Danger in the Deep Blue Sea

by Debbie Dadey

  Pearl stood by, her arms across her chest. Shelly and Echo each had a hand on Kiki’s back. Finally the headmaster shook his head.

  “Pearl, you are mistaken. There is no pearl necklace in this area. In fact, the only problem here is that Kiki has a terribly messy roommate.”

  Shelly giggled and whispered to Echo, “Wanda is Kiki’s roommate. Kiki is as neat as a cowrie shell.”

  Pearl wasn’t happy. “Then where is my necklace?” she asked in a sharp voice.

  “Young merlady!” Headmaster Hermit roared. “You are addressing the headmaster of Trident Academy. There is no excusing your rude tone!”

  Pearl gulped. “I’m sorry, sir. I was just concerned about my pearls.”

  Mrs. Karp patted Pearl on the shoulder. “We’ll ask Mr. Fangtooth to keep an eye out for your jewelry. He knows everything that goes on around here. He’ll find it.”

  Headmaster Hermit, Mrs. Karp, and Pearl floated out of the room.

  Pearl turned and looked straight at Kiki.

  “You’ll be sorry,” Pearl hissed. “Just wait and see.”

  Stinky Old Thing

  ONCE AGAIN, JUST LIKE THE morning before, Pearl’s Shark Guard escorted her to the front entrance of Trident Academy. She had come early so Rocky wouldn’t tease her again.

  But Wanda zoomed over to Pearl, upset and screaming.

  “What did you do?” Wanda said loudly. The morning light shone on the beautifully carved ceiling, but neither mergirl paid any attention to it or anything else in the vast hall.

  Pearl flashed her green eyes and smiled. “I told you I was going to help. I got my mom to petition the school so that no one can have skeletons in their shared dorm rooms.”

  “Petition? What’s that?” Wanda asked.

  “It’s where you complain about something on a piece of seaweed and get other people to agree,” Pearl explained. “My mom got all the merladies in her social club to sign it at our house last night. That silly Headmaster Hermit will have to make Kiki move out. And as soon as this shark scare is over, my mom is going to have a meeting with him about my pearls.”

  “But what about Kiki? What will happen to her?” Wanda said.

  Pearl shrugged. “She’ll have to throw away that stinky old skeleton. I bet it’s full of germs. That’s if she doesn’t get kicked out of school. Then she can move back with her seventeen brothers.”

  Wanda put her hand to her mouth. “But it’s her bed. She’s going to hate me now! Maybe there’s another way.”

  “Why do you care?” Pearl said. “I did what you wanted. I got rid of the skeleton so you can sleep and study. Don’t be so ungrateful.”

  “Pearl, I can’t believe you. You don’t understand anything,” Wanda cried, and rushed out of the front hall toward the dormitories.

  Pearl shouted after her, “Where are you going? We don’t want to be late for class!”

  But Wanda didn’t answer. Pearl sighed and shook her head. “She didn’t even thank me.” Still, Pearl was curious to see what Wanda was going to do, so she caught up to her.

  Wanda and Pearl found Kiki moving the huge killer whale skeleton out of her room. The bed’s gray heron feathers floated all over the hallway. Kiki pulled and tugged with all her might. Echo and Shelly pushed the back, trying to get the big skeleton out of the dorm room. They stopped when they saw Wanda and Pearl.

  Wanda put her hand on Kiki’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry,” Wanda told her. “I didn’t know Pearl was going to do this.”

  Pearl smoothed back her blond hair. “I don’t know what you are complaining about, Wanda. You wanted the skeleton gone. I made it happen.”

  “It’s all right, Wanda,” Kiki said. “I know not everyone likes killer whales.”

  Echo spoke directly to Pearl. “I hate killer whales. And I hate skeletons. But I would never be this mean to Kiki!”

  Grabbing one side of the skeleton, Wanda announced, “Well, at least I can help.” Together, the four girls pulled the killer whale into the hallway.

  “I don’t know how you can stand up for someone who steals necklaces from innocent merpeople!” Pearl shouted.

  Wanda looked at Pearl and said, “I know that Headmaster Hermit didn’t find your pearls in our room.”

  “That doesn’t mean anything,” Pearl said. “Kiki could have hidden them somewhere else.”

  Shelly stopped in her tracks, her red hair streaming behind her. She yelled, “Kiki didn’t steal anything!”

