon.”

  Coralie glanced back at Glenda. She wasn’t so sure. The blond mergirl was watching them with her hands on her hips and a determined look in her eyes.

  After school, Dash whooshed up to Coralie, butted her affectionately with his head, then raced round her in excited circles and sped off.

  Coralie charged after him. “I’m so glad school’s finished. My tail is cramped from sitting still.” />
  “Let’s go and pick up some litter on the reef and save some sea creatures!” said Kai, grabbing Tommy’s shell and letting the turtle pull him along.

  “Then I can try out my potion and we can check to see if any sea dragons have hatched yet,” added Naya. A few weeks ago, she had made some nesting boxes to protect the sea dragons – little creatures that were the size of a seahorse but looked like tiny dragons – as they hatched their eggs.

  “I’ll need to ask Mum if I can come with you,” said Luna. She wasn’t allowed to go out on to the reef after school, like the older ones were, without asking permission. “Can we stop at the Marine Sanctuary on the way?”

  “Of course,” Marina replied.

  The sanctuary was very near school. As Luna swam in to find her mum, the others clustered together and told the pets about Glenda reading the note.

  “Luckily it didn’t say anything about fin—” Coralie broke off as Dash whistled a warning and waved his flipper. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Glenda had followed them and was listening in.

  Coralie hastily lowered her voice to a whisper. “About you-know-what!” she hissed.

  Luna came swimming back to them with her mum, Erin.

  “Hi there!” Erin said. “It’s fine for Luna to come with you and check on the sea dragons and, while you’re near the meadow, can you do something for me? There’s a cave beside it where a group of giant cuttlefish have gathered and I’m hoping they’re going to lay their eggs in there. Could you check to see if there are any? You’ll have to be very quiet so you don’t startle them.”

  “No problem! We’d love to have a look at them for you, Auntie Erin, and we’ll make sure to be quiet,” said Coralie. Cuttlefish were related to octopus and squid and they shot out clouds of black ink whenever they felt threatened.

  “Thank you! You’ll be able to spot the cave – it’s completely covered in barnacles. Have fun and see you later,” Erin said.

  “OK, and Auntie Erin…” said Coralie.

  “Oh no, I know that tone of voice. It’s another joke,” groaned Naya. “Quick, everyone! Swim!”

  “What did the baby cuttlefish say to its mum when it hurt itself?” Coralie asked her aunt.

  Erin raised her eyebrows. “I don’t know. What did it say, Coralie?”

  “Please can I have a cuttle?” Coralie said. She swam off after the others, laughing to herself as her aunt rolled her eyes and suppressed a smile.

  It was lovely to be out on the reef after a day at school. It stretched on and on through the ocean. Clouds of fish streamed by and pale anemones waved their tentacles from the banks of multicoloured coral as crabs, lobsters and starfish edged across the sand and rocks.

  As Coralie and the others swam to the seagrass meadow, they gathered up any rubbish they saw – bottles and straws, plastic bags and bits of broken netting. They put them in their satchels so that sea creatures didn’t get tangled up in the plastic or try to eat it.

  Every so often, Dash glanced round sharply. “What is it?” Coralie asked, not seeing anything unusual behind them. Dash whistled but she didn’t understand.

  Finally they reached the large seagrass meadow. They headed to the barnacle-covered cave that Luna’s mum had told them about. Peeping in, they saw eight giant cuttlefish resting on the bottom of the cave. The cuttlefish were about fifty centimetres long, their bodies covered in bright orange-and-blue patterns.

  “No eggs yet,” whispered Coralie, keeping her voice down so she didn’t startle them.

  “Let’s leave them in peace,” whispered Naya. “I don’t want to get covered in ink.”

  “Definitely not – it takes days to wear off,” whispered Kai. “I sat on a cuttlefish once. It squirted me and I was grey for a week!”

  They left the cave and swam into the meadow. It was a large flat area of seagrass where turtles and manatees grazed. Tommy and Melly swam off to say hello while the others checked the nesting boxes. They were buried among the seagrass. The idea was that the babies could hatch safely, away from hungry fish, and when they left the nesting boxes they’d be able to live happily in the meadow, feeding on the plankton there.

  Coralie and the others checked each nesting box, lifting the lids and peering inside. Sami looked in too. It was the male sea dragons that looked after the eggs, not the females – just like with seahorses. In every nesting box there was a father with a fat pouch of eggs but no babies yet. Coralie smiled. Hopefully there would be loads of babies soon!

  As Coralie shut the lid of one, Dash spun round in alarm.

  “You’re being really jumpy today,” said Coralie, following his gaze to a large group of tall sea sponges at one side of meadow. She stroked him. “What’s up? There’s nothing there.”

