When she stopped after the oyster bed, she looked around. Splash, Flip, Harmony, and one of the others were already there. But the rest of the class was behind her!
“Awesome job, Pearl!” Splash exclaimed, touching her fin. “You came in fifth!”
“Yeah, you’re definitely getting faster,” Flip said. “Not as fast as me, but faster!”
Pearl smiled. “Thanks,” she said with a little burst of bubbles.
She looked for Echo, expecting her to congratulate her, too. But Echo wasn’t back yet. She was floating halfway across the course, swimming slowly along near the seafloor well behind the others.
Riptide noticed, too. “Echo!” he bellowed. “Shake a fin! This is a sprint, not a dawdle!”
“I bet she’s trying to look for her shell,” Splash whispered.
Pearl thought he was right. But she didn’t think it was a good idea to do it during class. Riptide was pretty strict.
Echo sped up and crossed the finish line. But after that, each time the class did a sprint, Echo came in last. After Riptide noticed her dawdling for the third time, he lost his patience.
“That’s enough!” he barked. “If you’re not going to take this seriously, there are going to be consequences. Echo, you can stay after class and do ten extra laps!”
“But she’ll be late for recess,” Splash said.
“That’s right.” Riptide sounded grouchy. “Now line up, everyone—let’s try it again …”
When class ended, Pearl and Splash swam over to Echo. “You guys might as well go back without me,” Echo said with a sigh. “It’s going to take me a while to do ten laps.”
“We’ll stay and keep you company,” Pearl offered.
“Yeah,” Splash agreed.
Pearl looked for Flip, but he was already swimming back toward the cove with the rest of the class. “I guess Flip is still mad,” she whispered to Splash as Echo started swimming under Riptide’s watchful gaze.
“I know,” Splash said. “He says Echo is acting as crazy as a crab ever since she lost her lucky shell.”
“I’m worried about her.” Pearl watched her friend do a flip at the far end of the course. “What if she doesn’t find it before the Magic test tomorrow?”
Splash shrugged. “Does she really need that shell for the test?” he asked.
“I think she does,” Pearl told Splash with a worried flick of her tail. “I hope she finds it soon. Maybe we can help her look again when she finishes her laps.”
AS SOON AS ECHO FINISHED HER LAPS, PEARL and Splash swam over to her. Riptide was already swimming off toward the cove.
“We thought we could search again for a while, if you want,” Splash told Echo.
“Really?” Echo brightened. “Thanks, guys. You’re good friends.” She rubbed Pearl’s fin, then Splash’s.
Pearl smiled. But she couldn’t stop herself from thinking, I want you to find your shell so you’ll become a good friend again, too!
She immediately felt guilty. Her father had a favorite saying: Always choose kindness. Pearl had a feeling he wouldn’t think she was being very kind in her thoughts right now.
So she did her best to push those thoughts out of her mind as she started searching. Splash was already nosing through some tangled seaweed.
“I’m pretty sure I checked that bed yesterday,” Pearl told him.
“Okay,” Splash said. “I’ll look over by those rocks.”
Pearl glanced around. The Jumping and Swimming area was so big! It was hard to keep track of where everyone had looked already. How were they ever going to find one tiny shell in all this space?
Then she noticed a sea turtle swimming by. That gave her an idea.
“Hey, I know what we could try,” she told Echo and Splash. “There are lots of creatures who live around here all the time. We could try asking them if they’ve seen your shell!”
“You mean messaging them?” Splash asked.
“Uh-huh,” Pearl said.
Mental messaging was one of the simplest types of magic. It was a way for dolphins to talk to one another at a distance. It could also be used to communicate with other species. Dolphins were the only sea creatures who understood words and complicated ideas, but other animals could understand simple pictures and emotions. Most of the new students had only started learning about sending mental messages to other species at the beginning of the school year, but Pearl had been practicing on the sea turtles in her lagoon for a long time.
“Great idea, Pearl!” Splash did an excited flip. “Let’s try it!”
