The Magic Pearl

by Adele K. Thomas

  Chloe giggled. ‘Sophia, they’re Willow’s wishes. Only she can make them.’

  ‘I know,’ huffed Sophia.

  Willow bit her lip. ‘Well –’

  ‘Ahem,’ croaked Smedley, ‘I hate to be a WORRYING WALRUS, but these wishes are making me very ANXIOUS.’

  ‘Oh, Smeds,’ tutted Sophia. ‘Everyone in Turtleville is happy – even the grumpy MERDULTS! Nothing bad is going to happen.’ Smedley sighed as the mermaids huddled around to hear Willow’s wish.

  ‘Magic Pearl, my THIRD and FINAL WISH will be …’ Willow squeezed her eyes shut and just as Willow was about to utter the words of her last wish, a loud, RUMBLING noise filled the funfair.

  ‘WHHIIRRRRRLLLPPOOOOOOOOLLL!’ screamed Sophia.

  The FIERCE and SWIRLING whirlpool was moving FAST! Before they knew what was happening, the mermaids and sidekicks were swept UP, UP AND AWAY …

  The mermaids and their marine mates WHOOSHED, WHIRLED and TUMBLED about in the raging water for what seemed like forever. Finally, the whirlpool spat them out and they landed in a messy heap on the outskirts of Turtleville.

  ‘OUCH!’ howled Smedley, rubbing his bottom. ‘I think I fell on a sea urchin!’

  As the bruised and battered mermaids dusted the sand off their tail fins, and Smedley removed the spiky spines from his bottom, they suddenly realised they weren’t alone.

  Floating above them was a WIZENED and WARTY MERHAG. The mermaids stared at the creature like a bunch of STARTLED SARDINES!

  ‘Are you the MERHAG from the LEGEND OF THE MAGIC PEARL?’ shrieked Sophia.

  ‘Less of the HAG, if you please,’ snapped the merhag. ‘For your information, my name is MERYL. But yes, I am the protector of the pearl and I am looking for a MISS WILLOW WAVE.’

  She peered down her warty nose at the pile of mermaids in front of her.

  Willow nervously put up her hand. ‘T-That’s m-me.’

  ‘Miss Wave, the power of the pearl has been placed in your hands. So far you have made TWO wishes. Before you make your THIRD and FINAL wish, I have been sent to give you a WARNING.’

  Willow clutched Frida’s tentacle. This did not sound good.

  ‘Now, where did I …? Ah, here it is.’ Meryl whipped out a notebook and squinted at the page. ‘You wished for “every day in Turtleville to be a holiday party – no work, no school, just fun, fun, fun”. Is that correct?’

  ‘Y-yes, that was my wish, b-but it’s a good wish,’ whimpered Willow. ‘Holidays are awesome, and that way I get to play with my mermates every single day.’

  ‘Hmmm,’ sighed Meryl. ‘I was worried you’d say that.’

  ‘Let me explain,’ she continued. ‘The pearl is powerful and, when used correctly, it can do great things. Wishes, however, are TRICKY. Sometimes, no matter how good you think your wish is, it doesn’t turn out exactly as you expected.’

  Willow shook her head, confused. This merhag was talking in RIDDLES. ‘But my wish has made everyone in Turtleville so happy.’

  ‘Everyone is happy … for now,’ replied Meryl. ‘Unfortunately, Miss Wave, your wish will change the future of Turtleville FOREVER.’

  ‘I feel like a BAFFLED BARRAMUNDI,’ groaned Sophia. ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘I knew these wishes were a bad idea,’ muttered Smedley. ‘No one wanted to hear it though, did they?’

  Pam and Bruce glared at him.

  ‘How will my wish change the future of Turtleville?’ Willow looked down at the beautiful pearl and then back to Meryl. ‘My wish means everyone gets to be on holiday – no one has to go to work or school ever again. Turtleville will be the best town in the seven seas.’

  ‘Willow didn’t mean any harm with her wish,’ said Frida.

  ‘Totally,’ added Olivia. ‘We’ve all been having the best time.’

  Chloe nodded. ‘Yeah. In fact, the whole town has.’

  ‘Enough of all this CHITCHAT,’ huffed Meryl. ‘I think I better show you exactly what your wish has done.’

  ‘How?’ asked Willow.

