Just then, a butler walked by. He looked at Scylla’s tray and shook his head. “Come, woman! That nectar belongs to the king and queen. You should be serving it right now!”
“Oh,” she said, saddened by the conversation she’d just overheard. “Oh, yes, you’re right. You’re very right. And I’ve been very wrong—about everything!” She shoved her tray into the butler’s hands and made her way to the curtain shielding the king and queen. She had to explain!
A burly guard blocked her way. “Sorry, ma’am. No admittance.”
“I must speak to the king and queen,” Scylla pleaded. “I have something that belongs to them—and I should have returned it a long time ago.”
The guard crossed his arms firmly. “Then you’ll have to wait until after the ceremony. The king and queen do not wish to be disturbed.”
Scylla blew out her breath in frustration. “Okay, I’ll wait. But what can’t wait is—”
She zipped toward the stage without finishing her sentence. At the royal table, she reached over Caligo’s shoulder for his black goblet. “Give me that, Caligo,” she whispered. “I’m done poisoning people.”
Caligo snatched his goblet back, holding it tight. “Aha! So I was right! No thanks, I’ll just hang on to this one if you don’t mind.”
Scylla tried to pry it from his grasp. “Caligo, I’m trying to save your—”
“Oh, I know what you’re trying to do. You think I’m a fool?” He yanked the goblet, forcing Scylla to let it go.
“Fine,” Scylla said, resigned. “It’s your funeral.”
Caligo smiled. “She thinks she can outsmart me,” he mumbled to himself. “Unless that’s just what she wants me to think.” He looked uncertainly at the goblet in front of him and started to sweat.
Suddenly, trumpets sounded, announcing the entrance of the king and queen. Caligo, Fergis, and the other special guests at the table rose out of respect. Everyone on the dance floor turned to face the stage as the Seagundia national anthem rang through the air.
The king and queen entered grandly from behind their curtained-off area. The king held his wife’s hand regally, and both wore painted-on smiles. Two Trident guards walked in behind them. The crowd bowed, and the royal couple nodded before taking their throne at the table.
“Caligo, is this my cup?” the king asked, pointing to the purple goblet at his place.
Caligo bit his nails in a panic. “I don’t know!” he shouted, wiping sweat from his brow.
The king gave him a curious look and rose to address the crowd. “Loyal citizens of Seagundia,” he began. “We gather here today to present our kingdom’s most treasured symbol, the Pearl of the Sea.”
Behind him, a guard brought forth the medallion, nestled on a velvet pillow. The king raised the medallion for the crowd to see. “We present the Pearl of the Sea to a fine young lad who will one day inherit our throne.” He turned toward Fergis, who was inspecting a potted plant next to him.
Caligo elbowed his son.
“Oh, right,” Fergis said, rising awkwardly. He stepped forward to receive the honor.
The king draped the Pearl of the Sea medallion around Fergis’s neck. “And now, a toast!” he declared, holding his purple goblet in the air.
The crowd applauded, and Caligo looked at his own black goblet nervously. He had to pick it up to toast with the king, but what if Scylla had given him the poison instead of the king?
“Come on, Caligo,” the king urged, noticing that his brother-in-law was the only one who had not raised his glass. “Will you not toast your own son?”
Caligo stood and, hand shaking, lifted his glass. The king continued, “Citizens, honored guests! To the future ruler of Seagundia, who will someday guide our kingdom’s destiny! To my nephew, Fergis!”
“To Fergis!” the audience echoed.
The king and guests lifted their glasses to drink. Caligo panicked. He knocked the king’s goblet out of his hand, making it look like an accident. Dark nectar spilled everywhere, oozing like chocolate syrup. Caligo saw Scylla gasp from the crowd.
“Oh, forgive me! I’m so sorry!” he apologized. “Please, Your Majesty—take mine,” Caligo finished, offering the king his suspicious black goblet. He eyed Scylla.
“No!” Scylla cried, racing toward the king.
Lumina and Kuda burst into the ballroom just as Scylla lunged for the king’s goblet.
“Aunt Scylla!” Lumina cried, horrified.
“The eels were right!” Kuda moaned.