“You guys go ahead,” Echo said. “I’d better just keep searching the regular way. I don’t have much control over my magic right now, remember?”
Pearl traded a worried look with Splash. “Okay,” she said. “We’ll give it a try.”
She spotted a spiny lobster and swam over. Focusing on him, Pearl formed a picture of Echo’s lucky shell in her mind. She sent out a beam of magic, aiming it at the lobster.
He stayed still for a moment. Then Pearl received a weak picture of lots of shells. A moment later, the lobster scuttled away.
“Oops, I guess he didn’t understand me,” Pearl said. “I’ll try again.”
This time she sent a message to a pretty blue parrot fish. She was careful to make the picture in her mind as clear as she could. The parrot fish seemed to understand. She darted down and nosed at a shell on the seafloor.
“No, that’s not the one,” Pearl said. “It looks like this …” She tried again. But the parrot fish seemed to be bored of the game. With a flick of her tail, she disappeared into a hole in some coral.
But Pearl kept trying. So did Splash, even though he wasn’t that good at mental messaging. They sent their message to fish, some shrimp, a sea cucumber, and every other creature they could find.
Finally Pearl approached a large grouper. She sent him the picture of the missing shell. The grouper hung in the water not moving, and for a moment, Pearl thought he was ignoring her. She was about to move on when she got a blurry image back from the grouper—showing Echo’s shell lying on the sand!
“That’s it!” she cried, even though she knew the grouper couldn’t understand her words. “Will you show us?”
She sent an image of the grouper leading her and the other dolphins to the shell. Splash swam over and added his magic to hers to make the message stronger.
Once again, the grouper stayed still for a long moment. Then he turned and swam slowly away, leading them past the oyster bed and around a clump of brain coral. Pearl and Splash called Echo to follow them.
“Where’s he taking us?” Splash wondered.
Echo blew out a stream of bubbles. “I don’t think he understands,” she said. “We weren’t even over this far yesterday! Let’s go back.”
“No, wait,” Pearl said. “Let’s see where he’s going.”
A short distance later, the grouper dove down toward the seafloor. Pearl followed—and gasped.
“That’s it!” she said. “Echo, I think it’s your lucky shell!”
Echo darted forward to look. “It is!” she cried happily. “Oh, thank you!”
As the grouper swam off, a bright orange claw poked out of the shell. Then another. Pearl’s eyes widened.
“Is that a hermit crab?” she said.
A pair of eyestalks poked out next. “Hey, Echo, it looks like he’s moved into your shell!” Splash said, giggling.
“It’s not funny. He has to get out!” Echo exclaimed. She nosed at the shell, but that didn’t do anything.
“Watch out for his claws!” Pearl warned.
Echo backed away and sent out a burst of magic energy toward the hermit crab. Pearl caught part of the image Echo was sending—it showed the crab scuttling quickly out of her lucky shell.
The hermit crab shrank back into the shell. The message he sent back wasn’t really an image at all. It was more of a feeling. And that feeling was: NO!
Echo frowned. “He has to get out,” she ins
isted. “Join your magic with mine, okay? I’m going to push him.”
“Don’t do that!” Pearl exclaimed.
“I’m going to,” Echo insisted. “Are you going to help me or not?”
Pearl hesitated. She didn’t want Echo to get mad at her. But she couldn’t do something she knew was wrong, either.
“I’m not,” she said at last. “It’s not right. We’re supposed to be the protectors of the ocean, remember? There has to be another way.”
Echo frowned. She looked at the hermit crab, and then at Pearl. Finally she sighed.
“I guess you’re right,” she said. “My mom wouldn’t want me to push him, either—not even to get my lucky shell back. But how am I going to get him out of there?”
Splash was looking toward the cove. “Hey, it’s time for Ocean Lore,” he said. “We should get back.”
Echo stared at her shell, looking anxious. Pearl touched her fin.
“It’s okay,” she said. “Hermit crabs can’t travel very fast. Your shell will still be here after school. We’ll figure out what to do then.”
