by Debbie Dadey
Saddle Up,Sea Horse!
SHELLY PUT ONE HAND BEHIND her back. “Whoever guesses how many fingers I’m holding up gets to pick what we’ll do.”
“Five,” Pearl said immediately.
“Two?” Echo said.
Kiki held up one finger.
Shelly pulled her hand out to show that she had two fingers up.
“Yes!” Echo cheered.
Pearl protested, but followed her friends to the door. Before she left, Shelly made sure the Crown of Joy was sitting where she had left it. She didn’t want to risk it falling off while she rode a sea horse. She smiled when she saw it gleaming on her bedside table.
When they arrived at King Neptune’s stables, they found rows of beautifully groomed sea horses chomping away on tiny shrimp. Shelly was surprised to see her cousin Lorelei at the stables. She wore a bright-blue riding outfit and a matching helmet, and she was brushing the mane of an orange sea horse.
Lorelei smiled and waved. “Hi, Shelly!” she said. “Nice to see you again.”
“Hi!” Shelly said. It felt so strange to look at Lorelei—like looking into the mirror in their royal room! “These are my friends Echo, Pearl, and Kiki. We’d like to take the sea horses for a ride!”
“Wave-tastic!” Lorelei said with a smile. “Why don’t you ride my favorite, Champion?” She patted the orange sea horse. The horse snorted and nuzzled Lorelei’s hand.
“Thanks,” Shelly said, petting Champion.
“You’re not wearing the Crown of Joy,” Lorelei said, staring at Shelly’s hair.
Shelly shook her head. “I didn’t want to lose it. It’s a very special tiara.”
“Yes, it is,” Lorelei agreed, biting her lip. “It’s the queen’s favorite one, you know.” Lorelei looked upset, and Shelly didn’t know what to say.
Thankfully, Lorelei seemed to cheer up right away and smiled at Shelly. “I’m so happy to finally meet you,” Lorelei said. “There aren’t many cousins our age in the castle. It gets lonely around here.”
Shelly grinned just as Echo giggled. A bright-pink sea horse gulped a tiny shrimp right from Echo’s hand. “She’s so cute and sweet,” Echo said, patting the sea horse’s head.
“Why don’t you ride with us?” Shelly asked Lorelei.
Lorelei shook her head. “I just finished a little ride, and I have to get back to the castle or my mom will have my tail! But if you take that trail”—she pointed toward a path made of broken seashells—“you can’t get lost. And at the end is an awesome whirlpool.”
“I’ve read about whirlpools,” Kiki said nervously. “They’re supposed to be very pretty, but they can be dangerous.”
Lorelei patted Kiki’s arm. “As long as you stay on the trail, you’ll be perfectly safe. It is totally wave-tastic! Just don’t get too close or . . .”
“We’ll be sucked in?” Kiki said with a gulp.
“That won’t happen!” Lorelei assured her.
“Yee-haw!” Echo said as she swung into the saddle of the bright-pink sea horse.
“Yee-haw?” Shelly said. “What does that mean?”
Echo shrugged. “I’m not sure, but Rocky told me that humans say it when they ride horses. He also told me ‘giddyup’ means go and ‘whoa’ means stop.” Echo loved everything about humans.
Pearl sniffed the water around a purple sea horse and held her nose. “Pee-ew! Are you sure these things are safe? They stink!”
“Of course! I ride every day,” Lorelei told Pearl. “That horse is the rarest breed. It’s very valuable.”
“Well, in that case,” Pearl said, “yee-haw!”
All four mergirls waved good-bye to Lorelei and followed the trail, which circled a pretty outcropping of cold-water coral. As they rode, Shelly pointed out a big school of bluecheek butterflyfish fluttering just above them.
“Hey, I think I’m getting the hang of this,” Pearl said. But she almost fell off her sea horse when a shiny fish zipped past her.
“What was that?” she screeched.
Kiki peered into the water. “I think that was a dolphinfish.”
“Well, it needs to learn some manners,” Pearl snapped.
When the calm waters started to swirl around them, Shelly shouted, “We must be getting close to the whirlpool!”
“Maybe we should head back,” Kiki said quietly.
“Just stay on the trail,” Shelly told her friends. “I don’t think we’ll want to miss this!”
