by Debbie Dadey
“No, of course not,” the queen told her. “You seem to be doing quite well here in Trident City. But I do require one more thing from my grandniece before I leave.”
The Royal Castle
SHELLY DIDN’T KNOW WHAT else the queen could want. “Would you like some more tea?” she asked, reaching for the pot.
“No thank you, but I would like a hug,” Queen Edwina said.
Shelly laughed and gave her great-aunt a giant squeeze. All her worries melted away in the queen’s warm embrace. It seemed that Pearl had been wrong about two more things: Shelly’s great-aunt hadn’t come to take her away, and sometimes it was okay to touch the queen.
“Now, I’m afraid I must be off to attend to my royal duties,” her aunt told her.
“Is it hard to be a queen?” Shelly asked. As difficult as it was for her to believe, it was entirely possible that someday Shelly could be queen herself. Her grandfather had told her that she was third in line for the crown.
“Sometimes it’s not easy,” Queen Edwina said with a nod. “But I do like being able to help less fortunate merfolk by raising money through my mercharities. It’s most important to try to be honest and caring.”
Shelly followed her great-aunt as she glided toward the glistening royal carriage. Echo, Pearl, and Kiki met them just outside the door, and all four girls stared at the carriage’s brilliant jewels. The crowd of Trident City mercitizens cheered when the queen appeared. Now they were held back by a golden rope and several Shark Patrol guards. The three tailmen immediately assisted Queen Edwina. One opened the carriage door and extended a gloved hand to help the queen.
Shelly’s great-aunt turned and waved before entering the carriage. “Good-bye, Princess Shelly. Please visit me soon.”
Pearl gasped at the Queen’s next words: “And your friends are welcome too.”
Kiki, Echo, and Shelly waved as the queen left. It wasn’t until the carriage had disappeared into the murky water that the girls noticed that Pearl hadn’t been waving along with them. She had fainted!
Kiki crouched down and fanned Pearl’s face. “Pearl! Pearl! Are you all right?” she asked.
Pearl sat up with a dazed look on her face. “Of course I’m all right! Did you hear that? We’re invited to the royal castle. I have to make sure I have something to wear!” Before anyone could speak, Pearl sped off toward her shell.
“Whew!” Echo said. “Shelly, you did it!”
“And the queen didn’t take you away!” added Kiki.
Shelly hugged her friends. “I couldn’t have made it through without you both. Thanks for all your help.”
Just then they heard a shuffling sound from inside the apartment. “Shelly!” her grandfather yelled. “Where did all this food come from? Did you have a party without me?”
Shelly froze. She was glad her grandfather was up and walking around, but what about the broken vase? What would she tell him?
Pox Free
SO, IS YOUR GRANDFATHER all better now?” Echo asked the next morning. The two girls floated past a statue of Poseidon in MerPark on their way to school.
“Yes, he is totally penguin-pox free,” Shelly said with relief.
The night before, Grandfather Siren had even felt well enough to munch on some of the leftover snacks while Shelly told him all about the royal visit.
“Guess which treat he liked best?” Shelly asked.
Echo shrugged. “One of Pearl’s fancy creations?”
Shelly shook her head. “No wavy way. He thought your hagfish jelly sandwiches were delicious.”
Echo giggled. “Don’t tell Pearl. She’d be furious.”
“That’s true, but it was nice of her to help.”
Shelly was still pretty surprised that Pearl had braved the penguin pox to help her. And honestly, she didn’t know what she would have done without Pearl’s advice. Shelly would be sure to invite Pearl to come with her, Kiki, and Echo to visit Neptune’s Castle during their school vacation.
“Did he find out about the vase?” Echo said. “I wish we’d had more time to fix it.”
Shelly nodded. “He was upset. At first he thought maybe the queen’s servants had broken it by accident.”
“Did you tell him the truth?” Echo asked.
“I did,” Shelly said, remembering Queen Edwina’s advice about being honest and caring. “And Grandfather told me my father had found the vase on a trip long ago. That’s why it was so important to Grandfather Siren.”
Echo stopped floating. “It was his special way of remembering his son?”
“Yes,” Shelly said. A little tear slid from her eye as she thought about the father she’d never known. “But guess what? Grandfather Siren said that he has something much better to remember his son by.”
“What’s that?” Echo asked.
“Me!” Shelly said with a smile.
“You are the best!” Echo said as they floated past another statue in MerPark. “But I bet your grandfather was sorry he missed the queen.”
“He laughed and said, ‘What a coincidence,’ ” Shelly told her friend.
Echo frowned. “Why?”
