The Lost Princess

by Debbie Dadey

  Deep down inside, Shelly knew her grandfather was right, but she couldn’t admit it. She was so confused.

  Grandpa Siren scratched his head. “Some members of royalty assume their royal positions early, but it’s not required until you turn twenty-one years of age. Since you know everything now, I will let you decide what you want to do.”

  Shelly listened to her grandfather. She didn’t want to make any big choices—she was only a third grader! Her head hurt from wearing Pearl’s ridiculous tiara, and all she really wanted to do was go to Shell Wars practice. But what if Coach Barnacle told her she wasn’t allowed because she was a princess?

  “I’m going to the park,” Shelly told her grandfather. She raced out of the museum, not sure of what would happen when she got there, but knowing she had to go.

  The End of the Vampire Squid

  SHELLY RACED OVER TO MERPARK, holding Pearl’s tiara. When she reached the park, no one was practicing Shell Wars, and the Tail Flippers team wasn’t flipping. A huge group of merkids huddled in the middle of the kelp field.

  “What’s going on?” Shelly asked Kiki. Kiki answered, “All practices were canceled because the teachers had an after-school meeting. But Rocky is saying the vampire squid are going to attack our school. Where does he come up with these wild ideas? I’m afraid of what he might do next.”

  Shelly squeezed Kiki’s hand. “I’m really sorry about lunchtime. I let this princess thing get out of hand.”

  Kiki smiled. “I understand. You are special—no matter what.”

  Shelly sighed. She didn’t feel special, but she was worried. What was Rocky up to? “Come on, let’s go listen.”

  The two mergirls glided up to the large crowd gathered around Rocky. He said, “We have to get the vampire squid before they get us!”

  Shelly couldn’t believe her ears when lots of merkids shouted “Yes!” in agreement.

  “But they haven’t done anything,” Shelly argued. “You’re spreading rumors, just like those stories about me.”

  Echo nodded. “That’s right. Mrs. Karp said that legend about them being bloodsuckers is just made up.”

  “Do you want to wait until they bite us and it’s too late?” Pearl shrieked.

  “Old stories are sometimes true!” Adam shouted out.

  Kiki shook her head. “This isn’t right. Rocky, if you bothered to read a seaweed book, you would know that these squid are peaceful.”

  The other merkids looked at Rocky. “Is that true?” one of them asked.

  “Of course not!” Rocky answered. “Let’s get them!” he yelled, pumping a fist in the water. “We’ll make them sorry they ever came near Trident City!”

  Echo grabbed Shelly’s arm and whispered, “You have to stop them.”

  “Me?” Shelly gulped. “Why would they listen to me?”

  “You are a princess,” Kiki replied desperately. “If you don’t stop them, there is no telling what Rocky and his friends might do.”

  Is this what Grandfather Siren meant by “with great privilege comes great responsibility”? Was it up to her to save the vampire squid? They were part of her kingdom, after all. Shelly nodded. She had to do something, but when she looked up, she realized she was too late. Rocky and his merbuddies were gone!

  Mollusk Mucus

  HURRY!” ECHO SCREAMED to Shelly. “We have to save them.”

  “I thought you didn’t like vampire squid,” Shelly said.

  Echo shrugged. “I don’t, but it’s not right to hurt living creatures just because they are different. And maybe Rocky really did make up the bloodsucking thing.”

  “Let’s go!” Kiki said. The three mergirls swam their fastest. They caught up with Rocky’s group on the other side of Whale Mountain, a big underwater hill shaped just like a whale’s back. A cluster of the strange vampire squid spread out in front of them. Their puffy bodies were different shades of red, blue, and gray.

  “Look how ugly they are,” Pearl squealed. Rocky picked up a rock from the ocean floor and got ready to throw it.

  Shelly put the tiara back on her head. “Stop!” she said, zooming between Rocky and the squid. “I COMMAND you to stop!”

