Dream of the Blue Turtle

by Debbie Dadey

  Kiki felt a tear at the corner of her eye. It meant so much to her that Shelly and Echo were her friends, especially since her own family lived so far away. Kiki thought about the little orange starfish her mermom had given her before she left for Trident Academy. She wished she had it with her now since it brought her good luck and made her feel more confident. Instead it was back in her dorm room, hidden under her pillow.

  “The problem is,” Kiki said, “I only see flashes of the future. Yesterday, I saw something that really frightened me. There was swirling water, Rocky screaming, and a big turtle falling toward him.”

  Shelly and Echo glanced at each other. “What do you think it means?” Echo asked.

  “That’s the trouble,” Kiki said. “I don’t know. It sure didn’t look good, and it gave me a terrible feeling.”

  Then Shelly spoke. “It doesn’t have to be something bad. Maybe Rocky and Marvin were playing hide-and-seek or tag? My grandfather says, ‘Don’t borrow trouble,’” she said, taking a sip of her seaweed juice. “That means don’t worry about something that might be nothing.”

  “Maybe you’re right,” Kiki answered. But she still couldn’t help being worried, even though Shelly’s grandfather Siren was a very wise merman.

  As the three mergirls finished their snacks, Kiki saw Mr. Fangtooth float by the café. “Look!” She pointed. Unfortunately, her arm bumped her juice and it spilled all over the table.

  “Let’s see if he’s meeting his sweetheart,” Echo suggested. “Then we’ll know if that’s why he was so happy yesterday.”

  The friends quickly cleaned up the mess and hurried outside to follow Mr. Fangtooth. “I think he’s going in the direction of the Manta Ray Express Station,” Echo said. “Let’s go!”

  “Oh my goodness,” Shelly said. “Look at that.” The girls giggled as Mr. Fangtooth hugged a merlady they recognized as Lillian.

  “Isn’t that sweet?” Echo said. “They are back together.”

  “Why couldn’t I have a vision about something nice like that?” Kiki said.

  Happy with their discovery, the girls started to go home, but Kiki heard Pearl’s voice calling her. “Kiki! Kiki! Where are you going? We have to get started on our turtle house. I have such wonderful ideas! We’ll build the best one in class. It’s going to be so fun!”

  Kiki wanted to groan, but she knew it would be rude. She wanted to swim away, but she knew it would be impolite. And they did have to get their homework done.

  Kiki didn’t have a choice about doing her project with Pearl. But if Madame wasn’t back in school by tomorrow, Kiki would have to come up with another plan to save Rocky—if her vision was as bad as she believed it was.

  Teamwork?

  LET’S GO TO THE CRAFT room,” Pearl suggested as the two mergirls entered Pearl’s huge shell.

  “You have a room just for crafts?” Kiki asked.

  Pearl giggled and twisted her long strand of pearls. “Sure, we have a room for just about everything. One for dancing. One for music. One for books. One for . . .”

  “I get it,” Kiki said. Because of her seventeen brothers, Kiki’s home didn’t have any extra space. In fact, she was the only one who had a bedroom to herself. Her brothers were jealous because they shared rooms, but when she had visions late at night, she wished she shared a room with one of them. She had kept her gift a secret from everyone in her family. Of course, she’d never seen anything so scary before.

  Pearl floated up the fancy staircase and into a big room that had long stone countertops filled with bottles and trunks. Every shelf was overflowing with colorful shells, beads, and ribbons. “My mermom loves to craft,” Pearl explained. “But we can use any of this stuff.”

  “Wow!” Kiki exclaimed.

  “Now,” Pearl said, facing Kiki. “Let’s just get this straight from the beginning. We’re using my materials, so I’m in charge and we’re going to do it my way.” Pearl pushed back her headband and tapped her gold tail on the polished marble floor. The look on her face said she was ready to argue if Kiki didn’t agree.

  Pearl’s actions were giving Kiki a headache. She wanted to protest and tell Pearl that Mrs. Karp had said they needed to work together. They were supposed to be a team. Kiki wanted to share the great ideas that she had, but she didn’t think Pearl would listen, and she didn’t want to get into a fight. After all, she was still worried about her vision and what might happen to Rocky, and now her head ached, too, so she just said, “Okay.”