PEARL COULD TELL THAT ECHO WAS EXTRA distracted and missing her shell during Magic class. She messed up every exercise she tried. She couldn’t even guide an angelfish to turn around without accidentally sending it crashing into some coral!
“She’s worse than ever,” Splash whispered as Echo darted up to take a breath before trying again. “I thought she’d be better now that she knows where her shell is.”
“Maybe it’s true that most of her magic comes from her lucky charm,” Pearl whispered back.
“Hmm.” Splash seemed dubious, but he shrugged. “In that case, we’d better figure out how to get her shell back fast. The test is tomorrow!”
Pearl nodded. A couple of days ago, she would have loved to have a lucky shell like Echo’s to help her with that test. But now she was starting to think it was more trouble than it was worth!
After school, Echo rushed off toward the exit again. “Wait up!” Pearl called.
“Hurry,” Echo said, barely slowing down. “I don’t want that hermit crab to wander off with my shell.”
Pearl sneaked a look at Flip. She was pretty sure he was close enough to hear them. But he wasn’t looking their way. He was listening to the other two boys in their school pod talk about tomorrow’s test.
Soon Pearl, Echo, and Splash were gathered around the hermit crab. He’d barely moved from the spot where they’d found him.
“Please,” Echo said. “I need my shell back!” She sent the crab a message and put her fin on the shell. But he didn’t even send a message back.
“Hermit crabs need a shell to be safe, right?” Pearl said. “It’s his home. But maybe if we offer him a different shell, he’ll switch.”
“Great idea!” Splash said. “We can probably find one he’ll like even better.”
The three of them swam around looking for shells. Pearl found several around the right size. They were all different colors and patterns.
“Look at this one,” Echo said, dropping a shell beside the hermit crab. “It’s really pretty, isn’t it?”
“Definitely!” Pearl agreed. The shell Echo had found had swirls and stripes of bright color. It was almost exactly the same size and shape as her lucky shell.
Splash did a flip. “Let’s tell him to come out and look. I bet he’ll love it!”
They touched fins and sent a mental message to the hermit crab. But he didn’t even poke his eyestalks out.
“Let’s try guiding him to look out,” Pearl said. She glanced at Echo. “But no pushing!”
“I promise I won’t.” Once again, the three friends joined their magic. Soon the hermit crab was peeking out with his long eyestalks, swiveling them toward the pile of shells.
“Now we’ll send him a message showing him that he should switch,” Pearl urged.
Echo nodded and they all sent out a wave of magic. But the crab only stared at them suspiciously, then pulled himself back into Echo’s shell. The mental message he sent back was weak and not very clear, but Pearl could guess what it meant: He thought this shell was perfect. He wasn’t going to budge!
“Ugh!” Echo cried. “Why is he being so stubborn?”
Before Pearl could answer, she heard voices nearby. Splash heard them, too.
“Uh-oh,” he whispered. “Mullet and Shelly are coming this way!”
“Oh no,” Pearl murmured. The last thing they needed right now was for Mullet to start teasing them—or worse, for him to scare the hermit crab away while he was still in Echo’s shell!
Echo looked determined. “I don’t think they saw us yet,” she whispered. “I have an idea …”
Pearl felt magic energy pouring out of her friend. She wasn’t sure what Echo was doing, and for a moment, she hesitated. Was Echo going to try something she shouldn’t—like pushing the crab?
Suddenly a large school of mackerel zipped into view. There were so many of them that they formed a shiny silver curtain in the water, totally blocking Mullet and Shelly from view.
By the time the fish zipped away again, Mullet and Shelly were gone. They’d swum right by on the other side of the mackerel without seeing Pearl and the others!
“Wow!” Splash said. “Good thinking, Echo.”
Pearl stared at Echo. “Did you guide those fish over here?” she asked.
“Yes,” Echo said. “I saw them a few minutes ago when I was looking for shells. I’m glad they were still close enough for me to get them.”
