by Debbie Dadey
She got to the entrance hall just as Marvin arrived.
Wow! He was gigantic! His body took up the whole door and his flippers glided him directly underneath the glittering, glowing jellyfish chandelier.
“Oh my gosh,” Pearl said, giggling. “He has pink spots!”
Mrs. Karp gave Pearl a stern look. Kiki had to admit she hadn’t expected the leatherback to be covered with pink and white polka dots. It was kind of cheerful.
But Marvin’s face wasn’t friendly at all. In fact, he looked downright mean.
Too Loud!
ECHO AND SHELLY SWAM OVER to Kiki’s side. “Where’s Rocky?” Echo asked, her eyes wide.
“Shhh,” Kiki whispered. “I sent him on a wild eel chase.”
“Good work, Kiki,” Shelly said. “Maybe you did change the future.”
Just then Mrs. Karp frowned at them. The mergirls got quiet. They turned their attention to Marvin, whose round body filled the center of the huge hallway. The leatherback stood on his back flippers, his head almost touching the enormous golden entrance hall chandelier. Shining jellyfish on the fixture lit up the large room.
Marvin was big and he looked mean, but when he opened his mouth he didn’t sound scary at all. He seemed really nice!
“Hello, merboys and mergirls,” Marvin said in perfect merfolk speech. “It is quite a pleasure to be with you today. I love visiting your delightful school and, of course, your teacher.”
Marvin continued, “I can’t stay underwater too long, but I’ll happily answer any questions you might have about leatherback turtles and my travels.”
It turned out that Marvin had been almost everywhere in the oceans with his friend Sheldon. Kiki felt bad when Marvin told them how his good friend had almost died from eating plastic bags. She decided if she ever saw a plastic bag floating in the water, she’d grab it so no other turtles would die. She was angry with Pearl for making her build a house out of them. And Kiki was mad at herself for allowing Pearl to force her. Although, maybe using them for other things was better than letting them float in the ocean.
“Wh-where are your favorite waters?” Morgan asked.
“The Sea of Japan is quite lovely this time of year,” Marvin told the merclass. Kiki smiled because that was near where her family lived. She was having such a good time listening to Marvin answer questions that she forgot all about her vision—until Rocky splashed into the front hallway and stopped behind the massive turtle.
“Hey, Kiki,” Rocky shouted. “There wasn’t any gift for Marvin in Mr. Fangtooth’s office.”
Rocky’s loud shouts startled Marvin and he jumped up high. His head whacked the huge chandelier, and the glowing jellyfish flew off, several plopping onto Mrs. Karp’s head. Plop! Plop! Plop!
The chandelier’s chain pulled loose from the ceiling of the large shell. Directly underneath the falling light was Rocky. He screamed and Marvin fell on top of Rocky, swirling and churning the water with thousands of bubbles. It was just like in Kiki’s vision!
It was all happening so fast, no one knew what to do or how to help.
But suddenly the bubbles cleared, and everyone saw Marvin’s body was curved over Rocky, protecting him! And there was Madame Hippocampus, who was above Marvin, holding the tremendous chandelier with her hooves.
“A little help here?” Madame Hippocampus called. Marvin moved from Rocky, and with Mrs. Karp’s help Madame fastened the large light fixture back to the shell’s ceiling.
Rocky was so scared, he hadn’t moved a fin. His mouth was wide open.
Shelly, Echo, and Kiki swam over to him.
“Are you okay, Rocky? Can you move?” Kiki asked.
Rocky got up slowly. “That was awesome!” he said. “I wasn’t scared one barnacle bit.”
The three merfriends exchanged looks, not sure if Rocky was really telling the truth.
Kiki floated up to Madame Hippocampus. “Madame, what are you doing here?”
“I knew you were concerned about what you saw, and I wanted to be here—just in case. I didn’t tell you the other day that I, too, have visions, but I didn’t see this coming,” Madame said. Then she smiled. “You’re not alone, my dear.”