The king raised his goblet to his lips. “Again, let us toast—to Fergis!”
Lumina couldn’t let the king drink her aunt’s poison. She rushed the stage as the Trident guards chasing her reached for her tail. She knocked the goblet from the king’s hand.
The crowd gasped.
Seeing an opportunity, Caligo stood and pointed an accusing finger at Lumina. “She tried to attack the king! Guards, arrest her!” he shouted.
Caligo’s guards swooped down and grabbed Lumina. Suddenly, Madame Ruckus, Prince Delphin, Sandrine, Cora, and Spike rushed the stage to protect their friend.
“Now wait just a minute!”
“That girl never hurt anyone!”
“You can’t take her!”
“Unhand her!”
Desperate to explain, Aunt Scylla made her way through the crowd. “Let her go!” she cried. “She saved the king! There was poison in his cup!”
The room went silent. All eyes focused on Scylla.
“Poison? How do you know that?” the king demanded.
Lumina watched as her beloved aunt took a deep breath.
“Because I’m the one who put it there,” Scylla admitted, hanging her head with shame.
The crowd buzzed with the news.
Caligo smiled sinisterly. All attention was on Scylla—which meant no one suspected him. He was going to get away with it! Feeling giddy, Caligo stepped back from the crowd. He bumped into Spike, knocking a pearl from one of the stonefish’s spikes. Spike didn’t even feel it.
Lumina couldn’t stand by and watch her only family member be blamed for such a vicious act. “No! Don’t listen to her!” she cried, zooming to her aunt’s side. Even if Scylla had been involved, Lumina knew she was a good person deep down. There had to be more to the story.
“Old woman,” the king thundered, ignoring Lumina’s pleas, “why would you want to poison me?”
Scylla shook her head. “I didn’t want to. I was forced to. Forced to by—”
As Scylla turned to point at Caligo, he discreetly shoved her—right into Spike. Scylla tumbled backward, landing right on the stonefish’s exposed poisonous spike!
Scylla shrieked in pain. Then she collapsed.
“Aunt Scylla!” Lumina cried. She hurried to her aunt’s side and knelt down.
“She fell on a stonefish spike!” Sandrine cried.
“Poor woman,” Madame Ruckus said, clucking her tongue. “That venom will finish her.”
Caligo moved through the crowd. “You heard the old woman,” he shouted. “She tried to poison our beloved king! And if this girl knew”—he pointed a finger at Lumina—“she must be an accomplice. Take her away!”
Lumina looked up pleadingly at Caligo. “Please, sir. Just give us a moment.”
The guards stepped forward, but Kuda blocked their path. “Back off!” she hollered.
Sandrine, Cora, Madame Ruckus, Spike, and Delphin filed in behind Kuda, ready to defend Lumina.
“The lady said give her a moment,” Madame Ruckus ordered through clenched teeth.
Lumina cradled her aunt in her arms. “Aunt Scylla, please stay with me. Please be all right.”
Aunt Scylla struggled to whisper. “Lumina, I need to tell you—”
“No,” Lumina interrupted. “Save your strength.”
But Scylla was determined that Lumina know the truth. It was time. “Long ago,” she began weakly, “I took you from your parents. I did it to protect you. But all these years they were suffe
ring. I should have told them, but I was afraid of losing you. Please forgive me.” Scylla’s body fell limp.
Lumina choked back her tears. She turned to Spike. “Spike, your venom—there must be an antidote! Something that can cure her?”
Spike wiped a tear from his own eye. “I’m sorry. There’s only one thing I know of—the Sulfer Lily. But it’s extremely rare. I’ve never even seen it.”
Lumina hung her head. What would she do without her aunt? Then she heard a gasp from the crowd and Cora’s voice.
“Fergis?” she asked, seeing Caligo’s son jumping up and down excitedly. “Do you know that plant?”
“I—” Fergis started. Then he locked eyes with his father and cowered. “N-no,” he stammered.
Caligo smiled darkly. “Then the old woman’s done for. Nothing we can do.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Lumina saw Cora whisper to Fergis. Fergis looked from his father to Cora and back again.
Caligo saw it, too. “You heard the boy!” he thundered. “He said it’s hopeless.”