  ‘We’re going to take a trip to the FUTURE, to see Turtleville one year from now.’ The merhag grinned. ‘Once you’ve seen how your wish will change everything, you can decide how to use your THIRD AND FINAL WISH.’

  ‘THE FUTURE?!’ gasped the mermaids. Meryl clicked her fingers and the water started to SWELL and SWIRL around her. ‘I can only take two of you,’ she yelled. ‘Quick, take my hand.’

  Willow needed to know how her wish was going to change her beloved town. So she scooped up Frida and grabbed Meryl’s hand as the whirlpool WHISKED them to Turtleville – A YEAR INTO THE FUTURE …

  Quick as a flash, Willow and Frida were TOSSED from the WHIZZING WATERS and found themselves back in Turtleville. All these trips in the whirlpool were making the mermaid and her marine mate very DIZZY and a little bit SEASICK.

  They rubbed their eyes and took a look around. It was definitely Turtleville, but it was very different to the town they’d just left.

  ‘Welcome to FUTURE TURTLEVILLE,’ sang Meryl.

  ‘PONGING PIGFISH!’ Willow spluttered as she went to hold her nose.

  The crystal-clear waters they knew and loved were now MURKY, STINKY and FULL OF RUBBISH. You couldn’t even see the seabed streets because they were covered in SLIMY SEAWEED GOO.

  But the strangest thing of all? There was not a fish or merdult in sight!

  ‘What’s happened? Where is everyone?’ asked Willow. ‘I wished for a holiday party every day – this isn’t what I wanted. This isn’t what I wanted at all.’

  ‘Turtleville is a TOTAL DUMP!’ cried Frida.

  ‘Well, I did warn you. Wishes are TRICKY LITTLE TUNAS.’ Meryl chuckled. ‘Here’s the thing … when you wished for the whole of Turtleville to be on holiday FOREVER, that meant NO ONE went to work and NO ONE looked after the town.’

  ‘But if no one is at work, where is everyone?’ cried Willow. ‘The town is deserted!’

  ‘One thing at a time,’ tutted Meryl. ‘First, I’m going to show you HOW your wish changed things. Next stop: Turtleville Lagoon.’

  With a flick and a swish of their tails, they set off.

  They swam through the SLUDGE and arrived to find the lagoon UNRECOGNISABLE.

  The statue of Tobias Turtleton, which used to stand tall and proud, was covered in gunk and goo. The bright coral caves had faded and died. And every corner of the lagoon was littered with RUBBISH.

  ‘The beautiful lagoon!’ wailed Willow.

  Willow was now upset and began to cry. ‘Meryl, you keep showing me these terrible things and warning me about my wish, but you haven’t told me WHY my wish turned Turtleville into a DIRTY, HORRID DUMP!’

  ‘Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear,’ muttered Frida. ‘I think I know exactly what’s happened, Willow.’

  ‘Frida?’ whimpered Willow. ‘Did my wish really turn Turtleville into a TIP?’

  The kind octopus placed a tentacle on the mermaid’s shoulder. ‘Not exactly, but with everyone in Turtleville on holiday, all the important work that goes into keeping our town running just stopped.’

  ‘Spot-on, Frida!’ cheered Meryl. ‘You’ve hit the NAIL ON THE HAMMERHEAD … No, that’s not right … Oh, never mind. With no one in town doing their usual jobs, like collecting rubbish or cleaning the seabed, things started to get real stinky round here pretty fast.’

  Willow sniffled. How could she have got it so wrong?

  ‘But that’s not the only thing your wish changed,’ said Meryl.

  Willow and Frida followed Meryl to the town square.

  ‘Where is everyone? I hear you ask.’ Meryl sighed. ‘No one working meant every single shop in Turtleville closed their doors for good – the supermarket, hospital, police station, school, library. You name it, it’s SHUT.’

  ‘So where did everyone buy food? Where did they go if they were sick?’ asked Frida.

  Meryl shook her head sadly. ‘A very good question indeed, and the answer is NOWHERE IN THIS DUMP! Everyone
left to go live in places where the shops were open and the stench of ROTTING KELP didn’t waft on the waves.’

  ‘Oh, Frida,’ sobbed Willow, ‘what have I done?!’

  Willow couldn’t believe it. But she had an idea. She held the shimmering pearl in her hand. She needed to use her THIRD AND FINAL WISH to save the Turtleville she loved, before it was too late.