Kiki smiled back and hugged her merology teacher. “Thank you so much.”
Madame winked and swam away. “Visionaries have to stick together.”
After Madame left, Marvin said it was also time for him to return home. “It’s been a most exciting visit, mergirls and merboys. Thank you for inviting me. I hope to see you again one day.”
And with that, the leatherback moved his huge body through the Trident Academy doors and swam off.
And in the next second, Rocky zoomed up beside Kiki and snapped, “What was the big idea? Why did you trick me?”
Shelly looked at Kiki. “That’s what you get for trying to help him.”
Kiki giggled. She was glad Rocky was all right, even if he was mad at her.
“Mrs. Karp, Kiki fibbed to me!” Rocky complained as he swam over to their teacher.
“Let me know if you have any dreams of Rocky moving away,” Shelly said.
Kiki took a deep breath and smiled. “Guess what? I just had another vision.”
“Really?” Echo asked. “Was it about Rocky?”
Kiki shook her head. “No, it was about us: that we’ll be friends for a long, long time.”
Shelly laughed. “See, we told you that visions are a good thing.”
Kiki grinned. Maybe seeing the future could come in handy. She would have to wait and see.
Class Projects
SHELLY’S INTERVIEW QUESTION FOR MARVIN: Why are you called “leatherback”?
MARVIN’S ANSWER: Instead of having a hard shell, I have a rubbery carapace that some think is leathery-looking.
WANDA’S INTERVIEW QUESTION FOR MARVIN: If you don’t have a shell, where do you hide your head?
MARVIN’S ANSWER: I’ve heard that some turtles can retract, or hide, their head, but leatherback turtles can’t.
ECHO’S INTERVIEW QUESTION FOR MARVIN: Have you ever seen a human?
MARVIN’S ANSWER: Once I was caught in a human’s fishing net. I thought I would die, but luckily a human man got me out. I pretended to be dead until he untangled me and then I jumped off his boat as fast as I could.
ROCKY’S INTERVIEW QUESTION FOR MARVIN: How many different kinds of turtles are there?
MARVIN’S ANSWER: There are seven species of sea turtles: Kemp’s ridley, olive ridley, loggerhead, hawksbill, flatback, green, and leatherback. I’ve heard there are more on land.
PEARL’S INTERVIEW QUESTION FOR MARVIN: How long can you stay underwater?
MARVIN’S ANSWER: The longest I’ve stayed under is eighty-five minutes.
KIKI’S INTERVIEW QUESTION FOR MARVIN: Have you ever hurt a merkid?
MARVIN’S ANSWER: No, but I am a wild creature and weigh around two thousand pounds. No merkids or humans should come very close, for everyone’s safety.
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
WHEN I WRITE A STORY, I do research. For Mermaid Tales, I study legends about mermaids, but I also learn about ocean creatures. I was sad to find out that many leatherback turtles
die from eating plastic bags. The bags somehow get into the ocean, and the turtles eat them, thinking they are jellyfish. In fact, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources lists the leatherback as “critically endangered” (facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future). One way to help turtles is to use cloth bags instead of plastic. I’m going to try to always use cloth bags for my groceries. I hope you’ll join me. Together we can spread the word to save the leatherback!
Swim free,
Debbie Dadey
Glossary
CLEANER WRASSE: This little silvery-blue fish spends its whole life cleaning other fish, turtles, and sometimes even divers.
CLOWN FISH: If you have ever seen the movie Finding Nemo, you know that Nemo was a clown fish. This brightly colored fish is able to live among anemones. Other fish are stung by the anemones’ tentacles, but not the clown fish.
GRAY HERON: This bird lives near water in Europe, Asia, Japan, Indonesia, Africa, and Madagascar.
HUMPBACK WHALE: Humpbacks are the acrobats of the ocean, breaching (jumping out of the ocean) and slapping the water with their tales.
KILLER WHALE: Killer whales, or orcas, are known for their black and white markings. They are the largest member of the dolphin family.
