Scarlett's New Friend

  Searlett’s New Friend

  Gillian shields

  illustrated by Helen turner

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Map of Oceania

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Mermaid Sisters of the Sea

  Imprint

  For Lois

  This book is for my big sisters

  Kathleen and Angela, who are

  the inspiration for so many

  characters yet to be drawn!

  Map of Oceania

  Prologue

  Meet Misty, Ellie, Sophie, Holly,

  Lucy, and Scarlett. They are Mermaid

  Sisters of the Sea, who live in the

  magical underwater world of Coral

  Kingdom. The Merfolk and their

  wise ruler, Queen Neptuna, look

  after the sea and all its creatures.

  Coral Kingdom is protected by six

  powerful magic crystals, which give

  life and strength to the Merfolk.

  Without the crystals, Coral

  Kingdom would not survive.

  Every year, the old crystals fade

  and have to be replaced. Queen

  Neptuna sends Misty and her

  friends—six special mermaids who

  are pure of heart—to collect the new

  ones from the secret Crystal Cave.

  But as they are bringing the crystals

  home, a storm blows the mermaids

  completely off course.

  This is no ordinary storm! It is

  created by Mantora, Queen

  Neptuna’s jealous sister. Mantora

  wanted to rule Coral Kingdom,

  and now she is bitter and full of

  hatred. She is determined to stop

  the mermaids from returning

  home, so that she can overthrow

  Queen Neptuna and set up her

  evil Storm Kingdom instead.

  Luckily, the young mermaids

  have courage and friendship on

  their side. But that’s not all; their

  S.O.S. Kits will help them as they

  race to get the crystals back

  safely. And they never forget

  their Mermaid Pledge:

  We promise that we’ll take good care

  Of all sea creatures everywhere.

  We’ll never hurt and never break,

  We’ll always give and never take.

  And as we fight Mantora’s threat,

  This saying we must not forget:

  “I’ll help you and you’ll help me,

  For we are Sisters of the Sea!”

  Scarlett and her friends are

  eager to prove that Queen Neptuna

  was right to trust them with the

  precious crystals. They are going

  to do everything it takes to get

  them home and safeguard Coral

  Kingdom for another year.

  Will Mantora win? Or can the

  mermaids get the new crystals back

  in time to stop the light fading

  forever from Coral Kingdom?

  Chapter One

  Scarlett sped tirelessly through the deep blue water, rippling her spangled crimson tail like a length of red silk. Her long hair streamed out behind her as she dashed along. She and the other mermaids—Misty, Ellie, Sophie, Holly, and Lucy—had been swimming in the fast currents under the sea since the break of day. Every hour that passed brought them closer to home.

  “Scarlett,” called her friend Sophie, who was just behind her, “could you please swim up to the surface? Have a good look around and see if you recognize where we are.”

  “All right,” replied Scarlett. She was pleased to be asked. At the start of the mermaids’ adventures, Scarlett had been a little bit bossy. Now she was learning to work as a team with her Sisters of the Sea.

  “Why don’t you all rest here for a moment?” she said to the others. “I’ll come back right away and tell you what I can see.”

  The brave young Crystal Keepers had spent the day before searching for long-lost treasure on an ancient shipwreck. Since then, apart from a few hours’ rest in the night, the mermaids had been racing against time to take the magic crystals back to Coral Kingdom.

  “We’ve still got today and until sunset tomorrow to reach home,” thought Scarlett, as she surged upward to the sunlit surface. “We might just make it—unless Mantora is planning another nasty surprise to stop us from getting there.”

  The determined young mermaid cautiously peeped over the waves and looked around carefully. It was a nice, breezy morning.

  “I think I’ve seen that island over there before,” she thought to herself. “Perhaps that means we’re not too far from Coral Kingdom.”

  Scarlett shaded her eyes and looked across the dancing waves. A large, green island rose ahead of her. She could make out rocky coves and cliffs and beaches. Human houses clustered round a little harbor. Brightly colored boats were dotted on the sea around the island. A few other smaller islands lay to the North.

  “Of course!” she exclaimed to herself. “Wait until I tell the others!”

  She leaped for joy above the sparkling sea, her tail glinting like a red flame in the sunlight. Then she plunged beneath the water, to where her friends were waiting just under the waves.

  “I’ve seen it,” she shouted. “I’ve really seen it!”

  “What have you seen, Scarlett?” asked Holly. “Are we at Coral Kingdom yet?”

  “Not quite,” grinned Scarlett, “but we’re getting close. I saw Sandy Bay Island ahead of us.”

  “Sandy Bay Island!” cried Misty. “Then we’re nearly there!”

  She grabbed Scarlett’s hands and spun her around in a wild underwater dance. All the mermaids laughed and sang, “Hooray, hooray, for Sandy Bay!”

  Sandy Bay Island was the busy seaside home to many creatures. Gulls, crabs, and seals lived there—and even humans. Beyond the island, further to the West, lay the secret underwater land of Coral Kingdom. The mermaids really were almost home.