  “How do you know that?” Pearl answered back. “After all, you’ve only known Kiki for a few weeks, since school started.”

  “I just know,” Shelly said.

  Echo didn’t say a word. She stared at Kiki and touched the glittering plankton bow in her own curly black hair.

  Pearl turned her pointed nose up in the water and swam down the hallway. She didn’t care what Wanda did. Or Echo, or Shelly, or Kiki. As far as Pearl was concerned, they were all horrible, and she hoped they’d get in trouble for being late to school.

  She knew she had done the right thing. Why couldn’t anyone else see that?

  Moving Day

  LATER THAT MORNING, AFTER THEIR mermath lesson, Mrs. Karp floated to the front of the classroom. She cleared her throat and said, “I know most of you are still a bit nervous about the shark sightings. So I think this is a good time for us to learn more about these creatures. We will go to the library, and you’ll do a short report on the shark of your choice.”

  Rocky raised his hand. “A dead shark is my favorite kind.”

  Mrs. Karp raised her green eyebrows. “Please keep in mind that sharks are needed for our ecosystem to function properly. Without sharks to eat weak and diseased fish, our ocean would be weak and diseased as well.” Then she asked Rocky, “Would you like me to select a shark for you?”

  “No, thank you,” Rocky answered quickly. The merstudents lined up swiftly and swam to the merlibrary, one of Pearl’s favorite places in the school. She didn’t really care about all the stacks of seaweed books, but she loved the mother-of-pearl dome ceiling and the fancy chandeliers salvaged from a sunken ship. Glowing jellyfish lived on the chandeliers and made them really sparkle. It was too bad they had to learn about disgusting sharks. Pearl just wanted to stare at the ceiling.

  “Miss Scylla,” Echo said, “that’s a pretty necklace you’re wearing.”

  Pearl turned to see the librarian’s jewelry. It didn’t look so great to Pearl. It was made of small yellow pearls. Her own necklace was much nicer. After all, it had once been her grandmother’s. But now it was gone, thanks to Kiki.

  Miss Scylla smiled. “I wore it specially today because it’s made of pearls from the Shark’s Bay oyster.”

  Pearl groaned. Why couldn’t everyone stop talking about sharks?

  “Here are some Shark’s Bay oysters in this display.” Miss Scylla pointed to a box containing small grayish shells.

  “You mean these weird-looking things made those pretty pearls you’re wearing?” Shelly asked.

  Miss Scylla nodded. “They form the pearl around a piece of sand that irritates them.”

  Rocky started spitting on the floor. “Hey, Miss Scylla,” he said between spits. “Pearl irritates me. If my spit makes a pearl necklace, do I still have to do my report?”

  “You apologize to Pearl right this minute,” Miss Scylla said. “That’s not the way to talk to a young merlady.”

  Pearl ignored Rocky when he apologized. She was staring at the yucky-looking clams. Were the ones who made her beautiful necklace just as icky? She felt like crying. Where was her necklace? She was so upset, she perched in a corner and barely did any work.

  Later, in the lunchroom, Pearl sat next to Morgan. Pearl bit into her lunch of black-lip oyster and sablefish stew and chewed. For some reason, it didn’t taste as good as it usually did. Morgan slurped her red lionfish roast with gray lichen gravy. It didn’t look worth four shells to Pearl. “Why is everyone staring at me that way?” Pearl asked.

  Morgan
shrugged and looked at the rest of the mergirls at their table. They had moved away from Pearl and were frowning at her between bites of lunch. “I think it has to do with you being mean to Kiki,” Morgan whispered.

  “Mean!” Pearl yelled. “I wasn’t mean. I saved Wanda from a lot of sleepless nights! And bad grades. How would you like to have a killer whale stare at you in your room?”

  Morgan gulped and scooted away from Pearl. “I—I—I wouldn’t like it,” Morgan said, shuddering.

  Pearl nodded. “Nobody wants to sleep with skeletons,” she insisted. “And why isn’t anyone mad at Kiki? Don’t forget she’s the one who took my necklace!”

  Morgan ate her lionfish special and didn’t look at Pearl.

  Pearl was so mad, she pushed her bowl away. “Everyone should be thanking me. Where is Kiki, anyway? She can’t turn everyone against me! I want to give her a piece of my mind!” Pearl looked around the cafeteria. Usually Kiki, Shelly, and Echo sat together, but today Pearl didn’t see them anywhere.