LEATHERBACK TURTLE: Leatherback turtles’ backs are flexible and rubbery.
MANTA RAY: The manta ray is the largest ray, but it is usually harmless to people. The southern stingray’s venom causes severe pain.
MAUVE STINGER JELLYFISH: This stinging jellyfish makes a light show when its mucus (snot) glows.
MOLLUSKS: This group of marine animals includes oysters, octopuses, and sea slugs.
MOTHER-OF-PEARL: This is the hard inner layer of the shell of a pearl oyster.
PEARLS: Pearls are often used in jewelry. They are made when oysters coat a grain of sand with a substance called nacre.
PORCUPINE FISH: When this fish is scared, it pumps water into its body and looks like a prickly soccer ball.
RIBBON EEL: The ribbon eel is black with a yellow fin when it is young, and changes to bright blue with a yellow snout as it gets older. Later in life it turns yellow.
SAILOR’S EYEBALL: This type of seaweed looks like a dark green marble.
SEA GRAPES: This is a kind of seaweed that has round sacs that look very much like grapes.
SEA LETTUCE: Animals and humans alike eat this plant that grows on seashores and in shallow waters.
SEA SQUIRT: This animal resembles a blob of green jelly.
SEAL: The common seal, or harbor seal, lives in the North Pacific and North Atlantic.
SEAWEED: Spectacular seaweed usually grows in very deep water. This type of seaweed is purple-blue when it is young.
SHARK: The sand tiger shark looks very scary with its sharp teeth, but it is actually quite peaceful and is often used in aquariums.
SHELL: If you find a spiral shell on the beach, it probably belonged to a slug or snail. The shells protect their soft bodies.
SHRIMP AND KRILL: These creatures are relatives of crabs and lobsters.
STARFISH: Most starfish are bottom dwellers. While starfish usually have just five arms, there is a seven-arm starfish too.
TUBE SPONGE: This sponge is pinkish violet and often grows as bunches of tubes that are joined at the bottom.
Mirror, Mirror
PEARL SWAMP CURLED THE tip of her gold tail to make a bow. Then she flipped it out quickly to make a circle. It was hard to do while seated, but just for fun, she began practicing her Tail Flippers dance. Her school, Trident Academy, had a dance and gymnastics group called the Tail Flippers. Pearl was so proud that she’d made the team this year!
“Pearl!” her third-grade teacher, Mrs. Karp, snapped. “Are you paying attention?”
Pearl sat up straight and stared innocently at her teacher. “Of course! I always pay attention to you, Mrs. Karp.” That wasn’t exactly true. Pearl did try to pay attention, but sometimes school was just too boring! She longed for something exciting to happen.
“As I was saying, class,” Mrs. Karp continued, “today we will start a storytelling project.”
A merboy named Rocky Ridge groaned loud enough for the whole class to hear. Pearl felt like groaning too. Mrs. Karp was always coming up with new projects for them, many of them very dull!
Mrs. Karp frowned at Rocky. “The project will include two assignments. For the first assignment, each of you will choose a story to study. Then you will practice telling it to your family or in front of a mirror. You will share your story with the class tomorrow.”
Kiki Coral raised her hand. “What’s a mirror?”
“Don’t you have a mirror?” Pearl asked in surprise. Even though Kiki was from far-off waters, Pearl couldn’t believe she didn’t know what a mirror was!
Kiki shook her head. Most of the other third graders shrugged, so Shelly Siren explained, “It’s a piece of glass that you look in to see yourself. What you see is called a reflection. A lot of humans have them.”
Pearl sniffed, tossing her long blond hair behind her shoulders. Shelly was such a know-it-all. Just because she lived with her grandfather in an apartment above the People Museum, she thought she was an expert on all human things. “My family has ten of them,” Pearl bragged.
“No one has ten mirrors in their shell,” Rocky scoffed.
Pearl lifted her pointy nose up in the water. “Well, we do! If you don’t believe me, you can come over and see for yourself!”