  “Now we’ll have to be even more careful,” warned Scarlett after the celebrations died down. “Mantora might be lurking around nearby. Sandy Bay Island is at least a day’s swim from Coral Kingdom. We can’t slow down now.”

  “You’re right, Scarlett,” said Ellie. “And getting past Sandy Bay Island could be tricky. There are lots of humans there. We don’t want to be spotted by them.”

  “Maybe it would be better to find a place to hide now, and travel the rest of the way after dark?” suggested Lucy quietly. “That way most of the humans will be asleep when we’re swimming past their harbors and beaches.”

  “That’s a good idea …,” began Scarlett, but she wasn’t able to finish what she was going to say. The shadow of a boat passed over the mermaids’ heads. A fishing line suddenly whipped down through the water, like a snake. At the end of it was a large hook, which lodged itself into Scarlett’s thick hair. Then the unseen human on the other end of the fishing line began to tug. He thought he had made a fine catch and was trying to reel it in.

  “Ow!” Scarlett gasped. She tried frantically to get the hook out of her hair, and the others desperately tried to grab her as she slithered past them. But it was too late! Scarlett was being pulled swiftly up to the surface, and soon she would land like a mackerel in the human boat. Where was Scarlett—and her precious crystal—being taken? And how would the other mermaids get h
er back?

  Chapter Two

  “Everyone grab hold of Scarlett,” shouted Sophie, as Scarlett hovered above them for a moment. Holly and Misty caught the end of Scarlett’s tail, but she let out an agonized squeal.

  “Ow, that hurts,” she yelped. “I’m being pulled the other way too. Let go!”

  There was nothing the mermaids could do but watch in horror as Scarlett disappeared over their heads on the end of the fishing line.

  “We’ve got to go after her,” said Sophie. “I don’t care if the humans do see us. Come on! Mermaid S.O.S.!”

  The friends all zoomed up through the waves to the overwater world. They were just in time to see Scarlett being pulled into a small green boat. It was being handled by a single fisherman wearing a rough sweater. He had an honest, weather-beaten face, and he was clutching the end of his fishing rod with his mouth hanging wide open. He looked as surprised as if he had caught a pot of gold.

  The fisherman stared at Scarlett in amazement, as she sat on her tail opposite him in the little boat. She angrily unhooked the fishing line from her tangled hair and began to scold him.

  “Don’t you know that it hurts to be yanked out of the water by a fishing hook?” asked Scarlett fiercely. “How would you like it if I did that to you?”

  The magic crystal she was carrying gave her the power to be understood in any language, even human.

  “But … but I never meant to catch a … a … whatever it is you are …,” he stuttered.

  “Oh, you know perfectly well what I am,” said Scarlett. “And all my friends here.”

  Sophie, Holly, Lucy, Ellie, and Misty were floating in the waves around the boat, watching carefully. Scarlett sounded angry, but they could tell she was a little bit scared too. They were all anxious about being face-to-face with a human like this.

  “Well,” he said doubtfully, “I guess you’re all Merfolk, or my name’s not John Roberts. That is, unless I’m dreaming.” He rubbed his eyes and pinched himself. “You’re still there, are you? Wait till I tell my boy Jack about this!”

  “You will not tell anybody about me and my friends, John Roberts,” said Scarlett severely. “Do you really think we want you big clumsy humans coming and staring at us? In fact, I might tip your boat over and send you to the bottom of the sea! That will teach you to go around catching mermaids.”

  “Oh no, Scarlett,” protested Ellie, as she bobbed up and down in the water. “We couldn’t do that, not to anyone.”

  “Remember that the Mermaid Pledge says ‘Never hurt,’” said Holly wisely. “That applies to humans too.”

  “And I don’t think this John Roberts creature wants to hurt us, either,” added Misty. “Do you?”

  “Of course not,” John replied quickly. “I’ve been a fisherman all my life in these waters. So were my father and grandfather, and maybe Jack will be one too. We’ve never been greedy, only taking from the sea what we needed to live. And we’ve heard many tales of the Merfolk around here, how they rescued Lady Jane in the old days and so on.” He blinked his eyes again in astonishment. “I never believed the stories until now, though young Jack does. But I see now that you’re finer than anything in any tale.”

  “See, Scarlett,” said Lucy. “He’s sorry for what he did.” The mermaids all swam a little closer to the green boat.

  “That I am, miss, make no mistake,” said John.

  “Well, if you’re really sorry,” said Scarlett slowly, from her narrow bench in the boat, “then I take back those nasty things I said to you. I’ll trust you not to trap us like lobsters caught in a pot. And perhaps,” she added, “you might even be able to help us.”

  “But how can a human help a mermaid, Scarlett?” asked Sophie, looking up at her friend.

  “I’ve got an idea about that,” Scarlett explained. “We can all see that it’s too dangerous to swim past Sandy Bay Island just now. There are lots of small fishing boats, like this one, going in and out of the harbor. And if we swim underwater, we might get caught in the nets of the bigger boats.”

  “So what’s your idea, Scarlett?” asked Holly.

  “I don’t see how I can help you,” puzzled John. He still couldn’t believe that he was talking to six mermaids.