As the four mergirls rounded a bend, they couldn’t believe their eyes. In the distance, the water swirled around and around. It churned and bubbled like someone was twirling it with a big hand.
“Wow! If you were sucked up in that, you’d never make it out,” Echo said softly.
“It’s so pretty,” Shelly said.
“Pretty scary, if you ask me!” Pearl squealed. “So we’ve seen it! Now, I vote we leave.”
No one argued, and the four mergirls turned their sea horses back toward the stables.
After they had unharnessed, fed, and brushed their horses, the four merfriends swam back to the castle.
Kiki fell onto a huge sponge sofa with a dreamy sigh. “This place is the best.” She turned to Shelly. “I still can’t believe Queen Edwina gave you her favorite tiara,” she said. “That’s totally wavy.”
“I know!” Pearl squealed. “Why don’t you let us try it on? We can pretend we’re princesses too!”
“Sure,” Shelly said. “As long as you’re careful.” She swam over to the small table where she’d left the Crown of Joy—and screamed.
“What’s wrong?” Echo asked, rushing to Shelly’s side.
Shelly pointed to the empty spot. “It’s gone!”
Tiara Trouble
DID YOU MOVE IT?” ECHO asked, tapping her pink tail on the marble floor.
Shelly shook her head. “When we left for the stables, it was right there,” she said, pointing to her bedside table.
The mergirls searched every closet, under every bed, and in every dresser drawer. They turned the entire royal suite upside down, but the Crown of Joy was nowhere to be found.
“Could someone have taken it?” Pearl asked.
“Who would do such a thing?” Kiki asked.
“Well, horrible Helga was mean to us,” Pearl said with a frown. “Maybe she did!”
Shelly knew Helga was grouchy, but she seemed very dedicated to Queen Edwina. “I don’t think she would do that,” Shelly said.
“Well, then who?” Pearl asked impatiently.
“What about the tailor?” Echo suggested.
Pearl clapped her hands. “That’s right. François did say he liked beautiful things. And that tiara is fabulously pretty!”
Shelly tried to imagine François wearing the Crown of Joy, but she couldn’t. “We would have noticed if he’d taken it.”
“But we were gone for quite a while. Maybe he snuck back in and took it then,” Kiki said slowly. “You’re sure it was here before you left, Shelly?”
Shelly nodded. “Yes, I’m sure.”
Echo piped up. “That means the thief must have struck this afternoon!”
Kiki snapped her fingers. “I’ve read a lot of mystery books,” she told them, “so I know all about investigating crimes. First we need to question our suspects. Let’s start with François!”
Shelly hated to think that either François or Helga might have stolen the Crown of Joy, and she knew it wasn’t nice to accuse other merfolk. But then she thought about how upset Queen Edwina would be when she discovered it was missing.
“Okay,” Shelly agreed. “Let’s find him.”
The mergirls zoomed out into the hallway before screeching to a stop. “Excuse me, but where can we find François, the tailor?” Kiki asked a merservant passing by.
The merservant, who carried a huge stack of kelp sheets, bowed to the girls. “My merladies, you can find the tailor downstairs, just past the ballroom.”
“Thanks!” Shelly said. The mergirls sped away bu
t slowed down when they got close to the tailor’s room.
“We have to be sneaky,” Pearl warned them.
They tipfinned their way to François’s door and peered inside. The tailor and his assistants were working furiously on the gowns. Kelp fabric was everywhere. Shiny ribbons and shells covered a table. Shelly’s eyes searched the small room, but there wasn’t a tiara anywhere.
Kiki took a deep breath and tapped on the door. “Excuse me, Mr. François,” she said, whipping out a piece of kelp and a sea pen. “May I ask you a few questions?”
François jumped up at the sight of the mergirls. “Oh, hello!” He looked down at the table, then glanced around nervously. “As you can see, we are very, very bizee here. Lots to do before zee big ball!”
Shelly spoke up shyly. “Yes, but this is important.” She didn’t know what else to say. She didn’t want François to know that the Crown of Joy was missing.
“Where were you this afternoon?” Pearl blurted.
François’s cheeks turned bright red. “Zat eez none of your beezniss!” he shrieked. He darted out of the room before anyone could stop him.