  “I—I—I think Kiki’s moving into a new room,” Morgan whimpered.

  “What? I thought the Trident dorms were full,” Pearl yelped, and stormed out of the cafeteria.

  “Pearl,” Morgan called after her, “you’d better come back or you’ll get in trouble.”

  “Trouble, my tail,” Pearl said. She was too steamed to worry about getting in trouble for leaving the cafeteria without permission. The very idea of people being upset with her, when everything was Kiki’s fault!

  Pearl raced through the watery halls to the dormitory. She couldn’t remember when she had ever been this angry.

  She saw Echo, Shelly, and Kiki floating into a storage room. Piles of cleaning supplies stood out in the hallway. The horrible skeleton bed loomed beside the supplies.

  “Hi, Pearl,” Echo said with a wave. “Are you here to help Kiki move?”

  Before Pearl could answer, Wanda floated out of her room carrying a small chest with Kiki’s name on it. “What are you doing?” Pearl asked Wanda. “Are you really helping Kiki after what she did to me? I thought you were a friend.”

  Wanda stopped in front of Pearl. “I am a friend. I’m Kiki’s friend. I’ll be your friend too, if you let me.”

  Kiki smiled. “Hi, Pearl. Would you like to see my new room?”

  Pearl couldn’t believe her ears. She swam to the beaded doorway and peeked inside. Kiki’s new room was twice as big as a regular dorm room. Rainbow-colored jellyfish lamps hung from the curved ceiling, and a small waterfall tinkled gently in one corner. One whole side glittered with plankton while another was aglow with a magnificent coral reef.

  “Isn’t it cool?” Kiki said. “Mrs. Karp found the lamps for me. Echo and Shelly helped me clean the supplies out. There’s room for my bed right in the middle.”

  Pearl shook her head. “You can’t live here.”

  Kiki put her hand on Pearl’s arm. “It’s all right. I’m not mad at you for making me move out of Wanda’s room.”

  “This isn’t fair!” Pearl said with a slap of her gold tail. “You ended up with a much nicer room.”

  Kiki giggled. “It’s funny how things worked out. Of course, I’ll miss Wanda. But now she won’t be scared to study. And we can still be friends.”

  Pearl shook her fist at Echo. “How could you help Kiki? You know she took my necklace!”

  Echo frowned. “No, I don’t, Pearl. I just don’t believe it. Kiki wouldn’t do anything like that! I bet you lost it and blamed it on her.”

  Shelly nodded. “That sounds like something Pearl would do.”

  “I did not!” Pearl yelled. She felt her face getting red, and she knew she’d better leave quickly before she cried.

  She spun around, knocking the carefully stacked cleaning supplies all over the hallway. She didn’t stop to pick them up. She didn’t stop at the cafeteria. She didn’t even stop at the headmaster’s office to ask to go home early.

  Pearl had had enough of school. She was going home. She looked around the entrance for her Shark Guard. He was nowhere to be seen. Well, I’m not going to wait around all day for him, Pearl thought. She swam out of Trident Academy without a backward glance, totally alone.

  Shark!

  HOW CAN THEY TREAT ME like I’m the bad merguy?” Pearl muttered as she swam past the statues in MerPark. She felt like kicking the marble sculpture of Poseidon. “I was only trying to help Wanda. She’s the one who had to sleep with a scary skeleton.”

  Pearl was so deep in thought she didn’t see the big gray-and-white snout sliding up behind her. “And why does Kiki get a great room when she took my necklace? None of this makes any sense! I’m going to tell my mother when I get home. She’ll fix this mess.”

  Suddenly a massive mouth with three thousand razor-sharp teeth opened right in front of Pearl.

  “Oh my Neptune!” she screamed. Pearl was so petrified she couldn’t move her shimmering tail one bit.

  The teeth belonged to a great white shark that was at least twenty feet long. He looked fierce and mean, and Pearl knew she would never get the chance to complain to her mother. She would never get the chance to complain to anyone ever again. She was sure she was about to become this creature’s lunch!

  But then Pearl saw something that made her mad, so mad she reached out and banged the shark—hard—on the nose. “How dare you!” she shouted.