Then Fergis stepped forward. “No, Father, it isn’t. The Sulfer Lily is the common name for Quidest Fetere. And there’s one right here.” He reached into a nearby potted plant and retrieved his crumpled up boutonniere! He waded through the crowd toward Lumina.
“Thank you, Fergis,” Lumina said.
“Just two petals on Scylla’s tongue,” Spike instructed.
In the background, Lumina heard Caligo yell, “You fool, Fergis! You could have been king!”
“I keep telling you, Father,” Fergis replied firmly, “I don’t want to be king. I want to be a botanist!”
Lumina caught Cora beaming with pride at Fergis.
“Guards! Grab them!” Caligo thundered again.
Trident guards appeared at every corner and closed in on Lumina, Scylla, and Fergis.
“Don’t you touch her!” Lumina ordered as the guards surrounded her. She would not let them take the only family she had. Determined, she closed her eyes and focused her energy. She summoned every single pearl in the ballroom to her command.
Pearls flew toward her from hairdos, clothes, and thrones. They flew off Spike’s spikes and down from chandeliers. The pearls swarmed toward Lumina, swirling into a tornado of protection around her and Aunt Scylla. They glowed brightly, pulsing with shielding energy.
The crowd looked on, amazed and stunned into silence. Even Caligo was speechless for once. He watched the pearls adorning his own uniform pop off and fly to Lumina’s command.
The pearls formed a blanket for Scylla to lie on. Then they lifted her into the air.
The guards backed away, terrified. Lumina noticed the king and queen looking adoringly at her. Why did they suddenly seem familiar? She shook her head and focused again on the task at hand. As Scylla hovered in the air, Fergis gently placed the petals on her tongue. “Stay with me, Aunt Scylla. Please stay with me,” Lumina whispered.
Bathed in a glow of swirling pearls, Aunt Scylla gradually opened her eyes—a tiny bit at first, and then wider. She smiled.
Lumina’s heart swelled. “Aunt Scylla!” she cried with happiness.
Lumina’s friends cheered all around her.
The pearl whirlwind died down. The pearls scattered and floated away as their owners tried to reclaim them. Spike replaced his pearls with the help of Madame Ruckus’s eight arms.
Lumina helped Aunt Scylla to her feet. She was still very weak.
The king moved toward her. “Miss,” he began tentatively. “Tell me, the way you made those pearls move—how?”
Just then, Caligo stepped in and cut him off. “Your Majesty, what we’ve just seen proves how dangerous these two are! As commanding general, I insist on placing them both under arrest.”
The king raised his hands in protest. “Wait a minute, Caligo. I want to ask the girl—”
“It was him!” Scylla interrupted. She pointed at Caligo. “He was the one who ordered me to poison Your Majesty! He wanted the throne for his son!”
“The old mermaid is delusional!” Caligo shouted. “Arrest these women—and all of their traitorous friends!”
The Trident guards moved toward Lumina and her friends. But Madame Ruckus was ready. She squirted them with a cloud of black ink!
“Hey! I can’t see!” cried one of the guards.
“Where did they go?” shouted another.
“Lumina, get out of here!” Madame Ruckus ordered. “Kuda, you too!”
But Lumina couldn’t leave all of her dear friends behind to fight her battle. “Not a chance!” she cried as Kuda head-butted a guard. Lumina whipped off the pink pearl belt she had fastened around her ball gown. She hurled it toward the captain of the guards. It wrapped around his tailfin and cinched, yanking him upside down!
Spike rolled himself into a ball and bowled over two more guards. Sandrine whacked a group of guards with her massive tail, sending them flying. Delphin decked a guard with his fist. Madame Ruckus spun in a circle, using all eight of her arms to slap guards away like a pinwheel gone haywire. The frightened crowd in the ballroom backed off.
Lumina watched as Caligo raced toward the exit. She raised her hands and sent hundreds of pearls to block his path.
“Out of my way!” Caligo growled, spinning to find another way out.
Lumina cut him off. “How about that dance I promised?” she challenged. She summoned more pearls to surround Caligo and lift him straight into the air. She sent him sailing backward.
“Ahh!” Caligo shrieked as he slammed into a wall. He slid down to the floor, dazed.
