The Floating Forest
Page 6
“No, he’s very clever,” said Kai loyally.
“Oh, really?” said Glenda. “Let’s see then.” She swam over to the turtle. “Roll over! Go on!” she commanded.
Tommy thought for a moment and then offered her a flipper.
Glenda and her friends sniggered. “Oh, yes, very clever,” said Glenda. “I don’t think!”
“He’s got about as much brain as a jellyfish,” sneered Racquel.
“Just like Kai!” added Glenda.
The three mergirls squealed with unkind laughter.
“Oh, go away,” Marina said angrily as Kai hugged Tommy, hoping his feelings weren’t hurt. “It’s not like you’re taking part in the talented-pet competition, Glenda. You haven’t even got one!”
“Oh, haven’t I?” Glenda smirked. “Shows how much you know, Marina Silverfin. My father’s getting me a pet – a really fin-tastic one – so all of you in your little Save the Sea Creatures Club had better watch out. My new pet is going to win and no one else will have a chance. Come on,” she said to Jazeera and Racquel. “Let’s leave these two losers to their terrible turtle training.”
They giggled and swam off.
“Ignore them,” Marina said to Tommy. “You’re brilliant.”
Kai nodded. “They’re the brainless ones.” He scratched Tommy’s head and Tommy waggled a back flipper in delight.
“I feel really sorry for whatever poor pet Glenda gets,” said Marina.
“I don’t understand how she thinks she might win,” said Kai, puzzled. “Even if she gets a new pet, she won’t have time to train it before the contest. There’s only a week to go.”
“You’ll have to make sure you beat her,” Marina said firmly.
Linda Chapman is the best-selling author of over 200 books. The biggest compliment Linda can receive is for a child to tell her they became a reader after reading one of her books. Linda lives in a cottage with a tower in Leicestershire with her husband, three children, three dogs and two ponies. When she’s not writing, Linda likes to ride, read and visit schools and libraries to talk to people about writing.
www.lindachapmanauthor.co.uk
Mirelle Ortega is a Mexican artist based in Los Angeles. She has a MFA in Visual Development from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Mirelle loves magic, vibrant colours and ghost stories. But more than anything, she loves telling unique stories with funny characters and a touch of magical realism.
www.mirelleortega.com
STRIPES PUBLISHING LIMITED
An imprint of the Little Tiger Group
1 Coda Studios, 189 Munster Road,
London SW6 6AW
First published in Great Britain in 2020
Text copyright © Linda Chapman, 2020
Illustrations © Mirelle Ortega, 2020
eISBN: 978–1–78895–273–6
The right of Linda Chapman to be identified as the author and Mirelle Ortega as the illustrator of this work respectively has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, byway of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed upon the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.