“Well, you know Grandfather had the penguin pox,” Shelly explained.
Echo nodded. “Everyone knows that.”
“Yes, but can you guess what picture Queen Edwina’s royal carriage has on its side?” Shelly asked.
Echo giggled. “Are you kidding?”
“Nope, Queen Edwina loves penguins!” Shelly told her friend.
“I bet her favorite is the emperor penguin!” Echo laughed.
Shelly grinned. She was pretty lucky. Sure, she might not feel like a real princess sometimes. But great friends could make anyone feel like royalty!
Class Reports
KING PENGUIN
By Shelly Siren
The king penguins do not build nests for their eggs. The mother and father take turns holding their egg on their feet, like the emperor penguin.
MACARONI PENGUIN
By Echo Reef
Macaroni penguins have funny yellow markings above their eyes that meet on their foreheads. They lay two eggs a year, and both parents take care of the eggs.
AFRICAN PENGUIN
By Rocky Ridge
This penguin makes a strange braying sound. Humans sometimes destroy their nests and ruin their homes. Guess why the people do it? They want penguin poop for making their crops grow! How weird is that?
LITTLE PENGUIN
By Pearl Swamp
The little penguin is the smallest of all the penguins. It leaves the water only at night. Most penguins are strange-looking, with their big white chests, but the little penguin is cute!
CHINSTRAP PENGUIN
By Kiki Coral
This penguin really does look like it has a strap on its chin. Chinstraps can swim very fast and even leap out of the water like a porpoise. They eat krill.
REFRAIN:
Let the water roar
Deep down we’re swimming along
Twirling, swirling, singing the mermaid song.
VERSE 1:
Shelly flips her tail
Racing, diving, chasing a whale
Twirling, swirling, singing the mermaid song.
VERSE 2:
Pearl likes to shine
Oh my Neptune, she looks so fine
Twirling, swirling, singing the mermaid song.
VERSE 3:
Shining Echo flips her tail
Backward and forward without fail
Twirling, swirling, singing the mermaid song.
VERSE 4:
Amazing Kiki
Far from home and floating so free
Twirling, swirling, singing the mermaid song.
Author’s Note
MY GRANDMOTHER Gibson used to say our family was related to Francis Scott Key, the man who wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner.” I did a little research and found out she was right.
But my research didn’t stop there. I kept digging and found out something very str
ange: I am related to royalty! My ancestors were kings and queens of France, England, and Sweden. But I was most surprised when I found out that my direct ancestor was Cleopatra, a famous ruler of ancient Egypt.
Has your grandmother ever mentioned that you are related to someone famous? Just think, your aunt might be a queen too!
Hope you’ll visit the Mermaid Tales pages of debbiedadey.com for some mermaid tea party fun!
From a lost princess,
Debbie Dadey
Glossary
BEACH MORNING GLORY: This coastal flower grows on many islands and on six continents.
CLEANER WRASSE: This silvery blue fish has a black band down its side. It “cleans” other fish by eating parasites and dead tissue right off their skin. It sometimes even cleans divers!
COCONUT: The inside of the coconut fruit contains a tasty coconut milk. Coconuts grow on land, but sometimes they fall into the ocean.
COMB JELLY: The comb jelly was accidentally put into the Black Sea. It is causing trouble for the fishermen there because it eats fish eggs. This makes for far fewer fish.
CONCH: These large sea-snail shells are sometimes used for decoration.
DOLPHINS: The Risso’s dolphin, also known as a gray dolphin, can dive for up to a half hour.
FEATHER STAR: The tropical species of feather star has about a hundred arms!
HAGFISH: This long fish ties itself in knots and squeezes out slime!
HONEYCOMB WORM: This tiny creature builds large sand tubes that look like honeycombs.
JELLYFISH: There are many different types of jellyfish. Some of them glow!
JOHN DORY: The John Dory is a very thin fish that can shoot out its jaw and swallow its food quickly.
KILLER WHALE: This black-and-white creature is not a whale, but a dolphin.
LICHEN: When algae and fungus grow together, they can form a compound organism called lichen. If you see orange spots on rocks near the sea, they could be encrusting lichens.
LONGHORN COWFISH: This fish has very long, fleshy horns above its eyes.
OCTOPUS: A giant octopus squirts out purple ink when it’s frightened.
OYSTERS: Oysters have been eaten by people for many years. In some waters they have almost vanished.
PENGUIN: This marine bird cannot fly.
PLANKTON: Plankton are small animals that float freely on the surface of the ocean.
PULSE CORAL: This soft coral constantly opens and closes its feathery tentacles.