  Surprised and startled, the shark snapped its jaws shut and backed away. But Pearl wasn’t done. She wanted what was in the shark’s mouth: her pearl necklace! “How did you get that? You give me my pearls back right now!” she yelled, and reached her hand out to snatch them.

  The shark shook its head and opened its mouth again. In one huge rush, it zoomed toward Pearl.

  “Help! Help!” Pearl screamed, and lunged sideways.

  The ocean was a blur as she dashed back to Trident Academy as fast as she could. The shark chased Pearl, snapping at her tail.

  Pearl didn’t have time to think. When she finally burst into the school, she paused to catch her breath. Surely she’d be safe in Trident Academy.

  But the shark didn’t stop. It burst into the tremendous shell and came dangerously close to Pearl.

  “Someone! Anyone! Help!” Pearl screamed into the massive empty entrance hall. But no one heard her cries. Everyone at Trident Academy was still in the cafeteria, eating lunch.

  Pearl kept racing away from the shark, toward the girls’ dormitory.

  She was swimming into a dead end, but she had no choice.

  Trapped

  PEARL ZOOMED DOWN THE hallway. She was trapped, but safe. He’ll never fit here, she thought. She had to figure out how to warn the school. After all, lunch would be over soon and the rest of the merstudents would be swimming into danger. For once Pearl actually wished the Shark Guard was with her.

  A huge swoosh of water knocked her to the bottom of the shell. Oh no! The shark had followed her into the dorm! One of its fins was trapped in a seaweed curtain, or it would have surely eaten her. The shark jerked violently back and forth, with Pearl’s necklace dangling from its mouth.

  Pearl desperately backed away. “Mrs. Karp! Headmaster Hermit!” she squeaked. She was barely able to get the words out.

  Just as the shark broke free, she felt a hand on her back!

  “Pearl! Get in here!” Kiki whispered, pulling her into the killer whale skeleton. Shelly, Echo, and Wanda were already huddled inside. The girls had tilted it so that the ribs protected them from the great white.

  “You saved me,” Pearl said to Kiki.

  Kiki shook her head. “We’re not out of the fishbowl yet.”

  The shark headed right at them, its mouth open wide. Pearl whined, “Where’s my mother?” But the shark stopped short when it saw the skeleton.

  “Pearl, does that shark have a necklace in its mouth?” Echo asked.

  “Yes. My pearls!” said Pearl. “Kiki, I’m sorry I said you took them.”

  Shelly gasped. “I can’t believe a shark got
your necklace.”

  “Neither can I,” Pearl said. “But we’re trapped. We have to make a dash for it.”

  “I’m not leaving this skeleton,” Echo said. “For just this once I feel safe inside a killer whale!”

  “I’d rather be inside this killer whale than that shark!” Shelly said while the great white sniffed the skeleton.

  Kiki held Pearl back. “Don’t, Pearl. We have to stay right where we are.”

  “But we don’t have to be quiet about it,” Pearl replied.

  “Help!” they all yelled as the shark banged the skeleton with its snout. The girls clutched one another.

  “We’re not loud enough,” Pearl said. “We’re doomed!”

  “Too bad we don’t have one of those human things Grandfather Siren told me about. It makes voices louder,” Echo said.

  Pearl’s green eyes widened. “Echo, you just gave me the greatest idea. Shelly, remember how you sang at my birthday a few weeks ago? Sing your loudest. Just like you did at my party,” Pearl said. She had been mad at Shelly for singing so well, but now they needed someone whose voice could be heard.

  Shelly didn’t waste a second. She tilted her head back and sang in her loudest, highest voice, “HEEEELLLLLPPPPPPP!”

  “Surely someone heard that,” Wanda said.

  “I hope so,” Pearl answered. “It might be our last chance.”

  Surprise

  SUDDENLY, A DARK SHADOW loomed in the hallway.

  “Oh no!” Pearl squealed. “Is that another shark?” Great whites usually traveled alone, and one was more than enough to worry about. Two was beyond horrible.

  The great white shark kept pushing and shoving the skeleton with its snout, turning it upside down. Sharp teeth snapped toward Pearl. Closing her eyes, she braced herself. But . . .

  Nothing happened! Instead, she heard a loud SLAP!

  Pearl opened her eyes and saw the great white sliding backward out of the dorm. The girls didn’t move a fin or take a breath. But the shark didn’t return.