Mermaid Reef Read online

  Title Page

  Dedication

  A Message at School

  Under the Sea

  Lady Merlana

  Vanished!

  The Sound of the Sea

  The Wishing Pearl

  Queen Malice’s Wish

  And the Winner Is …

  Teaser

  Also Available

  Character Profile: Queen Malice

  Spot the Difference

  Copyright

  “I’m starving!” Jasmine Smith cried as she joined her friends Ellie Macdonald and Summer Hammond at their usual table in the busy school cafeteria.

  “We saved you a space.” Summer smiled. “Where have you been?”

  “I left my headband in the classroom,” Jasmine told her. Everyone had to wear the same navy-blue sweater, white top, and boring gray trousers or skirt at school, but that didn’t stop Jasmine from trying to brighten her uniform up a bit. She usually wore colorful barrettes or a pretty clip in her long dark hair. Today she was wearing a bright pink headband that matched her backpack.

  As Jasmine pulled her lunchbox out of her bag, she noticed something else. Deep at the bottom of her backpack there was a familiar sparkly glow….

  “The Magic Box!” Jasmine whispered.

  “What?” Ellie gasped, almost knocking over her drink in excitement. The Magic Box had never sent them a message at school before!

  The box looked just like a beautiful wooden jewelery box. It had a curved lid with a mirror surrounded by six shiny jewels, and its sides were covered with carvings of fairies and other magical creatures. The three friends took turns taking care of it, but it really belonged to King Merry, the ruler of a wonderful place called the Secret Kingdom.

  The Secret Kingdom was a magical land full of unicorns, mermaids, pixies, and elves — but it had a terrible problem. When King Merry was chosen by his subjects to rule the kingdom instead of his nasty sister, Queen Malice, the horrid queen became so angry that she struck six enchanted thunderbolts into the most wonderful places in the land to ruin them and make everyone as miserable as she.

  King Merry sent the Magic Box to find the only people who could help save the kingdom — Jasmine, Summer, and Ellie! The girls had already helped the king and his pixie assistant, Trixibelle, destroy three of the horrible thunderbolts. Now it looked like they were needed to find another one.

  “We’ll have to finish lunch when we come back,” said Ellie as they rushed into the girls’ room. Time always stood still while they were in the Secret Kingdom, so no one would realize they were gone. But people might notice if they suddenly vanished in the middle of the cafeteria!

  They closed the door of a stall and crowded around the box.

  “The riddle’s appearing!” Summer whispered.

  They all watched eagerly as words started to form in the mirrored lid:

  “Another thunderbolt is near,

  Way down deep in water clear.

  Look on the bed that’s in the sea,

  Where more than fish swim happily!”

  Ellie slowly read out the rhyme. “What do you think that means?”

  Jasmine frowned. “Well, the bottom of the sea is called the seabed….”

  Suddenly the Magic Box glowed again and the lid magically opened, revealing the six little wooden compartments inside. Three of the spaces were already filled with the wonderful gifts they’d been given by the people of the Secret Kingdom. There was a magical moving map that showed them all the places in the kingdom, a tiny silver unicorn horn that let them talk to animals, and a shimmering crystal that had the power to change the weather.

  “Maybe the map will give us a clue,” said Jasmine. She carefully took it out of the Magic Box and smoothed it flat. It showed the whole of the Secret Kingdom spread out beneath them, as if the girls were looking down at it from high above.

  “Look,” Jasmine said, pointing to the aquamarine sea. Waves were gently spilling onto the shore, colorful fish were playing in the water, and a beautiful girl was sitting on a rock, combing her hair.

  As Ellie, Summer, and Jasmine watched, the girl dived off the rock into the sparkling water. Jasmine gasped as she saw that, instead of legs, the girl had a glittering tail!

  “Did you see that?” she cried to the others, who nodded excitedly. “She’s a mermaid!”

  Summer’s eyes widened. “That must be it! ‘More than fish swim happily’ — we must be going to help mermaids!”