  ‘Please take me back to present-day Turtleville,’ Willow said to the merhag. ‘I’m going to FIX THIS MESS.’

  With a WINK of her eye and a CLICK of her fingers, Meryl grabbed Willow and Frida and WHOOSHED off into the whirlpool.

  Once again the whirlpool swept them up and then spat them out, and Willow and Frida found themselves in a crumpled heap on the seabed. ‘Did it work?’ groaned Willow. ‘Are we back in present-day Turtleville?’

  Meryl nodded. ‘We are indeed.’

  Willow straightened her tail fins and looked around. The Turtleville Holiday Party was in FULL SWING. Music was pumping from the funfair and the town square was covered in decorations and heaving with crowds.

  Willow sighed and held the pearl in her hand. ‘I’m sad my wish didn’t work out, but at least Turtleville got a whole day of HOLIDAY FUN.’

  Frida smiled. ‘That’s very true, Willow.’

  ‘I think my work here is done,’ chirped Meryl. ‘I trust you’re going to use that THIRD WISH wisely and return the pearl to the Town Elders?’

  ‘Definitely,’ said Willow.

  For the final time, with a wink and a smile, Meryl clicked her fingers and disappeared into the whirlpool.

  ‘Okay, Frida, we need to find our mermates and fill them in,’ said Willow. ‘I think I know exactly where they’ll be.’

  Just as she’d expected, Willow found the mermaids at the funfair, queuing for the LOOP-THE-LOOP.

  ‘Thank POSEIDON!’ yelled Sophia. ‘You’re back!’

  ‘We’ve been worried SEASICK! Well, some of us were,’ Chloe said as she glared at Olivia and Bruce, who were trying to push to the front of the queue.

  ‘Where did that merhag take you?’ asked Smedley.

  ‘To the future,’ puffed Willow. ‘And now I’ve got to use my final wish to save Turtleville from turning into a GROSS, DISGUSTING DUMP.’

  ‘What in FISH GILLS are you talking about?’ blurted Sophia.

  ‘I’ll tell you everything on the way to Turtleville Lagoon, where I need to make my LAST WISH.’

  ‘I don’t want Turtleville to turn into a RUBBISH-TIP TOWN!’ Sophia gasped as they reached the lagoon.

  ‘Me neither,’ cried Olivia.

  ‘Or me,’ said Chloe. ‘But how will you fix it, Willow?’

  ‘With my THIRD AND FINAL WISH.’ Willow floated over to the statue of Tobias Turtleton and held up the shimmering pearl. ‘I thought that, if every day in Turtleville was a holiday, it would be fun and games forever. I didn’t think about all the work that goes into making our town a perfect and safe place to live. So, Magic Pearl, I wish to undo my last wish and for Turtleville to go back to the way it was.’

  All of a sudden, a fierce riptide howled through the lagoon …

  ‘PIPPING PIPIS!’ yelled Sophia.

  ‘The pearl,’ cried Chloe as she held on to Olivia’s tail. ‘It’s undoing Willow’s wish!’

  As the water settled, the windswept mermaids breathed a sigh of relief.

  ‘Well?’ said Chloe. ‘Did you save Turtleville?’

  ‘LOOK!’ gasped Frida. ‘All the party decorations have disappeared.’

  ‘And the funfair has gone,’ wailed Bruce.

  ‘Everything’s back to normal.’ Willow smiled as she gazed down at the pearl. ‘There’s just one more thing we have to do.’

  Willow peered up at Tobias Turtleton. It may have been a twinkle of the water, but she could have sworn the statue WINKED at her!

  ‘HOLY MACKEREL,’ whispered Willow.

  With Turtleville back to normal, Willow and her mermates set off on the long swim to the ancient coral caves of SEA STAR REEF to return the pearl to the Town Elders.

  None of the mermaids or sidekicks had ever seen the Elders before, but the word on the waves was, they were three of the GRUMPIEST, OLD OYSTERS to ever float in the sea.

  ‘I don’t see why we have to come all this way to give back the pearl,’ moaned Sophia. ‘It’s been NOTHING BUT TROUBLE.’

  ‘I need to make sure it’s in safe hands,’ sighed Willow. ‘And I PROMISED Meryl.’

  Chloe giggled nervously. ‘I’ve always wanted to meet the Town Elders.’

