Amber's First Clue (2 page)

With a swirl of her dark tail and cloak, Mantora had disappeared, her cruel laughter fading slowly as she swam away with the stolen treasure. The Merfolk didn't know what to do, but, luckily, Amber and her young friends had been small enough to slip out of the enchanted cage with a wriggle of their bright tails.

“We'll go after her, Princess Arctica,” Amber had promised, eagerly pushing her golden hair away from her face. “And we'll get the snow diamonds back somehow!”

“Wait, my brave young mermaids. Take my stardust lockets,” Princess Arctica had urged them, unfastening her glittering jewels and passing them through the jagged bars of ice. “If you find the diamonds, keep them safe in these lockets until you can return them to the Ice Cavern. But you must work quickly, before Ice Kingdom begins to melt.”

“Where should we look for the diamonds?” Jess had asked in a determined voice.

“Swim first to the Ice Cavern underneath the palace,” the princess swiftly replied. “Mantora said she has left a message there. Perhaps it will be some kind of clue about how to get the diamonds back.”

The good Merfolk who were trapped with Princess Arctica looked up with new hope at the courageous young Sisters of the Sea.

“But do you think we could really rescue the diamonds, Your Highness?” gulped gentle Megan. “We're only little mermaids. How can we fight Mantora?”

“Brave young hearts and minds like yours are what she fears the most,” the princess had reassured her. “Also, the magical lockets I have given you are dusted with the light of the great North Star. They can guide and heal and help, in more ways than you can imagine.”

The mermaids looked at their sparkling lockets in amazement.

“And even though I am now trapped by Mantora's spell,” continued Princess Arctica, “I will somehow get news of our danger to my cousin, Queen Neptuna, in Coral Kingdom. She will do her best to send you help of some kind. Now go, and take the blessing of the Merfolk with you in this great task!”

Then the Merfolk had waved through the spiky icicle bars of their enchanted prison and called, “Good luck! Take care!” Blowing one last kiss to their families and summoning up all their courage, the mermaids had set off.

And so they had reached the secret Ice Cavern, hidden deep in the cool, turquoise
waters. But as the friends were admiring the glittering ice statues and examining their lockets, Amber suddenly called out to them.

“Look!” she said, pointing dramatically to a solid pillar of ice in the middle of the cavern. On the top of the pillar was a carved silver casket, which glittered with a thousand tiny crystals. But the casket had been wrenched open, and it was now completely empty. The six snow diamonds, which had once nestled there safely, really were gone! And the whole of Ice Kingdom was in grave danger without them.

Amber swam over to the broken casket, followed by her friends. They hovered together in the clear water around the pillar of ice.

“What's that at the bottom of the casket?” asked Becky, picking up a small scroll with her dainty fingers. It was made of dark green parchment and tied with bloodred strands of seaweed.

“It's a message of some kind,” cried Katie. “Princess Arctica said we might find one.”

“I don't like the look of it,” said Megan as a shiver went down her spine.

“Read it to us quickly, Amber,” added Jess. “We need to know what it is, even if it's bad news.”

Amber nervously undid the scroll and glanced at the cramped black letters. What would the strange message say?

Amber took a deep breath and began to read aloud:

“Greetings to the mermaids who dare to
read this message!
You must think you are very clever to escape
my icicle cage, but trouble lies ahead for
you. I am going to hide the snow diamonds
where you will never find them.
The only way to get them back is to solve all
my rhyming riddles—but hurry up!
Ice Kingdom cannot survive without the
diamonds and their magical power.
This snowy realm will become too warm,
and its melted waters will flood far over the
southern lands.
All will be chaos and confusion.
Storm Kingdom will triumph!
So solve the clue to find the first diamond—
if you dare.
How I shall laugh, watching you struggle to
work it out …”

“What does she mean?” puzzled Becky.

“Wait, there's something else,” replied Amber. “Listen!”

“Where you see white ghosts
By these snowy coasts,
There the diamond lies,
Away from prying eyes,
But you must dig deep,
Or else you will weep!”

“So that's her silly old clue.” Poppy shrugged. “It can't be that hard to solve.” Poppy wasn't frightened of anything or anyone.

“It looks pretty hard to me,” worried Katie. “What does she mean by white ghosts? There aren't any ghosts here!”

The mermaids frowned as they tried to
work it out. Amber glided slowly around the Ice Cavern with her hands clasped behind her back, swishing her tail up and down. She glanced up at the glittering ice statues. They gave her an idea.

“The clue says that white ghosts are by the ‘snowy coasts,' so they must be here in Ice Kingdom,” Amber said thoughtfully. “These statues—and our stardust lockets— show all the different kinds of creatures in Ice Kingdom, who live under the light of the North Star and are loved by the Merfolk. Now, what are the white ghosts likely to be? Could they be fish? Or seabirds? Or something else?”

“Amber, that's so clever of you,” said Megan admiringly. “Now, what kind of creature could possibly look like a ghost?”

They all stared at each other with puzzled expressions.

“Or
sound
like a ghost,” replied Amber slowly.

“I think you're onto something, Amber,” exclaimed Jess. “Mantora's riddle must be trying to trick us, so we have to think of something that isn't the obvious answer. What if she really means a creature that calls out in a sad sort of voice, something that just
sounds
like a ghost?”

The others looked around hopefully. Amber squinted with concentration.

“Owls!” she blurted out. “What about the snowy owls who fly over Ice Kingdom on the way to their homes in the northern lands? They sound sad and spooky sometimes.”