  They leaned over the map again and watched the mermaid as she swam down to where an underwater town was marked. Ellie held the map up and looked at the place name. “‘Mermaid Reef,’” she read. “That must be where we’re going.”

  Jasmine and Summer agreed, and the three friends quickly placed their fingertips on the jewels on the Magic Box.

  Summer smiled at the others and said the answer to the riddle out loud: “Mermaid Reef.”

  The green jewels sparkled and a glittering light beamed out from the mirror, throwing dancing patterns onto the walls. Then there was a golden flash and Trixi appeared, twirling in midair like a ballerina! Her blond hair was even messier than usual, but she had a huge grin and her blue eyes twinkled happily as she balanced on her leaf.

  “Hi, Trixi,” Ellie cried in delight as the pixie hovered gracefully just in front of the girls.

  “Hello,” Trixi said, smiling. “Goodness, where are we?”

  “We’re at school!” Jasmine told her.

  “Oh,” Trixi said as she flew around the bathroom stall on her little leaf. “This isn’t at all what I thought an Other Realm school would look like. Where do you all sit?”

  The girls giggled. “This isn’t a classroom,” Summer explained. “It’s just the bathroom. We had to make sure no one would see us being swept off to the Secret Kingdom.”

  “Of course, silly me.” Trixi smiled, but then her face took on a worried expression. “Do you know where Queen Malice’s next thunderbolt is?”

  “We think so,” Ellie told her. “It seems to be somewhere called Mermaid Reef.”

  “Then we must go at once!” Trixi exclaimed. “The mermaids will need our help.”

  “We are going to meet mermaids!” Summer squealed as she jumped up and down in excitement.

  Trixi giggled, then tapped her ring and chanted:

  “The evil queen has trouble planned.

  Brave helpers fly to save our land!”

  As she spoke those words, a magical whirlwind surrounded the girls, twisting and turning around them.

  “Wheeee!” Summer shouted as the wind whipped her long blond hair around her face. “We’re off on another adventure!”

  Seconds later, the whirlwind set them down on a smooth green rock in the middle of the aquamarine sea. The girls were all delighted to be wearing their sparkly tiaras once again, although they were still in their school uniforms!

  Jasmine looked around in surprise. “I thought we were going underwater?” she asked Trixi, a confused look on her face.

  “We are!” Trixi said with a smile as she landed on the rock beside them, rolled up her flying leaf, and tucked it under her flower hat.

  Suddenly the ground beneath them started to shake.

  “What’s going on?” Ellie cried.

  The girls watched nervously as the water began to churn in front of them, foaming and frothing as something large and dark rose up out of the depths.

  A huge green head appeared out of the water. Ellie and Jasmine gasped in fear and squeezed their eyes shut, but Summer broke out in a grin. “Look!” she cried, pointing at the animal’s face. The creature blinked at them with sparkling brown eyes and gave them a lazy smile. “This isn’t a rock we’re standing on — it’s the back of a gigantic sea turtle!”

  “A lift f
rom a friendly turtle is the only way to get to Mermaid Reef !” Trixi said. The little pixie tapped her ring and a stream of purple bubbles shot out of it, flying all around the girls in a whirlwind, then bursting over their heads and showering them with purple glitter.

  “Hold on tight!” Trixi called, pointing to the top of the turtle’s shell, where there was a ridge they could grab on to. “One … two …”

  “Trixi, wait!” Jasmine cried. “We can’t breathe underwater!”

  But it was too late.

  “Three!” Trixi called, tapping her ring once more, and with a great lurch the huge turtle dived deep into the sea….

  Jasmine gasped in panic as the water covered her face. She quickly clamped her mouth shut tight and held her breath. “Mm-mmm!” she managed to say, waving a hand at Trixi, who was holding on to the very edge of the turtle’s shell so that she would be carried along beside the girls.

  Trixi gave a tinkly laugh. “Don’t worry!” she explained. “That bubble dust I sprinkled you with was magical. It lets you breathe underwater. Try it!”

  The turtle turned his head and gave them a big smile. Summer and Ellie let their breath go and grinned as they found that they could breathe easily. They looked excitedly at the world around them as the turtle moved smoothly through the water.

