Skipper scanned the piece of paper. Stacie and Chelsea crowded around her.
Barbie watched her sisters reading the paper. Then something caught her eye. She leaned forward. There was a picture on the back of the paper, and some writing. Teresa’s scrap paper was actually a flyer for an event.
Barbie plucked the paper from Skipper’s hands.
“Hey!” Skipper said. “I was just getting to the good part.”
“Exactly,” Barbie said. She flipped the paper over to show it to her sisters. “This is the good part!”
VIKING VOYAGES, the flyer said. THIS WEEK ONLY.
Under the words was a picture of a Viking boat. It had a long tail, a long neck, and a wide-open mouth.
Chelsea’s mouth dropped open. “That boat looks like—”
“A sea monster!” Stacie finished for her.
Barbie held the paper up to Nikki and Teresa. “Does this look like the sea monster you saw this morning?” she asked them.
Teresa gasped and covered her mouth. “That’s it!” she said. “That’s exactly it!”
Barbie read the rest of the flyer. “It’s a full-size model of a Viking boat. They run hour-long cruises every night. The cruises leave from pier ten.”
“Pier ten?” Nikki said. “That’s just down the beach.”
“Come on,” Skipper said. “Let’s go check it out!”
“Let’s go! Let’s go!” DJ barked to the other puppies.
The girls and the puppies raced down the beach. They rounded the bend. And up ahead, docked at pier ten, was the sea monster ship!
Nikki put her hands on her hips. “You have to admit, it really does look like a sea monster.”
“It totally does,” Skipper agreed.
“So that’s a sea monster,” DJ barked.
“I told you it was nothing like a mailman,” Taffy added.
“I guess there wasn’t really a sea monster in that cave after all,” Stacie said.
“But what about the seaweed?” Chelsea said. “And the monster noise?”
Barbie shrugged. “The seaweed was probably swept into the cave by the tide.”
Skipper nodded. “That’s right. There was a storm last night. I bet it pushed the seaweed higher up the beach than usual.”
Barbie went on. “And the monster noise might have been—”
A low, mournful sound echoed over the water from the ship.
Stacie grabbed Barbie’s arm. “That’s it!” she said. “The monster noise!”
Barbie laughed. “It’s the Viking ship’s foghorn!”
The puppies starting howling, too. Aaaoooh! Aaaoooh!
“Look at me! I’m a sea monster!” DJ barked.
“But what about the eggs?” Chelsea asked.
Barbie gave her sister a hug. “I’m sorry. They were probably just rocks.”
Chelsea frowned. “Rats,” she said. “I really wanted it to be real.”
Barbie smiled. “I know what might cheer you up,” she said. “Follow me.” Barbie led her sisters and her friends over to the Viking ship.
A man stood at the front of the boat. His thick red hair was braided, and he wore a helmet on his head.
“Are you a Viking?” Chelsea asked.
“You can call me Erik the Wavefarer,” he said.
“Can I ask you a question? Did you have the ship out this morning?” Barbie asked. “Around eight o’clock?”
Erik nodded. “Yes, we did. We had to turn back—too foggy. In fact, we even saw a boat that had run aground around that bend there, and we had to drag it onshore. That’s when we knew we should head back to the harbor.”
“Ran aground?” Skipper repeated. “I bet that’s what made the wide track!”
Barbie and Taffy slipped away for a few minutes while her sisters and friends were talking to Erik. They were back before anyone noticed.
“Maybe we didn’t get to find a real sea monster,” Barbie said when she rejoined them, “but tonight we can ride in a real Viking boat!” She held out her hands. In them were six red-and-white-striped tickets for the Viking cruise. One for each of them!
“Hooray!” Chelsea said. She clapped her hands together. “We’re going to ride a sea monster!”
“Hey, Erik!” Stacie called. “Will you let me help with the ropes?”
“Sure thing,” Erik said. “You look strong.”
“This is so cool,” Skipper said. She smiled at her sisters. “Vikings are awesome.”
As they started back down the beach, Nikki put her arm around Barbie’s shoulder. “You’re the best,” she said. “A great friend. A great sister. And a great detective!”
Teresa didn’t say anything. She was staring out at the ocean. Far away, on the horizon, she could just make out a shape in the fog—a shape with a long tail and a long neck. And following the large shape? She would have sworn she saw two smaller shapes.
Baby sea monsters? Teresa shook her head. No one would ever believe her!
The Secret Sea Monster Page 2