  “Could you take us in your boat to a really quiet and secret spot on the Island?” Scarlett asked him. “If we all crouch down at the bottom of the boat, no one will see us. Then we could stay in the hiding place until the evening. That’s when most of you humans are resting and it will be safer for us to continue our journey.”

  “There’s Cauldron Cliff on the far side of the Island,” replied John thoughtfully. “There’s no way down to the beach from the cliff top. And getting there by boat is tricky if you’re not used to steering around the rocks. That keeps folks away from it.”

  “It sounds perfect,” said Ellie. “That is, if you wouldn’t mind taking us there in your boat, John?”

  “Mind?” replied the fisherman. His tanned, open face broke into a broad smile. “Of course I don’t mind. It’s not every day I get to talk with the Merfolk. Hop in, my dears.”

  So Holly, Lucy, Misty, Ellie, and Sophie quickly pulled themselves over the side of the faded green boat. Then John hid them under a piece of old sailcloth.

  “You’ll be safe there,” he said. “And it won’t take us long to reach Cauldron Cliff.”

  The mermaids lay quietly as John steered the little boat over the choppy waves. This surely had to be the strangest part of their adventures so far!

  Chapter Three

  “Here we are,” said John. “This is Cauldron Cliff.”

  Scarlett and her friends peered over the sailcloth that was covering them. They saw a tall, scooped-out cliff, towering above a lonely beach. The cliff really did look a bit like a hollow witch’s cauldron. The jagged rocks gleamed purplish-brown, and the pale sand glistened in the midday sunshine. No one was there except for a few seabirds.

  “This will be a marvelous hiding place,” said Scarlett.

  “Thank you, John,” said Lucy shyly. “I never believed a human could be so kind.”

  “And I never believed there were folks like you,” he replied. “I can’t wait to tell them at home.”

  “That’s the problem,” Ellie sighed. “If you told other humans, they might want to capture us. We do like you, John. And we are grateful for your help, but …”

  “But what?” he asked, with a look of surprise on his face.

  “But we can’t allow you to remember meeting us,” said Scarlett, in a determined voice. “Good-bye, John.”

  One by one, the mermaids dived into the waves from the boat. They formed a circle around it and began to sing:

  You didn’t see a mermaid fair,

  You didn’t catch her by the hair,

  You didn’t hear our mermaid song,

  You’ll forget us, before too long.

  Go to sleep and drift away,

  Forget what you have seen today.

  You won’t remember seeing me,

  And there are no mermaids in the sea!

  As they sang, they held up their crystals in front of them. Rays of light flashed out—copper, silver, and gold—which dazzled John’s sight. Soon his eyes began to close and his head nodded onto his chest. He was instantly in a deep sleep.

  The mermaids tucked the magic crystals away, and Scarlett silently beckoned the others to swim after her through the turquoise water. They hid carefully behind some low, wet rocks that stretched from the little beach into the sea.

  “Lucy, your hair is blowing around in the breeze,” whispered Scarlett. “John might see it when he wakes up.”

  Lucy quickly smoothed down her red curls. The mermaids held hands and held their breath. It was vital to keep out of sight, but they needed to wake John from his enchanted sleep. Softly, like silver chimes on the wind, they called out, “Awake and forget!”

  John opened his eyes with a shudder. He looked around, startled and blinking in the sun. The mermaids hear
d him mutter, “Have I been asleep and drifting in the boat? I’ve never done that before.”

  He moved the boat away from the cliff and faced the open sea, but then he quickly looked back over his shoulder. The friends froze behind the rocks as the honest fisherman stared with a puzzled expression toward their hiding place. John seemed to be trying to remember something. He suddenly called out, “Who’s there?”

  But Cauldron Cliff just echoed his question back to him, “Who’s there, who’s there, who’s there … ?” With a last shrug, John turned away. He and his boat were soon out of sight. The mermaids relaxed and breathed again. They slowly swished their gleaming tails and bobbed up and down in the waves that lapped against the rocks. “As soon as the humans have gone to sleep,” said Scarlett, “we must set off on the last stage of our journey with the crystals. But we’ll have to wait here for a while. We can’t risk being caught again.”

  “John was nice, though,” said Lucy. “Maybe there are more humans like that.”

  “I doubt it, Lucy,” replied Scarlett. “Don’t forget how easily Mantora tricks them into doing what she wants.”

  “Like cutting down the Kelp Forest,” said Misty.

  “And spilling oil in the sea,” said Ellie.

  “And catching dolphins in their fishing nets,” said Sophie.

  “And letting chemicals leak onto the reef,” said Holly.

  “And dropping LITTER on the beaches!” exclaimed Scarlett suddenly. “Have you seen all that trash over there?”

  The mermaids swam a little way from the rocks and looked at the lonely beach at the foot of Cauldron Cliff. They gasped with shock. Piles of old newspapers, rusty tin cans, and broken bottles were scattered everywhere.

  “How did this happen?” wondered Ellie.

  “Oh, I can explain it,” said a snuffly sort of voice behind them. Scarlett and her friends whipped around in the water to see who was there. A sleek, friendly seal was perched on the slippery rocks, looking down at them with big, sad eyes.