Pearl nodded thoughtfully. Guiding that many fish at once wasn’t easy for any dolphin—especially one their age. But Echo had performed the difficult magic perfectly, even though she still didn’t have her shell back!
“Echo, that’s hard to do! This means you don’t need your lucky shell to do magic!” Pearl exclaimed.
But Echo wouldn’t listen. “It was just luck,” she insisted.
Pearl was frustrated. But suddenly she had an idea—she was pretty sure there was one dolphin who could help her convince Echo of the truth …
PEARL SWAM CLOSER AND TOUCHED ECHO’S fin again. “I don’t think we can convince the hermit crab to leave on our own,” she said. “We need help. I think we should tell your mom what happened.”
“What?” Echo looked alarmed. “But then she’ll know I lost my lucky shell!”
“But she’ll also know you found it again,” Pearl said. “And maybe she can help you figure out what to do.”
Echo sank down toward the seafloor, looking uncertain. “I guess you’re right,” she said. “But let’s hurry. I really need my shell back before tomorrow!”
Pearl, Echo, and Splash swam as fast as they could to Echo’s pod. “Wish me luck!” Echo whispered as they spotted her mother.
“Don’t worry,” Pearl said. “We’ll be right beside you.”
“Yeah,” Splash agreed.
Echo led the way over to her mother.
“Pearl! Splash!” Echo’s mother said. “It’s nice to see you again. Did you come to do more studying?”
“Not exactly,” Echo answered for them. “Mom, something terrible happened …” She told her the whole story.
Her mother listened quietly without saying anything. “I see,” she said when Echo finished.
“So you have to help me convince that crab to give back my shell right away!” Echo said. “The Magic test is tomorrow, and without the magic in my shell to help, I’ll probably fail!”
“Oh, Echo.” Her mother blew out a stream of bubbles. “Is that really what you believe?”
“Of course!” Echo said. “Some of your magic is in that shell. That’s why I do so well at magic.” She flapped a fin. “Or at least why I used to. Ever since I lost the shell, I can barely guide a fish to swim!”
Her mother shook her head. “But, Echo, there’s no magic in that shell,” she said kindly. “I just thought it was pretty, and that’s why I gave it to you.”
Echo looked surprised. But Pearl wasn’t surpris
ed at all. She’d guessed that Echo’s mother would say that—and that Echo might even listen.
“No magic?” Echo said. “Then why have I been messing up in class the past two days?”
Flip swam over just in time to hear her. “Yeah,” he said sullenly. “And why has she been acting like such an algae-head since then, too?”
“What do you mean?” Echo demanded. “I haven’t been acting any different—well, except for being worried about my lucky shell.”
“Yes you have,” Pearl blurted out. “You haven’t been acting like yourself at all.”
“Yeah,” Splash agreed. “The regular Echo wouldn’t ever think Flip stole her shell.”
“Oh.” Echo looked sheepish. “Um, maybe you’re right. I’m sorry, Flip. I know you wouldn’t do that.”
“Thank you!” Flip looked happier.
Echo turned to her mother. “And I’m really sorry for losing your special gift,” she said. “Even if it isn’t magic, I still love it. And I still want it back.”
“I know.” Her mother rubbed her fin. “But you can’t force the hermit crab to move out. It wouldn’t be right.”
Pearl had just been thinking the same thing. “I’m pretty sure that hermit crab loves your shell just as much as you do,” she told Echo. “And he needs it more than you do—after all, it’s his whole world!”
“Wow,” Echo said. “I never thought about it that way.” She looked troubled. “I know dolphins are supposed to help other creatures. But it’s not fair—that shell is my lucky charm.”
“The only lucky charm you need is yourself, your friends, and your pod,” her mother told her.
“Okay,” Echo said. “I guess you’re right.”
But Pearl could tell her friend still wasn’t quite sure. “Come on,” she said to distract Echo. “As long as we’re all here, let’s go practice for that test, okay?”
* * *
Echo's Lucky Charm Page 3