  “This is amazing!” exclaimed Ellie as they whizzed past a blue jellyfish, its tentacles wriggling in the water to wave at her.

  Summer laughed as the words came out of her friend’s mouth in tiny bubbles, but Jasmine didn’t even smile. She still had her mouth clamped shut, and her cheeks were puffed out with the effort of holding her breath.

  “Jasmine, look!” Summer grinned and pointed as a school of dolphins passed by.

  Jasmine’s eyes sparkled as she watched the dolphins swim, but she kept her mouth tightly closed.

  “It’s okay,” Summer said to her reassuringly. “Anyway, you’re still breathing through your nose.”

  Jasmine let out her breath in a big bubble and laughed. “I forgot about that!”

  “You looked just like a puffer fish,” Ellie teased.

  They held on tight as the turtle swam deeper and deeper. Soon they could see a beautiful underwater town on the sandy seabed in front of them. Tiny houses with delicate coral spires and pearly shell roofs peeped out from between the seaweed and rocks. All around the city was a beautiful coral reef, and at the top of the reef rose the turrets of a castle.

  The turtle turned sharply, and pointed down with his fin.

  “That must be Mermaid Reef,” Ellie said.

  The turtle nodded his large head and came to a smooth stop.

  “We’ll have to swim the rest of the way,” Trixi called.

  “Thanks for the lift!” Summer said as the girls hopped off the turtle’s great green shell.

  The turtle waved a fin and turned to swim back up to the surface.

  “Wheeee!” Ellie giggled as she bobbed about, floating up a little, then flapping her arms to bring herself down again. “This is fun!”

  Jasmine sank to the bottom and kicked up some sand playfully. “It feels just like being on the beach,” she said.

  Trixi and the girls swam happily toward the town, chasing one another around the sea plants and rocks. Summer squealed when she noticed a tiny pink seahorse bobbing in the seaweed, its delicate tail curled around a long stem.

  “Summer’s made an animal friend already!” Ellie teased as she swam over. She knew Summer loved all kinds of creatures, and she and Jasmine were used to Summer wandering off and petting every cat, dog, goat, and rabbit she came across. But Summer had never made friends with a seahorse before!

  “Oh, she’s adorable!” Jasmine said as the seahorse floated by. “But I don’t think she’s used to seeing humans at the bottom of the sea.”

  “She’s so pretty,” Summer said, reaching out to stroke the tiny seahorse’s head.

  “Me?” the little seahorse asked, blushing a deeper shade of pink.

  Summer gasped in delight. The seahorse could understand her, and she wasn’t even holding the magical unicorn horn!

  “It’s the bubble dust,” Trixi explained with a smile. “Its magic allows you to enjoy all underwater life.”

  “Hello,” Summer said gently. “I’m Summer, and this is Jasmine, Ellie, and Trixi.”

  “I’m Rosie,” said the pink seahorse, her fins rippling in the current.

  “Have you noticed anything strange around here, Rosie?” asked Trixi. “We think that one of Queen Malice’s thunderbolts might be hidden in Mermaid Reef. It could cause a lot of trouble.”

  “Oh no!” Rosie gasped, ducking down to hide in the seaweed. “The whole ocean’s been talking about the wicked things Queen Malice has been doing.”

  Ellie peered down into the weeds. “Don’t worry,” she told Rosie. “We won’t let anything bad happen — but we have to get to the city and find that thunderbolt.”

  “Then I’ll show you the quickest way there,” the little seahorse said.

  The girls followed Rosie through the reef, and they soon arrived at a coral gateway that led to the underwater town. As they approached, delicate water chimes rang out, and suddenly a giant tentacle with rows of suckers on it appeared over the arch!

  The girls stared as an enormous octopus climbed over the top of the arch, glaring at them with big, beady eyes.

  Ellie jumped in fright, but the octopus just lifted a tentacle and waved them through. Then it clambered back over the gate to sit next to a huge pink pearl that was resting in a giant oyster shell at the top of the entrance.