“Oh no!” Shelly said. “I hope we didn’t upset him.”
One of François’s assistants, a merwoman with bright-purple hair, approached the mergirls. “Don’t worry,” she said. “François is just a little embarrassed.” She looked around and lowered her voice. “Every afternoon he takes splash dance lessons in the royal ballroom. He doesn’t want anyone to know about it! He was a terrible dancer before he started the lessons.”
“Okay,” Shelly told the assistant. “Thanks for letting us know!”
When the mergirls got back to their room, Shelly was more upset than ever. “François definitely didn’t take the tiara if he was splash dancing,” she moaned. “That means it’s really gone.”
“No, that means Helga took it,” Pearl declared. “She’s the only suspect left!”
“She’s right,” Echo said with a shrug. “It does look like Helga stole it.”
Kiki shook her head. “We don’t have any proof that Helga did it.”
Shelly knew Kiki was right. They couldn’t accuse Helga of taking the Crown of Joy just because she’d been mean to them.
But if Helga hadn’t taken it, who had?
Seat of Honor
THAT EVENING SHELLY, PEARL, Echo, and Kiki were summoned to the royal dining room for dinner. Shelly was sick with worry. She didn’t want to tell her aunt the Crown of Joy was missing.
“Oh my Neptune!” Echo said with a gulp as they entered the mervelous dining room. “This table is longer than Trident City’s main street!”
It was definitely the biggest table Shelly had ever seen. Each side was lined with cousins, all wearing small crowns. But none of their crowns were as beautiful as Shelly’s lost tiara. Thatcher appeared at Shelly’s elbow. “Her Royal Majesty requests that you dine with her this evening.”
Shelly nodded. “We were just going to sit down.” Echo, Pearl, and Kiki each pulled out a heavy shell chair that was inlaid with diamonds in a penguin pattern.
Thatcher shook his head and pointed toward Shelly’s aunt at the other end of the table. “Queen Edwina would like you to join her there.”
“Oh no,” Shelly said softly.
“Pardon me?” Thatcher said.
Pearl put her arm around Shelly’s shoulders and turned to Thatcher. “We would be delighted to feast with the queen.”
“Maybe she won’t notice that you’re not wearing the tiara,” Echo whispered.
Shelly crossed her tail fins and hoped that Echo was right. As they swam over to take their seats, Shelly noticed Lorelei sitting in the chair next to the queen.
“Lorelei, angelfish, why don’t you switch seats with Princess Shelly?” Queen Edwina suggested. “I would love to spend some time with her.”
Lorelei looked hurt but nodded. “Of course, Auntie,” she said softly.
Shelly felt horrible that Lorelei had to change seats, but before she could protest, Queen Edwina said, “Shelly! Where is the Crown of Joy?”
Shelly’s mouth opened, but nothing came out. How could she tell Queen Edwina that she’d lost the tiara?
“She . . . is saving it to wear to the ball tomorrow,” Kiki told the queen.
Queen Edwina smiled. “Oh, very clever idea! You will make a grand entrance with that lovely crown!”
After the mergirls sat down, plates piled with strange-looking food appeared in front of them. “What is this?” Shelly whispered to Lorelei.
“That’s rabbitfish steak with beluga sturgeon sauce,” Lorelei replied. “It’s delicious!”
Shelly bit into the steak. The sauce was filled with round black balls that tasted very salty. She wanted to spit them out, but she forced herself to swallow them.
“Try some of this tarpon tea,” Kiki suggested. “It’s even better than my family’s comb jelly tea.”
Shelly sipped the tea from a shell cup. It was fin-tastic!
While the mergirls feasted on balsamic bonefish with petite ladyfish croutons and candied gulper eel wrapped in Irish moss, Queen Edwina spoke more about the Crown of Joy. She told them all about how Shelly’s mother had worn it to her very first ball, the same dance where she had met Shelly’s father.
“They were married shortly after that,” the Queen finished.
Shelly wiped a tear from her eye. She loved hearing stories about her parents. She tried to imagine them as young merfolk, meeting for the very first time. Had her mother liked balls? Or had she felt uncomfortable in dresses, like Shelly did?
