The Secret World of Mermaids

by Jordan Quinn

  Lucas smiled. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I got in big trouble when I got home,” he added.

  Avalon laughed. “Well, if we’re already both in trouble, then we might as well have fun!” she declared. “Would you like to take a look around and explore with me?”

  The prince’s face lit up.

  The mermaid princess showed him around the castle and the royal gardens. They played hide-and-seek in a forest of seaweed. It was so tall and thick that it felt like a maze. Then they rested in a gazebo.

  “Do you have any friends?” Lucas asked.

  “Of course I do!” said Avalon. “But they’re all hiding.”

  “From what?” Lucas questioned.

  “From you,” she answered.

  Lucas wanted to know why, but someone started calling his name.

  “Lu-u-u-cas!” the voice called. “Lucas, WAKE UP!”

  A bright light suddenly blinded him. Lucas squinted and blinked his eyes open. His mother pulled back another long curtain, and bright sunlight filled his bedroom.

  “Time to get up,” she said. “Clara’s here.”

  Clara’s mother, Anna Gills, was the royal seamstress. Clara often came to the castle with her mother—that’s how she and Lucas had first met.

  Lucas rubbed his eyes and stretched.

  “I’ll be down in a minute,” he groaned.

  He watched his mother leave the room. Then he frowned and rested his chin in his hand, thinking. Darn! he said to himself. It was only a dream.

  Breakfast in the Branches

  * * *

  * * *

  “Have you eaten?” asked Lucas.

  “Not yet,” Clara said.

  “Good,” said the prince. “Let’s have breakfast in the new royal tree fort.”

  Clara nodded excitedly.

  The two friends loved to spend time in the royal tree fort. They played games there and had secret conversations. They called it the new royal tree fort because Ruskin had burned down the first one. Now, after much training, Ruskin had better control over his fire breathing—and Lucas had a new tree fort.

  The children went down into the kitchen and asked Cook to help them with their picnic. They packed blueberry muffins, butter, peaches, and two small glass containers of milk in a basket. He added cloth napkins and a butter knife. Then the children walked the well-worn path to the tree house. At the bottom of the tree, Lucas tied the basket to a pulley. He used the pulley to hoist things up and down from the tree house. Clara yanked the rope, and up went the basket. Then Lucas climbed the wooden ladder nailed to the side of the trunk.

  Clara followed behind. As soon as she got to the top, she poured herself a glass of milk and hopped up on the table. The cook had prepared them a proper morning feast.

  “I had the craziest dream last night,” Lucas said as he buttered a muffin.

  Clara placed a napkin in her lap. “What was it about?” she asked.

  “It was about the Mermaid Kingdom,” he said. “And it seemed so real.”

  “Just like when you fell overboard?” asked Clara with a slight smirk on her face.

  “Yes!” Lucas exclaimed. “Only this time I could breathe underwater! And I could see! And hear, too!”

  Clara sipped her milk and set it down on the table. “That’s pretty amazing,” she said without much excitement. “So what happened?”

  “I met the mermaid princess who rescued me after I fell off the raft,” Lucas said. “She called herself Avalon.”

  Clara raised her eyebrows. “Avalon, huh? Well, that’s a very nice name,” she said. Then she took a bite of her muffin.

  Lucas could tell Clara still didn’t believe that he’d seen a mermaid, let alone been rescued by one. But he went on with his story anyway.

  “She showed me the royal gardens, and we played hide-and-seek in a seaweed maze.”

  “Wow, Lucas, you sure have a great imagination,” Clara said.

  Lucas smiled. “I do,” he said with pride. “I bet I have the best imagination in all of Wrenly!” Then he frowned. “But I’m not making up what happened yesterday!”

  Clara gave a shrug and smiled. “Well, who knows,” she said. “Maybe your ‘new friend,’ Avalon, will be able to help you prove it.”

  Lucas’s face brightened a little. “That’s a good idea!”

  Shell Collectors

  * * *

  * * *

  That night Lucas dreamed about the underwater kingdom again.

  “Follow me!” beckoned Avalon.

  She waited for Lucas to catch up to her. This time her long, dark hair floated freely in the water. She held a sack over her shoulder.

  Lucas swam toward Avalon in his bedclothes and bare feet. A school of fish parted to make way for him. Then the two friends swam side by side. They passed a graceful manta ray and an old sea turtle. They glided under the bottom of a great ship. They dove closer to the ocean floor. Lucas could see ripples on the sand below. He noticed a coral reef up ahead.

