Lana Swims North

by Lisa Ann Scott

  “No whale can dive deeper than a narwhal,” his mother said proudly.

  He disappeared into the depths of the ocean. In just a few minutes, he was back. He held the clamshell in his mouth and dropped it in Lana’s hand. And there was a big, pink pearl, too!

  Lana gasped. “What’s this?”

  “I remembered the story your principal told about the missing gems. That looks an awful lot like the Fathom Pearl she described,” Spike said.

  “It really does!” Marina said.

  “I can’t wait to show it to the principal,” Lana said. And there was something else she wanted to tell the principal. An idea she had for helping the Rescue Crew. She hoped she could be brave enough to speak up and share her plan.

  * * *

  They spent a few more days in Glister Kingdom, carving caves into the ice.

  “We need to leave. It’s Friday. We’ll go back to my kingdom, and then I can take you to Rescue Crew School on Saturday,” Lana said.

  “Let’s pack our things, children. It’s time for an adventure,” the queen said.

  When they were ready to leave, Spike and his mom swam with them to the portal.

  “Please come visit soon,” Spike said to Lana. “I’ll miss you guys.”

  “You can always visit us, too,” Lana said.

  “It’s a deal,” Spike said.

  Just then, a pod of dolphins rushed out of the portal. They looked around, confused. Then one spotted Spike. “Spike! A whale told us we might find you here. You shouldn’t have run off like that!”

  Spike hung his head. “I’m sorry, Mom.” He paused. “Boy, is this confusing. Turns out, I’m not a dolphin with a horn. And I have another mom who I just found.” Spike explained everything to the curious dolphins.

  Maris swam up to the dolphins. “Thank you for taking such good care of my baby.”

  “He’s a wonderful boy,” Spike’s dolphin mother said. “We miss him.”

  Lana had never seen Spike look so sad. The narwhal was blinking back tears.

  “I miss you, too. But I’m a narwhal. I belong here.”

  His dolphin mother nodded sadly.

  “Spike,” Maris said softly. “There’s no reason you can’t visit with your dolphin family.”

  “Really?” Spike said.

  “You have this whole other pod who loves you. And you love them, too. How could I keep you apart?” Maris asked. “I just hope you’ll spend time with your narwhal family as well.”

  “That sounds perfect!” Spike said.

  “How about now, Spike?” one of the dolphins asked. “We found a huge school of cod on the other side of the portal.”

  “Don’t get lost this time!” Maris laughed.

  “Mom, why don’t you come, too?” Spike asked her. “There are so many wonderful things to see.”

  “We’d love to have you,” Spike’s dolphin mother said.

  Maris smiled. “Why not?”

  Everyone swam through the portal, and moments later, they were back in Lana’s kingdom. Spike, his moms, and the dolphins said goodbye, and went searching for the cod.

  Lana brought everyone else to her home. Everything had turned out so well! But nerves bubbled in her belly knowing she’d be headed back to the Rescue Crew School soon.

  After spending the night at her family’s castle, Lana led the group of Glister mer-royals to Rescue Crew School Saturday morning. There was so much to tell the class, but she was getting more and more nervous the closer they got to Astoria. Would she be in trouble for leading a mission? Would she be brave enough to tell the principal her idea?

  “It certainly is warm down here,” Queen Yara said. “I’m not so sure you kids will like that.”

  “We’ll get used to it!” Meri said.

  They marveled at the bright coral and fish that appeared as they swam into the capital city.

  Lana saw the school ahead and stopped swimming. “I’m scared.”

  Marina nudged her with her snout. “That’s okay. Everyone feels scared once in a while. But you have so many great ideas, you have to share them. It’s not fair to the group if you don’t.”

  “But what if they laugh at me?” Lana asked.

  Marina snorted. “Then ignore them. Or laugh with them! But don’t bottle up your words.”

  “Thanks, Marina. I couldn’t have done any of this without you.” She hurried toward the school, but she was a few minutes late for class. She burst through the door. “I’m sorry.”

  The principal sighed. “Princess Lana, you’d better have a good excuse.”

  The class gasped as the glittering royal family swam in behind her.

  The principal set down her book. “Princess Lana, who are these merfolk?”

  Everyone was looking at Lana. Her heart started pounding. Her cheeks were burning. She couldn’t find her voice. She wished she could disappear.

  “Well?” the principal asked.

  Marina looked at Lana. “You can do this.”

  Lana shook her head. It was like her voice had vanished.

  Marina sighed. “I can explain.”

  But Lana knew this was her moment. She had an exciting story to tell. She’d done well in the north. She’d found a missing merchild. She’d found an unknown colony of merfolk—and brought back the Fathom Pearl! She had to be proud and brave and tell the story.