  It only took a merminute for Kiki to regret agreeing. “These colorful bags are perfect for a turtle house,” Pearl suggested, putting a large container of them on the counter.

  “But those bags are made of plastic. Mrs. Karp said those are bad for leatherbacks,” Kiki said.

  “Oh barnacles! We’re just making a house,” Pearl said. “We’re not hurting anything.”

  Kiki sighed and rubbed her aching head. “But I think we should make the turtle house out of something else.”

  “My house. My rules,” Pearl snapped. “Why don’t you get started and I’ll go get us a snack?” She floated out of the room.

  A merhour later, Kiki had finished the turtle house and Pearl still hadn’t come back. Kiki was more than a little mad. She may not have known what was going to happen with Rocky, but she was right about Pearl being her homework partner: It wasn’t one little bit fun.

  Madame’s Advice

  KIKI WOKE UP EARLY THE next morning. She lay quietly in her killer whale skeleton bed, and when she stretched, a gray heron feather tickled her nose. Under her pillow she felt her lucky starfish charm. But the quiet feeling didn’t last for long—suddenly she remembered her vision and quickly got out of bed. She needed to talk to Madame Hippocampus as soon as possible! Hopefully, she was well today and back at school.

  Marvin was coming tomorrow and Kiki knew she had to find out what her vision meant before the leatherback came to their school.

  Kiki zoomed out of the girls’ dormitory and headed to the main entrance hall of Trident Academy. A few other early risers were already there, chatting in the enormous open room. Two merboys were using the time to play porcupine fish bowling. Kiki was sure Headmaster Hermit wouldn’t approve.

  “Kiki!” Shelly called to her and waved.

  To Kiki’s dismay, Shelly and Echo had also come to school early, and they swam over to join her. This was one morning when Kiki didn’t want to talk to her friends. She just wanted to see Madame. “Hi!” Kiki said.

  “How was working with Pearl?” Echo asked.

  “She made me do all the work!” Kiki complained. “And she wanted to use plastic bags for the turtle’s house!”

  Shelly scrunched her nose and said, “You’re kidding. But that sounds like Pearl. Wanda and I had lots of fun on our project. She has great ideas.”

  Echo nodded. “Even Rocky helped me. We worked last night at my shell.” Then she giggled. “It was hard to concentrate on the project because he’s so cute. He wouldn’t stop telling jokes.”

  “I hope you didn’t tell him about my vision,” said Kiki.

  “There’s really not much to say. You only saw flashes and we don’t know what they mean,” Echo said.

  Shelly nodded and said, “But you really should tell Mrs. Karp about Pearl not helping.”

  Kiki couldn’t even think about Pearl right now. She had to talk to Madame Hippocampus before school started. Even though she had told Shelly and Echo how worried she was, they didn’t understand how serious the vision was. “Maybe later,” Kiki said. “Right now I have to see Madame.”

  “We’ll go with you,” Echo said. Kiki started to argue, but she was worried about running out of time before school began, so she zipped off, with Shelly and Echo racing behind her.

  Madame Hippocampus’s room was to the right of the main hall, past the library. Kiki zoomed through the door and almost hugged Madame Hippocampus. “Madame! I’m so glad you’re here!” Kiki said. “I need to talk to you. It’s a life-or-death situ
ation!”

  “Well, goodness. Come right in, merladies!” Madame said, tapping a hoof on her marble desk. By now the girls were used to their merology teacher’s unusual appearance. She had a horse face, hooves, and the plump lower end of a dolphin.

  Kiki’s heart was beating so fast, she thought it would explode. She took a couple of deep breaths and then began. “Madame, I had a vision. I’ve had them before, but never this scary. And other than Shelly and Echo, I’ve never told anyone.” Kiki stopped for a second and said, “The other day I saw Rocky screaming and a huge turtle falling toward him.”

  Madame was silent, and then a huge smile showed all of her horse teeth. “That is very interesting, Kiki. You may not be happy about what you saw with Marvin and Rocky, but you are a very fortunate young mermaid.”

  “That’s what we told her,” Echo said.

  Kiki shook her head sadly. “I don’t feel fortunate. And neither will Rocky, if what I saw comes true!”

  Madame floated over and patted Kiki’s shoulder. “My dear, only a few merfolk have this gift. You are special.”