Shelly was thinking so much about her parents that she accidentally bumped her cup against the table. The delicate shell shattered into pieces.
“Oh no!” Shelly gasped. A dark shadow fell over her. She looked up into Helga’s angry eyes. “I’m so sorry, Helga. I will clean this up right away.”
“Nonsense!” Queen Edwina said, waving her arm. “You are my special guest! Helga will take care of it.”
Throughout the rest of the meal, Helga glared at Shelly. When Queen Edwina excused herself to attend to royal business, Helga hissed into Shelly’s ear, “I’ll say it again: You royals are nothing but trouble!”
Pearl looked at Shelly and raised an eyebrow. “Trouble my tail!” Pearl said. “Don’t listen to a word Helga says!”
But by the time their flaming coral-weed cake arrived for dessert, Shelly had lost her appetite. If Helga hadn’t hated her before, Shelly was sure she did now.
A Royal Review
IT’S SETTLED! HELGA DEFINITELY took the crown!” Pearl declared when they got back to their room after dinner.
Shelly shook her head and sat down on her soft blue bed. Suddenly she was very tired and just wanted to be home. “We don’t know that for sure.”
“Helga does look awfully guilty,” Echo said. “Why else would she be so mean to you?”
“I read in MerStyle that long ago servants tried to steal the royal trident!” Pearl announced. “Maybe Helga is trying to do the very same thing with the crown.”
“Did they get away with it?” Kiki asked. The royal trident was King Neptune’s pointed stick, which Queen Edwina now carried. It was said to have magical powers.
“Nope. A royal guard caught them before they could snatch it,” Pearl replied.
“Maybe we should speak to the royal guards,” Echo suggested with a yawn.
Kiki nodded. “I still don’t think Helga took it, but it can’t hurt to ask the guards if they’ve seen anything. It’s too late now, so let’s visit them first thing tomorrow.”
The mergirls settled into their beds: Shelly in the blue one, Pearl in the gold, Echo in the pink, and Kiki in the purple. They left the curtains open so they could see one another. Queen Edwina had gone to a lot of trouble making sure their bedrooms were just right. All Shelly could think about was how upset the queen would be when she discovered the tiara was lost.
Shelly felt like she was running out of time! The ball w
as tomorrow night, and the queen would surely notice that Shelly wasn’t wearing the Crown of Joy.
She tossed and turned in her soft sponge bed. It was very late before she finally fell asleep.
THE NEXT MORNING SHELLY AWOKE to find that François had delivered their beautiful ball gowns. Kiki, Echo, and Pearl were excited, but Shelly faked a smile. How could she be happy about the ball with the Crown of Joy still missing? She was so worried she couldn’t think straight.
Pearl immediately pulled her gold gown over her head. Beautiful sparkling shells decorated the top and bottom of the dress. “These are the most sea-tacular party dresses ever!” she squealed. “I can’t wait to wear mine tonight!”
Echo put her hand on Shelly’s shoulder. “Maybe we should skip the ball,” Echo suggested.
Kiki nodded. “I don’t think Shelly feels up to it.”
“Skip the ball?” Pearl snapped. She whirled around from the mirror, where she had been admiring her reflection. “Just because Shelly is upset doesn’t mean we should all suffer. Besides, the queen is giving the ball in our honor. It would be rude not to show up.”
Shelly took a deep breath and nodded. “Pearl’s right. We have to go. I must tell Queen Edwina the truth.”
“We may still find the tiara,” Kiki said. “There’s plenty of time before the ball tonight. In fact, let’s ask the royal guards right now. They’ll know what to do!”
Pearl slowly pulled off her gown and laid it on her bed. “Fine,” she said grumpily.
ANOTHER HELPFUL SERVANT POINTED the mergirls in the direction of the royal guards’ office. On the way, they passed a clownfish juggling sea potatoes. Even though she was upset, Shelly couldn’t help laughing.
“That’s amazing,” Echo said, pointing to the clownfish. “This castle really does have everything.”
Before they could swim any farther, three tailmen appeared before them, followed by Queen Edwina.
“There you are, Princess Shelly!” she exclaimed. “I’ve had Thatcher looking everywhere for you. I want to take you and your merfriends for a royal review of the palace grounds, the water polo fields, and the many gardens.”
