Pearl's Ocean Magic Page 4

  By the time they reached the shallows near the reefs, Pearl was exhausted. “Wow, magic is hard,” she said, blowing out a few tired bubbles.

  Splash floated to the surface for a breath, then returned to the others. “Thanks for saving me, you guys,” he said. “I thought I was about to become that shark’s dinner!”

  “M-Me too.” Flip hadn’t said anything since they’d left the shark behind. “Thanks for coming to save me.”

  “You’re welcome,” Pearl told him. “Thanks for coming back to help us save Splash.”

  Just then there was a loud whistle up ahead. A moment later, Riptide and Bay burst into view, swimming toward the kids with a rush of bubbles pouring out behind them. “Are you all right?” Riptide exclaimed. “We came as soon as we got your message!”

  “Yes,” Bay said. “Nice work with the message, by the way. But what happened?”

  Flip swam forward. “I’ll tell you all about it,” he said.

  Pearl looked over at Echo. Was Flip about to start bragging again? Would he tell the teachers he’d saved all of them, instead of the other way around? That seemed like something he would do.

  But he didn’t. Instead he told the teachers exactly what had happened. “I’m sorry I accepted that dare,” he said after he finished his story. “It was stupid to swim out into Bigsky Basin all alone.”

  “You say young Mullet dared you to do it?” Riptide sounded surprised. “That doesn’t sound like him. He’s a fine student—very athletic, kind to everyone, never puts a fin wrong. You probably misunderstood him.”

  Pearl and Echo traded another look. Riptide’s description didn’t sound like Mullet at all!

  “Hmm,” Bay said. “Well, it seems everyone is safe now. Would you like us to swim you home?”

  “That’s all right,” Echo said. “We can all swim Pearl home first, since her pod lives the farthest away. Then Flip and I can drop off Splash with his pod on our way back to our own.” She looked at Flip. “Right?”

  “Sure,” Flip said. “It’ll be fun.”

  And it was! Pearl was surprised by how smart and funny Flip could be when he wasn’t bragging. Maybe she hadn’t only made two new friends on her first day of school. Maybe she’d made three!

  What an exciting day it had been. She couldn’t wait to see what new adventures her second day at Coral Cove Dolphin School would bring!

  “WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOUR SHELL IS GONE?” Pearl swam closer to her. Sure enough, there was no sign of Echo’s necklace! It was strange to see her not wearing it.

  “Oh no!” Echo cried again, spinning around in the water. “The seaweed string must have broken during class.”

  “Probably,” Flip agreed. “You hit the water pretty hard a few times doing all that tail walking.”

  “I have to go back and find it!” Echo exclaimed.

  “You can’t,” Splash said. “Ocean Lore starts in a few minutes. You’ll get in trouble if you’re late.”

  “I don’t care.” Echo sounded frantic. “I have to find my shell!”

  Pearl was worried, too. Echo’s lucky shell was really special. But she also didn’t want her friend to get in trouble for skipping class.

  “We’ll help you find it right after school,” she said. “We promise. Right, guys?”

  “Right!” Splash said, and Flip nodded.

  Echo hesitated, still staring out through the entrance toward the open water outside. But finally she nodded, too.

  “Okay,” she said. “I guess I can wait.”

  Ocean Lore seemed to pass even more slowly than usual. Old Salty spent the first half of the class talking about the feeding habits of tube worms. Then he switched to describing the different types of sea slugs in the area. Pearl was pretty sure she wouldn’t remember anything the teacher was saying. She was too worried about Echo. What if they couldn’t find her lucky shell?

  Finally, Old Salty dismissed them. Magic class was next. As Pearl and her friends swam past the school entrance, Echo paused.

  “I wish I could go look for my shell now instead of waiting,” she said. “What if the current carries it away?”

  “The current isn’t very strong where we were,” Splash pointed out.

  Pearl touched Echo’s fin. “Come on. We only have one more class, and then we’ll find your shell.”

  Echo nodded and followed Pearl and the boys. But as soon as they reached the Magic area, she swam over to Bay.

  “May I be excused for a few minutes?” Echo asked the teacher. “I lost my lucky shell during Jumping and Swimming, and I need to go out and find it.”

  “I’m sorry, Echo,” Bay said. “You’ll have to do that after class. The test is the day after tomorrow, and we have a lot to work to do before then.”