  “It’s not special,” Kiki said, almost in tears. “It’s awful. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I felt like it was bad.”

  Suddenly Kiki wiped away her tears. “Madame, I just thought of something. Can the future be changed?” she asked.

  Madame nodded. “A fine question, Kiki. Well, since it’s the future, it hasn’t happened yet. I would say yes.”

  For the first time since her vision, Kiki felt better. She had an idea and hoped it would save Rocky’s life and prove her vision wrong.

  T - day

  AFTER THE THREE MERGIRLS left Madame Hippocampus’s room, they floated down the hallway to their own third-grade class. Luckily, only a few kids were in their seats already. “Mrs. Karp,” Kiki exclaimed, “I must speak to you. You have to cancel the leatherback’s visit.”

  Mrs. Karp looked up from her seaweed book and frowned. “Why do you say that, Kiki? We have been planning this event with Marvin for a while.”

  “But . . . I . . .” Kiki didn’t know what to say. More merkids were coming into class. Was she going to have to tell Mrs. Karp about her horrible vision in front of the other third graders and frighten everyone?

  Kiki held her head up and straightened her back. She had to do it. She opened her mouth, but at that moment, a mergirl named Morgan swished past her to complain to Mrs. Karp. “Adam isn’t helping me one bit with the turtle house project.”

  Mrs. Karp raised a green eyebrow at Adam. “Excuse me, Kiki. One moment,” she said. She turned to Adam. “Is this true?”

  Adam frowned. “No, Morgan is being pushy. She wants to make the whole house out of pink coral. I hate pink!” Kiki noticed most of the desks were filled with merkids now. Pearl was in her seat. This would be the perfect time to tell Mrs. Karp how Pearl hadn’t helped either and how she wanted to use plastic bags that endangered the turtles.

  But before Kiki could say anything, Mrs. Karp spoke to the entire classroom. “Keep in mind that no matter what you do in this ocean, you will have to work with other merpeople. Some will not be very cooperative.” Mrs. Karp paused to glance at Adam and then Pearl.

  Kiki was surprised. Did Mrs. Karp know that Pearl didn’t help? Pearl glared at Kiki. Did Pearl think Kiki had told on her?

  Mrs. Karp continued. “Remember that part of this lesson is to learn how to work together.”

  Kiki sighed. It didn’t look like Mrs. Karp was going to change tomorrow’s plans.

  Rocky floated into the room just as Mrs. Karp finished talking to the class. “Echo and I are making the best turtle house ever,” he bragged.

  Kiki looked at Rocky. She wasn’t sure why Echo thought he was cute, but she didn’t want anything to happen to him and knew she couldn’t give up. She had to come up with another plan, and maybe Rocky had to be a part of it.

  At recess, Kiki swam up to where Rocky was swinging from a tube sponge. She said, “Rocky, you can’t come to school tomorrow.”

  He swung to the ocean floor and grinned. “Now, that’s what I’ve been waiting to hear all year.”

  Kiki smiled. She never dreamed keeping Rocky away from Trident Academy would be that easy. Her problem was solved.

  But then Rocky folded his arms across his chest and scratched his nose with his brown tail. “I have just one question, Kiki. Why can’t I come to school tomorrow?” he asked.

  Kiki frowned. “Because . . .” She tried to think of a good reason. She didn’t want to tell Rocky that she could see the future—his future—and that he was in danger. Couldn’t he just stay home and enjoy it?

  Then Rocky said, “Hey, that big leatherback is supposed to come tomorrow. I don’t want to miss T-day!”

  “T-day?” Kiki asked.

  “Yeah,” Rocky said, jumping back on the tube sponge and swinging his tail around. “Turtle day!”

  Kiki groaned. Now what was she going to do?

  Library

  AFTER RECESS, KIKI SAT IN the Trident Academy library next to Shelly and Echo. Kiki didn’t notice the gleaming mother-of-pearl domed ceiling. She didn’t pay attention to the fancy chandeliers that had been saved from a sunken ship or the fact that they glowed with the bioluminescent light of mauve stinger jellyfish. She was supposed to be looking in the stacks of seaweed books for information about leatherback turtles for her questions for Marvin, but she was having trouble concentrating.