  Breathe, focus, solve. I can do this!

  She cleared her throat. “Principal Vanora, class, I’d like to introduce the royal family of Glister Kingdom, from the waters of the Northern Seas.”

  Everyone gasped.

  “Merfolk in the north!” the principal exclaimed. “How did you come to discover them?”

  Lana took a deep breath and explained everything, then finished with, “I thought Meri and Hurley could train with us so they can keep their kingdom safe.”

  “Yeah, we want to be like Lana. She found a missing merchild while she was there,” Meri said.

  “She was amazing! She didn’t just go searching for her. She stopped and figured out where the child would be, and she was right!” Hurley said.

  “Is that so?” the principal asked.

  “Yes,” Lana said softly. “I know I wasn’t supposed to lead a mission, but someone had to help.”

  Principal Vanora paused. Lana gulped, ready to be scolded.

  “I’m very proud of you,” the principal said.

  “Really?” Lana’s heart swelled.

  “Really. And we’d be thrilled to have Meri and Hurley join us,” the principal added. “Why don’t you find seats and start today?”

  “Excellent! I’ll see you two after class,” the queen said before swimming off.

  “This has been quite a morning!” the principal said. “Let’s take a quick break.”

  As the merchildren swam off into the courtyard, Lana approached Principal Vanora. “Can I talk to you about something?”

  “Of course,” the principal said.

  Her heart fluttered and her skin felt prickly, but she wasn’t going to keep her words and ideas bottled up anymore. “I know I’m not quick to act. I know I have a hard time speaking up, but I want you to know that I’m working on it.”

  “I can see that,” the principal said.

  Lana took a deep breath. “I like spending time thinking, solving problems. It’s what I’m good at.” She told the principal about the ice caves they’d been building.

  “It sounds like you did a good job up there,” the principal said.

  Lana nodded. “I think we should make a new position on the Rescue Crew—a project planner. Solving problems that aren’t emergencies. I’ve already got some ideas for us down here in Astoria.”

  The principal placed her hand on Lana’s shoulder. “I think that’s a wonderful idea. And I’m so glad you were brave enough to share it with me.”

  Lana gasped. “I almost forgot. I’ve got something else to share with you.” She reached into her schoolbag and pulled out the pearl. “Spike found this while w
e were digging the caves. Do you think it’s the Fathom Pearl?”

  The principal held it in her hand. “Fathom pearls are very rare. But the one in the trident was the only pink one ever discovered. We won’t know until we can put it in the missing trident, but I think this could be it!”

  Lana beamed. “I hope so!”

  “I’m so glad you found this—and your confidence. They’re both treasures.”

  Lana smiled at Marina. “Like you said, a team takes two. And luckily, Marina convinced me that I have a lot to share.”

  Lana wrapped her arms around Marina’s neck, glad they were back at the Rescue Crew School. Where they belonged.

  Professor Korla passed back the exams to the royal mermaids and magical seaponies at the Rescue Crew School. Her long, lovely tail swooped along the floor as she returned to her desk.

  “Some of you did quite well on this quiz,” she said to the class. “Others should have studied sea plant identification a bit more.”

  Princess Cali looked at her test and then peeked at her twin brother Cruise’s paper. They had both gotten a ninety-seven. She frowned and raised her hand. “Can we do anything for extra credit?”

  “Certainly.” The teacher paused. “But you performed very well, Cali.”

  And so did Cruise.

  “I want a perfect score,” Cali said. One that would make her stand apart from her brother. They’d always been “Cali and Cruise.” Or “Cruise and Cali,” or “the Twins.” For the last nine years, everyone had treated them as one.

  Now that they were in Rescue Crew School, Cali was ready to shine on her own. She had to. Cali would be performing rescues with her seapony partner, Rio. Cruise wouldn’t always be with her. Cali had to prove she could do things herself—and do them well. She wanted to be the best—or at least better than her brother.

  The teacher crossed her arms. “Very well. Anyone who wants extra credit can collect samples of five plants and present them in class tomorrow.”

  “What if I bring in six instead of five?” Cruise asked.

  “You’re not going to get a grade higher than one hundred, but if you want to collect six samples, feel free to do so,” the teacher said.

  Then I’m going to get seven, Cali thought. She could not let Cruise beat her—at anything.

  She turned to her magical seapony partner, Rio. “We’ll start looking right after class.”

  Rio gave her a funny look. “I’m happy with my ninety-three. If we go looking for plants, we won’t have as much time to read the pet book. You still have to decide what kind of pet you should get. You don’t really need the extra credit.”