  “But I won’t do as well without my lucky magic shell,” Echo argued. “I won’t be gone long.”

  “I said no, Echo.” Bay’s voice was kind but firm. “Now take your spot and let’s get started.”

  Echo stared at the teacher for a moment without moving or saying anything. Finally she turned with a flip of her tail and swam over to Pearl.

  “Can you believe she’s being so mean?” Echo whispered. “I thought she’d understand!”

  Pearl gave her a sympathetic look. But she didn’t say anything, since Bay was already talking about the lesson plan for that day.

  “We’ll start by reviewing what we did yesterday,” the teacher was saying. “Since some of you had trouble guiding the school of fish, we’re going to back up to a smaller number of creatures.” She waved a fin at three cute little striped coral shrimp clinging to a piece of mushroom coral on the sea floor. “I’d like each of you to guide those shrimp to climb down off the coral. Now, who wants to go first?”

  Pearl expected Echo to volunteer, like she usually did. But Echo was staring at the sea floor, looking distracted and anxious.

  “I’ll try!” Flip called out. “I’ll probably do great without Splash holding me back.” He glanced at Splash. “No offense.”

  Flip swam up for a breath of air. Then he returned and focused on the shrimp. It took him a long time, but he finally got two of them to hop down from the coral. The third one stayed where she was, but Bay still looked pleased.

  “Well done, Flip,” she said. “Who else would like to give it a try? Echo, how about you?”

  “I guess,” Echo muttered. While Bay guided the shrimp back onto the coral, Echo swam slowly up to the surface to take a breath and sank even more slowly back down.

  “What’s taking her so long?” Pearl heard Harmony whisper just behind her.

  “Go ahead,” Bay said. “Whenever you’re ready, Echo.”

  Echo sent out a burst of magic energy. One of the shrimp moved a few steps toward the edge of the coral. But the other two stayed still.

  Pearl held her breath, expecting Echo to try again. Instead, she felt the magic energy stop. Echo backed away and looked at Bay.

  “I can’t do it,” she said. “Not without my lucky shell.”

  “Nonsense,” Bay said firmly. “Try again, please.”

  Echo frowned, looking as if she wanted to argue. Instead, she swam back over to the shrimp and sent out another weak burst of energy.

  “Go, Echo!” Splash cheered. “You can do it!”

  But the shrimp didn’t budge. They just sat there, their long antennae waving in the current.

  “Come on, Echo,” Bay said. “I know you can do better than that.”

  “No, I can’t!” Echo sent out a sudden wild burst of magic energy. The shrimp all jumped up as if an electric ray had just shocked them, then leaped off the coral. One scuttled off across the sea floor, while the others hid under the coral’s wavy edge.

  Bay frowned. “I asked you to guide them, not push them.”

  Pearl’s eyes widened in surprise. Pushing was related to guiding, but more advanced—and much less nice. While guiding was a way of asking creatures to do something, pushing was a way of forcing them. Dolphins weren’t suppos
ed to push other creatures unless it was absolutely necessary.

  “I didn’t mean to!” Echo’s muzzle quivered, and her fins flapped in distress. “It’s hard to control my magic without my shell to help.”

  Bay didn’t say anything for a moment. Finally, she blew out a narrow stream of bubbles.

  “All right, let me gather the shrimp again,” she said. “Harmony, you can go next.”

  Pearl reached for Echo’s fin when she swam back over. But Echo kept her fins close to her body, out of reach.

  Pearl wasn’t sure what to think about how her friend was acting. She was used to Echo being the most talented in the class at magic. Could it really just have been her lucky shell all along?

  CATHERINE HAPKA has written many books for children and young adults. She lives in Pennsylvania and enjoys reading, horseback riding, music, gardening, and travel. She also likes going to the beach and looking for dolphins, magical or otherwise.

  #1: Pearl’s Ocean Magic

  #2: Echo’s Lucky Charm

  #3: Splash’s Secret Friend

  #4: Flip’s Surprise Talent

  Text copyright © 2015 by Catherine Hapka

  Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Scholastic Inc.

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  First printing, January 2015

  Cover art © Hollie Hibbert

  Cover design by Jennifer Rinaldi Windau

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-94081-8

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