Rocky made a face. “A giant octopus couldn’t drag me to your shell.”
“That’s quite enough,” Mrs. Karp said sharply. “If you don’t have a mirror, you may practice with a friend.”
A mergirl named Echo Reef raised her hand and asked, “What’s the second part of the storytelling project?”
Mrs. Karp peered over her glasses and smiled at Echo. “Thank you for asking. The second assignment will be to make up your own story and tell it to the class.”
“That’s more like it.” Rocky grinned, sitting back in his shell seat. “I’m good at making up stories.”
Pearl knew that was true. Rocky was always making up tales, and they were usually great big fat lies. But even Pearl had to admit she liked the idea of being in front of the class and telling a story she made up. She could say almost anything! Plus, Pearl loved it when everyone was looking at her. It made her feel so special.
Mrs. Karp thumped her white tail on her desk to get everyone’s attention. “It’s time to head to the library to choose the stories for your first assignment.” The merkids floated down the hall. Pearl wasn’t eager to find a story among all the rock and seaweed books, but she did love looking at the beautiful, domed library ceiling. It was made of glistening mother-of-pearl, and its fancy chandeliers sparkled with glowing jellyfish. If the whole school was as pretty as the library, Pearl was sure she would like studying more.
Pearl and her friend Wanda Slug sat down at a rock table that was piled high with stories written on pieces of seaweed. “What kind of story do you want to find?” Wanda asked. “I’d love one about a princess!”
Pearl scrunched her nose. “A princess would be all right, I guess,” she said. “But only if it’s really exciting.”
Just then there was a loud yelp across the room. “No wavy way!” Rocky yelled. “Look what I found!”
Story Time!
ALMOST THE ENTIRE CLASS gathered around Rocky. “I found a story about a pirate treasure!” he exclaimed.
“Pirates are cool,” a boy named Adam said, peering over Rocky’s shoulder.
“That’s not even the best part!” Rocky boasted. “The treasure is right here in Trident City!”
Pearl floated over to Rocky as the other merkids giggled in excitement. After all, Trident Academy was located in the middle of Trident City. The treasure couldn’t be too far away.
“It’s just a pretend story from a book,” Shelly said. “There’s not really a treasure.�
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“But what if it’s not made up?” Rocky protested. “What if it’s real?”
Pearl squeezed in next to Rocky. Her eyes grew wide as she scanned the story, which included a faded drawing of an old, abandoned pirate ship. “It says there are diamonds as big as a merman’s fist and rubies large enough to choke a shark!”
Rocky nodded. “And they’re all hidden inside a treasure chest that’s haunted by pirate ghosts.”
“Ghosts?” Echo Reef shuddered. “Ghosts are creepy.”
Shelly shook her head. “Ghosts aren’t real.”
Rocky pointed his brown tail at Shelly. “How do you know?”
“Yeah,” Pearl said, rolling her big green eyes. “Ghosts are supposed to be invisible. For all you know, they’re swimming all over this library.” Pearl didn’t believe in ghosts, but she hated when Shelly acted like she knew everything.
Echo looked around as if she expected a ghost to jump out at any moment.
“I know,” Shelly said. “I just don’t believe in them.”
“Who cares about pirates or ghosts, anyway?” Pearl said. “I want to know where to find that treasure!”
Rocky continued to read the story aloud. “This doesn’t say exactly where the treasure is, but you wouldn’t want to go near it. The pirate ghosts guard it! There’s no telling what they’d do to you if you tried to take it.”
Just then the librarian, Miss Scylla, swam over with one eyebrow raised. “What’s all the fuss about? Have you finished choosing your stories?” Everyone sighed and got back to work.
But Pearl couldn’t stop thinking about how thrilling it would be to find a real pirate’s treasure. She’d probably even get her picture in the Trident City Tide, the local newsweed. She closed her eyes, imagining the headline: BEAUTIFUL YOUNG MERMAID FINDS TREASURE.