  Cali frowned. Rio was an amazing seapony partner, always kind and fun. Cali hated bickering with Rio, but the truth was, they didn’t always agree.

  “We can talk about pets while we look,” Cali said. “I wish Cruise and I could each get our own pet. But Mom and Dad said we have to agree on one and share it.”

  Cruise smiled at her. “An electric eel would be amazing. We’d have so much fun with it.”

  Cali sighed. “What about a puffer fish? They’re so cute!”

  “Boring!” Cruise said. “We’ve got to choose something cool!”

  “I’m not sure you two are ever going to agree on which pet to get,” said Cruise’s seapony, Jetty.

  “We have to pick one before we go home at the end of the weekend, or we don’t get one at all,” Cali reminded him. But she worried that Jetty was right. Lately, she and Cruise seemed to argue and disagree more and more—about everything! How could they ever agree on something as important as a pet?

  The bell rang and Professor Korla closed the textbook on her desk. “Class is dismissed. And make sure to be here on time tomorrow! There will be a very exciting announcement.”

  The class chattered, wondering what the news might be, as they swam out of the classroom.

  Cali zoomed outside and did a somersault.

  Cruise swam up beside her and did two.

  Cali put her hands on her hips. “I can do better than that.” She tumbled in a circle three times.

  Then Cruise did four. Cali did five. Cruise did six.

  Rio sighed.

  Jetty shook his head. “Don’t make me hit you with a stun bubble.”

  Cali laughed. That would be funny to see, especially since Cruise was so proud of Jetty’s Sea Savvy. Stun bubbles were cool, but Rio could blow protection bubbles. After they’d chosen their seapony partners in the match ceremony, Cali and Cruise had spent hours arguing over whose Sea Savvy was better.

  Cali’s friends from class swam up to her.

  “Come on, Cali. Let’s look for plants!” Princess Nixie said.

  Cali felt dizzy. “Hang on. I have to do seven somersaults.”

  Princess Lana grabbed her hand. “No you don’t. You can’t even swim straight right now!”

  “I’m the somersault champ!” Cruise pumped his hands in the air. “Want to go search for plants with me?”

  Cali almost said yes—then realized Cruise probably just wanted her to be there so he could gloat when he found more plants than her. “No, thanks,” she said.

  Cruise’s smile fell. “Fine.” He swam off.

  “Why does Cruise copy everything I do?” Cali wondered aloud. He was making it very difficult for her to stand out.

  “Well, you’ve always done everything together,” Rio said.

  Cali crossed her arms. “We’re not little kids anymore.”

  “Just forget about it. Let’s go to the park,” Rio said. “You can get samples from the seaweed garden and then we can read the pet book.”

  They swam to the park and saw Cruise with his friends Dorado and Drake.

  Cruise waved a handful of plants. “I’ve already got five!”

  “Good for you.” Cali tried her best to ignore him.

  “I wonder what Professor Korla is going to announce tomorrow,” Lana said.

  “No more homework for the rest of the year?” Nixie joked.

  “Sign me up!” Cali said.

  Cali and her friends laughed.

  “Watch how long I can stand on my hands!” Cruise flipped upside down and put his hands on the sandy sea floor. “Bet you can’t do it longer than me, Cali.”

  “Don’t do it, Cali,” Rio whispered.

  But Cali couldn’t help it. She was great at standing on her hands, and her brother knew it. She swam up next to him and flipped upside down. “I can do this all day.”

  “I could be here all week if I wanted to,” Cruise said.

  “I could live the rest of my life like this,” Cali said.

  “Cali, let’s collect our plants!” Lana said.

  Cali turned her head to see Lana—and tumbled out of her handstand.

  “Ha! Beat you!” Cruise said.

  “Well, I’m faster than you.” She zipped across the park, and he zoomed after her, right on her tail.

  She was way ahead of him when Nixie’s older sister, Princess Cascadia, swam into the park. She was on the Rescue Crew, too, but she’d graduated from their school the year before. “Hey, guys!” she called.

  Cali and Cruise stopped their race.

  Cascadia’s eyes were wide. “I need everyone’s help!”

  About the Author

  Lisa Ann Scott is the author of several books for young readers, including the Enchanted Pony Academy and The Wish Fairy series. A former TV news reporter and anchor, she currently works as a voice-over artist and writer. She lives in Upstate New York with her husband and two kids. For more about Lisa and her books, visit LisaAnnScott.com.

  Text copyright © 2019 by Lisa Ann Scott

  Illustrations by Heather Burns, © 2019 Scholastic Inc.

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  First printing 2019

  Cover art by Heather Burns, © 2019 Scholastic Inc.

  Cover design by Yaffa Jaskoll

  e-ISBN 978-1-338-26701-3

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