  ‘Best behaviour in front of the Elders, everyone,’ snapped Smedley. Unfortunately, he was so busy giving the mermaids instructions that he swam nose first into a very UGLY ANGLERFISH.

  ‘Urgh!’

  ‘What d’you lot want?’ groaned the anglerfish.

  ‘We’re here to see the Town Elders,’ said Sophia.

  ‘You got an appointment?’ he grunted.

  ‘E-erm, w-well, no,’ stuttered Willow. ‘I’ve come to return THE MAGIC PEARL.’

  ‘ALAN!’ shrieked a voice from inside the cave. ‘Send them in!’

  ‘The Elders will see you now,’ grumbled Alan the anglerfish.

  ‘Hello?’ Willow tapped on the door to the coral cave. ‘I’m Willow Wave. I’ve come to return THE MAGIC PEARL.’

  ‘Bah!’ barked a wrinkly, old oyster. ‘Took you long enough.’

  ‘Come in then instead of DILLY-DALLYING by the door,’ said an even wrinklier oyster.

  ‘Don’t mind those GRUMPY GUPPIES,’ said the wrinkliest oyster. ‘We, the Elders of Turtleville, are very grateful that you are returning the pearl.’

  ‘It’s what Tobias Turtleton should have done all those years ago … that NINCOMPOOP!’ huffed the first Elder.

  The mermaids began to giggle at the grouchy oysters.

  ‘Best behaviour!’ scolded Smedley.

  ‘See this shell here?’ the wrinkly elder said as an empty shell floated through the water. ‘It’s been waiting hundreds of years for the pearl to return.’

  The mermaids and sidekicks all stared at the enchanting shell.

  Frida gave Willow a little nudge. ‘I think it’s time to say goodbye to the pearl,’ she whispered. Willow smiled and slid the pearl off her necklace. ‘It’s been an adventure, that’s for sure, but this pearl never belonged to me. It’s meant to be here with you.’

  She placed the pearl in the ancient shell and, with one final SHIMMER, the pearl disappeared as the shell SNAPPED shut.

  ‘Willow Wave, you are KIND, CARING and PURE OF HEART,’ said the Elder with a wink. ‘The pearl must have known you would bring it home.’

  The school holidays had never been so exciting, but after all the drama of MAGIC PEARLS, WISHES and MERHAGS from ancient legends, the mermates were pleased to get back to their normal holiday activities.

  And they enjoyed nothing more than a WILLOW WAVE SLUMBER PARTY! ‘Thanks for throwing another slumber party,’ said Sophia.

  ‘Yeah!’ agreed Chloe. ‘I’ve been dreaming about these SEA-FOAM FLOATS.’

  ‘And I’ve been dreaming about kicking your tail fins at my favourite board game!’ Olivia giggled as she set up the game.

  ‘It’s a shame you had to give back the pearl, Willow,’ said Sophia as she sipped on a sea-foam float.

  ‘Such a shame,’ added Chloe. ‘It made a FABULOUS necklace.’

  Willow sighed.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ asked Olivia.

  ‘Well, I don’t miss the wishes, but I’m sad because I don’t have an MF necklace anymore.’

  Cheeky grins spread across the mermaids’ faces.

  ‘Funny you should mention that,’ said Chloe.

  Olivia handed Willow a little box. ‘Seeing as you had to give back the pearl …’

  ‘We thought we’d better make you a brand-new MF necklace,’ said Sophia.

  Willow gasped as she opened the box and pulled out a beautiful necklace with all kinds of different shells and stones. ‘T
his is MERMAZING! THANK YOU!’

  ‘It’s no pearl,’ said Sophia.

  Olivia chuckled. ‘And it definitely won’t grant wishes.’

  ‘But we think this necklace is just right,’ said Chloe.

  ‘Who needs pearls and wishes when you’ve got mermates like mine?’ Willow giggled. ‘I can’t wait for our next holiday adventure!’

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  Penguin Random House Australia is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.

  First published by Puffin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd, in 2019

  Text copyright © Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd 2019

  Illustrations copyright © Adele K. Thomas 2019

  The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, published, performed in public or communicated to the public in any form or by any means without prior written permission from Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd or its authorised licensees.

  Cover and internal illustrations by Adele K. Thomas

  Cover design by Tony Palmer © Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd

  ISBN 9780143796503

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