The Secret Sea Horse Read online

  The whole classroom stared at Kiki. “What is the meaning of this outburst?” Mrs. Karp asked.

  Kiki twisted her hands together. She looked down at her purple tail. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I need to see Madame right away.” After what she had seen, Kiki desperately needed the advice of their merology teacher.

  Mrs. Karp shook her head. “That is impossible. She is ill today.”

  Kiki gulped. What was she going to do? This couldn’t wait. Not one more merminute.

  Mr. Fangtooth

  DO YOU SEE THAT?” SHELLY asked Kiki and Echo. “Mr. Fangtooth is smiling!”

  The mergirls looked up from their lunch table to stare at the cafeteria worker. Mr. Fangtooth was usually very grouchy. Since the beginning of the school year, the three friends had tried to cheer him up. Once they had made funny faces. Another time they’d made silly noises. One day they’d told jokes. Nothing had worked. But today Mr. Fangtooth smiled and even whistled a cheerful tune as he cleaned tables and served food to the merkids.

  Echo giggled. “I think he’s happy. I bet he got back together with Lillian, his old sweetheart.”

  Shelly tossed a piece of seaweed called sailor’s eyeball up in the water and caught it in her mouth. “I saw Mr. Fangtooth with Lillian yesterday at my Shell Wars game. They were holding hands!”

  “It’s so romantic!” Echo said with a giggle. She sipped her seaweed juice before saying, “Shelly, you were totally wavy yesterday. I cheered so hard when you made the winning goal.”

  “It was so exciting,” Shelly said. “I thought for sure the Poseidon Prep School’s octopus would block my shot. Did you see it, Kiki?”

  But Kiki didn’t answer. She was staring into a dark corner of the lunchroom. Her sea grapes sat untouched in front of her. “Kiki!” Echo said sharply. “What’s wrong with you? Didn’t you hear Shelly?”

  Kiki jumped and asked, “What makes you think something is wrong?”

  “Ever since Mrs. Karp told us about a leatherback turtle visiting us, you’ve been acting really funny,” Shelly told her. “Are you afraid of leatherbacks because they’re so big—just like with the whales?”

  “At first I was,” Kiki answered. “But I’m not afraid. I like leatherbacks. My dad even taught me to speak their language.”

  “Sweet seaweed,” Shelly said. “Can you teach us a few words?”

  “Maybe Later,” Kiki said. She knew Shelly loved ocean languages, but right now Kiki couldn’t think about teaching anyone anything. She grabbed her tray and sped away from the table.

  “Where are you going?” Echo called after her.

  “I . . . I’m not hungry,” Kiki said, looking back at Echo. Kiki didn’t know what do. She had never told her friends about her special dreams, or visions, of the future. Usually the dreams were good, but every once in a while they were scary. The one she’d had this morning had been horrible, especially for Rocky!

  Kiki needed to speak to a merology expert like Madame Hippocampus desperately. Madame would know what Kiki’s vision meant and what Kiki should do. But what if Madame was out of school the rest of the week? Would it be too late for Rocky?

  As Kiki rushed away, she bumped into another lunch table. Her salad of sea grapes and sea lettuce splattered all over the Neptune, King of the Sea wall statue. A big blob of lettuce sat on his head like a slimy green hat.

  “Oh my Neptune!” Pearl screeched from across the cafeteria. “Look what Kiki did!” It only took a second for Rocky to point and laugh. Pretty soon half of the merkids in the cafeteria were snickering at Kiki’s accident.

  “Echo, look,” Shelly said, nodding at Mr. Fangtooth. He wasn’t whistling anymore. And he wasn’t smiling. He was swimming toward Kiki with a frown on his face.

  “We have to help Kiki before Mr. Fangtooth gets to her!” Echo squealed.

  “And then we have to find out what’s really wrong with her.”

  Debbie Dadey is the author and coauthor of more than 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, three children, and three dogs. 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.

  Also by

  Debbie Dadey

  MERMAID TALES

  BOOK 1: TROUBLE AT TRIDENT ACADEMY

  BOOK 2: BATTLE OF THE BEST FRIENDS

  BOOK 3: A WHALE OF A TALE

  BOOK 4: DANGER IN THE DEEP BLUE SEA

  BOOK 5: THE LOST PRINCESS

  Coming Soon

  BOOK 7: DREAM OF THE BLUE TURTLE

  Glossary

  GREEN HUMPHEAD PARROTFISH: This brightly colored fish’s teeth form a parrotlike beak.

  HAGFISH: The Japanese hagfish lives in shallow water and buries itself in the mud.

  HORSESHOE CRAB: The American horseshoe crab is more like a spider than a crab. It is active at night and eats anything it can find, like small worms and algae.

  LOVELY HATCHETFISH: Although its name is lovely hatchetfish, most people would say it is quite the opposite of lovely. It has large bulging eyes and is so thin it is difficult to see head-on.

  OARFISH: The oarfish is probably where sea serpent legends come from! It can grow to be thirty-six feet long (six times as long as a man) and can weigh up to six hundred pounds. It has a bright red fin on its back, a blue head, and a silver body with black spots.

  OCTOPUS: When the giant octopus is scared, it squirts a cloud of purple ink.

  PIPEFISH: The pipefish looks a lot like a snake, but it is related to the sea horse.

  PLANKTON: Plankton live in open water and float freely with currents. Most are small life forms, but jellyfish are also plankton.

  RAZORFISH: These long fish swim with their tubular snouts pointing down.

  RIBBON EEL: Ribbon eels change colors during their lifetimes.

  RIBBON WORM: Ribbon worms are also called bootlace worms. Sometimes they live under rocks. They are one of the longest animals known.

  SEA FAN: The purple sea fan is actually a coral and grows very slowly.

  SEA HORSE: Sea horses choose a mate for life. The male sea horse has a pouch that carries the eggs until the babies hatch. Pygmy sea horses are only one inch long. Short-snouted sea horses are only six inches long. Sea horses big enough to pull a mermaid carriage have never been found in real life. Sea horses usually only live to be about five, but can live longer in captivity.

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

  SEA SPIDER: The giant sea spider is a bottom dweller, and its legs can be ten inches long.

  SEA DRAGON: The sea dragon is a master of disguise. It looks like floating seaweed, but it is a fish.

  SEAWEED: Neptune’s necklace is a brown seaweed that grows near New Zealand. It looks like a string of beads.

  SPOTTED SCORPION FISH: This poisonous fish has large pectoral fins that it opens when it is threatened.

  STONEFISH: The stonefish’s sting can kill a human. Another master of camouflage, this fish looks just like a rock! It lives in the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean.

  SWORDFISH: The swordfish’s upper jawbone looks like a sword.

  TRUMPET FISH: If you see what you think is a thin piece of wood drifting in the ocean, it might just be a trumpet fish.

  WHITE SEA WHIP: Sea whips grow as a single tall stem and often live in groups.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ALADDIN

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com />
  First Aladdin hardcover edition September 2013

  Text copyright © 2013 by Debbie Dadey

  Illustrations copyright © 2013 by Tatevik Avakyan

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  ALADDIN is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and related logo is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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  Designed by Karin Paprocki

  Jacket designed by Karin Paprocki

  Jacket illustrations copyright © 2013 by Tatevik Avakyan

  The text of this book was set in Belucian Book.

  Library of Congress Control Number 2013938155

  ISBN 978-1-4424-8261-6 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-4424-8260-9 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-4424-8262-3 (eBook)