Trouble at Trident Academy (8 page)

ORANGE SEA PEN:
This sea creature looks like an old-fashioned quill pen.

OYSTER AND MUSSEL:
Oysters have long been eaten by man, and this has led the common oyster to nearly disappear. Most oysters eaten today are commercially farmed.

PAINTED STINKFISH:
Painted stinkfish are colorful and like to bury themselves in the sand.

PLANKTON:
Plankton is an organism that cannot swim strongly, so it flows with the currents.

RIBBON WORM:
Nemertine worms, also known as “ribbon worms,” can grow to be as long as a football field is wide.

SEA CUCUMBER:
Sea cucumbers clean up the bottom of the sea.

SE ALILY:
Sea lilies live on the seafloor and are similar in many ways to starfish.

SEAWEED:
Giant kelp is the largest seaweed. It can grow two feet in one day!

SNAPPING SHRIMP:
This tiny creature is only one to two inches long, but its tremendous snapping sound makes it one of the loudest animals in the ocean.

SPONGE:
The Mediterranean bath sponge is soft enough to make a cushion!

STARFISH:
Starfish are also known as sea stars. Most have five arms, but there is a seven-arm starfish as well as the crown-of-thorns starfish, which has up to twenty arms.

VENT TUBE WORM:
Huge worms (as tall as a person) live near hot water vents on the ocean floor.

ZOOPLANKTON:
This is animal plankton. Jellyfish are a type of zooplankton.

W
HAT IS TAKING SHELLY
so long?” Echo asked. She swam back and forth, then peeked around the corner of her shell. If Shelly didn't hurry, they would be late for school.

“Too bad I don't have one of those gadgets humans use to talk to someone who's far away,” Echo said.

People fascinated Echo. Ever since Shelly's grandfather had told her about their machines that capture singing, Echo had wanted to see a human. She even wondered what it would be like to
not
have a tail.

She did a huge backward flip and smiled. Having a tail did have
some
advantages. If she kept practicing her flips, she hoped to make the Tail Flippers team at her new school, Trident Academy. Tryouts were this week. Her best friend, Shelly, had already tried out for the Shell Wars sports team at school. Echo did another flip, this time twisting sideways.

“That was great,” Shelly said, swimming up beside her.

“There you are!” Echo squealed. “Have you heard the news?”

“Yes!” Shelly shouted. “I can't wait!”

“Me neither,” Echo said. “Come on, let's get to school.”

The two mergirls splashed past the statues of famous merfolk in MerPark.

“I can't believe Pearl was able to do it,” Echo said as they swam quickly along.

Shelly brushed a lock of red hair out of her face. “Pearl?” she asked. “Pearl didn't even try out.” Pearl was another mergirl in their third-grade class, who seemed to think she was better than everyone else.

Echo laughed as they reached the
entrance to their school. “You don't have to try out; you just need lots of jewels to pay for them.”

“You can
pay
to get on the Shell Wars team?” Shelly asked. “I thought Pearl hated Shell Wars.”

Echo stopped and stared at her friend. “
What
are you talking about?”

“I'm talking about Shell Wars. Coach Barnacle announces who made the team today. What are
you
talking about?”

Echo grabbed Shelly's hands and squeezed them tightly. “I'm talking about Pearl's birthday party. She's invited the Rays!”

“You're kidding!” Shelly screamed. There wasn't a merperson alive who hadn't heard
of the Rays. They were an amazing boy band and they were very, very cute.

“Didn't you get your invitation?” Echo asked.

Shelly shook her head.

“I bet you'll get it today,” Echo told her friend. She smiled as they went into the school, but she was a little worried. Pearl wasn't exactly the nicest mergirl in their class, and she didn't like Shelly very much.

What if Pearl hadn't invited Shelly? What would Echo do?

Debbie Dadey
is the author and coauthor of one hundred and fifty children's books, including the series The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids. A former teacher and librarian, Debbie now lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with her wonderful husband and children. They live about two hours from the ocean and love to go there to look for mermaids. If you see any, let her know at
www.debbiedadey.com
.