  Rocky was so shocked, he lowered his arm. Shelly peeked at the squid and saw that they were flashing the lights on the tips of their arms. She knew from her mollusk research what would come next if she didn’t stop Rocky—they would all be squirted with glowing snot!

  Shelly quickly thought of her grandfather’s language lesson and tried speaking to the vampire squid in mollusk: “Please forgive us for coming into your home. We will leave in peace.”

  Shelly was relieved when she received an answer. “All is well. We want no trouble.”

  “Thank you,” she replied. “I am Princess Shelly of the Western Oceans.”

  “Your name will be remembered. You are always welcome here.” Thankfully, the squid stopped flashing their lights and no one got squirted with squid snot.

  Shelly smiled. Maybe she had made friends with the vampire squid. She turned to Rocky and the merkids with him. “You!” she said, pointing her finger at Rocky. Her heart pounded in her chest as she continued. “Your father is the mayor—what would he think? You almost caused a feud between merpeople and mollusks. Do you know how many mollusks there are?”

  Rocky didn’t answer. Shelly didn’t know the exact number, but she knew there were a lot in the ocean. “The mollusks would win! And who knows what would become of Trident City! Now, I want you all to go home and never bother these peaceful vampire squid again. That is an order from Princess Shelly of the Western Oceans!”

  None of the other merkids moved, but Rocky dropped the rock he’d been holding. “We were just kidding around,” he said. “You don’t have to get so huffy!”

  “Go!” Shelly snapped. To her surprise, every merkid turned around and floated away, except for Kiki, Pearl, and Echo.

  “Wow!” Pearl said with a giggle. “That was awesome.”

  “I didn’t know you could speak mollusk,” Kiki said. “Will you teach me?”

  Shelly nodded. “Grandfather just taught me.” Shelly knew Kiki liked learning languages too.

  “You are all-powerful,” Pearl said. “You could command them to do anything!”

  Shelly shook her head. “No, I just did what needed to be done. We should try to be on friendly terms with all the creatures of the seas.” She took off the crown and handed it back to Pearl.

  “Did you get your own tiara?” Pearl asked. “I can’t wait to see it.”

  “No, Pearl,” Shelly said. “That was just another made-up story. I won’t be getting a crown until I’m older. I’m grateful I could help today, but my grandfather is right. I’m going to wait before I take on the responsibilities of a princess.”

  “You don’t really mean that, do you?” Pearl snapped.

  Shelly smiled at Echo and Kiki. “I just want to be a normal mergirl and hang out with my real friends.”

  Shelly held out her arms. Echo and Kiki gave her a big hug.

  Pearl rolled her eyes. “Oh my Neptune! You are sillier than a sea squirt!”

  Shelly knew better. Maybe one day she’d be ready to be Princess Shelly, but today . . . today she just wanted to be Shelly Siren, regular mermaid.

  Class Sculptures

  Octopus, by Shelly Siren

  Nautilus, by Echo Reef

  Vampire Squid, by Rocky Ridge

  Sea Slug, by Kiki Coral

  Clam, by Pearl Swamp

  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

  WHAT GIRL HAS NOT wanted to be a princess? Actually, I still do want to be a princess! But everyone is different and likes different things. I think that’s great. Wouldn’t it be a boring world if we were all exactly the same? Yikes! We’d be like a huge school of herring!

  Hope you’ll keep reading the next few pages to find out some true facts about the ocean creatures mentioned in this story. And remember, you are amazing just the way you are!

  Your fellow mermaid fan,

  Debbie Dadey

  Glossary

  BIOLUMINESCENT PLANKTON: Dinoflagel-lates are tiny organisms that flash a bright light when disturbed.

  BLACK DRAGONFISH: The female dragonfish is four times as big as the male.

  BLACK-LIP OYSTER: This oyster can be found in the Gulf of Mexico, the western and eastern Indian Ocean, and the western Pacific.

  CLAM: Even brown bears like to eat clams. In the Alaskan mudflats, bears will dig for the Pacific razor clams buried in the mud.

  COMMON SEA FAN: Sea fans can grow large enough to make a comfortable bed for any mermaid!