  “That’s the biggest pearl I’ve ever seen!” Jasmine giggled, turning over to swim on her back as they floated under the gateway. “Is the octopus guarding it?”

  “Yes, that’s the wishing pearl,” explained Rosie as they swam along. “It’s the most precious object in the entire ocean. Its magic is very powerful, and it can grant any wish you make.”

  “Wow!” Jasmine cried. “I’d love to have a wish come true!”

  “Meeting a real-life mermaid will be like a wish coming true.” Ellie sighed as they swam farther into the town, where little shell houses were hidden among the vibrant plants and colorful seaweed. “I thought we’d have seen some by now!”

  “Mermaids can make themselves invisible,” Trixi told her. “So they may be around — you just might not be able to see them!”

  “Does that mean there might be mermaids in our world, too?” Jasmine asked excitedly.

  “Maybe,” Trixi replied with a little smile. The girls looked at one another in amazement.

  “Most of the merpeople will be at Coral Castle today,” Rosie told them. “It’s just up ahead.” She pointed her tail up at a castle that rose out of the reef in front of them. It had tall, sculpted coral towers and was decorated with thousands of shimmery pearls and shells.

  “That’s where Lady Merlana, the leader of the mermaids, lives,” the little seahorse continued. “Every year she holds a singing contest called the Sound of the Sea Competition. All the merpeople will be there.”

  “Then what are we waiting for?” Jasmine grinned, kicking her feet to swim forward. “Let’s go!”

  Rosie led them through the castle’s huge doors and then down a shell-lined corridor into a massive hall.

  The girls gazed in wonder at the sight in front of them. The hall was full of hundreds of mermaids and mermen!

  A few of the merpeople were flicking their long, brightly colored tails in time with the music. Others were dancing in the water.

  “They’re beautiful!” Summer breathed.

  “And there are so many of them!” exclaimed Ellie.

  Most of the merpeople were sitting and looking up excitedly at a stage, which was concealed by curtains of tiny shells threaded on fine seaweed.

  “It’s the final round of the competition tonight,” Rosie explained. “It’s every merperson’s dream to win and be known as Mermaid Reef’s best singer. And the winner gets to make a w
ish on the wishing pearl!” she continued, glowing pinker with excitement. “They can ask for anything they want.”

  “I wish we could stay and watch the show.” Summer sighed. “But we have to find the thunderbolt before it causes any trouble.”

  “Actually, I think I’ve found it!” Ellie cried, pointing to a black shard sticking out of the coral by one of the seats.

  They all swam over to get a better look at it. Sure enough, it was the black, spiky tip of Queen Malice’s thunderbolt….

  “Oh no!” exclaimed Jasmine. “Queen Malice must be trying to ruin the Sound of the Sea Competition!”

  “Well, we won’t let her!” Ellie declared, putting her hands on her hips determinedly.

  “I think we had better find Lady Merlana,” said Trixi. “She needs to know what’s going on.”

  Rosie led Jasmine, Summer, Ellie, and Trixi past the audience of merpeople toward the stage. There was a ripple of noise as the mermaids and mermen caught sight of the girls’ legs and gasped and murmured to one another.

  As they reached the stage, Trixi held the shell curtains open for them to swim through. “This way,” she called.

  They swam backstage, past lots of dressing room doors with starfish painted on them. One starfish sign had “Lady Merlana” written on it in curly writing.

  Ellie knocked on the door and it swung open.

  Inside was a beautiful mermaid with long, flowing blond hair, a silver tiara, a lovely oyster-shell bikini, and a sparkling silver tail. A young mermaid with red hair was floating beside her, looking worried.

  “You can do it,” Lady Merlana said, comforting the mergirl. “Don’t think about the audience. Just look at me and concentrate on your singing.”

  “I’ll try, Lady Merlana,” the mergirl said with a nervous smile.

  As the young mermaid swam out of the door past Ellie, Summer, and Jasmine, Lady Merlana turned and noticed them floating there. Her bright blue eyes widened with surprise. “Visitors from the Other Realm!” she gasped. “How wonderful!” She clapped her hands in delight.