  “Help me collect shells!” Avalon said. She reached into her bag and handed him a net made of woven seaweed. “Sometimes the waves push shells into the reef. You’ll find them in the nooks and crannies.”

  “It’s like a treasure hunt!” exclaimed Lucas.

  Avalon nodded. Lucas swam to the reef and began to search for shells. He found a calico scallop, a lion’s paw, and a striped moon shell. Inside the mouth of a small cave, he uncovered a lightning whelk and something else very rare.

  “Look!” Lucas cried. “I found a morning glory of the sea!”

  Avalon swam over.

  “It’s beautiful!” she exclaimed.

  “My friend Clara has always wanted to find one of these.”

  “Why don’t we leave it for her at Mermaid’s Cove?” Avalon suggested. “I’ll show you where when we’re done.”

  Lucas nodded. Maybe this would be the perfect way to prove to Clara that this was all real. “Avalon, you’re a genius!”

  When their seaweed nets were full, Lucas followed Avalon to Mermaid’s Cove. They hid the shells on the beach behind Turtle Rock.

  “Where are we going next, Avalon?” asked Lucas.

  But Avalon didn’t answer. Lucas turned around. He looked in every direction, but the mermaid princess was gone.

  “Avalon?” he called. “AVALON!”

  The sound of his own voice woke him up. He looked out the window at the ocean.

  “Darn!” Lucas said out loud. “It was just another dream!”

  This time he halfheartedly tossed his pillow against the wall.

  A Lesson in Friendship

  * * *

  * * *

  “Father, I keep having these dreams that seem so real,” Lucas began as he sat down to breakfast. His mother had left early for Primlox, the island of the fairies, so he and his father were alone at the table.

  “About what?” asked his father.

  “The Mermaid Kingdom,” he said. “I met a mermaid princess named Avalon, and we became friends.”

  The king raised an eyebrow.

  Lucas helped himself to a sweet roll from a platter on the table.

  “I dreamed about her again last night,” he went on. “And then poof! I woke up and she was gone. It really stinks!”

  His father pierced a sausage with his fork and looked over at the frustrated prince.

  “Well, now you know why we have a pact with the mermaids,” said his father.

  “What do you mean by that?” Lucas questioned.

  “You see, whenever a human and a mermaid become friends, it always ends in disappointment,” his father said. “Being friends with a mermaid is always too hard.”

  Lucas dropped his sweet roll.

  “But that’s the silliest reason for a pact I’ve ever heard!” he said in disbelief.

  His father looked at him in surprise.

  “All my friendships have been hard at first,” Lucas went on, “but they were all worth fighting for.”

&nbs
p; “Go on,” urged his father, wiping his mouth with his napkin. He leaned back in his chair.

  “Look at my friendship with Clara,” said Lucas. “At first you said we couldn’t be friends, but I got you to change your mind, and now she’s like a member of our family.”

  “True,” said the king thoughtfully.

  “And then there’s Ruskin,” Lucas went on. “He burned everything up and made a mess of the castle.”

  His father nodded and frowned at the memories.

  “But now that Ruskin’s gotten some training, he’s becoming the pride of the kingdom—not to mention my closest friend.”

  The king sighed and stroked his red beard.

  “You’ve become very wise, Lucas,” said his father. “A good friendship is worth fighting for, and guarding against disappointment does seem a silly reason to have a pact.” His father leaned over and whispered, “To tell you the truth, I’m not even certain who made the pact in the first place. Perhaps I’ll take up this matter with Avalon’s father, King Zane.”

  Lucas’s eyes grew wide.

  “You know Avalon?” he asked. “Are you saying my dreams might be real?”

  “I’ve never met Avalon,” said the king, “but I know King Zane has a daughter. As for your dreams, they may have been the princess’s way of showing you her kingdom without further breaking the pact. After all, the mermaids do have some magic.”

  Lucas suddenly jumped up from the table.

  “Father, may I please be excused?” he asked. “I have to go to Clara’s.”

  “What’s the big hurry?” asked his father.

  “I’ll tell you later!” said Lucas as he ran from the dining room.

  A Gift from the Sea

  * * *

  * * *

  Lucas ran all the way to the bakery and got Clara. She had just finished bagging fresh bread with her father.

  “Come on!” he cried. “I have to show you something at the cove!”