Madame Ruckus jumped on top of him, holding him down with all eight tentacles.
The king signaled for the palace guards. “Imprison these traitors!” he ordered.
The guards seized Caligo and the Trident Squad and marched them off.
Lumina wiped her brow. It felt good to see Caligo finally locked up where he couldn’t harm anyone else. She breathed a sigh of relief. Then she heard a soft voice by her side. She turned to see the queen looking questioningly at her.
“The pearls . . . Have you always been able to do that?” the queen asked.
Lumina shrugged. “Sure, I guess. Why?”
The king joined his wife and took her hand. “Because you have the royal gift—the pearl magic,” he explained. “Is it possible? Could you be our daughter?”
Lumina knitted her brow. She was confused. The pearl magic was always something she just had. She never thought she’d find a reason for it. Was the king suggesting that she was royalty? She felt light-headed.
“She is your daughter,” Aunt Scylla said.
“I—I am?” Lumina didn’t understand.
The king and queen threw their arms around Lumina, wrapping her into a group hug.
Lumina locked eyes with Scylla, silently asking her if it all was true. Scylla nodded.
Lumina beamed, feeling warm inside as so many of her questions were finally answered.
“But how?” the king asked, pulling back to examine Lumina at arm’s length.
“Caligo again,” Scylla explained. “Years ago, he paid me to do away with your daughter. But I couldn’t do it. So I raised her instead—away from him.”
Lumina took it all in. Suddenly, everything made sense: Scylla had wanted her to stay near the sea cave to keep her safe from Caligo!
Just then, Fergis approached. “In that case,” he began, holding out the Pearl of the Sea medallion, “I think this is Lumina’s.”
The king took the medallion and placed it around Lumina’s neck. As he did, the pink pearls on Lumina’s dress turned white and began to glow brightly. The queen placed a sparkling pink tiara on Lumina’s head.
The crowd cheered. Their princess had returned!
“Your Majesties,” Scylla continued, “I am so, so sorry for keeping her from you all these years. I thought I did it to protect her, but the truth was I just couldn’t give her up.”
Lumina felt a lump form in her throat. Aunt Scylla
had loved her and cherished her as if they were true family. And in Lumina’s heart, that meant that they were—and always would be.
“The important thing is that she’s here now,” the king replied. “Lumina, welcome home.”
Lumina looked around the grand ballroom. She thought about the castle that stretched before them in every direction. “Home?” she asked. “You mean the castle? Here?” It was a dream come true! She wrapped her arms around the king and queen, who hugged her right back.
Lumina was still struggling to take it all in. “So you’re my father?” she asked the king.
“Yes,” he replied.
“And you’re my mother?” she asked the queen.
“Yes.”
“And this is home?” Lumina said.
“Yes!” the king and queen both replied, laughing.
Lumina beamed. Then she remembered something. “But,” she began, frowning at the thought, “it won’t be home if Aunt Scylla and Kuda aren’t here with me.”
Kuda jumped up and down excitedly. Scylla looked worried.
“No,” Scylla protested. “It wouldn’t be right.”
The queen took Scylla by the arm. “Of course it would,” she insisted. “You saved her. You’re her family, too.”
Scylla’s eyes glistened with tears. “You’ll see,” she said to the queen, looking at Lumina. “She leaves things a little better than she found them—starting with my heart.”
The women embraced, and Lumina joined them in another group hug.
The king chuckled. “But this is still a royal ball, is it not? And now it’s a homecoming as well. Music, maestro, please!”
The royal band struck up a waltz, and the king and queen began to dance.
Lumina watched her parents twirl gracefully around the floor. Then a finger tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to see Prince Delphin.
He held out his hand. “In that case, I believe you owe me a dance . . . Princess.”
Lumina grinned. “As promised,” she replied.
They joined Cora and Fergis, Sandrine, Madame Ruckus, Spike, and Kuda out on the dance floor.
Lumina looked around at all the friends she had made and the family—both new and old—who loved her. Each one of them, in their own special way, shone brighter than any pearl. And that, Lumina knew, was the best dream come true of all.
Barbie: The Pearl Princess Junior Novelization Page 6