  Naya swam over. “No babies yet but hopefully it won’t be long! Now I’m going to try out my growing potion,” she announced after she’d finished examining the nesting boxes. “I’ll put some on the grass over by those sponges and monitor it when we come back here to check on the sea dragons. I’ll be able to see if it grows more than the surrounding grass and, if it does, I’ll know my potion works. I can’t wait to see what happens!” She swam over to the sponges and uncorked the bottle. She scattered a few drops on to the seagrass and then swam back to the others. Just as she reached them, there was a green flash.

  “Jumping jellyfish!” exclaimed Marina as the grass where Naya had scattered the potion suddenly shot up by about three metres.

  Naya gasped and Luna giggled. “I think your potion works, Naya!”

  “A bit too well!” Kai said with a grin.

  There was a shriek and the grass started to move from side to side as if something was trying to fight its way out from inside.

  “Something’s in there,” said Naya in alarm.

  “Not something but someone!” exclaimed Coralie as Glenda fought her way out of the gigantic grasses. The blond mergirl had stalks caught in her hair, scratches on her arms and face, and she was furious.

  “Look at the state of me!” she screamed at them.

  “What were you doing in there?” said Marina, astonished.

  “I... I...” Glenda spluttered.

  “She was spying on us!” Coralie realized. “Dash kept hearing something behind us. It must have been Glenda following us.”

  “As if I’d waste my time following you boring barnacles!” Glenda spat. “Of course I wasn’t spying on you. I was... I was just out for a swim.”

  “So why were you hiding behind the sea sponges?” said Naya.

  Glenda glared at them. “I wasn’t! I... I... Oh, I’ve had enough of this. I’m going!” she exclaimed angrily and swam away.

  “She was definitely spying on us,” said Kai.

  Coralie grinned. “Well, hopefully she’s learned her lesson and she’ll stay away from us from now on!”

  However, the encounter seemed to make Glenda even more determined to find out what the others were up to. Every time they tried to chat, they found Glenda listening in and, each day after school, she followed them as they swam out on the reef.

  “Why won’t she leave us alone?” groaned Coralie on Friday night. They had gone to her cave after school – somewhere Glenda couldn’t follow. All five of them and their pets were packed tightly into her small bedroom so they could talk in peace.

  “Do you think she knows we’re looking for treasure,” said Marina, “and she doesn’t want us to be the ones who find it?”

  “She was really cross when we solved the mystery of how the deep reef was being damaged,” said Naya. “I bet she won’t want us doing anything like that again.”

  “It’s lucky she doesn’t realize that the treasure isn’t actually here,” said Kai. “She can follow us all over the reef if she likes and it won’t do her any good.”

  “But what are we going to do if she follows us to the whirlpool tomorrow morning?” Luna pointed out.

  There was a silence and then Coralie started to giggle. “You know, I think I might h
ave an idea!”

  After some intense planning, everyone left Coralie’s cave to go home. They milled around the entrance, talking loudly.

  “See you on the reef tomorrow then, Coralie!” Kai said clearly.

  “We’ll meet after lunch by the sea meadow,” said Marina. “That’s the sea meadow, everyone. Have you got that?”

  “Yes,” they chorused.

  “And you’ve got the treasure map, haven’t you, Naya?” Coralie called.

  “Yes, it’s here,” said Naya, patting a rolled-up piece of paper that was sticking out of the top of her satchel. “I’ll make sure I keep it very safe.” She winked at the others. “See you all tomorrow afternoon.” They waved and headed off to their homes.

  Peeping out from her cave, Coralie saw Naya shift the bag on her shoulder, dislodging the rolled-up paper that was sticking out, just as they’d planned. It wasn’t the real treasure map, but one Naya had drawn, showing the reef and the sea meadow. As the fake map fell out of her bag, Naya pretended not to notice and carried on her way.

  A few minutes later, Coralie saw Glenda look out from behind a giant clamshell.

  Checking to see that there was no one watching, the blond mermaid swam over to the fake map and picked it up.

  “I think this is going to work!” Coralie whispered gleefully to Dash. He whistled as Glenda stuffed the piece of paper into her satchel and quickly swam away.

  After a very early breakfast the next morning, Coralie raced to meet the others by Mermaids Rock. Most merpeople were still in their caves. The sun was only just coming up and the early-morning water was cool. The reef always felt different first thing – quieter and stiller. The fish swam slowly when the water was colder. They drifted about, feeding on plankton and nibbling gently at the coral. Crabs came creeping out from their holes and turtles emerged from under the coral ledges where they slept at night. Coralie marvelled at the peaceful world around her and was relieved to see there was no sign of Glenda – it looked like their plan had worked!