  On the way Lucas told Clara about the dream he’d had the night before, and how he’d left a morning glory of the sea shell for Clara behind Turtle Rock.

  “Will you believe me if we find a shell there?” asked Lucas.

  Clara didn’t have to think twice about her answer. “Definitely!” she said.

  Clara knew how rare it was to find a morning glory of the sea shell. They were cone-shaped with a bottom that delicately fanned out like the petals of a morning glory flower. Although the outside was a plain cream color, the inside edges were a bright royal blue that faded to a golden yellow. Lucas’s parents kept the only one that had ever been found in a glass case in the library.

  They stopped in front of Turtle Rock.

  “Go ahead,” said Lucas, crossing his fingers. He really hoped that the shell would be there. “Take a look.”

  Clara peeked behind the rock. Then she squealed with delight. “There is a morning glory of the sea shell!” she exclaimed.

  She picked up the delicate cream shell from the sand and looked at it in wonder.

  “I’m sorry I ever doubted you,” she said. “Will you please forgive me and tell me the whole story of the mermaid princess again?”

  “I’d love to!” said Lucas.

  And that’s just what he did.

  As he was telling his story Lucas realized that the best part wasn’t that he had discovered a new land before Clara—it was that he had discovered a new friend.

  The Bard and The Beast

  Hear ye! Hear ye! Presenting the next book from The Kingdom of Wrenly! Here’s a sneak peek!

  “Sir Archie won!” shouted Prince Lucas.

  “No, Sir Fred won!” cried Clara.

  “Squawk!” crowed Ruskin, Lucas’s pet dragon. He was definitely on the prince’s side.

  “Okay, let’s call it a tie!” Lucas said.

  “No way!” argued Clara. “Sir Fred won fair and square!”

  Prince Lucas and his best friend, Clara, had just had a toad race. They argued and laughed as they ran down the castle halls.

  Then, all at once, Lucas’s muddy leather boots skidded to a stop. Clara didn’t see in time and bumped into Lucas. Ruskin smacked into the back of Clara’s knees. Queen Tasha blocked the hallway. She tapped her black velvet shoe on the stone floor and stared disapprovingly at the mud-covered children.

  “Where on earth have you been, Lucas?” she said sternly. “You’re late for your first music lesson!”

  Clara peeked out from behind Lucas. “Um, I’d better be going,” she said uncomfortably. Then she turned and hurried toward the door.

  The queen kept her eyes on her son. Lucas wiped some toad slime on his pants and sighed heavily.

  “Come on, Mother,” he complained. “You know I don’t want to play a musical instrument!”

  “It’s not up for discussion,” his mother said.

  What had the prince gotten himself into this time?

  JORDAN QUINN grew up in a fairy-tale castle in England. It had a spiral stone staircase, a moat, and a dungeon. As a child she liked to play hide-and-go-seek and ride her beloved horse, Prince Charming. When she wasn’t riding, she wrote stories about fairies, trolls, dragons, and wizards. Today, Jordan lives on a ranch in California with her husband, son, and a golden retriever named Sir Toots-a-Lot.

  ROBERT MCPHILLIPS has been involved in a wide variety of projects over the years—from illustrating greeting cards to animation. But he has always loved children’s books, and after many years he has turned his attention back to that. Robert makes his home in Wiltshire, England, with his wife, Sam.

  KingdomofWrenly.com

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Jordan-Quinn

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Robert-McPhillips

  Little Simon

  Simon & Schuster

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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  First Little Simon hardcover edition May 2015

  Copyright © 2015 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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  Also available in a Little Simon paperback edition.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Quinn, Jordan.

  The secret world of mermaids / by Jordan Quinn ; illustrated by Robert McPhillips. — First Little Simon edition.

  pages cm. — (The kingdom of Wrenly ; 8)

  Summary: Lucas and Clara are floating on a raft when a wave casts them into the sea, where Lucas catches a glimpse of a coral kindom and a dark-haired mermaid helps him, but when his father, King Caleb, hears of this, he scolds Lucas and tells him he has broken an age-old pact.

  ISBN 978-1-4814-3122-4 (pbk : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4814-3123-1 (hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4814-3124-8 (ebook) [1. Mermaids—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction
. 3. Princes—Fiction. 4. Kings, queens, rulers, etc.—Fiction.] I. McPhillips, Robert, illustrator. II. Title.

  PZ7.Q31945Sf 2015

  [Fic]—dc23

  2014036040