  COMMON SEA SQUIRT: The sea squirt passes several quarts of water per hour through its body. It filters out plankton and leaves the water much cleaner.

  CONCH SHELL: The most well-known conch is the queen conch, which has a lovely, large shell.

  DOLPHIN: The common dolphin is very active and acrobatic. It can swim twenty-five miles per hour!

  EYELIGHT FISH: This small fish has a large light organ under each eye that can be turned on and off using a black membrane like an eyelid.

  FRY: Small fish are called fry.

  HAGFISH: The hagfish can produce enough slime to fill a bucket in just a few minutes! It has special slime pores on both sides of its body.

  HERRING: This fish has a silvery body and forked tail.

  HUMPBACK WHALE: Humpback whales grow to be fifty feet long and weigh up to thirty-three tons. They live in every ocean, except in the extreme north and south.

  JENNY HANIVERS: Fake mermaids were nicknamed Jenny Hanivers many years ago.

  KELP: “Kelp” usually refers to the many kinds of brown seaweed.

  LIZARDFISH: This fish loves deep water and has a mouth full of needle-sharp teeth. Even its tongue has teeth!

  MANTA RAY: The manta is the biggest ray. It eats plankton and small fish. It is also known as the devil ray. They grow up to twenty-six feet across and can weigh four thousand pounds.

  MOLLUSK: This group of marine animals includes oysters, sea slugs, and octopuses.

  NAUTILUS: This living fossil uses jet propulsion to swim, forcing water out a tube to move in any direction.

  OCTOPUS: The Dumbo octopus likes deep water and eats worms and snails.

  OYSTER: The Atlantic thorny oyster has a spiny shell to protect it from predators.

  RIBBON WORMS: Most ribbon worms live under rocks.

  SABLEFISH: Sablefish live on continental slopes. These are areas where the sea floor slopes.

  SEA GRAPES: Sea grapes are a type of seaweed. It anchors to a rock or sand and has round sacs that look very much like grapes.

  SEA SLUG: The sea hare, a type of sea slug, releases purple or white ink into the water if someone bothers it.

  SEAWEED: Seaweed does not have roots, but can make its own food.

  SHARK: Sharks do not have a single bone in their bodies.

  VAMPIRE SQUID: This is the only squid that lives its entire life in deep water. If an enemy approaches, it flashes its light organs and ejects glowing mucus.

  VORTEX: This is a whirlpool. The Old Sow Whirlpool is one of the biggest in the world.

  The Worst Thing

  ECHO REEF HELD HER BREATH. She crossed her fingers and her pink tail fins. She was hoping that Mrs. Karp wouldn’t say the worst thing ever. But she did.

  “Class,” Mrs. Karp said, looking around the room of twenty third graders, “we will have a spelling test on Wednesday.”

  Echo’s heart sank. But a merboy named Rocky Ridge cheered, “Yippee!” Everyone looked at Rocky in surprise. Usually he hated any kind of schoolwork.

  Rocky smiled, and then he laughed. “Just kidding.”

  Mrs. Karp raised her green eyebrows at Rocky, but continued. “Since we have only two days before your test, I’ll give you a short list of ten words.”

  Ten words! Echo thought it might as well have been a million. Echo was a good merstudent in most of the subjects at Trident Academy. She liked merology, storytelling, science, and astronomy. But spelling was difficult for her.

  Mrs. Karp pointed to a list of words on a seaweed chart. “These ocean creatures are extremely interesting. It will be quite useful to know how to spell their names.” Echo looked at the list as Mrs. Karp called on various students to read the words aloud.

  “Pipefish,” Shelly Siren said.

  “Sea dragon,” Kiki Coral read.

  Then Pearl Swamp read, “Sea horse.” Echo loved sea horses. She couldn’t help daydreaming about them. They were so cute and graceful. Sometimes she visited the Conservatory for the Preservation of Sea Horses and Swordfish, where her mother worked. Housed in the fabulous Trident Plaza Hotel, the conservatory had the largest display of sea horses known to merfolk. It was also a hospital for sick or hurt sea horses. Echo liked sea horses even more than she liked humans—and she adored everything about humans.