SANDCASTLE WORM: This creature uses glue from an organ on its head to put together sand and bits of shell to make its house.
SEA CUCUMBER: This creature crawls along the ocean floor, eating mud. It is almost colorless, but it glows!
SEA LAVENDER: Common sea lavender is a flower that grows near the coast.
SEAWEED: There are many different types of seaweed. Cactus seaweed looks like a mini underwater cactus. Kelp is a type of seaweed.
SUNFISH: Ocean sunfish drift on the surface of the water, looking for floating jellyfish to eat.
VAMPIRE SQUID: This is the only squid that spends its entire life in deep water.
Too Many Tail Flips!
ECHO REEF TUCKED IN HER fins and flipped two times in a row.
“That was tails down the best flip I’ve ever seen!” Shelly Siren told her. The girls floated outside Echo’s shell in the early morning before school.
Echo grinned as she stretched her pink tail. “Thanks! I’ve been practicing a lot lately. The Tail Flippers are performing a new routine for Parent Night, and Coach Barnacle wants it to be perfect. If anyone misses even one practice, they won’t be able to perform!”
The Tail Flippers was their school’s gymnastics and dance group. Echo was thrilled that she had made the team this year, and she couldn’t wait to show off her new moves on Parent Night.
Echo and Shelly were in the third grade at Trident Academy, a prestigious school for third through tenth graders. They both lived close to the school, but merstudents from faraway waters lived in the dorms. Many families would be crossing the ocean to visit for Parent Night. Besides the Tail Flippers, the Pep Band and the Trident Chorus would perform, and there would even be a student art show.
“Coach Barnacle wants the Shell Wars team to play a scrimmage that night too,” Shelly said. “It will be strange playing in front of so many merpeople.” Shell Wars was a game where players took turns whacking shells with whalebones. Echo knew that Shelly was proud to be part of the team.
Echo grinned. “I’ve never flipped in front of so many merpeople before! It sounds so exciting.” Like Shelly, Echo was used to performing in front of her fellow merstudents, but not strangers.
“I just know you’ll be totally wavy!” Shelly said.
“Maybe I’d better practice even more,” Echo said. “There are only a few days left before Parent Night.”
Echo’s sister, Crystal, stuck her head out of a window of their family’s shell. “Echo, you’d better hurry. It’s almost time for school.”
Crystal had the same dark hair and eyes as Echo, but she was two years older. Crystal stared at Echo’s sparkly T-shirt. “Hey! Isn’t that my shirt you’re wearing?”
Echo groaned. Lately Crystal was always telling her what to do.
“No, it used to be yours,” Echo told her. “Mom gave it to me because it doesn’t fit you anymore. And I’m just going to do one more flip.”
“Fine,” Crystal replied, “but don’t blame me if you’re late.” She paused. “Oh, hi, Shelly. I like your necklace.”
Shelly waved. “Thanks. Yours is pretty too.”
With that, Crystal swam off in a burst of bubbles.
Debbie Dadey is the author and coauthor of more than one hundred and fifty children’s books, including the series The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids. A former teacher and librarian, Debbie and her family split their time between Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and Sevierville, Tennessee. She hopes you’ll visit www.debbiedadey.com for lots of mermaid fun.
Aladdin
SIMON & SCHUSTER, NEW YORK
Meet the author, watch videos, and get extra at
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authors.simonandschuster.com/Debbie-Dadey
Also by
Debbie Dadey
MERMAID TALES
BOOK 1 : TROUBLE AT TRIDENT ACADEMY
BOOK 2 : BOOK BATTLE OF THE BEST FRIENDS
BOOK 3 : A WHALE OF A TALE
BOOK 4 : DANGER IN THE DEEP BLUE SEA
BOOK 5 : THE LOST PRINCESS
BOOK 6 : THE SECRET SEA HORSE
BOOK 7 : DREAM OF THE BLUE TURTLE
BOOK 8 : TREASURE IN TRIDENT CITY
Coming Soon
BOOK 10 : A TAIL OF TWO SISTERS
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.
ALADDIN
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
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www.SimonandSchuster.com
First Aladdin hardcover edition August 2014
Text copyright © 2014 by Debbie Dadey
Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Tatevik Avakyan
Jacket designed by Karin Paprocki
Jacket illustrations copyright © 2014 by Tatevik Avakyan
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
ALADDIN is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and related logo is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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Book design by Karin Paprocki
The text of this book was set in Belucian Book.
Library of Congress Control Number 2013954324
ISBN 978-1-4814-0255-2 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-4814-0254-5 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4814-0256-9 (eBook)