  She kept staring at Rocky. He was busy throwing little pebbles at Pearl when her back was turned. Whenever Pearl looked at Rocky, he glanced at his seaweed papers like he was studying hard.

  “Did you already think of a good interview question?” Shelly asked her.

  Kiki squealed. Everyone in the library turned to look at her. The librarian, Miss Scylla, frowned but continued helping Morgan with her book.

  “Sorry,” Shelly whispered. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  Kiki managed a small smile. “That’s okay. What are you talking about? What interview question?”

  Shelly’s red hair floated in the water around her. “That’s what we’re supposed to be doing—trying to figure out a good question to ask Marvin tomorrow.”

  Kiki’s throat tightened. She was running out of time. Kiki grabbed Shelly’s arm and whispered, “You have to help me stop Marvin from visiting.”

  Echo put her hand over her heart. “Do you think we should warn Rocky, just in case?” Echo said.

  Kiki nodded. Maybe Echo was finally realizing how serious the vision had been. “I tried to stop Rocky from coming today, but he wouldn’t listen to me. Maybe the three of us can change his mind.”

  “Come on,” Echo said.

  Shelly said, “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. . . .” But Echo was already halfway across the library.

  Kiki sped after Echo. She had to make sure Echo didn’t tell Rocky the whole truth. If Rocky knew about Kiki’s visions, he’d never stop making fun of her. Why did she have to have a special gift like this? Why couldn’t her gift be to sing nicely like Shelly or twist and do flips like Echo?

  As the mergirls swam over to Rocky, Pearl grew tired of Rocky’s teasing and pushed him toward Echo. Rocky fell into Echo, who tumbled onto Kiki, who crashed into Shelly. They all toppled over into a large rock shelf loaded with seaweed books. The books crashed onto the library floor, covering the four merkids.

  Kiki popped her head up from the mess and saw Miss Scylla heading their way.

  LATER THAT NIGHT, KIKI WAS as worried as ever that she couldn’t put a stop to tomorrow’s disaster. They had never had a chance to warn Rocky. After their library pileup, Miss Scylla had made them tidy up and then sent them home.

  Tomorrow was coming, like it or not. And there was nothing Kiki could do to change it.

  Polka Dots?

  KIKI COULDN’T STOP HER purple tail from shaking and shaking. It was the next morning and she was in her classroom waiting for Marvin to arrive.

  Mrs. K
arp smiled at her merstudents. “Good morning, class. This is an exciting day for us. Let’s review proper behavior. No one will interrupt our guest. No one will speak unless called upon. There will be no chatting among students and absolutely no loud noises. We don’t want to upset our guest.

  “We will show Marvin how well-behaved Trident Academy students can be. If not, there will be consequences.”

  Adam raised a tail fin. “What’s ‘consequences’?”

  “Consequences are what will happen to you if you do not follow the rules,” Mrs. Karp said, glaring over her tiny glasses.

  Kiki looked at Rocky and Adam. They didn’t ask anything else about consequences. No one wanted to find out what they would be. They’d gotten in enough trouble yesterday in the library. Mrs. Karp had been so upset that she’d threatened to cancel Marvin’s visit, but then she said it wouldn’t be fair to Marvin, so he was still coming.

  Kiki was so tired she could hardly think. All evening and into the night, she had tried to figure out what else to do to save Rocky. Mrs. Karp wouldn’t cancel the visit. Rocky wouldn’t stay home. Madame thought Kiki’s vision was a gift. Even Shelly and Echo didn’t think her vision was really all that dangerous.

  When Mrs. Karp asked the class to line up, Kiki found herself at the end of the line with Rocky. All of a sudden she whispered, “Rocky, Mrs. Karp has a special job just for you. She wants you to go to Mr. Fangtooth’s office. There is a present for Marvin there. And you’ll get to give it to him.”

  Rocky’s face lit up and he grinned. When the class floated out the door toward the front hall, Rocky floated in the opposite direction. Kiki couldn’t believe it. She had worried for no reason. It had been so easy to get Rocky away from Marvin. She felt terrible about telling a lie. But she felt wonderful for saving Rocky. Hopefully, by the time Rocky found out there wasn’t a present, Marvin would already be gone. After all, turtles couldn’t stay underwater for long. Kiki was relieved.