  “Echo,” Mrs. Karp said, “please read the next word.”

  Echo gulped. She’d been so busy thinking about sea horses, she wasn’t sure which word were they on. She guessed and read, “Stonefish.”

  Mrs. Karp tapped her white tail on her marble desk and shook her head. “Echo, you need to pay closer attention. Pearl, please read the next word.”

  Pearl looked at Echo and stuck her nose up in the water before reading, “Trumpet fish.”

  Echo sighed. How was she ever going to learn ten new spelling words before Wednesday? She wished she could ride away on a sea horse and never take another spelling test again.

  Gloomy

  MERSTUDENTS FROM grades three to ten filled the cafeteria. Rocky and Adam sat at a table full of loud boys, seeing who could slurp the longest ribbon worm without breaking it. Echo, Shelly, and Kiki were in the lunch line when Shelly spoke to Mr. Fangtooth, the lunchroom worker. “Mr. Fangtooth, we found this letter. I think it belongs to you,” Shelly said, handing him a piece of folded seaweed.

  Echo recognized the note as the one they’d found near the Manta Ray Express Station a few days ago. “A nice lady dropped it by accident. We tried to give it back to her, but she swam away too quickly,” she added.

  Mr. Fangtooth opened the letter. His eyes got wide and he smiled, something he rarely ever did.

  Without a word he dropped his big serving shell and swam out of the cafeteria. “That was weird. I wonder where he went,” Kiki said as she helped herself to some ribbon worms.

  “I can’t believe it! I think we made him happy,” Shelly said. “But someone else needs cheering up today.”

  Echo looked around the large lunchroom. Carvings of famous merpeople hung on the walls. Merstudents of all ages sat around the polished granite tables with the gold Trident Academy logo in the centers. Everyone chatted in between bites of food. No one looked sad. “Who?” Echo asked.

  “You!” Shelly said as she sat down at the corner table she always shared with Kiki and Echo.

  “Me?” Echo said.

  Kiki nodded. Her long dark hair swirled in the water around her face. “You’ve been acting gloomy ever since Mrs. Karp told us about the spelling test.”

  Echo groaned. “You know how much I hate spelling!”

  “Don’t worry,�
� Shelly said. “We’ll help you.”

  Echo smiled. “Really?”

  “Of course,” Kiki said. “That’s what friends are for.”

  Shelly took a bite of her hagfish jelly sandwich. After she’d swallowed she said, “Okay, Echo. Let’s get started. The first word is ‘pipefish.’ It’s pretty easy. Just put ‘pipe’ and ‘fish’ together.”

  Echo tried it. “P-I-P-F-I-S-H.”

  “Close,” Kiki told her. “You only left out one letter.”

  Echo groaned again. “It’s so hard. I don’t see why we have to have spelling tests, anyway. I’ve heard that humans don’t have them.”

  “It doesn’t matter, because you aren’t human,” Shelly said. “You are a mermaid, and you have a test on Wednesday, so you’d just better study.”

  Echo sighed. “What’s the next word?”

  Kiki thought for a minute. “I think it is ‘sea horse.’ Try ‘sea’ and then ‘horse.’ ”

  “That’s the one word I know how to spell!” Echo said. “S-E-A H-O-R-S-E!”

  “That’s perfect,” Kiki said. “I knew you could do it.”

  Echo smiled. “Wouldn’t it be cool to own a sea horse?”

  “Do you know the legend of the sea horse?” Kiki asked.

  Echo and Shelly shook their heads.

  Kiki grinned. “Then let me tell you.”

  Debbie Dadey is the author and coauthor of one hundred and fifty children’s books, including the series The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids. A former teacher and librarian, Debbie now lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with her wonderful husband and children. They live about two hours from the ocean and love to go there to look for mermaids. If you see any, let her know at www.debbiedadey.com.